Where are the most detailed & realistic travel rules to be found?

[Skarg]

As a simulationist old-school veteran GURPS (& TFT & wargaming) GM who hasn't entirely kept up with all of the massive number of GURPS releases over the decades, I'm wondering where the most detailed & realistic travel rules are to be found?

I've got the Basic Sets 1e 2e 3e 4e... and Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures, and Vehicles and Low Tech 3e & 4e and am getting the Low Tech I & II Pyramid issues and am eyeing the Pyramid issue titled Overland Adventures and wondering if it has better rule content than I already have, or if it's mainly just adventures and ideas. And, if there are other sources I've missed, either for sale or buried in a forum discussion or blog or something.

Thanks!

[D10]

Pyramid 87 Medieval Sea Trade and Pyramid 95 Overland Adventures provides usefull information on this subject. As well as Low-Tech, Low-Tech companion 2 and 3.

But also take into consideration that several factors influence travel speed. Napoleon got his army to the places he needed faster than the enemy would anticipate not because he had superior travelling TL, but because he was willing to plunder the countryside and force march his soldier's to their limits.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Originally Posted by D10

Pyramid 87 Medieval Sea Trade and Pyramid 95 Overland Adventures provides usefull information on this subject. As well as Low-Tech, Low-Tech companion 2 and 3.

But also take into consideration that several factors influence travel speed. Napoleon got his army to the places he needed faster than the enemy would anticipate not because he had superior travelling TL, but because he was willing to plunder the countryside and force march his soldier's to their limits.

And his soldiers were willing to do that, because they had good morale.

And that good morale was due to a history of success in battle, as well as oratory skills.

There's always more detail. ;)

[trechriron]

I am curious - what is your goal with these more detailed rules? Did your players ask for more detail on overland travel?

I am sincerely curious, not being snarky.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by trechriron

I am curious - what is your goal with these more detailed rules? Did your players ask for more detail on overland travel?

I am sincerely curious, not being snarky.

I and some of my players are quite interested in overland travel, exploration, mapping, and having rules to handle in interesting and detailed ways the various situations that can arise just from having a terrain map and having situations develop even as simple as a broken wagon, slain pack animals, search and pursuit decisions when there are multiple groups on people in multiple places, unexpected weather (or foolishly not bringing adequate clothing or gear, or losing it), getting lost and/or injured, trying to cross rivers, surviving when out of supplies or having just escaped someplace and not having what you'd want to travel & camp outside, etc etc. We're also interested in details such as how far people can realistically travel given different experience, condition, age, encumbrance, footwear, and different plans for how long and hard to march, when to take breaks, how much you can forage, how easy it is to track people or cover tracks, how hard it is to move undetected through a type of terrain with different patrollers on guard, etc. We often don't track such details, but sometimes the situation can suddenly get interesting and/or people want to try interesting techniques to make more time or catch up to someone or something, and so a solid foundation of the best travel rules seem like a very reasonable thing to want to have available.

My first RPG campaign was circa 1980 using The Fantasy Trip: In The Labyrinth, which despite being a fairly short book included the fundamental mode of play that the world is mapped with terrain types and roads and there are rules for how much you can carry and how your leader and other members' abilities affect your ability to not get lost when off-road, and survive outdoors. The details of getting from place to place (and acquiring and perfecting maps of the world, with the GM never showing the players the maps that were the actual accurate terrain) and finding new lands with new situations and opportunities was one of the most intriguing parts of play, and having good travel rules was part of it, and something that was a bit hard to find. With a reasonable map, the players have choices of not just where to go but how to get there, and it's far more interesting if there are appropriate rules that make sense for the challenges and outcomes of trying to travel through different terrain in different conditions. As one friend likes to say, "getting there is half the death!"

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

...Perhaps we should be asking you for such rules. :)

[trechriron]

Originally Posted by Skarg

I and some of my players are quite interested in ...

Awesome. I swear there were more advanced rules for foraging, starvation, and thirst including long-term fatigue rules in After The End?

[hal]

Originally Posted by Skarg

My first RPG campaign was circa 1980 using The Fantasy Trip: In The Labyrinth, which despite being a fairly short book included the fundamental mode of play that the world is mapped with terrain types and roads and there are rules for how much you can carry and how your leader...

<snipped stuff>

Remember the arctic rules involving down filled winter gear and snow shoes for TFT? ;)

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

...Perhaps we should be asking you for such rules. :)

I'll share if I end up making a write-up.

Originally Posted by trechriron

Awesome. I swear there were more advanced rules for foraging, starvation, and thirst including long-term fatigue rules in After The End?

I'll add it to my list of books to check for stuff, thanks.

Originally Posted by hal

Remember the arctic rules involving down filled winter gear and snow shoes for TFT? ;)

I remember the winter clothing and freezing rules in Interplay, assuming that's what you mean. Also had other kinds of winter clothes which went straight onto our equipment lists.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Skarg

As a simulationist old-school veteran GURPS (& TFT & wargaming) GM who hasn't entirely kept up with all of the massive number of GURPS releases over the decades, I'm wondering where the most detailed & realistic travel rules are to be found?

I've got the Basic Sets 1e 2e 3e 4e... and Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures, and Vehicles and Low Tech 3e & 4e and am getting the Low Tech I & II Pyramid issues and am eyeing the Pyramid issue titled Overland Adventures and wondering if it has better rule content than I already have, or if it's mainly just adventures and ideas. And, if there are other sources I've missed, either for sale or buried in a forum discussion or blog or something.

Thanks!

The notable gap in your list is actually High Tech, which has a replacement, usually seen as superior, to the Basic Set Hiking rules.

It's possible one of the sources you have replicates this, but I don't think so.