As we attempt to make-up for misplaced time, we have been tenting greater than ever earlier than. And that bought me fascinated by what occurs when D&D characters camp.

The Fun of Camping​

All the tenting prior to now few months has been tent tenting: at Boy Scout camp, white water rafting and tubing, and visiting mates together with a renaissance competition. We’ve slept in giant household tents and particular person tents. Go tenting sufficient, and it turns into clear that being a human within the wilderness has its challenges. This is my expertise, which is from trendy tenting, however others have tried to duplicate what their characters undergo on a tenting journey with typically hilarious outcomes.

You Can Hear Everything​

As I’ve found when a number of close by campers arrived in the midst of the evening, sound travels far. Cars arriving, doorways slamming, and speaking out loud appears like they’re taking place proper subsequent to us. You can simply hear conversations even at a distance.

In this surroundings, a guard ought to be capable to hear (even when they can not see), so the 2 steadiness themselves out. Leaves make it significantly troublesome to sneak up on somebody who’s tenting. Conversely…

Weather Matters​

Tents aren’t very thick. Medieval-era tents weren’t practically as sealed as trendy tents. I’ve needed to evacuate a campsite when hurricane-level storms handed by. Simply put, if you’re in a tent, there’s not a lot between you and the surface, and excessive climate can actually smash your evening.

But on a extra mundane stage, tents aren’t cabins and thus do not regulate temperature in the identical approach. If it rains, tents that are not waterproof will make it troublesome to sleep. Characters who must relaxation to regain their spells could have a tough evening when the temperature dips and even as a result of a passing rainstorm.

Secure Your Food​

We’ve discovered the onerous approach that after the solar goes down, animals come out. And these animals need our meals. We’ve needed to fend off swarms of raccoons by tossing meals into the forest simply to get them away from us. We arrange bear baggage for our snacks (hanging meals from excessive up so animals cannot simply attain it), solely to have people sneak meals out of the bag and overlook to eat all of it … leaving an incriminating path of half-eaten wrappers resulting in the perpetrator’s tent. And our final tenting journey, one thing large walked as much as a desk and took a swipe at our rubbish bag.

Adventurers possible produce extra waste than trendy campers and whereas their nemesis may very well be a giant cat, wild canine, or bear, it is simply as possible smaller vermin who’re solely too desperate to dig into rations or drag off a hunk of meat. Characters who do not take acceptable will rapidly discover themselves with out a lot to eat.

Campfires Are Not Lamps​

By far probably the most difficult adjustment for my trendy way of life is realizing that daylight is a treasured commodity that isn’t to be wasted. Fumbling round within the darkness of a tent after sundown makes discovering probably the most basic items difficult. I discovered to set out every little thing I would wish at evening earlier than dinner in order that I might discover what I wanted later, and awoke when the birds began singing.

Conversely, it is troublesome to do precision duties at evening with out a regular mild. Campfires present loads of mild, however it it is the identical because the glow of an digital lamp. And it isn’t all that secure to have an open fireplace inside a tent anyway. In this regard, with the ability to see at midnight (with darkvision or magic) is a bit like having {an electrical} mild. You can carry out lots of duties you might through the day with out the inconvenience. But for these species who haven’t got darkvision like people, most complicated duties aren’t going to be completed properly in dim mild.

Your Turn: How has your tenting skilled influenced your character’s tenting routine?