There are sample hazards in the DMG such as Razor Vines which are something that have an AC and hp and potential to cause damage as part of Chapter 5. Along with things like details for thin ice or falling into chilly water, deailng with extreme heat or cold, etc.
There are details around in the books that can be used for this stuff that aren't by a decent majority of the tables. As I said in another thread. If your DM is not using half of the DMG maybe you should be asking why and what you are missing.
So even if these tools are not codified in one specific spot but spread through-out the game. They do certainly exist and can be taken advantage of as a starting off point. The DMG is meant to help make that world that the players from the PHB are going through. And the Monster Manual is meant to help populate that world once it's made. This is why there is a long standing Idea thta you need one book to play the game but three books to run it. And all tables should have copies of all three. even if not all people at the table necessarily reference all 3. This is all from the exploration pillar.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
I don't know about you but I throw in some 1 off random encounters that don't have any set timing they need to take place. A few that are timing based. And some that can be repeated and I just have to do a little on the spot work of how to present it. This means that while I have some events I do have to replace. I only have to replace them based upon when they are used. And i can also have some that get switched out based upon things that either happen in the world or where the party goes in the world.
I also tend to present two or three different major storylines for players to follow But there are breaks in them for other things. i try to break up that "always press forward" mentality if I can and force my parties to look around sometimes.
There are sample hazards in the DMG such as Razor Vines which are something that have an AC and hp and potential to cause damage as part of Chapter 5. Along with things like details for thin ice or falling into chilly water, deailng with extreme heat or cold, etc.
There are details around in the books that can be used for this stuff that aren't by a decent majority of the tables. As I said in another thread. If your DM is not using half of the DMG maybe you should be asking why and what you are missing.
So even if these tools are not codified in one specific spot but spread through-out the game. They do certainly exist and can be taken advantage of as a starting off point. The DMG is meant to help make that world that the players from the PHB are going through. And the Monster Manual is meant to help populate that world once it's made. This is why there is a long standing Idea thta you need one book to play the game but three books to run it. And all tables should have copies of all three. even if not all people at the table necessarily reference all 3. This is all from the exploration pillar.
I really like all of the environmental effects in the DMG like Extreme Heat/Cold, Quicksand, etc. The only issue is they only give you like maybe 10 things to work with. Alot of those things wont work in every environment either (razorvine wont work in a desert with little plant life, quicksand wont work in arctic, thin ice wont appear in a swamp, etc) so for each environment type you only end up having a small handful of things to try and make the environment itself seem perilous before considering what creatures inhabit it. I think Tashas also has a nice tool of giving examples of how certain weather effects can be represented using spells and the introduction of supernatural zones and eldritch storms.
You are right that tools do exist to represent weather and wilderness hazards, but I also think there is alot of room to expand on them for DMs who want to really dig into the exploration pillar and make the environments the party encounters feel more fleshed out and unique.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
There are sample hazards in the DMG such as Razor Vines which are something that have an AC and hp and potential to cause damage as part of Chapter 5. Along with things like details for thin ice or falling into chilly water, deailng with extreme heat or cold, etc.
There are details around in the books that can be used for this stuff that aren't by a decent majority of the tables. As I said in another thread. If your DM is not using half of the DMG maybe you should be asking why and what you are missing.
So even if these tools are not codified in one specific spot but spread through-out the game. They do certainly exist and can be taken advantage of as a starting off point. The DMG is meant to help make that world that the players from the PHB are going through. And the Monster Manual is meant to help populate that world once it's made. This is why there is a long standing Idea thta you need one book to play the game but three books to run it. And all tables should have copies of all three. even if not all people at the table necessarily reference all 3. This is all from the exploration pillar.
I really like all of the environmental effects in the DMG like Extreme Heat/Cold, Quicksand, etc. The only issue is they only give you like maybe 10 things to work with. Alot of those things wont work in every environment either (razorvine wont work in a desert with little plant life, quicksand wont work in arctic, thin ice wont appear in a swamp, etc) so for each environment type you only end up having a small handful of things to try and make the environment itself seem perilous before considering what creatures inhabit it. I think Tashas also has a nice tool of giving examples of how certain weather effects can be represented using spells and the introduction of supernatural zones and eldritch storms.
You are right that tools do exist to represent weather and wilderness hazards, but I also think there is alot of room to expand on them for DMs who want to really dig into the exploration pillar and make the environments the party encounters feel more fleshed out and unique.
I like them too but they are pretty simple and about 8 or so examples so I wouldn't call a DM out for not using them....its not a huge part of the DMG and is easy to overlook.
Most adventures have them built into the running of them or add their own. Like Out of the Abyss has the different Faerzress mechanic which is pretty cool.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
I don't know about you but I throw in some 1 off random encounters that don't have any set timing they need to take place. A few that are timing based. And some that can be repeated and I just have to do a little on the spot work of how to present it. This means that while I have some events I do have to replace. I only have to replace them based upon when they are used. And i can also have some that get switched out based upon things that either happen in the world or where the party goes in the world.
I also tend to present two or three different major storylines for players to follow But there are breaks in them for other things. i try to break up that "always press forward" mentality if I can and force my parties to look around sometimes.
I love having planned encounters that have meaning but presenting them as random encounters when out in the world. This to me is no different than having rooms with encounters in them in a dungeon save for the DM has even more narrative control over their appearance.
I love making random encounters for areas as well, combat, environmental, hazard, puzzle, social, whatever. I use a deck of cards method for the application of random encounters, weather change, and the like. Random encounters should have truly terrible options placed in them, so the party truly has a reason to want to avoid them, if possible, either by not encountering it to begin with or avoiding it if they do. Again this is better for the DM because it’s harder to avoid or go around an overpowered encounter in the confines of a dungeon, while outdoors there are many creative options open to the players. Plus! You get to use the encounter again as the thing(s) is/are still around! Ha!
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
I don't know about you but I throw in some 1 off random encounters that don't have any set timing they need to take place. A few that are timing based. And some that can be repeated and I just have to do a little on the spot work of how to present it. This means that while I have some events I do have to replace. I only have to replace them based upon when they are used. And i can also have some that get switched out based upon things that either happen in the world or where the party goes in the world.
I also tend to present two or three different major storylines for players to follow But there are breaks in them for other things. i try to break up that "always press forward" mentality if I can and force my parties to look around sometimes.
I love having planned encounters that have meaning but presenting them as random encounters when out in the world. This to me is no different than having rooms with encounters in them in a dungeon save for the DM has even more narrative control over their appearance.
I love making random encounters for areas as well, combat, environmental, hazard, puzzle, social, whatever. I use a deck of cards method for the application of random encounters, weather change, and the like. Random encounters should have truly terrible options placed in them, so the party truly has a reason to want to avoid them, if possible, either by not encountering it to begin with or avoiding it if they do. Again this is better for the DM because it’s harder to avoid or go around an overpowered encounter in the confines of a dungeon, while outdoors there are many creative options open to the players. Plus! You get to use the encounter again as the thing(s) is/are still around! Ha!
My Dungeons aren't just static encounters. They have a few basically guaranteed static encounters in certain rooms. They have a few roaming encounters that i keep basic track of based upon the time the party is taking (or how much they stand around and argue) and I have certain encounters that either "spawn" when they do certain things or when they cause certain disturbances and/or Encounters that will start moving once they are "alerted" So a stealthy quiet dungeon crawl is very different than a loud and brash dungeon crawl in the same location. Sometimes one is easier. Sometimes the other is. Depending a lot on how the party uses what they have access to.
Please don’t get me started on a party of adventurers covered in heavy armor stomping through a dungeon that is literally filled with 100 things that want to kill them, or a party that sets off thunder waves and exploding fireballs as well. The idea that everyone just stays in the room there in while they hear this going on is ridiculous.
There are sample hazards in the DMG such as Razor Vines which are something that have an AC and hp and potential to cause damage as part of Chapter 5. Along with things like details for thin ice or falling into chilly water, deailng with extreme heat or cold, etc.
There are details around in the books that can be used for this stuff that aren't by a decent majority of the tables. As I said in another thread. If your DM is not using half of the DMG maybe you should be asking why and what you are missing.
So even if these tools are not codified in one specific spot but spread through-out the game. They do certainly exist and can be taken advantage of as a starting off point. The DMG is meant to help make that world that the players from the PHB are going through. And the Monster Manual is meant to help populate that world once it's made. This is why there is a long standing Idea thta you need one book to play the game but three books to run it. And all tables should have copies of all three. even if not all people at the table necessarily reference all 3. This is all from the exploration pillar.
I really like all of the environmental effects in the DMG like Extreme Heat/Cold, Quicksand, etc. The only issue is they only give you like maybe 10 things to work with. Alot of those things wont work in every environment either (razorvine wont work in a desert with little plant life, quicksand wont work in arctic, thin ice wont appear in a swamp, etc) so for each environment type you only end up having a small handful of things to try and make the environment itself seem perilous before considering what creatures inhabit it. I think Tashas also has a nice tool of giving examples of how certain weather effects can be represented using spells and the introduction of supernatural zones and eldritch storms.
You are right that tools do exist to represent weather and wilderness hazards, but I also think there is alot of room to expand on them for DMs who want to really dig into the exploration pillar and make the environments the party encounters feel more fleshed out and unique.
Do what DM's are supposed to do. Reflavor them. use them as a jumping off point to create your own with them as inspiration. Or create something different and use them as comparitive balance...
The Quick Sand Trap is just as easily used in a Swamp. But you don't call it quicksand. You call it something like a quagmire. The razorvines can be used as bases for say a sharpened rock surface that they either have to figure out how to push past, Or smooth out, and depending on what they are made out of. Simply using move earth isn't necessarily going to work.
Thin ice can become a natural rock bridge high up in the air in the mountains. So Weight is still important to figure out But instead of crashing into chilly water the danger is falling some distance into the canyon. yes Flying could fix this... but flying could fix thin ice to begin with. If you don't want flying perhaps the wind or the weather makes Flying dangerous and it's own risk. Perhaps having potential of blowing the character some distance and splitting the party.
Chilly water could be changed from being Cold to be churning fast moving water in a humid jungle river that is draining on individuals instead.
Not everything has to be in black and white in a book and that's the only way to do it.
I myself have actually turned Razorvines into jagged sharp ice that is un-naturally cold myself And it was in the middle of a village and castle. An Ice Dragon was taking it over and transforming it into his lair. his presence and will was making the whole area cold and dangerous as it transformed the place. What i basically reflavored was the idea of the razorvines from the DMG and an Image of Sleeping Beauties castle but I turned things to a winter theme instead.
Please don’t get me started on a party of adventurers covered in heavy armor stomping through a dungeon that is literally filled with 100 things that want to kill them, or a party that sets off thunder waves and exploding fireballs as well. The idea that everyone just stays in the room there in while they hear this going on is ridiculous.
Its one way of preventing one long combat as soon as one spell goes off. Its not very realistic sure but its also a slog to run 100 things running into the room to kill them too.
I know there is a balance where you have the things still wait in the rooms but set up ambushes.
There are sample hazards in the DMG such as Razor Vines which are something that have an AC and hp and potential to cause damage as part of Chapter 5. Along with things like details for thin ice or falling into chilly water, deailng with extreme heat or cold, etc.
There are details around in the books that can be used for this stuff that aren't by a decent majority of the tables. As I said in another thread. If your DM is not using half of the DMG maybe you should be asking why and what you are missing.
So even if these tools are not codified in one specific spot but spread through-out the game. They do certainly exist and can be taken advantage of as a starting off point. The DMG is meant to help make that world that the players from the PHB are going through. And the Monster Manual is meant to help populate that world once it's made. This is why there is a long standing Idea thta you need one book to play the game but three books to run it. And all tables should have copies of all three. even if not all people at the table necessarily reference all 3. This is all from the exploration pillar.
I really like all of the environmental effects in the DMG like Extreme Heat/Cold, Quicksand, etc. The only issue is they only give you like maybe 10 things to work with. Alot of those things wont work in every environment either (razorvine wont work in a desert with little plant life, quicksand wont work in arctic, thin ice wont appear in a swamp, etc) so for each environment type you only end up having a small handful of things to try and make the environment itself seem perilous before considering what creatures inhabit it. I think Tashas also has a nice tool of giving examples of how certain weather effects can be represented using spells and the introduction of supernatural zones and eldritch storms.
You are right that tools do exist to represent weather and wilderness hazards, but I also think there is alot of room to expand on them for DMs who want to really dig into the exploration pillar and make the environments the party encounters feel more fleshed out and unique.
Do what DM's are supposed to do. Reflavor them. use them as a jumping off point to create your own with them as inspiration. Or create something different and use them as comparitive balance...
The Quick Sand Trap is just as easily used in a Swamp. But you don't call it quicksand. You call it something like a quagmire. The razorvines can be used as bases for say a sharpened rock surface that they either have to figure out how to push past, Or smooth out, and depending on what they are made out of. Simply using move earth isn't necessarily going to work.
Thin ice can become a natural rock bridge high up in the air in the mountains. So Weight is still important to figure out But instead of crashing into chilly water the danger is falling some distance into the canyon. yes Flying could fix this... but flying could fix thin ice to begin with. If you don't want flying perhaps the wind or the weather makes Flying dangerous and it's own risk. Perhaps having potential of blowing the character some distance and splitting the party.
Chilly water could be changed from being Cold to be churning fast moving water in a humid jungle river that is draining on individuals instead.
Not everything has to be in black and white in a book and that's the only way to do it.
I myself have actually turned Razorvines into jagged sharp ice that is un-naturally cold myself And it was in the middle of a village and castle. An Ice Dragon was taking it over and transforming it into his lair. his presence and will was making the whole area cold and dangerous as it transformed the place. What i basically reflavored was the idea of the razorvines from the DMG and an Image of Sleeping Beauties castle but I turned things to a winter theme instead.
Again I would point out that not everyone has a lot of time to prep...the "just do it yourself" approach in 5e gets a bit tiring as DMs are expected to do more and more work to get things to run smoothly.
Sometimes you just want something to pull from for help on a busy week or plans change dramatically and the players do not do what you expect them to.
There are sample hazards in the DMG such as Razor Vines which are something that have an AC and hp and potential to cause damage as part of Chapter 5. Along with things like details for thin ice or falling into chilly water, deailng with extreme heat or cold, etc.
There are details around in the books that can be used for this stuff that aren't by a decent majority of the tables. As I said in another thread. If your DM is not using half of the DMG maybe you should be asking why and what you are missing.
So even if these tools are not codified in one specific spot but spread through-out the game. They do certainly exist and can be taken advantage of as a starting off point. The DMG is meant to help make that world that the players from the PHB are going through. And the Monster Manual is meant to help populate that world once it's made. This is why there is a long standing Idea thta you need one book to play the game but three books to run it. And all tables should have copies of all three. even if not all people at the table necessarily reference all 3. This is all from the exploration pillar.
I really like all of the environmental effects in the DMG like Extreme Heat/Cold, Quicksand, etc. The only issue is they only give you like maybe 10 things to work with. Alot of those things wont work in every environment either (razorvine wont work in a desert with little plant life, quicksand wont work in arctic, thin ice wont appear in a swamp, etc) so for each environment type you only end up having a small handful of things to try and make the environment itself seem perilous before considering what creatures inhabit it. I think Tashas also has a nice tool of giving examples of how certain weather effects can be represented using spells and the introduction of supernatural zones and eldritch storms.
You are right that tools do exist to represent weather and wilderness hazards, but I also think there is alot of room to expand on them for DMs who want to really dig into the exploration pillar and make the environments the party encounters feel more fleshed out and unique.
Do what DM's are supposed to do. Reflavor them. use them as a jumping off point to create your own with them as inspiration. Or create something different and use them as comparitive balance...
The Quick Sand Trap is just as easily used in a Swamp. But you don't call it quicksand. You call it something like a quagmire. The razorvines can be used as bases for say a sharpened rock surface that they either have to figure out how to push past, Or smooth out, and depending on what they are made out of. Simply using move earth isn't necessarily going to work.
Thin ice can become a natural rock bridge high up in the air in the mountains. So Weight is still important to figure out But instead of crashing into chilly water the danger is falling some distance into the canyon. yes Flying could fix this... but flying could fix thin ice to begin with. If you don't want flying perhaps the wind or the weather makes Flying dangerous and it's own risk. Perhaps having potential of blowing the character some distance and splitting the party.
Chilly water could be changed from being Cold to be churning fast moving water in a humid jungle river that is draining on individuals instead.
Not everything has to be in black and white in a book and that's the only way to do it.
I myself have actually turned Razorvines into jagged sharp ice that is un-naturally cold myself And it was in the middle of a village and castle. An Ice Dragon was taking it over and transforming it into his lair. his presence and will was making the whole area cold and dangerous as it transformed the place. What i basically reflavored was the idea of the razorvines from the DMG and an Image of Sleeping Beauties castle but I turned things to a winter theme instead.
Thats what I am doing........with the terrain hex idea Optimus and I have been talking about over the past two pages. Its just that I am also going a step further to prepare these sort of environments ahead of time rather than always being stuck doing it on a case-by-case basis. We are saying it would be nice if a tool like this existed to draw from quickly rather than having to make the whole thing from scratch ourselves. We are saying it would be nice if WotC would give DMs more tools to use to flesh out their exploration rather than just relying on using a handful of options as a "jumping off point." We have several Monster Manual type expansions already which make it so DMs dont have to homebrew a bunch of monsters (or can do so more quickly by having more points to jump off from) so it would be nice if exploration could get a more in-depth tool as well.
If I want to homebrew a new monster, I have hundreds of stat blocks I can use as my jumping off point. If I want to homebrew environments or wilderness hazards or weather conditions, I probably have less than 30 things to use as my jumping off point (if we include the stuff from Tashas).
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
hunt the golden stag. find the unicorn. find the kidnapped race horse. find the lost party or person. harvest a rare dying plant so it doesn't become extinct. find a random resource a town (known to the party) has a had a recent shortage due to main problem.
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
hunt the golden stag. find the unicorn. find the kidnapped race horse. find the lost party or person. harvest a rare dying plant so it doesn't become extinct. find a random resource a town (known to the party) has a had a recent shortage due to main problem.
Find the entrance to the dungeon, find the location of the evil wizard, escort a merchant or lord safely to another city. The possibilities are endless! If the only purpose of the travel is travel, then it will definitely be underwhelming. If travel is essential to, or is it’s self the adventure, it completely changes the purpose and function!
This harkens back to the tried and true lord of the rings argument regarding Mount doom and the Eagles solution.
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
hunt the golden stag. find the unicorn. find the kidnapped race horse. find the lost party or person. harvest a rare dying plant so it doesn't become extinct. find a random resource a town (known to the party) has a had a recent shortage due to main problem.
Find the entrance to the dungeon, find the location of the evil wizard, escort a merchant or lord safely to another city. The possibilities are endless! If the only purpose of the travel is travel, then it will definitely be underwhelming. If travel is essential to, or is it’s self the adventure, it completely changes the purpose and function!
This harkens back to the tried and true lord of the rings argument regarding Mount doom and the Eagles solution.
my first set was for completely random encounters. Where the goal would be survive in a large area until you randomly end up in the same location. but yes all your addons are great ideas.
I know I sound like a snobby elitist grognard when I say this, but the players handbook ranger is designed for a more advanced style of 5E dungeons and dragons play.
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
hunt the golden stag. find the unicorn. find the kidnapped race horse. find the lost party or person. harvest a rare dying plant so it doesn't become extinct. find a random resource a town (known to the party) has a had a recent shortage due to main problem.
Find the entrance to the dungeon, find the location of the evil wizard, escort a merchant or lord safely to another city. The possibilities are endless! If the only purpose of the travel is travel, then it will definitely be underwhelming. If travel is essential to, or is it’s self the adventure, it completely changes the purpose and function!
This harkens back to the tried and true lord of the rings argument regarding Mount doom and the Eagles solution.
In Some ways A good Campaign is like the truth behind the Mount Doom and the Eagles issue. On the surface yes it looks like just fly the eagles in and the whole thing is done. But the truth and the lore when you go looking (the exploration pillar in a nutshell that goes heavily un-noticed by most) Is the reasons why you can't do that and thus you go on a 3 book epic trilogy of land travel and side quests and splitting the party and unexpected rewards to get the job done when the Eagles couldn't have.
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
hunt the golden stag. find the unicorn. find the kidnapped race horse. find the lost party or person. harvest a rare dying plant so it doesn't become extinct. find a random resource a town (known to the party) has a had a recent shortage due to main problem.
Find the entrance to the dungeon, find the location of the evil wizard, escort a merchant or lord safely to another city. The possibilities are endless! If the only purpose of the travel is travel, then it will definitely be underwhelming. If travel is essential to, or is it’s self the adventure, it completely changes the purpose and function!
This harkens back to the tried and true lord of the rings argument regarding Mount doom and the Eagles solution.
In Some ways A good Campaign is like the truth behind the Mount Doom and the Eagles issue. On the surface yes it looks like just fly the eagles in and the whole thing is done. But the truth and the lore when you go looking (the exploration pillar in a nutshell that goes heavily un-noticed by most) Is the reasons why you can't do that and thus you go on a 3 book epic trilogy of land travel and side quests and splitting the party and unexpected rewards to get the job done when the Eagles couldn't have.
also the eagles probably would have been shot by an army of ballista or hunted by nasgul because eagles cant hide in the sky very well. sometimes enemies respond appropriately to player action. (but i wholly agree its about telling a good story)
I am under the impression that quite a lot of people did not care for dungeon of the mad mage. That is probably one of my favorite published adventures. One of my favorite little rule quirks is how they essentially shut down all of the “short cut magic“ for that entire book.
I ran some of it once already, and I am looking forward to running it again soon in its entirety. The parts I ran before I did so at an adventure league location, and I printed off one square inch grid print outs of each level, and had the players play it out in a turn by turn fashion. Much like a board game does, like Clue.
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
hunt the golden stag. find the unicorn. find the kidnapped race horse. find the lost party or person. harvest a rare dying plant so it doesn't become extinct. find a random resource a town (known to the party) has a had a recent shortage due to main problem.
Find the entrance to the dungeon, find the location of the evil wizard, escort a merchant or lord safely to another city. The possibilities are endless! If the only purpose of the travel is travel, then it will definitely be underwhelming. If travel is essential to, or is it’s self the adventure, it completely changes the purpose and function!
This harkens back to the tried and true lord of the rings argument regarding Mount doom and the Eagles solution.
In Some ways A good Campaign is like the truth behind the Mount Doom and the Eagles issue. On the surface yes it looks like just fly the eagles in and the whole thing is done. But the truth and the lore when you go looking (the exploration pillar in a nutshell that goes heavily un-noticed by most) Is the reasons why you can't do that and thus you go on a 3 book epic trilogy of land travel and side quests and splitting the party and unexpected rewards to get the job done when the Eagles couldn't have.
also the eagles probably would have been shot by an army of ballista or hunted by nasgul because eagles cant hide in the sky very well. sometimes enemies respond appropriately to player action. (but i wholly agree its about telling a good story)
The Nazgul are the big part of the problem. The army would be a bit of an issue with it's size. But the Nazgul can challenge the eagles. This is exactly why they couldn't be used. So it would basically end up in a situation where the ring would be captured and Empowering Sauron. And Eagles are trackable by beings like Sauron but the ring would make them even more so. Which is why they couldn't be used and it all had to be done on foot, and the best thing for the eagles to do was primarily stay away and be a sort of distraction that Sauron partly had to keep an eye on to make it harder to keep track of the Fellowship that had the ring. It wasn't until the death of the Witch King at the hands of a woman that snuck into her fathers army, facilitated by the long side arch through Rohan that further facilitated the ability for the eagles to reliably get involved to be on hand to save Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom exploding.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
There are sample hazards in the DMG such as Razor Vines which are something that have an AC and hp and potential to cause damage as part of Chapter 5. Along with things like details for thin ice or falling into chilly water, deailng with extreme heat or cold, etc.
There are details around in the books that can be used for this stuff that aren't by a decent majority of the tables. As I said in another thread. If your DM is not using half of the DMG maybe you should be asking why and what you are missing.
So even if these tools are not codified in one specific spot but spread through-out the game. They do certainly exist and can be taken advantage of as a starting off point. The DMG is meant to help make that world that the players from the PHB are going through. And the Monster Manual is meant to help populate that world once it's made. This is why there is a long standing Idea thta you need one book to play the game but three books to run it. And all tables should have copies of all three. even if not all people at the table necessarily reference all 3. This is all from the exploration pillar.
I don't know about you but I throw in some 1 off random encounters that don't have any set timing they need to take place. A few that are timing based. And some that can be repeated and I just have to do a little on the spot work of how to present it. This means that while I have some events I do have to replace. I only have to replace them based upon when they are used. And i can also have some that get switched out based upon things that either happen in the world or where the party goes in the world.
I also tend to present two or three different major storylines for players to follow But there are breaks in them for other things. i try to break up that "always press forward" mentality if I can and force my parties to look around sometimes.
I really like all of the environmental effects in the DMG like Extreme Heat/Cold, Quicksand, etc. The only issue is they only give you like maybe 10 things to work with. Alot of those things wont work in every environment either (razorvine wont work in a desert with little plant life, quicksand wont work in arctic, thin ice wont appear in a swamp, etc) so for each environment type you only end up having a small handful of things to try and make the environment itself seem perilous before considering what creatures inhabit it. I think Tashas also has a nice tool of giving examples of how certain weather effects can be represented using spells and the introduction of supernatural zones and eldritch storms.
You are right that tools do exist to represent weather and wilderness hazards, but I also think there is alot of room to expand on them for DMs who want to really dig into the exploration pillar and make the environments the party encounters feel more fleshed out and unique.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I like them too but they are pretty simple and about 8 or so examples so I wouldn't call a DM out for not using them....its not a huge part of the DMG and is easy to overlook.
Most adventures have them built into the running of them or add their own. Like Out of the Abyss has the different Faerzress mechanic which is pretty cool.
I love having planned encounters that have meaning but presenting them as random encounters when out in the world. This to me is no different than having rooms with encounters in them in a dungeon save for the DM has even more narrative control over their appearance.
I love making random encounters for areas as well, combat, environmental, hazard, puzzle, social, whatever. I use a deck of cards method for the application of random encounters, weather change, and the like. Random encounters should have truly terrible options placed in them, so the party truly has a reason to want to avoid them, if possible, either by not encountering it to begin with or avoiding it if they do. Again this is better for the DM because it’s harder to avoid or go around an overpowered encounter in the confines of a dungeon, while outdoors there are many creative options open to the players. Plus! You get to use the encounter again as the thing(s) is/are still around! Ha!
I often put things of interest and value only in random encounters. Even the MacGuffin or destination! That way it turns the focus of traveling from just get somewhere to traveling because that is the game/adventure. This, combined with insurmountable challenges, all hiding away within the random encounter table/deck/list, makes for travel in the world just as engaging (for all characters), interesting, purposeful, and mechanically interactive.
My Dungeons aren't just static encounters. They have a few basically guaranteed static encounters in certain rooms. They have a few roaming encounters that i keep basic track of based upon the time the party is taking (or how much they stand around and argue) and I have certain encounters that either "spawn" when they do certain things or when they cause certain disturbances and/or Encounters that will start moving once they are "alerted" So a stealthy quiet dungeon crawl is very different than a loud and brash dungeon crawl in the same location. Sometimes one is easier. Sometimes the other is. Depending a lot on how the party uses what they have access to.
LOL! Yes!
Please don’t get me started on a party of adventurers covered in heavy armor stomping through a dungeon that is literally filled with 100 things that want to kill them, or a party that sets off thunder waves and exploding fireballs as well. The idea that everyone just stays in the room there in while they hear this going on is ridiculous.
Do what DM's are supposed to do. Reflavor them. use them as a jumping off point to create your own with them as inspiration. Or create something different and use them as comparitive balance...
The Quick Sand Trap is just as easily used in a Swamp. But you don't call it quicksand. You call it something like a quagmire. The razorvines can be used as bases for say a sharpened rock surface that they either have to figure out how to push past, Or smooth out, and depending on what they are made out of. Simply using move earth isn't necessarily going to work.
Thin ice can become a natural rock bridge high up in the air in the mountains. So Weight is still important to figure out But instead of crashing into chilly water the danger is falling some distance into the canyon. yes Flying could fix this... but flying could fix thin ice to begin with. If you don't want flying perhaps the wind or the weather makes Flying dangerous and it's own risk. Perhaps having potential of blowing the character some distance and splitting the party.
Chilly water could be changed from being Cold to be churning fast moving water in a humid jungle river that is draining on individuals instead.
Not everything has to be in black and white in a book and that's the only way to do it.
I myself have actually turned Razorvines into jagged sharp ice that is un-naturally cold myself And it was in the middle of a village and castle. An Ice Dragon was taking it over and transforming it into his lair. his presence and will was making the whole area cold and dangerous as it transformed the place. What i basically reflavored was the idea of the razorvines from the DMG and an Image of Sleeping Beauties castle but I turned things to a winter theme instead.
Its one way of preventing one long combat as soon as one spell goes off. Its not very realistic sure but its also a slog to run 100 things running into the room to kill them too.
I know there is a balance where you have the things still wait in the rooms but set up ambushes.
Again I would point out that not everyone has a lot of time to prep...the "just do it yourself" approach in 5e gets a bit tiring as DMs are expected to do more and more work to get things to run smoothly.
Sometimes you just want something to pull from for help on a busy week or plans change dramatically and the players do not do what you expect them to.
Thats what I am doing........with the terrain hex idea Optimus and I have been talking about over the past two pages. Its just that I am also going a step further to prepare these sort of environments ahead of time rather than always being stuck doing it on a case-by-case basis. We are saying it would be nice if a tool like this existed to draw from quickly rather than having to make the whole thing from scratch ourselves. We are saying it would be nice if WotC would give DMs more tools to use to flesh out their exploration rather than just relying on using a handful of options as a "jumping off point." We have several Monster Manual type expansions already which make it so DMs dont have to homebrew a bunch of monsters (or can do so more quickly by having more points to jump off from) so it would be nice if exploration could get a more in-depth tool as well.
If I want to homebrew a new monster, I have hundreds of stat blocks I can use as my jumping off point. If I want to homebrew environments or wilderness hazards or weather conditions, I probably have less than 30 things to use as my jumping off point (if we include the stuff from Tashas).
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
hunt the golden stag. find the unicorn. find the kidnapped race horse. find the lost party or person. harvest a rare dying plant so it doesn't become extinct. find a random resource a town (known to the party) has a had a recent shortage due to main problem.
Find the entrance to the dungeon, find the location of the evil wizard, escort a merchant or lord safely to another city. The possibilities are endless! If the only purpose of the travel is travel, then it will definitely be underwhelming. If travel is essential to, or is it’s self the adventure, it completely changes the purpose and function!
This harkens back to the tried and true lord of the rings argument regarding Mount doom and the Eagles solution.
my first set was for completely random encounters. Where the goal would be survive in a large area until you randomly end up in the same location. but yes all your addons are great ideas.
I know I sound like a snobby elitist grognard when I say this, but the players handbook ranger is designed for a more advanced style of 5E dungeons and dragons play.
😬🤫🤐
In Some ways A good Campaign is like the truth behind the Mount Doom and the Eagles issue. On the surface yes it looks like just fly the eagles in and the whole thing is done. But the truth and the lore when you go looking (the exploration pillar in a nutshell that goes heavily un-noticed by most) Is the reasons why you can't do that and thus you go on a 3 book epic trilogy of land travel and side quests and splitting the party and unexpected rewards to get the job done when the Eagles couldn't have.
also the eagles probably would have been shot by an army of ballista or hunted by nasgul because eagles cant hide in the sky very well. sometimes enemies respond appropriately to player action. (but i wholly agree its about telling a good story)
I am under the impression that quite a lot of people did not care for dungeon of the mad mage. That is probably one of my favorite published adventures. One of my favorite little rule quirks is how they essentially shut down all of the “short cut magic“ for that entire book.
I ran some of it once already, and I am looking forward to running it again soon in its entirety. The parts I ran before I did so at an adventure league location, and I printed off one square inch grid print outs of each level, and had the players play it out in a turn by turn fashion. Much like a board game does, like Clue.
The Nazgul are the big part of the problem. The army would be a bit of an issue with it's size. But the Nazgul can challenge the eagles. This is exactly why they couldn't be used. So it would basically end up in a situation where the ring would be captured and Empowering Sauron. And Eagles are trackable by beings like Sauron but the ring would make them even more so. Which is why they couldn't be used and it all had to be done on foot, and the best thing for the eagles to do was primarily stay away and be a sort of distraction that Sauron partly had to keep an eye on to make it harder to keep track of the Fellowship that had the ring. It wasn't until the death of the Witch King at the hands of a woman that snuck into her fathers army, facilitated by the long side arch through Rohan that further facilitated the ability for the eagles to reliably get involved to be on hand to save Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom exploding.