"Delving" (a.k.a. Underground Travel)

[Rocmistro]

I'm also interested, Elf.

In fact i'll sweeten the pot by saying they are going to be used in our RPOL campaign almost as soon as you're finished with them.

[Throrsgold]

...but if there's interest I'll try to get back to it.

I'm interested.

[Glorelendil]

Ok, I've updated the document with some of the ideas I've been pondering. It still needs lists of Hazards and specifics for Challenges, so at this point much LM creativity is required to use this.

Some notes/questions:
1) I really struggled with how to handle supplies, especially torches and food. I kind of punted on the food question for now, which is trickier than normal travel because Hunting is less likely to produce edible food. I didn't want to create another resource to track. Thoughts?

2) I really agonized over whether to create a shopping list of dungeoneering supplies. The D&D spectre was looming. But I think the problem of deciding how much stuff to take can be a fun/interesting one. So I settled on just offering a few items each of which has a specific interaction with the dungeon rules. (Torches & Darkness, ropes/pitons with Dreadful Gaps, and pickaxes with Closed for Repairs.)

3) I reduced the Explore/Challenge thing down to a single roll: on a failure, you use the result of the Feat Die to determine what the failure means. I know I'm stepping outside of TOR patterns here: usually a failure is just a failure. But I wanted Challenges, and things like torch consumption, to be more frequent than Hazards alone would allow for.

Eager for feedback.

[zedturtle]

I really need to catch up on this, so that I can provide comprehensive feedback. That said, I'm ok with binary supplies (if you have a hunger hazard, consume food to negate the hazard). I'm even okay with possibly persistent binary supplies (e.g. If you have a chasm and you use your ropes and pitons, they're recoverable unless you roll a Sauron on the feat die. If you have a darkness hazard you use up one unit of torches unless you roll a Gandalf, etc.)

More clarity once I have a real keyboard...

[Glorelendil]

I really need to catch up on this, so that I can provide comprehensive feedback. That said, I'm ok with binary supplies (if you have a hunger hazard, consume food to negate the hazard). I'm even okay with possibly persistent binary supplies (e.g. If you have a chasm and you use your ropes and pitons, they're recoverable unless you roll a Sauron on the feat die. If you have a darkness hazard you use up one unit of torches unless you roll a Gandalf, etc.)

More clarity once I have a real keyboard...

Yes, this is the kind of mechanics I'm envisioning. Specifics can vary widely; my version will need tuning.

One option would be to make "supplies" generic: whether you use torches, food, or ropes, each use consumes one unit. That would make bookkeeping easier. (In each case the party must decide whose travel gear gets lighter by one point.)

In fact, I like this version. I will update doc when I get a chance.

EDIT: that's still problematic. How do you decide when the party is out of torches? At zero supplies? Maybe types of supplies do need to be differentiated?

I think I have a solution, but typing on phone at the moment. Will update doc when I have a chance.

[Glorelendil]

Ok, document updated. See section on "Supplies" for new rules. I've normalized supplies to all have encumbrance of 1.

[beckett]

Ok, document updated. See section on "Supplies" for new rules. I've normalized supplies to all have encumbrance of 1.

Is version 3 the most up to date version? I'm not seeing where supplies are listed as having an encumbrance of 1.

[Hermes Serpent]

They're one by implication but your correct in all the changes the actual unit of encumbrance isn't shown. It talks of one unit of torches not being an individual torch and so on but nothing specific.

[Glorelendil]

I deleted the encumbrance column because everything is 1. But I will modify the language, and maybe create an example, to make it clear.

[Glorelendil]

Just realized that food consumption rate needs to scale with party size. Possible solution: "Roll a success die; if the result is equal to or less than your Fellowship size, subtract one Rations." Special rations, like Lembas or honey cakes, could modify the die roll. Or make it a feat die but have this show up twice on the Explore table.

EDIT: Updated the document with the latter option.