Trail Mix

TRAIL MIX is a set of backcountry navigation mechanics for TTRPG hexcrawl adventures.  The rules are designed to evoke wilderness travel with unfamiliar trails, off-trail movement, bushwhacking, and tracking/pursuit.  The tools are designed for solo play, but work equally well for GM-led games.  TRAIL MIX is setting- and system-agnostic; most play testing has been with OSR fantasy systems (i.e. Basic Fantasy, Cairn 1e, Knave 1e, Shadowdark), but is designed to be applicable to nearly any system and any setting where wilderness travel is a relevant feature.

• Navigation: You know where you want to go, but the landscape might have something to say about that.  "Lost" is a state of mind.  The mechanics are meant to evoke the feeling of setting out on a trail over rough terrain, with the hopes (but no guarantee) that it will get you where you're going.
• Travel routes: nebulous trails, waterways, and off-trail overland travel.
• Bushwhacking:  thrashing through dense brush, water crossings, scrambling; the landscape doesn't care about your comfort and safety.
• Encounters:  open-ended encounters built on two-dimensions: banality/exoticism and temporal context.  Populate with foes and creatures from the system of your choice.
• Tracking and pursuit:  Chases are not always a sprint.  Cruising subalpine meadows is a lot less enjoyable when you see a bear walking the same path, a couple km behind you.  And it's the same bear that you spotted behind you three days earlier.

TRAIL MIX is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ), so please share, hack, edit, rewrite, and otherwise do what you like with this.

Changes for v0.20:

• [v0.22]: Encounter threshold mechanic changed to use 2D6 vs 1D8
• [v0.21]: pursuit mechanics clarified, at least a bit.  I hope.
• Core navigation/trail mechanic overhauled and streamlined for faster play; fewer dice.
• Tracking mechanic re-worked for better use of player checks, dice probability.
• Encounter oracle added.
• Watercraft and mounts added.

Additions (Extra Crunchy Trail Mix):

• Trog (caving)
• Headwall (technical rock climbing)
• Unfolding Encounters (36 base encounters, scaled along time or banality)