Why travel in D&D sucks (and 3 steps to fix it)

[@GinnyDi]

Take 40% off any annual World Anvil membership: www.worldanvil.com/w/ginnydi , use code "GINNY" for your discount, and nevermind the wizards...

[@vincentwinqvist4023]

Janet at WA would probably be over the moon if you ask her to record a brief cameo as a wizard. :D

[@GinnyDi]

I actually thought about asking her to record the audio on the other end of the phone, but I was working a little bit last-minute on this ad and didn't want to have to demand anything from her on a really short timeline!! So I just did a tribute by completely bastardizing her accent 😂

[@MenricJJones]

I love World Anvil, been a subscriber since 2018. I couldn't recommend it more.

[@kerah4623]

@@GinnyDi Personally I have never touched a dnd session. However I do love to role play! Your videos have helped me so much. Every time I watch one I ask my self. “ what part of this can I use in rp? “ many of your videos have helped me to learn everything I can about role play. Thank you for everything you have done! You inspire me 😁

[@coda821]

The Ryuutma RPG is almost entirely about travel. It seems to have a lot of creative ways to make it interesting. Also thanx. These were great ideas, and really get imagination rolling.

[@spudsbuchlaw]

Make your party watch the entire extended Lord of the Rings trilogy each time they travel

[@GinnyDi]

"You have an eleven and a half hour journey ahead of you. Real time." *presses play*

[@newlegend2402]

@@GinnyDi did you say eleven and a half. What kid of socrercy is this. Where are the behind the scenes disks? Who are you? And what have you done to the dm

[@stevecarter8810]

Just read them the book

[@Veran42]

"I walk to the inn across the road." "Alright, you guys want me to make popcorn, sorry, the coach is a bit messy" groans

[@ivansmashem]

The ultra extended version, where every single time Sam takes a step away from the Shire, he talks about how it's the farthest he's ever been.

[@kriscrossender4525]

I used to play in a campaign once where every time we set up camp we would have a story-telling improv activity where we would get a prompt and each of our characters would each tell a story from their past based off it. It was easily one of the most memorable parts of the campaign

[@kenaar]

That is such a good idea.

[@devilchomps3295]

This is an amazing idea

[@crossroadgames]

Hello. Would you mind sharing some examples of what these prompts might be?

[@JakubWojciechowski933]

That sounds very cool, but I wonder how to introduce this idea to the players without making them feel weirded out

[@Evasiv]

@@JakubWojciechowski933 Have an NPC travel with the party, get them to tell a campfire story of their past and then get them to ask the PC's if they want to share

[@jcsturgeon]

"If you think of the journey as the way that you get to the quest, there's no way that it's not gonna feel like filler..." is literally genius.

[@rogerwilco2]

indeed.

[@lukas8670]

DM: "So, you all settle in for the night. just as you are beginning to set out your bedrolls you hear a howling in the distance." P1: "Wait, what phase is the moon?" DM: Putting down monster card for CR1/4 wolf and beginning to search for CR3 werewolf monster card. "Oh, you know... full."

[@odin3141]

Running travel as a sidequest seems so obvious in hindsight. Probably the best D&D advice I've heard in a while.

[@dantedharma6252]

As a DM I made the perfect travel, told my players they could Talk on character. One of the best experiences posible to a DM

[@MumboJ]

All of the best advice seems obvious in hindsight. :)

[@treyadams9719]

This is probably the only content creator I've seen that actually gives advice on how to improve mechanics, not just describe some vague content they "like to run"

[@ArvelDreth]

Have you never watched Matt Colville's channel? Or Dungeon Craft? Or Bob The World Builder? There are plenty of content creators out there who do more or less exactly what Ginny does.

[@CrazyLikeUhFox]

@@ArvelDreth I was about to mention Matt Colvile too. But in OP’s defense, for every informative D&D KZbin vid there’s five terrible ones.

[@ArvelDreth]

@@CrazyLikeUhFox yeah I wasn't trying to imply they're dumb for not knowing Matt or anyone else I mentioned. Just that you can find a fair amount of other content creators who are on Ginny's level.

[@Veran42]

I recommend The DM Lair, or Bob the World Builder

[@Random_Traveler_]

How to be a Great GM is a pretty good one, too, imo

[@morganb1474]

My DM took a page from the Fellowship RPG and uses travel montages. We go around in a circle, each person thinking of a problem for the next player to solve until everyone has gone. There's no dice rolls and you can use any of your powers without expending them. The focus in on getting players to be part of the travel sequence and encouraging roleplay opportunities as well as chances to flex if you have powers or skills you don't get to use often. It also means that as a group of 4, travel goes by pretty quickly and doesn't drag on the plot.

[@Cherryoak]

This is a very cool idea, very inventive Morgan B's DM

[@GinnyDi]

This is such a fun idea!!

[@WritingJenS]

This is a great idea! I'm going to steal, er, borrow it!😇

[@morganb1474]

@@Cherryoak All credit goes to Vel Mini for writing it. We just stole the idea. :)

[@millerlkme01]

That’s a really interesting co narrative idea. I think I will use that during FATE in the future.

[@thomaswinchester6591]

I use a short set of rules to run travel in my games. 1) everyone gets to take an action each day, such as keeping watch, driving the wagon, scouting ahead, or maybe a downtime activity. Then providing description based on that, as well as the general environment. 2) I plan out a number of "Random" encounters that may occurs during the trip, such as threats, interesting locations, or NPCs. 3) Each day that passes I roll a D6, on a 1 an encounter happens. Each day that nothing happens I add another D6 to the pool. Also if something that the players do during their actions would draw attention to them I will either add another D6 or roll all the dice then and there. Once an encounter happens the pool either resets to 1D6, or if the party is close to their destination or has already used up all the planes encounters then I'll fast tract them to the location. The thrill comes from letting the players see the dice pool and watching their reactions as it grows in size. I use a modified version of this as well for certain events, such a sneaking through a dungeon or other location. I add dice to the pool every so often, but only roll it when the party draws attention to themselves.

[@allanmonroe692]

This reminds me of the churn mechanic from the rpg for The Expanse.

[@jordanw2741]

You nailed it. The big problem with overland travel I find is that it ends up being too railroady where something can happen, but there is no lasting implications. Either weave those encounters into the overarching plot, or create a mini side adventure out of it for the players to get invested in over the session(s). Glad to see you back! Hope you're all caught up and excited to see what you have planned for 2022!

[@GinnyDi]

Thanks Jordan!!

[@aaronwilliams8887]

the other thing i find Travel being excellent is A) taking a chance to do world building, often using NPC's both friendly and hostile. B)giving some diversions, and letting the party decide what options they get hooked into. basically travel is great if it makes the party interested in the world, and for them to become being more connected with people. Everyone loves talking about that story about a Hag who runs a random magical shop who is morally questionable but Loved the party because they helped her with a Mephit infestation, and promised to both tradw with them whenever and even help them out them with a magical problem in the future if they want!

[@00blaat00]

Well, travel and railroading go really well together, if you think about it.

[@3nertia]

I *LOVE* the way Matt Mercer handled this in one of the Critical Role episodes: He introduced some bandits, the players torched one of them just outright but let the others go with a warning (and with less gear than they arrived with) only to run into them *again* some time later and have the (new) leader recognize them from the earlier encounter! Makes it really feel like the world is alive and there are consequences (even if they're good and not bad) to the players' actions! :D

[@3nertia]

@@00blaat00 Especially if your setting actually has a train :D

[@seanfsmith]

One of the biggest tips I have for DMs who want better travel is - walk more. Like literally, go on a long walk in a place and just see how things are.

[@THEM0J0MAN]

I find walking boring

[@seanfsmith]

@@THEM0J0MAN soz

[@rogerwilco2]

Indeed. I think to many people only experience the world driving a car on a highway. Visit your local forest, castle, old medieval inn.

[@Darlnezz]

I remember having a table where you rolled 2D6s that decided the encounter and then another table of 2D6s that decided what they were doing. For example "You see a bunch of orcs, but they are running from something". That way the encounters started to live more.

[@Drekromancer]

I remember Matt Colville said something like that too. If you roll up 2d6 orcs on a random encounter, then don't let them be generic orcs. They could be... 1) A tribe of nomads quietly passing through the area, 2) A hostile horde of Orcus worshippers who have flayed all the skin off their left hands, which gives each of them a touch attack for 2d6 necrotic damage, or 3) A proud company of mercenaries looking for work. Are the PCs hiring?

[@wunksta]

yeah, i think it helps to get a grasp on why the creatures are there. another problem i see is that a lot of DMs just immediately make them hostile and spring out of nowhere. determining the initial hostility level and distance can help improve encounters. maybe that band of orcs is some distance away, and theres foreshadowing or clues indicating they are in the area. they may have just survived another fight and arent going to immediately attack the party. it helps to generate a few random encounters ahead of time so you can work in the clues, rather than rolling and consulting a table in the middle of play.

[@zackrose6261]

@@wunksta Matt mercer does it pretty well, mighty nein befriending a group of yetis thanks to a random encounter.

[@alexanderaust4647]

My tip would be... Treat travel like a dungeon! Use the 5 room dungeon format to create encounters that happen along the way from A to B, with each "area" of the map being a different room in the dungeon. Works great on a hex map, but can be done with any kind of map (or theater of the mind). I also recommend changing "random encounters" to "random occurrences" that include other adventuring parties, ruins, outposts, hazards, changes in weather, etc. and specifically include "special encounters" that relate to the plot. Populate your wilderness! There is always something going on!

[@alexanderdewitt8154]

As cheesy as it sounds I'd say self doubt is my biggest DM weakness. I accidentally ruined a campaign once because I was worried that the plot wasn't exciting so I completely changed it (introduced a multiverse and teleported the players to a new world, bad choice). All I did was confuse my players and some of them got pretty upset at the change, I had to end the campaign and take a break from DMing because I was so embarrassed. A little bit of self reflection is healthy and useful but doubt can cripple. P.s. The video's background music was quite enjoyable and exciting!

[@GinnyDi]

It's wild how much we can self-sabotage over criticisms that our players don't even have!! I'm sorry that campaign ended the way it did, but it's so good that you can recognize where it went wrong and learn from it.

[@Zoe_A_MacDonald]

I've done similar stuff! Took over a decade of stumbling to really get my DM skill and confidence up to a good level. If it's any inspiration to you, I dusted off the original campaign notes about 6 years later, did a soft reboot of the setting, and re-ran the campaign (with a better endgame and without the shark-jumping) and it went AMAZINGLY, probably my best campaign yet.

[@MajorHickE]

Sometimes the best thing you can do is check in with your players and see what they think of how things are going. Ask them if the plot makes sense, if they think the loot drops are sufficient, if there's any recurring themes they like (or perhaps aren't fond of). Just as your job as DM is to be there to help your players, sometimes you need your players to give you a hand as well.

[@cruorek]

If I may, always ask your players what they think about your campaign. Ask them what they liked. What they dont like. And work on those parts. You will get confidence that way and you have to trust them. If they tell you some stuff they didnt like, it would be easier for you to believe about stuff they DO like. Also, players are usually happy that they can even play, so dont question yourself.

[@FlatOnHisFace]

@@cruorek I agree. I had one DM that insisted that we each told her something that we liked and something we didn't after each session. Being too vague with petitioning often leads to detached responses of "It's fine," or even "It was great!" which is more encouraging, but not very helpful. By each being required to give a good and a bad opinion, we already felt that our responses were tempered and fair, and we were under no obligation to give weight to either. So even if there was something that really bothered me about a session, but I didn't want the DM to feel bad about it, I didn't need her to know just how bad it was, and the thing that I liked, for all she knows, more than makes up for it. Any DM that does this is already looking for ways to make the players enjoy the game more, so no need to elaborate further, other than calling her attention to it. Finally, knowing that a moment for feedback would come at the end of every session allowed us to just roll with whatever happens during the game, and air our grievances later, instead of interrupting any dramatic tension. This meant that anything that seemed off-putting might later have some big reveal that makes it make sense before we go off on a tangent.

[@765craven4]

I think one of my favorite travel experiences was a session we had that was legit 70% role play and 30% combat. We'd hired a couple of NPCs to accompany us on a journey and had one of them manning the carriage at the time while the rest of us just sat around in the back and talked for a bit in character until Savallis, the party Rogue pulled out some playing cards. We role played a few games of Texas Hold Em and had been gambling some wealth and items we'd accumulated until we realized that literally everyone was cheating in some way, including the Cleric we'd hired. By this point a few magical items had traded hands and Savallis had gambled away about half of his wealth. Good times.

[@CrispysTavern]

WE’RE BACK! Nailed the background and the travel tips. The DMs guide is great… but not at everything. Travel being one of those things. One of the things I use travel for is world building. Every stretch of road is a new opportunity to show your party a living, breathing world.

[@GinnyDi]

Love that!! Travel is an opportunity to show your players more of what's going on around them!

[@dem1s3]

Oh, hey Crispy.

[@Don_Ratski]

Ginny Di on Roll for Insight? Is this possible?

[@goodshepherde6442]

Two of my favorite dnd peeps in one thread, making sense... Beautiful

[@KBTibbs]

transforming a random rolled encounter into a 3-encounter arc is such a simple tip that it's a little maddening that it's never occurred to me before. Thanks Ginny!

[@TheClericCorner]

Id also add to tie in the random counters to your players backstory as much as you can. Assassin's for the escaped Noble character, blighted treants for your druid, escaped constructs for your artificer, etc. 😊 Amazing videos as always!!

[@Cherryoak]

This is a brilliant idea

[@GinnyDi]

Yes!! That's such a good tip.

[@DwaineWoolley]

Love the way you clearly explain this stuff

[@jamesblount3143]

I have started to give a general description of the territory they are traveling through and then asking my players what they have seen. I feel like this helps them to "see" the trip and offloads some of the world generation. It adds some color to my world and might influence my world lore as well. Also, if they mention something that sounds interesting to me I can always expand on it to provide a quick encounter. So far it seems to be working.

[@jamesblount3143]

@@JohnSmith-zk8xp you seem to have missed the point. I describe the basics of the terrain but I ask the players to describe a memorable thing they "saw" during the trip. My trips are now a montage with the occasional random encounter instead of a long slog. If you want to run heavily detailed travel that is fine. I will always describe any relevant points of interest but if a player wants to mention the vibrant red flowers they saw along the way I can always throw something in. Maybe alchemy if a player is interested in that, or an encounter with a plant creature like an assassin vine. The point is to allow my players a chance to help build the shared world and keep them engaged during travel.

[@pcbilingue]

Nice tip, like a Dungeon World.

[@dantedharma6252]

Is almost the same to me, I let them Talk in character and its a great fun

[@Kaiser8513]

As a first time DM I have quickly learned that my biggest struggle is trying to figure out a narrative for role-play when my group decided to just have a session in town that I wasn't ready for

[@tsstahl]

That is what tropes are for. Use them to build your improvisation skills. At first your burly dwarven blacksmiths, and flirty barmaids will feel forced and tropey. Soon you will see them morph into Kindar the one handed blacksmith who talks too much and Sadoran the high born barmaid with too much makeup and a fake limp to avoid detection by some-random-whatever-that-means-nothing-but-can-totally-become-a-BigDeal-for-the-players. The players will seize on random bits of your flavor and think it is worth following up. BAM, they just created your next adventure to flesh out. Or, you let them follow briefly before being turned away by some other information, event or NPC encounter.

[@qbert362]

Some of the best moments I have ever had in D&D come from travelling. It can be a useful tool for DMs to further develop their world from some small encounter in the forest instead of a massive city as it adds variety to the game.

[@kazamajack1091]

I love how even the adverts in Di's videos are entertaining. They've ironically become to be one of my favorite bits of their video's! I've seen so many add reads where folks will literally reuse the footage of them reading from a script with nothing else. I'm usually content to skip these, but I look forward to Ginny's adds funnily enough! The effort is A+!

[@jonathan4189]

Right???

[@rworrick8037]

@@jonathan4189 yes! If I must watch an advertisement I'm glad that it's rather entertaining.

[@Epicpiggyeverything]

You're right, it IS time to binge watch Ginny Di all day again!

[@goingpostale]

great way to spend a day!!

[@FlatOnHisFace]

I wanna be in a game where every player is another Ginny Di.

[@squirreljester2]

My group's travels were where some really awesome in-game character conversations happened. It's tough to read when the conversations are ending, then skip a bit, then role play some more travel, etc. Encourage the party to have conversations between them while they are traveling. If you want to do random encounters, make it at least somewhat meaningful. Maybe you fight a group of werewolves, then as they reach the next town, they hear stories of werewolves plaguing the town at night. Now the party has some options on how they will play it. Now you've made the random encounter more than just randomly swinging a sword.

[@angelanave148]

My party just...hired the werewolves to kill the vampire. XD

[@buffalo_expat_bill]

I don’t DM currently, but the players in my group (including me) often have projects that we are working on. Learning a new skill for practice or from another party member. Potentially even language. Though adding a language or skill still needs the game mechanic to allow it, the teaching.learning mechanics add something to the role play in travel even if we fast track the travel.

[@littlekong7685]

Pathfinder has some nice (if expensive) retraining rules that I think can be handily adapted to any D20 system, might be worth checking out.

[@andeannafarnes4719]

My players often use travel evenings to study & practice new skills or languages.

[@erinshear8026]

This is perfect timing! The group I DM is going to have some travel coming up in our next session and I've been worried about how to make it interesting. I can't wait to try these ideas out! I'm still pretty new to being a DM, so what I've been working on lately is getting out of railroading mode. In our last adventure I tried to not assume any solutions, just set up the problem and make sure the environment was filled out, and it was super fun!

[@tsstahl]

You hit upon a tool for success. Don't worry about solutions. Have the obvious in mind so you know how to react, but the players will always surprise you. Let things play out and see where they go.

[@thecookiemeister5374]

How’d it work?

[@Heritage367]

Once again, you've knocked it out of the park, Ginny! Amazing video on a worthwhile topic. Two of my favorite authors, L. Frank Baum (of Wizard of Oz fame) and Jack Vance (who inspired so much of classic Dungeons & Dragons) were great at telling travel stories. While the characters in their books were on quests, they would often have encounters with peculiar villages with strange customs, impish faeries with dangerous senses of humor, or travelers who were secretly important characters in disguise. For me, travel on the road in their books was always entertaining.

[@josephpilkus1127]

I've been playing and serving as a DM for 40+ years and I absolutely loved your approach to this topic...exceptionally well done!

[@speculativemusings3593]

If you ARE going to use a random encounter table, make sure those encounters mean something in the long run. If the party is attacked by wolves, what do they do in response and how does that affect things later? Did the Druid befriend them? Maybe now they have a pack of good boys following them around. Did they fight them off? Maybe the Ranger tracks them back to their den to wipe them out, and the local town shows them gratitude by offering a free night at the inn or a farmhouse. The point is to make those temporary breaks in story flow meaningful, even if only in small ways.

[@FlatOnHisFace]

A couple moths later, the local village has a goblin problem because the wolves they used to hunt are now wiped out and they need to raid the villagers.

[@kobold_sushi_executive_chef]

When traveling through an area where I don't have any story beats set up, one of my go-to methods is to prompt them to forage/hunt and cook meals rather than just eating bland rations, and giving them small temporary benefits for doing so. Gives them good rp moments, helps them engage with their environment, sometimes sets up encounters, and makes the world feel more continuous and whole for them because if they travel through that same area again they know where they'll be able to find food and what kind of meals they'll be able to make there. It also opens up avenues for more meaningful "busy work" fetch quests if they're trying to make some money by gathering ingredients for a local chef/alchemist/etc, they might already know where those things are and how to get them.

[@yubyubcommander]

I really focus on lots of roleplay moments during travel for my parties. Leaving little tantalizing moments to build the world or add future worldbuilding that they won't know until later that makes them stop and interact and turns into a lot of roleplaying for them is something they seem to enjoy. And then every so often I'll send some creepy creature or a bird to attack them or something just to keep them on their toes.

[@Dyundu]

I Kettch what you’re saying here (pun fully intended, based off your excellent username). The DM should def make things interesting as discussed in the video, but sometimes a well-described area and engaged players is enough to make some travel sessions fun. Players will also use your well-crafted descriptions against you during the inevitable midnight orc raid when the PC on watch fails their perception check (which is fun in its own way)!

[@yubyubcommander]

@@Dyundu XDDD You're one of maybe 20 people who have ever understood the reference. Absolutely made my day. Oh for sure. I love a good description of stuff. I'm not perfect at travel and I've rushed through it before, but both of my parties are VERY talkative so leaving a little nugget of something that'll get them going is what I do. Most of the journeys either group has is all improv. I have one group playing Strahd so any where I can through in something to further put them on edge I do, or leaving a little bread crumb trail to plot points to pique their interest. My other group is playing Witchlight so I try to choose stuff from the "random encounter table" that will directly correlate to whatever they're doing in that session. Or have them finding lost trinkets or items of their belongings that they've not even noticed they lost. Starts great roleplaying and they love it.

[@Dyundu]

@@yubyubcommander Sounds like good times all around! Always glad to see another Wraith Squadron fan too!

[@marcchoronzey3923]

The way I run travelling in my games is as a skill challenge (homebrewed from 4th ed D&D). Each missed challenge adds a degree of fatigue and/ or a day to the journey. An epic failure generates an encounter. I also have this handy-dandy random weather chart to add to the drama of the journey. My players treat travel in my campaigns as a mini-game of sorts and they know they are in for a ride... maybe. But they are never bored.

[@jordanhomer4838]

Great advice, and excellent video quality as always. One of my players gave me some honest feedback (praise the sun) a few years back. He told me he just wasn’t interested in obstacles that were obviously ‘encounters for encounter’s sake. Ever since, I’ve made it a point that encounters are either very short and sweet, or impactful in some way, and the players have voiced loving the shift.

[@absurd_maxim]

Y'know, I've watched a ton of DM tips for how to run travel better. Hours of it in fact! This is the best video I've read about it to so far -- and the best part is the examples. "Make the travel part of the adventure!" is thrown casually a lot, but you broke it down so well I feel inspired to try it again. Thank you so much Ginni!

[@livtempleton]

Great advice. Ive not had much experience with “travel sessions”, but one great one I had actually involved the characters needing to show how they prepare for the journey through the snowy mountain pass. Pretty much, if we didn’t have the right gear, enough gear, or enough rations or survival we simply wouldn’t make it. It allowed us to be much more proactive in the journey and got some interesting ideas from characters

[@GinnyDi]

I love that!! Sort of an "Oregon Trail opening scene" situation.

[@bjhale]

You might be a closet old schooler. ;-)

[@livtempleton]

@@bjhale that's an incredible feat given how late a start i got XD

[@annafantasia]

Great advice! I love travel in games bc I tend to use it for RP conversations and useless encounters now and then amuse me, but it’s good to remember that not everyone feels that way, and there are still choices the DM is making in those situations that are allowing me to have fun!

[@conorjames3489]

Amazing advice, and to give new dms permission to skip it is something a lot of us need to hear. I’m running a nautical campaign at the moment and the journeys via ship can regularly take weeks, not every time is going to be super interesting and I often instead treat it as a section of downtime. Players learn new skills, harness new tools, teach NPC crew members new things to improve their combat capabilities or roles on board. Much less doable if players are walking everywhere or riding horses, but if your PCs have a ship? I’d recommend the downtime route for those longer journeys as another option!

[@Heritage367]

This is inspired! Definitely going to use this, friend!

[@druid_zephyrus]

It takes over a year to gain proficiency in a new tool or skill. If nothing is going to happen during the weeks of downtime remind thebplayers this is a possibility and ask how they practice. Can lead to RP.

[@conorjames3489]

@@druid_zephyrus honestly my campaigns rarely go on in world past a few months to 1 year, so when a player is engaged and interested with a new tool skill or something I tend to make the time scale more attainable in the short/medium term. Less so with skills, but more so with tools and languages. They often have small side quests to find the right resources from books to teachers or basic equipment, and then I have them do skill challenges (with fun failure consequences) over separate downtimes and several sessions to attain something like half proficiency and then slowly build up etc. I’ve found that all to often a player has a fun idea that they’re excited about, and I tell them the RAW timescale/cost and the idea suddenly becomes something that will take far too long/is so taxing it stops it being fun. Instead I just use it as a way to consistently challenge them and an excuse to squeeze extra RP and story out of something that ignites the engagement in them!

[@FlatOnHisFace]

Ghosts of Saltmarsh, apparently, is really cool for random encounters when travelling by ship. Even without the included adventure.

[@conorjames3489]

@@FlatOnHisFace I’ve found random encounters (combat atleast) really lacking for the most part, largely because the battlefield is the same ship every time haha. I’m writing a nautical source book at the minute and I’m realising a more expansive/creative encounter section will be a great addition

[@APyralis]

I cannot thank you enough for this. Travel has been a HUGE issue for me as a new DM. This advice I can work with and create some awesome things. You rock!

[@AntiMouse007]

There is a lot of great and actionable advice in here! Great job as always! And uh... I actually love the face rock 😓. I love it when my DM's offer random, "neat" things in their world no real significance! Like Fog that smells like battlefields or a mermaid bathing by the rivers! It makes it feel full and strange and a little frightening!

[@TheEldarGuy]

Good advice (again). I love weaving sub-plots, the bandits they fight today become a problem later, and not just in that Asterix pirate way; sometimes players take the bait and sometimes they don't. I like everything you said (mostly because it's what I've been doing for 40+ years). Keep up the good work, you're an amazing ambassador for the game.

[@DaveyDAKFAE]

Prompting roleplay is my personal #1 out of these. The party is traveling from A to B for a week? Guess what, the bard realizes it's his birthday on the third day of travel, and it's his first birthday away from his homeland. What thoughts are running through his mind over the quiet fireside breakfast? Instantly memorable and engaging and there's room for both serious reflective backstory-exploring rp and wacky silly impromptu partying. If travel is filler, don't pay attention to the travel, pay attention to one or two key things that just so happen to occur during travel, like meeting an old friend or crossing a national border post or encountering a traveling fortune teller

[@webguoi]

Your point of making the journey the quest (or part of it) is GREAT! The overland travel I'm most proud of having prepared/GM'd was the time when the BBEG came to the players stronghold while they were on another quest, kidnapped a child goblin the PCs were fond of, then made his way back to his own base. The players overland travel, then, was basically them retracing the BBEG's recent steps, finding out what he had done on the way. It was entirely a building of his character through proxy. Since he was a bugbear, that meant he ate people, so they found a whole farm that he singlehandedly destroyed: scattered remains of the occupants with bitemarks all over the place, the bed where he slept in a few nights before still bloodied and with a letter he received from his minions (foreshadowing a future encounter and a secret way to enter his base), etc. We also had a girl who helped him, not knowing who he was, only to get stabbed in the stomach, this kind of things. It was a great experience overall, got the players red in anger ready to obliterate him!

[@marquisealexander1371]

My reasoning for skipping travel is that realistically, not every trip will have encounters or something interesting. Sometimes, nothing happens and to me that gives my games a more grounded feel as compared to seeing or encountering something every time the party goes for a trip.

[@Giles29]

You might make the journey into a "scene" (to steal terminology from Mythic). If you think about it, Tolkien had plot reasons for all the travel description that he did. Wouldn't have made much sense for them to have to go into Moria if they hadn't tried and failed to cross Caradhras.

[@jimh472]

As shown, the biggest problem with random encounters is they are based on requested dice rolls. There is nothing surprising or random about them. Here's an idea to incorporate into Tip #3. Using your phone or computer set a timer for a random interval of ~2-8 minutes. When the timer goes off have an encounter specific noise play. Nothing stops player roll-playing exposition or simply joking around like the sudden rustle of bushes, the howl of a wolf, or even worse...the maniacal laughter of Scut Farkus.

[@rect7840]

The house rule that fixed travel for us in 5e: Long rests may only happen at friendly settlements. This means that there is tension in every encounter. Even simple things like wilderness hazards can weaken the party in some way making their quest more difficult once they get to their destination.

[@nessa-parmentier]

That really depends on the way your plot is made but that really seems to activate hard mode in general

[@tiph3802]

Hope all your players are on board. I met a DM like that once. Absolutely miserable. It completely cripples spellcasters. And Warlocks? Not even playable.

[@rect7840]

@@tiph3802 Maybe you've misunderstood. It's still just 1 adventuring day's worth of encounters. It's just a narrative device it doesn't actually change the gameplay.

[@camf269]

I’m new to DMing and without even looking up stuff on KZbin the algorithm has recommended me several of your advice videos. I’ve always found them not only helpful but really motivational, getting me excited to try out things you’ve recommended. I just wanted to say thanks, and I hope you enjoy doing these as much as I enjoy learning from them.

[@cavvieira]

Savage Worlds has a great Interlude mechanic that is easy to adapt to any system and setting. Basically it's a way for the characters to interact and flesh out their characters, interactions and/or history, and be rewarded with XP for it. Great for travel, talking around the campfire before shut-eye, tavern, etc.

[@MarcusBeirne]

Glad to see you back and on form. Absolutely fantastic advice, travelling shouldn't be as boring as a bus ride, it should be a story in of itself! I really like the new intro too.

[@LeoxandarMagnus]

I’ve always loved travel in D&D, and when I have DMed those travel sessions I usually use it as a way to expand the landscape, place clues that could hint at things to come.

[@elskerminedyr]

This was a great video! I often feel like the travel sections mean nothing. In the early stages of the campaign it can even feel a little awkward if the PCs don't know each other and have nothing to talk about. Introducing a fortune teller would've solved that problem 🤩 Welcome back! 💕

[@awkwardsilence82]

Traveling has always been a real downer in my campaign. Slows down the momentum and everyone checks out. I'm definitely going to take these ideas to spice up getting between point A and point B. Thanks Ginny!

[@SnowCatKroe]

I'm so glad I found your channel! I'm running my first campaign and in a few days we'll be having our eighth session. A lot of the game revolves around being responsible for a delivery to a safehouse from one end of the island to another, with the starting location being the capital city, and the final destination being around three weeks away on foot. This has given me some ideas for how to make sure there aren't as many lulls since I want my friends to stay interested and have fun. I love your channel, I've been trying to stay away from (and I mean no offense to fans of this stuff) more televised/dramatized D&D content, and you have such a kind and warm energy while also giving such useful feedback that makes me feel encouraged to find new ways to improve! My friends and I have been having a lot of fun so far, and I hope to keep improving by learning from other experienced, wholesome DMs! Thank you!

[@mollymurphy5977]

These all sound so fun!! I’m definitely going to try to incorporate some of these tips to my Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. There’s only so many times I can describe trudging uneventfully through a snowy wasteland.

[@garytrowbridge4087]

Welcome back and happy to see you are right back to it. Really looking forward to see what you have in store for us this year! ( No pressure right!?) It is great to be able to gain some inspiration through your thoughtfulness and perspective. Thanks for all you do! Greatly appreciated

[@nobodyimportant4778]

The fact that you can pinpoint exactly what sucks in normal d&d makes me trust you more. Lol.

[@valasafantastic1055]

One of my strengths as a DM is travel. My players never want to skip it. So here are a few tips! 1) research real world nature and environments use this knowledge to add versilimitude into your worlds. Especially how ecosystems work and plant- prey- predator relationships. 2) add in hazards. Like difficult terrain that causes additional checks/effects; tripping vines, thorny poisonous bushes, deep dangerous mud. These can be combined with other encounters. 3) roll or decide the weather and have the weather impact travel and encounters 4) keep track of the time and have events occur also based on the time of day. Such as having some things be nocturnal while others are diurnal and corpuscular (active most at dusk/dawn). 5) describe using many senses include feel, scent, colours, sounds and don’t forget to sometimes use taste, time, temperature, etc. try for variety with a focus on visual and sound. Make descriptions evocative and interesting and on the short side. Make them ask you for more information then ask for perception/investigation. Giving more information based on the roll. 6) when giving responses to skill checks also encourage players to be specific about how and where they are perceiving/investigating. 7) use traps and trap like hazards that include hints and clues. Such as the highest perception pc who also has proficiency in survival notices an area where rocks may fall. Encourage creative ways of solving these kinds of issues. Have a dm ‘cheat’ card of passive skills for PCs and what they are proficient in! ( keep inside DM screen or easily on hand) 8) choices that effect speed vs stealth vs the safest path etc. In addition allow skilled PCs to get extra hints even without rolling. Tell the Ranger that they know a certain route is faster but that there may be an avalanche risk vs the risk of freezing more up on the mountain ridge, etc. 9) interesting fellow travellers should also make sense/have an explanation the DM knows at least a bit so they know how to play them. A few key questions to answer are * why are they there * what are their goals/motivation *important contact/allies * what angers them *what makes them really happy 10) random charts are great if you have a DM style that uses them well and as inspiration. If they seem boring when rolled at the table consider the following fixes. * create custom nested tables (don’t need to be big) such as weather, hazards, exploration, social, combat, special. Have alternates for time of day. Add evocative descriptions and adjust by player response. Or roll and pick ahead of actual play create as Ginny advised the one leads to another series of encounters. Think about the logic of how things impact each other and interact. 11) consider group checks for stealth and survival. One method is to add all the total results then divide by the number of party members to get an average. Use this average as the ‘group check’ do this for stealth, survival. Consider it for perception and investigation sometimes too. Now they work together to accomplish things. 12) include regular nature info and encounters that are short but evocative of the environment. Ex; the PCs are stealthing very well and observing; you see a deep red lizard that is about 3 feet long sunning itself on a deep slate rock suddenly it dashes away with sudden speed and vanishes into the thick multitude of green underbrush. Moments later a large spotted cat with saber fangs leaps upon the rock then looks about before comfortably laying down to doze in the warm sunlight of the clearing. The scent of the woods is all around and you notice near where the cat entered is a beautiful flower. This is part of exploration and shows them the reward of avoiding the combat encounter with the big cat due to successfully stealthing. They now know what the succeeded at rather than it remaining a mystery forever. It also gives them the option o be cruel and attack the cat from stealth. I have more tips. If anyone is interested.

[@SiriusMined]

This is why I tend to roll all of the travel in advance, and try to weave it into the story. You can make any random encounter interesting and fun by creating a scene, rather than "monster X jumps out and attacks"

[@davidparkes7741]

Excellent job once again Ginny. Those dice look beautiful too.

[@AmishDemonHunter]

You are a treasure and a gift to the community. Keep up the AMAZING work.

[@fairytypesvalerie7313]

Ginny thank you so much! I had a travel session recently and this video helped inspire me and make it the most memorable session! The gang cooked soup, fought man eating plants, and even lost their wagon!

[@matthewdowney9821]

I really needed this, I have been struggling with overland travel bogging things down when we only get 1.5-2 hour sessions. Thank you! Loved the opening, well done!

[@tsstahl]

Here is another tip for you. When short of time, have the players help. Create a brief d10 table. You can roll once for the party, or have each player roll. The table is simply they arrive at the front door with: fresh with one piece of helpful knowledge, fresh with false knowledge, down d3 hit points, nothing special, a fond (or bad) memory of an NPC, terrain feature, etc. (player decides). After rolling have the players tell you what happened for them to arrive in that state. As for the numbers to assign to the events, that is completely up to you, as are the table entries. Having the players think something up immediately enhances immersion into the game session.

[@franceskoz]

I find one of the more meaningful things you can do as filler is start laying the groundwork for the next few quests. Like have them meet an NPC that they'll hear about again when they start that quest, or have them find an artifact related to the same civilization they will probably enter the ruins of later, or have them see the dragon who'll cause problems flying in the distance, etc.

[@MariannesStudio]

Amazing advice! This really helped me pinpoint some issues I had with random encounters as a player as well. Your videos always give me lots of things to think about :)

[@1eonadawnn]

Loving the new intro! The advice in this video made me realize why I don’t love travel and is giving me great ideas on how to implement it more effectively. Thanks, Ginny! This video is super informative and well put together for this and I feel much more confident~

[@biscuitboy4782]

I swear I hope that this is how my dm handles travel in the campaign were about to start, he said each of the three continents that make up the world we’ll be in are the size of North America and he wants travel to reflect that I will actually die of boredom if he handles travel like he did last campaign (which had a much smaller map btw) where half of the campaign was just traveling and we only met one plot related character and had one side quest

[@rworrick8037]

Did you try showing this video to your DM and asking travel to be handled this way? If something about a campaign isn't working for you as a player I highly suggest taking a bit of time (outside of the game) to politely mention it. If your DM is anything like me then your DM's enjoyment is specifically linked to how much you and your fellow players enjoy the game.

[@meamela9820]

One memorable travelling session that I have is the time our DM told us that the river we should cross was overflooded. And the stream was quite strong there. Then we spent most of the session problem solving how on earth we should cross it with our horses and wagons. And somehow it turned out to a very social encounter of sorts, where different characters were of different opinions on what to do and how to approach the situation. I like when she gives us prompts without a right or wrong way and just makes us play around and find what is most plaussible that our characters would do.

[@adrianwebster6923]

The Witcher 3 game adds some interesting examples of making travel eventful and meangingful. Having a war with checkpoints that have to be dealt with or avoided. Quests to find missing individuals that eventually tie into another quest, etc. Even side quests can have indirect impact on the main campaign and give value/meaning to the trips.

[@GinnyDi]

I think Dragon Age: Inquisition does a good job of this as well! There are some general "fetch quest" ones of course, but there are also some great side quests that impact things like which people join your squad.

[@BrotherFlint]

"You know the DMs.... The Dungeon Mats." Made me chuckle.

[@emmaart1546]

I absolutely love this! Lots of amazing tips that I'm going to be using in the campaign I'm working on!

[@LaurelWest]

*rapidly takes notes* These tips are awesome! 😁 My biggest weakness so far is that I'm an inexperienced DM, and thus I have to learn a lot of stuff, figure out what works and doesn't work for me, etc. I'm DMing Hoard of The Dragon Queen as my first campaign (I took over from one of my friends) and boy, that one is not easy :') But I still love DMing and want to improve ❤ I only need to keep reminding myself that it will take time

[@Tersidian]

in one of my current campaigns the party has been accompanied by the Kobold Scout Shh on their travel as he has been leading them to a slavers outpost to free the slaves adorable little fellow, players seem to adore him and there was lots of rp .. within the party itself and including Shh :) my biggest weakness as a DM is probably self doubt, but that has been tempered a lot by experience by now (I also might be arrogant and overconfident sometimes because of that :D )

[@GinnyDi]

The spectrum of self-doubt to self-importance is a hard balance, haha! It's easy to overcorrect to one end or another. Awareness can help keep us in the middle, though, I think!!

[@kpdubbs7117]

Me: Woohoo new Ginny video!!! Also me: Wait! January is over already??

[@zoobeeda]

I always wonder how the devs would react if they found these "Why XXXX in D&D sucks, and here's how to fix it." kind of videos. I'd be curious to hear what they have to say.

[@GinnyDi]

Honestly, a few WotC designers follow me, so I have no doubt they've seen me talking shit 😂

[@vincentwinqvist4023]

As a game designer in a different context, I can tell you that they're probably aware of all these weaknesses and are very happy about tips being shared. The best ideas are mulled over and those thoughts are incorporated into future products if it makes sense. Developers LOVE feedback as long as it's constructive.

[@FlatOnHisFace]

@@vincentwinqvist4023 Plus, they're just happy you are playing the game and talking about it.

[@steffenweppler9612]

if you prepare for travel, try to create some PoI's along the way (Points of Interests) - like the Hot Spring example in the video You see a Mill along the river, but the water wheel is not moving... what are you doing? Investigation let's the players see the miller behind it, trying to remove a big tree from the wheel They can attack him and get a few GP, but helping him gives them a few Loafs of Bread and a short rest Of course, they could also travel along and ignore him, but by doing so, they skip a small reward Environment can also be a really big part of the narrative (Houserule from our group here) Heavy Rain hinders traveling, since you're wet and uncomfortable, so Movement -1 Fog hinders you from seeing better, so Investigation ect -1 Fog also gives you a better way of dodging attacks or for sneaking around, so Stealth +1 this not only applies to the players, but to the NPCs and enemies too A waterfall... crushing loud in front of your party, gives spellcasters (Wizard, Warlock) a Stealth +1, since the loud sound helps them disguise the verbal component of their spells If the druid desides to transform into a Bear and jump into the river to catch some fish for food... let them roll 1d6 (if they roll a 5 or 6 they catch 2 fish instead of 1) so they could feed the group a bit if they instead rolled a 1... they land with a loud SPLAT!!! inside the river, scarying the fish away

[@worldforger9225]

Yes! Using small adventures on the road are a good way to pass time. I like to run my overworld sections like the Oregon Trail, they can hunt, deal with weather, forage, and fish.

[@Scary_Poppins]

Love this! Especially the part about linking encounters to a wider narrative or making the journey a quest in itself - it makes it feel more real and adds depth to the world beyond just ‘there are bandits sometimes’.

[@jefffoulsham594]

this was a fun video! I am actually designing my own ttrpg, and I want to make world building, social encounters, and exploration more developed as game mechanics... like in D&D you have a few footnotes on how to handle that stuff anf then the other 90% + of the rules are all about combat encounters. I am trying to make Combat, Exploration, and Social interaction equally meaningful pillars of my system so that things like travelling can be interactive and fun

[@Thoron_of_Neto]

This video was so friggin helpful! I'm a new DM (I've run 2 sessions so far) and left the table both times feeling like there was so much narration and that the travel was so lackluster, I panic thinking I'm doing it wrong. This definitely sparked so many ideas. My players are all fairly new to DnD, and I'm trying to manage expectation, and also provide something memorable for them. Thanks!

[@thecookiemeister5374]

Here’s my take: the road is a dangerous place, and for a group of semi-famous to famous heros, it’s a rather vulnerable place as well. No walls to hide behind, no real paths to hide in while keeping pace… Really, the perfect place to have something stalk them.

[@KayDeeKeySull]

Love getting notifications for your uploads! And such a helpful topic!

[@nordicson2835]

My kids like the Wicher Series... my so read the books , my daughters love the show... l have allowed the use of Portals. I used to have the party help a merchant caravan as supplemental guards , super short days , but lots of character interaction with the guards , government officials traveling with the caravan , learn potion composition from caravan healers , and captured brigades. Very happy to see you back , you look rested , ( Dad talk inserted here.... please be careful , rest when you can , put yourself first ) and thank you for all you teach and entertain us .

[@db-jugg3r]

Hey there, thanks for all this inspiration. It's always nice to get another view on how to handle storytelling. But the issue here is, as with most of all other arcs and plots, preperation. What if you do not have the time to prepare a journey, because the players just decided to go somewhere else? There real interesting question is, how to handle player decicions on the fly and still make them interesting, and travel is just one of those events. But it's one that will happen quite frequently.

[@michaelcrumlett187]

Really good video! Travel actually got me started writing my own stuff. I was running a store bought campaign for my kids and decided to spice up the random encounters a bit. They really liked the modified encounters, so I put more effort into them. Soon we had abandoned the main adventure and rolled into a completely home brewed adventure, which became a city, then a kingdom, and someday soon a world. I owe it all to boring travel.

[@chefrowlet]

I'm starting a road trip style campaign this week, definitely gonna take a lot of this advice to the table~

[@emilysmith2965]

That sounds amazingly fun… best of luck! (Also, Rowlet is best boi) 🥰

[@kevinbranson2918]

Thanks for the awesome video, Ginny! I would say that my biggest weakness as a DM is that I am still trying to figure out my work flow as a DM, how to keep track of my different NPCs with stats, monsters, etc. and not having to constantly flip back and forth between my phone, a page in my prep binder, etc.

[@duncanpurssell1998]

Welcome back. I have found your videos to be hugely helpful in making me a better dm.

[@pLanetstarBerry]

Now I'm just thinking of how I used a travel montage to tease the players regarding two NPCs they shipped interacting with other, and it was low key a hint of the matchmaking quest I had set up for them to do when they reached their destination. They just wrapped up a very stressful quest earlier and needed something more lighthearted to do. It was stuff like one night having a player spotting NPC A leaving NPC B's tent in the wee hours of the morning, B being very protective of A during a random encounter, A reading a fairytale to B while the latter made dinner, stuff like that. Hey, it held everyone's interest and made the traveling part exciting, so that's a win for me.

[@joeymullins5142]

Awesome vid! There are so many ways to think of travel differently. Recently in the game I'm DMing, the Party was trying to find a machine that was causing planar shifting and damaging wildlife. Travelling to the cause was no easy feat, as it was deep in an unexplored radioactive jungle that was partially consumed by the Feywild. However, I gave the players plenty of options to get there. They decided to build a raft (Nicknamed Floe-T) and managed to pass a skill challenge I presented them while traversing down jungle river rapids. Some perceptive players spotted for natural hazards and dangerous creatures. Other stronger characters pulled tough maneuvers so the raft wouldn't get damaged. Some inspired others and offered to patch up the raft on the fly. The druid even used her Wild Shape to move the raft faster for an hour. It was mostly improvised, but it was loads of fun and we all remember that session so well. Fun comes from being open minded as a DM, giving the players options, and rewarding creativity at the table.

[@evanmgamer]

Your sponsor segments are the only sponsor segments I sit through. They're always so entertaining.

[@aerozord]

I love what I call "camp fire scenes" to the point I always work in down time to have them. Its a great way to deepen the story by giving players a chance to interact and build dynamics. It can be hard to get players into it but once you do they can discuss backstory, goals, make plans. So they can interact in a no-stakes situation

[@ChaseNoseworthy]

Just started DMing my first long term campaign so I very much needed this. Thanks Ginny!

[@GinnyDi]

Ahhh, congratulations Chase!! Best of luck, I'm sure you're gonna do great!

[@drskelebone]

We totally had a Dr. Alabaster when we were moving from the countryside to Waterdeep! He was a gnome, making questionable potions as well as a bunch of "potion that makes you explode." IIRC, the questionable potions of healing were fine, the questionable potions of heroism did nothing, and the potions that make you explode did exactly what it said on the tin (3d6 fire damage, I think?). We had a grand scheme to toss a bunch of the potions in dragon mouths (or other large creature's mouths), but everyone had forgotten them by the time we found a sufficiently large enemy.

[@kelleenbrx6649]

I loved having a small market at a crossroads- it's three wyrd sisters in heavy veils, each selling different items- one specialized in plants, one in sculptures and the other in fortunes. You can decide what's under the veils, to whatever works for your campaign.

[@Jgpgames]

something I've done for awhile that I enjoy is treating the travel as group improv, I ask players what's something interesting they encounter along the path, the players message me and I roleplay their strange merchants describe a chest upon an island in a pond, or jumpscare them with a dinosaur. A lot of the times I'll add a twist to their encounter like the treasure chest being guarded by a powerful toad boss and ofc throw in my own encounters to expand upon the world and overarching story

[@elvacoburg1279]

As a DM I tend to run travel one of two ways: 1) If I have no planned encounters on the route that they are travelling, I sum up the travel with a description of their route, the weather and number of other travellers. Sometime the PC's will stop other travellers to ask of news which give role-play opportunities. This tends to be the method used when they are travelling along well travelled roads, and days of travel are summed up in a couple of minutes description. 2) If I do have planned encounters for them, then I take the journey slower, with perception rolls to notice things. This tends to be the method used when travelling in dangerous "enemy" held lands. Note that in my games there are no true "random" encounters, all encounter are planned, some are there to advance one or more of the plots (yes, I have multiple plots ongoing at any time), with others being red-herrings. Also, I have the weather pre-calculated months in advance of the current time frame, so a quick look at my charts I know how warm it is going to be on a give day and if is going to rain / snow.

[@ilmari1452]

Some great suggestions here! I've been doing the "make the journey the quest" for a while now. I like to craft unique encounter tables for campaigns, with characterful encounters many of which are relevant to the overall plot. I have been trying the roll-based challenges too, though I've room for improvement there... 💁🏻 One thing I'd remind DMs is that you don't even need a campaign that has the heroes doing vast amounts of overland travel. Look at most campaigns in modules or d&d computer games: they generally take place in a single small region, around a "home base" town. You can run an entire and very fulfilling campaign in an area where players only need a day or two of travel to get between any two locations, a much easier range in which to write unique and interesting travel events.😁

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

Fantastic! Conversely, I've seen random encounters that players tried to turn into their own new campaigns because it seemed like something their character would do. Meanwhile, it's not part of the campaign we're getting distracted from, and the poor DM has absolutely nothing planned for it.

[@Psycho-Babble]

D&D has been a part of my life ever since I was a small child, I have played dozens of campaigns in 1st edition as well as other game systems. I tried my hand at DMing a few times in my teenage and young adult years, but it always ended poorly and never went on for more than a few sessions. I started DM a new 5th campaign with 3 completely new players a few months ago, it is going great, everyone is excited about the story and player interactions and I am about as surprised about what happens next as the players are? They are all wild cards (1 more than the others) and are taking the adventure in a WAY different direction than I intended, but I love it! Something as simple as "your characters bump into each other in the same location but with different motives" turned into one player knocking out the other two then falling off a building and knocking herself unconscious due to poor rolls, good role play, and irl misunderstandings. Its great. My giggles weakness as a DM before was rigidity, unwillingness to compromise or give the players true agency, but I think I'm past that, so far the whole campaign has been driven by the characters, not a story that I wrote. Now my biggest weakness is time management both in game and preparation outside of it. So far what I thought would be the first session and hook into a campaign has been an entire campaign unto itself.

[@aleyoakenshield5384]

As always in Ginni Di videos, when the advert started I was thinking of skipping it, and then got caught up in it and watched every second. Worth it though, like always!