Travel as a REAL Fantasy Adventurer | What would it be like? 

"Tolkien was right." That statement applies to so many things.

Winter is not a good time for adventuring. The cold means you need extra food, extra clothes and extra blankets just to stay warm. As others said pack animals and half tents can help. However animals means extra weight to provide food and resources for the animals. Inns may provide food, warmth and a place to sleep but require money. Medieval and most fantasy realms require coins which, depending on inflation, can add a considerable amount of weight. Most movies, books and games fail to realize the logistics involved in adventuring.

The more I watch, the more I want to start a channel. Here are some things I've learned being a weirdo in the woods at 52°N. A pelt keeps your torso off the ground, your pack keeps your legs up. Wear a shift, woolen hose, wool stockings, and sleeping booties of wool. Ideally, you'd have winter boots that fit over your foot insulation, but if you only have the one pair (as was common because they're heckling expensive) switch your stockings at every stop and hang the sweatiest pair on your belt. Don't stick em on your pack, because if they fall off you don't notice. Trust me. When the sweaty socks freeze, smack things with them and that knocks out the moisture. Only let your boots hang out by the fire if they are on your feet so they keep fitting. At camp, wrap yourself in your wool cloak and tuck in to your provisions. Melt ice for water, not snow. Always pee before sleep (it keeps you warmer). Snuggle what you can whether it be pets or humans. The person who carries the waxed canvas and poles is cooler than the person who carries the pelt and pot.

I would look at the America/Canadian mountain men for a similar concept to the ranger/adventurer. Having hunting implements that double as weapons is probably more practical than using tools as weapons and the importance of pack animals becomes obvious fairly quickly.

As someone who is working on a story that has a few traveling characters, all of this is highly relevant and interesting to me.

Natural pelts are far better at keeping you warm than any synthetic materials. LOTR is the ideal reference to look at. 👌 The ending is well appreciated, as on most videos the person don't show how cold they actually are. 😊

Myself and some of the other Rangers with MERF (Middle Earth Ranger Forum) often look to American Colonial Longhunters and Medieval Foresters. The former has more to do with actual trekking, and you can take some notes from Robert Rogers. I often think Master Tolkien used inspiration from the Longhunters. Just a suggestion. :)

People often forget, that adventures would be ~95% travel, and ~5% actuall "adventure". Also, a big part of travel and adventurers, that gets overlooked : beasts of burden. Packmules, packgoats as example of the grounded ones or, if you go nuts in your worldbuilding, just give them giant , smart-ish packrats. Ostrich-built magpies, that would pick shines by themselves. Feeding those is a quiestion of itself, but can be resolved with a bit of a tought. Thank you for the video. I'd love to see your review of the Witchers, as traveling adventurers.

Camping in winter is absolutely brutal (with only mediaeval gear), one of reasons why wars usually stoped for winter. About shoes and winter camping you should put them inside sleeping bag.

Your lantern looks like it could accept a candle pretty easily. May not heat like the lantern was supposed to, but long burn candles will allow you to have wind-protected light without the spilled or frozen fuel concerns.

I am european so I´ll use the metric system: I walked in 2017 from my hometown to Santiago de compostela in spain, 3200km roughly. My bagpack had 9 kilos without food and drinking. I didn´t need to train to be able to walk a hole day with it. I needed to train to walk every day with it. In the first 40 days I made 5 restdays where I didn´t walked with my bagpack and roughly about a kilometer if so much. When I reached france it was a restday for me to walk just under 20 km. I am pretty sure that I would be capeable to fight with my bagpack on. I was sleeping most nights in a warm place just once I tried to sleep outside. I started my journey in March but winter cought me several times in the alps. I didn´t have the right equipment just did have some multipurpose items with me. These did the job well. I find it pretty unrealistic to start an adventure during winter. There are reasons for the romans starting their military campaigns in the end of march. Or in medieval times winter was most of the time a season to stay at home, hardly any military conficts were worn out in winter. So if an adventure is started in winter it has to be urgent... If tools break it is very likely to come through a town that has either a shop to replace it or someone able to repair it.

I'm actually pretty blessed in the "winter adventuring" context. First, i'm a very tall and broad person. There's a reason Polar Bears are huge, and it's because the larger an organism is, the more heat it generates. Though my family on my father's side seems to have a mutation that makes us produce more heat than average for our size, let alone for the average person. Yay, Polish genes, but that does also bring up the matter of Barbarians. The stereotypical Barbarian is a tall, broad-shouldered Gaston type. They produce more heat than your average hobbit, just by merit of their existence. And when they start burning energy they just get warmer.

Historic tidbit: Spanish missions were established up the California coast 1 day's travel apart. Persons connected to the mission system could then travel the length of the chain and always have an established place for a meal and bed each night.

Even with modern gear a 72 hour kit can easily weight 60+ lbs. Any medieval "backpacking" would only get you a few days travel at best. Pack animals and cleared paths/rudimentary roads have always been essential for any extended travel as you simply cannot carry the bare essentials for more than a few days. The one weapon that everyone should be carrying should be a spear. Spears were always the primary weapons of most old battlefields, and they could double as a walking stick. A spear would also be the best choice if you were ambushed or encountered a melee as it would allow you to keep the enemy at a distance while your group responded to the threat. A spear would also be useful defense against any wild animals that might threaten your party or your pack animals. I enjoy the videos and you have a nice channel concept. Keep up the good work.

Just combine 5 people's funds and buy a mule. Also, civil war tents are pretty much like some of the ones you showed. Each soldier would carry 1 tent half. The tent was optimized for 2 people, but 3 could fit in it ok and it would work better with the 3rd half placed creatively plus the extra body heat.

All interesting points Kramer. There is a definite difference between walking with your team or walking alone. If you want to see adventuring in the context I would suggest those who mapped North America. There are numerous sources about what they carried and how they carried it. For something specific I would point you to another RU-vid Sepp from Waldhanwerk. He show are great breakdown of his packframe and how he uses it. I would also suggest Tom from Fadabidosi. He does a great breakdown on the staff, walking stick, balance aid, shelter pole etc. I think an adventurer should always walk with a staff. Nate

Something like the valaška (Shepard’s axe) would be something to look at, as it’s a walking stick as well as a light axe. Removing the camp axe from your belt and taking that weight off your person. (Ounces equal pounds. Pounds equal pain) plus with all of that weight not having some form of walking aid would be rough on the knees once you start getting into hills and mountains.

I just want to comment to say that this video is (I think) your best so far in terms of delivering on the idea of this channel. This is exactly the kind of content I hoped you would make when I subscribed, along with the medieval camping videos. Also as others have said, I think that winter would likely be a bad time for adventuring. Witchers return to kaer morhen for the winter, and I think other adventurers would generally do something similar. The weight of gear necessary just isn't worth it unless you have pack animals or something similar.

On the subject of lighting camp. My best friend, girlfriend and my self all when on a fall camp trip. It was about 20f I brought with me a hurricane lamp and a lot of candles. Long story short the hurricane lamp leaked complete out by the end of the trip. We mostly used the candles a few burned all night and we used them to outline the camp and our main fire was the center. Candles have now become part of my kit. On a personal note I feel if you used a hammock you would do better. I have camped alot with my hammock in alot of spots and its much easier to carry than the amount of hides you would need to stay warm.

For sleeping and keeping warm at night I've found that the best way is to build a baker tent esk shelter with a tarp (back and walls on the ground) with a lean-to fire build about 2 ft in front. The lean-to acts as a reflecting wall for the heat to reflect it into the shelter and warms it quite well. Having 2 people in the shelter also helps tremendously

Honestly, it was pretty hilarious to hear about your misfortunes. It would probably be a much easier trip if you were in a more warm climate. This is super interesting stuff.

Years ago, I was playing a low-fantasy campaign in GURPS; it's a system which allows you to be fairly realistic with a lot of elements like travel, food, etc. should you want that. The party's first hurdle was leaving the starting town and crossing the desert to the nearest big city. It took us literal hours to plan out our kit, calculate how much water we'd need, how much food to bring, and how to fit it all into our budget. And then we actually had to travel. It was a major challenge ... before we were surprised by bandits, and then had to do battle against reanimated skeletons. I learned a couple of things. First, it takes a lot of money to gear up for travel from scratch. Our party consisted of one warrior in heavy armour, one noblewoman and her charger, one man-at-arms with a spear, and a hedgemage with limited healing spells. None of us had the kit to go such a long distance, and we needed a horse (which we did have) pulling a travois to carry the water we would need for the journey. That also meant we needed water and feed for the horse... It was complicated, cost a ton of money, and we all nearly died anyway. Second, spears are incredible. The man-at-arms dropped five skeletons in a row without letting them get near us at all. He was also able to use it as a walking stick and a probe for poking things best kept away from the human hand. Even if the spear broke, he could probably still use it for those other purposes, so it was a very effective multitool. While this was a total fantasy game, it stuck close enough to realism that we actually had to do the planning to see it through. And let me tell you, it was a lot of planning. Edit: spelling mistake

Been enjoying your videos, squire. I’ve done a lot of backpacking in my life and basically just done without a light source once it’s got dark. Obviously, a camp fire is a light source but I’m thinking candles and or lanterns. I’ve just accepted that it’s dark and I need to stop. I imagine a medieval traveller would have been even more used to just stopping doing stuff that needed light once the dune was down? Not a criticism, just my experience. Keep creating great content.

We live such comfortable lives in this age and era that we fantasies about adventures but I don't think we realize how dangerous and uncomfortable a real adventure would be and that a lack of goal wouldn't make it that exciting. I enjoy your channel btw

If you wanted the single /weapon tool. I would go with a Kukri. And only as a back up weapon. They were and are used as both and a built to take a beating. They can chop down small trees or fire wood but still be used in combat.

Good stuff, man! I think there's definitely something to be said for party optimization as well as gear optimization. Sure, you maybe can't choose your friends, but in an adventuring scenario, where the adventure is kinda literally your job, optimizing who you do your job with (i.e.: having at least one particularly strong person, one strategist, one healer, etc.) would probably be a viable thing to do. But again, the more likely real-life scenario is less likely to be "we have optimized our group perfectly for this journey" and more along the lines of "me and the boys at 3AM looking for b e a n s"

My two favorite parts of this video (not to reduce how incredibly informative it is) were definitely: - That's the end because I'm getting cold and - ... an owl!

I have to agree that a billhook would be a handy tool and walking stick, it could even be decked out like the battle ready ones. Fairly cheap and easy to blacksmith compared to most polearms. As for food, you don't technically need carbs, there's only essential amino acids and omega 3 fatty acids, but something like oats or barley last well, can be eaten cold and dry, or could be made into a porridge or journey cake. Fats have slightly over 2x more calories per gram than carbs or protien though, so fatty things like nuts or rendered animal fat would be best for packing calories compactly for long journeys. Perhaps you could make pemmican.

I used to play Skyrim with a mod named "Frostfall". It essentially introduced survival mechanics to the game. You could die of exposure, hunger or thirst. You had to use cloaks and bags and bedrolls when travelling. You could also let your horse carry things for you. It made the experience much more immersive. Travelling became more fun and i found myself using fast travel less. Those were the days...

As a teen, I'd travel with a 30lb pack until I was unpacking for the 3rd time an realised that I'd never used most of it. Cut down to just what I'd used and then added a few luxuries and it was below 20. I did like my mini hurricane lamp, though. Never had a problem with kerosine fumes in my tent.

Genuinely one of the best, most insightful videos I’ve seen in a while. Keep up the good work

🎩Hi as a tool and possibly a close combat weapon you couldn’t do much better than a bill hook. A hedge laying tool. I have seen some with shafts up to 1ft long. These were being used by professional workers who had been doing it for 40 years.

I might add a few details. 1: Caves. In the past 100 to 150 years in real life most caves the world over have been filled in to prevent children form getting lost in them. An actual medieval adventurer would almost always have a cave available to sleep in. 2: Barns. Because horses, oxen and mules were so common, there were many barns and an adventurer would probably have somewhere with a roof, even if they had to sleep in hay. 3: Mules. Buying, selling, and trading mules was extremely common. Mules were the cheapest of the carrying animals and a group of adventurers would probably have at least a few to carry their gear. 4: Hoods/cloaks. They would have a special winter cloak and they would sometimes not even bring a tent. Just lean on a tree and cover themself with a very thick wool cloak and who needs a tent? If you absolutely wanted to you could attach one side of the cloak to the tree, and the other side to the ground at your feet, in case of strong wind and rain. 5: News. It was typical for people to welcome a traveler into their home simply to hear any news they may have heard. If they had no news they could still regale their host with tales of their own home town/village/local heroes/local legends/fairytales/stories/recent wars/etc. It was boring with no TV and seeing a passerby on the road you didn't recognize near sundown could very well mean some interesting stories you have never heard before, and maybe some interesting roots or tubers in the stew that night. 6: Carts. Before modern railroad and 18-wheeler shipping containers there were cartmen. It was rare to walk on a road for too long and not see a carter. If you had to carry a lot, you could wait for a carter and ask to share a story in exchange for a ride with the hay/wood/grain/etc. If I had to travel on foot for any real distance, I would have a cloak instead of a tent, and a mule to carry the food and the packs. I would also try to find a cave or the smoke from a fire before starting my own. Friendliness is your most important asset and charisma is almost as good.

the candle spike, awesome, looks multipurpose as well, a rope fidd for example. tarp sheets can be easily combined, can also make kitchen/eatout shelter. Donkey for the win, there should be more of them in films, go Bill!!!! Slip quick release knots on roycroft for instant drop of pack I woudlnt use a primary weapon as a tool. BUT if ranger character, bow might be primary and an axe/knife as sidearms might be only occasionally used. In fact i remember a character that didnt use them for several levels as used bow so often.

travelers would often carry a wooden staff and/or a sword. a staff is a helpful walking stick when traveling, and it's good protection against mongrel dogs on the outskirts of town. also, a good, hardy staff will make potential bandits think twice before robbing you. but if you could afford it, a sword carried for protection would probably be a traveler's preferred weapon of choice. it doesn't have to be a fancy, expensive sword. it just has to be enough to discourage/fight off any possible assailants.

*In reality, people in the olden days traveled with wagons.* The car is simply the modern-day car, and even gets its name from carriage. People would haul their gear in a horse-pulled wagon/buggy. Otherwise, it is just too heavy to carry all that weight. Especially, in those days when everything was made from wood, wrought-iron, dense canvas, wool, and animal fur/skin.

Yes, nothing like a camping trip to learn what really works and what seemed like a good idea at the time.

I still remember an old documentary on PBS in 1979. Three men with camera crew in tow went from "upper civilized Canada" to the Northern tree line... On foot, at the break of winter. The trio only had sparse tools, blankets and food to get to camp. They spent a year out there with only the camera crew getting supplies. But the first problem was a lingering snow storm in the way. Once at camp in their first interview they were aske what was the hardest part of the trip. Two of the answered, "Taking a piss mid-march." Why? "With that wind it's easy to get a few frost burns down there." "You just have to suffer."

One important thing to take into account about traveling as a fantasy adventurer. If you do it regularly, say averaging six months of travel over the course of the year, your body gets accustomed to it. You do not need great strength or stamina, just practice. The first man to summit Mt Everest didn't have inches of modern arctic clothing or oxygen bottles like people do today. His body was adjusted to such tasks and environments because it was something he was always doing. If you are always traveling in mail and carrying 50-60 pounds of other gear, your body body adjusts to it. Even if you are healthy and in good shape, if you are unaccustomed to traveling in such a manner, it is much more difficult.

Something else to remember about witchers. All through the books it talks about Geralt and the other witchers "wintering" in a set location every year. Even with their mutations, strength and experience, they still don't fight the cold. I think that is very well written and easy to overlook from a reader.

The Roman FUCA was probably the best way to carry individual gear. A roman squad was supplemented by someone with a hand cart for bulky cooking and sleeping gear.

I did 600 miles when I was 19 all around Vermont in a group of 14; total time traveling was something like 3 1/2 months. Started very fit at 168lbs and by the end was 143lbs with an eating disorder; never felt full even after eating enough for five. Winter/spring. I carried the tent, another guy had the titanium wood stove, next with pots, etc. We had food bags delivered to us every 7-11 days, since if we had carried money and tried to shop on the way we wouldn't have been able to buy the right kinds of food needed to sustain our intake. All this was with pretty modern equipment, but the tent was cotton so it didn't turn to solid ice every night. Spring time in boats was way easier on your body but portage was rough. Would have been a huge fan of lembas or a stamina potion along the way! Love all this that you're doing, every time a new video comes out I stop what I'm doing!

Capital video, as always. Some of my favorite descriptions of overland travel in medieval fantasy come out of Prince Caspian by CS Lewis. He dedicates much of a chapter to the arduousness of a single day's travel, and his descriptions are so immersive without getting long winded. "The sun grew warmer and they took their helmets off and carried them..." "And still they trudged on and their mail shirts began to feel very hot and heavy..." "But as there was no dry wood to be had... the boys began to wonder if raw meat was really as nasty as they had always been told." And the companions get so tired and frustrated that they either don't want to talk at all or they bicker. They then get attacked after all that, and they run to the point that they can't run anymore "even to save their lives." An arrow glances off Susan's helmet (two fantasy tropes get pleasantly subverted here, 1) a main character is actually wearing a helmet and 2) the armor does what its supposed to do and protects her) , sweat pours off them, and "the boys held their swords in their hands for fear they would trip them up." I love that detail especially, since I've done some running in the woods with a sword and I can't help myself grasping the hilt to keep it from flapping at my waist. All that to say, he sets a high bar for depictions of travel in a fantasy setting, and the difficulty of it doesn't make me want to go on adventures any less; it helps me mentally prepare for the reality, and reminds me that I'd need some real grit to make it very far.

i think carrying a long sturdy stick would make great sense it could be used as a tent pole, a walking stick and a rudimentary weapon when you dont have time to draw your sword

I'm pretty sure that adventurers would simply wear relatively thick clothing in the winter time and why something like a mantle or Ruana cloak is more preferred for warmth and sleep. For food, actually the human body is built to last quite long while being fit with little need for food. In fact hunger, or more like fasting, can heighten a persons senses and awareness and help with when fighting against a monster. So I would think they only have things to snack on like cheese, flat bread, fruit leather, crackers, jerky, and such till they reach the next town and have a filling meal. That one filling meal with enough nutriants can make a human being last for 3 - 5 days or possibly more and only snack on little bits between. It may sound terrible to us nowadays where food is everywhere but people back then would be used to it.

You always want a fire, if you need to do it on the sly, there are configurations like a Dakota Fire Hole that produce almost no smoke

Nobody on youTube comes close to putting in the work you do for this kind of thing - amazing as always! A couple thoughts - 1. regarding shelters and so forth: late 19th/early 20th century military field equipment is a great place to poke around for inspiration, because it's (A) generally after the point they expected every soldier to carry all his own stuff (shelter halves, mess tins, etc), but (B) before most modern materials and fastenings (snaps, zippers, synthetic fabrics...) enter the picture. Case in point: the button-together zeltbahn tents at 3:27. Early early Soviet stuff is often especially interesting because they were so materials-poor they're still using wood toggles and stupid-simple designs. 2. regarding dumping a pack quickly: old ALICE packs have a nifty pull-tab arrangement you might want to steal. It lets you set the straps to whatever length you want, leave them there.... but still just tug the cords and everything drops. I'm sure you could rig the same thing with leather straps (it's the same general idea as a "Birka" pouch closure) 3. regarding specialized equipment generally: I think it's a very setting/economic-dependent thing. Are "adventurers" a rarity (Middle-earth), or fairly common (most fantasy games). The latter potentially provides for a "gold rush" economy with a fair amount of readily made equipment (see 1). The former... I imagine almost everyone is just repurposing things from home: the family cook-kettle, the blanket off your bed, etc etc - or having things made bespoke. Happy trails!! Oh - PS: Clearly you're deep into bushcraft youTube and the parent books they draw from - but if you haven't seen it - "Wildwood Wisdom" by Jaeger is absolutely worth your time. There's a free preview on archive org if you want a hint of what's in it.

Firstly, great video as always! I always like to see people experimenting with new methods for these things for themselves. I think for the context of fantasy adventuring (or travel in general), some interesting notes can be taken from military history. Napoleon was famous for having his army pack light, often leaving behind their supply wagons and living off the land as much as possible. What an individual soldier would carry turns out to be far lighter than some of us would ever even consider leaving with for an adventure! It's worth including, though, that the sheer amount of resources found and taken by a traveling army could lead to issues, both for the locals and for other soldiers traveling in the near future. That might not be a problem for a small adventuring party, but they might have trouble getting their hands on such resources in the first place, especially if they care much about morals. Some details though: on the march, soldiers might be stopping for no more than a single night, in which case they may not even bother constructing shelter, sleeping only under the stars. The following is from the account of Elzéar Blaze, an officer in Napoleon's army: "When one is at the bivouac, near the enemy, every man lies down fully dressed; each sleeps, one might say, with his eyes open; one must be ready for any emergency (...) When the season is cold everyone lies about the fire; but one gets toasted on the one side, while being frozen on the other; one of course has the resource of turning around, but that is not at all easy." Not surprisingly, most recollections of this bivouacking are complaints of how uncomfortable it was, how they woke up with their jaws numb from being clenched all night, with dew on their mustaches, etc. I've also heard of soldiers using their leather rucksacks as pillows of sorts and covering themselves with their greatcoats. Anyway, the same account also mentions the sorts of shelters soldiers would sometimes construct for themselves: "They are built only in places where it is expected to remain for some days: for a single night no such trouble is taken. This sort of shelter is simply a roof of straw on three walls of straw; the open part is the highest, the closed part is toward the wind. Each establishes himself as he pleases, selects the ground to his liking, and the whole presents a rather attractive picture. In this sort of barrack it is impossible to stand, except perhaps near the entrance. One sleeps very well in them, but in the morning one must make one's toilet in the open air, which saves one from opening windows." I do want to mention that I don't want to sound like this is *the way* to travel; it's just some interesting insight into what such travel might look like when our adventurers pack as lightly as possible. Anyway, I've found some sketches made by an artist present during Napoleon's campaign in Russia, and they help to really bring to life the sights described in Blaze's accounts: A couple of drawings of the straw shelters, as described - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voyage_pittoresque_et_militaire_de_Willenberg_en_Prusse_jusqu%27a_Moscou_1827_(128823174).jpg commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voyage_pittoresque_et_militaire_de_Willenberg_en_Prusse_jusqu%27a_Moscou_1827_(128822584).jpg A few (of very many) showing how soldiers would find rest in the open - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voyage_pittoresque_et_militaire_de_Willenberg_en_Prusse_jusqu%27a_Moscou_1827_(128822820).jpg commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voyage_pittoresque_et_militaire_de_Willenberg_en_Prusse_jusqu%27a_Moscou_1827_(128823176).jpg commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voyage_pittoresque_et_militaire_de_Willenberg_en_Prusse_jusqu%27a_Moscou_1827_(128823188).jpg Whew! This comment turned out to be MUCH larger than I had anticipated, but I hope you find some of it interesting or insightful!

As someone who has travel through the woods by foot and knows a bit about historic materials 1- liquid fuels are hard to carry and easy to get contaminated with water and historic containers did not contain them well 2-It is not that I think of my tomahawk as being a replacement for having a weapon I think of it as being something I can still use as a weapon should my primary weapon go down unlike a 3lb felling axe and also it is useful to have a smaller axe even when I do carry a felling axe . By the same token a weapon that can also be used in a pinch as a tool when a tool is damaged is what I want in a pre modern context 3-There are a lot of people who talk about ideal situations like having a bunch of spruce trees just there for you to take bows from , this is not the norm . Think more about occasionally being able to have a resource but never being able to count on for any given night ( this also applies to rivers , trees , edible wild plants and huntable animals ) in the real world these resources are rare and frequently only available certain times of the year which you will not have the luck to be travelling in 4- EACH PERSON IN THE PARTY MUST BE ABLE TO SURVIVE ON THERE OWN !!!!!!!!!!! ok you are in a party of 4 and one person has the tent one person has the cooking pot , one person has the food and one person has the tools . The person with the tent fell into the river and was carried off with the tent still attached to them ! It is -10 at sun set and windy there are no trees around and the snow is about 18in deep . You are all going to die now . Each person needs to carry what they need to at least survive ( a shelter , rope, food , cooking implement like a pot , water , a heavy blanket or cloak , way to start fire in the wet , a weapon , a tool that can pound and cut wood, bandages ) This is non-negotiable if you think your quest is worth doing in the first place 5- light at night is probably not going to happen beyond a fire , historically when the sun went down work stopped 6- machetes are great above 0 degrees and progressively worse below 0 because the frozen wood starts getting much harder and more likely to ship tin metal 7- Towns , you are going to have to deal with them ie A- town regulations on carrying of obvious weapons B- paying for stuff in town C- not drawing any more attention to yourself in town then 100% necessary D- Speaking to people in the towns ( different dialects of even full on languages ) 8- Money its heavy and makes you a target of thieves and others and could vary wildly in value from place to place ( I think if I were going back to the 15th century I might bring pepper and nutmeg over gold and silver ) 9- Draft animals to help carry things and become food or a way to pay for things if need be 10-Water its not every ware, so we all must carry our drinks ! it sounds easy but its not pre modern canteens leak and are heavy and easily damaged especially if you end up in a fight or sliding down a hillside

Really nice indepth vid mate! Concering the "share the load" thing with multiple people: I was a scout for the better part of my life (not american, rather following the old german tradition of the "bündische Jugend") and we traveld in groups of 3 to 8. Longest trips would go for three to five weeks, and some of us spent those in high skandinavia, where theres literally noone around for many kilometres. We used tents introduced to the german scout scene around 1910. They are inspired by the lappian hertender summer-tents, and can be split up into 4 smaller segments. Each of those weighs about 2,5 to 3,5 kg (impregnated cotton). The full tent ("kohte") can easily fit 8 people, their packs, cooking gear, wood and a fire, whilst only one segment can be used to make a one-man tent as well. We usually had our packs weigh between 20 and 30kg, but that was including many things you could easily leave at home. We also always traveled with a guitar, sometimes even with a bodhrán. And: We also slept on furs most of the time. The only "modern" piece of our stuff was usually the sleeping bag. Also: candles! We didnt use any electric things. Good ol times I tell you :D

Thanks for addressing this subject so candidly. In light of many of these problems, there's more than one reason why, when dreaming up a D&D adventurer or similar character, I instinctively gravitate towards outdoorsy people like rangers, druids, and barbarians: because they're the characters that I know can reliably survive the trip. I am also reminded of how, in my real-life camping practice, it's invariably been necessary for members of a group to split up the carrying of various forms of equipment among themselves, but to share it in actual use. As for potential equipment failures, which are a very logical argument to raise, I would suggest that this is one reason why games allow people with craft-oriented skills or backgrounds to be created: so that they can make repairs en route.

So this video, and many others, is making me shift my novel from a company sized force marching to the Royal army to twenty brothers adventuring through occupied territory to reach the place they’ve been ordered to and I love it. Heavy emphasis on the survival and travel elements. Means scrapping half a dozen chapters and many characters, but I think it will be worth it.

The way around the camp axe problem is to also carry a large knife or machete that can be used to baton wood in a pinch. The problem with a having a dedicated melee weapon is it adds a lot of extra weight but isn't as useful for adventuring as say, a crossbow which can be used for hunting and combat. A spear might be an exception because it can be used as a walking stick and for hunting.

Hey Kramer, great video. Good thoughts....Like you said, a party would normally plan out who is is carrying what rather than just getting together and going. Someone should be carrying a dutch-oven sized for the number of people in your party. Although I don't have these for "adventures" I have a full line of dutch ovens, so I _could_ theoretically just pick the right one for the job. They come in all sizes from big enough to support 20 people to as little as single serving sized. Obviously you want to carry one that's just right so you aren't wasting space and load, but big enough to support the party with hot food. How you faring the weather on your side of the state? We've already got at least 2 ft of snow.

If you're used to hiking and fighting, it will be a little different. And if you expect to fight, you are likely to have shorter hikes, if possible. I used to do some heavy backcountry hiking, where a pack could weigh between forty and sixty pounds, depending on the length of the hike (longer hike = more gear), and at the end of the day, we were usually fine and would go swimming, build shelter, make fish traps, climb trees or cliffs (if there was time). And this was after hiking 15 km on a mountain range. On a long day we could do between 20 and 25 km, depending on elevation change. But that's pushing it, and you don't have energy for much else afterwards; set up the tent, eat sleep... That's about it.

Look at getting your self a brass, collapsible candle lantern. Also look at the kit carried by medieval soldiers, Also look at the sleeping systems used by vikings etc... The at times had no tents and use a long ground sheet in combination with a blanket or series of blankets to cover them selves. .

I remember in old inns people would sleep up to six people per bed. I would imagine same could be said of at camps. Body heat is more than a candle would put out.

I imagine bags of holding as mass produced products in the Forgotten Realms, to supply the many adventuring parties who will definitely need all the inventory space they can afford to go on grand adventures in such dangerous lands.

One thing to consider, is that before the modern era, unless you were traveling a very short distance, carrying your supplies on your back was rather uncommon. Carts, wagons, boats, and pack animals were far more common. Even if your party can't afford mounts, you could probably afford one or two ponies to carry some of your stuff. Backpack camping is really a modern invention.

You're also forgetting wheelbarrows and carts. Especially things like the Benpacker and the Monowalker .

You clearly address the difficulties of freezing weather, but an even more difficult scenario is when it is a sometimes freezing+ snowing mixed with some rain. Everything might be covered in snow but it's melting, the ground gets muddy and the rain is soaking everything. It is very difficult to prepare for this without to much gear. Sadly it's the type of winter we're facing here in Germany nowadays.

Having a walking stick that is the size of a staff would be a lot more common. It works as a walking stick providing extra stability when crossing streams and such. It is in your hand so it turns into a weapon very quickly, its also less threatening. When you camp it can also be used as a tent pole or shelter tie off point. Also gathering leaves or pine boughs and using them with your skins will keep you warmer. If your skin only goes the length of your torso you can prop your feet on a couple of sticks to get them off the ground.

You're spot on in your rule of two weapon assessment! We try to do the same thing in bushcraft/survival. 2 is 1, one is none. Beeswax candles aren't *as* deadly in a tent on under a tarp *WITH AIRFLOW*. If you don't have at least a bit of air traveling in and out of your shelter, be it madern tent, a tarp, or a car, you need fresh oxygen! So same thing goes in car camping/emergencies. Crack the window, no matter how cold. Your own breath can kill ya!

Something that I feel earlier editions of D&D covered but was kind of forgotten in later editions is the use of henchmen and hirelings. If you had to travel long distances, carrying a bunch of camping gear, food, water etc. in a potentially hostile area, you'd probably PAY SOMEONE to carry your stuff for you. The adventurers could carry just their weapons and be ready for a fight while the hirelings tote the heavy stuff... Granted, having a bunch of low-level disposables doesn't feel very "epic" in your fantasy, but it makes some great sense to have some folks along that can tend to the mounts, set up camp, cook meals, provide entertainment etc. for the low cost of a few silver or a share from your mighty treasure hoard.

13:37 a modern soldier has a 25-30lb set of body armor, a helmet, a 9lb rifle, and a backpack that weighs probably 50lbs minimum, mkre realistically 70lbs. And they manage to walk, live and fight for days. I've done it enough, it sucks, but it's perfectly doable. Keepvin mind that even a fit person today walks a lot less than a medieval era person.

Great discussion. Here are a couple of things that make winter camping better than I learn in my 50 years of camping. 1) put a hot rock, kept near the fire, at the foot of your bedding when you turn in (be sure you can pick it up with your bare hand!) 2) a dry tunic/shirt to sleep in, change into it when you turn in. and 3) don't allow yourself to sweat. This is complicated, but getting wet is very bad. Remove/open up clothes before you get hot. Start any hike a bit cold or chilled your body temp with come up with exertion. Kept up the good work and enjoy the journey!

Woolen garments are also a good idea. While they can be bulky & heavy when wet, wool holds up to 60% of its thermal retention even when soaked all the way through.

As far as tents, in WWII the Germans had "Zeltbahn" which is a 1/4th of a 4 man tent which doubled as a rain poncho. The US Army had shelter halves which made a two-man tent. I just sewed a closable hole in a shelter half to turn that into a poncho too.

So something I picked up as a scout is that walking sticks work great as tent poles. If there are two of you, have one person carry the tent and one the bed rolls. Then each of you gets a pole to use as a walking stick during the day. I assume it would scale up with larger tents than 2 person ones, but I'm unsure as I've never needed to do so.

My mom figured out a really interesting way of having candles warm up a room; she put several tea lights under a terracotta flowerpot and it judt exuded warmth, while keeping the flame safely enclosed. Not really effective to carry a heavy pot on a trip, but something to think about, and find a compromising solution, i think.

The words, "cold, wet, exhausting, stressful, (because of it being dangerous)" come to mind And that's before you get to the target zone LOL

yes, you could carry that weight and then fight at the end. pacing is the key, and nourishment. when the fight starts the adrenalin kicks in. I am a combat vet, I am 6' 4" 258 lb. my IBA vest 60lb, Skull cap 10lb, weapon 35lb, 130lb in ammunition. combat knife SOG master, Tang leaf blade, entrenching tool, four frags, sidearm + four mags and my tomahawk = 30lb, survival gear, rations, med-kit, camelback lets say 20lb. 96 hours patroling in AFG in the mountains and engaged in battle many times. anyone can do it so don't overthink the poundage. I really like your channel. keep it up.

One thing about walking overland that people overlook, you are constantly having to cross small rivers and streams. Even if there are fords this usually means wet feet and legs, or taking time to take off your shoes and roll up your pants. Its a good reason to have a horse, if its willing to enter deep water.

Rangers and the historical longhunters are one of/the closest thing to this in history. There are several excellent videos here on their kit, which mostly overlaps with Fandabi Dozi's period Highlander kit, and a few pretty historical Norse/viking ones. People massively underestimate the sheer amount of _time_ stuff takes for these sorts of things. Relying on stuff that you find along the way is a problem, because 1) there may not be any, 2) you may not happen to run across any if there is any to begin with, 3) it takes time and energy to find, harvest, process, and use, that could have been used elsewhere, and which may require carrying (and degrading via use) tools to accomplish. The reality is that, with _modern_ equipment, a human in isolation in the wilderness is basically reduced to subsistence hunter-gathering as a sheer matter of time, as there is insufficient time to do much else. And a human cannot really carry more than a couple of days' worth of food and water along with all of their other survival equipment. Partly hence why beasts of burden were ubiquitous for travelling. Donkeys, mules, horses, camels, and the like to carry you and/or your gear (although this requires considering survival factors for the animal as well). An American back-country hunter today strongly advocates for pack _goats_ here on youtube. The point about multipurpose tools being a problem for the other if it fails is one that had not occurred to me before. That is brilliant! Thank you. I strongly agree on the setting-specific tools. This would apply to your entire gear loadout, though, really, since all of it is tools designed to accomplish specific desired outcomes within a range of contexts. Step outside of that range-such as winter forest gear populated with deer and wolves and stepping into a scorching desert filled with large monsters-and your toolset is poorly suited to the job.

In all the stories I ever read, the members of the party just wrapped up in their cloaks while somebody kept watch.

Back in my (Canadian) army days, we'd do winter survival exercises, basically loading up a toboggan full of tent (5-10 man), stove, fuel, food .. then add in our own rucks with food and clothing, before heading off into the snowy woods. I don't remember the weights involved, but anyone less fit than someone doing daily PT would be hugely struggling, say someone like a bookish wizard or monastical cleric. You'd also be putting on layers, taking off layers, repeat as necessary so medieval armours would probably suck. Our guideline for winter was 4000+ calories a day (iirc), per soldier at a basic minimum for keeping up with the caloric output that winter and harsh exercise entailed, and we'd only be slogging enough for a few days or extended weekend. A longer trip would mean more food, more fuel, more weight, causing more exertion that needs more food. I can only imagine doing similar travel under medieval conditions with period equipment, rations and shelter.

This is why you need a horse. A quarter horse could carry 200+ lbs for you. Some of that will have to be grain for the horse but even 50 lbs free for yourself could be a blessing. 150 lbs of food would last 10 days. That could easily be a 200 mile trek without needing to get to town. You could walk from Paris, France to Brussels, Belgium, resupply and rest, then walk to Amsterdam. Based on some map I found, crossing the Mirkwood would be close to 200 miles.

Fun tip for next time you winter camp: put the coals from the fire under our sleeping area, with a layer of dirt over it. It's called a coal bed. Keeps you warm all night long.

When it comes to something you need to survive, two is one and one is none.

From a military point of view, everyone having their own set of gear is good incase someone gets lost or separated from the main group they can survive until found. Additionally, that guarantees spare items that can't be replaced quickly or easily such as a cookpot or machete. The ODnd method of having followers to bear your burdens was based on historical depictions of a knight on campaign, so in the right context, both can be equally plausible.

From a retired military perspective when I first enlisted we carried shelter half's and a set of poles. It was half a tent we would set up with our battle buddy. In order to shelter 2 people also you could use it as a lean-to. Also we carried a ponch ( cloak) that was used as shelter as well.

8:16 There are lanterns that use candles. Some direct the light with mirrored surfaces. The glass would be tricky though. Only to be used in camp.

Read the combatreform article "combat light", or the book "the soldiers load and the mobility of a nation". Basically for combat effectiveness your load must be absolutely minimal, if you can avoid it, don't even carrying your weapon until you need to use it. This modern hiking way of loading yourself up with a huge pack is detrimental to a warrior. Having a pack animal or sled of some sort is vital depending on the terrain. Cut all extraneous items, leave only food, water, sleeping bag and your weapon. In a pinch, dump the heavier items and bring only what you will die without.

Recognize I am comming in way late to this, but you should definitely look into the daily life of a Roman legionaire on campaign. They were trained to march 14-20 miles a day then build a full encampment with an earthen wall and ditches while carrying most of their own equipment (I belive for every 8 men there was one servant/slave to do some of the lifting). Not exactly the adventuring lifestyle, but an interesting resource for what you are trying to achieve.

My take, Armor solution: Gambison with laced on sleves. Great protection, superb insulation, remove the sleves if its too hot. Boiled/lacquered leather can be added to the outside for a touch more protection if needed due to thickets or other inconvenience. Weapon solution: Axe for tool, you have a chopper, whittler, planer, and hammer all in one; Short Sword for a weapon, light weight at a couple of pounds, and if it is damaged you still have a tool/backup weapon. An Eating Dagger is also advised as a last resort and another useful tool, and has a lot of historical precedent. Side note: with a short sword you could design it to be used in hand, or tied to a walking stick and make a SPEAR! In a world with adventurers, there would be more purpose built pieces of kit, but I think we have a good idea of possible outcomes. You have inspired my artistic side to take a crack at the problem though...

Putting a stone in or near the fire and then sleeping with that wrapped up in something to insulate is a good idea. My uncle taught me that as a kid.

Funny that this was pretty much how a company worked when I was doing national service. Everybody carried their personal equipment and then the tent etc. were carried or drawn communally.

Rocks. Rocks make weapons and hammers. A slingshot is a heck of a weapon, and depending on the area, rocks are available everywhere. I realize that I am being a bit fascious, but not entirely. A stout tree limb doubles as a walking stick, a staff, a pole and club. A prop (in the Tolkienian sense) in the wild (good for testing the ground ahead) and for rigging the tent. If you want to lighten the load, you can have a dedicated weapon and a dedicated tool, but you can have a few that serve both purposes ( that's why Gimli carried more than one ax).

This video is masterful in showing how hard winter travel was before modern vehicles--especially when you are carrying your own equipment, armor, and weapons. Add the fact that winter roads were either sheets of ice or quagmires, and it is evident why wars were rarely fought in winter. Lastly, for tools that make excellent weapons, consider the bill-hook and the brush ax. Both were developed to clear overgrown terrain and both were historically used in battle.

One additional point, pack animals. Even in LOTR and Witcher you see them using pack animals to carry the load. Granted that brings its own logistical headache, but it is both used in history and fantasy. Another thing on the tent is that in real life there were cases when Soldiers each carried a half tent and combined them when encamped. That both cut the weight per Soldier and allowed the sharing of body heat.

Enjoy your videos. Travel with heavy gear is never easy but as a former infantryman we use to travel with 60+ pounds packs and 50+pounds of gear body armor, helmet, weapon. Moving 15 to 20 miles in a day to fight after. In history the Roman soldier did the same but takes lots of conditioning for to get good. All of what you say is what we do to ease load and planning is always key to being successful. Keep making great videos

One of the things that has frustrated me was trying to describe 'cold' without numbers in a story. I caught myself doing it .. implying '0' degrees meant something to people who had never seen a thermometer!! Thank you for this video.. you actually confirmed several things I had guessed.

Great, thought-provoking video! I camp quite a bit and even with modern, lightweight gear I can definitely feel it, after a moderate hike. Also, If there were only *one* magical item allowed in this world, for me, it would most definitely be a "bag of holding"... 😁

The packs we carried in the military were about 90 lbs. It really does not sound like you guys carried even close to what you needed for a longer journey, sounds more like a weekend camping trip in the woods.

Very well done!!

Great information 👍

Pure awesome. Great effort!

Excellent video!

My 2 or 3 cents on the subject: -Winter requires a completely different set of equipement: snowshoes or skis depending on terrain, toboggan to tow your big kit, way more clothes and different clothing altogether. -You would have to either buy or forgo equipement when winter arrives/finishes. The worse is the inbetween when is cold enough to freeze to death from a rainy day because at nightfall temps drops below zero celsius. -Having weaponry drastically changes your logistics, it can easily be a 40 pounds difference for a armed vs unarmed adventurer. -Wool today is sadly underrated, my sheep wool gloves cost me 10 CA$ and are the best even compared to my super-engineered polyester/cotton/heat reflective 50$ gloves. Merino and alpaga are pricey and you really don't alway need it. It's nice for first layers but not for gloves seeing constant wear. -An inn/tavern is a must every few days to dry your things properly and start fresh the next leg of your journey. -Winter is energy intensive: gotta keep a big calories intake to warm yourself up, don't skip the morning poopoo 'cause you are wasting energy literally warming shit. Gotta make a fire every night unless you wanna die, since you wanna also melt snow to have drinking water. -As you state, sharing things when you are in a group is a must. -You get to really know someone when you travel with them and you get in inclement weather or other adverse conditions. One could be a fucker when tired or a lazy ass who just chills all the time. All in all, apart from the different gear, I don't really think there's much that differs from modern trekking/backpacking. We tend to forget they were just like us but just didn't know about plastics or electricity.

In the old ttrpg Pendragon, you wouldn't go on quests during the winter. The system precluded such obvious lunacy -- you stay at home, maintaining your character.