Exploration is the time player characters spend navigating the world to discover its secrets. Exploration is a core part of Mezia RPG.
There are multiple components of exploration including travel, climbing, falling, and more.
Travel
Traveling occurs when PCs are attempting to reach a specific destination and know at least one way to get there. Depending on how the PCs are traveling and how treacherous the route is, travel may be completed with a short narration or require extensive player input. Travel can become faster as the PCs explore more of Mezia and become familiar with the routes between places, so routes that used to require many decisions along the way can be reduced to a quick transition.
The difficulty of traveling is based on three factors, route, conditions, and transport.
- Route is the type of path taken, such as a developed road or a footpath. In general, a more developed route is going to be easier and faster to travel along.
- Conditions describe how dangerous the route is. Some conditions may include that the route is infested with monsters, or that severe weather is expected.
- Transport is the mode of transportation the party is using. They could be walking on foot or riding horseback or taking a vehicle of some sort.
Traveling at night is generally more difficult and more dangerous, but some routes are safer or only accessible at night.
Climbing
Climbing is used to traverse vertical surfaces, such as up a cliffside or down a well.
The climb skill is used for climbing, but anyone can be pulled up or lowered down on a rope without making a skill check.
A climbing kit contains anchors which will prevent a character from falling on a bad roll.
Falling
Falling is a usually undesired method of rapidly descending. Characters are likely to hurt themselves when they fall, but there are many ways to overcome falling.
Falling distance is measured in stories, like the stories of a building. One story is roughly 3-4 meters (~10-14 ft).
To determine the effect of a fall, roll a d100 and compare the result to the table below. The maximum for the roll is determined by the numbre of stories fallen, with each story increasing the maximum by 10. For example, if a character falls from the top of a three story cliff, the maximum for their roll is 30. Some falls are not only impacted by height, such as a spike pit at the bottom or falling into a deep pool of water.
| 1-10 | No penalty |
| 11-20 | Prone |
| 21-30 | Stunned and Prone |
| 31-40 | Moderate Bleed, Stunned, and Prone |
| 41-50 | Unconscious, Moderate Bleed, Stunned, and Prone |
| 51-60 | Unconscious, |
| 61-70 | Unconscious, |
| 71-80 | Unconscious, |
| 81-90 | Unconscious, |
| 91-100 | Dead |
Example - Three characters fall through a trap that drops them 3 stories down onto a pile of rubble. The maximum roll for this fall is 30.
- The first character rolls a 7. They do a flip in the air and land softly on the ground.
- The second character rolls a 22. They grab a vine and swing down mostly safely, with just a bruised bum to deal with.
- The third character rolls a 45, but it's reduced to 30. They suffer the same fate as the second character, battered and bruised but able to move on.