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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
GM Core / Chapter 1: Running the Game / Running Exploration / Scenes within Exploration / Travel

Getting Lost

Source GM Core pg. 37 2.0
When PCs are exploring the wilderness or navigating twisting dungeon corridors, they might get lost. This is most likely as a consequence for failing at Survival or similar checks, but it can also happen based on the story, such as if they drop out of a portal in some strange land or come up from an underground passageway into a forest. Playing through the process of wandering in the wilderness and trying to find their way can be fun for a party, provided they do so for a fairly short interval. If a party is lost at the start of a session, they should usually have found their way and reached a significant destination by the end.

If the PCs get unlucky or are just awful at Survival, they might end up stuck with no way to reorient themselves. In these cases, have someone come to them! They might get captured by local humanoids or monsters or even stumble upon a dangerous location. They've figured out where they are, even if it's not where they wanted to be!