Goodman Games

How do you handle multi-day adventures in which the party must camp for the night away from a town? I've been making PCs sleep after 15 hours (9 hours' sleep, more typical in lands without electric lighting) -- or at least saying, "Having quested all day, your party is now growing tired. You may continue on, but your reflexes are slowing, and your concentration is waning." (Basically giving them the choice to stay up longer but at a penalty to rolls, etc.) Do you ever give them random hassles during the overnight or just say "It's now morning"? Does this get any special attention in your games?

I have used the dice chain to simulate fatigue.

I have had both nights without problems and random hassles. Sometimes, those random hassles are just messing with them in order to gauge their reactions - do you wake up all the camp because you hear a noise, or because an owl flies overhead? Sometimes "just messing with them" turns out to be not just messing with them....either that owl is significant, or that noise means you heard the grizzly spider sneaking up on your camp.

[quote="herecomethejudge"]How do you handle multi-day adventures in which the party must camp for the night away from a town?/quote]
Sometimes the "how" depends on the situation, either in-game or in RL.

If we have limited time a quick "the night passes uneventfully" is enough. With more time and a more relaxed group, it might be a chance to expand the adventure... maybe there are other parties also seeking the same whatzis that the PCs are... and they aren't camped very far away... maybe the PCs spook THEM!