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Time and Travel System

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Time and Travel System

This campaign uses a lightweight travel procedure to keep overland exploration meaningful without slowing the game down.

It is designed to work together with the Fuel Management System so travel decisions affect both time and resources.

Core Idea

Travel is measured in Travel Turns instead of tracking every hour in detail.

A Travel Turn represents a meaningful chunk of movement and whatever comes with it.

Travel Turn Scale

The default scale is:

  • 1 to 3 hexes traveled = 1 Travel Turn
  • 4 to 6 hexes traveled = 2 Travel Turns
  • 7 to 9 hexes traveled = 3 Travel Turns

Always round up.

If the party travels at all, it costs at least 1 Travel Turn.

Time, Rest, and Daily Travel

Travel Turns are not fixed blocks of hours.

They are a simple way to pace movement, travel events, and complications.

For timekeeping, the campaign uses this baseline:

  • 1 hex traveled = 1 fuel unit
  • 2.5 hexes traveled = 1 normal day of travel
  • 1 hex traveled = about 0.4 day of travel

That means a party can normally travel about 2.5 hexes before needing a long rest.

If the party keeps traveling beyond that before resting, they are pushing into forced march territory and may need to make exhaustion checks or suffer other travel penalties.

How This Connects to Fuel

In practice:

  • the group chooses a route and travel stance
  • the travel system determines how many Travel Turns the trip takes
  • the group tracks how close the trip gets to the 2.5-hex daily limit
  • the fuel system determines how much fuel that movement costs
  • complications can increase time, fuel cost, or both

This means route choices and travel pressure matter in more than one way.

Default Stance Rules

For the clearest default, use these stance rules.

Careful Travel

  • uses normal fuel cost
  • favors caution and lower risk

Normal Travel

  • uses normal fuel cost
  • has no special modifier

Hard Push

  • uses +1 FU per hex traveled
  • carries more risk and more resource pressure

Travel Procedure

When the group travels, the process is usually:

1. Choose a Destination and Route

Players decide where they want to go and how they want to get there.

That choice matters, because different routes can mean different terrain, different dangers, and different opportunities.

2. Choose a Travel Stance

Each leg of travel uses one of three stances.

Careful Travel

  • more cautious
  • better for avoiding danger and spotting trouble
  • useful in risky or unfamiliar territory

Normal Travel

  • standard pace
  • no major bonus or penalty

Hard Push

  • used when the group wants to move quickly or escape pressure
  • usually comes with more risk or more resource cost

Hard Push is also the stance most likely to increase fuel use.

Explicit Fuel Examples by Stance

Assume a vehicle with Fuel Cost 1 FU per hex and no terrain modifier.

Traveling 3 Hexes

  • Careful Travel: 1 Travel Turn, 3 FU
  • Normal Travel: 1 Travel Turn, 3 FU
  • Hard Push: 1 Travel Turn, 6 FU

Traveling 5 Hexes

  • Careful Travel: 2 Travel Turns, 5 FU
  • Normal Travel: 2 Travel Turns, 5 FU
  • Hard Push: 2 Travel Turns, 10 FU

Traveling 3 Hexes in Rough Terrain

If rough terrain adds +1 FU per hex, then:

  • Careful Travel: 1 Travel Turn, 6 FU
  • Normal Travel: 1 Travel Turn, 6 FU
  • Hard Push: 1 Travel Turn, 9 FU

Travel Costs

Travel can create costs depending on the route and the stance used.

Possible costs include:

  • fuel use
  • extra wear
  • lost time
  • supply pressure
  • strain or complications
  • getting close to the end of a normal travel day

If the campaign is using the fuel rules, this is when those costs are applied.

Daily Travel Limit

The easiest way to track time pressure is by counting hexes traveled.

As a rule of thumb:

  • 1 hex is about 0.4 day
  • 2 hexes is about 0.8 day
  • 2.5 hexes is a full normal day of travel

Once the party goes past 2.5 hexes before taking a long rest, they are no longer traveling normally. They are pushing harder than a standard day allows.

Meaningful Results Per Turn

A Travel Turn should produce at most one major result.

That result could be:

  • a hazard
  • an encounter
  • a discovery
  • an opportunity
  • a complication
  • or simply smooth progress

Not every Travel Turn has to trigger a big event.

Side Activities Cost Time

If the party stops to investigate, scavenge, explore, negotiate, rescue someone, or chase a side objective, that usually costs:

  • at least 1 Travel Turn

Bigger side activities may cost more.

What This Means in Play

This system is meant to keep travel focused on choices like:

  • which route is safer
  • whether to move cautiously or push forward
  • whether to spend time on discoveries and opportunities
  • whether the group can afford the fuel, risk, or delay

Why This Rule Exists

This system is here to make travel feel important without turning it into constant random interruptions or hour-by-hour bookkeeping.

It helps travel stay:

  • clear
  • fast
  • risky when it should be
  • and shaped by player decisions

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