Quote from: Bren;793529I'm on the fence about the musical instruments, but I know I wouldn't haul 1000 books on a sled through the Antarctic.

Most of them are meant to be kept on the boat.

OK, so I need to make a hex map, but first I need to figure out how big my hexes need to be.

I'm using the Amundsen expedition as my basis.
Framheim is located at 78 degrees south. There's supposed to be 69 miles between each degree of latitude. That's about 828 miles between Framheim and the south pole.
The Amundsen expedition took 55 days to reach the south pole doing 15 miles per day on average. 55 times 15 is 825 so I think my math checks out.

OK, so maybe 15 mile hexes then?
I'm not going to map out the whole continent; I'm just going to do one section around the Ross ice shelf and the south pole.

Can they hire a guy to scry the location for them then teleport them there?

Ring of warmth and a flying carpet?

Shrink all the PCs put them in a portable hole then the druid polymorphs into a wind elemental or a ice drake and flies them there?

But seriously in a D&D world if a party is either powerful or well equipped enough to make a successful journey to the South Pole the guy paying for it can probably find a dozen cheaper, faster and safer ways to get a party there. So you need to decide the "why" and make that work.
In addition you really need to establish a replacement PC pool. Bumping into a suitable aligned and leveled bard in a local tavern is not going to be an option. So unless you add a big dollop of narrative protection for the party you will need a solution for that as well.

Quote from: jibbajibba;794645Can they hire a guy to scry the location for them then teleport them there?

Ring of warmth and a flying carpet?

Shrink all the PCs put them in a portable hole then the druid polymorphs into a wind elemental or a ice drake and flies them there?

But seriously in a D&D world if a party is either powerful or well equipped enough to make a successful journey to the South Pole the guy paying for it can probably find a dozen cheaper, faster and safer ways to get a party there. So you need to decide the "why" and make that work.

This is one of the things I really hate about D&D, and the reason why I refuse to play 3.5 or Pathfinder.
You may as well not even bother with adventures at all if you assume there's always going to be high level spellcasters like this in the world.

My solution is to talk to my players beforehand and make it clear that these things are not common in my setting; you cannot simply hire some dude to scry and teleport to Antarctica, nor can you simply walk down to your local magic-item-mart and buy a magic carpet and some rings of warmth.

If the players already have all of these things then just end the campaign right there because there's no point in doing anything anymore.

QuoteIn addition you really need to establish a replacement PC pool. Bumping into a suitable aligned and leveled bard in a local tavern is not going to be an option. So unless you add a big dollop of narrative protection for the party you will need a solution for that as well.

The party will have a ship with a minimum crew size of 20. They can use some of those crew members as replacement PC's. If they run out of crew members then the quest fails disastrously.

Quote from: Cave Bear;794725This is one of the things I really hate about D&D, and the reason why I refuse to play 3.5 or Pathfinder.
You may as well not even bother with adventures at all if you assume there's always going to be high level spellcasters like this in the world.

My solution is to talk to my players beforehand and make it clear that these things are not common in my setting; you cannot simply hire some dude to scry and teleport to Antarctica, nor can you simply walk down to your local magic-item-mart and buy a magic carpet and some rings of warmth.

If the players already have all of these things then just end the campaign right there because there's no point in doing anything anymore.

It's not a D&D thing per se its a magical world thing. If magic is real then there will be magical ways of doing things.
Its like a trip to the South Pole today would probably involve some guys in helicopters flying to the South Pole, if it was just a race, so exploration now is about.."walking to the South Pole" or "recreating Scott's mission" or whatever.

And its not about "hire a high level wizard" before the party get to the pole they will probably have a high level wizard because their medium level wizard will have reached high level.
If the university is donating 1000 valuable books and there is a ship etc etc ... then you have to explain why exceptional individuals couldn't be hired and your setting needs to reflect that ie there are no NPCs over 5th level or whatever.
 
If you don't want magic to "ruin" your campaign then you need to think about why the obvious dozen or so ways of short circuiting your expedition won't or can't work. they might range from its a competition between two groups to see who can make it there without such tools first, or it might be about mapping the continent as opposed to just making a straight trip (even that falls foul of divination magic of course).
If you truly decide to limit magic then you might need to pull a number of spells all together and make that explicit to the PCs, or run the whole game under RQ 6 or something

QuoteThe party will have a ship with a minimum crew size of 20. They can use some of those crew members as replacement PC's. If they run out of crew members then the quest fails disastrously.

The crew idea might be tricky. You might need to look at how that shakes out. If the PCs are dying from starvation or the cold and the 1st repalcement PC has purify food and drink or a firebolt cantrip that saves everyone then working out why he didn't use that 2 days ago when he was still a hireling and before everyone got sick and started dying might be an issue.
Almost worth mapping out all the crew at the start, their classes, levels etc and then the players take over the hireling as is rather than using them as a convenient "blank" to drop a new PC into. You have to asume that every crew member of this trip is going to be hand picked for their specific skills.

5th level hirelings don't exist in my games.

I like D&D-style magic in my games, but I don't like when it's too easily accessible. You shouldn't be able to put an ad up on TensersList with "Must be able to cast 6th level spells or higher" listed under qualifications and expect to start interviewing sorcerers within a week. I used to play in a 3.5 campaign like that and I think it's stupid as shit.
High level spells and items should require years of painstaking research to discover, or quests to exotic locations where arcane and prehuman texts may be found. If the PC's exist in the world where all the hard work has already been done by higher level NPC's then what's the point?

I guess now I'll have to make it extra clear to my players that 4th level spells and above are banned unless researched or found as treasure.

This blog looks like it has some good advice that I will be taking to heart though:
http://gamingeveryman.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/200/

I am looking at the description of Teleport in the Rules Cyclopedia (because that's what I use.)

First of all, you can't teleport into a space occupied by a solid object. I'm going to count snow as a solid object. Therefore, blizzards will disrupt teleportation.

Second, there isn't a scry spell in the Rules Cyclopedia (though there are crystal balls.) Even so, magical viewing *grants only 'general knowledge' of the area at best.* I will rule that blizzards can snow-blind remote-viewing effects thus preventing one from viewing a clear picture of the surroundings. The lack of a discernible horizon in some areas, the absence of any resting point for the eyes, and the difficulty of discerning directions will also be factors.

Third, there's a geographic south pole, a magnetic south pole, a geomagnetic south pole, and the south pole of inaccessibility. If the players don't specify which one they want to look at, I'm going to take the opportunity to mess with them.

At this point I'm considering putting a crystal ball into the adventure to bait the players into a frozen death-trap if they try to pull this cheesy shit.

Quote from: Cave Bear;794782I guess now I'll have to make it extra clear to my players that 4th level spells and above are banned unless researched or found as treasure.

Not banned, just "beyond their reach". Perhaps that complexity and power of spells that would hamstring the campaign are carefully guarded and not shared with "green adventurers in search of coin".

Quote from: Cave Bear;794819I am looking at the description of Teleport in the Rules Cyclopedia (because that's what I use.)

First of all, you can't teleport into a space occupied by a solid object. I'm going to count snow as a solid object. Therefore, blizzards will disrupt teleportation.

Second, there isn't a scry spell in the Rules Cyclopedia (though there are crystal balls.) Even so, magical viewing *grants only 'general knowledge' of the area at best.* I will rule that blizzards can snow-blind remote-viewing effects thus preventing one from viewing a clear picture of the surroundings. The lack of a discernible horizon in some areas, the absence of any resting point for the eyes, and the difficulty of discerning directions will also be factors.

Third, there's a geographic south pole, a magnetic south pole, a geomagnetic south pole, and the south pole of inaccessibility. If the players don't specify which one they want to look at, I'm going to take the opportunity to mess with them.

At this point I'm considering putting a crystal ball into the adventure to bait the players into a frozen death-trap if they try to pull this cheesy shit.

I see nothing wrong with this. Don't have the DM rule it, have the NPC state "I can't possibly guarantee any of this." Or, "hmm, bit too tricky, I am getting, whiteness, nothing but cold." "The magic 8-ball says 'not at this time'..." and so on.

If the party are determined? Get them to sell a limb or two to fund it, then have a hireling "sent". Bring said hireling back half encased in ice, screaming to be killed because of the horrors he witnessed. Spook them.

/railroad.

Quote from: Cave Bear;794819I am looking at the description of Teleport in the Rules Cyclopedia (because that's what I use.)

First of all, you can't teleport into a space occupied by a solid object. I'm going to count snow as a solid object. Therefore, blizzards will disrupt teleportation.

Second, there isn't a scry spell in the Rules Cyclopedia (though there are crystal balls.) Even so, magical viewing *grants only 'general knowledge' of the area at best.* I will rule that blizzards can snow-blind remote-viewing effects thus preventing one from viewing a clear picture of the surroundings. The lack of a discernible horizon in some areas, the absence of any resting point for the eyes, and the difficulty of discerning directions will also be factors.

Third, there's a geographic south pole, a magnetic south pole, a geomagnetic south pole, and the south pole of inaccessibility. If the players don't specify which one they want to look at, I'm going to take the opportunity to mess with them.

At this point I'm considering putting a crystal ball into the adventure to bait the players into a frozen death-trap if they try to pull this cheesy shit.

What about flying, polymorph, slipping into the astral plane and all the other 'cheesey shit' players might try to pull

Quote from: jibbajibba;794832What about flying, polymorph, slipping into the astral plane and all the other 'cheesey shit' players might try to pull

Alright. I can fuck up flying with inclement weather conditions and by strictly enforcing the encumbrance rules. There's also the fact that it only affects a single target for about an hour or two.

Polymorph in Rules Cyclopedia grants natural abilities, but it does not grant special abilities or special immunities. The spell description conveniently lists frost giants as an example; a character polymorphed into a frost giant would gain the giant's strength, but not its immunity to cold!
Even so, I'll probably just make it clear to my players that this spell is not permitted. Considering the fact that most people I've played with have seen the Polymorph spell used and abused in 3.5, they will probably understand.

Slipping into the astral plane is simply beyond the scope of this adventure. Again, I will be using Rules Cyclopedia D&D; the only way to 'slip into the astral plane' in RC is by casting Gate or by casting Maze upon oneself. Gate is a ninth level spell. Magic users in RC have to be at least level 21 to cast ninth level spells. This is not an adventure for level 21 characters. If a player comes to my gaming table with a level 21 magic-user, it won't be a character from any campaign I've ever run, and I will politely ask the player to use a different character more appropriate to this adventure.

Most importantly, I will talk to my players beforehand and make sure they all understand that this kind of shit isn't welcome at my gaming table.

Quote from: Cave Bear;794877Alright. I can fuck up flying with inclement weather conditions and by strictly enforcing the encumbrance rules. There's also the fact that it only affects a single target for about an hour or two.

Polymorph in Rules Cyclopedia grants natural abilities, but it does not grant special abilities or special immunities. The spell description conveniently lists frost giants as an example; a character polymorphed into a frost giant would gain the giant's strength, but not its immunity to cold!
Even so, I'll probably just make it clear to my players that this spell is not permitted. Considering the fact that most people I've played with have seen the Polymorph spell used and abused in 3.5, they will probably understand.

Slipping into the astral plane is simply beyond the scope of this adventure. Again, I will be using Rules Cyclopedia D&D; the only way to 'slip into the astral plane' in RC is by casting Gate or by casting Maze upon oneself. Gate is a ninth level spell. Magic users in RC have to be at least level 21 to cast ninth level spells. This is not an adventure for level 21 characters. If a player comes to my gaming table with a level 21 magic-user, it won't be a character from any campaign I've ever run, and I will politely ask the player to use a different character more appropriate to this adventure.

Most importantly, I will talk to my players beforehand and make sure they all understand that this kind of shit isn't welcome at my gaming table.

So basically you want the PCs to deal with the environment in a mundane way and you don't want the PCs to bypass any of the environment using clever magic stunts. Are you sure that D&D is the right game for this setting? It seems to me that you would be much better off with RQ6 or similar where magic is far more contained and the game has a more realistic vibe.

I am curious as to what you do allow wizards and other magical types to do in your games. Would stuff like casting enlarge on the rations so they last longer or casting say Rope trick or Leomund's tiny hut to provide a warm and safe place to sleep be okay ?

Quote from: jibbajibba;794897So basically you want the PCs to deal with the environment in a mundane way and you don't want the PCs to bypass any of the environment using clever magic stunts. Are you sure that D&D is the right game for this setting? It seems to me that you would be much better off with RQ6 or similar where magic is far more contained and the game has a more realistic vibe.

I am curious as to what you do allow wizards and other magical types to do in your games. Would stuff like casting enlarge on the rations so they last longer or casting say Rope trick or Leomund's tiny hut to provide a warm and safe place to sleep be okay ?

I'm fine with things like 'Light'.