Re: Making Overland Travel Interesting 

I wanted to add another comment here to say that it's been a few months now since this video came out and I have been using these ideas to great effect. They have really spiced up my overland travel sessions. In fact, I write the terms "Terrain - Environment - Discovery" at the top of all of my notes pages so that I can keep these things in mind. I recommend them to all DMs.

"Let's turn in our hymnals..." I burst out laughing at that one! I half expected to hear an organ to start playing the last few measures of the last line through by way of introduction ...

Your channel is the most useful DND channel I have come across, thank you. I've watched nearly all of your videos and I love how I can put your knowledge to use in the games I run straight away. My players are loving it :) Keep up the great content

Wow I'm so glad you gave this question the proper treatment

this is the kind of content I like the most (answering to your question somewhere else), that is to say: new ideas for using the rules that already exist, new rules, how to bring freshness to the game.

Great video. I haven't considered making caves into random encounters before, so that's definitely an idea that I'm stealing.

Lol first video? So packed with such inspiring ideas! Your channel is underrated.

You're an extremely underrated dnd content creator, you deserve more subs

Some great ideas here -- thanks! I really liked your three types of overland encounters and I'll be using it. I think it's important that the physical world of the game setting feel almost like a character itself. I'm looking forward to your next video.

Awesome content, man. I watched this video a couple times back-to-back then felt inspired enough to write out a whole session of content that I think is some of my best yet. I really appreciate how easy it is to apply your tips to games. Keep it up!

When I followed a link from your random encounter video, I had no idea this one was your first post! You've got such great content from day one!! Truly, I'm running the Lost Mine of Phandelver right now and am working on creating more interesting encounters along the trail and in Neverwinter Woods, and these videos have been invaluable :)

I really enjoyed this video (I'm behind the times obviously). Lots of useful ideas for making overland travel interesting!

Great first video. Ill be subscribing after this comment. Im preparing a west marches style of campaign and overland travel is a MUST. I'm combining elements from monachsfactory with your discovery system as well as an inventory slot system so i dont have to be an encumberance accountant. Thanks for providing some info that people are asking for instead of saying dont do it.

where have you been mate?! this is awesome content I will watch your videos during prep and on game day. you have to keep these videos coming!

I agree overland travel is good. Whole movies are based on overland travel, Ice Age, The Land Before Time, 1883 *series* and more. It is great for getting a feel for the environment and build the part dynamics if used correctly. I understand several people saying skip over it but I like it when done correctly.

I really let my four players down when a steppe oneshot turned them into the stars of a “Four Winds” campaign. But because of this video (thank you!) over the course of those first six sessions, I made up for the boring terrain by making a few epic maps. Through knowledge of the outdoors, those maps became detail-highlighting tools, and I practiced-practiced-practiced to gain a more natural speaking voice. It also helped to practice quickly verbalizing the most salient sight-lines, colors, sounds, and *sensory details.* The end result was two sessions of downtime in a big valley, and when the players weren’t crafting or interacting with the local NPCs, they had fun with: hunting, obstacle and endurance foot races, exploration for high-end resources, and a mystery involving the unsettling deaths of a druid council. Now that I mind-map and journal to prep for sessions, I can make entire region maps and populate those with points-of-interest. I work out scale, possible travel speeds (straight-lining in the wilderness only works if you ignore difficult terrain!), and what kinds of encounters they might have. Next session will probably be a three day journey downriver. It’s got the three things every unskippable journey needs: 1) *The players are highly motivated by threats behind and around them.* Their NPCs in the flotilla are always at risk of being shot from shore, or just roped and dragged off as slaves by the enemy horde. 2: *Quick transitions and rest points,* so I and the players always have a grip on pacing. Rest points might be midday rowing, a chance to regroup with some dwarves who saved a kid, or a camp. The first camp will have a group dream sequence, to really play up the mysticism and coincidence of them becoming “The Four Winds.” The players get to roll for outcomes in their dream, and they get prophetic info and Astral psionic advice. 3: *Truly interesting points of interest.* Some are only visible from a distance, briefly, unless the players choose to leave the flotilla and go explore or hunt. The rest are in the way, and the NPCs will need help navigating... an upwards-flowing waterfall, cliffs where someone severed the canoe-portage pulleys, a shadow wood of undeath that’s corrupted most of a vast forest, and a logjam at a bend in the river. Tracking resource blocks for the NPCs (too many to hunt for in this broken land) makes for good “Timers” to keep the players from exploring *everything.* And what’s a better timer than a logjam that needs hacking, with undead swarming in extreme woodland darkness? Especially when that “logjam” includes a shadow-zombie treant or two. Most of the other undead will be animals, recent and old, but later waves will include such reinforcements as wights and outright shadows.

Great videos dude. Consider reading travel journals and old National Geographic magazines for environmental encounters and hazards for your chosen terrain too.

First off, well done with keeping a youtube series going. I wanted to do my own on life lessons from the tabletop, but I just dont have the time or drive. Keep up the good work. I wanted to add a concept that I think you kind of glossed over: tension. Combat has easy to quantify tension and resolution, but travel doesn't. But that means that things can often feel boring or ,on a better day, relaxed. This can be fine. But if you want it memorable, you need some tension. This can be done a few ways: supply use, time (chase scene or get there before X), dangers, etc. Once you know what the tension is, you know what the resolution will be. Can the adventurers get to the capital before they run out of supplies? Can they get to the tower before the necromancer finds the hidden artefact? Can the party survive crossing the scorching heat and quicksand of the vast desert? I have always hated the idea of random encounters. If you want something exciting to happen, have the party encounter something exciting. Perhaps they can avoid it, but thats just a solution to a problem anyway. The longer I want the journey to feel, the more encounters the party has. But thats about feel. They could be traveling a day through the infested sewers and have it seem twice as epic as a week through the peaceful grasslands. The amount of encounters is not about distance. Overall great video. I have subscribed.

I like colville but this was a way more satisfying video. I'm a fan of the hobbit, so I like overland travel. I'm just not the greatest at making it interesting. This video was quite helpful. Can't wait to try out these ideas in game :)

Lately I have been relying on the design tool of primary, secondary, tertiary shapes. What are your primary details that stick out, what is secondary that adds flavor/context, what are your smallest details or overall theme of the space, like does the architecture have Fae influence or show signs of woodworm?

I love this video it's very inspirational! Hey can I ask you what the awards/medals are for hanging on your wall? I do the same with my BJJ medals

What is up my dude! Brand new to the channel and I’m so glad for what I’ve found! The content and suggestions rock, however, you almost lost me with the shots you took at Matt Covilles video on the same topic. I doubt you meant to be hostile but the tone really sounded that way and as a long time watcher of Matt’s videos I almost left immediately. Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to get through all of your material!

Your deadly survival rules was exactly what I was looking for, my new campaign has ended up having two barbarian PCs with 20 strength so these rules should definitely help put them in their place..

I'm so very glad I found this channel

Great video!

Great video, I love making overland travel more meaningful, those are some solid reasons you've given there. I really like the idea of the party coming across something in the works, and if they happen to take that road again things have changed. I think Matts video mentioned that we should question the default, and see whether its right for our party, and he is just empowering people to skip overland travel and saying thats okay, and it makes sense for certain parties or certain campaigns. I don't think he is saying its bad and you should never do it.

Also, at about 8:10 it's the EAGLE who can see for a mile away.

Lol "turn in our hymnals to..."

Here's what I would say. Overland travel shouldn't be too dangerous, because otherwise regular people wouldn't be able to travel at all. If characters are low level, traveling with only themselves, sure they could face some dangers. Perhaps merchants travel in guarded caravans and aren't threatened as a result. If you want characters to have a harrowing journey at higher levels, you have a few options. You can reduce time. Sure, you have phantom steed, wind walk, and other spells, but you have mile after mile to cover and you may not have enough time. By the end, your resources will be drained and you can press on at the cost of being more exhausted at whatever critical thing you are racing toward. You can change the landscape to somewhere where normal people dare not tread. A place normally crossed with the aid of a massive dragon or with a legion of warriors at your backs. Or the players could be hunted and hounded by a threat that targets them in particular. My favorite is the one you recommended where you are traveling with other people. People where you want to stay with them, but don't necessarily trust them. You keep watch both for creatures emerging from the wilderness and on your traveling companions. One of the most interesting journeys I went on was carrying a terrifying relic that attracted a horde of foes.

I actually want my overland travel to be an intrinsic and interactive part of gameplay. I’m trying out Forbidden Land’s mechanics with a few tweaks to travel distance vs time spent, but I’m actually considering trying to add in some of the real challenge found in Veins of the Earth’s (Scrap Princess) spelunking. As in, where there is difficult terrain, do more than roll for success; actually play it out in almost a platformer style. Make their mundane, rarely used tools actually worth the money spent on them. Then again, I’m simultaneously trying to make the characters’ focus on combat less overarching (some people might wanna be Samwise Gamgee, why not?), so maybe this is just for me...

This is his first video? Its so good.

What would be some cool terrain for a rough riverlands area

One small point: Eagle Totem Barbarians have: Eagle. You gain the eyesight of an eagle. You can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty, able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you. Additionally, dim light doesn't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks. and not the Wolf. Great content in which your main point still stands. Compared to getting pack tactics like the Wolf Barbarian gets, it seems lackluster unless your PC is zooming in on stuff all the time.

fantastic video. Thanks! (sub'd-liked)

Chasms. Made laugh with the hard CH.

I freaking love overland travel. But most players don’t. So I do it only if the journey IS the adventure 😇 eat this players!

Overland travel rocks, if the group has interest in it. Like anything else provide an opportunity for adventure. If the group wants to fade to black and blam be there it is up to the gm. Must say overland can be the best.

6:14

You need to pan your camera out a bit. Your eyes are huge and the camera is too zoomed, so it's a bit overwhelming. You have an inviting personality, but the zoom feels like you're a close talker. You have a lot of potential if you can find your niche and come up with enough interesting topics if discussion.

I tend to do rolls on the Encounter Tables in Xanathar's. I don't always run them as combat encounters. Sometimes, I'll interpret them as a roleplaying encounter- or a skill challenge of some sort, or maybe just something to see. The randomness of those tables lets me develop new ideas and concepts in my campaign that I hadn't considered before. For example, when my players were charting the mountains and over-exerting themselves to get back to town faster - they got exhausted and also encountered a cloud giant. I decided that a cloud giant wouldn't just be randomly out in the wilderness- and on the fly made the cloud giant a sort of warden for a cloud giant General you lives in a fort up in the clouds on the far side of the mountains. The warden collected a toll of magic items (potions, scrolls, and a weapon they didn't use much), and now the party has a new foe they eventually want to take down just out of principle.

Sadly most 5e players todaydont care for exploration whatsoever. Online players especially frustrate me to hell. Anything that takes managing is asked too much

The lack of eyelids/blinking really weirds me out

I just realized how little you blink in your videos. Actually, you probably blink a normal amount, but I think I'm used to most RU-vidrs blinking excessively, lol.