Traveling in D&D

[Aro2468]

I am new to dnd and I feel that our groups travelling is kinda bland and I feel like there should be more opportunities during travelling. Can someone give me some insight into how you would make traveling more intersting?

[Mad_Saulot]

You can travel 24 miles a day on land, depending on terrain, it very much depends on what setting you are in, in Forgotten Realms for instance the western heartlands is a massive frontier chock full of bandits and monsters, random encounters should feature in any ajor travel, I'd include at least one random encounter per day, whether it be a hostile encounter, a curiosity, or some challenge.

Hostile encounters are obvious, the party gets attacked by bandits or savages or a monster the usual craic.

Curious encounters for something unusual like a mysterious vendor that sells unusual weapons that dissapears after you buy a funny looking tube weapon to evil cackling.

Challenges like a fallen tree where players have to work together to clear the way, the possibilities are endless.

Random encounters could lead to quests and you can place meaningful npc's in the path to offer side quests etc

[KorvinStarmast]

I am new to dnd and I feel that our groups travelling is kinda bland and I feel like there should be more opportunities during travelling. Can someone give me some insight into how you would make traveling more intersting? In the published adventure "Tomb of Annihilation" the DM rolls three times daily and IIRC there is a 30% chance for an encounter. One in the morning, one in the afternoon/evening, and over overnight. (Or something like that: our DM alluded to that a while back).
However, he has a table to consult depending on where we are in Chult. In some areas, there are more undead than anything else.

For your own ease of use, build a table, or use the tables in Xanathar's Guide To Everything which is broken up by adventure tier. That way, as your players travel, then can run into interesting things/creatures, or not, on a given day.

[Maelynn]

I have made a list of 100 possible random encounters, or rather 3 lists as I have one for 'on the road', 'camp during the night', and 'inside a city/town'. When my party is travelling, I roll on that list (with a d% and a d10 die) to see what encounter they'll face. These encounters range from fights to non-hostile interactions with NPCs and mere observations they can choose to ignore or get involved in. So far they've had a nice variety of encounters that led to different kinds of interaction.

To make it more random, I first roll 2 d20's of different colour to determine if anything happens at all (I use a green d20 and another one, and if the green one is lower then they'll get an encounter). Also a very nice way to make your party nervous, which is an added bonus. xD

[Hadoken]

My group has been playing together for a little over a year, and we've traveled a ton during our current campaign, which was usually hand-waved away with the DM telling us how long our journey took, mentioning some major landmarks, maybe an encounter happening, but usually not. Recently, we decided to spice things up using Tales by the Campfire (link below), and I thought it went really well!

In lieu of a travel montage, we each took turns telling a story about our character based on tarot cards that the DM had us draw randomly. Even though we've been playing together every other week for a year, and while we normally do a lot of RP, this was such a cool opportunity to learn more about our characters and flesh them out. I would highly recommend trying it if your party wants to add more RP into the mix, but I'd be sure to telegraph it ahead of time so people don't feel too put on the spot.

What worked for us was to decide what order we would tell our stories in, then each person drew a tarot card, and the DM told us what traits were associated with that card. The card I drew was accomplishment, prestige, or recognition and for someone else it was love, family, or relationship. Drawing for everyone first allowed time to think about our stories before we started telling them. All in all, it was a fun addition to our regular game!

Here's a link (https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/6lvo4x/tales_at_the_campfire_getting_players_in/?utm_source=reddit-android) with a detailed breakdown of one way to play with Tales by the Campfire.

[Vogie]

Right now my group is running W:DH, so all travel thus far is basically in the city (although I'm really looking forward to the chase scene in, IIRC, Chapter 4). The screen for the adventure has it's own encounter roll, in addition to the Urban encounter tables in the DMG.

I also have taken the extra "randomizer" cards from my copies of Dominion & it's expansions for use in the campaign (I don't actually use them in the game because I have an Android app that randomizes for me). I can shuffle the cards together and start flipping them if the party starts to wander down a street I hadn't planned on.

You want to turn here? It looks like there is... an smithy's shop, a merchant, a watchman on patrol, and there's a group of people in a garden area looking like they're setting up a some sort of festival or carnival.
I also use the Heromuster app to keep my NPCs straight, and I have a spare "campaign" of just random encounters that I've thought up and punched in really quick whenever inspiration strikes me.

Another thing you can incorporate is the 4e Skill challenge mechanic, where the players role play through using skills and rolls. If you have a prescribed number of fails before a prescribed number of successes, the players have to go through an actual combat encounter, or some other type of setback. It could be as complicated as running through the streets, but could be something as simple as no one putting a brake-block on the PC's cart, and it rolling down a hill really fast. Presumably towards a chronically-unlucky cabbage merchant.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Can someone give me some insight into how you would make traveling more intersting?

Cut it down to a one line "you travel from A to B. It takes X hours"?

Something to remember is that having lots of random encounters on the road is not suitable for every campaign. Sometimes it's more useful to make encounters non-random or related to the main 'story' in some way. It depends on the type of game you're playing, you know.

[mephnick]

Create a game where travel is the point. Rather than lazily handwaving travel between neccessary plot combats (ugh), play a game where random encounters and exploration ARE the story. You'd be surprised how fun a game with no "main" plot can be.

[NorthernPhoenix]

A good start is to have a large list of non-combat "encounters"/complications/things-that-happen, which can accompany the occasional combat during a long trip. An easy example from Lord of the Rings is when the spy-crows from dunland happen upon the fellowship. Legolas spots them with perception, and everyone rolls stealth to hide. Or your party could meet someone potentially friendly, and learn useful information or not depending on how they act, get the chance to buy something rare, or recruit someone. Or they could meet clearly evil people who are not at all out to attack the party, like a traveling slave caravan, giving the party a choice how to react. Or again from LOTR, roll for avalanche/storm/heatwave/rockslide/other natural/magical phenomena.

[Tanarii]

Create a game where travel is the point. Rather than lazily handwaving travel between neccessary plot combats (ugh), play a game where random encounters and exploration ARE the story. You'd be surprised how fun a game with no "main" plot can be.
And just like a dungeon, wilderness adventure needs plenty of points of interest mixed in with the "empty rooms" left for random encounters. As well as a good map.
(Edit: I took a glance at ToA a little while ago, it seems like them managed to create a decent hex-crawl wilderness adventure. Better than Isle of Dread in many ways.)

OTOH if an area is "safe" for travel (civilized), just skip ahead and note how long it takes to get there. Ditto for frontier territory, except you can toss in the mandatory one and only one encounter with bandits or pirates or whatever to make it clear it's not totally safe territory. :smallamused:

[GlenSmash!]

You could try some of the options here: https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA_IntoTheWild.pdf

[JoeJ]

The Cinematic Environs (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=cinematic+environs&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=) series of supplements from Critical Hit Publishing are filled with ways to make travel through various types of terrain more interesting.

Also, given that encounters don't tend to happen as often on the road as they do in dungeons, you might consider using the Gritty Realism rest variant (DMG p. 267) while traveling.

[Yora]

Many people, who are writing really fantastic things about how you run a campaign, have been trying to figure out a great solution to making traveling a fun and exciting part of the game. And I don't think I've ever seen anyone claim that they found a really good way to do it.

I think this is possibly the biggest still unsolved problem in gamemastering. It's really difficult to come up with something that works really well.

But there's several approaches that people think are "good enough".

Here's some thought on the subjects from some of my favorite writers:
https://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2012/05/unbearable-dullness-of-dnd-wilderness.html
https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/17320/roleplaying-games/hexcrawl-part-2-wilderness-travel
https://theangrygm.com/getting-there-is-half-the-fun/

[DrowPiratRobrts]

As a player I hate random encounters that end up being meaningless, so as a DM I never use them. Especially during travel. If I give my party an encounter during a travel montage I'm going to give them a quest hook with it. They don't have to take it, but I'm not going to make them fight 6 useless bears on the uselessly long road through the forest of uselessness. This is also part of my philosophy to never give combat encounters that aren't related to the main story or at least some other side plot hook. Some people really like random battles where the NPCs mean nothing, but I haven't played with those people either as a player or a DM.

My current DM balances this well. If he knows we want to get somewhere quick he normally just tells us how long travel takes. Otherwise he might give us a random encounter or two, but he'll tie it into the main story or into a side story with deep NPCs in some way, shape, or form.

So if your party likes fighting random animals and goblins or if it's part of the thrill of the environment, like Chult in ToA, then go for it. If they don't, try to create a good reason for the encounter. Is there some valuable treasure they can find or buy? Will it lead to them possibly uncovering a local crime boss terrorizing a small village?

Always ask yourself as a DM, what's the point of what I'm putting in front of the players?

[Pex]

I am new to dnd and I feel that our groups travelling is kinda bland and I feel like there should be more opportunities during travelling. Can someone give me some insight into how you would make traveling more intersting?

How is it bland? While it can be fun to have encounters traveling from place to place I find it tedious if it happens all the time. How does anyone travel if the party is constantly attacked? Are roads peaceful but once a party travels it out come the bandits/goblins/orcs/ogres? Must every boat trip involve an attack by pirates, sea monsters, and/or a major storm?

You don't need to describe every day of travel. It's enough for the DM to say "A week later you arrive" and continue with the main adventure.

Of course I'm speaking from a perspective of a long time veteran player. Since you're new every encounter is exciting even if it's the common standard to me attack by bandits or pirates. I shouldn't begrudge you this phase of play. However, if traveling is bland because each day must be described even when nothing happens the DM needs to learn to speed up time and be comfortable with saying "A week later you arrive", mixing it up with attacks from bandits.

[GlenSmash!]

How is it bland? While it can be fun to have encounters traveling from place to place I find it tedious if it happens all the time. How does anyone travel if the party is constantly attacked? Are roads peaceful but once a party travels it out come the bandits/goblins/orcs/ogres? Must every boat trip involve an attack by pirates, sea monsters, and/or a major storm?

You don't need to describe every day of travel. It's enough for the DM to say "A week later you arrive" and continue with the main adventure.

Of course I'm speaking from a perspective of a long time veteran player. Since you're new every encounter is exciting even if it's the common standard to me attack by bandits or pirates. I shouldn't begrudge you this phase of play. However, if traveling is bland because each day must be described even when nothing happens the DM needs to learn to speed up time and be comfortable with saying "A week later you arrive", mixing it up with attacks from bandits.

Indeed. Handling it in the abstract, with occasional encounters has always worked best for me.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Indeed. Handling it in the abstract, with occasional encounters has always worked best for me.

I know we've said this for three comments in a row, but I want to say it one more time to make sure people see it who don't think there's been a good solution to make travel interesting.

If you haven't tried doing travel the way we've stated above, seriously give it a shot. It revolutionized D&D campaigns I ran and played in.

[LaserFace]

The greatest success I've had with traveling is in a casual game where I randomly generated everything; this included not just random encounters, but random quests, terrain, etc. Essentially, each day of travel would require us to go to a new location. So I'd get out the "terrain" table, have each player roll a die, and each result would become a separate path to explore.

Now, I'd have to justify players leaving, say, a temperate forest, and having the options of going to "Desert", "Ocean" and "Frozen Tundra". How does that make any sense? Well, this requires some improvisation, to explain what the hell each result means. The challenge is for me to find a way to make each result make sense within the context of the world. I think the players enjoy listening to me struggle to stretch my creativity to achieve the slightest semblance of verisimilitude at every turn, because 1) it's funny and 2) it forces us to do things we never considered before. Encounters within those terrains are also randomly generated, and randomly occur based on % die.

I think the key thing about this approach is that it just gels well with our personalities, and it's cool that we keep getting new things to try out. This is very much a "grow outward" setting, where I'm left to build more onto a blank slate over time, so each new location or encounter is an opportunity to actually grow the world. Frozen wastes in temperate zones end up justified by blurting out a piece of lore about how these are cursed lands struck by magic from a dark god; encounters with orcs and elves in the same forest become a real indication of warring kingdoms or peoples; an NPC referencing a magical city inhabited by a mix of kobolds and high elves draws curiosity about how strange such a place must be.

I think if you want traveling to be exciting, you just need to use it as an opportunity to tell more about the world you're playing in. If traveling is just an obstacle, and not a way to entice exploration, discovery, and learning more lore, then I think it's just bound to be a little dull.

[HappyDaze]

I'm all for chance random encounters that have no direct connection to the "main story" (although the players may decide to take the story in that direction after the encounter). That said, in the heart of civilized areas, random encounters themselves are far more likely to be civilized too, but that's not to say that they won't have the possibility of combat.

[JoeJ]

OP, you didn't say how important you want travel to be in your game, in terms of the fiction. Is travel the point of the adventure - perhaps the PCs are exploring a new continent, or trying to open up a trade route - or are they just traveling to get to where the adventure is supposed to really begin?

[Maelynn]

Always ask yourself as a DM, what's the point of what I'm putting in front of the players?

Don't let the DM be the only one to decide what the point is. The players have a say in this too, and I enjoy letting them decide what to do with an encounter. I'll give an example.

One of the encounters I had on the road was an upturned cart with a large busted cage and a statue of a man in a sitting position. Tracks led off the road, but they were at least a couple of hours old so no use trying to follow. I literally found this encounter somewhere online, and I implemented it because it was a nice reference to the main story (but honestly, that's irrelevant - could've been anything else other than a Basilisk). The party took pity on the driver and decided to take him back to the city, using the cart to carry him. They named him Stony Tony, parked him somewhere safe (the cottage where one of the characters lives) and have made it their little side quest to find a way to restore him. They also hijacked the cart, bought a mule, and are now using the cart on some of their quests.

Another encounter was a discarded pair of leather trousers in a ditch by the road. This was a fun quip at one of my players, who I'm with in another group - her character there is a Half-Orc Bard (metal rocker style) who is known for getting blackout drunk and waking up somewhere without his trousers. The other players didn't know the reference, of course, and when one of them noticed the trousers were tailor-made and of a good quality, but unfamiliar kind of leather, she cleaned it (thoroughly, I think like 3 Prestidigitations) and bagged it to try and find its owner.

The players are free to ignore encounters, unless it's one that approaches them (like a random person asking for a silver piece to buy some bread, or highwaymen that set an ambush they failed to notice). I consider it a chance for them to be creative, to act out their characters, and to surprise me with the outcome. To me, that's enough 'point' to just put them in sometimes and see what happens. And so far, I get the impression my players enjoy it as well.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Don't let the DM be the only one to decide what the point is. The players have a say in this too, and I enjoy letting them decide what to do with an encounter. I'll give an example...

[some other stuff]

...The players are free to ignore encounters, unless it's one that approaches them (like a random person asking for a silver piece to buy some bread, or highwaymen that set an ambush they failed to notice). I consider it a chance for them to be creative, to act out their characters, and to surprise me with the outcome. To me, that's enough 'point' to just put them in sometimes and see what happens. And so far, I get the impression my players enjoy it as well.

Without trying to overuse this word, I think you’re missing my point. Putting a unique situation in front of the players to see how they respond is a huge driving purpose for a lot of actions/reactions in the world. Maybe not the only one, but it’s often a big part of a scenario.

The players don’t have much of a say in what you narrate for them. That’s why you’re the DM. Sometimes you might ask for their input on something, but more often than not you’ll just tell them what’s happening around them. It’s obviously up to them how to respond. My point is that the things in your world and the NPCs and even monsters should all have purpose and meaning, at least to some degree. It gives the players a richer world to respond to.

[Tanarii]

Random encounters have a purpose and meaning. They give structure to time and make it meaningful.

They also have the added benefit of making your world populated, interactable, and thus bringing it to life. As opposed to just being a place that exists for the PCs to be experience plot in / be a "story" in. For many players that's bland and boring and can destroy any sense of verisimilitude.

Of course, if you reach the point where they're wondering what all these displacer beasts and griffons and rust monsters are eating, and why they're so hostile, you may need to tweak the way you build your encounter tables. :smallamused:

[HappyDaze]

Random encounters have a purpose and meaning. They give structure to time and make it meaningful.

They also have the added benefit of making your world populated, interactable, and thus bringing it to life. As opposed to just being a place that exists for the PCs to be experience plot in / be a "story" in. For many players that's bland and boring and can destroy any sense of verisimilitude.

Of course, if you reach the point where they're wondering what all these displacer beasts and griffons and rust monsters are eating, and why they're so hostile, you may need to tweak the way you build your encounter tables. :smallamused:
I totally agree and the last sentence is why I think that DMs really need to tailor their own encounter tables for the situation. A well-traveled road in the middle of McKingdom is not likely to be infested with monsters, but bandits might prey on groups they perceive as weak. Likewise, small groups of poorly armed "civilian" travelers really shouldn't be met in the middle of a badlands infested with all manner of foul creatures. Exceptions for either should probably have an explanation for why they are exceptions.

[Wildarm]

I am new to dnd and I feel that our groups travelling is kinda bland and I feel like there should be more opportunities during travelling. Can someone give me some insight into how you would make traveling more intersting?

Travel montage skill challenge. Present each player with a non-combat situation encountered on their travels. Encourage them to use skills rather than magic to overcome the obstacle. Create a DC based on what the character attempts to do. They can possibly look to others to help out. If more than half succeed on their checks then they get a small boon. Arriving well rested, faster or in good spirits. I usually make this an inspiration die the successful players get to give to someone else in the group. Failing more than half means delays or possibly a random encounter.

I do this every so often when I know the group will be making a long journey through new terrain.

[Tanarii]

I totally agree and the last sentence is why I think that DMs really need to tailor their own encounter tables for the situation. A well-traveled road in the middle of McKingdom is not likely to be infested with monsters, but bandits might prey on groups they perceive as weak. Likewise, small groups of poorly armed "civilian" travelers really shouldn't be met in the middle of a badlands infested with all manner of foul creatures. Exceptions for either should probably have an explanation for why they are exceptions.
There's also whether or not your players are interested in certain kinds of encounters.

Some tables want to play out the details of running into a flavorful tinker that's only purpose is an enjoyable interaction. Others are only interested if there is some kind of inherent conflict (not necessarily combat), challenge to overcome, information available to be gathered, or even in some way advances "the plot" (/ugh).

[JoeJ]

Random encounters have a purpose and meaning. They give structure to time and make it meaningful.

They also have the added benefit of making your world populated, interactable, and thus bringing it to life. As opposed to just being a place that exists for the PCs to be experience plot in / be a "story" in. For many players that's bland and boring and can destroy any sense of verisimilitude.

I agree with this. I don't like feeling like "The Plot" is the only thing happening in the world. Of course, if you're running a sandbox-style campaign the players, rather than the DM, will generally decide which encounters are meaningful by how they react to them.

[Maelynn]

I agree with this. I don't like feeling like "The Plot" is the only thing happening in the world. Of course, if you're running a sandbox-style campaign the players, rather than the DM, will generally decide which encounters are meaningful by how they react to them.

Exactly, there's more happening in the world than just their actions. Not everything revolves around them, and every encounter is a small reminder that the rest of the world does its own thing. I even have other groups of adventurers walking around that they occasionally meet. One time they had to rescue a group of lvl 1 that got trapped in a cave, another time they met a group of T3 that treated them like rookies.

That last line of yours reminds me of the group I'm a player in. While we were on our way back to the town after a completed quest, we ran into a caravan that was being ambushed by thugs. Apparently, the mayor's daughter (and the message she was carrying) was the intended target of this ambush, so we decided to escort her to the city she was headed. We thought we were just following the plot hook, but apparently the DM expected us to help out and then just go about our own business... he had to rewrite a whole session just to cater to our decision. But he didn't mind, he just laughed along with us.

And guess what? The mayor's daughter decided to answer the call of the adventuring life, and is now our trusty (though still rather weak) sidekick. She might even gain a level in a class one of these days... I'm so proud. *wipes away little tear*

[HappyDaze]

Oddly travel and random encounters are one of the few times when it's easy to keep to the 1 long rest & 2 short rests per day even though there will typically only be 0-1 encounters between each of them. I suppose that the number of random encounters could be increased if you are traveling in rather unfriendly locales where getting there is half the adventure.

[deljzc]

I think as a DM, you have to decide if you want to treat "travel from point X to point Y" as it's own adventure and put the time and effort to preparing it almost like a dungeon.

To make it really interesting, you might even want to make it last a whole game night.

I think it's hard to find this magical "middle ground" of expecting random encounters or charts to guide a few travel days and make it interesting for the players. Unlike real modules or planned adventures it's going to be a let down. So most DM's just ignore it altogether and say "you arrived at a new spot" and now the details can begin again because I've put the work into it.

[HappyDaze]

I think as a DM, you have to decide if you want to treat "travel from point X to point Y" as it's own adventure and put the time and effort to preparing it almost like a dungeon.

To make it really interesting, you might even want to make it last a whole game night.

I think it's hard to find this magical "middle ground" of expecting random encounters or charts to guide a few travel days and make it interesting for the players. Unlike real modules or planned adventures it's going to be a let down. So most DM's just ignore it altogether and say "you arrived at a new spot" and now the details can begin again because I've put the work into it.

It doesn't have to be its own adventure; it can be a part of the adventure with the dungeon. I greatly prefer smaller dungeons along with hostile surrounding wilderness to bigger dungeons tucked into uneventful locales. Both can still offer the same amount of overall challenge (and XP), but IME the former gives added weight to the exploration aspects of the game.

[Tawmis]

I am new to dnd and I feel that our groups travelling is kinda bland and I feel like there should be more opportunities during travelling. Can someone give me some insight into how you would make traveling more intersting?

By the sounds of your question, you're the DM and not a player complaining that traveling is bland?

So as a DM, myself - what I do is judge the time I have in the day to finish (or get to a good spot) in the campaign and see if random encounters work out well.

So for example, in the latest session - the party was traveling with a caravan (both because they were headed the same way, and also took up a job in guarding the caravan, since it was transporting weapons and armor to a town that had recently been attacked). So on the first night, I had it so bandits had heard about the caravan and were wanting to at least make away with one of the wagons (there were three wagons).

So the first night, I had brigands attack while some of the party members were on watch. A pretty good fight ensued. Took about 30 minutes, between the start of combat, and defeating them, searching the bodies, finding a note about the caravan's content and destination. (So now the party was like, "Ah ha! Someone leaked this information! A mystery!") Now I only had 3 hours to play (I DM for some people after work, and we usually start at 6pm and end between 9 and 10pm). So I knew throwing two more potential random encounters for Day 2 and 3 of travel would take too long, because I still wanted the party to get to the city, interact with people there, before heading up to the mines. So on Day 2 and Day 3, I still rolled the dice while they were on guard, just for suspense for the players - but knew I wasn't going to do any other encounter.

[Yora]

It doesn't have to be its own adventure; it can be a part of the adventure with the dungeon. I greatly prefer smaller dungeons along with hostile surrounding wilderness to bigger dungeons tucked into uneventful locales. Both can still offer the same amount of overall challenge (and XP), but IME the former gives added weight to the exploration aspects of the game.

I got the idea of treating the surrounding area of a dungeon as just another dungeon level in which individual areas are spread very far apart. In practice, players don't usually head of into a random direction but are either heading from one landmark to another or following a path or a river. This makes the wilderness effectively a network of limited areas and paths, just like a dungeon with rooms and passages.

Chris Kutalik has released two very well recieved adventures that are designed like that. He also wrote some bits about this method (http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2014/11/pointcrawl-series-index.html) on his website.

I have not tried it myself yet, but it sounds like a much more practical way to handle wilderness than most others I've seen.

[mephnick]

I got the idea of treating the surrounding area of a dungeon as just another dungeon level in which individual areas are spread very far apart. In practice, players don't usually head of into a random direction but are either heading from one landmark to another or following a path or a river. This makes the wilderness effectively a network of limited areas and paths, just like a dungeon with rooms and passages.

Chris Kutalik has released two very well recieved adventures that are designed like that. He also wrote some bits about this method (http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2014/11/pointcrawl-series-index.html) on his website.

I have not tried it myself yet, but it sounds like a much more practical way to handle wilderness than most others I've seen.

AngryDM has a similar article on "Abstract Dungeoneering" that provides thinking about large areas of landscape or cities as dungeon rooms. That point map on Kutalik's website really nails it though.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I've just started experimenting with the idea that there are an entire subset of quests that happen purely incidentally while traveling. Like, whole dungeons that you can only find by exploring and hidden groups and complex, named travelers and bandits that you can happen upon with their own ambitions and goals.

It's a lot of extra work unless you have access to a frankly silly back catalogue of material you can use to cover it (I do). But if you land it right, you can turn D&D into pen-and-paper Elder Scrolls, with an adventure waiting around every corner for the bold.