Time and Travel

Sairaven · Post by **Sairaven** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:53 pm

So, this is coming from a personal experience. I went from Waterdeep to Zazzesspur and back in the span of a single game afternoon.

I would think, given what I know of the realms, that such a trip would take at least a tenday.

What are the thoughts on RPing of passage of time versus traveling time?

I know when it's not critical I will role-play as if it has taken days or more, but what do you do when someone has called for help, for instance, and you race to their rescue?

I'm not looking for rules (though if there are any, I'd like to know), but for a discussion on this subject.

Jaenoic · Post by **Jaenoic** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:50 am

I know when it's not critical I will role-play as if it has taken days or more, but what do you do when someone has called for help, for instance, and you race to their rescue?

Remember that if there is a Pkill situation you may not race across the realms to help them, unless you have access to magical movement spells.(Teleportation, recalling, shadow walking, etc.) This does not exclude going to help someone who's in trouble and NOT in a Pkill situation, of course. But just something to keep in mind.

But this rule is still relevant to the question I feel, because it shows what is expected of us to RP distance and travel. "I wish I could help you, but by the time I would get there..." But what about situations where you are helping someone out benevolently, within the rules? To be honest I think it'd be a common courtesy on the rescued to gloss over that detail and not put the rescuer in an awkward situation in answering. The travelling time is something that can just be overlooked in lieu of fun gaming practices.

Glim · Post by **Glim** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:36 am

All characters can time travel.

Lathander · Post by **Lathander** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:07 pm

Right, this is one of those "suspension of reality" issues. Well, suspension of reality in an already unreal world.

A quick bit of history: Travel was once a large issue on our mud. Certain balancing compromises were made to get to the present state of things. There was a time when it took MUCH longer to get from point A to point B outside of cities, but our players didn't like the concept so we came up with the current system. A day also used to last MUCH longer. Personally, I like the idea of it taking a long time to move about in the wilderness, roads notwithstanding. It think a greater advantage should be given to all wilderness folk (rangers, druids, Malarites, etc) so that their advantages outside of cities is more noticeable. I would also couple that difference in ability with a great increase in inter-city travel via a coach/boat transit system. However, and I must really stress this, what we have now seems a good compromise between those who want more realistic travel times and the level of player frustration that comes with such incredibly slow movement.

Belose · Post by **Belose** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:45 pm

I still have a problem with the speed for flying...I mean.. if you can fly.. you can move a LOT faster than anyone on a horse, and you can fly above the terrain which wouldn't slow you down...
If you're going to be more realistic, at LEAST speed up flying for people using the spell or prayers to fly..

Oghma · Post by **Oghma** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:22 pm

You can move a great deal faster when you fly already I would think? I think it depends on your stamina and route most of the time.

Sairaven · Post by **Sairaven** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 10:36 pm

Lathander wrote:However, and I must really stress this, what we have now seems a good compromise between those who want more realistic travel times and the level of player frustration that comes with such incredibly slow movement.

I agree, Lathander. I like the current system of compromise.

This was really just an attempt to get a discussion going on 'So how do you play off traveling long distances?'

I just didn't think that it would be appropriate for Sairaven to escort someone to Zazzesspur from Waterdeep and make it back in the same afternoon, so I was planning to play it off as taking a tenday, or just over.

Something along those lines.

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 11:02 pm

Belose wrote:I still have a problem with the speed for flying...I mean.. if you can fly.. you can move a LOT faster than anyone on a horse, and you can fly above the terrain which wouldn't slow you down...
If you're going to be more realistic, at LEAST speed up flying for people using the spell or prayers to fly..

I disagree with this.

Flying used to be very quick with no lag in the wilderness, which made teleportation spells useless: you could zap from Waterdeep to Zhentil Keep in 15 seconds or so, which does not make sense in the first place.

You have to accept that walking is sped up in wilderness; if we based the walk lag in the wilderness on how big wilderness rooms ICly are, you'd move one room then have to gaze at a frozen screen for 30 seconds or so. All in all, I'm fine with flying in the wilderness using approximately the same lag as walking in wilderness.

I do not think it's a terrible disadvantage for the spell "fly" to not give a speed boost in wilderness. Fly already has several advantages in itself: it lets you reach places that can't be reached otherwise; it lets you float above dangerous terrain like lava lakes; and, last but not least, it prevents creatures on the ground from attacking you. That, to me, indicates that "fly" already has a few advantages and does not become useless just because it does not allow you to zap through the wilderness.

Kregor · Post by **Kregor** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:27 am

Dalvyn wrote:I do not think it's a terrible disadvantage for the spell "fly" to not give a speed boost in wilderness. Fly already has several advantages in itself: it lets you reach places that can't be reached otherwise; it lets you float above dangerous terrain like lava lakes; and, last but not least, it prevents creatures on the ground from attacking you. That, to me, indicates that "fly" already has a few advantages and does not become useless just because it does not allow you to zap through the wilderness.

Not to mention being able to travel with little stamina loss.

Oghma · Post by **Oghma** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:38 am

Some ideas for rp travel for long distances.

You can stop and set up camps ever so often to chat with fellow travelers. Sometimes even when you are traveling alone it is nice to stop in towns or cities you would not otherwise visit to see if they have any interesting food, trainers or repairers you might have missed in the past. It depends on the nature of your travel in the first place, if someone is in dire need, they might ride nonstop, but if you are on a casual trip, making it a bit of a holiday is nice rp

Besides it is a great way to see the world up close.

Nedylene · Post by **Nedylene** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:59 am

*waves her protest sign* I want more caravans you can pay to use to go between towns. Please..

Sairaven · Post by **Sairaven** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 4:10 am

Another FR MUD I had played on in the past had an overland caravan route. I loved it because I could jump in and RP to my heart's content with no concern for how long we were sitting in a room.

Now, I find I do often stop at night and set up a makeshift camp, even if I am by myself. Unless, of course, I am in a hurry.

Nedylene · Post by **Nedylene** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:50 pm

*pulls down her protest sign* thank you thank you thank you thank you for the caravans!!!

Glim · Post by **Glim** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:02 am

Are they periwinkle blue?

But seriously, caravans? Huh?

Edit: Ack, sorry. Missed the post. Didn't know up as new for some reason.

Raona · Post by **Raona** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:04 pm

Belose wrote:I still have a problem with the speed for flying...I mean.. if you can fly.. you can move a LOT faster than anyone on a horse, and you can fly above the terrain which wouldn't slow you down...
If you're going to be more realistic, at LEAST speed up flying for people using the spell or prayers to fly..

In addition to the other things mentioned, you can also make a bee-line for where you want to go - no going around mountain chains and rivers is required.

There's no stipulation that a flight or prayer spell should make one fly fast as an eagle in diving flight - it merely makes you able to fly. In light of this and the other comments above, I'd agree that (while certainly crimping the style of casters relative to the past when they could nearly teleport) the current speed is a fair compromise. It gives flying mounts a relative advantage in speed, which to me seems most reasonable.

If flying PC's were to be given a higher move rate (or access to another speed), I'd advocate that it should come with risks similar to those for a steed - falling and really hurting yourself! Flying at high speed could entail risks of falling (especially if your concentration is hurt by an attack, or an odd event, or bad weather), being blown (way!) off course by the wind, and reduced visibility (see less distance on the HUD map).

As to Selveem's original question, which I think a very good one, I concur that this is one place where subjecting game mechanics to OOC considerations, however, I do take an IC bent to it where I can. If someone is dead, or awaiting me outside an area where they are safe, I get there as quickly as I ICly can; time means nothing for the dead, and folks can camp and wait in a safe spot without trouble. On the other hand, if someone is in trouble but time is a relevant factor, I try to take in some of the PK rule. I won't rule myself out, but I'll try to suggest a way they might "take cover" and not go there at very top speed, to put in a nuance of the real risk they would face while awaiting for help to arrive. (I'm less strict about this with new players...I had a real quandary when one was bleeding to death across the map board...what to do?)

Sairaven · Post by **Sairaven** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:42 pm

*cough*

Wasn't Selveem.

Kirkus · Post by **Kirkus** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:44 am

I like what Lathander said about higher speed travel for wilderness folk in the wilderness. Maybe there is a way we can come up with echos or something to make lag time less laggey

On a different note....

I have always been one of those that is especially concious of how long it would actually take to get from one city to the other. So much so that I have always felt cheated by the fact that we can cross the world in a matter of minutes. What if we had a limit on the distance you could travel per game hour? Perhaps work in some things like, roads you get to go further, in a caravan add some more miles and so on. This would probabily prompt more road side attractions like small areas to quest in and explore while spending the time, bandit attacks, camping, small cities... I don't know just some 1:45 in the morning ideas.

Raona · Post by **Raona** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:59 pm

Sairaven wrote:*cough*

Wasn't Selveem.

Eeep! Sorry! Little time to read, and I don't read carefully. Good topic, name-starts-with-S. My apologies!