>From: "pedrodevaca" <pavis_gm_at_...>
>10 hours is
>a respectable finish in most 50 mile ultramarathons, and those folks
>are jogging the entire time.
>
>From my experience I would say 35 miles is a much more reasonable
>starting point. Thru-hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail carrying
>light loads across a very well marked trail with absolutely no danger
>of being attacked by chaos or angry clan neighbors, will do 35 miles
>a day a *few days* in the 3 or 4 months it takes them to walk the
>2700 mile trail.
See, here's the missing link. I agree that people can and do go 50 miles in a day. A fit soldier is expected to be able to do that in about 10 hours, maybe a little longer, but in a day, nonetheless. But this is a maximum rate, and makes some assumptions. One of which is that the situation is either life or death, or the soldier is going to be able to rest the next day. Because that rate is an exhaustion rate. Not one that one can follow up on day to day.
So here's the key. The target number for going 50 miles should be pretty high. Using a soldier's default 17 for movement, I'd say that the target number here should be 17W2, and the contest is not to make the distance - he'll make the distance. The contest is to be able to do it without damaging one's endurance for the next day. He should fail in this case, and if he wants to go the next day, his ability will be reduced by the appropriate amount. Typically he'll get a major failure here, and be rolling against a 8 the next day if he wants to try it again. In which case he's risking complete exhaustion, and a heart attack if the narrator is feeling nasty.
For 35 miles, much more reasonable, the TN should be maybe 17W or so. Meaning that each day is going to be about a 10% reduction for the average soldier until they have that Major failure at which point they're going to need to take a day off for rest, likely (or, again risk hurting themselves badly). I'd say a pace of about 25 miles a day is about your 17 TN. 20 Miles might be a 14. Roll a default 6 to go 10 miles without exhaustion - there's always blisters and whatnot that might happen on a bad day, even going at a leisurly rate. Especially if one isn't at all accustomed to foot travel (using a default 6, for example, to take on the walk).
Basically, use the system as it's designed to present the challenge as it exists. In fact, unles you want to really detail each day, don't roll each day, but instead come up with the whole trip as a congolmerate roll. 200 miles in 10 days is a lot harder than 25 miles in 1 (think what would happen if you had to roll each day - there would be occasional failures making it more difficult). In this case, failure means that you were exhausted, and had to stop to rest somewhere along the way, making you late. As always, it really depends on what the conflict is. If it doesn't matter when you get there, or how tired you are when you do arrive, then don't roll at all, just narrate it.
Mike
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