Adventures in the Outdoors 1979 AD&D DMG

Adventures in the Outdoors

It is necessary to have a reasonably well-detailed, large scale map for conducting adventures outside. Naturally, the initial adventuring in the campaign will be those in the small community and nearby underground maze. For whatever reason - player desire, quest or geas, or because of your own direction - adventuring will sooner or later move to the outdoors. What you must do to handle this is not difficult following the general procedures given below.

First, decide how you wish to proceed regarding the world at large. If you have plenty of time and ideas, you should design a continent (or a large portion thereof) which perfectly meshes with your initial setting. If this is not possible, obtain one of the commercially available milieux, and place the starting point of your campaign somewhere within this already created world. At the risk of being accused of being self-serving, I will mention parenthetically that my own WORLD OF GREYHAWK, (published by TSR), was specifically designed to allow for insertion of such beginning milieux, variety being great and history and organization left purposely sketchy to make interfacing a simple matter. Whatever course you opt for, the scale of such world maps should be in the neighborhood of 20 to 40 miles per hexagon. Such areas allow mapping of considerable territories and are optimal for movement and smaller scale maps as well, dividing each large hex into blocks of smaller hexes, 5 across the middle of 5 across each face, as desired.

Adventuring outdoors actually covers several sorts of adventuring, for it is a catch-all term for all activities not in underground or urban settings. Thus, under this general heading will be 4 major subheadings: LAND ADVENTURES, ADVENTURES IN THE AIR, WATERBORNE ADVENTURES, and UNDERWATER ADVENTURES.

Movement rates for land and water adventures are shown under movement. Underwater movement is the same as dungeon and similar indoors movement rates, as the locate of such adventures is always limited in area.

Starting from the point of origin, your players will move over not only varying types of terrain but through areas of varying human/demi-human population as well. Just as terrain will affect the frequency and type of encounter. You must, therefore, show population density on your large scale map - or at least have some idea of it in mind as adventurers move across the land. The chance of encounter is set with the following bases:

Chance of Encounter:



Frequency of Encounter Chance Time Check:

Type of Terrain and Check for Encounter At


X=check for encounter
-=do not check unless party numbers over 100 creatures

procedure: Daylight hours consist of morning, noon, and evening; Night consists of night, midnight, and pre-dawn. These times quate to periods of about and hour after the party sets forth for the day, the mid-point of the journey, and near the end when camp is being made with respect to daylight hours. During hours of darkness, equate the periods to first, middle, and end sleep periods. Where only 1 or 2 chances for encounters exist, you may vary the time as you see fit in order to avoid player reliance on information which they should not be privy to. When an encounter check is indicated, roll the appropriate die, and if a 1 results, an encounter takes place. In this event, go to the appropriate table for the terrain, and determine randomly what sort of monster is being encountered, Note: In areas where you have detailed the monster population, a random determination should not be necessary, as this information should be recorded by you.

When an actual meeting does occur, consult the explanations accompany the table for any special procedures to follow. Attempts by the encountering party to evade are dealt with under COMBAT, PURSUIT AND EVASION OF PURSUIT (q.v.)

Encounter Distance: If either party is surprised, the encounter distance is determined by subtracting the value of surprise (as determined by the die which indicated that the condition existed) from normal encounter distance. Normal encounter distance is 6" to 24" (6d4). Thus, on a surprise roll of 1, for example, encounter distance is 5" to 23" (6d4-1), on a 2 the distance is 4" to 22", etc. In addition to shortening encounter distance, surprise also allows the surprising party to have the number of segments as shown on the die as the surprise factor as free and unanswered activity to move, attack, flee, etc. (See SUPRISE.) In addition to modification for surprise, terrain will also modify encounter distance as follows:



Plain, desert, hill, and mountain do not alter encounter distance variables unless one of the three modifying types of terrain also exists. If final encounter distance is 1" or less, then a Confrontation will usually take place.

Confrontation: Confrontation indicates that the adventurers and some monster have met at close proximity, and some interaction is likely to take place. There are, however, modifying circumstances.

1. If monsters are intelligent and would normally deem themselves to be weaker than the party of adventurers, then they will always seek to avoid such confrontation.
2. If the party of adventurers surprises the monsters and elects to flee the encounter, they may attempt to avoid confrontation by using free segments to action to move out of confrontation distance and evade the monster.

Confrontation interaction can consist of any number of actions, singly or in combination - parley and reaction, spell casting, missile fire, melee combat, etc.

Movement: As mentioned previously, movement rating have been given elsewhere, There rates assume that the party of from 1 to 100 creatures are concerned. If more than 100 are in the party, reduce movement rate by 1 mile per day for each additional 100 or fraction, thereof, but in no event should such adjustment slow the rate of movement of the party to below 50% of normal speed.

Becoming Lost: Any party not guided by a creature knowledgeable of the countryside though which the party is moving, or which is not following a well defined course (river, road, or the like), or which is not using a well-drawn and correct map, might become last. This is determined prior to the commencement of a day's movement. Determination is based on the terrain:



To find the direction of movement if a party is lost, roll d6, 1-3 indicating left, 4-6 indicating right. each hex face is 60". If a loss of direction of 120" is possible, roll a second d6, 1-3 indicating a 60" direction loss, 4-6 indicating 120". In any direction , loss is possible, roll a single d6, with results being read off clockwise considering the intended direction of travel as 12 o'clock, and giving 2 chances for complete loss and movement in the exact opposite direction, thus: 1 = right ahead, 2 = right behind, 3-4 = directly behind, 5 = left behind, and 6 = left ahead, i.e. there is NO chance of the party ever accidentally moving in the desired direction when the die indicate of being lost exists. Direction of lost movement is illustrated below:



Procedure for Lost Parties:

As soon as the die roll indicates the party is lost, determine the direction. If it is onto a space which has previously been traveled over the mapped by the party, then they will recognize that they became lost. Tell them that they moved in X direction, rather than that which was desired, but they have seen landmarks and realize their error. If movement is into an area where the party has already been and mapped, then immediately roll again to determine if the party will be lost the next day also. If no such lost direction is indicated, then the party will realize it has made an error the next day; but meanwhile describe terrain as if they had actually moved in the desired direction, i.e. as if they had not been lost with regards to direction. This will, of course, result in the erroneous mapping of a space until corrected. If the party will also be lost the following day, the procedure above is followed until they are no longer lost. At that point, they will realize that they have been moving in the desired direction, or series of directions, but they will NOT know just where they became lost. They will have to back-track and attempt to locate the last space which they mapped correctly and go again from that place.

It must be understood that parties following a correct map will never become lost. Procedures are only for exploration of unmapped terrain.

Rest: Movement rates are postulated on sufficient daily rest periods so as to obviate the necessity for any protracted rest periods of a day or more during the course of any journey. If normal movement rate is exceeded, however, then special rest periods in addition to any subsumed brief breaks in travel are required. This is detailed below:

Forced Movement; It is possible to make forced marches up to twice the distance shown for daily movement rate. Such forced movement increases the daily rate in 10% increases, from 10% to 100% at the option of the party, to a maximum of double normal movement rate; but as soon as a total of 100% of additional normal movement rate is reached, or as soon as the party determines to assume non-forced movement, whichever first occurs, a mandatory rest period must be enforced. Rest period depends upon the total percentage of forced movement.


To find the time required for enforced rest, simply find the total percentage of rest time and deduct this normal daily movement rate. thus, 30% means that 30% of the movement the next day is deduced, as the party rested during the period. At 3 hours per 10% increment of forced movement, 70% equals 210%, so 2 full days, plus 10% of a third day must be spent in rest from the forced march.

Failure to rest after normal movement is equal to 100% means that beasts of burden have a cumulative chance of dropping dead of 10% per 10% increments of additional movement of any sort. Other creatures lose 1 level of ability or hit die in the same manner, until 0 is reached and exhaustion kills them. Such loss of vitality, whether by beast of burden, creature, or character requires a full 8 hours of additional rest for each such 10% increment, hit die, or level of ability lost. For example, a 12th level fighter who moves an additional 90% of movement after exceeding normal movement by 100% must rest 72 hours, consecutively, in order to regain 12th level of ability, prior to the period of rest, the character is effectively 3rd level!