Wilderness Sightings, Surprise, and Getting Lost

Continuing my investigation of the highlights from Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, I'll next be dealing with surprise and monster sightings as well as getting lost in the wilderness.

Monster Sightings: "Players will see monsters at from 40-240 yards...unless the monster has surprised the characters involved" (pg 17). I guess this is where the range of missile weapons actually matters. if you want to make that crossbow a decent weapon, here you go: determine the distance of the monsters from the players and suddenly the advantages of a crossbow become clear.

Surprise: "This is the same as in the underworld, except that the distance is from 10-30 yards, and if there are three or more monsters involved they will have moved into a circle around the adventurers. Monsters at 10 yards distance will be able to attack" (pg 17). So not only do monsters close quickly with the players, but they also circle them, if possible. If you find that fighting-men are dying much more often than the magic-users in your campaign, this rule isn't being use enough (or that there are enough fighting-men to completely encircle the other members of the adventuring party).

Lost Parties: It's easiest (3 in 6 chance) to get lost in the a swamp and the desert where everything looks the same. 2 in 6 chance for mountains and woods. Those are some pretty high chances, in my opinion. Luckily (if I'm reading the text correctly), you won't veer too far in the wrong direction after only a single day of travel.

What confuses me is that there character have a 1 in 6 chance to get lost along a river. If anyone had an explanation or reading on this one, I'd love to hear it.

Wandering Monsters: In mountains and swamps, there is a 3 in 6 chance of encountering monsters and a 2 in 6 chance while adventuring in woods, near rivers, or in the desert.

So remember, adventurers, stay in the plains or near rivers and avoid deserts, mountains, and (especially) swamps.