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Natural Environments and Travel: Difference between revisions
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(Created page with "=== Natural Environments === As your adventurers traverse the world, they might be confronted with any number of environments. When designing your world, you might want to use environments as they appear in the real world, or you might want to modify the environments in some way. Maybe you emphasize the most extreme elements of an environment (forests with miles-tall trees, for example) or perhaps you introduce a small but significant twist to your ecosystem (such as a r...") |
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As your adventurers traverse the world, they might be confronted with any number of environments. When designing your world, you might want to use environments as they appear in the real world, or you might want to modify the environments in some way. Maybe you emphasize the most extreme elements of an environment (forests with miles-tall trees, for example) or perhaps you introduce a small but significant twist to your ecosystem (such as a region where water flows uphill, or a temperate forest that inexplicably thrives in the middle of a desert). Interspersing mundane environments with fantastical ones can keep your adventurers deeply engaged in the world around them. | As your adventurers traverse the world, they might be confronted with any number of environments. When designing your world, you might want to use environments as they appear in the real world, or you might want to modify the environments in some way. Maybe you emphasize the most extreme elements of an environment (forests with miles-tall trees, for example) or perhaps you introduce a small but significant twist to your ecosystem (such as a region where water flows uphill, or a temperate forest that inexplicably thrives in the middle of a desert). Interspersing mundane environments with fantastical ones can keep your adventurers deeply engaged in the world around them. | ||
When describing an environment to your heroes, be sure to engage as many of their senses as possible. Don’t describe only what they see, but what they hear and smell, how the humid air might stick to their skin, and the general sense that the environment might evoke in them. | When describing an environment to your heroes, be sure to engage as many of their senses as possible. Don’t describe only what they see, but what they hear and smell, how the humid air might stick to their skin, and the general sense that the environment might evoke in them. | ||
== Natural Environments == | |||
==== Aquatic ==== | ==== Aquatic ==== | ||
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Lava is so hot that it can cause creatures to burst into flame even before they come into direct contact with it. Once a creature has touched lava, it is almost certainly dead. Even if one steers well clear of lava flows, volcanic environments also pose atmospheric danger. Air thick with sulfur and silicate particles can cause permanent damage to a creature’s lungs. | Lava is so hot that it can cause creatures to burst into flame even before they come into direct contact with it. Once a creature has touched lava, it is almost certainly dead. Even if one steers well clear of lava flows, volcanic environments also pose atmospheric danger. Air thick with sulfur and silicate particles can cause permanent damage to a creature’s lungs. | ||
== Points of Interest == | |||
Break up the monotony of a journey by sprinkling points of interest (POIs) into your wilderness. These might be ancient ruins, a strange natural formation, or the result of magical activity such as a terrain-altering ritual. Consider how relevant to the adventure a POI might be, or whether it is simply a small detour that has little bearing on the overall story. If the latter, design your POI so that it will not take more than half a session for your heroes to explore it, so that they can continue to focus on the primary adventure. If a POI does have more campaign relevance, this can be a great time to foreshadow some of the significant milestones that you anticipate for your campaign. If the villains plan to summon a fiend or use powerful ancient magic, maybe the heroes find an ancient ruin with pictograms depicting the destruction caused by such entities or magics. | Break up the monotony of a journey by sprinkling points of interest (POIs) into your wilderness. These might be ancient ruins, a strange natural formation, or the result of magical activity such as a terrain-altering ritual. Consider how relevant to the adventure a POI might be, or whether it is simply a small detour that has little bearing on the overall story. If the latter, design your POI so that it will not take more than half a session for your heroes to explore it, so that they can continue to focus on the primary adventure. If a POI does have more campaign relevance, this can be a great time to foreshadow some of the significant milestones that you anticipate for your campaign. If the villains plan to summon a fiend or use powerful ancient magic, maybe the heroes find an ancient ruin with pictograms depicting the destruction caused by such entities or magics. | ||
== Travel Pace == | |||
When a party travels through a wilderness environment, you may choose to track how far they progress each day. If this is not the focus of the campaign, or you only want to pay attention to POIs that your adventurers find, it is fine to ignore these rules. But if you are running a survival intensive game or the time that it takes to [[travel]] between two points is highly relevant to the plot, then these rules will help you determine the consequences of traveling at various paces. | When a party travels through a wilderness environment, you may choose to track how far they progress each day. If this is not the focus of the campaign, or you only want to pay attention to POIs that your adventurers find, it is fine to ignore these rules. But if you are running a survival intensive game or the time that it takes to [[travel]] between two points is highly relevant to the plot, then these rules will help you determine the consequences of traveling at various paces. | ||
The type of terrain or environment that your party is navigating might also affect their travel pace. The miles on the table below assume relatively straightforward travel [[conditions]]: little to no precipitation on flat, firm ground or shallow hills, such as those you would find in a grassland or a scrubby desert. | The type of terrain or environment that your party is navigating might also affect their travel pace. The miles on the table below assume relatively straightforward travel [[conditions]]: little to no precipitation on flat, firm ground or shallow hills, such as those you would find in a grassland or a scrubby desert. | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
!Travel Pace | !Travel Pace | ||