History

One thousand years ago the civilized races lived prosperously all across the land. The kingdoms of humans, elves, and dwarves existed in a golden age. They traded freely and lived in peace with each other. Monstrous races such as hobgoblins and orcs threatened travelers occasionally, but posed little threat overall. Larger monsters, fiends, and aberrations, were known to exist, but mostly as legend.

The people were united in their quests for divine knowledge and arcane power. The humans, dwarves, and elves each amassed great caches of wisdom and power in the twelve sacred temples. They sought to know God and reach him directly, and they nearly did, until the Keepers appeared.

The Keepers

Colossal monsters emerged from beneath the seas, above the clouds, and from underground. They decimated civilization and destroyed entire kingdoms. No one knows for sure where the gigantic beasts came from, or why. Most believe they were sent by God as a punishment for attempting to become so powerful. Others surmise that the creatures were accidentally unleashed as part of the powerful magic the ancient sages practiced.

The orcs and goblinoids began to worship and serve the giant beasts. Through their evil service, these monstrous races inherited the land. And the civilized races retreated to the far corners of the world. The humans took to the south, and have taken refuge along a peninsula for generations now. Contact with the elves and dwarves was lost. None are sure if they even exist still (although small populations of dwarves, elves, and all the other civilized races exist among the humans).

The attacks from the Keepers were so abrupt that much knowledge of the past was lost except to legend, passed down through oral tradition. Homes, villages, and entire cities were abandoned. For the last one thousand years they have either decayed into ruin, or been taken up by hobgoblins or orcs.

To the east of Last Haven is a colossal spider named Gomo. She stands at least fifty feet tall, and her legs are as thick as tree trunks. And to the north, adventurers have crossed paths with Azitox the great Roc. Each Keeper is escorted by an army of smaller monsters. You'll know you are getting close to Gomo if you start to notice hoards of spiders around you. Likewise, Azitox is preceded by swarms of ravens, vultures, and eagles. The monsters you encounter will grow larger and more deadly the closer you get to the Keeper.

The legends say that each of the twelve forbidden temples were claimed by a Keeper. And so although keepers are known to wander the wilds, they are believed to stay close to their temples.

The monstrous races all worship the Keepers -- it's the only way they can survive out in the wilds. The hobgoblins to the north worship Azitox, the great Roc. And the orcs to the east serve Gomo.

Present Day

The Killion kingdom (pop. ~10,000) now tends to humanity's meager refuge on the peninsula. To the north, various outposts, frontier towns, and military forts dot the landscape to protect against any monsters that might travel further south. Most conflict that threatens humanity comes from marauding bands of hobgoblins, gnolls, or orcs. Less often are attacks from Keepers -- gigantic beasts that roam the wilds leaving destruction in their wake. Fortunately, the Keepers are said to stay close to, and guard, the 12 ancient temples that once housed the divine works of the sages.

Killion's armies guard the edges of the peninsula with the help of mercenaries and militia. Life within the kingdom is not good, and adventurers will risk journeying into the wild in search of lost riches from the ancient days. King Killion forbids adventurers from seeking out the 12 ancient temples. The given reason for this is that, since the Keepers came from the meddling in these temples, any further investigation will only anger the Keepers further. Rumors have spread that the real reason is that Killion wants to retrieve the treasures within the temples for himself, and that he sends out secret crusaders known as the "Moon Guard" to do so.

Last Haven

The furthest town on the edge of the Killion kingdom is Last Haven. It is surrounded by a twenty-foot tall bivouac to protect it from what evils might otherwise consume the fragile oasis. From here, small parties of adventurers band together around common goals and set off into the wild in search of their quarries, whatever they may be.

Some look to explore the mysterious ruins of past societies that pepper the landscape. Others hold out hope that perhaps beyond the expanses of monsters that lay before you are the lost bastions of other civilized races remembered only through legend. But most that set out from here are only interested in scoring a bounty of treasure to bring back home. Regardless of what compels you to leave the safety of home behind, you are sure to encounter a host of terrible monsters the moment you set foot outside Last Haven's walls.

People and Factions of Last Haven

Within Last Haven you can find most goods and services that adventurers need. Upon arriving it does not take long to discover:

• The New Moon Inn. Here you will find every kind of adventurer to accompany you in your quests, and a place to rest up between adventures.
• Poncho Leafwalker, a halfling and respected member of The Curators: a guild that deals in trade, messenger services, and maintaining trade routes. He can sell you most gear you may need. And if he doesn't have it in stock, he can surely source it for you.
• For magical and alchemical wares, you may be better off asking some of the patrons of the alchemical college known as The Society of the Tranquil Fire which holds a chapter here in Last Haven.
• The humble gnome Fravirbirt can assist you with any arms and armor at her workshop. She is a dues paying member to The Bronzeshapers -- a smithing guild.
• The Cartographers Club is a society of wealthy citizens interested in expanding their collection of maps and atlases of the continent, and of knowledge of the Keepers. Its members seldom adventure themselves, but are known to patronize others.
• The Scarlet Riders is a troupe of traveling performers who often visit Last Haven to provide entertainment, gambling, and other services.
• For religious practices, a small temple to Nouse has been constructed.
• Killion's army always has some soldiers stationed in Last Haven, but the town also organizes its own militia to protect itself from outsiders.

More information on the factions of Last Haven is below

Religion, Deities, and the Planes

The civilized people of the Killion kingdom are largely monotheistic. They believe that Nouse is the creator of everything, and the ultimate divine entity. Other lesser divine beings (celestials, angels, archons, etc.) exist in the higher planes. People oftentimes will pray to some of these lesser divine beings, as they are deities in their own way, but anyone who would pray or worship a lesser deity will ultimately revere Nouse. The most important divine beings beyond Nouse are the Twelve sages listed below. Clerics might realize their chosen domain by worshipping a corresponding sage; or they might revere Nouse and all twelve sages as a whole. Demons, devils, and other fiends exist in the lower planes. No one openly worships fiends, but warlocks may obtain their powers from them.

The Twelve Sages and their Domains

1. Adelard, the Human - Light
2. Itu, the Human - War
3. Argos, the Half-Orc - Life, War
4. Lamlis, the Half-elf - Trickery
5. Kala, the Elf - Light
6. Bodil, the Elf - Trickery
7. Eira, the Elf - Life
8. Atl, the Elf - Trickery, War
9. Ejiro, the Dwarf - War
10. Oriel, the Dwarf - Light
11. Hadarai, the Dwarf - Lift, Trickery
12. Varis, the Dwarf - Life, Light

Each of the twelve sages is said to have a lost temple somewhere out there. Each temple is said to be guarded by a Keeper, and houses untold divine and arcane power.

Purpose

. . .it's so tragic that mainstream gaming has forgotten about procedural play. It used to be the standard that any common but even moderately complicated activities at the table would have a designated procedure to follow in the rules so you can make sure that you're following all the rules in the way you should be. D&D 5E has tons of rules for wilderness adventuring, but they're split up across several books and several chapters within each book and aren't laid out for actual "use at the table" purposes, and there's no guidelines about how they all "fit together." All it would take is a solid procedure that connects it all and suddenly those rules would actually be usable.

The purpose of this sections, and the ones to follow, is to explain how I will run the game, particularly wilderness exploration, combat, and dungeon crawling. You don't need to read any of this, but if you do, it should give you some hints about how to play the game more strategically. Wilderness exploration is a big part of this campaign, and I've created some procedures to actually make a game out of it, rather than just hand-waving you through the journey. Almost everything you see below is RAW D&D. It looks like a lot of new sub-systems and rules, but it's really just a concrete implementation of dnd's loose rules. My intent with these subsystems is to create a game that uses as much of the player's handbook as possible (skills, oft overlooked spells like "purify food and drink", tool proficiencies, etc.).

Hex Crawling

Your wilderness adventure will be played out one day at a time. There are a few props needed including:

• The Map and Cartographer's Tools: Your map of the wilds and colored pencils to fill it in with.
• The Navigator's Deck: A deck of playing cards that is used to pace out your journey and determine when random encounters happen.
• The Forager's Freshness Tracker: A simple handout used by the forager to keep track of the party's trail rations, water, and foraged food.
• A cheatsheet is available here. I will have printed copies for you to reference when you are at the table.

The Travel Loop

Follow these steps to travel through the wilds. It looks complicated here, but it is pretty quick once you get the hang of it.

1. Each morning. . .
   
   1. Apply the benefits of a short rest
   2. Assign each of your characters to one of three roles: Navigator, Forager, or Scout. You will likely keep the same roles for the entire journey, but you can change roles at the beginning of each day if you'd like. The Navigator will receive a deck of playing cards (called the navigator's deck). They also will receive hexagonal graph paper, colored pencils, and a legend (collectively called Cartographer's tools), and the Forager will receive a game aid for tracking the party's rations and water. Where you locate your character on the journey compass also determines the party's marching order for encounters.
   3. The party eats breakfast. The forager discards food and water for each character in the party. If anyone can't eat or drink the required amounts, then see the rules for "malnutrition" and "dehydration" in the player's handbook.
   4. The forager then moves any raw foods one step to the right along the freshness track
   5. The navigator draws 12 cards face down from the navigator's deck. These 12 cards are known as the "daily travel subdeck". Each of these cards represents about 40 minutes of your 8-hour traveling day, and what things you find or encounter along the way.
2. Traveling. . .
   
   1. The party decides which direction to travel in, and the pace it will travel at. The navigator draws from the daily travel subdeck to pace out the journey. The navigator draws four cards if traveling slowly, three cards if traveling at a normal pace, or two cards for a fast pace. Place the first 1-3 cards face down, and the last card face up.
   2. The party moves into the next hex tile. The DM narrates the new terrain, and if there are any interesting features in this area.
   3. If the new hex is unexplored, then a character with Cartographer's Tools can make a DC 15 Intelligence (Cartographer's Tools) check to map the surrounding area. On a failure, the navigator discards 1 card from the travel deck.
   4. If the face-up card is a "cup", then foragers may attempt to forage in this new hex. Make a Wisdom (survival) check against this hex's Forage DC. See complete foraging rules below.
   5. If the card is a "wand", then the navigator must succeed a Wisdom (survival) check against this hex's Navigation DC. On a failure, discard 1d4 cards from the travel deck. If the hex is already explored (all hexes around it are already mapped), then you receive a +5 bonus to this check. If there is a second navigator, then one "helps" the other.
   6. If the card is a "sword" or major arcana card, then each scout may attempt a Wisdom (perception) check against this hex's Search DC. On a success you find the hidden boon, or preemptively discover the wandering monster or challenge, affording you the opportunity to avoid or surprise it. On a failure, you miss out on the boon, or must contend with a challenge (e.g. monster, quicksand, avalanche).
   7. If the card is a "pentacle", then the DM will generate new random weather appropriate for the season.
   8. If the navigator has enough cards in the daily travel subdeck to continue traveling, then repeat the travel loop. Otherwise, continue to "At the end of the day".
3. At the End of the Day. . .
   The party can choose to force march, or make camp
   1. Forced March
   1. Play out the Traveling loop with the following changes: If the navigator has cards leftover from the daily travel subdeck, then they can use those. If more cards are needed, then they are drawn directly from the full navigator's deck.
   2. At the end of each loop, all characters in the party must succeed a Constitution saving throw. The DC is 8 plus one for each card that has been drawn directly from the navigator's deck this day. Each failure results in one level of exhaustion.
   2. Camping
   1. Characters with Cooking Utensils can attempt to cook raw ingredients that were foraged into rations.
   2. Characters with an Herbalism Kit can attempt to brew Potions of Healing from herbs that have been foraged.
   3. Other crafting activities can be worked on, as long as it makes sense. Creating arrows with Woodcarver's Tools makes sense. Forging plate armor makes less sense.
   4. The DM determines if something goes bump in the night. If it does, then the party makes a group Wisdom (Perception) check to notice the encounter. Characters without darkvision roll with disadvantage. Elves (and other characters that don't sleep) roll with advantage.

Foraging

Foragers are encouraged to also act as "quartermasters" for the party, and manage the party's food and water rations. At the start of each journey (the start of each session) the forager should place a ration token onto the "Non-perishable" section of the quartermaster sheet for each ration the party is bringing on their journey. They should similarly place water tokens for each character into the Water section. I recommend using 1 token to represent 1 waterskin, which can hold half of the water required by a character per day. (By using tokens, players won't need to update their character sheets except for at the end of the session.)

Whenever a forager successfully forages, they will gain 1d6 + Wisdom modifier pounds of food, and as many gallons of water. You may only carry as much water as you have waterskins for (see below on "Water"). There are six kinds of things that can be foraged: Roots, mushrooms, fruits, game, shellfish, and herbs. What foods you find are determined by the DM and the terrain you are in. Some foods are only available in certain terrains, and figuring that out is all part of the game. Each pound of food is represented by a different color token.

When you first find a food, add it to the freshness tracker. Raw game begins one step ahead on the freshness tracker, and shellfish starts two steps ahead. Each morning when the party is "eating breakfast", you can feed a character food directly from the freshness tracker. If the food is old, then the character that eats that food must succeed a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 24 hours. The DC for the save is given by the freshness tracker. After the party has eaten for the day, move all tokens one step to the right along the tracker.

A character with proficiency in Cook's Utensils can use them to cook raw food into shelf stable trail rations. To make one ration you must combine any two different raw foods (no ability check required). You can make at most two rations per day. The freshness of the raw ingredients does not matter when crafting rations.

A character with proficiency with an Herbalism Kit can use it to craft Herbs into Potions of Healing. It takes one pound of herbs to make one potion. A character can make at most one potion per day.

Herbs cannot be eaten as food or cooked into rations. They are only used for making potions. Herbs never expire, and don't need to be added to the freshness tracker.

The spell "Purify Food and Drink" can be used to make raw food safe. This resets raw food to the first position on the freshness tracker. After being purified, food continues to lose freshness as normal.

At the end of the session, all raw foods are lost. Any rations can be divided back amongst the party and recorded onto everyone's character sheets. Any herbs that were not brewed into potions can be divided amongst party members. Characters with an Herbalism Kit can brew potions in between sessions using the normal rules for that given in the Player's Handbook. Herbs can also be sold in Last Haven at a rate of 25 gp per pound. Herbs cannot be purchased in Last Haven.

Water

Water is heavy, and it is mostly impractical to carry more than a few days worth of water per character (given that a character needs 8 pounds (1 gallon) of water per day). A single waterskin holds 4 pints (1/2 gallon) and weighs 5 pounds when full (bet you wish we had the metric system). So if each water token represents 1 waterskin, then each morning when the party is eating breakfast, 2 water tokens should be discarded for each character in the party. If you are traveling along rivers or lakes, then you can refill your waterskins at any time without needing to succeed on a foraging check. This means that as long as you are traveling near water, then you will probably be safe from dehydration, but traveling away from water sources will require extra care.

Mounts

Mounts do not increase the speed you travel at overland during wilderness journey. They simply increase the amount of stuff you can carry with you, and allow you to pull a vehicle. Entering combat while mounted, however, will give you the speed of the mount while you are riding it. This also will improve your initiative as noted in the section below on Combat. You cannot ride a mount in combat if that mount is pulling a vehicle. It takes a Utilize action to connect or disconnect the mount's harness from the vehicle.

While traveling you do not need to worry about feeding your herbivorous mount rations or water. It is assumed that they can graze as you travel.

In between adventures, you must purchase stabling for any mounts you own (5 sp per day). This stabling cost must be paid at the beginning of each session, or you can sell the mount. This stabling cost is in addition to your lifestyle expenses.

You may also hire a skilled hireling to drive a vehicle for you.

Buckle up, because I'm changing the grid. There's nothing in the rules that say you have to use a grid for combat, and there's nothing that says you have to use a 5-foot grid when you do. So after a major epiphany, I've discovered that the ultimate grid for combat in D&D is actually (probably) a hexagonal grid with a 30-foot spacing. When we are in combat I will display (or perhaps project) a hexagonal grid onto the table. Each of these hexes will appear 4-6 inches wide. And the in-game distance between hexes will be 30 feet. This should provide all of the tactical details you need (can I reach them? Is my bow in range? how many can I hit?) without the fussiness of a five-foot grid (I'm tired of watching you guys solve path optimization problems every game). Here's how it works:

Initiative

We'll roll for initiative once per encounter, which is probably what you are used to. For every 5 feet of speed your character has above or below 30 feet, add or subtract 1 to your initiative roll. For example, a character with a 35-foot speed has a +1 to initiative rolls. Similarly, if your character is wielding a weapon with "reach", then add one to your initiative. This is to ensure that having slightly different speeds, or reach, actually makes a difference given the low resolution grid.

Using a token or mini-figure, declare your initiative score by placing the token onto the initiative track that surrounds the grid. This allows everyone to quickly determine the initiative order without needing to relay numbers to the DM.

If your character's speed or reach changes during combat, then adjust your initiative on the track at the end of the current turn. You can only take one turn per round of combat, even if something lowers your initiative in such a way that it would be your turn again.

Movement and Positioning

1. Multiple creatures can all fit inside the same hex.
2. To move from one hex to an adjacent hex, you must spend 30 feet of movement. Alternatively, if you do not already have the hindered condition (a condition I'm inventing), you can spend 15-feet of movement and gain the hindered condition to enter an adjacent tile. So if your character has a 35-foot movement speed, the extra five feet probably doesn't matter here, but see the above bonus to initiative we'll use instead.
3. If a hex tile is difficult terrain, then you can enter it like normal with 30-feet of movement. Whenever you enter a tile that is difficult terrain, your character will gain the "hindered" condition. Whenever you leave a tile with difficult terrain, you lose the "hindered" condition.

Hindered Example:

Tordek has a 30-foot speed. Tordek wishes to run across a shallow, 30-foot wide river (difficult terrain). On Tordek's turn, he spends 30 feet of movement to enter a hex tile that is difficult terrain. He gains the Hindered condition, and his speed becomes 15 feet. Tordek then takes the Dash action which gives him an additional 15 feet of movement to use this turn. Tordek spends those 15 feet of movement to end the Hindered condition on himself, and his speed returns to 30-feet. He ends his turn in the river. The next turn, Tordek uses 30 feet of movement to enter an adjacent tile, and leave the river.

Attacks

1. Only creatures that are in the same hex tile are able to attack each other with melee attacks. (Being in the same hex tile is a necessary and sufficient condition for being able to make a melee attack). This does not mean that all creatures in the same hex tile are necessarily within 5 ft. of each other. It just means that everyone is close enough that, on your turn, you would be able to move to within melee range of any other creature in the tile.
2. If you begin your turn in a hex with enemies, and make a ranged attack while in that hex, then you will roll the attack with disadvantage per the rules on ranged attacks in close combat.
3. If you leave a tile that has enemies, then you provoke attacks of opportunity from 1/2 the enemies rounded up (DM's choice). If enemies leave your tile, then 1/2 of party members (rounded up) in that tile can make attacks of opportunity (party's choice).

Areas of Effect

1. We will use the table in the Dungeon Master's Guide for adjudicating areas of effect when not using a grid, when there is ambiguity (i.e. when the size/shape does not align well with the 30-foot grid spacing). This basically says that a 15-foot cone hits two targets, a 20-foot cube hits 4, etc.. A spell like fireball (20-foot radius) will target all creatures of the hex tile it is cast into, because the area of fireball is greater than the area of the hex-tile, so there is no ambiguity about being able to hit all creatures in a single hex tile.
2. Persistent area spells that are no larger than a 10-foot cube (such as Grease), will not affect the entire tile. So casting Grease does not make the entire 30-foot hex tile difficult terrain. Larger areas (like Web), will make the entire hex tile difficult terrain. You can see that this is almost exactly the same thing that happens on a five-foot grid. With Grease on a five-foot grid, creatures can simply go around the grease without losing any meaningful distance to their movement. And with web on a 5-foot grid you can either go through the web slowly, because of the difficult terrain, or go around the web which slows you down because of the longer distance.
3. If an area of effect has a 15-foot size (any shape) or smaller, then there is no risk of friendly fire. We can assume that the sorcerer is able to position themselves, and communicate with his or her allies to avoid catching them in the Burning Hands. For spells that are larger than 15-feet, then I may adjudicate a risk of friendly fire if it seems unavoidable.

Cover

I may designate certain tiles as having discrete opportunities for cover (trees, rocks, etc.). If a creature is inside a tile with a cover, then they can take the cover as long as no other creature is already using it. If you don't like that a bugbear is taking cover, then you'll need to push/shove/grapple/thunderwave them out of it. I think this will be a lot more interesting than the rules for cover using a 5-foot grid. Those rules are really complicated, and make it really easy to negate any cover by simply moving around to the other side of the target.

Pushing and Shoving

Since the grid is so course, your usual attempts to push or shove creatures by 5, 10, or even 15 ft, don't really make a huge difference, except in your ability to move someone out of cover. If you would like to push an opponent out of the hex they are in, and into an adjacent hex, that is still possible. If your push can move an opponent by at least 30 feet, then that will push them into an adjacent hex as you would expect. If your push is less than 30 feet, then the opponent is moved into an adjacent hex, at your discretion, if they fail their check by a certain threshold as given in the table below. For example, if you push a creature 15 ft, and they fail their saving throw by 3 or more, then you can push them into an adjacent hex.

Push Distance	Fail by
25	1
20	2
15	3
10	4
5	5

Climbing and Jumping

I may occasionally introduce elevation changes on the grid. Unless noted otherwise, each change in elevation is 15 ft.

To climb up or down, a creature must spend 30 ft of movement to enter the tile like usual. They must also have both hands free to climb. Otherwise, they must be able to get up there by some other means (flying, spider climb, jumping)

If a creature has a climb speed greater than the elevation, then they simply move to the next hex. If the creature lacks a climb speed, or has insufficient climb speed to cover the elevation change, then they gain the prone condition when they climb up to the next hex, or the hindered condition if climbing down (i.e. climbing is difficult terrain).

If the surface is slippery, or is not "easy" to climb, then an athletics check may be required to climb up or down. Failing this check means you stay in the lower hex (if attempting to ascend) or falling into the lower hex (if attempting to descend). In either case, your movement is used up. An easy climb would be things like: There is a ladder, a rope with knots, the face of the climb is sloped, there are generous hand and footholds, etc.

Creatures that are tall enough can jump up, grab the edge, and pull themselves up to avoid making an athletics check. The player's handbook can tell you how high you can jump and reach.

Dungeon Turns

The DM will track time in the dungeon using "turns". Each turn represents 5 minutes. Every six turns I will check for a wandering monster.

Wandering Monsters

In addition to checking once every six turns, if the party ever does something reckless, then I will roll for the chance of a wandering monster.

Examples of reckless actions include:

• Breaking down a door
• Smashing open a chest
• Making loud noises
• Casting noisy spells such as "knock"
• Having prolonged discussions
• Abandoning torches (see below)

Dungeon Exploring Loop

When you enter a new room, we will use the following loop.

1. The DM will describe the room and anything in it.
2. If there is a monster, we will play out any combat or social encounter, then burn one dungeon card. This card represents the time spent in combat (or parleying), plus the time spent to catch your breath after and clean your weapons.
3. The PCs will declare what, if anything, you intend to explore in this room. Be specific and describe "how" you are exploring, not just what. Keep in mind the "one thing at a time" rule. "Exploring" includes, but is not limited to, the following activities:
   • Searching a door -- for traps, listening to what's on the other side, checking if it is locked or stuck
   • Searching a piece of art or furniture for secrets and clues
   • Trying to understand how a puzzle or trap works
   • Attempting to disable a trap
   • Driving spikes to keep a door open or closed
   • Keeping watch while your companions explore the room
4. For each character that is exploring something, the DM will:
   • Tell you everything that can be learned or accomplished with your task before any skill or ability checks are needed.
   • If there is something that warrants an ability check, I will ask for it now
   • If you succeed, then I will tell you what else you learn or accomplish. Otherwise, you know that your character failed at something, but not necessarily what it was. For example, if I call for a perception check while you are exploring a door, and you fail, that could mean the door is trapped, or that there are monsters on the other side, or that there is some other trick you missed. This does provide an opportunity for meta-game thinking. You can imagine that your character has a strong hunch that there is something there that they missed.
5. Your party now burns a dungeon card for the time spent exploring
6. Repeat these steps for anything else in the room you wish to explore, but has not already been explored during this session
7. If you want to retry exploring something that was failed. For example, if a PC failed a perception check while examining a statue, or a PC failed to pick the lock on a chest, then a PC can "take 20" on the task. If you elect to "take 20", then your attempt automatically succeeds, but you must burn 4 dungeon cards. Essentially, your character is trying over and over until you succeed.

How to open a door

There are three ways to open a door. If you can think of a fourth way, I will add it to the list. Spending time to "explore" a door will inform you if the door is stuck or locked. You might also hear any monsters on the other side, or find traps built into it.

1. Break it down: Any monsters on the other side will likely be surprised. If the door is locked or stuck, then the PC attempting to break it down must succeed on the break DC (see your PHB for tools that make this easier). If the attempt to break the door fails, then any monsters on the other side will become aware of you. No matter what happens, I will roll against the dungeon pool after you attempt to break down a door.
2. Open it normally: Any monsters on the other side will generally not be surprised. If the door turns out to be stuck or locked, then any monsters on the other side may become aware of the party and respond accordingly.
3. Open it stealthily: You must have "explored" the door before you can open it stealthily (you need to know if it's stuck or locked, and have listened to it, and have peered under it, etc.). You must extinguish all light sources to open a door stealthily. Or, if using a hooded lantern, the hood must be lowered. If the door is stuck or locked, then the door cannot be opened this way. PCs that are entering the next chamber can take the Hide action before entering the room. Other characters can hang back while the sneaky ones go ahead.

Picking Locks

To summarize the rules, to pick a lock you need to use thieve's tools (but don't need to be proficient with them), and must succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand, Thieve's Tools) check. The DC for the check typically varies from 10-20. If you have proficiency in both sleight of hand and thieve's tools, then you get advantage on the check. The time it takes to pick a lock depends on the complexity. For simple locks, it only takes one action. And for complex locks, picking takes one minute. Since picking a simple lock is so quick, it will not burn a dungeon card. Attempting to pick a complex lock will burn a dungeon card (I'm rounding up). As such, if you fail to pick a complex lock, then you may be able to retry by "taking 20" just like retrying any other "exploration" task. For any lock (but particularly for simple locks), you may find that failing to pick the lock breaks it, rendering the door "stuck". I will not allow another character to "help" with lock picking actions (too many cooks in the kitchen).

Torches and Lanterns

To extinguish a torch, you must explain how you do that (water, smothering). If you extinguish a torch, it cannot be re-ignited; it is consumed. The PHB doesn't say this explicitly, but it is implied, because lanterns (technically the oil) do state that they can be turned on and off. You can abandon a lit torch and come back for it (so that you can enter a room stealthiliy, for example). Extinguishing or abandoning a torch will require rolling against the dungeon pool due to the smoke of extinguishing, or just from leaving such an obvious clue behind you. Lighting or extinguishing a torch or lantern requires an action.

Keeping Watch

Characters can "keep watch" while the others are exploring. If a wandering monsters occurs while exploring, then the characters keeping watch might hear the monster coming before it gets there. If the monster is not being stealthy, then the PCs keeping watch automatically succeed at noticing the monster. Only if the monster is being sneaky should the PC roll a perception check vs the monster's stealth check. When a PC that is keeping watch notices a monster coming, this gives each PC one round to prepare before initiative is rolled. This means PCs can hide, cast a spell, drink a potion, etc.

Time in the Campaign

In between play sessions, time passes in the game world at the same rate as our real world. This allows you to know exactly how long it has been since your last adventure. For example, if you play a session on April 1st, and then play a session on April 15th, you know your character(s) will have spent 15 days recuperating in Last Haven. During this time your characters can do any crafting activities, long rest (one long rest per seven days), etc. These rules ignore the length of any actual adventuring during sessions to make time keeping easy.

Additionally, the climatological season in the game world will match the season of our real world's northern hemisphere. If it's spring-time in Seattle, it's spring-time in Last Haven. This has an effect on what kinds of random weather you experience in the game. You might also find that rivers run dry in the summer, or that lakes may freeze in the winter.

Leveling Up

Once you have gathered the necessary xp, you can level up in between sessions. You do not HAVE to level up. If you want to keep your character at his or her current level for whatever reason, you can. They will continue to earn xp as normal. If you forget to level up before the session, then you should just play on at your current level.

Leveling up your character(s) requires training time per the table below. While your character is leveling up, they cannot go out adventuring. This means that you may need to create new characters to play while your high level characters are training. If you gather enough xp to level up multiple times at once, then you need to spend the time for each level gain. For example, if you have a 3rd level character, then earn enough xp to level up to 5th, you can do that, but it takes 30 days (10 days to go from 3rd to 4th, then 20 more days to go from 4th to 5th). Alternatively, you could spend 10 days to level up to 4th, then go out adventuring, then spend 20 days to level up to 5th.

You can also spend gold to buy XP. See below.

Level Attained	Training Time
2-4	10 days
5-10	20 days
11-16	30 days
17-20	40 days

Level Differences Between Characters

Supposedly the game stays "balanced" as long as the difference between the highest and lowest level characters in a party is no more than 2 levels. And so I will declare this a rule. This means all players need to bring characters that are within two levels of each other. If you don't have a character that satisfies this requirement, then you may need to create a new first level character; this might require some negotiation between you and the other players to work out a party that satisfies this constraint.

Factions

Below are the various factions that exist in and around Last Haven. Listed beneath them are the goods and services they deal.

All items that are currently available to be purchased are listed here

For Sale in Last Haven

Lifestyle and Renown

Your characters will develop Renown amongst the people and factions of Last Haven. Your renown with each faction is dependent on how often you go adventuring, the lifestyle you live while in Last Haven, and the actions you take on behalf of a faction. The renown you hold with any given faction affords you discounts and bonuses to trade with that faction.

At the start of each session, I will ask for your lifestyle expenses. Select one of the options given in the player's handbook, and deduct that amount from your character for each day it has been since your last adventure. I will also ask you to select one of the factions above. This choice represents the idea that your character has been spending time with that faction: wining and dining its members, working with them, etc.

Renown Bookkeeping

Check Your Renown Here

I will do the bookkeeping for you, but here's how it will work. Each time your character begins a session, he or she will increase their renown with your chosen faction by the amount of your lifestyle rate (where 1 GP/day = 1 Renown point).

Example: It has been 14 days since Billy the fighter's last adventure. At the start of the session, Billy chooses to have lived a "comfortable" lifestyle (2 GP per day) with the Bronzeshapers Guild. This costs Billy 28 GP. Billy's renown with the Bronzeshapers increases by 2 points. Note that the number of days of downtime does not factor into the change in Renown score. (This incentivizes frequent adventuring)

Discounts and Bonuses from Renown

Depending on your renown with a faction, you can realize discounts and bonuses with that faction. The amount of the discount or bonus is determined by the Renown score you have with that faction per the table below.

Example 1: Billy has a renown score of 5 with the Gemwright's Atelier. Billy finds a diamond worth 100 GP while exploring a dank cave. Normally he could trade this gem for 100 GP, but because of his Renown, Billy can sell the diamond for 125 GP (100 GP + 25% for a renown between 5 and 10).

Example 2: Billy wishes to purchase a vial of Carrion Crawler Mucus from the Scarlet Riders with whom he has a renown of 3 with. The list price of this poison is 200 GP, so Billy's price is 180 GP.

Arbitrage and Exclusivity

You should immediately notice that as a party, you should always have the character with the highest renown do all the buying from that faction. Each character's discounts are exclusive, and if a faction finds out that a character is extending their discount to other people, you will lose all renown points with that faction. It will also be considered a "chaotic" decision for the purposes of alignment. You might also lose renown with other factions (word gets around).

Similarly, you might notice that once your reach the 40% discount at renown 10, that you can sell things back to a faction for more than they sold it to you. Again, don't do this or you risk losing renown with the faction.

Commissioning Magic Items

Magic items are listed in the DM guide, but most are included with the free rules. I encourage you to peruse them to deck out your characters.

Most of the factions buy and sell magic items of various kinds. These items are always subject to availability constraints. However, if a faction does not have an item in stock, then you can commission the faction to craft one for you. This works exactly like purchasing the item, except it takes time to craft the item before it's ready. Ask the DM what you want to buy, and I will quote you a price and lead time. The higher your renown, the less time it will take to produce the item.

The discount on purchasing time also extends to your own efforts to craft items. Essentially, your renown with a faction speeds up your own crafting projects because the faction lets you use their tools, workshops, and hirelings.

Example: Billy the fighter wants to craft a Sword of Life Stealing (rare magic item). Such a sword normally would cost Billy 2000 GP to craft, and take 50 days. Since Billy has good renown with the bronzeshapers, Billy receives help from them and reduces the crafting time by 50%. So it will only take Billy 25 days to craft the sword. It still costs him 2000 GP to craft.

Example: Mandy the barbarian doesn't know how to craft anything, but she wants a sword of Life Stealing just the same. The Bronzeshapers don't have one in stock, but they can make one for her. Ordinarily it would cost 4000 GP and take 50 days, but Mandy's renown of 10 reduces that to 2400 GP and 10 days.

Training

You can spend money to purchase XP from a faction in the form of training. The rate is 1 GP = 1 XP. If you have one or more levels in a class that a faction trains, then you can use your renown discount to purchase XP.

Bastions

Here's how we're gonna do bastions. Establishing a bastion is optional. If you want to keep the game simpler, then ignore all this. If you want to increase the complexity of the game, then read on. To truly follow along with all this, you are going to need a DMG to understand the normal rules for bastions. I am heavily extending the rules for bastions from what is presented in the DMG. But even still, you will need access to those rules. The intent behind my modifications is to turn 5E bastions into something that resembles the old-school "domain" play.

The rules I propose below are much more expansive than I usually try to be. But since the default rules for bastions are not included in the player's handbook, I feel no obligation to play them RAW.

Who can establish a bastion

All classes except for barbarians may establish bastions. Bastions include the physical building of course, but also the hiring of various followers and skilled hirelings. A bastion will also grow a population around it. And I just don't see barbarians settling down like that (but I'm open to suggestions on this). Rogue characters may establish bastions, however, theirs are very different than other classes.

When can a character establish a bastion

A character can establish a bastion any time after attaining 5th level. Each character can only have one. Contrary to the DMG, we will not just ret-con a bastion into existence when you hit 5th level. You will need to construct one from scratch, or claim an existing structure to be your bastion.

What does a bastion do

Facilities

A bastion will be composed of the normal facilities and special facilities like is described in the DMG. We will play out bastion turns as it suggests. I may add other bastion turn events to those given in the DMG.

Followers and Hirelings

The special facilities that exist in a bastion attract the hirelings as suggested by the DMG. I encourage you to create actual playable characters for these hirelings (of suitable background and class), but it is not required. Additionally, it is assumed that your bastion attracts dozens more followers (commoners) that live in and around your bastion. These followers work the land and support you financially in return for protecting them from monsters. With time, especially if the bastion owner continues to adventure, the number of followers that live under your protection may grow into the hundreds or even thousands. The more successful you are as an adventurer, and the more treasure you bring home, the more followers you will attract.

How bastion population changes

Normal population change

Each bastion turn, I will roll some dice to determine how your bastion population changes. For any given turn, the population will likely change around +/- 15% (not sure, haven't figured out the math yet).

Works of Art

If you return art to your bastion, then your population will grow. For every 5 gp of value in art you return to your bastion, your population will increase by one. So if you return a "bronze crown" worth 1000 gp from an adventure, you can grow your bastion population by 200. Or you can sell it like treasure as normal. But you can't do both. Once you give the art to your people, it's "gone" or spent.

Attacks

If your bastion is attacked, and you have no defenders, then your population will suffer heavily. Or, if you are attacked and lose all defenders, your population will suffer.

Alternative Starting Locations (i.e. fast travel)

When you begin a game session, instead of starting from Last Haven, you can begin your adventure from any bastion. To do so, you must pay a toll to each bastion that you travel through (including the final bastion). A PC does not need to pay a toll to his or her own bastion. The owner of a bastion can also issue letters of passage to other PCs or NPCs. (These letters could also be forged). The amount that a bastion charges in tolls is determined by its population.

The bastion owner collects all tolls that go through their bastion. I will keep record of how many PCs and NPCs go through your bastion, and issue funds to your character.

Services

The village, town, or city that surrounds your bastion can be used to purchase equipment or spellcasting services. The maximum value of anything that can be purchased is given in the table below. (Last Haven is considered a Town).

Initially the populace around your bastion is a "village". As such, you can hire spellcasters from your village to cast level 3 or lower spells for you or another PC (see the rules for spellcasting services in the player's handbook). As lord or lady of your bastion, you realize a 25% discount on all spellcasting services, and equipment purchased, from your bastion. You may not extend your discount to other player characters; only the bastion owner can realize it. As your followers grow in numbers, the village will upgrade to a town, and then a city, further expanding your access to additional spellcasting services, and equipment.

Effects on Lifestyle and Renown

Once a character establishes their bastion, that character no longer pays lifestyle expenses. The character will retain its renown with the factions of Last Haven, however, they can no longer be increased by paying lifestyle expenses. You might be able to improve your renown in other ways however (undertaking quests on their behalf).

How can a bastion be established

A bastion can be established in one of two ways: from raw construction, or from routing an existing dungeon. In either case, your character must make a pilgrimage to the location during a session. You must take about 25 followers with you. You don't need to do anything to recruit them -- they are willing to follow you on account of your reputation. These followers will bring with them the construction materials needed to build or convert your bastion. They feed themselves, but require protection during the pilgrimage. During this pilgrimage, you may only move at a slow pace. Once the caravan reaches the hex tile that you wish to claim as your bastion, and as long as you satisfy all the requirements (cost, distance to other bastions, no monsters around), then the area is claimed, and construction or conversion begins.

Raw Construction

You can build a stronghold out of raw materials. The cost to construct each room will follow the values in the DMG. To start, you must construct at least room for two special facilities. If you increase your level and earn access to more special facilities, then you must convert a basic facility, or construct more rooms for the new special facility. The construction is performed by your followers. The cost to hire them is included in the prices for building the rooms. Constructing multiple new rooms can be done in parallel. So the quickest and cheapest way to construct a new bastion costs 2000 gp, takes 45 days, and consists of two "roomy" special facilities. The character establishing the bastion can go out and adventure during this construction time as normal.

Routing a Dungeon

Instead of making a bastion out of nothing, you can convert a dungeon you find (an old keep, abandoned tower, ancient tomb, forgotten caves, etc.) in the wilds into your bastion. To do so, you must completely rout out the dungeon of any monsters that live within it. The dungeon must be completely explored too. There must be rooms to support two special facilities. If there aren't, then you will need to construct them like above. You still need to make a pilgrimage with your followers, but there is no time required to construct the bastion.

Roads

Your bastion must be connected to at least one other bastion or Last Haven by a road. The road is constructed by the Curator's guild. It takes one week per hex to construct a road, but this can be accelerated with good renown with the curator's guild. The road's construction happens in parallel with any bastion construction. A bastion cannot be used as a starting location until the road is finished.

Where can a bastion be established

Where a bastion can be established is dependent on the radius of the new bastion, which is determined by your class, and presented in the table below. A new bastion must be established no further than its radius from another bastion or Last Haven. When completed, there should exist a safe path that can be traveled from Last Haven to the new Bastion. For example, if a fighter is to establish a bastion, then he or she must establish it within 8 tiles of Last Haven or another friendly Bastion.

Class	Radius (hex tiles)
Barbarian	N/A
Bard	6
Cleric	6
Druid	6
Fighter	8
Monk	4
Paladin	8
Ranger	8
Rogue	0
Sorcerer	2
Warlock	2
Wizard	2

If a character is multi-classed, then the radius of a bastion is based on the largest radius afforded to that character from all classes with at least 5 levels in them. So a Wizard 5 / Fighter 1 can have a bastion of radius 2 hex tiles. A Wizard 5 / Fighter 5 would have a radius of 8 tiles.

Characters can also establish their bastions in the same physical space as another character's bastion as per the DMG rules on combining bastions. Doing so requires permission of the existing bastion's owners, except in the case of rogues (see below) who are able to establish their bastions in secret.

Finally, a bastion can not be established anywhere near a Keeper. No followers would dare follow you into a Keeper's territory. And a keeper would surely destroy any structure you build.

Bastion Turns

At the start of each session I will ask you to take a bastion turn. This essentially asks, "what has your bastion facilities been doing". If you know you are going to issue bastion orders, you can probably resolve them beforehand on your own without taking up much table time. Or you can default to the "maintain " order in which case we may need to roll some dice at the table.

Whenever a PC takes a bastion turn, I will also resolve bastion turns for all other bastions in the campaign, even if the player is not present. If the player is not present to issue orders, then the "maintain" order is assumed. When absent players return, I will fill them in on what happened while they were gone.

Rogues

Rather than constructing castles or towers, rogues establish bastions by running thieve's guilds amongst other character bastions. When a rogue establishes a bastion, it must be in another character's existing bastion (hence the radius of 0). Rogues do not need to make a pilgrimage to establish their bastions. The thieves appear like normal commoners to the host bastion owner. Rogues do not need permission to set up these guilds (in fact they should keep it secret). Whenever the host bastion collects tolls, the thieves will steal a percentage of the total tolls. The owner of a rogue bastion will also be informed of any PC and NPC movement through the bastion.