LostSoul
Adventurer
I am going to submit this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan...64-random-terrain-features-natural-world.html for consideration.
Design Challenge: Utilizing Fantastic Terrain
- Thread starter Rechan
- Start date
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
The good thing about cliches is that they tell people what is possible and what is not without you as a DM having to individually approve and veto everything.
They're a very effective tool to get games flowing quickly.
It wasn't in a 4.0 game (or even 3.X now that I think about it), but we had a battle inside of an active volcano, with the party fighting a group of drow across a lake of lava that had several small "islands" of rock that we could jump to and from. One of our wizards managed to make the volcano erupt in the middle of the battle when he cast rock to mud in the wrong place.
Hawkeye
Hawkeye
Mephistopheles
First Post
Good topic, I've been thinking about this kind of thing a bit lately; I may be running a game soon and would like to aim for having at least one set piece encounter each session that emphasizes the dynamic battlefield element of 4E (you know, that element that WotC modules seem to ignore completely when they stick you in ten foot wide corridor after ten foot wide corridor - at least in the WotC modules I've played).
Here are a couple of ideas I've jotted down.
Geysers
A bog with some sort of random geysers, think the Fireswamp in Princess Bride. The DM marks a few squares with tokens each round, either randomly or by choice, and the combatants notice that the ground in those squares is bubbling or churning. The round after a square is marked, roll a d6: on 4+ the square erupts into a man-sized flame geyser that attacks anyone in that square against Reflex, doing some amount of fire damage if it hits (possibly with some ongoing) and half damage if it misses (no ongoing). If it doesn't erupt then next round it's 3+ to erupt, then 2+, and stays at 2+. I'd allow everyone to notice the bubbling without any checks as the idea is to encourage movement.
Morphic
(This one's a little crazy but could be a lot of fun, I think. There may be some needless complexity as I've just tidied up the notes I made. This was inspired by an idea for a Star Trek/Spelljammer style campaign structure, with the party crewing a ship that sails the Astral, so environments and situations would vary greatly from adventure to adventure as they do "away missions" on random bits of astral flotsam or venture into other planes.)
This would be a battle on some chaotically shifting battlefield, something like the plane of Limbo, perhaps. It begins on a seemingly stable island floating amidst the roiling chaos. The DM inserts the island at the top of the initiative order at the top of round two. Each round on the island's turn, the DM rolls a d6.
1-2: Movement
The whole island lurches in one direction, roll d10 to determine the direction of shift, with 1-8 being a cardinal direction, 9 being down and 10 being up.
If the result was 1-8, roll d3 and shift everyone (even those not on the island, as the island is moving towards or away from them) that many squares (minimum 1 regardless of forced movement reducing abilities). If this would push someone off the island, normal rules apply.
On a 9, the island "falls" d3 squares, on a 1 there is no damage but everyone needs to save or fall prone, on a 2-3 there is d10 damage and everyone falls prone (Acrobatics can reduce). Fliers who were standing on the island can choose to hover rather than fall if they're able to do so.
On a 10, the island moves up and the increase in G force causes all squares to be treated as difficult terrain for that round.
If there has been a split (see 5) then roll d6, on 1-4 the sub-islands can move as a group, on 5-6 they move individually (although moving sub-islands individually could be cumbersome to manage, so it might be easier just to move them as a group).
Only combatants are moved, effects/zones stay in place on the island.
3: Reduction
The island shrinks, losing one square on all edges. If someone is on a removed square, treat it as if they were pushed off the edge of an adjacent square, if there are no unoccupied adjacent squares available they're out of luck. If there has been a split, roll d6, on 1-4 one island shrinks (randomly pick one), on 5-6 they all shrink.
4: Expansion
The island grows, gaining one square on all edges. If there has been a split, roll d6, on a 1-4 one island grows (randomly pick one), on 5-6 they all grow. This could rejoin sub-islands.
5: Split
The island splits. DM determines where the island splits, either randomly or by choice. Move the edges of the split one square apart. If there has already been a split, randomly determine which sub-island will split this time.
6: Join
The island rejoins. If there has been more than one split, roll d6, on 1-4 randomly pick two adjacent sub-islands to rejoin, on 5-6 they all rejoin. If there are no current splits, treat this as a split instead.
Miscellaneous
Anyone who has fallen off the island is pulled d3 squares towards the nearest edge at the start of the island's turn (subjective gravity, or whatever you want to call it).
Assume the island has enough depth that people won't end up underneath it. If they end up below the level of the island surface they're pulled back towards the surface, if the island grows and they're adjacent they're pushed one square, if the island moves sideways into them it hits them for d10 damage and pushes them (treat as a fall, normal rules apply), but they're then able to climb up the side to the surface and get back on.
People off the island are free to use abilities, although they can't move normally (non-standard movement, such as flight or teleporting, works fine). They can make ranged attacks or melee attacks if they're in reach. Combatants not on the island who don't have some means of controlling their movement (eg/ flight) suffer a -2 penalty their own attack rolls and grant Combat Advantage to anyone attacking them.
Having a bunch of tiles of various sizes would be handy for the changing island sizes and splits. Or, after looking at Weem's post perhaps cardboard cut outs of various sizes could be used for non-standard shapes, possibly even chopping up islands as splits occur.
Here are a couple of ideas I've jotted down.
Geysers
A bog with some sort of random geysers, think the Fireswamp in Princess Bride. The DM marks a few squares with tokens each round, either randomly or by choice, and the combatants notice that the ground in those squares is bubbling or churning. The round after a square is marked, roll a d6: on 4+ the square erupts into a man-sized flame geyser that attacks anyone in that square against Reflex, doing some amount of fire damage if it hits (possibly with some ongoing) and half damage if it misses (no ongoing). If it doesn't erupt then next round it's 3+ to erupt, then 2+, and stays at 2+. I'd allow everyone to notice the bubbling without any checks as the idea is to encourage movement.
Morphic
(This one's a little crazy but could be a lot of fun, I think. There may be some needless complexity as I've just tidied up the notes I made. This was inspired by an idea for a Star Trek/Spelljammer style campaign structure, with the party crewing a ship that sails the Astral, so environments and situations would vary greatly from adventure to adventure as they do "away missions" on random bits of astral flotsam or venture into other planes.)
This would be a battle on some chaotically shifting battlefield, something like the plane of Limbo, perhaps. It begins on a seemingly stable island floating amidst the roiling chaos. The DM inserts the island at the top of the initiative order at the top of round two. Each round on the island's turn, the DM rolls a d6.
1-2: Movement
The whole island lurches in one direction, roll d10 to determine the direction of shift, with 1-8 being a cardinal direction, 9 being down and 10 being up.
If the result was 1-8, roll d3 and shift everyone (even those not on the island, as the island is moving towards or away from them) that many squares (minimum 1 regardless of forced movement reducing abilities). If this would push someone off the island, normal rules apply.
On a 9, the island "falls" d3 squares, on a 1 there is no damage but everyone needs to save or fall prone, on a 2-3 there is d10 damage and everyone falls prone (Acrobatics can reduce). Fliers who were standing on the island can choose to hover rather than fall if they're able to do so.
On a 10, the island moves up and the increase in G force causes all squares to be treated as difficult terrain for that round.
If there has been a split (see 5) then roll d6, on 1-4 the sub-islands can move as a group, on 5-6 they move individually (although moving sub-islands individually could be cumbersome to manage, so it might be easier just to move them as a group).
Only combatants are moved, effects/zones stay in place on the island.
3: Reduction
The island shrinks, losing one square on all edges. If someone is on a removed square, treat it as if they were pushed off the edge of an adjacent square, if there are no unoccupied adjacent squares available they're out of luck. If there has been a split, roll d6, on 1-4 one island shrinks (randomly pick one), on 5-6 they all shrink.
4: Expansion
The island grows, gaining one square on all edges. If there has been a split, roll d6, on a 1-4 one island grows (randomly pick one), on 5-6 they all grow. This could rejoin sub-islands.
5: Split
The island splits. DM determines where the island splits, either randomly or by choice. Move the edges of the split one square apart. If there has already been a split, randomly determine which sub-island will split this time.
6: Join
The island rejoins. If there has been more than one split, roll d6, on 1-4 randomly pick two adjacent sub-islands to rejoin, on 5-6 they all rejoin. If there are no current splits, treat this as a split instead.
Miscellaneous
Anyone who has fallen off the island is pulled d3 squares towards the nearest edge at the start of the island's turn (subjective gravity, or whatever you want to call it).
Assume the island has enough depth that people won't end up underneath it. If they end up below the level of the island surface they're pulled back towards the surface, if the island grows and they're adjacent they're pushed one square, if the island moves sideways into them it hits them for d10 damage and pushes them (treat as a fall, normal rules apply), but they're then able to climb up the side to the surface and get back on.
People off the island are free to use abilities, although they can't move normally (non-standard movement, such as flight or teleporting, works fine). They can make ranged attacks or melee attacks if they're in reach. Combatants not on the island who don't have some means of controlling their movement (eg/ flight) suffer a -2 penalty their own attack rolls and grant Combat Advantage to anyone attacking them.
Having a bunch of tiles of various sizes would be handy for the changing island sizes and splits. Or, after looking at Weem's post perhaps cardboard cut outs of various sizes could be used for non-standard shapes, possibly even chopping up islands as splits occur.
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There's also another thing.
Things are cliche because there's some element of truth to them, and they have perpetuated because they work sometimes.
Or rather, a cliche is a trope that's been executed badly.
Bold or Stupid
First Post
Ropes
I ran an encounter this week that had a fight down an open spiral staircase into a kobold lair. A single square wide staircase round the outside, a 30' drop to the bottom, plus a column coming up 20' in the centre of the chamber.
I wanted some mobility and not just in a crazed jump way, as kobolds are poor jumpers. So I added a load of ropes hanging from the ceiling that could be swung on (used athletics for climb so half speed grant CA whn on the DC10 to move without falling).
As I hoped the party swung like tarzan to get get into good positions, one PC even "ran" to cross the room , but he's a bravura warlord so built for mad schemes.
Worked very well.
Dragon head statues
The are the above campaign is in has many stone dragon heads rearing out of the ground, I'm thinking they will grant +2 to hit with the appropriate element, but also give vulnerable 5 to it.
I ran an encounter this week that had a fight down an open spiral staircase into a kobold lair. A single square wide staircase round the outside, a 30' drop to the bottom, plus a column coming up 20' in the centre of the chamber.
I wanted some mobility and not just in a crazed jump way, as kobolds are poor jumpers. So I added a load of ropes hanging from the ceiling that could be swung on (used athletics for climb so half speed grant CA whn on the DC10 to move without falling).
As I hoped the party swung like tarzan to get get into good positions, one PC even "ran" to cross the room , but he's a bravura warlord so built for mad schemes.
Worked very well.
Dragon head statues
The are the above campaign is in has many stone dragon heads rearing out of the ground, I'm thinking they will grant +2 to hit with the appropriate element, but also give vulnerable 5 to it.
Dr_Ruminahui
First Post
I recently did an encounter my players loved, which really put the "fantasy" into fantasy terrain - ie terrain generated by the fantasies of one of the parties to the encounter. 
Basically, the PCs wanted to rescue a girl driven mad by and chanelling the far realms. It was a skill challenge and combat (the girl was "imagining" various creatures, which the party had to fight to save her).
The "terrain" part came into it in that she was imagining the room to be a lovely open grassland - however, the room was only 6x4 (and x4 vertically). So, she "imagined" the walls to be flat - and walked up them and across the cieling.
Basically, the players fought inside a box, with the ability to move across any of the 6 sides of it (floor, 4 walls, cieling), though it usually required a skill check to do so except for whichever surface the girl was treating as a floor. To make things more interesting, every turn the girl would move onto a new surface, and I would roll an attack v. will against each PC to see if her madness affected them so they now felt that was the floor and fell down onto it.
One thing, though... it got kind of complicated to figure out which squares the models occupied and who could attack whom until I decided to ignore the fact that creatures occupy squares vertically too.
Basically, the PCs wanted to rescue a girl driven mad by and chanelling the far realms. It was a skill challenge and combat (the girl was "imagining" various creatures, which the party had to fight to save her).
The "terrain" part came into it in that she was imagining the room to be a lovely open grassland - however, the room was only 6x4 (and x4 vertically). So, she "imagined" the walls to be flat - and walked up them and across the cieling.
Basically, the players fought inside a box, with the ability to move across any of the 6 sides of it (floor, 4 walls, cieling), though it usually required a skill check to do so except for whichever surface the girl was treating as a floor. To make things more interesting, every turn the girl would move onto a new surface, and I would roll an attack v. will against each PC to see if her madness affected them so they now felt that was the floor and fell down onto it.
One thing, though... it got kind of complicated to figure out which squares the models occupied and who could attack whom until I decided to ignore the fact that creatures occupy squares vertically too.
LostSoul
Adventurer
I wrote up a bunch of stuff for the warehouse in the Seven-Pillared Hall in Thunderspire; it had three levels with an "arcane crane" to grab and distribute crates. Basically some version of Bigby's hand attached to a crane.
There was a little control chair a guy could sit in and operate it, grabbing people and throwing them across the room or into the pit that dropped down to the basement. There were a bunch of other things it could do.
I can't seem to find the notes for it, I probably just jotted them down on the map.
There was a little control chair a guy could sit in and operate it, grabbing people and throwing them across the room or into the pit that dropped down to the basement. There were a bunch of other things it could do.
I can't seem to find the notes for it, I probably just jotted them down on the map.
