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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8233657" data-attributes="member: 20323">Thanks! That's an interesting read. The Drowned Forest is basically an Abyssal Incursion of Zuggtmoy, so it's tied to a specific demon lord. The effects – reduced healing, violet fungi sprouting during combat, hidden shriekers, and a region-specific "oddities/discoveries" table – are extremely well-tailored to that demon lord's themes.Absolutely. The Nerebdian Vast is an incalculably large desert of endless thirst and endless ruins. Though a sun and moon shine in the sky, it is always through a diffuse haze causing their light to take on a violet or burgundy hue. At odd times, a second silhouetted black sun is visible lurking behind the true sun. Every month a full lunar eclipse shrouds the sun, causing all colors to be inverted for several hours; during this time terrifying creatures burrow out of the sands and mind-warping radiation bombards the surface. At the far reaches the desert gives way to the Ocean of Tears (known as “Skeiqualc” in Abyssal), which is exactly as it sounds. The layer is slowly being absorbed into Graz'zt's realm, and the breaches appearing on the Material Plane are symptoms of that world beginning to be dragged into the Nerebdian Vast (worst case: it merges with the layer, becoming a new layer within Graz'zt's realm).Part of the challenge in my case is that the destination "layer" is desert, and the terrain these breaches are most likely to be encountered in (though not exclusively) is desert.Yeah, the alkilith. Good call. Thanks!Awesome, that was an informative read. Thanks Sword of Spirit!That helped me pin down some things...First, that I'm trying to model incursions which are between Stage 2 (A Growing Menace – where simply killing the demons seals the portal) and Stage 3 (A Stain on Reality – where there is no way to seal the portal). Looking to make it possible for the PCs to seal/close/interact with these breaches, but not so easy as just killing the demonic defender.Second, the examples of how an Abyssal incursion looks – extreme heat/cold, storms, warped vegetation, tainted water, animals avoiding the area, etc – felt lackluster (as [USER=19270]@toucanbuzz[/USER] mentioned). Those could describe a million forms of hauntings or regional effects of various monsters. Which maybe dovetails back to what MToF says about the incursion ultimately being tied to a demon lord, and what others mentioned about drilling down to specifics of the layer the portal leads to, as that helps ground the "anything goes chaos" of the Abyss into something concrete and usable at the table.That was also my impression after reading the demon section of MToF. It offers a useful loose framework, and interesting how they tie the ultimate evolution of an Abyssal breach to a specific demon lord, but sparse on a real demonic feel. The Drowned Forest in GoS was a great example which evoked a strong feel, while adhering to the family friendly aspect of the game.Thanks for suggesting the madness effects! I do have Out of the Abyss, and I'll see how I can work those in.</blockquote>

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