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Narrating Travel (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by KiloGex@lemmy.world to c/rpg@ttrpg.network

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Pretty short and sweet, how do you successfully narrate travel between points of interest as a GM without it being all hurky-jerky?

I'm imagining attempting to narrate the epic travel scenes in Lord of the Rings, where they travel for days in fast-forward with nothing really interesting happening, only to then suddenly have time reel down to normal when something is about to happen. Every time I try this in a game though it just feels awkward and abrupt, while also clearly indicating to the players that something is going to happen.

Is there a way to make this a more smooth and natural transition?

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[–] eerongal@ttrpg.network 10 points 1 year ago

Most of the time for travel, i usually default to "red lining" (which is a concept that unfortunately shares its name with a practice of racially profiling people for housing purposes, but is not related in any way), which is a quick blurb/explanation talking about the travel. The idea is supposed to be similar to, like, action movies such as indana jones where you'd see a map and a "red line" is drawn showing their travel as a quick transition to the new locale.

I also prompt players for anything they want to "do" during their travels, which can be whatever the players want to call out.

That said, i usually try to include in my description just quick descriptions of time frames, and sights the characters would see. I.E. "You travel through the foothills for around a week, on the way you take note of the lush forests, rolling terrain, and the peak of mount doom far in the distance looming ominously. You finally arrive at the hamet of (city)."