A long daunting journey can have up to 9 events. So you roll a d12 and consult a table of events. Through the journey, any skill checks are made with a DC = 12 + the peril rating.

This sets a tone or mood for the journey, and usually includes a modifier for the next roll.ĭuring the journey, you have a random number of events, with more events for longer journeys. Then you consult a table to see what happens. Then a peril rating is assigned to the journey by the GM, based primarily on the terrain (5 difficulty categories) on the map, and then a d12 is rolled, modified by the Guides's survival proficiency bonus and half their wisdom bonus, minus the peril rating (yes, there are a number of these sort of convoluted mechanics). So if there is more than one scout, or hunter, it can help. If more than one character is assigned to a specific task, the main character gets advantage on their checks. The basic approach is that before the Embarkation step, you assign each character to one of four tasks. It seems clear to me that they are using concepts from other game systems as well, although I couldn't tell you which ones. It's 12 pages long in the Player's Guide, with another 9 pages (primarily for creating your own Journey tables) in the Loremaster's Guide. The Journey Phase also shows how complex changing the rules can be. Typically one adventure occurs per year, and ends with a 'Fellowship Phase' which is essentially an expanded concept of downtime (but much more involved). They actually have three different 'phases' - the 'Journey Phase,' which has rules similar to what you want - no long rests on a journey, and they work in fatigue and character skills that have an impact on the beginning, middle and end of the journey, which than has an impact at the start of the 'Adventuring Phase' which is regular D&D mode. It's an official 5e book (by a publisher other than WotC), and an official Middle Earth book. They have a very interesting mechanic on Journeys that I think is right you your alley. I just picked up the 5e Adventures in Middle Earth Player's and Loremaster's Guides.

D&d 5e lord of the rings