Balazar: Travel and Weather

For some fantasy rpg campaigns I would just handwave, improvise, or summarize overland travel and weather (e.g. the Zanzer Campaign). Such factors were supremely important in the narrative of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Therefore, I think the Balazar campaign can be enriched by using a consistent system for determining how far the party travels in a day and what weather greets them.

Like with provisions management, I'd prefer such systems to be simple and abstract. Conveniently and coincidentally, the Griffin Mountain setting book describes simple systems for determining weather and overland travel rates. I've transcribed the travel rules here, nearly verbatim:

Three modes of movement are available to any party moving through the wilderness: search, travel, and pursuit.

Search mode involves a slow an methodical checking of the entire hex area. Use this mode for hunting or treasure seeking, and occasionally for mapping.

Travel mode is normal movement through the terrain, making a good, but not strained, speed. Travel mode always follows paths when available.

Pursuit mode is fast movement. It is exhausting, and can only be maintained for two days. Pursuit mode maybe used by both the pursued and the pursuers.

Each party traveling through a wilderness has a number of movement points equal to the movement class of its slowest member. This number, which will range from 1 to 12, will also be the number of movement points available to a party per day.

(An unmounted and unencumbered party has 8 movement points per day. A mounted and unencumbered party has 12 movement points per day.)


The Movement table gives the movement point cost per hex (5 miles) depending on the terrain and movement mode.

(Essentially, one movement point equals the ability to travel five miles at top speed on a path in clear terrain. The table extrapolates that base value to other terrain and modes.)

Movement point cost per hex (5 miles)

Terrain	Pursuit	Travel	Search
Clear	2	4	6
Forest	4	8	12
Hills	6	12	18
Mountains	8	16	24

Modifiers:
Along Path x.5
Boat upriver x1.5
Boat downriver x.5
Short Portage +4
Long Portage +8
Cross Minor River +1 (Assumes no boat. Has risk of accident.)
Cross Major River +2 (Assumes no boat. Has risk of accident.)

The modifiers are guidelines. Specific situations may affect travel less or more severely. Especially when dealing with rivers, the weather and season have a major effect on travel difficulty. The weather system is simply a large table to randomly determine general weather conditions each day, based upon the previous day's weather and which season it currently is.

The setting has five seasons, four of which correspond to the real world seasons, and a fifth season that is exceptionally stormy, with mythical origins and implications. More info here.