The passage of time...

[Greyfeld85]

I have a major exploration section coming up soon in a game I'm DMing. However, being my first time as a DM, there is a problem that need help with.

Aside from making them blow all their resources for the day so they have to rest, how do I extend my players' travel time?

Each section of the map should take at least a day (preferably more) to make their way through. In almost all cases, the players will know at least the general direction they should be heading, so getting them lost won't really be an option.

[rmg22893]

I have a major exploration section coming up soon in a game I'm DMing. However, being my first time as a DM, there is a problem that need help with.

Aside from making them blow all their resources for the day so they have to rest, how do I extend my players' travel time?

Each section of the map should take at least a day (preferably more) to make their way through. In almost all cases, the players will know at least the general direction they should be heading, so getting them lost won't really be an option.

Difficult terrain?

[Kerilstrasz]

Have em think that their being watched .. or followed.. make them feel that they need to be sooo much cautious...

or...

have them found a common rock with some glyphs that they cant decypher..
and then another one.. and then a piece of wood with the same glyphs...
and then another one... and then a cave with the same glyphs... and then have the clouds be shaped as those glyphs...
they will get sooooo confused that they will slow down sooo much to find whats happening! (hmmm... side quest?)

[Greyfeld85]

Difficult terrain?

Hmmm maybe I should elaborate...

I'd like to extend the time it takes for them to reach their destination while still keeping the players engaged. Telling them "You take a day to reach the next set of stairs," extends their time in-character, but it doesn't do much to make them feel like they're actually engaged in the trek.

[Dairuga]

Hmmm maybe I should elaborate...

I'd like to extend the time it takes for them to reach their destination while still keeping the players engaged. Telling them "You take a day to reach the next set of stairs," extends their time in-character, but it doesn't do much to make them feel like they're actually engaged in the trek.

Well... THis is actually a rather simple question. Immersion.
How do you extend any scene, storywise, that you want to flesh out? Like how you make a dungeon more than just "You step trough room A-->Z, and now collect the rewards at the end".

You add details.

For example; Roll. Always roll, when traveling. It adds that suspense to the game, even if it is not really doing anything. If asked, you can say that you are rolling percentages for every hour they are traveling; they are traveling for eight hours? Good, eight rolls. And if you wish to throw something at them, you can say that the rolls happened to roll on that one number you wanted (or in the case that you wish to throw in random encounters ,say; the chance of being robbed or assaulted by dogs are 10%; roll a D100, all numbers of 1-10 means there is an encounter).

Another example, would be arbitrary changes that is quite scene-setting, but not always important. Create a short summary of what is happening... They are for example riding their horse-backs for hours upon end... Long, dreary hours of boredom.. The clouds are sifting overhead; slowly gliding together, separating.. Clumping up; the sounds of woodlands surrounding them. Birds' chirping, the rustling of leaves. Whip up a storm, for example. Say that the clouds seem to gather omniously, rain starting to fall... Show them the effects of weather, as a wind starts picking up, the rain turning into a drizzle.. Ask them how they tolerate it; do they have cover against rain? Do they need to make an emergency stop at a nearby inn? Will they come crawling / Running towards the doors, seeking shelter? perhaps they come upon an abandoned traveler's lodge for protection against the weather.

Or, add quests along the way. small, seemingly nonsignificant quests, people to help; etc. For example... They could be listen to the ambient sounds of the forest. Birds creating their melodious tune, the slow drizzle of rain starting overhead; the pitter-patter of rain hitting the ground, the rush of wind howling over the distance, the clank of metal against metal as swords hit togeth-waitwhat? There seems to be.. the sound of a swordfight in the distance! What can it be?

It could be someone else that is being ambushed. Someone needing help; a quick recovery and some kind words later being everything that is exchanged, before parting ways again... THey could come over a sickened or an injured man traveling in the opposite way on the road. Perhaps a druid, saying that she/ he needs help with injured animals, asking if there is a higher leveled healer amongst you, and so on and so forth. Or that someone robbed a set of important equipment from the nearest Druid's circle, and they were currently heading north; too strong for a single druid to take care of, and coincidentally being along the way they need to travel.

Perhaps they could find a ring in a ditch, or on the way itself.. Lost from a carriage that passed trough earlier; wanting to find its owner. They could sell it, or try to find the owner, whose name is engraved on the inside for a greater reward... Or perhaps the ring is magical / cursed? Perhaps, when worn, it makes the owner unable to take it off, and their gender are changed with every 1d4 attacks they make?

There are numerous ways of extending a travel; and make it seem more real. No travels are fun if you say "Okay, you start at A. You take a day, then you are at point B". Travel is a very important part of the game, and it should be at least given some thought to, as you would think out a dungeon or a cave for them to explore. At least, I hope some of these ideas might be helpful for you, in your scenario.

[Doorhandle]

What he said, and New and intresting terrain challenges.

The cliffs of insanity, for exsample, will be kinda hard to get up without flying, and could easialy take all day either climbing up them, or around them.

[J.Gellert]

That was an important point in the old adventure "Castle Spulzeer".

The first part of it was about delaying the players' way to the castle.

It involved a lot of encounters, some involving battle (priests of Cyric), others cryptic (a giant raven that would appear and speak a dark omen).

And when all else fails, there is the older-than-dirt classic: A sphinx blocks the way, asking riddles.

[nedz]

Encounters keyed to the region through which they are passing. They don't have to be combat, though some of that helps. Just make sure you describe the local fauna - You way is blocked by a herd of wilderbeast, your camp is overrun in the night by thousands of lemmings, that sort of thing.

[Zaq]

In the game I'm currently in, the adventure (a canned module, but not held to uber-religiously) called for us to trek across a snowy island to a frost giant citadel. It's a pretty damn big island, full of icy wastes and that sort of thing. Our GM handled it in about the worst way I've ever seen* (no offense if you happen to be reading this, dude!)—he'd roll some dice, say "OK, you've been traveling across the icy plains for three hours. Do you keep going?", and we'd all say "yes, unless we have any reason at all not to." And we'd repeat. "It's been two more hours. Pressing on?" "Yes, because we have seen absolutely nothing that would indicate that we need to stray from our path." Repeat.

The point is, whatever you do, don't do this. The players will only stop if you give them a reason to stop. It doesn't always have to be "you're spotted by monsters, so roll initiative," but in the absence of any information to the contrary, the players will just assume that they trek on until they get to their destination. You want detail, give them detail. Even an initial description of the lush forest or whatever only lasts for as long as you're giving it. I understand you realize this, which is why you're asking us in the first place, but I think you get what I'm trying to say.

*To be fair, we're running a round-robin GMing style, and we've agreed not to look ahead in the module too much because we don't know who'll be wearing the GM hat for any given episode, so I don't really hold it against him. There's only so much planning you can do, really, especially when you're not in a dungeon and the PCs can just decide to go gallivanting off the intended path if they so choose. It's not the GM's fault that it was handled poorly. It just was.