Me trying to figure out the distance between places and how long it’ll take a character to get there in a society that travels mostly on foot:
I made an equation for you:
[10 + (g × 2) + (n × 2)](k) = minutes
This is for flat terrain, with a healthy bipedal adult. k = kilometers and g = kilograms of excess weight, backpacks and such, averaged per person. n = number of individuals traveling in the group, which will always increase the travel time.
For children, individuals with physical disabilities, and the elderly, make it 15 or 20 minutes per kilometer. For mountainous terrain, add at least 10 mintues per kilometer within the mountains, possibly more depending on the incline. Rivers will depend upon if baggage can float, how well the character can swim, and how wide and deep the river is, but is likely to be over 20 minutes.
Also, remember most paths are not perfect lines. I think it would be best to create a map with natural looking paths that you can then figure out the length of. Also, mountain paths often curve in on themselves, so you have to add on even more time on this back and forth journey up a peak.
So if you’re traveling 10 kilometers with 2 other people, all carrying around 2 kg of stuff, you’ll get there in roughly 180 minutes, or 3 hrs.
But people don’t walk continuously for hours on end, so you’ll need to factor in breaks to rest, or look at landmarks, or encounters with other travelers, etc.
Hopefully this can help other writers out there! 🙂
Solfege Navigator 