In this example The Party is trekking through a steaming jungle to attempt to reach a fabled lost city, flush with cash from an investor looking for a share.
GM: So you get off the boat at the village, moving through a handful of old men coming to trade bush meat and fruit with the captain. The village is a dozen of so huts and a wooden fence, with the trees cleared back another 50 feet through fire.
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Sweet, lets head out. Should be two days to the city.
GM: Ok, so just marching into the jungle?
Guy (Sir Vancierge): Sure, we've got what's on our backs and no map and its a jungle. Quick check, what do we have for travel supplies? I have a wineskin, a single loaf of bread, and a flint and steel. Anyone else got anything?
Kim (Thaugo): I have a bow drill for fires and a water gourd.
Guy (Sir Vancierge): Sure, anything else? Currently we got 5 people, 2 days worth of water for 1 person, a loaf of bread, and two ways to start a fire. Anyone?
There is nothing but silence
Guy (Sir Vancierge): What about a guide? If we are a mile off course in the jungle we'll walk right by it.
Chuck (Abraham): Step one, lets get some supplies. Step two, lets get a guide if we can find one.
GM: They really only sell perishable foodstuffs in the village. Its cheap, a copper piece per day, but its heavy and a days worth of food is a small item.
Tom (Jack): Do they have tents or bedrolls or anything?
GM: Not really, but someone might have one they would be willing to sell at a premium, roll a repeating luck die, tell me if you get 4 or more
This is just a way for the GM to make an arbitrary off the cuff ruling.
Tom (Jack): I have the Fop power, so my luck die is a d8. I roll an 8. Its repeating so I roll again and get a 2. I have a total of 10.
The GM thinks, that is more than double the random target number that was set, so it should be extra good.
GM: They not only have a pair of extra bedrolls they will let go for 25 silver coins a piece, but there is an old pup tent recovered by a previous explorer to the region who died from malaria. That can be all yours for a pair of gold coins.
Tom (Jack): Jeez that's expensive. But whatever, I'll buy all that stuff. Anyone want to buy a bedroll from me for 30 silver?
Chuck (Abraham): I will
Tom (Jack): Sweet, here is your bedroll sir
Chuck (Abraham): and I hand you a pouch of silver, but if you check it there is only 25 in it.
Tom (Jack): First off, you are a goat fucker, secondly, well played.
GM: A bedroll is a large item, so is the pup tent.
Chuck (Abraham): shoot, with that I am over-encumbered, I can't carry anything else.
Tom (Jack): Well crap, I can carry either the bedroll or the tent
GM: or you could maybe carry fewer weapons or hire some porters
Kim (Thaugo): I can carry A LOT of supplies. I can carry 22 dots more without being encumbered and another 20 dots while over-encumbered if we need it. The benefits of a 20 strength size two character without a lot of equipment needs.
Julia (Brother Cadmus): I can carry a bunch too, but nearly not that much.
Kim (Thaugo): So if they don't have any more useful gear, should I just buy a fuckton of food?
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Do they have machetes or axes or anything?
GM: They have a few machetes, but they will charge a premium for them since they need them and can't make them. You can get one or two for 5 gold a piece
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Maybe we should just abandon this adventure and be merchants?
GM: You could make a really good return on that investment, but there is a pretty small demand and they pay in fruit and bush meat.
Guy (Sir Vancierge): I'll buy 2 machetes and 20 dots of food for Thaugo to carry. Maybe a few torches for another silver if they have any?
GM: Ya, they throw in a pair of simple torches as well
Chuck (Abraham): Anyone willing to work as a guide?
GM: For the immediate area sure, a couple silver and someone will take a day out. If you want someone to get you near the area of the lost city that will be harder. There is a cursed region the locals avoid that they assume the city would be in.
Tom (Jack): I'll try to convince him, as a bard.
GM: Make a charisma check, if you succeed you can throw 10 gold and he'll take you to within a day of the cursed region
Tom (Jack): How much to wait for us?
GM: If you succeed at a second check and throw in another 10 gold and he'll wait.
Tom (Jack): So two checks?
GM: One now, one when you return to where you left him to see if he's still there.
Tom (Jack): Ok, I got a 23 on the charisma check, so I'll pony up the gold. Lets head out.
GM: Its a sunny morning, its humid and the air is still. As you enter the tree line you see it get noticeably dimmer as the canopy blocks out almost all of the sky
Kim (Thaugo): How dark are we talking?
GM: An overcast day, no darkness penalties, there are are spots here and there that are fully in shadow.
Kim (Thaugo): Gotcha
GM: So you start moving through the dense jungle behind the guide. Its mere moments before sweat is beading down your forehead and those of you without a machete are constantly being smacked in the face by thorny branches and giant leaves. You are harassed incessantly by flying insects and every time you swat at them you take your eyes from the ground and risk twisting your ankle on a gnarled root.
Tom (Jack): How pleasant
GM: This is Inhospitable terrain so you'll have to make increasingly difficult health checks every 12 hours until you either die or can rest in proper lodgings. You start your trek for the day. As everyone gets two actions, what is everyone doing as they move? 1 action to move and then just defending yourselves I assume?
Kim (Thaugo): As always I will keep watch, despite how bad at it I am, since I can defend myself for free when I take a move action due to having the Acrobat rogue power.
GM: OK, lets see what you run into along the way...
The GM is using "Lost in the Wilderness" to generate random encounters at a rate of 1 per day, because that is how they roll. Rolling a d8, d6, and d4 they get a 7,3, and 2. Looking at the table the encounter is a Rope Bridge over a stream 30 feet below, with a devouring blanket of army ants, and the weather is oppressively muggy, giving a -1 penalty to health checks. The GM takes a moment to interpret these results and sets the scene.
GM: The guide has been leading you down game trails for most of the day as the air has become steadily muggier, when he suddenly stops. He points ahead to a rope bridge crossing a chasm over a running stream. "Death Ants!" he mutters and points a writing carpet of insects that are coating the bridge. If you have to turn back and find an alternate route you'll lose a great deal of time, and have wasted most of the day. What do you do?
Guy (Sir Vancierge): Does the guide have any advice?
GM: They can be kept at bay with a circle of fires, but that won't be useful to clear them off the bridge.
Kim (Thaugo): I got nothing that doesn't involve fire, anyone?
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Hrm, looking at my sheet I have one idea
Kim (Thaugo): Is it fire?
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Never mind, lets just backtrack.
Everyone nods
GM: Ok, you start trying to take an alternate route, and make it another hour or so before you need to set up camp for the night. Its inhospitable terrain so this is as good a time as any to have you make your health checks for the first 12 hours.
The first health check you make for wilderness travel is at a +2 bonus, the second with no bonus, the third with a -2 penalty, the fourth with a -5 penalty, the fifth with a -10 penalty, and all future ones with a -20 penalty. Each time you fail you will take a point of damage you cannot use luck to avoid.
Chuck (Abraham): You are doing that thing where you explain every mechanic in detail again despite us knowing how to play.
GM: Am I? Weird. So remember that its oppressively muggy, that is giving you all an extra -1 on your health checks.
Guy (Sir Vancierge): Do our machetes do anything?
GM: They are useful tools for traveling, so I guess a +2 bonus to your check seems about right.
Chuck (Abraham): Do I need to explain all the mechanics of how to make a health check?
GM: Naw, we already covered that. Its a dX plus your entire health score, with the +2 for this being the first check and a -1 for the mugginess.
Chuck (Abraham): I am calm and get a 25 so I am fine
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Well I need to roll. Oof, 13. A failure. So I take a point of damage?
GM: Yep, and you can't use luck on this, its actual damage.
Tom (Jack): with the +2 bonus I am fine. I get a 21.
Kim (Thaugo): 26, so I am fine
Guy (Sir Vancierge): 24, also fine
GM: OK, so you set up camp for the night, what is the watch schedule?
Tom (Jack): I'll pay 10 gold out of future treasure to not take a watch
Kim (Thaugo): Why?
Tom (Jack): I have a tent, which should allow me to be dry, warm, and sheltered from the elements and vermin. This will allow me to not need to make a check overnight, and reset my counter for tomorrow. This will keep me always making a first check with a +2 bonus and thus not needing to roll.
Guy (Sir Vancierge): So the watch can be me and Thaugo, then Abraham, then Cadmus
GM: Everyone good with that? Ok..
The GM rolls some dice, but there is no encounter overnight
GM: So the night passes uneventfully, but its still a horrid humid affair in inhospitable terrain. Everyone except Jack needs to roll a health check. This is your second check, so its a flat health check. Remember that Cadmus has to take his damage as a penalty to his dX rolls.
Julia (Brother Cadmus): I have the Loose Canon trait, so my damage isn't a penalty to my dX rolls.
GM: Oh right
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Can I add my Rough Sleeping skill as a bonus since I am sleeping on the ground all night.
GM: Seems legit
Julia (Brother Cadmus): I rolled a natural 4 and have a health of 5 so I don't think it matters. This is two points of damage now, this is going poorly.
GM: If you use health as a dump stat..
Chuck (Abraham): Shouldn't it be dump att in this system? Either way I passed.
Kim (Thaugo): I pass
Guy (Sir Vancierge): Me too
GM: You have your morning meal, so knock off some rations, and no one is down luck so we don't need to worry about that. So prepared you head off to try once more to approach the lost city.
The GM rolls some dice for another jungle encounter and gets dense undergrowth with a stream, a tiger, and normal weather.
GM: Kim, make a detection roll for Thaugo...
At this point there is a stealth conflict followed by a brief combat as the tiger tries to stalk and kill Abraham then drag him into the bushes. The tiger fails but Abraham has to spend a fair amount of luck to avoid injury and Thaugo used up all of his mana casting spells to scare off the tiger.
Chuck (Abraham): Jesus fuck that Ambush did a tonne of damage, I have like 3 luck points left. Thanks for not helping out by the way.
Tom (Jack): If I stop being Calm I'll have to start rolling health checks and this jungle will kill me pretty quick
GM: You keep a watchful and paranoid eye for the rest of the day and think the tiger might still be stalking you from a distance. But it is getting dark and you need to set up camp. Everyone roll your health check for the day. This is a -5 penalty to everyone but Jack, who is at a +2 since he was able to reset last night in the camp.
Chuck (Abraham): I pass
Kim (Thaugo): I Pass
Guy (Sir Vancierge): Fuck, even switching to a d20 I still fail. I take a point of damage
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Uh oh, another fail. This is 3. I'll be dying in a day or two at this rate.
Tom (Jack): I am still calm and just pass
Julia (Brother Cadmus): Can I use the tent tonight? Cadmus really needs to reset his counter and making one less check wouldn't hurt either.
Tom (Jack): I bought the tent
Kim (Thaugo): True, but no one is going to cover your watch this time so you aren't going to autopass again anyway.
Tom (Jack): Fine, take the damn tent for the night. We'll do the same watch schedule but I'll take Cadmus watch.
GM: Do you guys have a fire?
Chuck (Abraham): A big one, hopefully keep the tiger at bay
GM: OK, lets see what happens at night
The GM decides to roll to see what the tiger does, and decides it avoids the fire and keeps its distance.
GM: The night is quiet, too quiet. No birds or game call out all night. Even the dawn is free of songbirds.
Chuck (Abraham): Fucking tiger is still out there.
GM: Next batch of health checks, -10 except for Jack at -0.
Chuck (Abraham): Fuck, I failed.
Tom (Jack): I passed
Guy (Sir Vancierge): I passed
Kim (Thaugo): I passed
Chuck (Abraham): I am down luck, so after a night's rest I will roll a d6 to see how much luck I regain. I am currently at 3, I rolled a d6 and rolled a 4. I am now at 4 luck points.
Kim (Thaugo): How much mana do I regain?
GM: This is uncharted territory, so its 5 per night.
Kim (Thaugo): I have the Medium Mystic power, so I multiply that amount by my level. I regain 15.
Guy (Sir Vancierge): Ok, so we are only half way through one leg of our journey and we are all half dead. We can't afford any more detours. Lets head out..