Topic: How restricted is travel in Kulthea?

[Mhairtrym]

I have always wondered in regards to Shadow World and the various flows.  How difficult is it to travel by land.  Specifically from say Sel-kai to glass lake.  I could not remember how to spell the Mire down near the lake.  No books on hand.  How do most GM's handle travel by foot or horse in Kulthea?  When do you need a navigator?  I was working on putting together a adventure based on the one in the early atlas 2 book set.  The atlas speak of some flows creating physical barriers, do these shift or are they always in the same places?

Reading the teleport posts above or should I say below.  Got me back to  thinking about these questions.

[RandalThor]

Most overland travel is handled just like in other fantasy games, as is sea travel - though the flows do cause a little trouble there. Mostly it messes with magical transportation, which is how/why the Navigators have the monopoly (or near-enough) on those types of travel. You gotta love those wonderful compasses....

[Mhairtrym]

One of the other reasons I asked is I have a book, I do not have the Author's name at the top of my head.  I think it was called shadowstorm or something like that.  It was based in Kulthea and was about a family from what seemed like a future Earth come through a flow storm portal.  Had Andraax and a few Loremasters in it, as well as several Navigators.

Anyway it had a party being lead across Jaiman by a navigator.  He kept asking if they would like to jump instead but they were not willing to pay the higher cost.  I can see them being hired to protect a ship as it could impact profit the ship arriving over it sinking by weather.  Not to mention travel would be faster due to better weather.  But on land except for a large merchant caravan I would not see it being done as much.  The main issues with land travel probably being less about weather and flow storms and more about hostile elements in the area passed through. 

[Guillaume]

That's Stormriders, and the part they are running ( or crawling depends on the scale ) around in what is described in Quelbourne.

While being allegedly the best book of the serie for the Kulthean feel, it's not really what can be called cannon.

What I do usually is the following :
- ground travel in civilized areas don't really need a Navigator, but if you're willing to pay for one you can, as it will provide some protection/warning from elements like flowstorms, rain, thunderstorm, hail, sleet, and so on... and it will also allow you to jump somewhere safe, if you're willing to pay for the jump, at will.
- ground travel in uncivilized areas don't normally require a Navigator, but having one at hand is just great for the above reasons.
- sea travel in closed seas or in a bay or near the coast don't really need a Navigator either, in case of problem, just run for the shore and wait for the problem to pass.
- You can try high sea travel without navigators at your own risk, it is not recommended.

While Flows can become impossible to pass through, it's not their quiescent state, so they are impassable for a small bit of time ( and things can be interesting during that time ) usually during a Flow Storm... That's my general rules, such things don't apply to several places ( the Pillar of the Gods, Nexus, Karilon, Ormian, The Vaults of the Eyes... that will each require it's own mean to reach it. )

[kmanktelow]

Hi, All,

One thing to remember, is that maps are probably quite inaccurate- so a Navigator would be essential if you wanted to go to an area that was unknown to the group (particularly if none of them have Path Mastery type spells, or Navigation Skills themselves.)

Obviously, this isn't a problem when they are travelling along trade routes, major highways and even most 'roads' in civilised areas- but when they are looking for somewhere that isn't on the regular routes/maps a Navigator is invaluable. (There's nothing more disheartening for a GM than watching the players blunder around for several sessions trying to find a town/village that's literally only a few miles down the road in the wilds and they are too tight to hire a Navigator- or invest DP's in Navigation Skills!?!?)

Hope this Helps.

All the Best,

Kevin.

[Mhairtrym]

Well in this case I am looking to have a party travel from Sel-Kai to the Voerken Mire.  Based on books I have any roads would be very old.  I had not thought of the navigation aspect as in finding small unknown towns and such.  But in this case they would have a map, with clues and one pc would be a ranger.