The lives of mountains and people are often at odds, and the average person has no reason to challenge them—but you are not the average person.
During their adventures, the party may find it necessary to cross a mountain or mountain range, rather than taking the long way around. Doing so can be accomplished using the Mountain Crossing Procedure, which compresses the journey into 3-to-5 “legs,” with each leg representing a major push through a pass, over a ridge, into a valley, or up a cliff, and each of which is roughly equivalent to a full day’s travel.
Identify the Crossing
The party should identify their intended route, and the game master will determine the difficulty:
- Known pass or route – Moderate Toughness (2-3 Legs)
- Rough crossing – Difficult Toughness (4 Legs)
- High peaks – Extreme Toughness (5 Legs)
Additionally, the game master will determine the journey’s intensity based on the difficulty of the terrain and the presence of other threats: either low, standard, or high. The intensity will determine encounter check frequency and probability.
The Mountain Loop
For each Leg, resolve the following steps in order:
1. Weather
Use the Worldwide Adventure Generator (WAG) Table A: Weather Conditions to determine weather conditions for this Leg
2. Terrain
Use the WAG Table B: Hex Feature to determine predominant terrain features for this Leg.
3. Action
At the beginning of each Leg, the party should declare their approach:
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Push Through | When pushing through 2 or more Legs, reduce journey by 1 Leg; +1 encounter risk |
| Navigate Carefully | +1 to Outcome roll |
| Scout Route | Enables Discovery |
| Secure Position | Cancel one Event or Encounter; +1 Leg. |
4. Event
Depending on the intensity of the journey, there is between a 1-in-5 and 1-in-2 chance of an event occurring each Leg.
| Roll | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rockslide/avalanche risk |
| 2 | Sudden weather shift |
| 3 | Supplies strained |
| 4 | Route unclear (1-in-2 chance of +1 Leg) |
| 5 | Injury or fatigue |
| 6 | Hostile presence nearby (increase encounter probably by one intensity level) |
| 7 | Lost time (+1 Leg) |
| 8 | Valuable discovery (Discovery roll) |
| 9 | Safe route spotted (-1 Leg) |
| 10 | Roll twice and combine |
5. Encounter Check
Use the WAG Table D: Encounter Check & Table E: Encounter Type to determine if an encounter occurs during this Leg. Encounter checks should be conducted according to the journey’s intensity.
| Intensity | Check Frequency | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Once per Leg | 1-in-5 |
| Standard | Once per Leg | 1-in-3 |
| High | Twice per Leg | 1-in-2 |
6. Outcome
At the end of each Leg, the game master should perform an Outcome roll that determines the overall “success rating” of that Leg.
Modifiers
Certain conditions can increase or decrease the likelihood of a successful Leg:
- +1 if the step was navigated carefully;
- +1 if this step’s Event was beneficial to the party;
- -1 if this step’s weather was severe;
- -1 if this step’s Encounter inflicted casualties.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Failure (+1 Leg) |
| 2-3 | Complication (progress, but with a setback) |
| 4-6 | Partial Success |
| 7-9 | Success |
| 10 | Strong Success |
The outcomes of each Leg determine the overall success or failure of the journey.
Resource Dice
If the party is:
- Well-supplied
- Allied with a region
- Or has carefully prepared for the journey
They gain one resource die per Step to be used alongside the Outcome roll:
| Roll | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | No effect |
| 4-6 | +1 to Outcome roll |
| 7-9 | Cancel complication |
| 10 | Automatic success |
Discovery
If the party Scouts the Route, use the WAG Table F: Discovery to determine what they find. The speed with which they scout determines their likelihood of making a discovery:
- Quick (no delay) – 1-in-5 chance
- Careful (+1 Leg) – 1-in-2 chance
Completion
Once all legs of the journey have been completed, the party (or what remains of them) will arrive at the final outcome. If the majority of the legs were successful, their crossing was clean and they are no worse for the wear; if the results of the legs were mixed, they may arrive strained and fatigued with lost or exhausted supplies; if the results were failure-heavy, they may arrive in a dangerous or otherwise wrong location, or be stuck in the mountains for additional legs.
Note: if the Outcome of every step was a failure, there is a possibility that such a journey could result in a total party death in the mountains.