Each day of travel along a path is represented by something called the travel round. To fully traverse a path, players must complete the full number of travel rounds involved as determined by the GM. Each travel round represents approximately one day of travel, and is divided into three phases: the Navigation Phase, the Encounter Phase, and the Camping Phase.
The Navigation Phase of travel is when players choose what direction along the path to follow, and whether or not they are able to remain on course. First, the GM should make a roll on the appropriate weather table to determine the day’s weather. See the Weather and Climate section for what effects this could have on a travel round. Second, one of the players should make a navigation roll in order to determine whether or not their group successfully continues in the right direction along their journey. To do so, the player should first note what the navigation difficulty of the path is. Then, they should subtract any relevant modifiers from this number, such as from maps, a Guide, or from backtracking. If the resulting number is zero or below, the navigation phase ends and the group moves on to the encounter phase. If the resulting number is nonzero, the player should then roll a 1d10. If the result is greater than the number they derived from the navigation difficulty, the players proceed to the encounter phase without further incident. If this is not the case, roll a 1d6 and consult the table below to see what occurs instead. Once you have done so, proceed to the Encounter Phase.
| Result | Setback | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Frustrated | The player characters waste a day trying to figure out where they are. They spend an extra travel round without getting any closer to their destination. |
| 3 | Backtracked | The player characters advance backwards along the path instead of forwards. Not only do they waste a travel round, they must also spend 1 additional travel round to reach the next node. |
| 4 | Noisy | The player characters continue on as normal, but the danger rating of the path counts as 1 more until they reach their destination. This effect can stack, but the danger rating can never increase past 5 in this manner. |
| 5 | Sidetracked | The player characters will continue along the path as normal, but each subsequent navigation roll will be made as though the navigation difficulty were 1 higher than it actually is. This penalty can stack. |
| 6 | Totally Lost | The player characters lose the path entirely. Until they are able to make a successful navigation roll to get back on track, each additional failure will count as though they are Totally Lost for another travel round. |
If players fail a navigation roll and do not wish to receive a penalty, one of them may instead spend an Anima to succeed.
The next phase of the travel round is the Encounter Phase. If the one of the players successfully completed the Scouting action the day before, they may choose to avoid the encounter entirely. If not, then GM may choose to either initiate a pre-planned encounter or make an encounter roll. If they wish, the GM may also choose to simply forgo any encounters. When they do this is entirely at their discretion, but it is recommended that this be done rarely, and if done at all then for the sake of pacing or to indicate that an area has been made safe by player actions.
To make an encounter roll, first take the navigation difficulty, divide by two, round down, and subtract it from 10. Then, add the danger rating to 0. Record both numbers, and roll a 1d10. If the result of the roll is greater than the first number, the party will encounter a natural hazard that impedes their progress. If the result of the roll is less than or equal to the second number, the players will be forced to engage in combat with a group of enemies. See the Hazards and Encounters section for more details on how to deal with these situations.
If the players do not encounter a hazard or a group of enemies, they will instead have a benign encounter. A benign encounter is an encounter that is beneficial instead of challenging. This is a good chance to give your players space to roleplay in a low stress environment, or, if they prefer, to simply breathe a sigh of relief that their travel round did not end in violence. The GM is encouraged to come up with their own possibilities for benign encounters, but if they don’t have one on hand then they rolls a 1d6 and consult the table below to see what the players encounter.
| Result | Encounter | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Peace | Nothing eventful happens. |
| 4 | Landmark | The players encounter an unexpected landmark, such as a lake or a canyon. They earn 1 Discovery XP for discovering something new. |
| 5 | Fellow Travelers | The players encounter a group of friendly NPCs who are willing to share resources. During the Camping Phase, they will not have to expend any Supplies in order to fully rest. |
| 6 | Merchant | The players encounter a traveling merchant who is willing to sell them a few supplies. Choose a shopkeep you already have pre-prepared or use the Merchant Generation rules to make a new one. |
Sometimes, an area is too wild or too dangerous for friendly NPCs to be around. In this case, all benign encounters that are not Landmark are changed to Peace.
After the encounter phase is over and done with, the last phase of the travel round is the Camping Phase. The Camping Phase takes place when the player characters rest for the evening. During the Camping Phase, each player chooses one of ten different actions to take, six of which are locked behind their having access to one of the six combat jobs. There are also four basic actions they can take:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Shelter | Pitching a tent, digging a latrine, and other activities necessary to protect from the elements. If a character takes this action, all of the player characters will regain half their current maximum MP during the night, rounded down. |
| Cook | Turning provisions into a proper meal. If a character in the party takes this action, all of the player characters will regain half their current maximum HP during the night, rounded down. |
| Explore | Take a look at the surrounding area. If there are any branching paths, secret landmarks, or other areas nearby, they will be revealed to the player who does this. Either way, this action gives the players a +2 to the result of their next navigation roll. |
| Recover | Players who take this action will recover all of their HP if they have taken damage and other characters are using both the Shelter and Cook actions during this camping phase. If they are already at full HP before the amount they regain from Shelter, they will recover all of their MP instead. Players who want to be the subjects of the Mend action must also take this action while camping. |
In addition to the four actions every player character can take, there are six more actions that each player can only take during the camping phase if they have unlocked the corresponding job.
| Job | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Striker | Hunt | The player whose character takes this action rolls a 1d10. If the resulting number is equal to or below half their character’s Body rounded down plus half their Striker rank rounded down, the party regains 1d4 Supplies. |
| Caster | Divine | The player whose character takes this action rolls a 1d10. If the resulting number is equal to or below half their character’s Mind rounded down plus half their Caster rank rounded down, the GM should make a roll on the Weather Table to determine the following day’s weather and inform the players of the result. |
| Healer | Mend | The player whose character takes this action chooses another player character that is taking the Recover action and roll a 1d10. If the result is equal to or lower than half their character’s Spirit rounded down plus half their Healer rank rounded down, the Recovering player character can remove 1 injury or status of their choice. If they have no injuries, this action does nothing. |
| Defender | Watch | The player whose character takes this action rolls a 1d10. If the result is equal to or below half their character’s Spirit rounded down plus half their Defender level rounded down, the GM rolls the night’s Ambush Check and inform the players of the result. If there is an ambush that night, the enemies that attack cannot gain First Strike. |
| Support | Gather | The player whose character takes this action rolls a 1d10. If the result is equal to or below half their character’s Mind rounded down plus half their Support level rounded down, the party will acquire an additional battle item appropriate to the area. Which item this is can be determined by GM fiat, or they can roll on an enemy’s Item Table to see what the player receives. |
| Saboteur | Scout | The player whose character takes this action rolls a 1d10. If the result is equal to or below half their character’s Body rounded down plus half their Saboteur level rounded down, the GM should make an encounter roll early for the following day. If the players wish, they may proceed with this encounter, or they may choose to have a benign encounter instead. If there would otherwise be no probability of a benign encounter, they must instead choose the opposite kind of encounter to the one rolled. That is, if the GM rolls an enemy encounter, the players can choose to encounter a natural hazard, and if the GM rolls a natural hazard, the players can choose to encounter enemies instead. |
At the beginning of every Camping Phase, players will expend an amount of Supplies equal to the number of characters in the party plus the number of followers traveling with them. This represents the amount of rations, toiletries, water, and other important items that they consume in order to camp. If they do not have enough or want to conserve resources, they may choose which characters to distribute Supplies to rather than distributing them to everyone. Characters that have not had Supplies distributed to them will not be able to heal as a result of the Shelter and Cook actions. If the party is completely out of Supplies, they may not take the Shelter or Cook actions until they have acquired more.
At the end of the Camping Phase and before the player characters recover their HP, MP, injuries, and statuses as a result of their actions, the GM rolls a 1d10 known as the ambush check. If the resulting number is equal to or below half their path’s current danger rating rounded down, they will be ambushed by enemies, and will have to fight an extra enemy encounter before they heal due to the Shelter, Cook or Mend actions. If no players have taken the Watch action during the camping phase, the enemies will also gain First Strike during this encounter.
Oftentimes, players will find themselves traveling the same path multiple times. As their characters familiarize themselves with a path, it will become easier to travel it in the future. For every previous time the characters have traveled a path, the navigation difficulty is reduced by 2.
Sometimes, the travel time between two locations will be significant but will not encompass an entire day. If this is the case, travel along a short path is represented by a partial travel round. A partial travel round is constituted by a navigation phase and then an encounter phase, but not a camping phase, as the players will arrive at their destination before they need to take a full rest. Using partial travel rounds will create a sense of wide space between two locations, and is best done in cases when traveling is particularly dangerous or when player characters are spending a long time in the vicinity of a relatively large but bounded area, such as a large metropolis or dungeon.