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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Schmoe" data-source="post: 423556" data-attributes="member: 913">Well, I view my campaign world as a mix of Dante and Howard, with a dash of Lovecraft.  The majority of the population toils in mundanity, only vaguely aware of the forces that truly shape the world around them.  Powerful creatures and magic act behind the scenes, from perverse abominations, to sinister demons, to corrupted undead horrors.  The Wasted Lands just so happens to be an area of the world in which these abominations and horrors have had freedom to multiply and thrive for several hundred years.So, while to the typical person magic is more mythical than real, magic is quite powerful and quite present.Not that you cared, mind you... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Very true.  The party only has two horses, preferring to do their travelling by foot!  Still, I have a feeling that at least one of those horses may end up on the wrong end of an Anarchic Bulette. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />As the journey will take place during winter, protection from elements is something that they have already addressed.  After the first night that they slept outdoors, unprotected, they started preparing enough Endure Elements spells (lots 'o divine magic) for the party.  Still, I like the idea of something coming to seek out warmth from their fire.  Hmm, maybe the ghost of a former adventurer who died from exposure...Excellent!  I think you have hit the nail on the head.  Milestones are key.  While I want the journey to seem long, tedious, and difficult, I don't want the game to seem that way.  Small milestones along the way, as well as encounters that are more interesting than just your typical random encounter, I think will help to accomplish the feel I'm looking for.Just so you know, here are some more of the encounters I'm anticipating:1.  A band of gnoll rangers performs hit-and-run attacks, always retreating into broken terrain to avoid pursuit.  If the party tracks them down, the gnolls organize an ambush with several dire lions on their side.2.  A patch of gravelands (desecrated, unhallowed), with an Avolakia (MMII) and some attendant undead servants gathering corpses.3.  A ruined keep, home to a vampire sorcerer and his coterie of vampire spawn.  The spawn prowl the surrounding countryside at night, but they can be tracked back to the keep.4.  The party unwittingly disturbs the tunnel complex of a pack of meenlocks (MMII).  The meenlocks pursue the party and torment them with their rend mind ability, awaiting an opportunity to carry one off in the night.5.  An ancient crypt sealed with runes of warding.  The crypt contains a Retriever that was locked away by the forces of good during the War of Ending, but curious PC's can always unleash it.6.  A pack of howlers follows the party night after night.  Their howls bring wandering monsters from the surrounding wastes.  If the howlers have the opportunity, they repeatedly try to creep close enough to cause insanity in the party.  They flee if presented with a determined force.7.  A mezzoloth and his pack of canaloths hunts exotic prey through the wastes.  What could be more exotic, to a mezzoloth, than a pack of adventurers?8.  The Scourge, as he is called in hushed whispers around gnollish fires, was a powerful gnoll - a well scarred Foe Hunter from a tribe that was in constant conflict with the hated dwarves in the western hills.  After months of a grueling campaign against one of the clans, The Scourge led his tribe in an assault on the clan holding while it was thought to be defenseless.  Unfortunately, it was an ambush.  The Scourge was knocked unconscious during the battle and his tribe was slain.  Now he wanders the Wasted Lands like a haunted specter, seeking revenge for the humiliation he suffered at the hands of his hated foe.  While he has a special hatred for dwarves, The Scourge has no qualms about ripping out the throat of any who anger him.  When he appears at a gnoll village, even the tribal pack lords give him a wide berth.  Those who speculate overlong on his past usually turn up missing.  The Scourge - Gnoll Ranger 6/Foe Hunter (Dwarf) 3/Ghostwalker 3The PC's, of course, will most likely encounter this tragic figure.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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