Making outdoors encounters more interesting.

[possum]

It's already been said, but it bears repeating: "Cover, cover, cover."

A relatively low-level party is ambushed by a goblinoid/orcish/Elvish/Whatever forest civilization fits/Possibly bandits in a thickly treed area. The ambushers attack with bows and/or crossbows and the amount of foliage makes it hard to see the number of creatures attacking you.

They keep firing at the group, constantly moving to avoid giving their position away, and not wanting to move into melee until the time is right, or their advantage is taken away from them.

 

[Aeolius]

First you need to find a nearby forest, park, or public trail. Take a notebook with you as you walk through the woods at three times during the day; morning, noon, and night.

Write down what comes to mind. What sounds do you hear; birds, squirrels, wind, a nearby stream, The rustle or leaves or the creaking of branches overhead? Look closely at the ground. Notice the moss growing near the trees, the mushrooms sprouting in the shadows, and the leaves pushed down on a deer path. Take note of the local trees; their shape, species, and age.

How do those notes vary between the three times of day?

Now it’s time to look at those notes through the eyes of a Dungeon Master. Did you see any trees suitable for a goblins treehouse stronghold? Were there knotholes that might house a gnome? Over by the bend in the stream, where the land rises slightly, is the perfect lair for a greenhag. See those leaves. Are they shimmering? The local inhabitants of the dark wood have taken to using precious metals beaten into the shapes of leaves as their local coinage.

Is the stream wide enough to allow passage for small watercraft? Who is that old woman fishing in that boat? Is her vessel made from a snapping turtle’s shell? And what of the fauna in the water; freshwater eels, perhaps a local population of snakeheads, and best to be wary of the water moccasins and copperheads.

Then darkness falls. If you can walk out in the middle of the forest, turn off your flashlight, and envision the things in the darkness coming out to get you. Can you scare yourself?

You are ready.

 

[hailstop]

Can you give a description about them and why you felt they were blah?

Myself, I tend to be just the opposite. I find the outdoors open encounters tend to be the most fun. While the cramped fighting indoors tends to boil down to a game of "delay turn" leap frog.

The first one was vs a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Level 9 Solo Brute, in a jungle so there were trees around. Mind you, it didn't help that the Fighter pinned the T-Rex in place for the entire combat.

The second was just at the edge of the jungle, in a cleared area before a great wall that the PC's were heading towards. They were ambushed by a Manticore, which was followed up by an Ogre Brute and some Human Lackeys.

 

[Woas]

So that's it then? "There were trees around"? Snore.

First off you're in a jungle. It's hot. It's sticky. It rains multiple times a day and seemingly at the drop of a hat. People in any sort of heavy armor are probably going to be grouchy. There's gnats and mosquitoes and ants and beetles and centipedes and spiders and GOD KNOWS what other kind of creepy crawly things all over the place that sting and generally are not happy when they interact with human(oids).

Trees. What kind of trees? Big tall ones with vines? Old rotten ones that are home to a colony of FLESH EATING TERMITES? Ones that impeded movement and restrict the battlefield? What else? What other terrain features can you apply here. How about a 300 foot waterfall?

How about climbing down that... during a sudden afternoon monsoon... with a T-rex hunting you.


So the characters leave the jungle an are in some open plains cleared in front of a big wall. Does the wall have big boulders that have come off over the years? Is the ground even? Is there an old trench dug into the field where ancient supports were erected when the wall was built? Was there chest high grass growing for people to duck into and stalk through? Did it look like this:

The first one was vs a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Level 9 Solo Brute, in a jungle so there were trees around. Mind you, it didn't help that the Fighter pinned the T-Rex in place for the entire combat.

The second was just at the edge of the jungle, in a cleared area before a great wall that the PC's were heading towards. They were ambushed by a Manticore, which was followed up by an Ogre Brute and some Human Lackeys.