Testing my explorers game..

The following took me an hour and a half to generate..
I still have a ton of work to do, but I think I have a good start.
So what did I learn?

• Keeping track of hours is not easy when you are running and playing alone. 
• The game taking 2 points of food per company member per day is just easier than saying eat every  12 hours. 
• on the other side one hour per action taken by  company members is easy to track and works for me. (AkA examining the statues or hunting voices in the swamp.)
• Setting up a company takes about 5 minutes. This is good ....but......
• The wagon needs more options
• Characters need more skill options.
• I have not written weapons or armor at all yet.
• I need to raise the travel times.
• With out a Gm there is not much to dig into. I had little reason to stop ad make exploration rolls other than trying to find the source of the noises in the swamp, and  examining the  statues. With a Gm there would be more to do.
• The party found a big horn sheep , I never bothered to roll it's stats Because I never engaged it.
• that saves a roll and is an argument for the two roll encounter system.
• Weather isn't perfect but it works.
• I need MORE of pretty much everything.
• I haven't even tacked unnatural features .. or intelligent encounters yet and those are huge. (yes I winged the statues)
• the die mechanic is simple but weak... I may need to revisit the whole thing. It wouldn't be hard to rewrite but I want all the other tools to be done first.
• I want the GM to be able to spend the  danger rank in a hex like points to put things on the  company. this system is not written yet. and while it's simple it will totally change the Gm'ed game vs the non-Gm'ed experience. (A good thing IMHO)
• It's pretty obvious to me the  company has an ancient society in ruins on their hands...the statues the old road, if I were the GM I would push that.
• Again I need to write so much MORE of everything..

The first level company:
Brudin
resolve 15 / Wounds 3
Survival: 4
Combat: 6
Exploration: 4
knowledge: 4

Narin
resolve 13 / Wounds 3
Survival: 6
Combat: 4
Exploration: 4
knowledge: 4

Peter
resolve 15 / Wounds 3
Survival: 4
Combat: 4
Exploration: 4
knowledge: 6

Lorel
resolve 16 / Wounds 3
Survival: 4
Combat: 6
Exploration: 4
knowledge: 4

Sven
resolve 15 / Wounds 3
Survival: 4
Combat: 6
Exploration: 6
knowledge: 4

The starting wagon: 2 mules.
Food  started with 55. /  25 remaining.
Wagon repair kit x2
First aid kits  x10
water proof clothing
A canoe
Machetes 3 uses / 2

The journey so far.

map so far.

• Hex 001
• Woods
• Elevation: 2
• Complexity: 4
• Danger: 4

• Hex 002
• Swamp
• Elevation: 0
• Complexity: 5 /4 with the cutting tools at hour 19
• Danger: 4

• Hex 003
• Scrub
• elevation 1
• complexity 3
• Danger 5

• Hex 004
• Scrub
• Elevation 2
• complexity 4
• Danger 4

Journey log:

Day one:

We embarked with our wagon, plenty of food and equipment.
The lands around us are an intimidatingly dense forest with hills covered in deep brush.

The weather is fair and dry, hardly a cloud in the sky.

The beginning of our travels are uneventful, moving through the forest being slow going with our mules and wagon.

On the 7^thhour we could feel the ground getting wet, and sodden. The land around us descended into a tangled swamp.

On the 8^thhour of travel. We detected the sounds of a nearby camp. Voices in the near distance.
Sven ventured out to find the source of the voices, but the thick swamp stymied him at every turn. He could get no closer and soon the noises moved away. We can only assume this was a smaller company of scouts from our own troop.

Hour nine we made camp, and slept.

6 hours latter we pulled up camp and embarked on tackling the thick swamp before us.
The search for the voices cost us some time, so we decided to break out the machetes in an effort to hack our way through the thick undergrowth.

On the 21’s hour we encountered a bighorn sheep bedded down on a dry hump in the swamp. We surprised the best which just sat and snorted at us angrily. We still have plenty of food so there is no need to hunt such a beast as of yet. It's comforting to know large game of this type exists in the area.

Day 2:

Still in the swamp.
We stopped to eat, and chat over the past day. Were all a bit tired of this swamp but we must take time to eat.

It has turned overcast and moving on might be wise, a storm in a swamp is nothing we want to deal with.

Hour 4. We finally have climbed out of the swamp and into a rather open scrub area.
Hour 8: We have encountered several tall faceless statues erected in the middle of this open scrub. They are heavily weathered and my or may not have been human.

Hour 9: Peter takes an hour to examine the statues. He determines that these statues were once depicted holding weapons though weathering has long ago scoured away most of the details. He seems to think that they may have been some kind of warning or border marker.

As it is it’s beginning to get dark we take 2 hours to make camp and eat. Then 6 hours of talk and rest in the shadows of the mysterious statues.

Day 2: Hour 17 we begin moving again. The day is staying overcast and calm. Our thinly wooded scrub has become covered in an ever thickening blanket of thick thorny bushes and brambles.

Hour 19 of day 2, A heavy rain beings to fall. The whole company is glad we brought along the water-proof gear.

Hour 20 we stop to eat, in the rain…

Hour 24 We have stumbled a crossed an old road bed, the ancient flag stones cracked and damaged.

Narin took an hour to search the old road for tracks, but the rain had washed any signs away.

Day 3

Hour 2 the infernal rain finally dies.