D&D 5e Travel Is Great for Adventure... So Why Is It Kinda the Worst?
Why D&D Travel CAN BE Magical... But Is Often MISERABLE
By Riley Rath
D&D 5e Needs Better Travel
Travel in D&D 5e doesn't need to suck.
Don't get me wrong... often it does suck. It can easily lead to boring, terrible, no good, no fun, very bad sessions.
But it doesn't have to suck...
Travel can be A LOT of fun...
Like "standout good session" fun.
Unfortunately, travel is a part of the exploration pillar... the forgotten pillar... and likewise it too is neglected.
Very few tables regularly have travel in their campaigns, and even fewer know how to run travel well.
Clearly, we need to rethink and rework D&D 5e travel.
This post is the first in a series on how to do D&D 5e travel well.
Because, unfortunately, there is no "wise old DM saying" that simplifies and fixes everything about 5e travel.
Turns out, there are a lot of different ways to role-play travel in D&D 5e... some good... a lot bad.
This post explains travel's place in our fantasy adventures, as well as why it often sucks.
Later posts will offer different travel methods and our "3 travel mechanics" that fix a lot of the problems with 5e travel.
The goal is simple:
-
To make travel a REAL option in your campaigns...
-
A different, fun flavor of adventure...
-
Something so good you and your players miiiiiight actually look forward to it.
Table of Contents
The Good Stuff D&D 5e Travel Brings to Your Adventure
Why D&D 5e Travel Often SUUUUUUUCKS
Conclusion
The Good Stuff D&D 5e Travel Brings to Your Adventures
Before I got any further... an admission: travel is not necessary for every D&D and TTRPG adventure.
It is not essential for every plot, every group, or every session.
As I'll explain later on, some CAMPAIGNS are better with little to no travel.
That said...
"Never playing travel" is the default for far, far too many 5e games.
It is assumed that "no travel = better campaign." And as a result, many players have no idea what a rich, fun, and meaningful D&D 5e travel experience looks like.
And since it is always foolish for one to assume they are the exception, it would be silly to assume that YOUR campaign is better off without travel.
Being the good, reasonable, TTRPG hobbyists we are, we should at least consider all the good things travel offers.
And as far as I can tell, there are 7 distinct benefits travel brings to a D&D experience...
1. It is likely that unless your campaign takes place in a single city, your party is going to HAVE to travel; they gotta get from point A to point B. Likewise, the vast majority of stories involve a "crossing the threshold" where the characters must leave the known world if they want adventure. So first thing's first: travel is necessary for MOST adventures.
2. On that same note, characters are not just crossing a threshold, but also experiencing the strange world on the other side. Great adventure movies, books, and video games usually feature distinct and interesting settings for the heroes to explore. In the same vein, when your players travel, they see different parts of your world. And I imagine you do not want all the world building to go to waste!
But... and this is an important "but"... you could skip travel sessions and still adventure throughout the world. The DM could "hand wave" travel and continue to journey.
In that case, the question becomes... "Why should you actually spend real world time playing travel encounters and sessions? Why do you need to PLAY travel?"
3. We'll start out with the obvious: travel gives the world a sense of scale. Just like in a video game, the world feels bigger if you do not fast travel. Taking several sessions to travel from point A to point B communicates to the players that the world their characters find themselves in is a BIG @SS WORLD.
4. Which means travel helps the world come alive. Every town they pass is full of NPCs. Every forest has monsters. Every government has some backstabbing bastard (literally and figuratively) plotting revenge. After a few travel sessions, players will unconsciously understand that the world us full of stuff, and their imagination will fill in a lot of the blanks.
5. Which is great... cuz for better or worse, our brains usually imagine the worst! Incorporating travel helps create a sense of danger. And all these dangerous things bring the tension necessary for exciting storytelling. A good adventure is full of threats for players to avoid or overcome!
6. And that is another thing... the players get o CHOOSE how/where to travel AND how to tackle all these threats. Which is, like, kinda important for Dungeons and Dragons! D&D is shared storytelling, which means players need to have agency. Good D&D 5e travel gives players agency.
7. Finally, by protecting player agency, you avoid RAILROADING. That's right... good travel prevents railroading. Whether it be a module or the DM's world, the threats are there whether they fit with the plot or not. And when combined with rolls/random encounters, the DM's ability to railroad is greatly reduced.
In summary, here's the awesome ways travel will help your D&D 5e campaign:
-
Travel is necessary for adventure
-
Travel allows characters to see the world
-
Travel gives the world a sense of scale
-
Travel helps the world come alive
-
Travel creates a sense of danger
-
Travel gives players agency
-
Travel prevents railroading
Look at all the stuff travel brings to your adventure!
And the best part: it doesn't take anything away!
The things that make D&D special... the fun combat, role-playing, and exploration that D&D players crave... can exist alongside travel.
But that is when travel is good... on the other hand... when is travel bad?
Why D&D 5e Travel Often SUUUUUUUCKS
I may be a huge advocate for travel, but even I can admit the obvious...
TRAVEL SESSIONS CAN BE BOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRIIIINNNNNGGGGGGG.
Boring AF.
We will start by collectively pointing our fingers and blaming Wizards of the Coast (it's the popular thing to do in 2023).
It's been like 9 years since 5e was released and there is still no substantial book or module that expands travel into something that actually works.
I repeat: there are no comprehensive travel rules or mechanics for Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons.
And given that D&D has expanded from pure dungeon delving and wargaming, and is more about cooperative storytelling, this is ridiculous.
But that is not all... the rules they do have are nothing short of pathetic:
- The Player's Handbook mentions travel pace rules on pages 181-182.
- The Dungeon Master's Guide offers two sad travel methods on page 106, and tracking rules on page 244.
- Rime of the Frostmaiden has a few rules on pages 10 & 11 for surviving in blizzards.
- Tomb of Annihilation offers rules for navigation of hex crawls on page 38.
Image does not belong to Awesome Dice
That's a measly SEVEN PAGES on travel... ya know, the thing Frodo did for THREE VOLUMES?
But worst of all, do you know what none of those things do?
Actually TEACH players how to run travel sessions and create travel encounters!
And NO... random encounter tables for different environments DO NOT count as travel rules.
Ginny D mocks this marvelously. She points out that WOTC's idea of interesting variety in travel encounters is having the enemies attack from the back rather than the front.
Like... really? That's the best they could come up with?
The conclusion is clear: D&D 5e's travel rules suck.
Ok... so WOTC left us out to dry on travel... where else does everyone go to learn it?
There is no authority we all rely on... no agreed upon "5e travel doctrine"... Usually people learn how to play by playing. They observe their DM and other players and pick up the game as they go along.
And for D&D that usually works great! However... when it comes to travel... since so few of us have played truly FUN and ENGAGING travel... we just perpetuate bad examples.
We are all just winging it... going with our gut... and in this case... our gut betrays us.
Travel can easily be tedious, meaningless, time consuming, and boring.
The default "gut instinct" combines all the worst parts of D&D in a single session. And, unsurprisingly, everyone hates it.
Here is what I mean...
One instinct is to narrate a bit, add one or two random encounters, narrate some more, and have the players arrive at the destination. After all, when players are wandering a dungeon, a random encounter can be a really good way to keep them on their toes and add some excitement!
But random encounters while traveling? When they clearly have nothing to do with the plot or characters? And when they definitely won't result in a TPK?
Players see right through that crap and immediately recognize it as a meaningless scene with zero tension. And unsurprisingly, they don't think traveling is very fun.
Image does not belong to Awesome Dice
Matt Coleville articulated this perfectly. When it comes to random travel encounters, DM's can either A) have them be not challenging (and thus a waste of time) or B) challenging... and then they are not only a threat to the party's health, but get in the way of the destination, which is what the players want more than anything else!
The best example I have of this is the hex crawl in Tomb of Annihilation. I think we all did a "roll a random encounter for every hex" for, like, two sessions before abandoning it for the entire campaign.
You can only fight off raptors so many times before it stops being cool (just look at Chris Pratt... the rule for him was "2 movies").
Image does not belong to Awesome Dice
Another instinct is to have players roll more skill checks. Rolls to see if they stay on course, are warned of the upcoming ambush, or notice the crumbling tower on a hill.
We think these will keep players engaged and create a sense of agency. But the problem? Rolling isn't the same as choosing... and the sense of responsibility and ownership is not nearly as strong.
Besides, the best parts of D&D are not the moments where it is just dice roll after dice roll after dice roll after dice roll... (you get the point). All that time you spend rolling is time you could be exploring, fighting, or socializing.
For example, dungeons tend to be full of traps. Because of that, lots of players err on the side of caution. This can lead to endless perception checks... which ruins both the DM's plans and the player's immersive experience.
But have you tried endless survival, nature, and perception checks while on the open road?
That's right... it's even worse!!!
Both random encounters and constant rolling exacerbate the main problem with all 5e travel.
It slows... things... down.
Just like in real life, traveling takes time:
- There are days spent on the road in god-forsaken land...
- Or hours waiting at an airport with nothing to do...
- Or miles of a hike where you are just focused on reaching the summit...
To accurately role-play the endless hours of travel would be excruciating for players and DMs alike.
Players want to meet strange people, explore forbidden castles, and face off against a vampire.
You know what they DON'T want to do?
Spend money on basic taverns, manage supplies, and set up/take down camp 9 days in a row.
There is a reason players rarely visit those parts of their character sheet.
These activities can be sprinkled in, but they DOMINATE travel, and misses the point of adventuring.
And while I am sure a case can be made for tasking players with tracking every drop of water, morsel of food, and piece of equipment... the vast majority of campaigns do NOT benefit from that style of play.
Remember, we play DnD to escape the mundane in life, not repeat it.
In summary, here is why D&D 5e travel is often sucky... and boring... and dumb:
-
Fifth Edition has almost no travel mechanics
-
The D&D 5e travel rules we do have suck
-
There is no authority the community turns toward to learn how to travel
-
Our instincts betray us when it comes to DnD travel
-
Random encounters on their own make 5e travel worse
-
Constant skill checks also make 5e travel worse
-
5e travel is TOO SLOW
-
During travel, players aren't doing anything
Long story short: it makes sense why so many DnD players and DMs hate travel.
Look at what they are used to... it is AWFUL!
And yet... as stated earlier... we are missing out on so much when we skip travel. We need more ways to play travel in our games and methods to make travel more engaging and fun.
The Work Has Only Just Begun...
Originally, this blog post was going to cover EVERYTHING about D&D 5e travel, not just why it's necessary, good, and why so many of us hate it oh so much.
But then I found myself 5,000 words later and lost in a structural nightmare.
I realized that, just like too many travel sessions (lol), it was way too long.
So instead, I expanded the travel series into 3 posts:
- Post #2 is about all the main travel methods out there, as well as suggestions for making travel a lot more fun.
- Post #3 is about the key ingredient all those methods are missing, and my three new, simple mechanics that "fix" 5e travel once and for all.
Hopefully this post was a taste of what is to come and has sparked your imagination for introducing more travel into your own campaigns.
Want our Pros and Cons of D&D 5e Travel in one handy spot?
Tap this link and we will send a handy PDF to your e-mail.
Turn a 2,500 word post into 123 words!
Riley Rath
Based out of Spokane, Riley is a freelance copywriter that combines his love of reading, writing, and people into something useful! He is thankful to be applying his passion for imaginative role-playing to help D&D related businesses communicate their value in the best way possible. He's kinda like a bard giving inspiration, except without the annoying pop covers!
