Wilderness Exploration

Watches

A day is divided into three watches: morning, afternoon, and night.
Each character can choose one Wilderness Action per watch.
If the characters split up, each group is treated as an independent entity.

Points

Potential destinations on a map are called points.
One or more watches may be required to journey between two points on a map, depending on the path, terrain, weather, and party status.
The party should have a rough idea of the challenges involved to get to their destination, but rarely any specifics.

Travel Duration

Travel time is counted in watches, divided into three eight-hour segments per day.

Mountains cover nearly 73% of Japan’s land area, visible from just about any location within the archipelago.

Mountains have been revered as the home of kami – spirits deities, even ancient ancestors – but also as a place of spiritual pilgrimage (tohai – mountaineering pilgrimage) and connecting with nature.

To determine the distance between two points, combine all penalties from the Path Type, Path Distance, Terrain Difficulty, and Weather Difficulty tables, taking into account any changes to those elements along the route. For travel via waterways, refer to the surrounding terrain difficulty. For especially vast terrain, assign a penalty of up to +2 watches to the journey.

Weather, terrain, darkness, injured party members, and other obstacles can impact travel or even make it impossible! In some cases, the party may need to add Fatigue or expend resources to sustain their pace. Mounts, guides, and maps can increase the party’s travel speed or even negate certain penalties.

Path Type and Distance

PATH TYPE			PATH DISTANCE
Path	Penalty	Odds of getting Lost	Distance	Penalty
Roads	None	None	Short	1 Watch
Trails	+1 Watch	2-in-6	Medium	2 Watches
Wilderness	+2 Watches	3-in-6	Long	3 Watches

Terrain Difficulty

DIFFICULTY	PENALTY	TERRAIN	FACTORS
Easy	None	Plains, steppe, farmland	Safe areas for rest, fellow travelers, good visibility.
Tough	+1 Watch	Hills, woods, deserts, forests	Wild animals, flooding, broken equipment, falling rocks, unsafe shelters, hunter’s traps.
Perilous	+2 Watches	Mountains, jungles, swamps	Quicksand, sucking mud, choking vines, unclean water, poisonous plants and animals, poor navigation.

Weather

Each day, the Guide should roll on the weather table for the appropriate season. If the “Severe” weather result is rolled twice in a row, the weather turns to “Catastrophic.” A squall becomes a hurricane, a storm floods the valley, etc.

Weather Table (2D6)

D6	SPRING	SUMMER	FALL	WINTER
1	Nice	Nice	Fair	Fair
2	Fair	Nice	Fair	Unpleasant
3	Fair	Fair	Unpleasant	Inclement
4	Unpleasant	Unpleasant	Inclement	Inclement
5	Inclement	Inclement	Inclement	Extreme
6	Extreme	Extreme	Extreme	Extreme

Weather Difficulty

WEATHER	EFFECT	EXAMPLES
Nice	Favorable conditions for travel.	Clear skies, sunny
Fair	Favorable conditions for travel	Overcast, breezy
Unpleasant	Add a Fatigue or add +1 watch	Gusting winds, rain showers, sweltering heat, chill air
Inclement	Add a Fatigue or add +1 watch. Increase terrain difficulty by a step.	Thunderstorms, lightning, rain, muddy ground
Extreme	Add a Fatigue and add +1 watch. Increase terrain difficulty by a step.	Blizzards, freezing winds, flooding, mud slides
Catastrophic	Most parties cannot travel under these conditions.	Tornados, tidal waves, hurricane, volcanic eruption

Wilderness Elements

In folklore, nighttime encounters with spirits on dark, lonely roads, often served as tests of courage and virtue. Those who displayed kindness, bravery, or wisdom often escaped unharmed or were rewarded, while those who acted out of selfishness or fear could suffer dire consequences. Nighttime trials symbolized the moral strength needed to face the unknown and showed one’s true character in the face of threats.

Night

The party can choose to travel during the night and rest during the day, but night travel is far more dangerous. The Guide should roll twice on the Wilderness Events table (page 39).
Some terrain and weather may be easier to traverse at night (desert, for example). The Guide should balance these challenges along with any other.

Sleep

The last watch of the day is typically reserved for the Make Camp action.
Characters typically need to sleep each day. Anything beyond a minor interruption can negate or cancel the benefits of sleep.
If the party skips the Make Camp action, they each add a Fatigue to their inventory and are deprived. Additionally, traveling when sleep-deprived raises the terrain Difficulty by a step (i.e. Easy becomes Tough).

The wilderness was considered a sacred realm where kami, or spirits, resided in natural features like ancient trees, mountains, and rivers. This reverence led monks and ascetics to retreat to remote, mountainous areas for spiritual enlightenment, believing the harshness of nature would strengthen their minds and spirits. Folktales and legends spoke of yokai and tengu dwelling in the wilds, making the wilderness a place of both awe and caution.

Light

Torches and other radial sources of light illuminate 40-ft ahead of the party but only provides a dim outline of objects beyond.
Characters without a light source may suffer from panic until their situation is remedied.
Environmental conditions (sudden gusts of wind, dust, water, etc.) can easily blow out a torch.

Light Sources

A torch can be lit 3 times before degrading.
A lantern can be relit indefinitely but requires a separate Oil Can (6 uses).

Wilderness Exploration Cycle

The Guide describes the current point or region on the map and how the path, weather, terrain, or status might affect speed. The party plots or adjusts a course towards their destination.
Each character chooses a single Wilderness Action (page 40). The Guide narrates the results and then rolls on the Wilderness Events table. The party responds to the results.
The players and the Guide record any loss of resources and new conditions (i.e. torch use, deprivation, etc) and the cycle repeats.

Wilderness Events (D6)

D6	EVENT	DESCRIPTION
1	Discovery	The party finds food, treasure, or other useful resources. The Guide can instead choose to reveal the primary feature of the area or roll on the Terrain Features (page 40) table.
2	Sign	The party discovers a clue or indication of a nearby encounter, locality, hidden feature, or information about a nearby area or roll on the Locations and Landmarks (page 55) table.
3	Environment	A shift in weather or terrain. Roll on Weather table (page 38).
4	Loss	The party is faced with a choice that costs them a resource (rations, tools, etc), time, or effort.
5	Exhaustion	The party encounters a barrier, forcing effort, care or delays. This might mean spending extra time (and an additional Wilderness Action) or adding Fatigue to the PC’s inventory to represent their difficulties.
6	Encounter	Roll on an Encounter table (page 54) for that terrain type or location. Don’t forget to roll for NPC reactions (page 73) if applicable.

Wilderness Actions

Travel

Typically taken by the entire party. Obvious locations, features, terrain of nearby areas are revealed according to their distance.
The party rolls 1d6 to see if they get lost along the way. This risk can increase or decrease, depending on Path Type and Terrain Difficulty (pg. 40), maps, party skills, and guides.
If lost, the party may need to spend a Wilderness Action to recover their way. Otherwise, the party reaches the next point.

Explore

One or more party members search a large area, searching for hidden features, scouting ahead, or treading carefully.
Roll a Location or Feature (page 54)
A Travel action is required to leave the current area, even if it has been completely explored.

Supply

One or more PCs may hunt, fish, or forage for food, collecting 1d4 Rations (3 uses each). Relevant experience, equipment, and additional participants increase the chance of a greater bounty (e.g. 1d4 becomes 1d6, up to a maximum of 1d12).
The party may encounter homes and small villages where they can resupply.

Make Camp

The party stops to set up camp in the wilds. Each party member (and their mounts) consumes a Ration.
A lookout rotation is set so that the party can sleep unmolested. A smaller party may need to risk sleeping unguarded or switch off sleeping over multiple days.
Party members able to rest remove all Fatigue from their inventory.
If the party skips Making Camp, each PC gets one Fatigue.