the journey system

Search the site

The Journey Method: Your New Secret Weapon for Remembering

Anthony Metivier | August 27, 2023 | Memory

It’s a great tool.

Once you understand how it works, you’ll enjoy legendary memory skills.

This is the technique people used to memorize entire books when they could not carry them on their backs.

So if you’re studying for an exam, learning a language or just want to stop forgetting things , this tutorial is for you.

Let’s get started.

What Is The Journey Method?

Put simply, it’s a means of associating information along a walk that you remember well.

It’s powerful because the mind works like this on autopilot.

Think about the last time you moved.

Did you have to memorize the journey from your bedroom to the kitchen? Probably not. Your brain absorbed the path easily and naturally.

Now extend this fact to a walk through your neighborhood.

And not passively.

Think about that walk in as much detail as you can muster.

If you think about it, you can probably recall all the major intersections, as well as many minor ones.

You can also probably think of a few traffic signs, mail boxes, fire hydrants and other items.

These are what we sometimes call loci or “ memory spaces .” The Journey Method uses such features of a walk you can take with your mind.

On, beside or interwoven with these spaces, you place associations that help you recall information. Like I discuss in this video tutorial:

A Brief History of Journey Systems

It’s not entirely clear when people first started using journeys to help them remember things better.

As Lynne Kelly has demonstrated in The Memory Code , this practice is prehistoric. One tradition we’ve come to know about in some detail is the use of Songlines. These journeys were often combined with physical objects that helped people remember. Please listen to Tyson Yunkaporta for more detail on how this works.

In the Greek tradition, we find a focus on using buildings for journeys. This is what is most often called the Memory Palace technique. Sometimes it is called either the method of loci or the Roman Room method.

Some people consider using buildings a subset of the Journey Method. Others simply divide the two.

If the journey is outside, they call it the Journey Method
If the journey is inside, they call it the Memory Palace

Either way, you’ll find the notion of moving from one “memory space” to another throughout history. It’s in the teachings of everyone from Aristotle to Giordano Bruno , and Thomas Aquinas and Dominic O’Brien .

In fact, the only person notorious for not talking about it much, if at all, is Harry Loryane . However, if you’ve ever seen the videos where he recalls the names of people in an audience, one thing is pretty obvious. He recalls them in order, literally following a “journey” through the audience.

When memory experts name everyone in an audience, they are implicitly using the Journey method.

How To Use The Journey Technique

There are a number of ways to use the technique, but they all boil down to a few fundamentals.

Let’s dive into some of these fundamentals. That way you can avoid running into issues and use it in an optimal way without any headaches.

After all, it’s a better memory you want, not the hassle of something difficult to learn and use.

One: Develop The Journey Before You Start Using It

One problem people face when taking up this mnemonic device is a lack of preparation.

That’s a shame, because it’s really easy to draw your journey, literally mapping it out. I suggest using pen and paper to keep it simple and fun.

Anthony Metivier Memory Palace Example of Berlin Apartment

For one thing, keeping the journey simple reduces the cognitive load of using this technique. It also helps you avoid:

Running into a dead end
Crossing your own path
Needing to memorize the journey itself, which shouldn’t be necessary with proper planning

It also helps you develop the habit and serves as a “haptic” exercise that makes the process physical. We know from recent scientific studies that these elements are incredibly important.

In this study, students who physically walked the journey, for example, recalled the names of butterflies with incredible ease. They scored just a bit better than those who used a mental Memory Palace without a physical component.

To see me draw a journey while I’m making the experience physical, here’s a video discussion about the tactical benefits of preparing your journeys in advance:

Two: Organize Your Information In Memorable Ways

Once you’ve got a few journeys mapped out, you can start thinking about how you will place information in them. You can arrange information:

Alphabetically
Numerically
Thematically
Historically

And that’s just for starters.

Alphabetical arrangements tend to work best for me.

For example, when learning a language , it’s easy to gather new words alphabetically. It enables another technique I teach in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass that involves using “Bridging Figures.”

Imagine you have several words to learn that start with the letter ‘A’ in Spanish:

example of an application of the journey method

I might choose an application like Adams National Historical Park to create my journey for these ‘A’ words. Here’s an example of how to assign different “memory spaces” or loci along a journey:

When using the Journey Method, you can use the outer walls of buildings and paths with great ease. Just take a moment to work out the best possible path first.

On the first station, I would place an association for “agradable.” The next station would receive an association for “alegre” and so on.

What should your associations be like?

You’ll probably benefit most from also thinking alphabetically.

Personally, I would follow someone like Abraham Lincoln along the journey. He would be a teacher assigning a nice person a grade on station one, selling his leg on station two, etc.

Coming up with lots of associations is a skill of its own. You’ll want to learn some of the variations on the pegword method to rapidly accelerate your abilities in this area. These visualization exercises will be useful too.

Three: Use Patterns To Form Long Term Memories

As fun as journey training can be, it’s not just about laying down mental imagery . You also need to revisit the journeys in a strategy manner.

This is because some amount of repetition is always needed for learning. Some people balk at this requirement, but here’s a question for you:

If you don’t want to repeat it, why bother learning it?

To repeat the journey in the most effective ways, you’ll want to follow some patterns based on memory science. These will harness what are known as:

Primacy Effect
Recency Effect
Serial-Position Effect

All of these patterns are covered in detail in my free course. You’ll find them in lesson four. Interested?

Magnetic Memory Method Free Memory Improvement Course

Can You Reuse Journeys?

Many people ask this question.

The answer is “yes,” but most people don’t. If they do, they let the information they’ve placed along their journeys fade first.

There are a few nuances to consider before giving this technique a try. One of the issues you might encounter is called The Ugly Sister Effect .

Personally, I rarely reuse mine – except in the context of language learning. See the language learning section for more on how that works.

Applications For The Journey Method

A lot of people mistakenly believe that journey systems are useful for memorizing lists only.

That’s simply not true.

Or better said, everything I’ve ever wanted to memorize could be organized into a list. But that doesn’t mean I had to recall the information in any particular order.

Language Learning

For example, in language learning, the whole point is to simply understand and be able to use words and phrases. The fact that they were instilled into long term memory in the form of lists poses no problem at all.

I suggest that you develop 26 journeys, one per letter of the alphabet. Then fill each journey with 10 words per letter. This will give you 260 words.

Next, add a phrase to each word. Since you’ve established the journey, this is a fun and easy way to reuse it. You’ll also wind up adding many more words than 260 as each phrase will contain words you don’t already know.

Technically, a speech is just a list of words delivered in a row. That’s certainly how I treated this TEDx Talk:

Here’s an artist’s rendition of the journey I assigned and then used to memorize this talk based on a familiar location in Kelvin Grove, Australia:

how to memorize a passage memory palace example

There are a few more tricks you’ll want to know about, so if you’re interested in this application of the journey method, here’s how to memorize any speech .

Basically, I memorized up to 17 words of this speech at a time on a single station. Once set in place, it was just a matter of combining the journey method with a small amount of spaced repetition .

It clearly worked well because this memorized presentation has gone on to garner millions of views.

Playing Cards

A very cool way to practice memory techniques is to memorize a deck of cards .

If you develop your skills, you can learn to encode several cards per “memory space.” My friend Dave Farrow told me he can encode up to six cards per station.

His approach is quite unique. Others use a system based on the Major Method .

This is one of my favorite applications of this technique.

When I present at live events, I use the room itself as a journey and simply memorize each name as it is presented to me.

People are astonished when I call out each name in the room.

Are You Ready To Start Journeying?

I’ve given many talks and demonstrations. On top of learning a lot about languages and passing my PhD exams with flying colors, using this technique has been a lot of fun.

The only sad part is how people witness my use of these skills only to say that they could never learn to use such a skill.

That’s simply not true.

Anyone can learn to use the Journey Method.

The only question is:

Do you want to benefit from this secret weapon?

If so, I’m happy to help make that happen. If you have any questions, post them below or get in touch.

In all things, enjoy your journey with this incredible memory technique!

Looking for an extensive Magnetic Memory Method review? Listen to Jesse Villalobos show you how…

Memory improvement gurus promise you can use their "memory systems." Here are 8 reason why…

Last modified: August 27, 2023

About the Author / Anthony Metivier

2 Responses to " The Journey Method: Your New Secret Weapon for Remembering "

Hi Anthony! With warm regards, my name is Mark Rudy. Reading about this blog of yours called “The Journey Method: Your New Secret Weapon for Remembering” is truly fascinating! I can see (visualize) clearly how powerful it is. But I have a question, I simply don’t understand on how to apply it.

Here’s how it goes: If we are about to likened this on the memory palace method, can we treat each step that we’ve made on the journey as “stations”? Or that’s basically the idea behind listing and planning first the journey?

Your reply will be greatly much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Cantomayor, Mark Rudy, D. February 4, 2023

Thanks, Mark.

Yes, any stop can be called loci or a station. I prefer stations or Magnetic Stations in my practice, but the terms aren’t nearly as important as diving in and using the skills.

In my mind, the journey method differs from the Memory Palace simply in that it is the outdoor version of the indoor technique. In my experience with it, there certainly are some nuances to account for.

For example, in the beginning, I used to not do well with bridges when journeying over them and using them to place images in space.

But that has since resolved with a fair amount of practice doing it.

Pay with Confidence

Memory Courses

The Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass
The Magnetic Memory Method Masterplan
How To Learn And Memorize The Vocabulary Of Any Language
How To Learn And Memorize Poetry
How To Memorize Names and Faces
How to Memorize Math, Numbers, Simple Arithmetic and Equations
How to Remember Your Dreams

Quick Links

Testimonials
Privacy Policy
Privacy Tools
Terms of Service

P.O. Box 933 Mooloolaba, QLD 4557 Australia

Memory Improvement Blog

How to Build A Memory Palace
Eidetic Memory
Episodic Memory
Photographic Memory
Improve Memory for Studying
Memorization Techniques
How to Memorize Things Fast
Brain Exercises

The Magnetic Memory Method Podcast
Memory Improvement Resources for Learning And Remembering

COOL MEMORY TECHNIQUES!

GET YOUR FREE 4-PART VIDEO MINI-COURSE

Improve your memory in record time! Just enter your email below now to subscribe.

How to learn anything at lightning fast speeds
Improve your short and long term memory almost overnight
Learn any language with and recall any information with ease

The Journey Method

The journey method – basics.

You know your own house intimately. Mentally place things in various locations and you will be able to find them easily.

You no doubt have places that could easily be used for further ‘journeys’. Maybe you go to a gym or a sports centre. Think of all the ‘stages’ (or ‘loci’) that you could specify in either. Is there a big railway station near where you live? If you’re already familiar with it, you could use that. If not, visit it and take a notebook, or even a digital camera, and spy out some locations.

With this approach, you can easily build up a database of half a dozen or more memory journeys, and you will have them ready for use whenever you need to remember things.

If you’ve used your house as a memory journey, you might be ready to extend it to make a more demanding but much more useful memory journey. It’s not difficult, but it gives you a lot more scope to memorise longer lists, and using it automatically improves your concentration skills.

Specific journeys for specific jobs

Use a museum to create a fascinating journey method

If you live near a museum, you have access to an amazing site for a memory journey.

Do you have a museum or art gallery in your area? Places like these, and extravagantly designed public buildings are ideal locations for memory journeys.

Studying geography? Create a memory journey based round a travel agency, or a landing stage, or an airport. Use your imagination, be inventive. This type of thing is what your mind craves – to be used, and stretched, and expanded. You can create a memory journey based on anything or any place, and it can be just about as effective as you want it to be.

Repetition and reinforcement

To change these into long-term memories, you have to revisit them – this is a great memory improvement method, but it’s not magic! Take a minute or two each time to stroll along the journey, viewing all the items in their respective places, and using all your senses to really experience them.

Don’t gallop through the journey as though speed is the most important thing – it’s not. Take a leisurely stroll, at walking pace, noting with interest each and every item. Take a good look at them, touch them, walk round them. Use all your senses. If it’s something that can be smelled, really imagine that smell, breathe it in deeply and savour it. If it’s something with a particular ‘feel’, then really check it out. Feel the sensation of touching the item and maybe moving it slightly. Feel its weight and solidity. Interact with it. This will all go to make it a real memory.

Once you’ve set up a long-term journey, revisit it once or twice the same day, again the next day, and the next. Make a mental note to call back a week later, then a week after that, and a month after that. By that time you will have successfully reinforced those memories, and only an occasional stroll along that particular journey will be necessary. Memories that are created in this way can become permanent, without a whole lot of effort.

The history of the Journey Method

The Journey Method has been used for centuries, and probably a lot longer than that. It is also referred to as the Roman Room method, since its use was first recorded by Romans who used it by visualising items in their own houses. They would mentally place items in certain rooms, or at specific locations in rooms, and so the Roman Room method was born. It is just the same today, only you don’t have to be a Roman to use it, just someone who wants a better than average memory. And you don’t have to live in a Roman villa – your own house will do just fine!

Roman orators, famous for being able to hold audiences spellbound with their magnificent oratory, are believed to have used this same method. Certain key points of their speeches would be ‘placed’ at specific points along a journey, perhaps through the various rooms of their houses, perhaps further afield. As they spoke, they would occasionally move further along the route, spotting items that would trigger relevant memories, and they would confidently and smoothly deliver their speeches.

Incidentally, this is presumably where the phrase “in the first place …” comes from.

Make a speech like a professional

The very fact that this method has such a long and successful history indicates that it outshines almost all others. If you learn nothing else to improve your memory, learn the Journey Method. It’s easy, it’s effective, and when you use it, it’s impressive. A person who uses the Journey Method can deliver a speech without notes, just mentally glancing at landmarks or key locations on his mental journey and being immediately reminded of key points that he has to address in his speech.

And because he is working from key points, and elaborating on them ‘from the hip’, the speech is effectively delivered as though the speaker is just ‘making it up’ as he goes along. His speech is that much more impressive, therefore, and he will naturally be more relaxed, with the assurance that comes from knowing your subject intimately.

Learn how to memorise playing cards

The Journey Method is one way you can memorise playing cards (there are others). First, though, you have to use a system that makes them more manageable. Trying to memorise them without some sort of system is almost doomed to failure.

Once you’ve given them some individual character of their own, you can use the Journey Method to place them at various locations. They’ll still be there next time you look for them!

<< Memory Techniques

>> Mini Memory Journeys

Would you like to submit a page for RMI? It's easy, just fill in the details below.

Insert/edit link.

Enter the destination URL

Or link to existing content

Dungeon Masters

Fixing the Exploration Phase in D&D 5E with the Journey System

The Forgotten Pillar: Exploration

It’s often said that Dungeons & Dragons can be divided into three ‘pillars’: combat, social/roleplay, and exploration.

The toolbox for combat is obviously the largest and most comprehensive, with entire systems built to ensure dynamic, exciting combats.

While roleplay is less well-defined, it also benefits from being a part of the game that is largely improvised. You can make Persuasion or Deception checks to get what you want, but it is often more fun to act these conversations out.

Exploration in D&D 5E has always felt like the red-headed stepchild. There are pages discussing environmental effects and providing random encounters, but it has never felt especially well-defined.

DMs often hand-wave exploration with a couple of random encounter rolls and a “…after several days/weeks/months, you reach your destination’.

This hobbles an exploration-focused class like the ranger. With so many of its skills built around the exploration phase, they miss out on the combat or social buffs other classes get.

It also trivializes the perils of travel. The world feels smaller when you can just skip between cities. That terrifying wilderness you’ve described loses its teeth if it is just three random encounters and a long rest.

I didn’t want that to happen in my current game. I wanted the world to feel large and wild and terrifying.

With the current D&D exploration rules being a little uninspiring, I went further afield to find solutions.

Even something as mundane as a forest can be terrifying if you don’t skip the exploration phase. Image courtesy of Free Photos by Pixabay .

The Sorry State of Exploration in D&D 5E

At its core, the exploration phase tends to be a Survival check to find food and/or the route. This is followed by a few rolls on random encounter tables.

Combat or roleplay may ensure. You’ll likely play out a single long rest between combats, pretending any others happened ‘off screen’.

When Wizards of the Coast released Tomb of Annihilation, a big selling point for the module was that it featured a sizable hex-crawl that harkened back to old-school D&D.

To survive this hex crawl, players needed to manage both water and food. They had to contend with diseases, swollen rivers, impenetrable jungle, and fearsome foes.

It was all very promising, except for the fact that it just wasn’t fun to run. The resource management element proved more clunky than challenging and the distances players needed to travel meant countless, often repetitive encounters.

Worse, for those DMs who did put the effort into ensuring the hex-crawl was fun, there are multiple in-game elements that invalidated it:

The Outlander background’s ability to always find enough food and water for a party rendered the resource management element moot;
The Keen Mind feat’s ability to always find true north meant getting lost was no longer an issue;
Spells like Tiny Hut and Create Food & Water removed the need to forage.

Now, none of these are insurmountable obstacles for a savvy DM, but it’s this kind of hand waving that makes an exploration based class like the ranger feel so useless.

While Volo’s Guide to Everything did a good job of at least making ranger’s competitive (and Unearthed Arcana has some useful suggestions), Tomb of Annihilation’s hex crawl still felt like a mixed message.

On one hand, we’re presented with a challenging, fleshed out setting to explore, and on the other, we’re given a bunch of features that immediately invalidate it.

Can you imagine if there was a feat that just allowed players to skip combats? Or a background that promised automatic success in a roleplay situation?

moonlight alien mountain range dungeons dragons

The art of the hex crawl isn’t what it once was. Image courtesy of JAK05D from Pixabay

The Old d100 System of Exploration

I usually hate it when an article says it is fixing something in D&D when it really means improving it. You aren’t fixing True Strike by making it a bonus action – you’re improving upon something that already works.

I’ll make an exception for Exploration. It is broken and it does need fixing. You only need to read this post on reddit to see what a joyless, crunchy system it is RAW.

Now, a good DM will make the effort to pre-roll all of this and weave it into some kind of coherent series of encounters and obstacles. My Tomb of Annihilation games improved immeasurably when I learned from the Tomb of Annihilation Companion and prepared 30-45 days of travel ahead of time.

No more frantic rolling as the party discusses their plans. No more hectic pasting of tokens onto hastily uploaded battlemaps.

If you’re looking for the quickest possible fix for exploration – this is it. Figure out how long your party is likely to be traveling, pre-roll their travel days, tweak for flavour, and voila!

This doesn’t address the underlying issue, however. No matter how meticulously planned your series of encounters may be, it still boils down to random rolls, combats, and a lot of hand-waving of the details in between.

No matter how well-planned these sessions are, you’ll eventually have players (or yourself) wanting to hand wave it and just ‘get to the good stuff’.

ruined temple post apocalyptic dungeons dragons

What mysterious ruins lie along the way? Exploration lets you stumble upon sites not keyed to your adventure. Image courtesy of DarkWorkX .

Getting to the Good Stuff in Style

Looking for a solution to my exploration woes, I turned to Adventures in Middle Earth .

Even if you aren’t familiar with the now defunct game, you’ve likely read J.R.R Tolkien’s seminal work of fantasy or, failing that, seen the critically acclaimed Lord of the Rings movies.

You’ll remember there was quite a lot of walking. Like, a lot of walking.

The Adventures in Middle Earth system understands that the journey is very much a part of the action. It is not some tiresome bore that happens between the best parts – it is a crucial part of the story you’re telling. To this end, its Journeys system is a core part of the game.

A Journey is broken down into three parts:

Embarkation: The mood of the party as it sets out;
Journey: The events that occur along the way;
Arrival: The state in which the party reaches their destination.

During the course of these three phases, four party members have specialized roles to help their party reach their destination safely. Those without an assigned role can assist:

Guide: The one responsible for getting the party safely to their destination (Survival) ;
Scout: The one ranging ahead checking for perils in their path (Stealth);
Hunter: The one gathering additional food & water (Survival);
Look Out: The one keeping an eye peeled for wandering monsters (Perception).

As written, these four roles almost entirely upon Wisdom skills. While this is most realistic, it’s a rare party that has four PCs with decent stats in these two particular skills. While your Ranger might be in their element being adept at all of the above, they’re only able to do one o them.

With that in mind, I’d suggest a minor tweak to the above.

My suggestion would be to also make Persuasion a requirement for your guide, as so much of their role affects the spirits of the company. For your Scout, why not make use of the oft-overlooked Investigation check? Hell, if your hunter doesn’t have the best Survival , I’d go so far as to suggest letting them instead use Nature .

The point is – you want the four roles to differ, but you also want the four roles to loosely match up with members of your party.

Across the course of the journey, the various tables involved (one for Embarkation, one for Journey, and one for Arrival) come into play, with each result requiring a roll from one or more of the above. Several even require the entire party to make checks to overcome obstacles.

Failures can lend points of Shadow (an Adventures in Middle Earth specific trait not unlike D&D’s optional Sanity score) or levels of Exhaustion, while successes remove one or both of the above. Success can also grant Inspiration to be used on future skill checks.

But Chris – these are all still just random tables!

You’re not wrong. This system does still boil down to rolling on a series of tables. However, these tables are not just arbitrary monster encounters or natural perils. The ability to gain levels of Exhaustion coupled with the fact there are no long or short rests during the Journey phase means that a series of bad results can have a party reaching their destination in an absolutely sorry state.

The Journey system turns a system that is essentially random rolls that lead into one of the other two pillars of Dungeons & Dragons into a challenging mini-game that has an impact on the other pillars, but is not just some lame duck delivery system.

Adapting the Journey System for D&D 5E

So, you want to fix your exploration phase by implementing the Journey system from Adventures in Middle Earth?

You could take the lazy route and transplant it wholesale into your games, ignoring the rules that don’t apply and adapting on the fly.

Or, you could use the modified system as presented below. I’m nice like that.

Step 1: Embarkation

The first step in the Journey phase has a huge impact on the phases that follow. A party leaving in high spirits will be better equipped to handle the rigors of travel, while one leaving on an empty-stomach is in for a bad time.

Determining Difficulty

The first step to designing a journey is determining its difficulty. This impacts on rolls made on each table, with a perilous journey more likely to generate an unfavourable result.

Easy : Familiar terrain that is well-mapped. Travel on established roads.
Moderate : The ‘standard’ for wilderness travel in relatively well-known environments;
Hard : Unfamiliar areas of wilderness such as deep forests. I use this for Chult’s mapped areas.
Severe : Mountainous regions or trackless swamps. I use this for Chult’s unmapped areas.
Daunting : Areas held by dangerous foes or filled with peril. I use this for journeys in Chult’s more far-flung corners.

Take a note of the number next to each of the above options as well, as this will influence rolls on future tables.

Assigning Roles

As a group, the party needs to decide on who will fill the key roles required by the journey. I’ve tweaked them as below:

Guide : The Aragorn of the party. Key abilities include Survival and Persuasion.
Scout : Roves ahead looking for potential pitfalls in the path. Key abilities include Stealth and Investigation.
Hunter : Hunts and catches food for the party. Key abilities include Survival and Nature.
Look-Out : Watches the party’s path for ambushes. Key ability is Perception.

It’s worth noting that the journey system does not require players to keep track of rations and water consumption. It is assumed they’re bringing enough to cover the bare essentials, with the Hunter’s role instead landing additional food.

Time to Depart!

With the above decided, it is time to hit the road!

The Guide will roll a d12 and add their Persuasion bonus to the result. The DM will then deduct the Difficulty rating from the result and check the Embarkation table for the result.

As an example, our ranger, Mitsu rolls a 4 on the d12. He adds his Persuasion bonus of +3 for a total of 7, and the DM then deducts 4 from the result, as this is a journey through dangerous territory. The end result is a 3.

Consulting the Embarkation table, he sees that the party has chosen a path that is more likely to be observed by their enemies. Unfortunately for them, they’ll have a harder time avoiding encounters on the road ahead.

Sample Embarkation Table

I’ve adapted the below Embarkation table from the one presented in Adventures in Middle Earth, which is obviously specific to that particular game.

An Ill Feeling. The party departs under a cloud of doubt. When rolling on the Journey table, add an additional +2 to all results rolled. All checks made to determine the initial outcome of encounters are made at disadvantage.
Dampened Spirits . The party’s departure is marred by foul moods and restlessness. During the Journey, each player makes ability at Disadvantage until they succeed, at which point their spirits lift and the gloom departs.
A Perilous Path. The party’s path takes them through territory where they are more likely to encounter enemies. When rolling on the Journey table, add an additional +1 to all results rolled. The first check made during encounters on the journey is made at disadvantage.
Inaccurate Maps . The party’s maps or information are out of date, forcing them to travel through more difficult terrain than they had anticipated. For the course of this journey, consider the terrain one point more difficult than it is.
Foul Weather . The party leaves in less than ideal conditions, drenched by sheets of icy rain or sweltering in intense heat. Each player must make a Constitution saving throw against a DC of 10 + the journey’s difficulty rating or begin the journey with a level of exhaustion.
Poorly Provisioned . The party departs without adequate provisions (or their provisions spoil). During the journey, they are constantly battling hunger and illness. When rolling ability checks during the journey, each player must then deduct 1d4 from the result rolled.
Well Provisioned . The party departs with full bellies and superb provisions for the road ahead. For the duration of the journey, each player made add 1d4 to any ability check they are required to make.
Fine Weather . The party departs under auspicious skies, with fine weather and ideal traveling conditions ahead of them. Each member of the party may ignore the first point of exhaustion gained during the journey.
Paths Swift and True. The guide has selected the best possible path for the road ahead, selecting terrain that is as easy to travel as possible. For the course of the journey, consider terrain one point less difficult than it is.
A Cautious Departure . The party departs keenly aware of the dangers that lie ahead of them. While you will need to add +1 to results rolled on the Journey table, the characters’ extra preparedness translates into their having advantage on their first roll in each encounter.
High Spirits . The party departs with a clear sense of purpose and camaraderie. During the Journey, each player makes ability at advantage until they fail, at which point self-doubt reins in their enthusiasm.
An Auspicious Start . All signs point to a safe journey for the party, who departs in ideal conditions. When rolling on the Journey table, add an additional +2 to all results rolled. All checks made to determine the initial outcome of encounters are made at advantage.

There you have it! Your party is on the road!

cobblestone path through fields dungeons dragons journey exploration

A path stretches out before you, leading into lands unknown. Image courtesy of Free Photos by Pixabay .

Step 2: Journey

The meat of the journey system is (unsurprisingly) the journey table.

Depending on the length of the journey ahead, you’ll roll on the below table as shown here:

Short Journey : 1d2 times;
Medium Journey : 1d2+1 times;
Long Journey : 1d3+2 times.

What constitutes a short, medium, or long journey is at your discretion. For Tomb of Annihilation, I’ve said 1-6 days is a short journey, 6-15 is a medium journey, and anything else is a long journey.

Rolling on the Journey Table

When it comes time to roll for events on the journey table, you’ll need to factor in the difficulty you decided at the journey’s outset. Remember to factor in the result rolled during Embarkation, as this will impact the result.

You’ll also need to refer back to the difficult you assigned, as this will impact the roll as follows:

Easy : -1 to the result rolled;
Hard/Severe : +1 to the result rolled;
Daunting : +2 to the result rolled.

You’ll then roll 1d12 + the difficulty modifier + any modifiers stipulated by the Embarkation result.

Determining DC

When it comes time for the party to make an ability check, the DC for this check is always 12 + the difficult rating selected. For ease of use, this is shown below:

Easy : DC 13;
Moderate : DC 14;
Hard : DC 15;
Severe : DC 16;
Daunting : DC 17.

Spice up your exploration with strange monuments and otherworldly vistas. Image courtesy of Stefan Keller .

Sample Journey Table

The below table is kept intentionally generic, but you are encouraged to tailor the descriptions and content to suit your game’s setting.

A Chance Encounter. The party encounters a traveler or group of travelers. These may be merchants, fellow adventurers, pilgrims, or whatever else you decide.The Scout may attempt a Stealth check to lead the party around this encounter, or any member of your party may instead freely approach to interact with them, making a Persuasion check to establish their initial mood.Depending on how roleplay works out, the party may gain an important snippet of information about the road ahead (granting them advantage on the first roll of their next encounter) or bad information (granting disadvantage).
Good Hunting . Conditions for hunting and foraging are especially good today. The Hunter must make a Survival check in order to capitalize on this.If they are successful, they are able to prepare a meal that lifts the spirits of the party and restores some of their vitality, removing a level of Exhaustion.If they fail, they have wasted valuable time for the party, who must deduct 1 from their eventual Arrival roll as a result.

If half or more fail, the company expends vital energy and all members gain a level of Exhaustion.

Enemies! This is where you as the DM get to throw a combat at your party! Select an appropriate enemy (or enemies) for your setting and set the scene.The Look-Out for your company must make a Perception check. If they succeed, the party has the intiative and can choose to avoid the combat (making a Stealth check) or attack the enemy unawares, gaining surprise.If the Look-Out fails, however, it is the enemy that has got the jump on them, and the party finds themselves under attack and surprised.

On a failure, the camp is not as it seems. Perhaps biting insects harass the players or the distant howling of wolves keeps them up. Regardless of the reason, it makes for a poor night’s sleep, and everybody will gain a level of exhaustion.

On a failure by 5 or more, the character is despondent. They not only must make a Wisdom saving throw to avoid the aforementioned disadvantage, but they also gain a level of exhaustion as they wallow in their ill-mood.

On a failure, the scout has inadvertantly led his party into a place both grim and dangerous. Each party member must make a Wisdom saving through or be afflicted with dread, translating into either disadvantage on all ability checks (until a success) or a Long-Term Madness.

Enemies! This is where you as the DM get to throw a combat at your party! Select an appropriate enemy (or enemies) for your setting and set the scene.The Look-Out for your company must make a Perception check. If they succeed, the party has the intiative and can choose to avoid the combat (making a Stealth check) or attack the enemy unawares, gaining surprise.If the Look-Out fails, however, it is the enemy that has got the jump on them, and the party finds themselves under attack and surprised.

If the look-out succeeds, they have instead met somebody of importance without realising it, and the encounter should play out as if they had rolled a 1 on this table.

If the look-out’s roll fails, they have instead come upon enemies. Treat this as if they had rolled a 5 or 11 on this table, with a combat the likely outcome.

Make sure your destination is a fitting reward for your players. Image courtesy of Donna Kirby.

Step 3: Arrival

With the journey behind them, all that remains is to figure out the manner of the party’s arrival.

There are a few factors to take into account when rolling for Arrival. Firstly, the terrain traveled through impacts the result as follows:

Easy : +1 to Arrival roll;
Moderate : No modifier;
Hard/Severe : -1 to Arrival roll;
Daunting : -2 to Arrival roll.

You’ll also want to factor in any modifiers gained during the journey before rolling a d8 and consulting the below table.

Sample Arrival Table

Weary to the Bones. The party has arrived both physically and emotionally exhausted. Each player must succeed at a Wisdom saving throw or gain a Long Term Madness.If the party’s journey took them through a particularly disturbing place that they were unable to avoid (a 10 on the journey table), the DC is increased by 2.
Empty Bellies . The party limps into town having exhausted their supplies a few days earlier. They are starving, tired, and dehydrated. Each party member gains a level of Exhaustion.
Poor Spirits. The arduous journey has left the party in poor spirits and an ill-mood. Each player has disadvantage on Charisma-based ability checks until they are able to succeed at one.The good side to being in a foul mood is that the party is likely spoiling for a fight, which translates into advantage on the first initiative roll each is require to make.
Uncertainty . The party arrives in ill weather, after dark, or just unsure if they’ve arrived where they intended to be.How exactly this plays out is at the DM’s discretion.Perhaps the group has stumbled upon a den of bandits close to their destination, perhaps the gates are barred and they must negotiate to be allowed in, or perhaps it is as simple as requiring your Guide to make a Persuasion or Survival check to get them the last distance to their destination.The penalty for failure should be Exhaustion, with success simply being an end to their arduous journey.
Weary but Glad. The trip may have been long and exhausting, but the sight of their destination instills the party with much needed energy. Each player may remove a level of Exhaustion.
Determined. The events of their journey have instilled the group with greater zeal for their future travels. Perhaps they are motivated by a desire to get to grips with their foes or perhaps this is simply a desire to be better prepared.Regardless of the reason, the party will have +1 to their next Embarkation roll.
Tall Tales. The party arrives at their destination with plenty of stories to tell. They have bonded through their shared toil and their gregarious spirit is infectious.Each party member has advantage on Charisma ability checks until such a time as they fail one.
Full of Hope. The journey may have been hard, but the party has emerged from it with renewed hope for the road ahead. Each player gains a level of Inspiration and may remove a level of Exhaustion.

The Journey system has revitalized the Exploration pillar at my table.

After my players begged me to do away with the hex-crawl in Tomb of Annihilation, the transition to the Journey system has meant players actually looking forward to one of the three core tiers of gameplay. It’s no longer combat and roleplay standing out on their own, but the third tier getting some much needed love as well.

There are still some tweaks to be made (I’ve suggested Outlander and Keen Mind granting advantage to their respective skills), but your ranger ought to love their abilities feeling more necessary to the party.

While I’ll leave the exact mechanics of favored terrains and the like up to you, I’ve found simply granting advantage on relevant rolls has meant the ranger finally has an area to excel in that isn’t brooding.

How do you run exploration at your table?

If you are still running it as written, how have you managed the abundance of random tables?

Or are you a hand-waver like I used to be?

This system looks really interesting, and I’m excited to give it a try. One thing I noticed that I’ll have to figure out how to adjust is the embarkation value, it doesn’t play very nicely with expertise. As an example, I have a player with +8 to his Persuasion at level 3. In just 2 levels, he’ll have a +11 from his stat increase at level 4 and his proficiency increase at level 5. On the most daunting journey, he’ll have 1d12+6 for his embarkation and he’ll always roll a good result. I think a semi-easy fix for this would be to have expertise give a +1 to embarkation instead of double proficiency. That would leave the full table more viable for a wider range of levels.

In case you haven’t heard, there is an upcoming release from Cubicle 7 (who made the system that inspired this one) that adapts the system to 5e far better than I ever could!

Where did you get the idea that Exploration refers to Wilderness exploration? Combat is action. Roleplaying is interaction. Exploration is reactions. ” You’ve entered the dark cavern. It stretches before you for hundreds of yards in the torchlight before fading into darkness”… What do you do? You explore your environment. Now substitute Tavern, Market, Ship, etc for Cavern. No wonder there are so many people failing to run games out there. You want players to spend more than an hour a session on average wandering through the woods?

“Failing to run games”. Mate, I make a living running games. 40 hours of D&D a week with all paying players. I think I’m doing just fine.

As to the “where did you get the idea?” part, which I know was rhetorical, try reading the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

I have to agree with JT’s point here. “Exploration” is not synonymous with wilderness travel. While this system outlined in this article is very cool and would add some good fun to a certain style of campaign (hexcrawls in particular), the part of the game where the players explore a room looking for secret doors, digging through piles of junk and so forth IS exploration too. Even the most basic decision to go left or right at a corridor intersection counts as exploration. In my view, it’s not so much the 5E system itself that deemphasizes the exploration pillar (because I do agree that there isn’t enough in 5E games) but rather poor adventure design. Wizards gives us these ambitious campaign books instead of adventures and in the process, we lose out on the granular detail that makes the exploration pillar fun. Dungeon Crawl Classics does a much better job with their published adventures. There are tons of rich environments to explore and things to poke at (often to disastrous effect). A DM could choose to shoehorn in a overland travel minigame (again it does look fun) between adventures OR they could put some more flesh on the bones of the one line (if you’re lucky) per room flavor text and add more dungeon clutter, puzzles, traps, hazards, etc. Either one would be an improvement over a WotC module.