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Help Create My Campaign Part One - Forests

To the OP, here's a blurb of a forest idea that you can use as you will...

I'll call it the feralwood for lack of anything better at the moment (wildwood reminds me too much of some real places near Toledo, OH where I recently lived).

Temperate forest, maybe a touch on the cool side.

Heavily populated by wolves and werewolves.

The Red Hoods, a band of axe wielding, red cloak wearing rangers patrol the villages on the edge of the forest and the logging camps within.
 

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To the OP, here's a blurb of a forest idea that you can use as you will...

I'll call it the feralwood for lack of anything better at the moment (wildwood reminds me too much of some real places near Toledo, OH where I recently lived).

Temperate forest, maybe a touch on the cool side.

Heavily populated by wolves and werewolves.

The Red Hoods, a band of axe wielding, red cloak wearing rangers patrol the villages on the edge of the forest and the logging camps within.

Thats a cool one im going to take it and run with it and call it the Moonwood! love the Red Hoods lol.

Anymore anyone? looking for safe good forests as well as dangerous ones.
 

for example the different types of elven forest, other good race types such as ents, unicorns or satyrs or plain old woodsmen or evil types of forests such as haunted ones or filled with spiders or beastmen.
Anymore anyone? looking for safe good forests as well as dangerous ones.
I call attention to this specifically because I find making a big fat distinction kinda boring. What's the point of going to a Good forest, since what the PCs look for is adventure (Which requires adversaries)?

It's also very meh to draw such stark distinctions. What places are Wholly Good or Wholly Bad?

And to point at 4e, remember that things like elves, satyrs and the fey aren't exactly nice. Remember, fey steal babies and swap them with their own, they cajole and seduce others to join their merriment for eternity. Rumpelstiltskin is a great example of a fey.

So my advise is to not put a big goodie good bow on one, and a big skull and crossbones in another. Complexity and shades of grey is good. The occasional "points of light" which is a forest can be doable, but for the most part, the stuff between the lights are dark.

Also, don't be afraid to mix and match when it fits thematically. For instance, "Haunted Forest vs. Fey-filled forest". Let's take the Fey forest. There could be a banshee in there (they're celtic, after all). She could have been a mother whose children were stolen, and committed suicide while damning the fey. Or, there could be ghosts of revelers who succumbed to death while dancing and partying all night with the faerie; they could thus accompany the fey in battles. On the flip side, you could have a "haunted" forest which is nothing but a bunch of gnomes who want to keep people away from their forest with illusions and scare tactics.
 
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With that said. Here are a few thoughts:

Warped Wood: Here, something has caused the inhabitants to change. The animals are deformed or have monstrous or magical qualities. Strange entities stalk the trees that whisper or eat on men. Those few that delved into the forest and came back have been changed, for the better or worse (depending on how you ask them). Has the Far Realms bled over here? Or has something else tainted this area (Scarred Lands has a forest corrupted by the tooth of the glutton titan, turning all the animals mad and savage).

Thorn Hollow: Old when the land was young, the spirit that lives in the heart of this forest has been sated by worship and sacrifice. This place earns its name from the hedges and walls of thorns that shift and change within it, offering an impenetrable field for the unwanted.

The Thorn Hollow has been a sanctuary for those that must hide, be protected from the ravages of civilization. Refugees and the hunted have been granted protection here. The forest's spirit has only three edicts: 1) By offering a penance of one's own blood, one may stay unmolested for one full moon and no less. 2) Desecrate no tree, animal, or entity within; take only that which has fallen. 3) Bring no violence from within; any given protection cannot attack another who has the forest's protection.

Failure to do any of these result in being hung from the thorns and jagged branches, bled dry in the center of the wood.

The Bone Orchard: The trees are ghostly pale, their branches barren of leaves even in the heart of summer. At the ends of the branches, boney protrusions that look like skeletal fingers extend, and in fall, fruit shaped like skulls hang (it is rumored the fruits are used only for brewing poisons). Even during the day, the shadows are deep and long beneath these branches, and the air is filled with an uncomfortable cold that is soul deep. Ravens are the most common inhabitant, perching in the trees en masse to watch any that pass within.

There is a strong connection to the Shadowfell here; in order to travel to the Shadowfell, one must be buried at the foot of a tree at dusk, and crawl from their "grave" once the sun has dropped. The same process is repeated at the time of "dawn" to return. Entities of the Shadowfell often cross over here, or lurk within the thickets.

Despite the macabre exterior, the place is not inherently dangerous or deadly. The witch who lives within this place holds sway over a long-standing pact; any that seek to travel to and fro, or bring violence against another within the wood must first gain her permission, or seek her wrath. Thus, the Orchard is often a site of trade, transition, and neutral ground. Every year, a festival of sorts is had, although the nature of that is not often spoke of. Legends say that the wood of the trees is used to create weapons that effect incorporeal, undead, or shadow-based foes, but to chop a tree requirse blessing from the witch.
 


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