EDRulebook: 13 Adventuring In Earthdawn

TRAVEL

Like all adventurers, characters in Earthdawn will spend many days traveling from place to place and searching the land for new adventures across Barsaive’s nearly 1,500,000 square miles. Population centers are spread out across the land, often requiring long journeys simply to get from one place to the next. The information in this section outlines modes of transport, needed supplies, and ways of dealing with the weather and other potential travel hazards.

Note: The travel rates described below are measured in "miles per day" for the convenience of players and gamemasters calculating travel times. The people of Barsaive don’t use miles as a unit of distance. Instead, they measure distances in "days walking," "days riding," "days sailing" (on the Serpent River), or "days flying" (in airships).

[Caravan]

OVER LAND

Most adventurers travel through Barsaive over land, either on foot or mounted. Characters traveling on foot can cover roughly 25 miles per day, assuming that they travel for 8 hours each day and take occasional breaks for rest and eating. The rough terrain throughout most of Barsaive precludes any faster rate of travel on foot. Injured characters and those carrying encumbering loads (see Encumbrance), may travel more slowly, perhaps only 20 miles per day. Characters riding mounts can travel roughly 40 miles per day, again assuming 8 hours of travel with occasional breaks. If the mounts are carrying encumbering loads, they may only be able to cover 35 miles per day.

Occasionally, characters travel with merchant or trader caravans, either as guards or as fellow travelers. Most caravans travel at a rate of 30 miles per day when mounted, or 20 miles per day on foot.

Using Maps

To get where they want to go and avoid unsafe spots, characters traveling over land need a map. The province of Barsaive covers a vast distance, and current maps of Barsaive show many uncharted areas. The Scourge altered Barsaive’s geography by obliterating many towns and cities, forcing others to relocate and destroying landmarks and geographic features. In the time since the Scourge, no one has undertaken an expedition solely to map Barsaive, and so no reliable maps of post-Scourge Barsaive exist. Most available maps only indicate the major landmarks still in existence, such as the larger mountain ranges, the ruins of Parlainth, the Theran Empire outposts at Vivane and Sky Point, the Serpent River, Death’s Sea, the larger cities of Iopos, Travar, Jerris, and Kratas, and the kingdom of Throal. Some more expensive maps also show the main trade routes across the province, but most of these are commissioned by traders and are not for sale.

Most mapmakers in Barsaive draw their maps to be used with a device called Shantaya’s Sextant. Shantaya was an elven troubadour who traveled across the province and mapped it in the years before the Scourge. As a way to standardize her work, she developed a device to chart distance and bearings using the maps she drew. By aligning the Sextant with certain landmarks on the map, a traveler can determine the bearing and distance (in days walking or riding) to various places in Barsaive. The most prominent landmarks on the Shantaya maps are Throal, Sky Point, Wyrm Wood (now Blood Wood), Death’s Sea, and the Dragon Mountains.

Safe Areas

Because most of Barsaive remains unexplored, the law-abiding inhabitants of the land consider only the areas immediately surrounding most cities and a few established trading routes to be safe. Wandering away from these safe areas can prove hazardous to travelers.

Several smaller farming towns and villages surround most major cities within a radius of approximately 15 miles. These communities supply the city with agricultural goods in exchange for protection, usually in the form of favorable trade agreements and regular patrols by available armed forces. Their proximity to the city makes brief trips between the city and the farming communities feasible, and many towns arrange two-day journeys to trade their goods to the cities. Heavily settled and well-protected (relative to the rest of Barsaive), most of the territory within fifteen miles of a major city remains safe for travelers, but even these areas encompass desolate and dangerous spots.

Barsaive’s major trade routes connect major cities and specific points along the Serpent River. These routes change occasionally, based on the most recent travelers’ tales of their encounters along the established route. Well-traveled, often by caravans employing seasoned warriors, the trade routes are safe for travelers. Keep in mind, however, that every trade route crosses unexplored territories; travelers who stray as little as a thousand yards off the trade route may stumble into unmapped regions and areas unexplored even before the Scourge.

TRAVEL BY RIVER

Often, when a group of adventurers must travel long distances, they arrange transport on the Serpent River that crosses all of Barsaive. Because few characters own their own riverboats, most adventurers traveling up- or downriver must buy passage on a t’skrang riverboat.

Passage on a t’skrang riverboat costs an average of 5 silver pieces per person per day. Most ship captains demand full advance payment, though some accept partial payment in advance, the remainder due on arrival at the character’s destination. Some captains charge more than the average price, often bargaining with the characters to determine the fee. Characters can arrange to transport their mounts on the same craft, but must pay an additional 5 silver pieces per day for the animal.

Characters who lack ready funds may pay for their riverboat passage by working as a member of the crew during the voyage. Each day that a character works for the crew earns him an average of 3 silver pieces, though pay rates are negotiable based on the character’s skills. Some captains, instead of paying out silver, simply exchange passage for the character’s time and labor. A character can usually work off most or all of the cost of his trip in this manner. See Goods and Services for more information about hiring river passage.

T’skrang riverboats travel roughly 100 miles and 16 hours per day, stopping along the river to pick up and drop off goods and passengers. Most riverboats stop only during daylight, usually sailing through the night, but occasionally laying over at a port until morning.

Pirates as well as legitimate traders often travel on the Serpent River. Pirates routinely attack riverboats; those characters who help fight off these marauders often receive a partial refund of their passage payment.

[Airships]

AIRSHIPS

Because of the difficulty and expense of arranging airship passage, characters only travel across Barsaive by airship when speed is vital. Travel aboard airships can be unpleasant; most airships lack passenger space, and many airship captains dislike the idea of strangers aboard their vessels. The majority of airships in Barsaive belong to the troll crystal raiders, making it a tough prospect for the characters to find an airship captain and convince him to transport them. Ideally, adventurers seeking passage on airships should track down the owner of a galley, the type of ship used by the trading companies that operate across Barsaive. Dealing with a galley captain, the characters stand a better chance not only of booking passage, but of surviving it. Characters who find troll raiders willing to take on passengers should negotiate with extreme caution.

Speed gives air travel its greatest advantage. An airship can travel up to 300 miles in 16 hours per day. Most airships do not fly throughout the night, except in battles or raids. Airships carrying passengers rarely engage in raiding unless the characters agree to help raid as part of the terms of their passage.

Aside from discomfort, the greatest hazard of traveling by airship is the risk of encountering crystal raiders and Theran slave ships. The crystal raiders fly drakkars, small airships built for combat and raiding. The huge slave ships of the Theran Empire carry captives to the Theran stronghold at Sky Point and the nearby Theran-controlled city of Vivane. The crystal raiders tend to stay near their home turf in the Twilight Peaks, but may range as far as 500 miles away from that area. The Theran slave ships hunt in the southeast reaches of Barsaive nearest to the Empire’s outposts, openly attacking other airships to capture slaves for the Empire.

TRAVEL HAZARDS

Adventurers face serious risks traveling across Barsaive, especially when traveling over land. The particular hazards of travel on the Serpent River and by airship have been briefly described above. The more general hazards travelers face in Barsaive appear below.

SURVIVAL

Whether on foot or on horseback, traveling across Barsaive takes time. In order to survive extended periods of travel, characters must buy or otherwise acquire sufficient food and water. Though characters occasionally have the time to gather ample supplies of food and water for their trip, often circumstances force them to leave in a hurry. Taking off on an adventure or bolting out of town without sufficient food or water can quickly land a character in trouble.

In general, a character needs one quart of water per day to remain healthy. If a character does not get sufficient water, he begins to suffer. Each day after the first that a character goes without water, he takes 3 points of damage from fatigue and dehydration. In addition, the character suffers a penalty to his Recovery Tests equal to the number of days he has gone without water.

Characters can use the Wilderness Survival Skill to find water while in the wilderness. See Skills for a description of the Wilderness Survival Skill.

WEATHER

Another challenge of traveling outdoors is surviving the elements. The gamemaster should use the weather to challenge his player characters from time to time. For example, as the characters travel through a ravine, the gamemaster might whip up a heavy storm that forces the characters to seek shelter, or he might mention the possibility of flash floods.

The effects of weather may have more to do with the story than with game mechanics. For example, a thunderstorm might spook the horses, causing them to throw their riders and flee; the detour to find shelter from the storm may range so far off the path that the group gets lost. Neither circumstance is life-threatening, though the horses may run off with much-needed supplies, or the delay may allow the evil nethermancer more time to prepare a nasty surprise for the characters. Only extreme temperatures and heavy precipitation need produce game-mechanic effects. Precipitation most often causes problems with visibility, discussed below. Extreme temperatures may cause minor damage to the characters. For example, severe arctic temperatures on top of the Throal Mountains might cause Step 4 or 5 damage to characters dressed in inadequate clothing. Extreme heat, such as that encountered near Death’s Sea, might cause the same level of damage, or might damage a character in the same way as dehydration (see Survival, above). The gamemaster should determine the impact he wants weather to have in his game, and apply any game mechanics accordingly.

VISIBILITY

Visibility never poses a problem during the day under a bright sun. But how far and how well can characters see at night? Or in the darkened rooms of a kaer? Or during a torrential rain storm?

During daylight hours, with the sun overhead, a character can see clearly for several miles, depending on the terrain. On a bright, sunny day over clear terrain, for example, a character can see the Throal Mountains from up to 150 miles away, but would see only their outlines and virtually no details. To distinguish details, a character must be much closer to what he is looking at. Obviously, jungles and forests also limit characters’ vision.

In order to be able to notice someone or something, a character must be within at least 750 yards of the person or object. Beyond that distance, images begin to blur, losing distinguishing characteristics and markings. As a character approaches closer to an object or person, more details become visible. A character within 200 yards of a target can determine the identity of a person he knows or the type of creature or the race of the target. Spotting specific details requires a character to be within 20 yards of what he is looking at. As a rule of thumb, long-range visibility extends out to 750 yards, medium range to 200 yards, and short range to 20 yards from the object of a character’s gaze. Note that we use the terms long, medium, and short range to simplify the discussion of visibility. These ranges do not correspond to the ranges of missile and throwing weapons given in the Combat section.

The distances listed above represent visibility ranges during normal daylight hours, in clear weather; in other words, under ideal conditions. Both the weather and time of day can reduce visibility ranges. The table below suggests guidelines for determining visibility ranges under various conditions.

VISIBILITY TABLE

Condition	Long Range	Medium Range	Short Range
Daylight	750	200	20
Dawn/Dusk	500	125	15
Light fog	250	75	10
Heavy fog	10	5	2
Light rain/drizzle	350	175	15
Heavy rain	100	50	10
Night with moon	200	60	15
Night with no moon	30	15	5

DARKNESS

The table above suggests visibility ranges for the natural darkness of night, which is often partially alleviated by a moon or stars. Characters within a cave or kaer must cope with total darkness that completely eliminates visibility. Without a light source, a character functions as if blind and suffers the moving and acting penalties described for darkness in Combat.

Typical light sources include campfires, torches, and lanterns. The table below suggests effective ranges of light that these sources can provide. From these examples, the gamemaster can extrapolate the effectiveness of other light sources.

VISIBILITY RANGES

Light Source	Radius (in feet)
Candle	10
Torch	30
Campfire	50
Lantern	100

GETTING LOST

Any number of circumstances can cause characters to lose their way. A fierce storm might force a group of adventurers to travel in the wrong direction, or the adventurers might detour to avoid a band of ork scorchers and lose their bearings. Because so much of Barsaive’s landscape changed during the Scourge, even travelers following maps may get lost, especially if they are wandering in areas inadequately mapped before the Scourge. Getting lost poses potentially enormous risks for the unlucky traveler. Adventurers may wander around certain areas of Barsaive for years without encountering civilized settlements, and many small towns and villages are so isolated that they may know nothing of the nearest village, let alone major landmarks or trade routes.

The gamemaster should only force the characters out of their way to move the adventure forward. Having a group get lost just to watch them survive in the wild is only fun once, and may seriously frustrate the players. If, on the other hand, the characters get lost and happen to wander into a town being terrorized by a Horror, then throwing the characters off the track served a valid purpose and advanced the story. The gamemaster should be careful of using this technique too often, as it may make players feel manipulated.

THERAN SLAVERS

Travelers in southeastern Barsaive face a danger unique to that region. The Therans who control the area hire mercenary bands to roam the countryside and capture hapless townspeople from the surrounding villages, to serve as slaves in Thera. Though slaving is less pervasive in the years since the Theran War, when the united races of Barsaive beat the Therans back to Vivane and Sky Point, it still represents a very real danger in the region near those imperial outposts. On rare occasions, Theran slavers range as far north as the Delaris Mountains and as far east as the Twilight Peaks.