So what sort of natural obstacles do you have your DWers face? Dragons, owlbears and displacer beasts are nice, but I want things like fjording a stream or scaling a cliff to also be dangerous adventures, especially at low levels. Unfortunately, I can’t think of many more non-mystical issues for adventurers to deal with. Help!
So what sort of natural obstacles do you have your DWers face?
So what sort of natural obstacles do you have your DWers face?
Delapidated rope bridge; squeezing through a cave-in’s rubble without causing the stones to shift; running through woods with a lot of surface roots; climbing a muddy hill in the rain; let your imagination run free.
What environment?
Forest fire. Urban fire. Terrible storm. Flash flood. Crossing a raging river. Blizzard. Navigating past a miles long herd of buffalo. Picking their way through a swamp.
Any environment is helpful, but I most commonly need an Eastern European-esque forest.
Insects, allergies, slightly debilitating temporary illness like a flu or fever brought on by flowers or insects or leaves, natural tree formations that present obstacles or life threatening danger (think impalement, tripping, hiding a giant hole, blinding during a horse chase, distracting you from another unseen threat, old branches falling from above, bee/hornet nests), poison berries or fruit, mud or rock slides, forest fires…
You could try it this way. Imagine you are deep in this forest you’re imagining. Now imagine you awake alone one morning with no memory of how you got there, which way to go to find civilization, and you are both thirsty and starving. What kinds of things can go wrong? What horrible scenarios does your mind cook up for you at night, or in the cold, or inhospitable weather. What kinds of supplies do you wish you had and what are you afraid will happen if you don’t have them but are confronted with a situation where you would need them (like being chased by a bear to the edge of a cliff face but you have no rope and no time to run anywhere else, what do you do?).
Just let your mind run free, imagine you are there and what could go wrong. I don’t know about you but my mind is a scary place when I start throwing doom scenarios at it =D
Fire. Everything’s on fire, or about to burst into flame. My worlds are tinderboxes.
On a more serious note, I love destabilising the environment or the situation. The ground beneath them shifts, something explodes, they are plunged into darkness, an ear shattering cacophony breaks out, a riot breaks out, soldiers or brigands burst into the ball and start making demands, a battle, sometimes the fire is metaphorical.
Quicksand.
From one cost city to another, through a great dessert with a guide, and then the guide dies, whoops!
So you know, sandstorms, lack of water, the shift from hot to cold weather, and all that good fun you find on a nice playground!