Travel in D&D Key Takeaways: 

• Introduce New Dangers: Use travel to reveal new creatures and threats, enhancing the sense of adventure.
• Incorporate Lore: Enrich the campaign with hidden stories and cultural insights through the environment.
• Enhance Roleplay: Create opportunities for character development and meaningful NPC interactions during travel.
• Balance Resource Management: Track resources in harsh environments to add realism without slowing gameplay.
• Utilize Hex Movement: Manage travel with hex-based systems, incorporating unique encounters and discoveries.
• Evolve Travel Methods: Reflect character progression with creative travel challenges and high magic elements.
• Use Narrative Hand Waving: Skip uneventful travel days with summaries to maintain game pace.

Travel in Dungeons & Dragons is a journey that does much more than bridge distances; it bridges narratives, characters, and the ever-evolving story of the game. As players venture from the familiar into the unknown, travel serves as a powerful narrative device that promotes character development, deepens world-building, and advances the storyline. This article explores various aspects of travel in D&D and offers insights on how to make it an engaging part of your campaign.

Aspects of Travel

Travel in D&D encompasses various elements that contribute to the richness and depth of the game. Let's explore some key aspects.

Combat Encounters

Encounters with bizarre and formidable creatures serve as a clear signal to the players: "We're not in Kansas anymore." Such moments emphasize the dangers that lie in uncharted territories, where monsters roam freely and the rules of the civilized world no longer apply. This not only tests the players' resolve and abilities but also stirs a sense of wonder and trepidation about what lies beyond.

Combat while traveling serves several purposes. First, it shows what new dangers lay ahead, or at the very least gives a glimpse. Even a short ambush that is easily overcome signals to the players that there are new creatures, cultures, and insights into the road ahead. Also, it temporarily slows the pacing of the story down just a touch so that you can breathe before you get to your destination and the story drives forward again.

Weaving In Ancient Lore

The environment itself is a canvas for the DM's creativity. As adventurers traverse haunted forests or ancient ruins, the landscape offers silent stories—some that intrigue with their mystery, others that provide crucial insights into the world's history or leave clues toward their current quests. This form of storytelling allows DMs to enrich the campaign with lore, making every location a potential key to unlocking the secrets of the past and the future.

When I know that the party is hitting the dusty trail, I always look back at my regional notes to see what pieces of local lore I had forgotten or could add. I'll throw in a run-down house, ruins of a long-forgotten culture, or allow the players to find an ancient bauble that may or may not have any significant meaning. These pieces of background lore sometimes go unnoticed, but they round out the world in very real ways for the players.

Shaping Stories and Legends

Travel opens avenues for rich role-play opportunities. Encounters with NPCs, whether they are figures from a character's backstory or new individuals bearing quests and lore, provide depth to the narrative. These interactions are not just about gathering information or allies; they're opportunities for characters to develop, revealing their personalities, values, and motivations through the choices they make and the relationships they forge.

Exploration & Social Encounters

Exploration and social encounters along the way add richness to the journey. From discovering hidden paths to meeting mysterious strangers, these moments can define the characters' experiences and growth. It's also a chance for utility-based characters to show their non-combat skills in new creative places. This on its own is a nice pace change compared to the clangs of battle.

As an exercise, I often find myself asking who was in the region recently? Who left tracks? How long ago? And what were they doing? Even if my players don't encounter anyone, leaving traces helps illustrate that the imaginary path their characters are on has been crossed before, and many times perhaps.

Let's zoom out for a moment and look at the bigger picture of travel.

As the party ventures further, the logistics of travel come to the forefront. Managing resources becomes a vital part of the journey, adding a layer of strategy and realism to the campaign. Yet, the approach to resource management can vary widely depending on the style of play.

When to Emphasize Resource Management

Stop and consider how much travel is important in your campaigns. Then recognize that you need to strike a balance between the tedious tracking of rations/water and the need for creating tension through the journey. Resource management can be as annoying as seeing that box listing 20 arrows since you made the character. But there are happy mediums. I basically expect that every character has 10 rations in their pack. If, and only if, their journey is longer than that, do I even consider thinking about how much supplies they've taken with them. I myself enjoy a good resource attrition session, but only if thematic. For the most part, traveling through an old forest guarded by a unicorn will result in plenty of rabbit stew. I only start tracking resources on long journey through places like deserts, mountains, and oceanic voyages where the tension of unknown travel ramps up. There is no need to track resources when they are plentiful.

You must decide when and where tracking resources is crucial. In harsh environments like wastelands or haunted forests, resource management can heighten the sense of survival and allow a ranger to shine by hunting and gathering. Conversely, in more civilized areas or when the party has access to ample supplies, it is far more appropriate to ignore or hand wave these details. The key is to determine which approach best serves the narrative and player engagement. No one really wants to dig into their adventuring pack and track rations, so for the most part, don't do it. Only in the more remote and desolate parts of your map can tracking resources add a lot of flavor to your session.

Hex Travel Movement

Utilizing a hex-based system for travel can illustrate the passage of time and the attrition of resources, adding tension and consequence to the journey. Long stretches of travel can be distilled into a series of rolls, determining if the party gets lost, runs low on provisions, or faces the debilitating effects of exhaustion. These tools help highlight the importance of preparation and decision-making, as time itself becomes a resource that is consumed with each step forward.

Typically, when in a travel scenario, I might have someone make a Survival roll for navigation, Survival roll for foraging, and Perception roll for the scout. If the navigator rolls poorly, they get lost for a day. If the forager fails their roll, they lost a day of rations. If the scout walks with their eyes closed, then they don't see the trolls or the epic sword in the stone they passed by 9 miles ago.

These 3 rolls cover most everything you could throw at the players without bogging down too much time. Then, if you plan a new quest hook, combat, social encounter, ancient lore, and/or oddity along the way, you'll have all your bases covered for possible world-building tangents.

Additionally, players can choose whether to move slower using stealth methods or faster, increasing their hex movement from 1 to 2. Using stealth might give the players an advantage for the scout's Perception checks or allow them to potentially hide before a combat encounter. Conversely, moving faster might reduce their ability to gather resources on the road or effectively scout for enemies while also resulting in exhaustion checks to maintain the pace. All of these options allow for player agency and delegates jobs suited for each PC.

I've seen different approaches to hex traveling. For example:

• Each hex might have something 'unique' to discover like a side-quest or piece of ancient lore.
• Each hex might have a random rollable table that is thematic to the region.
• You might just place something specifically in the hex that you want to happen.
• In my West Marches campaign, we literally make travel a critical aspect of the game rolling for encounters or events in each hex.
• In my more story-driven campaigns, I might just throw in a single encounter or event to describe the changing scenery.

You can choose whichever style speaks to you. Or you can mix them up to keep players curious about which DMing method you might throw at them. Or you might just skip travel entirely, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. More on that later.

Displaying Danger vs. Combat
It's important to balance when there is danger in a region and when there isn't. Deciding when to include combat encounters highlights specific regions and themes, but it would be fairly grueling to have an encounter every hex. Danger can come in many ways. One day it might hit the PCs head on, and other times you might choose to have a close encounter or narrate the sound of close movement at night. The key isn't to get the players to feel like danger is lurking around every tree and stump unless it that's where they are- deep behind enemy lines in the thick of it.

Mastery of Movement: From Mundane to Magical

As characters grow in power and accumulate experiences, their means of travel evolve, reflecting their ascent from grounded adventurers to legendary heroes who bend the fabric of reality to their will. This progression mirrors their journey, both literally and figuratively, through the campaign, unless they prefer travel by donkey.

Creative Travel Challenges
Introducing unique travel challenges can add depth to the journey. Navigating a desert with shifting sands or crossing a magically cursed swamp can create memorable and engaging travel experiences. One time I had players ride an ancient ghost train to get from A to B. It was basically a linear adventure to go from the back of the train to the front. By the time they reached the front, they had traveled 3 hexes and had a ride of their life! It was straightforward, thematic, and really fun! Another campaign I had a complex portal system with each area offering different layers (and lairs) to a complex web, each with their own mini-quest. When my players entered the underdark by accident via a thin veil between the planes, they certainly did not expect me to make it straightforward. I wove a complex map of various regions with interconnected tunnel systems leading to different terrors that lurk in the dark. In yet another campaign into the Shadowfell I suddenly introduced an (in)sanity system which threw them off guard. As you can see, there are many tools you can pull from, and randomly pulling from your box of DM tricks keeps the players on their toes and keeps you engaged in your own mechanics.

High Magic Portal Travel

Magic transforms late-game travel, making distances moot and unveiling new dimensions of exploration. The discovery and collection of portal coordinates across the realm represent a tangible progression in the adventurers' journey, offering shortcuts through space and access to once-inaccessible areas. High magic travel, such as teleportation circles and portals, can significantly speed up the journey, but it should come with its own set of challenges. In my campaigns, I offer a few safe portals lost to civilization, however, they need to be found or unlocked in some capacity. These are basically neutral places so that the PCs don't always get in trouble immediately. Then I have a few behind a civilization lock, where players must befriend a faction in some form or another. Even then, those portals would be protected unless the PCs earn the right to use them. Finally, I have the PCs stumble upon portals where it's nearly impossible to clear out danger and they wouldn't want to go back unless they want to strap on their sword and board. Even in these scenarios, finding a portal isn't just a given, but requires other skills to attain access to them.

Flying Mounts

Griffons are like having a warhorse with wings. They are an amazing way to speed up travel while still deploying danger at the campsite. This approach has the benefit of offering fast travel with realistic limitations at the cost of a few coins per night. Griffons need to rest at night making them vulnerable at night, but still allowing for the PCs to forage and deal with ground-people problems. Don't forget in this world of magic and wonder that they might have to navigate aerial hazards, adding layers of depth to the travel experience.

Narrative Hand Waving

Sometimes, it's most appropriate to simply hand wave travel to keep the story moving. Skipping uneventful travel days with a brief summary can maintain game pace while still acknowledging the journey. It's a sort of fade-to-black scenario and get there. The key is to balance detailed travel with moments of narrative hand waving to keep players engaged.

Unless there is something to note, move the story forward. Not every hex needs to be some epic adventure. They are already on one!

There And Back Again

Travel in D&D is an evolving narrative element that mirrors the growth of the characters and the unfolding of the world's story. From the trepidation of stepping into unknown lands to the mastery of arcane paths that weave through the very fabric of reality, the journey is a testament to the adventurers' evolution. By understanding its role, communicating expectations, exploring mechanics, supporting players, and keeping the game fun, you can navigate character travel effectively. Remember, in Dungeons & Dragons, the path traveled is as significant as the adventures that await at each destination.