Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jun 24, 2003 8:24:52	I'm trying to develop a more refined travel system for Dark Sun. I don't intend to go beyond the rules created for DnD, but I want to include this such as "in standard travel everyone rests at high sun". Doing this - I feel - would add some flavour to Dark Sun as you would have the option of travelling in the middle of the day, covering more distance at a greater risk. Fo rthis reason I tried using the standard ADnD rules for travelling, espcially extended travelling (I'm running Tyrian Conspiricay and the party isd trying to catch up after Urik). I must have misunderstood something, so let me list my interpretation of the rules and please point out the mistake. A person may travel 8 hours a day (walking). He may hustle for en hour at no expense, each additional hour incurs 1/2/4/8/16 hp of subdual damage. He may embark on a forced march: for each extra hour he makes a con test (dc 10 + number of hours already spent forced marching), failure yields 1d6 hp of subdual damage. This damage only starts healing after 4 hours of rest. Hmm, this is strange, as long as you have decent hp/level. Let our standard char have 25 hp / 5 th level / +0 con. Note: The hustle penalty is automatic and has nothing to do with con or any other kind of "toughness". Ex.1: He hustle for 5 hours, walks for 3 hours. This yeilds 15 hp of sudual damage, and corresponds to 13 hours of walking (you move x2 when you hustle). The 15 hp of subdual damage are easy recovered when sleepin, as he heals 5 hp/hour spent sleeping - in total 40 hp! Even if we use the 4 hour buffer rule he still heals 20 hp /night. In total: he may move with this speed without penalty! Ex.2: He makes forced march for 6 hours, travelling in total 14 hours. He needs to make 6 con checks at DC 10,11,12,13,14,15. I can do the math, but lets just say he succeds 2 times. This yields in total 14 hours of travelling and 4d6 hp lost. During the night he heals (8-4)*5=20 hp - probably making him as good as new. And this is for 6 hours of extended march!!!!! The problems scale and become unreasonble ig the level increases = healing/night increases. And if he has magic healing capabilities... its even worse. Have I overlooked something. As you may notice, the turning point is in fact "how easy do you heal the subdual damage". As I read the rules, you get 1*level / hour - which adds up to a lot when you sleep. Is there something like "you cannot regain subdual damage lost from travelling until you have spent a full day resting?". Even then, I find it a big problem that hustling does not depend on any kind of physical attribute (except hp). And in additon that forced march is a con check - why not make it fortitude (and increase the DC). I might as well end here, any comments?
#2 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Jun 24, 2003 12:43:59	Well, I pretty much stuck to the standard system, adjusting for temperatures for Athas, and then applying how it would affect my Players' Characters based on race - Thri-Kreen & Full-blooded Elves I had ruled were the least affected by the extreme heat, while the other races pretty much had to break for around 4-6 hours through the hottest part of the day to avoid heat exhaustion. The way it worked out, they prtty much had to divide their sleeping & moving schedules in two parts for each, to get around the high & low temperature extremes of the desert. Of course, they'd always choose the Thri-Kreen to be their guard when they set up camp...
#3 zombiegleemax Jun 26, 2003 3:16:39	Of course you travel in the morning and the afternoon. That is how desert travel always is handled. In Dark Sun several races in addition have the ability to see (and therefore travel) during the night. I have some ideas as to how this may be written down. But - of course depending on when the sun rises/sets you are easy able to get 8 hours of travel withought travelling in the fours window where it is really hot on a normal day. But my post was basically made in order to get clarification on the fatigue/forced march rules which seem VERY bad. It is FAR to easy to recover from the subdual damage you take if you're husstling or marching. And the damage has next to nothing to do with your physical characteristics. In Dark Sun, as opposed to most other settings, travel are very dangerous and an importnat part of the flavour of the setting. This is my reason for wantning to expand a little on these issues.