Travelling Gear Question

[Falenthal]

It's (more or less) the same as with heavy armor and such:
Your Fatigue rolls aren't harder than anyone else's, but as your Fatigue Threshold will be higher, you will get Weary sooner.
It may be more realistic to make travelling harder with heavy armor, but I think this way it's more elegant and allows for lesser bookkeeping ("Roll for Fatigue: Chainmail? Your TN is X. Leather corslet? Your TN is Y. Helm and shield? Your TN is Z,...").

[Majestic]

It's (more or less) the same as with heavy armor and such:
Your Fatigue rolls aren't harder than anyone else's, but as your Fatigue Threshold will be higher, you will get Weary sooner.
It may be more realistic to make travelling harder with heavy armor, but I think this way it's more elegant and allows for lesser bookkeeping ("Roll for Fatigue: Chainmail? Your TN is X. Leather corslet? Your TN is Y. Helm and shield? Your TN is Z,...").

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something. Regardless of whether or not one is wearing chainmal, or a leather corslet, or carries a helm and shield, their TN (for a Fatigue roll) is the same, isn't it? It's either 14, or based on the terrain.

[Hermes Serpent]

You are correct Majestic. I think Falenthal is suggesting that the existing method is better than using a separate TN for different types of armour as the way of dealing with Fatigue due to Travel.

I've consistently played that the Encumbrance total is the character's weapon(s), armour (and shield, cap etc.) and set at that level from the start. The Fatigue due to Travel test failures is removed from your total Endurance. Damage from Combat is also take off the total Endurance and when the amount of damage and travel fatigue reduces the amount of 'free' Endurance between your current level and the Encumbrance total to zero you are Weary.

[beckett]

I ran again for the first time in nearly two years and we had a blast! I'd spent a lot of time polishing up, and overall it went much smoother, despite the long time off. We finished off "The Marsh Bell" and the players did well, getting into character and performing well.

Though it really didn't come up (as no Hazards occurred and the return home was uneventful), I still find myself confused and baffled about what constitutes "Travelling Gear".

p. 76 of the Adventurer's Book reads (emphasis mine):

Travelling Gear
A hero’s travelling gear includes all the typical belongings
that he carries when travelling, in addition to his weapons
and armour. Players only take into consideration the
Encumbrance rating of their travelling gear when they
are using the rules for resolving a Journey (see Chapter
Five).
The Encumbrance rating of travelling gear varies
depending on the time of the year:

(and then I know the values for season have been clarified to be 2 and 3, rather than 1 and 2)

But then the Clarifications and Amendments document reads:

You immediately increase your Fatigue score by a number
of points equal to the Encumbrance of your travelling gear.
For every prolonged rest you take at a safe place (i.e. not
‘on the road’), you lose 1 point of Fatigue increase due to
failed Travel rolls.

So if a PC fails their Travel test, and their Travelling Gear consists of a Leather Corslet (8) Shield (3),Spear (2), and Sword (2), does he increase his Fatigue score by 2 (for his Summer Gear only?) or 17 (for all of his Travelling Gear)?

Hi Majestic.

No, because the rules specifically states:

For the sake of simplicity, the game presents such possessions as a character’s travelling gear and war gear.

-- page 76 of the revised book

So there are two types of gear, and the rule you are quoting specifically calls out only travelling gear.

When a player-hero fails a Fatigue test, he increases his Fatigue score by a number equal to the Encumbrance value of his Travelling gear. If at least one player rolls an EYE icon, a Hazard sequence has been triggered (whether the roll failed or not).

-- page 146 of the Revised book.

And we know from page 77 of the revised book that the Encumbrance value of Travelling Gear = 2 for spring/summer and 3 for winter/autumn.

Hope that helps.

[Falenthal]

You are correct Majestic. I think Falenthal is suggesting that the existing method is better than using a separate TN for different types of armour as the way of dealing with Fatigue due to Travel.

Exactly. Sorry for any misunderstandings.

I've consistently played that the Encumbrance total is the character's weapon(s), armour (and shield, cap etc.) and set at that level from the start. The Fatigue due to Travel test failures is removed from your total Endurance. Damage from Combat is also take off the total Endurance and when the amount of damage and travel fatigue reduces the amount of 'free' Endurance between your current level and the Encumbrance total to zero you are Weary.

So, you don't add anything to the Fatigue Threshold? The FT becomes then a static number, right?
Not that I see it wrong, just that the Healing rules separate Endurance recovery from Travel Fatigue recovery, and there must be a sense for it.
I don't have a clear opinion on why it's done this way, and not substract everything from Endurance (like you do). But I guess that Endurance may become too easy to heal (recovery while travelling, Rally Comrades during combat, take a breath after combat,...). With the difficulty of getting rid of the increases in the FT the players can feel the relief of "buff, finally we arrived at Lake-town. Now I can really rest and recover."

[Majestic]

Thanks, beckett, it's all falling into place and making more sense now.

I'd been misunderstanding and doing it the same way as Hermes Serpent, which nets the same usually, but it does end up making the healing of Endurance from the two types (fatigue and battle) the same (when they're supposed to be different).

[Dunkelbrink]

the Healing rules separate Endurance recovery from Travel Fatigue recovery, and there must be a sense for it.I don't have a clear opinion on why it's done this way, and not substract everything from Endurance (like you do). But I guess that Endurance may become too easy to heal (recovery while travelling, Rally Comrades during combat, take a breath after combat,...). With the difficulty of getting rid of the increases in the FT the players can feel the relief of "buff, finally we arrived at Lake-town. Now I can really rest and recover."

I'd say this is exactly the idea behind the Travel Fatigue rules, and why they differ from taking damage (Endurance). Travel fatigue is not "hit points", it doesn't damage you and does not take you closer to being unconscious at 0 endurance (which it would if it was to be applied to Endurance). But it takes you closer to being Weary. So a hero who's traveled for many weeks and accumulated say 6 extra fatigue from 3 failed rolls in summer is much closer to being weary when he's suddenly ambushed by goblins, despite being completely unhurt. The longer you're on the road, the more dangerous the threat of an combat encounter becomes and the more your hero will long for that bed in Laketown where he can remove his Fatigue.

This is another level of this brilliant system. If you make Travel fatigue just another source of Endurance loss you're missing the whole point of the elegant mechanic.

[beckett]

the Healing rules separate Endurance recovery from Travel Fatigue recovery, and there must be a sense for it.I don't have a clear opinion on why it's done this way, and not substract everything from Endurance (like you do). But I guess that Endurance may become too easy to heal (recovery while travelling, Rally Comrades during combat, take a breath after combat,...). With the difficulty of getting rid of the increases in the FT the players can feel the relief of "buff, finally we arrived at Lake-town. Now I can really rest and recover."

I'd say this is exactly the idea behind the Travel Fatigue rules, and why they differ from taking damage (Endurance). Travel fatigue is not "hit points", it doesn't damage you and does not take you closer to being unconscious at 0 endurance (which it would if it was to be applied to Endurance). But it takes you closer to being Weary. So a hero who's traveled for many weeks and accumulated say 6 extra fatigue from 3 failed rolls in summer is much closer to being weary when he's suddenly ambushed by goblins, despite being completely unhurt. The longer you're on the road, the more dangerous the threat of an combat encounter becomes and the more your hero will long for that bed in Laketown where he can remove his Fatigue.

This is another level of this brilliant system. If you make Travel fatigue just another source of Endurance loss you're missing the whole point of the elegant mechanic.

I didn't write this quote you are attributing to me. Falenthal wrote that.

[Dunkelbrink]

Yes, sorry, I know it wasn't you. I never seem to get this quotation thing right.

[beckett]

Yes, sorry, I know it wasn't you. I never seem to get this quotation thing right.

No worries.