Pretty much everyone, me included, thinks that 5e is weak on the exploration pillar of the game, especially outdoor exploration, and a range of third-party content creators have come up with their own rules (for example, the Journey rules in the Lord of the Rings 5e supplement, or the Uncharted Journeys rules from Cubicle 7). I have been pretty successfully running exploration with a few small changes, so I thought I would post how I do it here. This will be the first of a few posts.

Outdoor exploration principles

My principles are that exploration

• should feel like D&D, not a strange and artificial sub-system
• should show the world
• should deliver lore and offer opportunities for character development
• should be delightful and unexpected
• should contain opportunities to play all the pillars and make meaningful choices

Preparation

I generally use Sly Flourish’s 8 steps of adventure preparation; I find they work well for me, and I find I can use them just as well for outdoor exploration.

1. Characters – as usual
2. Start – as usual
3. Scenes – I add weather and date; “landmark” scenes in likely hexes. Pre-rolled random encounters go here, usually three or four. Sometimes these have location features too, or monsters.
4. Secrets – about the area, about faction movements and actions, about any of the surrounding locations, about news/rumours of nearby locations
5. Locations – hex descriptions for only the likely close hexes (might be a separate map page with annotations of landmark and hidden info). Sometimes the info is in the random encounters too.
6. NPCs – whether included in the hex description or in the random encounters. Name, description, desires.
7. Monsters – again, whether included in hex descriptions or in random encounters.
8. Treasure – associated with hex descriptions or random encounters. Also a few fun things to forage (if I don’t have a bigger table.)

The following shows a session prep sheet I made for a Sword Coast game. The characters have taken the job to find out and neutralise some bandits on the High Road, and had just come upon a caravan after a hard day’s travel in a thunderstorm.

How It Works In Play

• The characters set their direction and pace, dependent on the terrain and situation. To do this, the players need some kind of a map (doesn’t have to be accurate) of their areas, and rumours about what’s on the map.
• As they go through a hex, they’ll find “landmark” stuff but they have to search to find hidden stuff.
• They might get lost.
• Roll to see if they have one of your pre-rolled random encounters. You have two dials here: frequency of roll and result needed. I generally roll morning, afternoon, and night on an 18+.
• Wilderness activities: I don’t require characters to declare a role (like ‘scout’). If a character says they’re foraging, ask them to roll for that. If they say they’re scouting, ask them to roll for that. If they say they are leading the party, ask them to roll for that. If they want to search or move stealthily, they must go at a slow pace. Each character should do only one activity, though, no scouting-and-foraging. The weather really plays a role here so don’t forget to roll the weather.
• This sounds boring, and it is if nothing happens, so your hexes and random encounters should be interesting. This is the most important advice. You should be giving just as many secrets and clues when exploring as when in an adventure site — if not more!
• They need to camp, eat and rest to heal and avoid exhaustion; set a DC and have everyone make a CON check for a good night’s sleep (say its easy in the summer, moderate in the spring, difficult in the autumn, and very difficult in the winter), adjusted for shelter and clothing, with advantage if they have good food or good story; with disadvantage if they are cold or wet or hungry or thirsty. If they fail, they don’t rest. This is a great downtime phase for role play.

Finally, if your players are like mine they stick to roads and rivers when possible. In my games, this:

• increases the potential pace of the party
• eliminates the possibility of becoming lost
• increases the difficulty of finding hidden hex stuff
• increases the foraging difficulty
• changes the encounter mix: fewer monsters and more humanoids generally.

Still to Come

Now, a few things are missing from this description, which I will address in upcoming posts:

• How do I write an interesting hex?
• How do I write an interesting random encounter?
• How do I link this to faction activity and the rest of the story (short answer: through your random encounters)?
• Optional rules for a grittier-style outdoor exploration, even with 2024 rules

And I am assuming that you know already how to write an interesting location, an interesting NPC, and interesting treasure.