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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Tricky Dungeons & Dragons Terrain — The Insidiousness Of A Swamp

Tricky Dungeons & Dragons Terrain — The Insidiousness Of A Swamp

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Hello gamers out there. I have the first in a new series of posts for you — Tricky Dungeons & Dragons Terrain. Here we get to examine the elements of nature so you can use them against your players and maybe make them think twice about stepping outside next time. Today we will focus solely on the swamp terrain with other terrains coming later. Feel free to mix up elements if you think it would work in other areas as well.

 

Bring the swamp terrain alive for players

The first thing you want to consider is to use good descriptions of the surroundings. Here is where you need to know what your players like and are willing to cope with. If you spend five minutes describing the tress chances are you players will get bored not scared. Use the time you feel allotted give an eerie description making sure to get in as many of the characters’ senses as you can. Describe the biting insects crawling in their armor the wet feet from being immersed in water. The droning buzz and the stagnant air that fills the nostrils.

terrain

If the water is deep enough you could have an extended trip through the swamp be more perilous as without proper planning or resources the party might not be able to start a fire and without fire there is no getting dry or warm. If these conditions persist it might be enough to prevent sleep which means no getting spells back for the spellcasters. If you have players paying attention to this instead of getting Cheetos you will get them in a good mindset ready for some serious paranoia.

In any decent swamp you will get many factors to use against your characters all because they decided to walk this way. First and foremost there’s difficult terrain. Most character races are not native to swamps or being aquatic so they will move more slowly though the area. Try to get in their heads about how slow they are progressing. If they have an NPC with them heighten their paranoia about it.

Next we have the natural flora and fauna. In other settings this could be happy and delightful. But in a swamp these can be creepy at best or disease ridden at worst. It only takes one failed save to spread a disease and how many flies or mosquitoes can you descend upon them? We can also use creatures that use the swamp as home. Be it creatures that move silently through the water, ones that hide in trees or swim under the water these critters have the advantage and you need to exploit it. Even if it only enables the enemy to get the surprise round each combat it should get the party on edge.

You have to use the natural creatures advantage and take tactics into account. If you have creatures with a climb speed have them high up in the trees miss-ling into the party and make them have to climb up or use their own missiles to bring them down. If you have a small swimming creature give it action like Flyby so it can approach attack and get away in the water where it might not be safe to pursue.

To sum up you can use the terrain every bit as much as adversary as as actual monster.  Just sit back and let the natural surroundings play on the party fears and let the monsters lurking there take advantage of every possible situation it can and before you know it your party will begin to cross off areas of their land map of where they are just not willing to go.

Thanks for tuning in to the first installment of Tricky Terrain I hope you liked it. Until next time, stay nerdy!

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Ted Adams

The nerd is strong in this one. I received my bachelors degree in communication with a specialization in Radio/TV/Film. I have been a table op role player for about 20 years 17 of which with the current group. I have played several itterations of D&D, Mutants and Masterminds 2nd and 3rd editions, Star wars RPG, Shadowrun and World of Darkness. I am an avid fan of books and follow a few authors reading all they write. Favorite author is Jim Butcher I have been an on/off larper for around 15 years even doing a stretch of running my own for a while. I have played a number of Miniature games including Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Heroscape, Mage Knight, Dreamblade and D&D Miniatures. I have practiced with the art of the German long sword with an ARMA group for over 7 years studying the German long sword, sword and buckler, dagger, axe and polearm. By no strecth of the imagination am I an expert but good enough to last longer than the average person if the Zombie apocalypse ever happens. I am an avid fan of board games and dice games with my current favorite being Quarrios.

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