Exploration in Alacrity is about discovery, choice, and risk. It’s not a hex crawl unless you want it to be. There are no subsystems for lighting torches or counting footsteps. Instead, exploration is handled like everything else: players act, the GM describes, and dice are rolled when the outcome is uncertain or dangerous.
If something is hidden, fragile, treacherous, or about to come alive, the players will find out the fun way—or the hard way.
Describe First, Roll Later
Players don’t roll to “look around the room.” They describe what they’re doing. Are they opening drawers, tapping stones, checking under carpets, scanning for tracks, or watching the rooftops?
The GM responds with information—or calls for a roll if the outcome depends on perception, deduction, or subtle detail. The most common skills here are Vigilance, Insight, Survival, and Knowledge, but anything appropriate to the moment can apply.
“I check the floor near the chest for signs of dust being disturbed.”
“I sniff the air. Do I smell rot?”
“I don’t touch the altar—I just look for any patterns or scratches.”
When the description is careful or clever, the GM may lower the difficulty—or skip the roll entirely.
The GM Controls the Unknown
Exploration shines when the world reacts to scrutiny. That doesn’t mean every room hides a trap or secret—it means the GM knows what’s in the environment, and how it responds to the party’s presence.
The GM should think in layers:
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What’s obvious?
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What’s subtle but visible on a closer look?
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What’s hidden and requires effort or risk to uncover?
Not everything should require a roll—but when it does, it should matter. A failed roll might mean missing something, triggering a hazard, or misunderstanding a clue. A success might reveal a secret passage, a pattern in the rubble, or a faint sound in the next room.
Movement and Travel
You don’t need to measure distance to the foot. In most cases, players move as much as makes sense in the scene. Time and pacing matter more than exact measurements.
For overland or dungeon travel, the GM decides what kind of challenges the terrain or situation presents—ambushes, navigation hazards, environmental effects—and frames each moment accordingly. Rolls happen only when risk is present.
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Getting lost? That’s a Survival check.
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Avoiding a trap? That might be Vigilance or Agility.
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Traveling through hostile terrain? The GM sets the tone, and the players react.
Danger in the Environment
Exploration doesn’t always mean safety. Traps, collapsing ledges, toxic spores, cursed ruins—these are as much a part of the world as monsters. When they show up, they don’t need a subsystem. Just describe what the players see, give them a fair shot to notice danger, and let their actions determine what happens next.
The world isn’t out to kill them randomly. But it’s not holding their hands, either.
Never gate critical information behind a roll. If something is necessary for the story to move forward—a clue, a location, a plot connection—just give it to them. Let the roll determine how quickly they find it, how much they understand, or what extra detail they uncover. But don’t risk a failed roll stopping the game cold. Withholding key information isn’t clever—it’s clumsy. Keep the story moving.
Discovery is the Reward
You don’t need loot tables or XP triggers to make exploration worthwhile. In Alacrity, the reward is information, context, choice, and leverage.
Finding a hidden door isn’t about gold—it’s about what lies beyond it.
Exploration is where your world breathes. Let it be strange. Let it be dangerous. Let it tempt them. And when they take the bait, let the story respond.
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File Created: 04/30/2025 Last Modified: 04/30/2025