Exploration: Exploration of the Eastlands is the major reason adventurers were called to Eastholm. Exploration involves surveying the land, identification/elimination of threats, and finding resources. As long as someone in the party has survival for the terrain type, the characters have 12 hours a day for exploration tasks. Without survival, the party only has 8 hours for exploration tasks. Many of the skills and ideas listed here require that the party be properly equipped and provisioned.

• Terrain Type Modifiers

  Terrain	Foraging (Avg)	Tracking	Travel Speed
  Arctic	1d-7 (-4)	-2	20% on loose snow to 50% on ice
  Desert	1d-7 (-4)	-2	20% on loose sand to 120% on packed sand
  Island/Beach	2d-7 (0)	-2	20% loose sand to 120% on rock
  Jungle	2d-7 (0)	0	20% to 40%
  Mountain	1d-7 (-4)	-2	20% to 70%
  Plains	2d-7 (0)	0	50% in hills to 120% across level firm ground
  Swamplands	2d-7 (0)	-4	20% to 40%
  Woodlands	2d-7 (0)	0	20% dense/hilly woods / 120% in light/level woods

  • A use of Serendipity can generate a bountiful (+5) foraging modifier or an easy (1.0 to 2.0) travel route for any terrain type.

• Movement Rate: Rules for skills (Navigation, Weather Sense, Hiking, Boating & Leadership (and later: Riding) can effect individual and party travel distance.
  • Hiking - We will be calculating overland movement using the suggested miles per hour rate of Basic Move/2 as suggested by Low Tech. This rate is affected by terrain and encumberance as usual.
    • A single five-mile terrain map hex contains 25 one-mile interior hexes.
    • Average party speed is likely around 2.5 miles per hour. (based on average stats of 10 for porters and other hirelings). This assumes an packed/firm soil on relatively level terrain.
    • A full day of exploring gives 12 hours for hiking. This leaves time for 3 breaks for rest & meals, normal time for "on-the-go" foraging and the full time needed for camping.
    • Terrain modifiers from the table above are applied to the average rate. Common Modified movement rates are available on a table.
    • Combine any modifiers from below with the terrain modifier before applying to base speed.
    • Weather can add various effects.
    • If all party members are skilled at Hiking (unskilled is HT-5), the party may opt for daily hiking rolls vs individual skills (success modifies individual rates by +20%). The new average rate is then calculated and used.
    • If a party member has Leadership at 12+, the party may make one roll vs the average party Hiking skill to directly modify the party average by +20% on a success.
  • Boating - A variety of boats can be made in Eastholm or crafted by players with the appropriate skills. Whether it's a simple raft or a beautifully crafted faering, piloting requires Boating(unpowered), DX-5, or IQ-5. River boating doesn't require navigation rolls. Boating works for travel but is only of limited use for exploration. Otherwise, boating follows the rules listed above for hiking.
  • Riding - Once mounts are aquired, follow all hiking rules but at the faster rate allowed by mounts.
• Explorations
  • Visiblilty within the interior hexes determines how many miles of "crisscrossing" are needed to fully explore the one-mile hex.
    • In ideal conditions, a flat open plain with no obstructions, the party averages about two miles of hiking to explore one interior hex.
    • The average, based on moderate visibilty, is 4 miles per interior hex.
    • A hex exploration chart is available that shows interior hex exploration times for common travel rates.
  • Survival (Per-5, Naturalist-3, Other Survival type-3) rolls are required during exploration of new terrain to pick best route/path. One roll is needed for each leg (usually 4 hours) of the exploration to reduce/increase rate of exploration. Only the lead survivalist must roll. Addtional survivalists can roll to support lead scout. Degree of success and failure is important. Intuition gives a large bonus to this role or may be used with IQ roll in place of this roll.
  • Navigation (IQ-5, Cartography -4) rolls are required during exploration and travel to follow the chosen route. If exploring new terrain, one roll is needed for each survival roll made above. If the party is traveling through known terrain to a known destination, only one roll is needed per day of travel. Only the lead scout/navigator need make this roll. Relative degree of success/failure is important. Addtional navigators can roll to support lead scout. Remember, without any navigation tools skill is at -3. Also, Absolute Direction gives +3 skill on navigation rolls in unexplored terrain. For known routes, Absolute Direction gives automatic navigation success.
  • Observation (Per-5, Shadowing-5) )rolls are required during travel. Usually, one roll per leg is all that is required. Any characters that are actively scanning/searching should roll.

• Scouting
  • If scout is 50% faster than party average, then they can scout ahead while moving
    • Doesn't slow group
    • Doesn't effect scout stealth
  • Stop and Scout
    • Halves daily exploration time
    • Doesn't effect scout stealth
    • Non Scouts can use scouting time on other tasks (Foraging...)
  • Scout in Force
    • Doens't slow group
    • Sacrifices Stealth