[RPG] How to rests be best managed in Tomb of Annihilation

dnd-5epublished-adventuresreststomb-of-annihilation

Tomb of Annihilation is half giant jungle hex-crawl and half dungeon-delving. The hex-crawl features several mini-dungeons, and is littered with random encounters.

The adventure recommends 1-2 random encounters per play session, but I expect that to take several days of in-game time. That leaves each random encounter with a full long rest before and afterwards, meaning players shouldn't be afraid to blow all the tools at their disposal in those encounters. This could have the side effect of making the encounters a breeze, rather than the terrifying, deadly, deep-jungle survivalist feel I'd hope to accomplish.

Options I've considered for upping the ante include :

  • Alternate rest system of 8-24 hour short rests and a weeklong long rest. This would make long resting nearly impossible, however, given the urgency of the campaign, and would be entirely the wrong pace for the later dungeon-crawls.
  • Smashing all the random events into a single day. This feels unrealistic, however, since the randomness is all condensed. Players might also feel like I'm cheating them if I stack the deck like such.
  • Making random encounters significantly difficult. This is a risky option, since it might mean players are much more likely to die, but if encounters are a lot stronger, it could prompt the feel I'm looking for.
  • Make more random encounters. This could include both combat and non-combat encounters, but if they're too easy and the party can dump all their resources into any fight they get into, it still might not provide the survivalist feel i'm hoping for.

Which methods have been used effectively to add difficulty and terror to random encounters, especially in a time-sensitive hex-crawl?

Best Answer

Make the adventuring day of variable length

The adventuring day is the length of time between long rests during which resources are expended (such as HP, spell slots, etc). As you mentioned, the resting variant rules in the DMG present one way that the length of the adventuring day can be different from the length of an in-game day by adjusting the required length of short and long rests. The length of a long or short rest need not remain the same throughout an entire campaign. If one of the variants presented is appropriate for part of your campaign, but not another, then you are free to use that variant for only the appropriate part. In your example, you can use 8 hour short rests and weekend long rests while traveling, and standard rest lengths while in dungeons. I have tried this and it works.

I have, however, found something that works better for me. Rather than changing the lengths of rests, I explain to my players that the game is more fun when it is challenging, and get their buy in to deny their characters long rests whenever I see fit. Weather, insects, or even earthquake activity provide in-game justification for why the characters don't gain benefits from an attempted rest. This gives me more complete and satisfying control over the length of the adventuring day without having to actually change any rules to do so.