I love playing out travel in fantasy TTRPGs.

So many interesting things can happen just traveling from Point A to Point B in a world filled with fantastic monsters and swarthy scavengers. Not all monsters live in dungeons. Not all dungeon monsters stay there all the time.

I know some players just want to say, “we hit the road and arrived in the next town three days later” like it’s a travel sequence from an old Final Fantasy game. Personally, I don’t like to abbreviate travel, but I will cut the encounters and camping time out of travel if that’s what the players want. I think travel in Shadowdark RPG is not to be taken lightly. That, and I love, love, love random encounters!

I’ll be taking my Shadowdark campaign world/setting a step further.

We won’t be taking travel lightly at all. In the world I’m starting to develop, travel between towns can be quite dangerous. Many cities and towns are walled off to keep things out at night. Entire farms have been known to go missing overnight. Farmers lock up livestock and shutter their windows most nights.

The upside is the land is a little safer from invasion because there are threats out there at night capable of mangling entire fighting forces. This isn’t to say wars never happen, but they are far less likely, especially in untamed lands. Teleportation magic is incredibly rare and somewhat difficult to use for one person, much less entire armies.

As above, so below.

(Yes, I borrowed that from Kryon and other New Age entities.)
The TTRPG meaning of the phrase is that if the overworld is scary at night, travel through the Shadowdark is incredibly frightening. I compare the Shadowdark to another company’s setting called “Underdark.” Sure, there are dungeons to be found. There are also massive open caves, mushroom forests, stalactite/stalagmite areas, underground lakes, underground rivers, quarries, and lots of dimly lit or dark areas to freely traverse. Likewise, exploring the Shadowdark outside the dungeon underground has some frightful random encounters. I’m still working out the lighting rules, because eventually the group is going to run out of torches and need to rest.

Wouldn’t it be neat if a road led from the overworld down into the Shadowdark? Somewhere deep in the forest an old trail just got gradually darker until suddenly the only light is bioluminescent moss on some high up cave ceiling. The path back is barely visible and a feral growl and be heard in the distance.

Snoopy from Des Moines, IA asks, “What about the roads?”

Well, funny you should ask because they can become lost and obscured by the power of nature itself. Plants normally grow very strongly and rapidly under average conditions. Roads that don’t see much travel are quickly swallowed up by the terrain. Roads with more traffic or even a protection spell are more likely to be free of clutter. Chopping through overgrown roads makes the whole trip take longer and could get the whole party lost.

Cutting through the ground clutter can be difficult for beings on the surface who haven’t adapted to the ways of nature. Perhaps the long-lived elves and their treetop cities are onto something. Maybe the dwarves and their vast miles of connected tunnels understand something humans and others don’t. Gnomes are in touch with the land, as are the humans who seek out druidic practices.

In a world where a forgotten town can be overtaken by the nearby woods in a matter of months as to be unrecognizable a year later, civilized beings have to be extremely cautious about where and what they build. Some town elders actively seek out a druid to have them bless the land before construction begins on a new sawmill or road project. As long as the local townsfolk are careful not to overconsume, they have nothing to fear from nature. However, if they destroy or wantonly consume their surroundings, monstrous forces can rise up to exact revenge for the forest or whatever natural habitat is being destroyed. My campaign world is riddled with stories of roads that have vanished and towns stricken from the map.

On the other hand, trade roads and waterway travel can be a profitable undertaking for those brave and respectful enough to travel between towns. Merchant caravans, wagon trains, and travel groups often hire adventurers to accompany them on their travels. Explorers, scouts, and trailblazers are in high demand certain times of year. Many people live happier, healthier lives thanks to plant medicine and abundant crops. It makes the grimdark world slightly less grim and dark.

Lots of opportunities for travel and discovery.

With a world that rapidly consumes roads and towns, sometimes dungeons or dungeon-like encounters pop up practically overnight. Villages destroyed by Oni, or a plague might be full of forgotten treasure. Traversing a road no one has travelled for over a year can be an adventure in and of itself between getting over obstacles and battling random monsters. Sometimes roadside shrines and natural clearings provide a natural oasis for travelers on tougher paths.

Sometimes people will wonder about friends and relatives in the next village over. Sages will become curious about a town on the map when it hasn’t been heard from in a few years. Sometimes larger governments, few though there are, might wonder why the tax collectors never return from certain villages or why the road seems to have vanished from the map after a certain point. This is a wonderful opportunity for adventures if someone is willing to investigate.

Taken for granted by the assumptions made by a certain fantasy TTRPG.

Many of us got into the hobby in one way or another via Dungeons & Dragons. While I am so disgusted, yea disappointed by Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast, I am forced to acknowledge many of the tropes and traditions we embrace in our fantasy games stem from D&D. We take a lot of things for granted in most settings such as medicine, roads, governments, communications, and even magic. Part of this is because the real world Europe and North America were frightful places where travel was difficult, disease wiped out entire civilizations, and people were programmed by religion as well as government not to explore or ask questions.

One of my goals in setting design is to toss a lot of what we think of in Western medieval fantasy on its ear and start over. Players can decide if the group wants to explore the overworld or the Shadowdark. I want to build a setting where exploration means something. By no means is underground travel safe or easy, either. At least it’s one option. Not to mention all of the cool loot that might be down in the Shadowdark that isn’t claimed in the overworld.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m completely burned out on tired old map of Forgotten Realms, the hackneyed cosmologies of Planescape, and the tired wars of Dragonlance. That’s one thing I think Shadowdark RPG has delivered that makes me very happy- no real predefined setting. We can do a hexcrawl in never before seen territory and it will be different every time with every group. The miniature hexcrawl of The Gloaming from Cursed Scroll Zine #1 is neat, but I don’t have to use it. I can just as easily make my own. (Yes, I like it. No, I don’t have to use it in its entirety.)

Regardless of your tastes in fantasy TTRPGs, I hope your roads lead to adventure. Thank you for being here today. I appreciate you. Please embrace that which brings the most joy today.