The world of Last Odyssey is vast and dangerous, and there is often demand among its denizens for safer forms of travel than risking a journey on foot. Merchants and suppliers for important settlements will travel together in caravans, and are often willing to hire the player characters on as protection. People with money and means will often make use of transit services, which will protect their passengers from danger and greatly speed up travel in exchange for a fixed sum of money per ride. GMs who want to further fill out the overworld can connect certain nodes together by these additional forms of travel to determine when players are able to make use of them.
The economic survival of towns and cities is dependent on traveling merchants. Because of the prevalence of bandits and other dangers, merchants will often band together into caravans that follow fixed routes between major settlements. While player characters are traveling with a caravan, they will be paid for their services. The salary each player character collects per path traveled with a caravan is equal to 100 cr multiplied by their current tier. Every caravan will also have 1d4 other followers traveling with them that will fight alongside the player characters during enemy encounters. Player characters interested in linking up with a caravan will find news of them at markets, in taverns, at city gates, and anywhere else that hired swords typically gather.
Each day of travel while the party is following a caravan is represented by a travel round. However, there are a few modifications to each phase. During the Navigation Phase, the players do not have to make a navigation roll. During the Encounter Phase, any natural hazards will be handled by the caravan leaders, and thus will not require the players to spend Supplies in order to cross safely. Finally, during the Camping Phase the players will still be expected to use their own Supplies in order to properly rest. However, they will not have to take the Cook or Shelter actions in order to rest, but are still free to take any other camping actions they’d like to. Camping with a caravan is also a chance for players to Gossip, since caravan leaders will be especially well-versed on the dangers of their particular route. Any player that chooses to Gossip or make another equivalent investigation roll must do so in lieu of taking a camping action.
Traveling with a caravan is highly advantageous. However, the drawback is that valuable goods tend to make an enticing target for roving enemies. While traveling along a path with a given caravan, the danger rating of the path counts as twice the value it would have if the players were to traverse it alone. This can bring the danger rating of the path above 5.
To create a caravan, the GM should walk through the following steps:
Long journeys between major settlements or journeys across otherwise impassable regions are handled by transit services, which are vehicles or large creatures owned and operated by companies that take a fixed fee to ferry passengers between nodes. Transit services cover riverboats, airships, marine vessels, and the like. To make use of a transit service, player characters just need to pay the fee, which depends on the danger rating of the route being followed. Safe passage will cost 500 cr per person per ride, while a route with a danger rating of 1 will cost 100 per person per ride and a danger rating of 2 will cost 50 cr per person per ride. Danger ratings higher than 2 are unprofitable, and transit services will not be available in this case.
Transit services whose routes take longer than a day will handle all accommodations for the player characters. Resting during this time counts as resting in a tavern, and players will not need to spend Supplies in order to be fed or properly sheltered. They are also totally unable to take any actions normally associated with a travel round. The only thing the GM needs to do each day is make an encounter roll; if the result corresponds to an enemy encounter based on the danger rating of the roll, the players will have to help fend one off. Otherwise, days spend in transit are uneventful, and a good chance for player characters to Gossip with passengers.
To create a new transit service, the GM should walk through the following steps: