Wilderness Campaigns/Adventures

Cyri'kazzen · Sep 25, 2002

Hi all,

I am looking to create a couple of adventures based primarily in a wilderness setting as opposed to dungeon settings. I am specifically interested in using forested areas. I really want to use elves and fey in the adventures as well. If anyone has any experience with these types of adventures or a campaign, I would love to hear about it. Also if there are any resources related to adventures of this type, I would love to hear about those as well. Thanks.

C.

Nightfall · Sep 25, 2002

Serpent in the Fold has some good wilderness encounters. Not many in forests mind you BUT you'll find it a nice event based module.

Emiricol · Sep 25, 2002

Read The Pathfinder by James Fenmore Cooper.

Tonguez · Sep 25, 2002

The good thing about forest is that they work EXACTLY like dungeons

- a dungeon has tunnels and rooms and a variety of traps, monsters, treasures etc

- a forest has tracks and clearings and a variety of traps, monsters and treasures (replace walls with impenatrable thickets and tangled undergrowth, pit traps (and most other types too) work, for treasure have goodberry bushes, or a dropped gold trinket, or magic mushrooms

etc))

Two things to remember for forests is that natural paths are created and used by animals passing through - if the Owlbear is hunting it will be encountered on the Track- also remember however that if the PCs leave the tracks then they WILL get lost (which is why all those fairytales warn us to stick to the path)

also when using fey in particular don't map the forest out tree for tree - stay vague and use your descriptions to get your players lost so they literally can't 'see the wood for the trees'! Lead them off the tracks into the thick of the forest where a covey of hags lurks, or a treant sleeps, or where an elven archer can use cover and hide to pick them off

Napftor · Sep 25, 2002

Cyri'kazzen said:
Hi all,

I am looking to create a couple of adventures based primarily in a wilderness setting as opposed to dungeon settings. I am specifically interested in using forested areas. I really want to use elves and fey in the adventures as well...

C.

Well, Cyri, if you can wait a couple of months, Mystic Eye Games is coming out with Foul Locales: Beyond the Walls. This book showcases various wilderness locations fully mapped and just dripping with clever ideas to kick off adventures in the wild. Your desire to use elves and a forested location will be met by one of the locales that is a grand festival. There are over 20 areas to explore and even more NPC's to meet at this event/locale.

And I'm starting to feel like Nightfall by plugging these Foul Locales books.

Nightfall · Sep 25, 2002

Re: Re: Wilderness Campaigns/Adventures

Napftor said:
Well, Cyri, if you can wait a couple of months, Mystic Eye Games is coming out with Foul Locales: Beyond the Walls. This book showcases various wilderness locations fully mapped and just dripping with clever ideas to kick off adventures in the wild. Your desire to use elves and a forested location will be met by one of the locales that is a grand festival. There are over 20 areas to explore and even more NPC's to meet at this event/locale.

And I'm starting to feel like Nightfall by plugging these Foul Locales books.

Don't feel bad Nap, it gets easier each time you talk about it.

rathor · Sep 25, 2002

wild

i am running a campaign that uses a lot of wilderness area.... i made a little simple map for myself.... but i don't let the players see it.... i agree that you should keep your discriptions vauge and let your players get lost often.... the only detailed maps you should use are of important area's... like a goblin camp, ancient grown up ruins or whatever... come up with some radom

not releated to the story line that your players can come across.... you could always use them for a side adventure later.... or just use them for an enviromental effect....

somebody posted something about forest goblins armed with bows and hatcets in an earlier thread.... i like that idea.. ghostwise goblins.... he he he....

fusangite · Sep 25, 2002

I've recently had a bunch of fun with an evil druid who goes through the land infecting villages with lycanthropy when he heals their inhabitants. There's a nice build-up -- being surprised by a bunch of villagers turning into beasts and attacking, curing the villagers, tracking the druid to his lair and taking him on in an overgrown ruined formal garden...

boothbey · Sep 25, 2002

A little over the top...

Most successful outdoors adventure I ever ran involved a fairy kingdom under attack by an unseelie fairy kingdom. The good fairy prince was kidnapped and held in the fortress of the bad fairies.

The adventuring party was hired by the good fairies to rescue their missing prince. Party readily agreed thinking that they would easily smash a bunch of teeny tiny fairies. WRONG

Upon being transported to the fairy kingdom they found that they had been reduced to fairy size themselves. With roughly 1/10 their previous hit points. All of a sudden this didn't look like such a good deal after all.

Much hilarity ensued with the pint sized party trekking across the forest being assaulted by rogue badgers and such. One of the climactic battles involved the heros on eagle back in a dogfight against evil fairies riding stirges. Running battles atop tree limbs were fun as well.

Now that the story is over...I myself prefer wilderness campaigns to dungeons with nice city adventures thrown in. I'm not terribly fond of dungeons because I hate having to map the things.

As far as ideas for adventures...
1) Never underestimate the power of kobolds. Give them a level in rogue with weapon finesse feat and daggers and you have a nasty little bushwhacker squad, same with goblins.

2) Dire animals driving out the more mundane critters.

3) Druids upset with loggers, farmers, general civilization. Druids in 3E are much more interesting now that they don't have to be neutral.

4) Giant insects are always fun. Perhaps a spring that creates giant vermin.

5) Something corrupting the fey creatures of the area. Evil nymphs, satyrs, and treants

Dragongirl · Sep 25, 2002

Re: A little over the top...

boothbey said:
Now that the story is over...I myself prefer wilderness campaigns to dungeons with nice city adventures thrown in. I'm not terribly fond of dungeons because I hate having to map the things.

And you can't ask me to make you a map?? If I knew that was all that was holding you back I would have been designing away.

By the way, I liked the faerie dragon encounter I wrote for you.....not that you ever used it.......

P.S. I have known Boothbey for years.