Travel time in Exalted

[crashmurdoch]

Just a quick question:


How do you guys handle the extensive amount of time it takes to travel around Creation?  It seems like if a circle wants to move around and travel to various places during the Cronicle they would spend all of the game time travelling and next to none of it in actual towns and such.


Any suggestions?

 

[Persell]

Actually... the journey is the true goal. I doubt a group of anathema should be able to travel through creation without picking up adventure as they go. Having to rescue a village from a mad god here, being chased by dragon blooded there, and approached by a deathlord behind the ocean over there. Make travels exciting and the time actually spent on the road will not matter.

 

[Jakk Bey]

Pretty much.


Let's face it, you've seen the Dork Tower based Flash movie on how the Lord of the Rings should have ended--Gandalf summons the Eagles, they fly to Mordor, and drop the ring off.  Takes about a day or so. Big whoop.


But that's not much a tale of adventure is it?   Same can be said for most tales of adventure, it's the things in between the big events that make a hero.  The journey is a big part of the tale. How they deal with adversity, how they deal with the things that pop up, how they treat people and critters on the road, heck, make allies and find new clues, and new hooks for the next arc.


So there aren't towns that are on the map--does that mean the space is just empty?  Gods, Spirits, God Bloods, Beastmen, Fae, wanderers, mystics, villages too small to be named on the maps on the Creation, they all are there for you to populate the world. Only the biggest hot spots are detailed on the official map, but that doesn't mean the space is "empty" and there's nothing there, it's up to the ST to populate it, make it vivid and alive.


Where to the slaves come from?  What about the Spirits who populate the land?  What about the little villages? The tiny little vales between the great cities?  


Take a look at the map of England sometime. Look at how dense the little hamlets and communities are. Same in the US--take a look sometime at a map of Maine, and you're going to find some ranges between cities, there's only 22 in the whole state, but there are tons of small towns and villages, and even some barely organized territories.


A good ST has plenty of fodder to make the journey memorable, and part of the story, not look at it as "down time." If you're looking at long journeys as a waste of time, you ain't doing your job...

 

[Solfi]

Let's face it' date=' you've seen the [b']Dork Tower[/b] based Flash movie on how the Lord of the Rings should have ended--
Gandalf summons the Eagles, they fly to Mordor, and drop the ring off.  Takes about a day or so. Big whoop.

About that...


If they did that, what would have stopped Sauron from using his l33t Eyelaser to zap them out of the sky before they got halfway through Mordor? They'd be a plenty visible target... Wasn't that the whole point of the creeping plan?

 

[Jakk Bey]

You mean while he was sending his homies to crawl all over the countryside? And seeing across the smoke choked plains?


And about that whole Eye thingie, what did it really do? See stuff so he could send out orcs. Who couldn't exactly fly all that good. Heck, the Nazgul didn't get their pimped out flying rides until later.


The creeping plan was all about getting a few extra hundred pages.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Once more, I say, logic doesn't have a place in fantasy. Otherwise, where's the epic?

 

[Torak]

How do you guys handle the extensive amount of time it takes to travel around Creation?

Stormwind Rider  

 

[Ker'ion]

How do you guys handle the extensive amount of time it takes to travel around Creation?  It seems like if a circle wants to move around and travel to various places during the Cronicle they would spend all of the game time travelling and next to none of it in actual towns and such.
Any suggestions?

I use travel time as an integral part of game, spending three or four sessions travelling between time is fun for myself and my players.


I'd suggest talking travel time over with your players and go with what they want.

 

[Persell]

Actually attacking legolas on a flying mount was probably the worst idea the nazgul had in the whole book.

 

[Solfi]

And about that whole Eye thingie' date=' what did it really do? See stuff so he could send out orcs. Who couldn't exactly fly all that good. Heck, the Nazgul didn't get their pimped out flying rides until later.[/quote']
Even barring the author ruling that the Eye did indeed have an Laser-feature when within the realm of Mordor, wasn't the reason the Nazguls didn't use their flying mounts until later because Sauron wasn't ready. Because he wanted to keep it "on the downlow"?


If he saw some hobbits on a frickin' giant eagle, he'd surely send out the Mordor Air Force...


Anyway, my point is, it's a plenty fillable plothole, due to circumstances and knowledge we, as spectators, are not really privvy to.


I know suspension of disbelief is important and all, but rationalizing *everything* makes for a pretty boring story.

 

[Sherwood]

Trying to get back on topic, if you want to bypass some of the travel time, make various spells available to speed your players along.  Stormwind Rider was mentioned.  There are several in the Terrestrial and Celestial circles that can move at a good clip.  Or, let your players recover a airship of some kind.  You then have the added adventures of them trying to aquire resources to keep it in good running condition, and you can ground them and make your PC's do some mud slogging by saying "Your mechanic needs at least a month and a list of exotic matierials.  Get off your lazy butts and work for a living."

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Skyships work very well for limiting travel time...while creating plots of their own. If you're not say, a Lookshy Sky Guard unit or something similar, you need to aquire the various components to keep your skyship working...while still being able to get about quickly.


On the other hand, it's best to be careful with the Skyship answer... demilitarized Skyships are better than well armed ones, for example. The story is about the characters, not about the adventure of the Skyship, and how it blasted the world...with minor help from its exalted pilot.


If you wish to speed travel time, but remove some of the military advantages of Skyships, things like the Whirlgig water ship are good choices...faster than walking and less obvious than say, Storm Wind Rider (which tends to bring a bit of unfriendly attention most places...travelling tornadoes aren't good for the countryside). Speeding travel time, while still keeping it to a limit, and making it easier to keep the story character focused.


Now, a story based around the Skywolf or something could make for an interesting plot, and be significantly character based...there's plenty of examples of TV shows and Anime's about this ship or that ship and their crew...and they generally stayed more focussed on the crew than the 1337 might of their vessel. From the Irresponsible Captain Tylor, to Star Trek, to Star Wars...and everywhere inbetween, outside and about... however chronicles focussed on such will tend to be very heavy in the magitech department...and will likely require something of a raise in the setting's overall magitech level...as the power that even a Manta when fully aremed is capable of when brought against those less well equiped in the magitech department is overwhelming. Bring in a Kireeki or the 5 Metal Shrike...and it becomes even more difficult.