Next environmental supplement?

[Snapdragyn]

Exactly my point! I mean, 'grasslands' covers everything from near-desert, to tropical savanna, to thornveld (grassland/forest hybrid in flavor IME), to shortgrass prairie (probably what most people think of as 'plains'), to tallgrass prairie (10'-12' grasses as far as you can see... except you can't ). That's just off the top of my head, & intentionally leaving out alpine meadows since they'd be better covered in a mountains book.

Travel tactics are going to vary in these. Shortgrass? fix on any landmark you can see & go, or dead reckoning/celestial if there is no landmark visible. Tallgrass? Um... follow a river or beat a path through & hope you don't wander right into a big nasty, I guess. Thornveld? Probably worse than tallgrass for blundering into something before you can see it, though you'll get some slightly longer lines-of-sight in spots.

Will saves vs. agoraphobia for the most open grasslands (no kidding! I'm not a 'phobic' person in general, but the times I've been in shortgrass or arid grasslands it really takes some getting used to; not at all like being on a flat calm sea even though it would seem like it would be).

The potholes made me think of swales, minor depressions that are damper than the surrounding vegetation but dry out seasonally (some for most of the year). IRL these can be difficult to spot as it's just grass-grass-grass-sedgethatlookslikegrass-OH WAIT! Add a bit of fantasy to the reality, anything from quicksand to dire brine shrimp that burrow into the moist ground, & you've got a Survival check to recognize the hazard before you're smack in the middle of it!

Other fun stuff:

Migrating herds -- a swarm of large or even huge beasties, or the newer mob rules?

Nomadic tribes with interesting cultures of varying degrees of technology; anything from 'stone age' to brightly painted wagons filled with goods for trade. Cowboys & Native Americans! the Golden Horde! Romany caravans! Huh, & you guys thought it'd be all 'farmer... rancher... shepherd'. Ha!

Ships on wheels!

The weather! Take cover from the lightning! Um... where? *ZAP* Too late! Mwahaha!

Ah, grassfire, ack! Nowhere to run, um, wet a tarp & shelter under it? Try to dig a hole? Eep!

*sigh*

 

[Turjan]

Other fun stuff:

Migrating herds -- a swarm of large or even huge beasties, or the newer mob rules?

Nomadic tribes with interesting cultures of varying degrees of technology; anything from 'stone age' to brightly painted wagons filled with goods for trade. Cowboys & Native Americans! the Golden Horde! Romany caravans! Huh, & you guys thought it'd be all 'farmer... rancher... shepherd'. Ha!

Ships on wheels!

The weather! Take cover from the lightning! Um... where? *ZAP* Too late! Mwahaha!

Ah, grassfire, ack! Nowhere to run, um, wet a tarp & shelter under it? Try to dig a hole? Eep!

*sigh*

Sounds nearly like my homebrew . Although that ship business is a bit more sophisticated . And you have a few landmarks in your swales .

And don't forget your dust devils and tornados .

 

[Steverooo]

The FR Underdark book wasn't even in the same vein as the current environment series. It was more a setting book for the Realms. What the underdark needs is a proper environment book such as Frostburn, Sandstorm and Stormwrack.

Y'mean like the 1e DSG (Dungeoneer's Survival Guide)?

 

[mythusmage]

Sounds nearly like my homebrew . Although that ship business is a bit more sophisticated . And you have a few landmarks in your swales .

And don't forget your dust devils and tornados .

And let's not forget supercells. Thunder storms that can take up half a state; birth of up to a dozen tornadoes.

Your PCs are 3rd. You are riding west across the plains to a small town 12 hours away. A huge storm is coming down on you from the north. A storm heavy with rain and hailstones. Already tornadoes accompany it. Can you ride hard enough to get to safety before the storm hits? A cr 12 storm?

 

[Hand of Evil]

I've put out three monster environment themed books— Monster Geographica: Underground, Monster Geographica: Marsh & Aquatic, and the new Monster Geographica: Forest. If you're looking for monsters by environment, I've got 200 of each.

joe b.

Senond this, these are great!

 

[Romnipotent]

Heres an Idea: Watering Hole a environment book on Taverns and bars.

 

[Sleepy Voiced]

Monster Geographica

D'oh! How could I forget these! I will have to have my FLGS order them for me. I have loved the magical society books, and I think it is a great idea to have Fiery Dragon do counter sets for these books.
Thanks for the reminder MR. Browning!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Heres an Idea: Watering Hole a environment book on Taverns and bars.

I like it!

 

[Turjan]

Your PCs are 3rd. You are riding west across the plains to a small town 12 hours away. A huge storm is coming down on you from the north. A storm heavy with rain and hailstones. Already tornadoes accompany it. Can you ride hard enough to get to safety before the storm hits? A cr 12 storm?

Though this may be a realistic scenario, I try to avoid overwhelming natural catastrophes as direct elements that affect the PCs. I don't think they are much fun, because they are so unavoidable. But that's probably just me .

 

[Corvidae]

i am from kansas and nebraska (home in NE, college in KS) and while i have to say that praries may not be that interesting, they are not the most uninteresting thing out there.

Savanahs are praries. One thing that makes a prarie is relatively low rainfall, few trees (either by fires, or animals) and a flat layout. Now around my hometown we get plenty of rain, and most of the creeks and stuff only dry up in the middle of the summer, but one thing we have plenty of is wind. Without windbreaks, you can get 40-50 mph winds often on a weekly basis at least.

In addition to that, there are often trees on the creeks and such, and there is usually an abundance of wildlife from prarie dogs to rabbits to hawks and falcons. And dont get me started on the bugs. Praries support some of the largest creatures on the planet (american bison and african elephants) and would definately be a source of dire animals.

well, that is my two cents.

john