How to make a swamp a unique environment?

[alsih2o]

Remember the advantage full-time residents will have- Better forms of locomotion, immunity to the "filth", adapted senses.

An addition as simple as baddies with prehensile tails lets them move more freely,a nd lets them hang form trees to attack.

Also, just falling down can be deadly.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Think about type and location, is the swamp in warm climate or cold, is it fresh water or brackish (sp), is the land sinking or moving apart or just below the water table. Look at different swamps that you know of and adjust to a fantasy game.


Some links on different discussions.
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47008&highlight=swamp

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33491&highlight=bogs

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=90475&highlight=swamp

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89520&highlight=swamp

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72577&highlight=swamp

 

[alsih2o]

Oh, and learn the differences between a swamp, a bog and a fen, as the gamey goodness lies within.




OOH! That rhymes!

 

[Hand of Evil]

Quicksand while with a group of adventures is not that dangerous it is an item stealer; this happens when people are pulled from it.

Illiness - Dysentery: it is ugly but made swamps travel horrible.

 

[jasper]

Or your disease could just sap hit pts. Say anywhere between a 1d4 to 2d10 a day. hurts the pc and drain cure spells at the same time.
I like having players hate swamps due diseases and such.

 

[adwyn]

Water! Its nearly everywhere in a swamp so use it in encounters.

1) Hip deep in water the party must fight opponents who can hide in that water - think any bad giant anaconda movie, though dire crocodiles, bullywugs, lizardmen, and giant frogs all fit the bill. This is nearly effective as invisibility in the right circumstances.

2) Water can hide a lot of underlying problems with terrain. Quicksand or just holes can be anywhere. Charges can be interupted as the charger suddenly drops into a 15' hole.

3) A grappling creature can attempt to drown PC's as well.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Legends & Lairs: Wildscape.

 

[Rel]

Or your disease could just sap hit pts. Say anywhere between a 1d4 to 2d10 a day. hurts the pc and drain cure spells at the same time.
I like having players hate swamps due diseases and such.

Leeches are good for this too.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Build your own encounter table, mixing creatures and illness.

Creature slection is important, think nastly little things like leeches, wasp, snakes and then increase size and adjust.

Oh, again take from real life...in Java there is a fly that cause temporary blindness if it bites you, it comes to you for your salt. Also Bot Flys (sp) are nasty bugs, they lay eggs under skin, the larva hatches and looks like a carbuncle, painful as it eats your flesh. There are other real bugs to keep players discussed with swamps.

 

[JDJarvis]

I've spent a lot of time in swamps hunting and fishing and the general difficulty at getting around is the biggest issue one has to deal with.
You can't trust the ground you are standing on in lots of swamps. It may be a bog carptet or plant growth a 150 pound man with 20 pounds of gear can skamper through but a 200 pound man sporting 40 pounds of gear will go crashing through and into the watery muck underneath.

Almost dry land can be frequently broken by water of indeterminate depth that is just a little too wide to jump.

A group of hunters I know once set about carefully mapping a favored hunting ground to get an accurate map of the area. It took a day to map a 5 or 6 mile stretch of woods a couple hunderd yards wide (one side of a ravine) and it then took a whole day to map about 1 mile of swamp about a hundred yards wide (the mouth of the same ravine near a lake).

If PCs go into a swamp they will get wet. They will make a lot of noise traveling through swamp (vegatation and water) if they are trying to make any speed at all (more then a mile a day). They may have difficulty finding a place to sleep a place to eat or a way to keep warm.