I mashed the ideas of travel from Adventures in Middle Earth with rules from Ghosts of Saltmarsh to create a streamlined travel system for my game. This is the first draft, but I figure they are good enough to start sharing and getting feedback.
Journey Difficulty and Travel Speed
| Type of Travel | DC | Miles on Foot | Miles on Sled/Animals |
| Travel near Civilization | 13 | 5 miles/day (1d4+3) | 10 miles/day (2d4+6) |
| Travel in the Wild | 15 | 4 miles/day (1d4+2) | 8 miles/day (2d4+4) |
| Exploration in the Deep Wild | 18 | 3 miles/day (1d4+1) | 6 miles/day (2d4+2) |
Caravan Morale & Supplies
A caravan’s skill, experience, morale, and health are defined by its quality score. A caravan starts with a quality score of 0, and that score varies over time, going as low as -10 and as high as +10. It decreases as a caravan takes casualties, suffers hardship, or endures poor health. It increases if the caravan enjoys high morale, has good health care, and receives clear, fair leadership.
Mutiny
A poorly led or mistreated caravan might turn against its leaders. Once per day, if a caravan’s’s quality score is lower than 0, a Leader must make a Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check modified by the caravan’s quality score. If the check total is between 1 and 9, the caravan’s quality score decreases by 1.
If the check total is 0 or lower, the caravan mutinies. They become hostile to the leaders and might attempt to kill them or abandon them. The crew can be cowed into obedience through violence, combat, or offers of treasure and other rewards. When the DM ends the mutiny, the caravan’s quality score increases by 1d4.
Relaxation Time
Spending time in a town allows the caravan to relax and regain its composure. If a caravan’s quality score is 3 or lower, the score increases by 1 for each day the caravan spends in town.
Supplies
The caravan is assumed to be carrying enough supplies for the travel. However details are abstracted in the Embarkation phase.
Embarkation Phase
[Int] Preparation and Supplies
Examples: Nature what do we need, what does nature provide, Investigate or Persuade to get the best supplies for the value, Survival knowledge preparations.
- No Success: Insufficient (Con Save required per day, or lose a hitdie or gain exhaustion)
- Partial Success: Sufficient
- Complete Success: Abundant (Advantage on other Embarkation Phase rolls)
[Wis] Timing
Examples: Religion to find good omens for your journey, Nature to determine weather, Stealth laying low when you leave, etc…
- No Success: Bad Timing (Disadvantage on Journey rolls until a success)
- Partial Success: Appropriate
- Complete Success: Auspicious (Advantage on Journey rolls until a fail)
[Cha] Spirit
Examples: Athletics get the caravan in good condition before the trip, Deception to convice everyone the journey is safe, Performance to perform a pep-talk, etc…
- No Success: Low Spirit, Caravan Quality Reduced by 1d4 points
- Partial Success: Good Spirit, Caravan Quality Increased by 1d4 points
- Complete Success: Inspired, Caravan Quality Increased by 2d4 points
Journey Phase
For each day roll a d6 and check the following table. If you roll a no result, roll an additional d6 on the check for the next day, and take the higher value
Events of the Day
| Roll | Result |
| 1-3 | Nothing happens |
| 4 | Caravan Trouble |
| 5 | 1d3 Encounter |
| 6 | Caravan Trouble & 1d3 Encounters |
Caravan Trouble
| Roll | Result |
| 1 | Caravan Conflicts |
| 2 | Someone got lost |
| 3 | Bad weather |
| 4 | Supplies Issue |
| 5 | Animal Problems |
| 6 | Avalanche, Blizzard |
Encounters
| Roll | Result |
| 1 | Dragon, Giant, Abberations |
| 2 | Very Dangerous/Evil Monstruosity, Fey, Undead, Slimes, etc… |
| 3 | Dangerous/Neutral Monstruosity, Owlbear, Yeti, etc.. |
| 4 | Humanoids |
| 5 | Dangerous Beasts |
| 6 | Pack Animals |
[Int] Navigation
Examples: Tool Checks like Navigator or Cartographer tools, Survival to follow nature trails, Perception to find shortcuts and ley of the land, etc…
- No Success: Party needs to backtrack, add an extra day of travel
- Partial Success: Normal travel
- Complete Success: Cuts a day, or half day of travel
[Wis] Scouting
Examples: Stealth to scout ahead of the caravan, Arcana using cantrips to gain insights, Animal Handling to benefit from caravan’s animal cunning
- No Success: Party is surprised by monsters or falls into an ambush
- Partial Success: Threats are spotted, but no one is surprised
- Complete Success: You find threats before they affect you, monster attacks, etc…
[Cha] Morale
Examples: Medicine to make sure everyone is in optimal conditions, Intimidation to keep everyone in line, Insight to understand and help people that might have concerns early
- No Success: Setbacks, Caravan Quality Reduced by 1d4
- Partial Success: Morale doesn’t change
- Complete Success: Inspired journey, Caravan Quality Increases by 1d4, PCs gain Inspiration
KameBit's Helm 