On Exploration In Life
Some notes and observations!
We explored the whole barn! It took about 15 minutes. During this time we were able to explore 8 10' x 10' squares safely! We were not mapping. It was the middle of the day and we did not need light sources.
Why did this take so long?
The experience was not without risk. The floor was literally covered in more then 1 inch of debris.
We had to check for wasps, snakes, and spiders -- all very real dangers in the area of the country we live in.
The surfaces were not smooth or easy to search visually.
I should note that we spent no time actually searching containers or trying to inventory the contents of the rooms. We were only attempting to move through the barn safely. There were many piles of junk and stuff lying about.Any one of these piles could have been hiding a spider or a snake. It would take even longer to test each area before disturbing it for traps.
Another danger is keeping an eye out on the ceiling. It was easy to search due to it being daylight, but that still doesn't keep you safe from what could be lurking inside. Holes were everywhere, but actually making out what was inside those holes was neigh impossible.
another activity that was relatively dangerous was trying to open doors. First, it was uncertain what was behind them. Second, opening them gave a poor idea as to what was in the room beyond.
If monsters actually existed and there was a good possibility of treasure existing in the structure we were exploring and it were dark, it would have taken a long long time to safely move and search the building. As it is, during daylight, while moving at a reasonable pace safely, looking around and snapping pictures it took us nearly the length of time classic D&D states for exploring structures for lightly encumbered people.