Forum

According to this estimation you can cross the map in 4 days. Not so epic.

In-game a horse merely gives you an extra hex, if the terrain is open, in other words +30% distance if you were on foot.

I love this idea, there have been many post apocalyptic gaming ideas, this one is awesome. Here are some reasons:

• Wolfkin were not affected and their territory grew, the race gained a bad reputation with the people of the lands, and they advocate a return of the blood mist. Friends of the wolfkin were able to be supplied and protected by them.
• Rust brothers who took in the mutation effects of the demons were not affected and were able to travel in the lands with a lower risk of the blood mist affecting them. they became the way many towns were supplied and also the villages supplied them.
• Big towns were decimated not because of the bloodmist per sa, but because the supply lines to the city were removed.
• Other groups were not as affected as much as others, which led some to benefit from the blood mist.
• The demons were also stopped by the blood mist which limited how much they could expand during the blood mist age. To me this means that now that it has ended they are able to start up their plans to take over the land.
• The blood mist can come back (as a random encounter) but is mostly used to scare children and keep people in the area they grew up in.

Not all travel was stopped. My reading says that if a group felt they belonged in an area they were 'safe' from the blood mist. 

• To me this means warriors on the battle path would be okay in their groups until the battle was over, the losers would be fair game for the blood mist. The winners as long as they didn't venture off alone would be okay. They would need to be led by a strong leader who convinced them of purpose
• Towns and villages may still be attacked by undead armies and other groups that were unaffected by the blood mists.
• Travel in a caravan would be difficult and long but possible as they succeeded in camping each night, but woe those who were outside of the circled wagons at night or on their own. It would be rare to see these things because of the attrition and danger involved in this, plus they are targets for anything in the wild.

There was another question on travel across the map in a short time. The assumption is that the roads survived or go to places that should be populated. the Dwarves did start a road between their holds, and remnants of it survived, but the towns between those places didn't necessarily make it. The many roads that were in place probably didn't survive because of the constant wars and battles that were fought over them changing the landscape and destroying any roads and bridges that may have been built. The reason I feel this is the case is because of the way the hex crawl is laid out for us to use scouting and survival just to make it across one in a day of travel. Having to cut vines, move trees, and travelling over rough terrain would make things more difficult then they were before the ravages of 1000 years of war and 300 years of blood mist.

The following post makes the assertion that an exercised and well trained horse can manage traveling 80 to 100 k a day. That’s 8 to 10 hexes per day. Even an untrained horse can manage 3 to 5 hexes per day.

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com ... /6414#6414

This is more than enough to cover most of the ‘regional’ areas on the b&w endpaper map. I think it safe to say that there was constant traveling and even trade between holds and villages during the Blood Mist. You just didn’t go out at night.

Forbidden Lands abstracts these values by saying that if you're mounted on any type of horse, you can travel 3 hexes per quarter day in open terrain.

That means if you are willing to force the march you can travel up to 9 hexes under daylight (during the summer), which is pretty close to your numbers.

The Ravenland is a small place.

The following post makes the assertion that an exercised and well trained horse can manage traveling 80 to 100 k a day. That’s 8 to 10 hexes per day. Even an untrained horse can manage 3 to 5 hexes per day.

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com ... /6414#6414

This is more than enough to cover most of the ‘regional’ areas on the b&w endpaper map. I think it safe to say that there was constant traveling and even trade between holds and villages during the Blood Mist. You just didn’t go out at night.

There is a big difference in distance the air and travelling distance. 10 km measured in the air could be 40-50 on the ground.

1 hex might take some days to navigate unless there is a road/trail and even then it could take very long time.

The Ravenland is a small place.

it us roughly 20% of Sweden, which in turn makes it as large as Iceland or greece. Much bigger than Ireland or czech republic.

I have the impression most players choose Young characters just to maximize their attributes.

There's nothing implicit or explicit towards limiting new characters to the Young age if you're rolling their background, and nothing indicates that players' characters weren't active during the years of the Blood Mist.

There's nothing specific, but the limitations of the Blood Mist and Travel would have made many Formative Events difficult or impossible, if it was taken literally that no one could leave their home village for more than a day without certain death, except Rust Brothers and to a limited extent Wolkin.

I have the impression most players choose Young characters just to maximize their attributes.

There's nothing implicit or explicit towards limiting new characters to the Young age if you're rolling their background, and nothing indicates that players' characters weren't active during the years of the Blood Mist.

There's nothing specific, but the limitations of the Blood Mist and Travel would have made many Formative Events difficult or impossible, if it was taken literally that no one could leave their home village for more than a day without certain death, except Rust Brothers and to a limited extent Wolkin.

I don't believe the reading of the bloodmist precludes large warbands who have might and are winning as being able to be hurt by the bloodmist, the losers and any refuges would be subject to the bloodmist. Lone people were subject to the blood mist. So yes you couldn't travel, but a caravan that ringed it's wagons, kept the animals with them, and didn't have patrols would only have to deal with encounters so they might make a couple of trips a year, or trips that were close. it would be very different, and amazingly harsh, but the formative events all could occur. A lords castle might have only a tenth of the people it would have had before the decimation, a city of thousands might shrivel to 40 souls who eek out a living now, but there would also be human settlements that stabilized and had hundreds of people who were in town and did various things to survive. The dwarves had other routes and didn't come above ground except for those chosen to be trained in the above. The rust brothers were a major method that trade and goods were available, they pressed the villagers into service if needed and were know to battle a lot. Humans and orcs seem to bear lots of children, with no place to go after hours the would be lots of children... So I don't think my reading of the setting is as grim as yours. I describe it as being a post apocalyptic world that is just coming out of survival mode.

Fine, but that's not the Lore presented in the books.

Another thing that doesn't check out with the lore that only rust brothers and wolfed could survive the mists is that there is a relatively high chance a randomly rolled adventuring site was founded during the blood mist by other groups. Which shouldn't have been possible.

It bothers me that the setting as presented is so wildly inconsistent.

Fine, but that's not the Lore presented in the books.

Another thing that doesn't check out with the lore that only rust brothers and wolfed could survive the mists is that there is a relatively high chance a randomly rolled adventuring site was founded during the blood mist by other groups. Which shouldn't have been possible.

It bothers me that the setting as presented is so wildly inconsistent.

if you've read the GM guide it is like that.
Pg 33: almost everyone entering the mist [alone] at night disappears
Pg 34 the rust brothers start their reign after the blood mist comes
they realize the elves were immune
Pg 34 The demons were slowed by the blood mist
Pg 50 the half elves of elvenspring were safe in their lands and in the elven lands as they were elvan friends
Pg 57 in the description of the dwarves train some to go to the upper world but they were safe in the underworld. 
Pg 58 the Meromannians were the only group that lost their home, and did have to hide during the 300 years, but the guide says they have been at war since the blood mist lifted and are preparing to retake their home
Pg 67 the wolfkin were free of the bloodmist in their forests, which the territory they controls grew until they got to the plains.
from the guides to create villages, castles and dungeons 
pg 169 69.4% of all villages found were created during or after the blood mist
pg 172 50% of all dungeons were created during or after the blood mist
pg 179 41.7% of all castles encountered were created during or after the blood mist.
each of those stats show that a large portion of the people in the lands were moving around during the blood mist, so since the areas are there and are or were populated there were ways to move around in the blood mist. Perhaps it wasn't great, and most were to afraid to leave some were able to and many things changed in those times.

I'm pretty sure the setting will work if you work with it.
from the map wolfkin also were in the same forest as the orcs and goblins so war was common.
Pg 70 halflings and goblins in their homelands were safe also, travel out side of the lands became dangerous and fights with the wolfkin were common.

That would imply the majority of adventuring site founders in those years would match the hem territory.

Otoh, one thing I'd missed is that bloodlings can be held at bay with light.  It's not 100% effective, since they can suffer damage to enter it. But that could have been one technique some braver souls used to travel, march to battle, and/or found new villages, keeps or dungeons.