Adventuring

Traveling

Whenever character’s go on a journey through the wild or on long trips they will be considered Adventuring. During this time, the character’s must survival in the wild and gather their own food, water, and materials to make camp and keep their sanity. The longer a journey lasts, the more they must maintain their sanity and physical wellness. Adventuring also poses threats such as wild animals, spies, assassins, and other enemies that may threaten them along the way.

Chopping, Mining, & Item Hardness

Many items in the world can be broken down into smaller pieces for a variety of purposes. Trees can be cut down for wood, minerals can be mined, and different items or barriers can be broken to make them unusable or create an opening, such as through barriers or walls.
Different types of damage will effect different types of materials. For example, slashing damage will cut through cloth materials, tents, and for cutting down trees. Bludgeoning damage will break through solid materials such as stone, doors, walls, or other solid objects. Piercing will puncture through thin materials, such as with needles or for sticking into solid surfaces without shattering them, such as when climbing ice or stone walls. Verse Masters can also be creative with how different types of items will effect different materials.
In order for characters to break through these items they must overcome the hardness of the material by making a physical attack appropriate for the job. Each material has a Hardness DC which can be overcome by making an attack roll against it. If the attack roll is higher than the Hardness DC then the material decreases in their Hardness Category has presented on the chart below. Once the fragile condition has been overcome, the item gains the broken condition and shatters as intended or as the Verse Master decides. Materials that cannot be broken through normal means or may require special tools are considered impenetrable such as military bunkers, interstellar ships, or magically reinforced materials and do not have a Hardness DC unless stated otherwise.

Sanity & Boredom

The longer a character is in the wilderness, the harder it can be to keep track of time, stay on track, or even stave off boredom, especially if they are alone or with a small party. In such scenarios, the character will need to find ways to entertain themselves. This can be done through training, communicating with other party members, or taking care of companions.

Entertainment devices can also be used to keep them distracted. If a character fails to maintain this then they will begin to take 1d4 Sanity damage per day. It only takes 3 days of stale traveling (no wild encounters and combat, little to no communication, no entertainment devices, etc.) for this to begin to take place, therefore maintaining positive relationships with party members and companions is important. Characters who have Sanity damage also begin to have nightmares at night, which prevents them from being able from having a good night’s rest.

Whenever a character’s Sanity Score drops too low they automatically gain an insanity. The insanities do not stack but instead become worse as the score drops lower as they gain new insanities. If a character with an insanity gains sanity, they lose their current insanity as they become better and instead gain the new insanities until they no longer have one. The insanities are ordered based off of the character’s Sanity Score.

Grooming & Hygiene

The simple act of hiking through nature will cause a character to become dirty and ragged. Their bodies become covered in dirt and sweat that eventually will start to stink and make them uncomely. Because of this, it is important that characters maintain well-groomed and hygienic on their adventures. After only 1 day of traveling, a character becomes dirty and ungroomed, causing other characters who are groomed to become unfavorable towards them and no longer want to speak to them while traveling until they have groomed.

After 3 days of traveling, the character becomes unhygienic and gains a strong odor that begins attracting wild animals and makes the character suffer a -10 to Stealth, alerting potential enemies of their location. This penalty increases by 5 for every day after that has passed without grooming. After 7 days of traveling, the character becomes sick and gains a physical illness or disease that is up to the Verse Master depending on the environment. In order to be clean, the player must either use a Grooming Kit or make a Survival check to become clean. The DC for the Survival check is 10 times the number of days gone by without grooming. Characters only need to do this while adventuring since inns and homes provide grooming as if a Grooming Kit has been used.

Nights & Sleeping

While adventuring, getting a full night of sleep is very important. If a character does not get a rest then they can become lethargic and unprepared. If a character does not get a good night’s rest, the character becomes unpleasant and cranky and other characters will not want to socialize with them until they are rested. Energizing drinks can stave off this effect but only temporarily. After 3 days of not getting a good night’s sleep, the character becomes fatigued. This can be staved off with energizing drinks. After 7 days of not getting a good night’s sleep, the character becomes exhausted. This can be staved off with an energizing drink. After 8 days of not getting a good night’s rest, the character begins to take 1d4 of Constitution damage per day and is exhausted. This cannot be staved off with energizing drinks as they stop working. The character cannot recover from this until they get a full 8 hours of good sleep.

Things that prevent a good night’s sleep include: not having a sufficient Survival check to make a make-shift bed, not having protection from any environmental hazards (cold, rain, heavy wind, etc.), being attacked in the middle of the night by wild animals, sleeping in armor, or by having nightmares at night while trying to sleep. Characters can also use sleeping mats in order to avoid needing a survival check but only if necessary such as if trying to sleep on difficult terrain. Characters do not need environmental protection in any environments that does not have abnormal weather patterns or extreme temperature ranges. Otherwise, Survival checks can be used to make temporary shelters or Campsites or tents can be used to prevent this. A campfire can be used to ward off wild animals at night, this also helps prevent ambushes and robbers from attacking

If a Character gets no sleep at night they gain sleep deprivation quicker. After 24 hours of no sleep the Character becomes fatigued. After 48 hours of no sleep the Character becomes exhausted. After 72 hours of no sleep the Character begins to take 1d4 Sanity damage a day. This can only be stopped by getting a full night’s of good sleep. If the Character gets a bad night of sleep they no longer take Sanity damage but are still exhausted.

Campsites

Campsites automatically give a good night’s sleep and can be used for cooking without making Survival checks. It can also be used for training and leveling while in the wild as well as for socializing and grooming. If characters make a Campsite and rest there for the night then they gain a full night’s rest, socialize to end boredom, create a fire to ward off wild predators, are protected from environmental hazards, and can groom themselves in the morning.

Hunting & Harvesting

While adventuring in the wild for extended amounts of time characters may run out of food rations and supplies and become dependent on nature to survive especially if traveling merchants are far and few in between. In such scenarios, characters will have to get food supplies and even temporary tools from hunting and gathering.

Characters can hunt down creatures by tracking or setting up traps. Traps that are set up follow the regular trap creation rules, or if they have already crafted ones they only need to set them up and allow for wild animals to fall victim to the trap. Otherwise, the animals will have to be hunted down specifically. Characters can use Knowledge Nature to figure out what kind of animals are in the area or wild plant life to gather from. The DC for knowing this may depend on the region and be up to the Verse Master. However, a general Knowledge Nature DC 20 can be used for figuring out the basic wildlife around a character while traveling in the wild.

In order to track down animals in a hunt, Investigate DC 20 can used to look for signs of wildlife or eatable vegetation. This may give no results if there is nothing to be found and a successful Investigate check will provide this knowledge as well showing that no signs of wildlife are present and therefore not near.

Once the signs of life have been found a Survival DC 20 can be used to track down the animals. Characters who are tracking may need to be in Stealth while doing so as to not inform the prey of their approach. Whether the animals detect them or not is dependent on the animal’s Perception Check against the character’s Stealth. If successful, the characters can either attempt to kill the animal without the animal knowing of its presence or if possible without the creature fleeing, engage it in combat. Vegetation does not need to be hunted down and instead a successful Investigate check is required. These rules can also be used to follow or track enemies or to find missing or hidden targets outside of hunting for food.

Once the animal has been slain or vegetation has been found the characters will need to harvest supplies from them. For slain animals, a Survival DC of 10 + CR of the creature is required to be overcome to harvest from them. If successful then any venom, meats, bones, or hide and fur can be harvested. The amount of meat provided from such a harvest depends on the size of the creature. 1 Medium creature provides 2 days worth of meals for 1 medium creature. A large creature provides 4 days worth of meals for a medium creature, but only 2 days worth to a large creature. Finally, a small creature provides 1 day worth for a medium creature, but 2 days worth to a small creature.

Vegetation that can be harvested from does not require a Survival check in order to gather any eatables from them and instead a roll is made to determine the amount of eatables are found. For small vegetation such as vines and bushes, a 1d6 is used to determine the amount of eatable berries that are gathered and for medium or large vegetation such as trees, a 1d8 is used. The number rolled determines the amount of meals worth of food is gathered.

Fishing

In order for a character to being fishing they must first have a Fishing Rod and preferably a lure and bait. They must then make a Perception Check, either Visual or Hearing, on a source of water to see where or if any fish are available. Each fish that is available will have a Spotting DC unique to them calculated by their Dexterity + Size Penalty. The water clearness and fish location may also affect this DC. For example, marshes or swamps that have moss or dirty water will increase the difficulty and DC of spotting the fish while complete clear pools of water will dramatically decrease the difficulty. If the Perception Check overcomes the DC, the fisher knows exactly where the fish is but if it is within 3 points below then the fisher has a general idea.
Even if the fisher does not know if fish are available, or if they are uncertain of where a fish may be, they can still cast a line. In this case, the casting is based off of a probability roll which is up to the Verse Master on how successful the roll is.
Once the line is cast, the fish must notice the lure and be attracted to it. The attractiveness of the lure depends on the bait being used and the lure itself. Different bait and different lures provide a bonus to the attractiveness but may not work on all types of fish. So long the Lure DC is greater than the fish’s Sanity Save, then the fish will be attracted to the lure and bite. The Lure DC is based on the Lure + Bait used. The Verse Master must roll the Intellect Save for the fish. If it passes, the fish will ignore the lure and move on. If the fish fails, they will bite onto the lure. Once the fish bites the player must make a CMB against the fish’s CMD. If successful, the fish is caught by the character.

Following are modifiers for the Spotting DC that can be applied based on how clear the water is and where the fish is and the Lure DC based what kind of lures and bait is being used on the fish.

Environmental Hazards

Outside of combat, the environment can have hazards that deal damage to characters. Sometimes this damage is dealt normally to HP while other hazards are fatal or deal Constitution, Sanity, or even Intellect damage. The longer a character is exposed to these environments, the more damage they will take until eventual death. Listed here are the most common types of environmental damages.

Companions

Companions are similar to non-playable characters (NPCs) who either assist a party or an individual character except that they are not temporary or acted out by the Verse Master, such as a hired hand, a sell sword, or another important figure who temporarily assists the party. Instead, companions are typically permanent members of the party who have formed a bond or relationship with one or more members of the party who grow and level with the other players.

Companions also have their own sheets to keep track of their inventory, gear, and stats. Two types of companions exist: Character Companions and Animal Companions, both of which come in a variety of ways. All companions regardless have their own health, Mana, spells, gear, wealth, and stats. This also makes them capable of death and injury, therefore they may need to be protected but are also at times capable of assisting in combat themselves. There is no limit to the number of companions a character can have so long the Verse Master approves of them.

Whenever conducting combat with a companion, each companion receives its own initiative. The player who has the Companion Sheet acts out the companion on their companion’s turn. Mounts that are acting as a Ride receive the same turn as the Character that is riding them and share actions with them, meaning either the mount or character takes an action but not both. Some companions may need defending or might even flee combat immediately, depending on the situation. For example, a pet that cannot assist in combat will probably flee or even a young child of one of the Characters.

A Character Companion is a companion that is connected to one or more of the characters through relationships, bonds, or similar interactions. More distinctly, a Character Companion is a companion that could be a character in their own right and are sentient, non-animal, and typically of a playable race that can have their own class even. Examples are as follows.

An Animal Companion is a companion that takes the form of an animal that traditionally is unable to speak or is a non-playable race, including monsters. Animal Companions can take on different forms and fulfill multiple tasks such as aiding in combat, being a mount, or providing needs to the party. Examples are as follows. When purchasing an animal from trainers, the cost of the animal is the CR / ASA x 100 p.

A Bonded Companion is any creature or object that a Character creates a soul bond with. Such bonded companions can take the form of dolls, animals, or even other characters. Bonding with a target uses the entire Mana Pool of all applicable targets and exhausts both for 1 hour. Characters can bond with more than one target but all targets bonded must become bonded in the process.