Walking Holiday, a supplement for Under Hill, By Water, now live

I have just released Walking Holiday. 

Walking Holiday is an Under Hill, By Water supplement that contains procedures for traveling from one place to another, as well as some advice on how to make these procedures actually fun. 

The GM will take an afternoon to do some prep. First, the GM will randomly generate and draw a map to represent what lies outside of your home village. Second, they’ll write down interesting things to find there (but no adventures, certainly!)

Afterwards, players can go on walking holidays to see a bit of the lay of the land between halfling villages. This journey is the game.

Click to get the game!

In Search of Better Travel Rules

Journeys and travels are a fantasy staple. As such, RPG players have long tried to include this essential element in their games only to find the experiences fall flat. Often, travel is either reduced to a skill check or handwaved entirely. I raved about this in my post In Search of Better Travel Rules. 

First, complain. Identify the problem. Then, do something about it.

Walking Holiday is a game supplement that makes traveling fun by infusing interesting choices into the journey. The game includes:

• Procedures for pointcrawling 
• Map making by dropping dice and drawing landmarks
• Collaborative rumor generation about the map's contents
• Dozens of example encounters and strange landmarks 
• An optimized PDF with links and bookmarks, as well as layers that can be turned off for printing purposes

Here’s an example of what I mean:
You can generate a map for your players by picking up one of every type of platonic dice - a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and a d20. Toss ‘em on some paper. 

Normal stuff is lower numbers so they're more likely to occur.

Then, you reference what landmarks you’ve rolled and draw them in. 

(Drawing can be fun even if you’re not good at it - like me!)

Have a nice trip!

Because Walking Holiday is designed for use with Under Hill, By Water, the example encounters and NPCs are intended to provide a cozy, slice-of-life experience.

Even so, the procedures, advice, and game theory included are universally applicable. Use Walking Holiday to improve your journeys for any game where travel is featured.

Walking Holiday Yuletide Jam

I have been so thrilled and so touched by the community’s involvement in my little game’s little jam. I wanted to highlight the entries because I believe they enrich the experiences for everyone who plays Under Hill, By Water by adding new NPCs, systems, creatures, etc. 

A Collection of Things That Most Certainly Are Not
By Wayspell
A bestiary written in-character by the adventurous (feh) halfling Unreliable Wanderfoot. It is a hand-drawn supplement that provides pictures and stats for a variety of creatures beyond the Hedge.

Auntie Everline
By Evlyn Moreau
A spider NPC that serves as a wonderfully monstrous neighbor to the PCs. Living just over the Hedge, she provides  the PCs aid in a cool way: you help her out with tasks so the GM can noodle on answers to the questions you’ve asked her. 

Of Mushrooms Meet and & Marvelous
By Kris Goldsmith
This scenario (not adventure, certainly) provides the PCs the opportunity to enter the yearly Harvest Faire. To win the top prize, the players have to find a way to get the best mushrooms in the Vale out of the fields of mean ol’ Farmer Worm. 

If you’re looking for a great introduction to the game to run for a night where you don’t have your normal game night, this is a great choice.

How Hard Can It Be?
By Seedling Games
This supplement introduces a crafting mechanic to the game that is infinitely expandable. The basic mechanic cleverly balances misfortune against progress. If you’re running Under Hill, By Water a lot and want to measure the PCs’ long-term progress for their tasks around their village, this is a smart way to do it.

Heart and Hillside Home
By Into the Wild Blue Yonder
Additional randomizers to infuse your village with color and texture. This includes lists of fancy food (you prefer 11 meals a day, if you can get them), rumors of things outside the Hedge, and more! 

These supplements are so cool and well worth your time and $$$. I hope you’ll check them out! 

The road goes ever on and on…