Tuesday 31 May 2022

Journeys

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Primeval Bastionland is finally at a stage where I can drag it to the table for an early playtest to see if the idea has any real legs.

It's built on the Electric Bastionland rules, but a couple of additions are needed for context here.

EXPOSED: Characters who are caught unprepared, helpless, or overloaded are Exposed. They are treated as if they have 0hp. If they improve their situation then their hp is consulted as normal. Traps and ambushes usually catch their victims Exposed when sprung.

BURDENS: Knights regularly acquire Burdens on their soul. Anybody carrying 3 or more Burdens is considered Exposed. Burdens are Relieved by their specific requirement, or taking a season of reflection or indulgence.

Being a game explicitly about quests, I wanted to have some tools on hand for roaming around the wilderness and undertaking long journeys. I wanted something different than just "roll to see how good/bad your journey is", so I'm trying out a set of guidelines that should encourage the players to plan their journey carefully and engage with the locals without being too focused on the minutiae of navigation and resource management.

DOMAINS & PROVINCES

A typical Domain covers 9 Provinces.

Roll a Host for the central Province, forming the main settlement and seat of power.

The remaining 8 Provinces are set to the North, Northeast, East etc. Each is defined by rolling a Myth that it is known to be linked to. If appropriate this may include a smaller settlement.

Myths can be interpreted literally, or in a more abstract manner. In case of duplicates the myth takes on several forms.

TRAVELLING

Days are split into 3 phases: Day, Eve, and Night. Travelling at Night is ill-advised if not impossible.

Travel between Provinces takes:

  • 1 Phase by horse or river with a route
  • +1 Phase on foot
  • +1 Phase without a route

Travelling to a new Domain follows the same guidance as above, but replaces each Phase with d6 full days. Each day gives the choice of two Provinces to pass through, each with their own Myth.

Etiquette dictates that hospitality be granted to travellers, though a favour is usually asked for in return. Roll a Host to discover who you find.

If Travellers are forced to spend the night camping without having secured the area they gain the Burden:
Weary: Sleep somewhere safe and comfortable.

Similarly, each day they go without food and drink gives the Burden:
Deprived: Have a hot meal and clean drink.*

SEASONS

A year is roughly split into summer and winter. After a Quest is completed roll 1d6.

1: The season changes.
2-3: The season is turning. Change after the next Quest.
4-6: The current season continues.

In winter, Eve is treated as night, and anyone travelling outside of a settlement gains the Burden:
Frigid: Get yourself warmed up.

*Yes, this is replacing the existing Deprived rule for this playtest!

1 comment:

  1. I love the idea of explicitly designing to encourage engagement with locals along the way. And the route planning sounds like a point-crawl where the points represent different myths...also a really exciting idea.

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