Wilderness Exploration Procedure

Wilderness Exploration Procedure

Lately, I've been reading ACKS II Judge's Journal, and I can say that I highly recommend this book - it's a great resource regardless of what system you're playing. One thing it made me realize is how useful it can be to have a clearly written sequence of actions required to resolve a particular task. For example, the book has sequential procedures for dungeon exploration, wilderness expeditions, trading, etc. Why not do that in GURPS? The obvious answer is that every GURPS game is different and uses different rules. However, you can do that for your specific game, and that should make things more simple. Let's try writing a wilderness exploration sequence for a game ran my way. This is not a mandatory sequence, but something of a checklist that sometimes may require changing or can be ignored altogether.

1. Determine Weather. Determine the weather for the day (p. DF16-30 or any other weather table). Weather will determine temperature effects (Cold, p. B430 and Heat, p. B434 OR Harsh Climates, p. DF16-30), Vision and Hearing penalties (GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, pp. 6-7),  Survival and Tracking modifiers, and travel speed (Nasty Weather, p. DF16-30).

2. Determine Hourly Movement Rate. Calculate the base hourly movement rate per p. DF16-23, make skill rolls for movement (Hiking, Riding, etc) and Navigation or Area Knowledge rolls per p. DF16-22.

3. Determine Activities. Ask the party what they would like to do during the day. Determine marching order.

4. Check for Daily Encounters. Depending on the environment, roll to see if any random encounters will occur that day. If a random encounter will occur, roll 1d8 (assuming there are 8 adventuring hours; if this is different, use a different die) to determine the hour of its occurence.

5. Check if the Party Gets Lost. If the party is traveling that day, check if it gets lost (Getting Lost, p. DF16-26).

6. Adjudicate Each Hour: For each of the adventuring hours in the day, follow the steps below.

    a. Check for Scheduled Encounter: If a random encounter is scheduled to occur this hour, resolve the encounter. Do not forget to subtract FP as per Travel Fatigue (p. DF16-24). Ambushes are resolved as per Ambushes (p. DF16-37).

    b. Adjudicate Special Activities: If the party is undertaking any activities this hour other than hunting, foraging, traveling, resting, or searching, adjudicate them now.

    c. Resolve Foraging and Hunting: If any adventurers in the party foraged or hunted at that hour, roll to see if they found food, water, or firewood. If so, add the food and water to their available supplies of rations, and the firewood to their supplies. See p. DF16-42 for details.

    d. Adjudicate Travel and Encounters: If the party is traveling, adjust its position on your wilderness map based on one hour of travel in the appropriate direction.

    e. Adjudicate Weather Effects. If weather conditions are dire enough to enforce HT roll, make these rolls.

7. Consume Rations: Mark off rations and water according to the party's requirements. In case of lack of food or water, subtract FP or HP as per Starvation and Dehydration (p. B426).

8. Adjudicate Disease Effects: If the area harbors diseases, make rolls to resist them. In frigid areas, a disease resistance roll may be appropriate if an adventurer lost FP due to cold that day (p. DF16-34).

9. Check for Nighttime Encounters: If resting at night, roll to see if any random encounters will occur that night. If a random encounter will occur, roll 1d8 (assuming 8 hours of sleep) to determine the hour of its occurrence and resolve it at that time.

10. Advance Calendar: Mark off 1 day of game time.