In the cook the chaos section, you’ll see the watch rolls available to pack with intrigue and conflict any steps the character(s) take whilst travelling between here and there. But what about when they reach where they’re headed, when you’d like to enhance tension in smaller, more zeroed-in moments, when you want the passing of time to matter whilst the character(s) explore a dungeon, or aged ruins, or sections of forest? Enter the exploration loop.
First, grab a bit of paper. Draw six boxes on it. Each box represents the passing of around 10 minutes. Every time the player(s) tell you they want to do something meaningful, tick a box. So moving carefully down a corridor, foraging for food, listening at a door, trying to unlock or force it open, searching a room, setting or dealing with a trap, resting up for a bit. Each meaningful thing they try will take time, around 10 minutes each. But the world’s not just going to wait. It keeps spinning. In every exploration loop of 60 minutes, something might happen. So you’ve got your boxes. Once the party starts exploring and you’ve decided to zero in on what they’re up to, for each box:
1. Ask them what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, what their pace is, how cautious they’re being, what their intention is.
2. Resolve this with them.
3. Tick a box, marking the end of this 10 minutes.
4. Every 2nd box, roll 1 on a 1d6...an encounter happens. See before conflict. It could be creatures, traps, points of interest, or more.
5. After 6 boxes are ticked, unless something happens or you’re using a timer (see later), torches flicker out, and the party might consider resting unless they want to end up drained.
6. Clear your ticks and start again for the next hour of exploration.
Using the exploration loop will ensure that the game doesn’t unwind. When the player(s) begin to realise that everything their character(s) do in a hostile environment has a real consequence, that something might happen if they make too much noise or drag their feet or rest up too much, that their food, water, energy, and access to light will diminish over time as they delve deeper into the unknown, that’s when this game will come to life for them. That’s when they might realise they’ll need to work together, to act swiftly and efficiently, if they want their character(s) to get out alive.
So in each exploration loop of an hour, remember to keep an eye on those boxes. If you don’t fancy using tick boxes, you can turn a d6 from 1 to 6, or come up with another method of keeping track. The more you keep track, the easier it’ll be for you to ensure the setting pushes back against the party, to drive tension and conflict into every moment, to remind the player(s) that decisions will need made quickly and carefully.
If some sort of conflict is on the cards, like if creatures are around the next corner, or if the character(s) come face to face with a trap or hostile NPC or something that’ll quicken the pace, switch from this loop to the before & during conflict rounds, and once they’re over, return to the exploration. You can then ease the player(s) back from the exploration loop once they’ve made it out of a hostile environment, like if they’re travelling between destinations (remember to use watch rolls), or sitting in a tavern, and the like.
what's next?
Ok, so from here you might want to...
...move onto how to handle moments before conflict
...return to the rules of the chaos intro
...or check out the character generation guides
Remember, though, that you can navigate anywhere on the site using the menus on each page, and if you ever get lost, roll 1d6 and we'll see what perils you encounter!