Dungeon Fantasy: Treks and Overland Movement

While Dungeon Fantasy's overland movement rules may be lacking, GURPS Basic offers a far more comprehensive system, as outlined in the Basic Campaigns book (B351). In Dungeon Fantasy: Exploits, the referee simply sets all overland travel as "X days and X nights," with supplies and encounters rolled for daily (DFE 17). However, GURPS Basic provides an unmatched depth and realism, including terrain, weather, road, fatigue rules, and a hiking skill for characters.

GURPS Basic, detailed in the Basic Campaigns book (B351), not only provides rules for terrain, weather, road, and fatigue, but also includes the crucial "Hiking skill." This skill is not just a handy tool, but a significant gameplay element for characters like rangers, soldiers, and other outdoorsy classes that frequently travel and march. Its absence in Dungeon Fantasy could significantly impact the gameplay of these classes, making the inclusion of GURPS Basic rules a vital consideration for a traditional overland exploration dungeon game with DF.

One of the key advantages of using GURPS Character Sheet (GCS) over GURPS Character Assistant (GCA) is its flexibility. With GCS, you can easily access any rule or skill from any book, which is particularly advantageous when incorporating the comprehensive overland movement rules from GURPS Basic. This freedom to access and adapt rules to your game's needs is a significant advantage over GCA, which creates libraries that run scripts and eliminate skills and choices, potentially limiting your options and the overall flexibility of your game.

Ask yourself, "How important is overland movement?"

I was planning a traditional hex-crawl adventure with DF, and this came up. I could always "crib" rules using GURPS Basic without needing the Hiking skill and say characters move miles in an "exploration turn" equal to their current Move. Each turn is about an hour. Rough terrain costs anywhere from 2 to 5 per hex, while a road adds a point of Move per turn.

In GURPS Basic, the hiking rate is Move x 10 per day, so these rules come close enough while being "hex friendly" and maintaining a 1-hour travel turn (with 1-mile hexes). You allow characters to travel 10 hours per day, and it works. If you use Fatigue rules for overland travel, the rules in the Basic Set still apply (B426) and are on an hourly rate, so they line up nicely with my system.

Is not having the Hiking skills and the official overland movement rules a big thing? Not really. My custom overland movement rules are "completely official" since GURPS is designed to be hacked and customized. All the "Hiking skill" does in the Basic set allows for a 20% movement bonus on a successful roll, so not having the skill does not break the game and simplifies the movement rates and math.

Simple and straightforward is what you want in a dungeon game, anyway.