Wilderness Adventures

[javapadawan]

So, I'm starting a new campaign for a small group of players, and as we rolled up characters last night, it came to pass that we had a ranger, a barbarian and a druid, all elves.

They pitched the idea to me of an all (or mostly all) wilderness campaign. While this sounded like fun, I must admit that I am a module DM, and not the kind who is very good at creating my own adventures.

Can y'all recommend some good wilderness/forest/outdoorsy type modules? Suggestions from any source (official mods, dungeon mag, pdfs, old 2e stuff, etc.) would be most welcome.

They're starting at first level, but I'd love to hear about mods designed for any level. Thanks!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

When in doubt, crack open Keep on the Borderlands. Sure, it's mostly dungeon. But there are four outdoor encounters in the area around the Keep. If the players wander near the encounter, you trigger it. This is somewhat more likely than average because everyone in your group has Wilderness Lore.

If you end up doing your own thing.....

One option is to have a battle between the forst guys and the outsiders. Perhaps the wood elves and humans reached a treaty 100 years ago that their border was at the forest treeline. But the sneaky elves have been planting more trees and casting that version of Plant Growth that slowly accelerates growth over a large area. Now the humans want to re-negotiate

Another thing you could do is Tir'nan-Og vs. Tir Tangrie. These are two historic Farie realms. One is evil-ish and one is good-ish. They are curretly fighting for dominance in the forest. For giggles, you could always throw in a third party that just wants to turn the forest into a Home Depot.

...just some thoughts. Good luck!

 

[Napftor]

Well, while this is not a module, per se, it should still help you greatly. Mystic Eye Games' Beyond the Walls is set to release before the end of the year and features detailed locations all in some type of wilderness setting. Plenty of reusable locales for your players to keep in mind while doing their wilderness thing. Adventure ideas are given for each entry and will provide tons of enjoyment for the wilderness DM.

Does it seem like I've been plugging things too much, lately?

 

[javapadawan]

Thanks for the ideas BiggusGeekus, now I'm really glad I picked up the Keep on the Borderlands at GenCon this year!

And I will definitely keep my eyes open for Beyond the Walls... thanks Napftor!

Keep 'em coming, please!

 

[Crothian]

Standing stone is pretty good.

 

[tabrumj]

Wilderness and Wastelands

I would suggest picking up a copy of Sword and Sorcerys Wilderness and Wastelands. It has a lott of good information and ideas for running outdoor adventures, plus four fairly interesting encounters. While some of the information is Scarred Lands specific most of it is usable in any campaign.

I should point out that I am more than a bit biased having helped write the thing, but it is still a very good book for outdoor encounters.

 

[Nightfall]

Yes Jeff it is a good product. I have my own reason for liking other than it being a Scarred Land product though.

 

[javapadawan]

I do have Standing Stones, but hadn't read it yet. Now I will though, thanks Crothian.

I hadn't even heard of Wilderness and Wastelands, but will definitely look into it, thanks tabrumj, and Nightfall!

Any more?

 

[Xarlen]

Allow me to plug another Mystic Eye Game product. Blight Magic.

Blight Magic is like the Blighter from Masters of the Wild, but on a better scale. Spellcasters (Any spellcaster) goes down the road of Blight Magic, using it to up his spellcasting, but it corrupts him. Also, when he uses it, it destroys the land around him, completely desicating it (Scorched earth, unfertle, etc).

Blight casters can animate undead fused with elemental forces (Frex, a zombie fused with Stone aspect gets a +5 nat armor, and 5/+1 DR). A little mini-template for zombies and skeletons. The presence of a Druid will really mess up the Blight undead, too, giving them -1 to stuff, if they're in 20ft of the druid.

Druids and rangers will *hate* this. Because the spellcasting defiles the land, and makes it uninhabitable.

Look here for info on Enworld. I'd love to offer adventure suggestions!

My group is about to go into a Forest for the next bit of the campaign, and I've got stuff working. Imagine an intelligent monster (Dragon, perhaps) works a network within it's domain; getting tribute from humanoid tribes, knowing the locations of monster lairs and manipulating them to it's bidding. Basicly a major villain who works Behind the scenes, until it's obvious.

There's also a thread in the Plots and Places asking for help about a Tribal campaign. There's some good stuff in there.

Also, possibility: It could be done like the Europian introduction to America; the Elves take the place of the Native americans (But don't make the same mistakes).

 

[Munin]

"Armistice" from Dungeon magazine. Not sure of the issue, but you can look it up on Dreamthief's site.

It features icy adventures in the great outdoors, and plenty of Werewolves!