New GM with questions about Fronts and Dark Sun conversions/travel

Hi

So the first thing I wanted to ask was how much of the Front information to share with the players.  I love the system, it is one of the first 'campaign' systems that actually felt like a system rather than a story.  But it is described as a 'secret tome' or similar, which means I don't know how much to tell the players at first.  Of course, they can start trying to find things out, but it seems strange to not give them at least some basic info.

Secondly, we are playing this game in a setting that is essentially Dark Sun.  I want travel to be more involved and more dangerous, and want very much the number of days spent in the wilderness to matter for much more than the number of rations consumed.  I was thinking of asking for a Defy Danger roll every day, or a tweaked version such as this:

Cross The Wastes:

Athas is a terrible and threatening place. Danger is everywhere, and the wilds can kill you in a heartbeat:

When you leave civilisation behind, for every day of travel, say how you are protecting yourself and roll. If you do it:

by skill at arms, +Str
by moving quickly and stealthily, +Dex
by being tougher than the wild itself, +Con
by using your knowledge of the wilds, +Int
by keeping your eyes and ears open, +Wis
by leading your allies, +Cha
by pairing with a strong ally, both must roll +Bond

?On a 10+, you cross the wastes, encountering only minor dangers.
?On a 7–9, you notice the danger and are ready to avoid, ambush, outwit, or flee it.
?On a 6- the GM will surprise you with an imminent threat.

But the problem with that is that it gets boring to roll repeatedly for a long journey.

I was also/alternatively thinking of changing the Quartermaster role to be Leader, and require +Cha, and to create some kind of 'Hold 3 on a 10+, Hold 1 on a 7-9' mechanic where the Leader can spend hold to do things such as 'organise the party to avoid danger for one day of travel' as well as the more dull 'Halve the number of rations needed'.  Thematically, I'd like the Scout to be more important too, but the Quartermaster is by far the dullest role to be chosen.

Any ideas or recommendations?  Thanks.

As for the amount of information to share, go with sharing what the PCs learn. It's a fiction first thing. To do it, do it. If the PCs learn that the sorcerer king is trying to transform into a dragon, then they learn it. If they don't, there's no tell the players the backstory agenda.

I really hate the idea of rolling a defy danger, or custom move, once per day. I'm not going to be much help there. Maybe a "when you make a long journey" move, but yes they get boring after the first one. Instead, make the journey part of the adventure, rather than glossing it. What's the benefit of randomizing the danger during travel, but not while in a dungeon?

I agree about the making a move every day thing being too much.  What I think I will do is rewrite the leader, guide and scout moves to include a 'hold' system, which can be used for various things, such as 'you see the dangerous creatures approaching' and 'you are approached by enemies while on favorable terrain'.  With a typical 10+ Hold 3, 7-9 Hold 1 setup.

I'll approach every journey into the wild with the presumption that there will definitely be danger, and that the moves will just say how bad it is.

I might also make a rule that a desert journey can only be X days long, and after that they must rest up for a day, make camo etc.  So a long journey might necessitate two 'journeys', split by a rest.

Separately, I will generate a list of GM moves for each terrain type in Dark Sun, threats such as monsters, terrain and weather just to make things easier for me and help me to differentiate things.

I think you'll do a much better job by retaining the core perilous journey moves, but upping the costs and consequences for failure.

I use a hex-map for travel; and I roll a 1d20 to determine how many 50 mile hexes (1 day of travel by foot) PC's cross before bumping into a random encounter:

Town, point of interest, monsters, wild animals (worth noting that they can create great encounters on their own), a corpse left in the wild, a ruin, NPC's-- whatever.

If the players roll well on their 'scout' check, then they have the drop-- if they don't? The encounter has the drop on them, or they discover eachother at the same time (surprising the fuck out of eachother -- or neither being surprised.)

It's also a way I've found to get the 1d20 used in Dungeon World.

If players are using the road; I may give them an encounter anyways~ just because they're going the most traveled way.

I roll a 1d20 to determine how many 50 mile hexes (1 day of travel by foot)

o.O

50 miles a day on foot? Do your characters have nuclear-powered cybernetic legs? :D

Err-- lmfao-- sorry, I changed what I was typing part way through; but the point remains, they cross X-amount of hexes -- one for each day for 1d20 hexes before I throw an event in there. >D