That elusive exploration pillar

This week, I submitted my rules on hunting to DnDBehindTheScreen on reddit and it got a lot of love and cheer, just like I always thought it should have when I first wrote about it on the blog in August, you can read the article here: Homebrew - Hunting or check it out on DnDBehindTheScreen 

This isn't me tooting my own horn, though I do enjoy a good toot when I am vindicated on a set of rules I made that do turn out to be as good as I thought they were... one day, the psion will have its day in the sun... actually, probably not. It's a lot more complicated than the typical player wants to keep up with, sigh.

But again! This isn't me tooting my own horn. I merely bring it up to talk about what is floating through my head currently. As many who read and enjoy these articles know, this is just a space where I ramble on about a few things going on in my head and how it relates to D&D or RPGs. Last time was about gold, the time before about technology being developed weird and this week... seems like I'm thinking that exploration pillar in D&D... and also the Tiger King show on Netflix. 

In fact, I spent about 4 hours this night watching Tiger King and trying to work on the Witch class... I ended up working on nothing and watched Tiger King. I eventually gave up on the lie that I was working on anything and started playing Stardew Valley and being amazed at the crazy people who love big and exotic animals. 

All this to say, I'm getting distracted again by Tiger King and it isn't even on right now.

My original point is that exploration is supposed to be a pillar of gameplay in Dungeons & Dragons, but when you look at the rules for it... its pretty bare bones. Here is everything I know off the top of my head that we have published rules for in D&D. 

Adventurers can walk 24 miles a day at a normal pace. Goodberry provides a day of nourishment and is a 1st level spell. The wanderer background auto feeds your party if no one can cast goodberry. The ranger can't get lost. Rations are available to be purchased. A survival check can help you not get lost. 

That's what I know from the PHB, though I think the 24 miles a day thing is from the DMG so not sure that one should count in my list above.

It's pretty sad that the designers call exploration important to the game, but it mostly ends up being handwaved by an ability or a spell. Now, you might argue that that just shows how awesome that person is and how they get a moment in the spotlight to be cool and do something amazing, but think back to your games. Did that character get the spotlight when they announced you don't need rations cause they'll just cast goodberry? Did they get the spotlight when they announced they can just not get lost? 

I'd argue that they didn't. The DM said OK and then moved on from them. I've had a player argue with me saying, "I have an ability that allows me to not get lost." and my response has been, "So you want me to ignore your character's skills and just handwave everything?" Because that's what happens when you have a skill that doesn't fail. It gets handwaved. You are so good at it that there is no reason to bring it up and shine a light on it. We only put events and characters in the spotlight when there is a chance for failure. 

We don't shove the fighter under the spotlight when he puts on armor. We don't shine a light on the cleric when they pray for their spells. We don't watch the wizard with rapt attention as he prepares his 10 minute ritual. We pay attention to them when they have a chance of failure. 

The fighter is placed under the spotlight when he draws his sword and visits violence upon the noble kobold. The cleric is the focus when their prayers are answered and that poor, defenseless kobold is brought back to life with a revivfy spell. The wizard has the conch when it comes time for his 10 minutes to be over, but only once that is over, and he casts... I don't know, whatever it is that wizards cast. Probably abracadabra or something else silly. 

The point is, if there is a chance of failure, that is the only time the game pauses and we take a moment to let you stand in the spotlight. No one cares if you automatically succeed on something because it isn't special or suspenseful. We want suspense out of our games, not boring monotony where we already know the result.  

Which brings us to the exploration pillar. It is boring monotony and we know the result. Thanks to spells and class features and sparse rules, there is no suspense. There is no spotlight to place on the ranger/druid/whoever is guiding you through the forest. Sure, DM's ask for a survival check and the ranger rolls and then the DM realizes they were an idiot and had set the destination at 30 days away, which means every day is going to be:

"Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."  "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."   "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day." "Roll Survival." "You travel one day."  

I think you get my point. Asking for 30 rolls to travel is boring and monotonous and sure... there is a chance you'll fail and so the spotlight is on you. But the lighting is bad and it's a bit dim and someone needs to put a new bulb in the spotlight maker because it isn't suspenseful. So then DMs try to compensate for boring exploration by putting in random encounters. Except... that's boring. You blow all your massive and powerful spells and wipe out the monsters in a single turn, so then the DM gets frustrated and puts an Ancient Great Wyrm Dragon with a CR so high it can get legally drunk and you wonder why was it more dangerous to find this BBEG cave than it was to fight the BBEG? 

After the party reaches level 5, the DM gives up on travel and random encounters and we are then back to just handwaving travel. Or, at least that's what I ended up doing. I didn't want to have my level 6 or level 12 or level 20 party running into random encounters in the woods. For one thing, a few wolves aren't going to be a threat. For another, it was boring. It was already a foregone conclusion that they would win unless I made the random encounters far more dangerous than the final boss fight of the game. 

So, what can a DM do to make the exploration pillar more exciting? That's a good question and something I'm working through now. I've made travel rules in the past, you can read the article here, Making Travel Worth It 

And you know, I like the system. I think its neat, it has some parts I like... but the problem is, it's still boring. The exciting parts are the secrets that the GM creates... which has nothing to do with the players, which means the spotlight is on the GM and not the players. That's not a good pillar for D&D... let me explain that. 

The other pillars, combat and social, all provide ways for the spotlight to be on the player. Think of combat, when it gets to the player's initiative the focus is on them. They get to decide what to do and the world must react to them. 

Same goes for social. When the player is talking, a good and respectful table, will listen and maybe a few rolls will be made and the players will wait with bated breath to see the outcome for the rolls. The world then responds to them.

In each of those pillars, the players are actively doing something and the world must answer them. In exploration, the players are passively doing something and the world doesn't have to answer or react to what happens.  The world doesn't care if players can't get lost because it doesn't matter. The world doesn't care if they can magically pop out a few berries and never worry about food because it doesn't matter. 

The only way to make an exploration pillar feel real and useful is to design something that puts the spotlight on the player, has suspense, and forces the world to respond to the players. 

Now how do you do that? Well... I'm not 100% sure yet. My first try was the travel mechanic, and while I like it well enough, it doesn't do a good job at what I need it to do to make the pillar feel complete. 

My second shot at doing something with exploration was the hunting mini-game and I think it really took it out of the park. I love that it is simple, that it's quick but still gives the player the spotlight. They get to roll the die. They get to groan as they realized they had 20 shots at an 8 on a d8 and they failed every shot. The only problem is... the world isn't responding. 

If the world doesn't respond, then it isn't complete. So that's my goal. How do we make the world respond when a party goes exploring? Which... is the question I'm struggling with right now. I'll keep you posted on my struggles, and I'd love to hear your opinions. Am I full of shit? Does D&D actually need a third pillar? What have you done in your own games to spice things up?