[ED3] Wilderness Survival

[Magic_Octopus]

When the party is trekking in the wilderness, what do you do with the Wilderness Survival talent or skill?

I know the rules, but how have you guys actually applied the skill in game? If the characters have ample food supplies, they don't need to forage. If they fail a roll to find good shelter, what do you do with that?

Could anyone give good examples of play how this skill/talent has been applied in your games?

I think it is a challenge to not have too many unnecessary or boring die rolls, while still keep the talent relevant.

[kosmit]

No shelter means they can't sleep well. Maybe they are attacked or something but I would rule no Recovery Tests in the morning.
No water/food can result in fatigue. I would say that charakter can stand Toughness days without food and Toughness Step without water and apply a penalty to action tests and no recovery tests in the morning until drinking.

As a rule of thumb character without wilderness survival tend to be more and more tired and sick. So penalties to tests reflects distraction from lack of sleep etc. No recovery tests means worsening health.

Also character in wilderness is susceptible to diseases and lack of food worses immune system so penalty to Resistance Tests as well.

[Baravakar]

[Baravakar]

[Telarus_KSC]

Lack of shelter means exposure to the elements (rules for cold/heat exposure in extreme environments apply), wild animals and predators, or the character could get ill (Cold or Fever rules), stumble in the dark and sprain something (Injury rules), etc. It all depends on the context, sometimes you can find a good tree limb to sleep on.

If something such as the lack of shelter prevents the character from getting "8 hours of rest" then that character cannot make their morning Recovery Test for that day, nor attempt to heal Wounds, nor recover from Fatigue - or Injuries - or Illnesses. This makes even general Strain add up!

[Edit] Ha, the 4th Edition Gamemaster's Guide has this covered. For every 2 hours of sleep you miss, you need to make a Fatigue test, failure adds a level of Fatigue. You also need a minimum 4 hours sleep to refresh your Recovery Tests for the next day.

There are some modifiers for Fatigue Tests in extreme environments based on your race in the 1E Survival Guide, but it oils down to: -1 in high altitudes (mountains, etc), badlands, and jungles; trolls ignore the high altitude penalty and suffer an additional -1 in high heat/high moisture environments like jungle; t'krang suffer an additional -1 in high heat/low moisture environments like badlands. The book recommends that the se additional penalties only affect a troll or t'skrang for a few weeks while they get used to the new environment.

[Slimcreeper]

I've never loved these rules, honestly. They don't seem broken, just not much fun. I'd like to see results tied more closely to consequences, and more abstracted. If you are using wilderness survival, it is because you are lost or you are going somewhere you've never gone before. You travel slower, 25% or so. You make the test vs a DN + the number of people you are looking out for. Each success lets you avoid a penalty: No morning recovery test (shelter), no morning recovery test plus - 1 to all tests, cumulative each day (no food), or no morning recovery test plus -2 to all tests,, cumulative each day (no water). Track how many days you are short each item. If a character hits negative toughness, he falls into a coma and dies the next day if whatever is missing isn't provided. A full day of rest and adequate provisions is required t reset the character's condition. Something like that.