08-03-2020, 10:00 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Minneapolis, MN
|
GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
I'm designing a post-apocalyptic hexcrawl and have been reading up on all the various rules for travel and navigation, like After The End2, DF16: Wilderness Adventures as well as The Alexandrian's excellent commentary on d20 hexcrawls. One of the things I've noted is that GURPS Navigation rules seem to consciously omit penalties for terrain type, which strikes me as odd. My only personal experience with navigation is the (under)sea type so I wanted to get everyone's opinions here on the topic.
I would think that areas where it is difficult to find a follow a landmark would be more difficult to navigate in then others, so areas like dense forests and jungles should get a penalty, as well as areas like moorland where it is relatively featureless and the undulating terrain makes it more difficult to keep the landmark in view. Part of the problem comes from what the consequences of a failed navigation check. ATE and DF16 treat navigation checks as giving a bonus or penalty to travel speed. Terrain type is already factored into travel speed and some of the modifier is undoubtedly due to navigation difficulty of the terrain, which leads to not adding an additional penalty to the check. I am planning on using a failed navigation check to send the party into the wrong hex which makes me lean toward including a terrain penalty for navigation. So, should terrain have a penalty and if so, what magnitude for what terrain, or should navigation not be linked to the terrain type?
__________________
There are only two types of ships: Submarines and Targets! |
08-03-2020, 11:04 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
Quote:
Real World experience in traversing featureless wilderness without technological aids is probably in short supply around here. I know I have none. It's never played a big part in games where I GM'ed either. Players who have psyched themselves up to have their characters slay a dragon will just be annoyed by getting lost on their way to his lair. What i'd do is make sure that some PC has a reasonable level of competence in the task and assume that in poorer terrain he works harder and takes longer.
__________________
Fred Brackin |
|
08-03-2020, 11:14 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
GURPS Low-Tech provides a fairly comprehensive discussion of Navigation, including navigating by landmarks, and celestial navigation.
|
08-03-2020, 12:56 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Minneapolis, MN
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
The rules in GURPS Low-Tech seem to be limited to Navigation (Sea). As a former naval officer that is something I actually know a good deal about and can attest that the rules there are good, but sadly, don't seem applicable to my current conundrum.
__________________
There are only two types of ships: Submarines and Targets! Last edited by M036462; 08-03-2020 at 01:05 PM. |
08-03-2020, 03:21 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
I think they could be adapted to land navigation, but it would be necessary to think carefully about which parts still apply and which don't.
__________________
Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
08-03-2020, 09:09 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Minneapolis, MN
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
I think what I'll do is use the terrain modifiers from Mass Combat to determine navigation penalty because they approximate what I'm going for. If plains has a penalty of 0 then I'll set the penalty equal to terrain modifier-8. Thus the penalties are:
Arctic -2 Desert -1 Hills -2 Island/Beach -2 Jungle -5 Mountain -4 Plains 0 Swampland -4 Woodlands -3 Dense Woodlands -4
__________________
There are only two types of ships: Submarines and Targets! |
08-03-2020, 09:17 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Dec 2013
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
People have gotten lost in a few square miles of woodland. You might want to double those penalties.
...Granted, that's modern people; but medieval peasants mostly lived in the middle of farmland, surrounded by farmland, and the next village over was past a few trees; featuring yet more farmland. The medieval fantasy depiction of dense forests surrounding isolated villages was not actually typical, or so I've heard from people who I hope are more knowledgeable on the subject. ;) |
08-03-2020, 09:18 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York City
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
Don't forget that navigation assumes you have proper tools.
Even in woods if you have a compass, map & even a few landmarks, it shouldn't bee too hard to keep on course. I've done it in hills, desert & light woods terrain. |
08-03-2020, 09:22 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York City
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
Quote:
I don't think those modifiers work for the navigation. I do think they are spot on for movement. |
|
08-03-2020, 11:39 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Dec 2013
|
Re: GURPS Navigation (Land) and Terrain
Quote:
Although - I'm not a hiker, but there's probably a difference between "experienced trail hiker", and "experienced wilderness hiker". |
|
Tags |
gurps, navigation, terrain |
|
|