100 Things to Find¸ See & Hear in a Forest
Characters may at some point be travelling through wooded areas¸ whether these be the comparatively tame woods of civilisation or the more dangerous wildwood of the uninhabited regions. Rather than simply glossing over these travels¸ this list provides 100 different encounters that can be used to make travel more interesting. Some of the encounters have the potential to injure Characters or animals whilst others may appear dangerous or more than they seem to be¸ yet not pose any hazard unless the GameMaster decides otherwise. So that the encounters are suitable¸ replace references to flora and fauna with ones appropriate to the region being travelled if needed. The encounters are suitable for any setting¸ from ancient to futuristic¸ all that is needed is for Characters to be travelling through woods. They can be used to simply add descriptions to an area being travelled¸ or might be used as potential adventure hooks. This PDF supports Adobe layers and the page backgrounds and images can be disabled to make printing easier. Here are some sample results: Rope - Dangling from a sturdy branch of a nearby tree is a long piece of frayed rope. The rope is firmly attached to the tree but the bottom end of it has become frayed and it isn't clear whether anything used to be attached to it. (A (Trivial +30%) Survival Test reveals that the rope was used to hang an animal for dressing. There is 5' of usable rope which can be salvaged with another (Trivial +30%) Survival Test.) Ruts - The trail here is heavily rutted¸ suggesting that some vehicles have used it. In dry weather¸ the ruts are hard and a trip hazard. In wet¸ they are filled with water and the mud make progress difficult. (In dry conditions¸ make a (Trivial +30%) Athletics Test to avoid tripping and becoming Prone. In wet weather¸ treat as Hard Terrain¸ see Movement Actions in the Combat chapter in the ZWEIHÄNDER: Revised Core Rulebook¸ and the Character will need to make a (Routine +10%) Athletics Test to avoid tripping¸ becoming Prone and getting a Character and his possessions coated in a layer of mud.) Scent - Undetectable to most sentients¸ unless they have an exceptional sense of smell¸ there is a strong scent of a predator animal in this area. Mounts and other animals that would be disturbed by such will start behaving skittishly and become harder to control¸ unless well trained. (Characters leading or riding animals will need to perform a (Standard +/-0%) Handle Animal Test to make sure they keep moving and don't panic. Sentients will need to make a (Challenging -10%) Awareness Test to detect the scent¸ without magical assistance or natural ability¸ such as the Seventh Sense of Humans.) Silence - All the wildlife in the nearby area suddenly goes quiet¸ suggesting that they may have been frightened by a predator of some type. (An (Easy +20%) Folklore Test can be used to confirm this and an (Easy +20%) Awareness Test will give a rough idea as to the direction the predator is in.) Slime - A nearby patch of ground is covered in dozens of slime trails¸ left behind by the many slugs¸ both large and small¸ in the area. Two pages are the covers.