How to travel fast?

[PhilHibbs]

1 hour ago, pachristian said:

Just remember: The moment you put fast movement into the game, the players will look for ways to make money off it. Also, keep in mind that if the PC’s can do it, it is likely that there are a whole lot of NPC’s who can, and do, do the same thing.

One answer to that it to make it expensive. PCs tend to have large disposable wealth, so those NPCs who have figured it out can charge the PCs for the service. And if the PCs look like they are muscling in on their cushy little number ..

Edited July 16, 2019 by PhilHibbs

[Shiningbrow]

8 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

One answer to that it to make it expensive. PCs tend to have large disposable wealth, so those NPCs who have figured it out can charge the PCs for the service. And if the PCs look like they are muscling in on their cushy little number ..

Wouldn't need to.

Firstly, most of these will be cult owned and operated (need to be to get the spells). That's a serious piece of competition to go up against.

Secondly, since we're talking about Rune Spells provided by the God, unsanctioned  methods can just lose their ability to be cast ... Not in the God's interests, especially if measly little initiates are opposing the priesthood and temple.

Thirdly, for a group of adventurers, it's simply not worth the hassle... The amount of time, effort and energy to finally get that show on the road *efficiently and effectively* alone would be virtually impossible (without significant outside support - which goes against the "alone" bit).

 

[PhilHibbs]

17 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Firstly, most of these will be cult owned and operated (need to be to get the spells). That's a serious piece of competition to go up against.

Not all of the methods proposed involve Rune magic.

17 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Secondly, since we're talking about Rune Spells provided by the God, unsanctioned  methods can just lose their ability to be cast ... Not in the God's interests, especially if measly little initiates are opposing the priesthood and temple.

Topic drift, but I disagree. Rune magic works, and can't be taken away. What you can lose is the right to take part in ceremonies to get the RP back, but that would take a priest to cast a Ban enchantment. So yes, a similar outcome, by a different mechanism.

[Shiningbrow]

5 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Not all of the methods proposed involve Rune magic

True, but a healthy dose of magic is involved. Mostly originating or associated with a cult.

I don't think they'd get excommunicated... Just a talking to.

My main point was that it wouldn't be as easy, or profitable, as suggested.

[Eric Christian Berg]

Fire mares! Fire mares can travel a thousand leagues in a day!

[RHW]

One thing worth remembering, until they reach a certain power level (and invest in the proper magic) all characters travel as fast or slow as the GM wants. So even if it takes two week to travel from say, Boldhome to Nochet, the GM can always just jump to the arrival in Nochet. Or you can take a dozen sessions for the journey, whatever floats your boat. Odysseus takes a lot longer to travel from point A to B than anyone should, but that's how the gods wanted it. Likewise Dany's dragons fly as fast as the writers want.

[PhilHibbs]

9 hours ago, RHW said:

Odysseus takes a lot longer to travel from point A to B than anyone should, but that's how the gods wanted it. Likewise Dany's dragons fly as fast as the writers want.

That can be very unsatisfying for the players, to feel that they are at the whim of the all-powerful GM. Sure, in most games they are (although some game systems put in mechanisms to break this absolute control, like Gumshoe, Apocalypse, Blades In The Dark), but maintaining the illusion of influence is valuable.

As a GM, I'm sometimes in a tricky position. I set up a series of obstacles that are supposed to last a few game sessions. Stormwalk Mountain, Old Wind Temple, The Block, The Long Dry, The Paps, The Rubble. The players come up with a genius way of circumventing all of them, "Guided Teleport striaght from Nochet to Pavis"! Do I finagle it so that their method doesn't work, or do I just say "Ok, you win, game over, what shall we do now, 'cos I have nothing ready!"

[Shiningbrow]

On 7/31/2019 at 6:19 PM, PhilHibbs said:

or do I just say "Ok, you win, game over, what shall we do now, 'cos I have nothing ready!"

You say, "well, if you do this, I have nothing ready, so we're going to waste today's session...".

We've done that to a GM, who said this, so obviously playing was more important than "winning". We went the way the GM had prepared...  

[d(sqrt(-1))]

Always assume the players will circumvent things...

[Joerg]

Just train your players that circumventing things makes you improvise, pulling monsters straight from the book in unprepared situations rather than offering them in well-prepared ones with lots of character opportunities.

If the players didn't take in all the hints and magical upgrades you were preparing for the long road from Nochet to Pavis, put these items up for quests when they arrive in Pavis. "You really need this stuff from Stormwalk Mountain...."

[Bill the barbarian]

1 hour ago, d(sqrt(-1)) said:

Always assume the players will circumvent things...

Alas...

:(

[RHW]

On 7/31/2019 at 3:19 AM, PhilHibbs said:

As a GM, I'm sometimes in a tricky position. I set up a series of obstacles that are supposed to last a few game sessions. Stormwalk Mountain, Old Wind Temple, The Block, The Long Dry, The Paps, The Rubble. The players come up with a genius way of circumventing all of them, "Guided Teleport striaght from Nochet to Pavis"! Do I finagle it so that their method doesn't work, or do I just say "Ok, you win, game over, what shall we do now, 'cos I have nothing ready!"

Generally if I want the journey to be the adventure, I structure it so that the trip itself is important or unavoidable. So escort the large caravan or guard the dignitary who won't fly or allow himself to be teleported. Scout the route! Find the Questing Beast, herd the herd, that sort of thing.

At lower levels, encounter skipping isn't usually a huge issue, since there's not THAT much magic that will let an entire party fly/teleport/run across the world. At higher levels, I always assume the party will skip most of the journey somehow or other, but that's okay. I find journey adventures are best for new characters learning about the world. Higher level characters can just go where the action is.