This post was made as a submission for Dice Goblin's Adventure Calendar Jam 2023 where we post one short RPG idea every day until December 24. Here are my previous entries: day one, two, three, four, five, six and seven

I love downtime scenes in my games almost as much as I love the crawling, so here are some Camp Actions for gritty fantasy adventure games that fill the gaps in the last post. Inspired a lot by Darkest Dungeon and somewhat by Mount & Blade: Warband.

Making Camp

The party can make camp in one hour - which fits snugly with 10-minute dungeon turns and overland travel times - provided they have food and fuel for fire. Making camp and eating a day's rations restores 1d6 HP. Making camp, eating and getting a good night's sleep in tents, sleeping bags or blankets restores all your HP.

Taking a night watch turn does not prevent you from receiving the full heal from a night's sleep, but sleeping for a full night (that is, not taking a turn) nets you one bonus point of Comfort (see more at the end of the post).

Camp Actions

Before going to bed, each character in a camp is allowed two points of Camp Actions (CAs), that can be spent on:

• Cooking a Meal - eating rations is not a Camp Action, but cooking up something better is. By taking this action, you can cook enough food for you and someone else (1 CA) or everyone in the party (2 CA). Everyone who eats a cooked meal gets to roll a D6 vs the meal's target number - starts at 1 and increases by one for each of the following you have at your disposal when cooking: Fire, Water, Spices, Utensils, Pots & Pans¹. For every other unique, non-common ingredient the meal has, everyone who eats it gets to roll another D6 and take the highest result. Everyone who rolls equal to or under the meal's TN adds the amount rolled to their max HP for next day only, in addition to the normal heal from eating, and gets the effects of any special ingredients used in the meal².
• Foraging or Hunting - when in the wilderness, you can roll to forage or hunt for food. By taking the Foraging or Hunting Camp Action for 2 CA, you can try to roll under the area's target number (set by the Referee) to get enough food for you and someone else, or just you if you fail the roll. If you are proficient in foraging or hunting, the action is improved and you can forage enough food for two more people if you pass your roll or one more, if you do not;
• Equipment Maintenance - after a day of battle or precarious conditions (rain, mud, etc...), each held weapon and worn piece of armor takes a point of Decay (put a tally mark next to the equipment's name). When attacking with a decaying weapon, if you roll equal to or under the decay value on your damage dice, you deal no damage instead. Decay in armor has no effect until it reaches five - then the armor is ruined and can no longer be used. Taking the Equipment Maintenance Camp Action for 1 CA allows you to prevent up to two pieces of equipment from taking a Decay point for the day (but not remove already existing Decay). If you have maintenance equipment, cleaning oils and rags and are proficient in their use, this action is improved and you can perform maintenance on one more piece of equipment;
• Relaxation and Respite - after a day of battle or precarious conditions, everyone in the party takes a point of Stress from the hardships of the adventuring life. Taking the Relaxation and Respite Camp Action for 1 CA allows you to prevent yourself and one other companion from taking a Stress point for the day (but not remove already existing Stress). If you have a musical instrument, playing cards or dice, and you're proficient to use them, this action is improved and affects one more companion;
• Tending to Wounds - after a day of battle or precarious conditions, everyone in the party with at least one non-treated Injury needs to Save vs Infection or get a disease. Taking the Tending to Wounds Camp Action for 1 CA allows you to treat and tend to two wounds from any character, including yourself. If you have healing equipment and are proficient in it's use, this action is improved and you can tend to one more wound.
• Long Term Project - Reading a book, copying a spell from a captured grimoire, carving a wooden toy for a child back home, writing a letter to your parents or any other long term goal can be progressed by taking the Long Term Project Camp Action. Finishing a long term project might award XP (if your game does XP), clear one or more points of Stress, give you a new skill or skill point or provide some other benefit.

Comfort

Comfort is a way to provide tangible benefit for money spent on "superfluous" goods, like higher quality blankets, pillows, comfortable clothing, tobacco, alcohol, etc... When you make camp, tally up all your comfort points and write that number down on your character sheet. At the next day, you add your comfort bonus to your first, and only your first, d20 check.

1. From Throne of Salt's Unified Food Theory↩

2. A good resource for that is Skerples' Monster Menu-All↩

#Adventure Calendar Jam 2023 #hexcrawling #house rules #survival #wilderness

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