There are many dangers and hazards when moving groups of people through the wilderness.  The perils are magnified if the people in the group aren’t familiar with the wilds.  Nature is a scary place.

This rule set makes some assumptions about the group you are moving.

1. They aren’t particularly familiar with overland travel through rough conditions.

2. They don’t have specific skills relating to traveling in the wilderness.

3. They are not specifically trained or practiced at working as a group.

Traveling groups have 2 stats, Morale and Members.  

Morale

Morale monitors the general spirits of the group.  High morale means they can travel faster and react to threats more consistently.  Low morale means they travel slower, possibly lose members (as people drop out or flee) and eventually even mutiny.  

Most groups start at Morale 10, and Morale cannot rise above 10 except by special events.  

Morale Effects

Morale	Effect
12	+10% travel speed
10	No travel speed impact
8	-10% travel speed
6	-25% travel speed
5	Lose 10% of group members
4	-33% travel speed
3	Lose 25% of group members
2	-50% travel speed
1	Mutiny – deal with it or lose 50% group members.
0	Group breaks apart as everyone looks out for themselves.

 

Members

Members measures the number of people remaining in the group.  Obviously, if Members drops to 0, you have no group anymore.  Losing members also causes the group to lose Morale.  Each 2 Members lost reduces Morale by 1.  If the group is over 100, 5 Members lost reduced Morale by 1.

Supplies

A group requires food and water to continue traveling.  Lack of food will cause Morale to drop, but lack of water will cause morale to plummet, but in most environments water is relatively easy to find.

Each Member in the group consumes supplies each day.  Food consumption happens in the morning, and immediately modifies morale:

Food quantity	Morale effect
Ample, 4 lbs supplies/member	+1 Morale
Marginal, 2 lbs supplies/member	0 Morale
Sparse, 1 lbs supplies/member	-1 Morale
None	-2 Morale

Water consumption is based on the previous day, since it’s often possible to find water while traveling.

Water quantity	Morale Effect
Adequate	0 Morale
Limited (not enough for all members)	-1 Morale
None	-5 Morale

 

Movement

Moving a group overland uses the standard campaign rules for travel distance and navigation, but travel distances are modified based on the Morale value for the group.  Larger groups are also harder to move.  To find out the base distance for moving a group, divide the number of members by 25 and reduce the number of miles traveled by that number, to a minimum of 3 miles/day.

Example Movement Calculation:

The party is moving a group of 50 settlers through the forest to the site of a new village.  The basic movement rate for Light forest is 20 miles/day.

Due to some unpleasant encounters, the group has a Morale of 6.  That means they move at 20 miles – 25%, or 15 miles.  So base movement is 15 miles, reduced by 2 miles because of the size of the group (50/25).  So the group moves at 13 miles/day overland.