Swamps in TTRPGs

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  • Опубліковано 11 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 237

  • @FanOfMostEverything
    @FanOfMostEverything Рік тому +528

    Treating the environment as a character in its own right is a genuinely great way to make sure it contributes to the experience. Thanks for the tip and the outstanding examples!

    • @philipnyqvist2
      @philipnyqvist2 Рік тому +2

      No problem!

    • @Brass319
      @Brass319 Рік тому

      One of my favorite parts of the video was the frog idea. Got me thinking, and I think I might throw a frog version of rakna-kadaki from monster hunter at my players

    • @deer8071
      @deer8071 Рік тому

      It’s even better cuz I’m currently working on a city that happens to be named after someone I know.

    • @The_Bearded_Lion
      @The_Bearded_Lion Рік тому +2

      Honestly this gives me an idea to actually make the environment its own character, and have the land itself be inhabited and imbued by minor gods. Maybe if you go out of your way to slay one of the gods of an area of land, the land slowly corrupts back into a state of flat white void with nothing but the sky above it.

  • @fakjbf3129
    @fakjbf3129 Рік тому +365

    The party is traveling through the swamp and they find the half submerged ruins of a castle. They continue on and discover a second ruined castle lying under the water. A bit further along they find a third castle, this one apparently burned down, fell over and then sank into the swamp. And then finally they come across the fourth one, and that one had stayed up!

    • @toddkes5890
      @toddkes5890 Рік тому +27

      I thought they were stacked on top of each other?

    • @billymondragon3605
      @billymondragon3605 Рік тому +29

      Aye but what about the great big tracts of land!

    • @Deathven1482
      @Deathven1482 Рік тому +9

      @@toddkes5890 you are correct

    • @fakjbf3129
      @fakjbf3129 Рік тому +32

      @@toddkes5890 I actually looked up the quote and it doesn’t specify. He just says he built one, it fell over, and then he built the next one. That could mean he built them one on top of another, but it could also mean he built them in new places each time.

    • @helios9589
      @helios9589 Рік тому +10

      Is this Loss?

  • @gabrielrussell5531
    @gabrielrussell5531 Рік тому +101

    I plan on including a swamp that was warped by the energies of the abyss. The residents are called "Floridafolk".

    • @ollikoskinen1
      @ollikoskinen1 Рік тому +12

      I bet you'll base the random encounters on Florida man news articles?

    • @spookifyr
      @spookifyr Рік тому +1

      Floridians

  • @ianyoder2537
    @ianyoder2537 Рік тому +94

    Personally I think environmental hazards are an under rated threat and swamps are perfect for low to mid level encounters with environmental hazards. Imagine fighting a gang of bullywugs in thick mud that acts as difficult train or could swallow cause you to drown if knocked prown. But the bullywugs are not affected in the slightest, it even makes them stronger by protecting them from fire damage. That's how you use low level monsters to threaten mid level players.

  • @lucajumper5154
    @lucajumper5154 Рік тому +73

    I'd love to see more of this. It feels like world building 101 with examples which are always great. Thank you kind sir!

  • @giantotter319
    @giantotter319 Рік тому +61

    In Fall I had a session set in a swamp. I had the party fight a Vrock, turns out flying is kind of useful in a muddy terrain.

  • @cinnabunz1532
    @cinnabunz1532 Рік тому +30

    Babe wake up new runesmith

  • @jackielinde7568
    @jackielinde7568 Рік тому +42

    Thanks, Runesmith. Now I have Smash Mouth running through my head.

  • @nikiterburriter
    @nikiterburriter Рік тому +21

    I was planning having my players go through a swamp, now I know what to do, thanks smithy

  • @Amadeus451
    @Amadeus451 Рік тому +2

    Shambling mound and will-o-wisps are a potent combination in swamps. The shock damage that wisps do will heal and buff the plant mounds and the group will suddenly start paying more attention (especially if one or two players fail perception and end up halfway in the mound to start combat).

  • @BerzerkerRush
    @BerzerkerRush Рік тому +2

    I designed a swamp in my campaign that’s populated primarily with a few crocodilian people. A hag lives at its center, and using the body of a baby she tricked a local many years ago into giving her, she makes a Letiche. Letiche are creatures from Cajun mythology that are said to be the souls of bastard infants which fuse with gators to create unholy monsters which rock boats and drown those who dare enter the swamp. I revised it a bit to be a bit of a mix of giant crocodile with some of the mimicry of a Leucrotta. The party might be hired to investigate the sounds of a crying baby deep in the swamp only to find the horrid monster waiting in ambush for them.

  • @necrosisthenecromancer1058
    @necrosisthenecromancer1058 Рік тому +1

    2:01 when you showed that video of insects outside that patio my first thought was “ok time to grab both the flamethrower and the fire extinguisher to both kill the insects and stop any fire that I make in killing them

  • @cyndrr6158
    @cyndrr6158 Рік тому +5

    I love how you mentioned treating the environment like a character! I'm currently working to make more interesting stories/encounters by incorporating the environment more, so this was really helpful! I might add a thing or two from this into my weather system I'm working on for 5e combat :)

  • @nikolaiandersson6024
    @nikolaiandersson6024 Рік тому +11

    I like the encounter at the end. Currently working on a desert campaign myself.

  • @Jarulf4477
    @Jarulf4477 Рік тому +1

    Shrek and Avatar in a swamp episodes? Welp, you ticked all the right boxes in my book.

  • @HalfbitShirlock
    @HalfbitShirlock Рік тому +29

    I’m from Louisiana. So I’ve seen a few swamps. It would be interesting to also add an environmental hazard that anytime players want to cross a waterlogged part of the swamp, they have a chance to just not find the bottom.

  • @saeedrazavi4428
    @saeedrazavi4428 Рік тому +14

    Fantastic video. Would love to see one on forests next (not particularly dark forests, although that's a valid variant)

  • @wolfnerd4984
    @wolfnerd4984 Рік тому +1

    I made some mosquito folk for my campaign with some traits pulled from vampire spawn and a little bit from bug monsters. All the other swamp folk have a superstition that they somehow control the mosquito populations and thus mutter curses whenever they’re brought up.

  • @nostromojacques5453
    @nostromojacques5453 Рік тому +7

    I personally reccomend your channel to anyone I meet who wants to become a storyteller or better, a DM. Continue as always, love your content, it's mind-opening and such a wonderful ... i don't know the word XD (sry, english no my primary language)

  • @ibiokid
    @ibiokid Рік тому +1

    I loved this idea! I learned about treating "anything" (like a location like this) as a character from the Fate rpg. In that game, one of its "secret rules" is that anything can be represented as a character, with skills, aspects, and special abilities!

  • @rkthekid621
    @rkthekid621 Рік тому

    I was planning a haunted mansion session for Halloween, loosely taking nods from the Disneyland attraction. The Disney manor is in a New Orleans section, which honestly translates to a cool swamp concept. Having the submerged mansion, maybe the remains of an old town and riverboat, and creepy mediums that can talk to ghosts and try to drive out the party.

  • @michaelsimms7396
    @michaelsimms7396 Рік тому +2

    Now that wizards of the coast are scared they need to stay that way

  • @craniifer
    @craniifer Рік тому +1

    I love swamps! Not just in games, but in real life as well. They're fascinating biomes that are often not given enough attention to detail.

  • @UnNuclear
    @UnNuclear Рік тому +1

    I really enjoy the scenarios and quests you throw together. I would love to see a whole episode with just rapid fire ideas.

  • @remyfate3005
    @remyfate3005 Рік тому +1

    I'm known as the master that puts swamps, if its a forest they just call it a light skin swamp, a city a concrete swamp and so on...

  • @helmuth251
    @helmuth251 Рік тому +1

    I Love videos like this!

  • @justneededausername1533
    @justneededausername1533 Рік тому +3

    I was already making a homebrew world that’s mostly swamp called Florinda - losing my mind that this is the latest video- very useful though!

  • @lbrett7054
    @lbrett7054 Рік тому +1

    I always use current environment to the current situation, giving the party hell or giving them a nice experience. This inspired me experiment a bit more on the possibilities, the Battle of Ramree Island is my favourite ww2 battle and this video gave me the idea to try a put it in dnd.

  • @1Soulmaster1
    @1Soulmaster1 Рік тому +4

    There's gonna be a shrek reference isn't there?-sees thumbnail- Off to a great start

  • @EstradusTheDragon
    @EstradusTheDragon Рік тому +1

    One of my favorite old 3.x precon adventures is set in a swamp: the great halfing bayou race (Source: dreadmire, a giant swamp setting handbook from spellbinder games), where the party winds up having to be the crew for a halfling's boat as they engage in some wacky racers but in a swamp hijinks. Its got lizardmen, giant spiders, leeches, explosive swamp gas, just dozens of weird encounters all framed around around a fun set peice.
    The whole book is kind of a trip, with a lot of fun ideas and a lot of questionable jank. Could be fun for idea hunting in newer editions or actually using if you're still stuck in the past like me!

  • @steve-ru9sy
    @steve-ru9sy Рік тому +15

    It's good to finally see some Florida representation on this channel 😂

  • @Wesrulez69
    @Wesrulez69 Рік тому +1

    So glad you’re back! Full steam ahead!

  • @crapphone7744
    @crapphone7744 Рік тому

    Excellent content with great, actionable ideas. Plze keep it up!

  • @gator_teeth
    @gator_teeth Рік тому

    Gonna be running a three-shot set in a super unforgiving jungle location and this really helped out a lot. The trudge through the jungle isn't just a backdrop, it's the focal point. The jungle is more of a hindrance than any of the displacer beasts or dinosaurs I'll be throwing at the party.

  • @ClockworkOuroborous
    @ClockworkOuroborous Рік тому

    I really recommending looking into Delecti's Swamp from Runequest's Glorantha setting. Long story short, Delecti is an ancient necromancer who body hops to keep from getting pulled into the afterlife. He's been experimenting for centuries and there's things like dinosaur zombies, whales, etc. in his swamp. That's deep inland. He's also created his own version of vampires to serve him. Fun stuff.

  • @disgruntledbob2812
    @disgruntledbob2812 Рік тому

    My players just had a whole arc in a swamp, wish I had seen this vid before its got some great tips!
    Ones I’ll make sure to use when they return or be literally anywhere

  • @potatothings374
    @potatothings374 Рік тому

    I've been building a campaign around an organization terrorizing a great forest, lead by a black dragon who's corrupting it into swamp land. This is exactly the inspiration I needed, thank you, you absolute legend

  • @marcusblacknell-andrews1783
    @marcusblacknell-andrews1783 Рік тому +2

    This environment is enough to inspire a new multiclass: A "Circle of Spores" Druid x "Way of Mercy" Monk.
    This multiclass could create a witchdoctor character for a Swamp Encounter.

    • @spottedslash4256
      @spottedslash4256 Рік тому +1

      A Land Swamp Druid could do just that on it's own though. If you don't want to multi-class that is. But i see what your trying to do. 👌

  • @neuro.bivergent
    @neuro.bivergent Рік тому +2

    Glad to have you back Mr.Smith

  • @Lyze
    @Lyze Рік тому

    I had a swamp in a campaign I ran that started out as just a throw away location but grew into one of the most important places in terms of lore and locations of import.
    The campaign just started, the characters were fresh and I wanted them to go do something of relevance for the town they were in to establish a contact that would be giving out campaign plot relevant quests so decided they'd get a job to recover old records from an abandoned outpost. I look on the map (custom world) and see a spot a river goes through that's relatively nearby and doesn't have anything going on for future storyline so I drew a little blob in around a point of the river and labeled it '_____swamp', a space left open to name the thing later.
    Party goes off on adventure, they head into swamp and I'm just making up random encounters. I decide to roll the chart just to see what comes up for inspiration and 'Yaunti' shows up. The characters were still early level and that sounded like it'd be a bit tough so rerolled and got undead skeletons. So I thought, hmm, I'll combine the two together and it became an encounter with undead yuanti skeletons with one being garbed like a priest. They were pretty bog standard skellies but for flavoring I emphasized their 'yauntiness' in terms of dress and apearance. The party wins, I roll treasure, it was a tough fight for them and fudge it a bit by giving them an extra magic item on loot table rolls. End up with cursed bracer of something, can't remember but I felt bad so instead changed it that the bracer's curse makes the person start taking on physical characteristics (scales, fang, etc) that would become more pronounced as the curse ran it's curse (character levels). I thought it would be interesting curse, a mix of bonuses with severe social negatives.
    The player running the drow mage infected (it was an evil party campaign) decided that instead of looking for a cure, he was going to lean into it. He decided that his calling the world was to genocide all th yaun-ti in the world, including himself, as they are all tainted abominations, again including himself, and he would do so by infiltrating them from within and rising to the top of the social hierarchy. He declared himself The False Prophet.
    He was level 1 by the way, and already had a character long term plan for a world shaking event. Well done.
    That turned into a major B plot, his search for, research on and subversion of Yuan-ti cults.
    That swamp now had some distinction and due to the geography of the area, it became a re-occurring location for remote, desolate and/or 'lost world' orient plot points. After a while I realized that this one tiny swamp was busy as hell, having undead, lizardmen, feral cannibal halfings who wear goblin skin masks, a couple of Eldricth horrors and the world setting's Baba Yaga too. And it was just some swamp I threw in just cause I needed it for one quest. Fun when stuff happens organically like that.

  • @brianmoyachiuz905
    @brianmoyachiuz905 Рік тому +2

    Somebody once told me

  • @Tortferngatr
    @Tortferngatr Рік тому +1

    For the Pathfinder players: don’t forget Leshies! Always remember that Leshies are a thing for wild settings.

  • @zmishiymishi5349
    @zmishiymishi5349 Рік тому

    good to hear you

  • @vagrant2863
    @vagrant2863 Рік тому

    One thing I notice people never mention is that wetlands have a lot of variation. Moors, marshes, bogs, and fens all have subtle differences. Marshes being among the standouts here due to being very flat and having few trees. Use the differences to your advantage!

  • @Shadowrunner123
    @Shadowrunner123 Рік тому

    Why did the formal "goodbye." fucking send me, thank you for this joyous laughter.

  • @ImJiinxx
    @ImJiinxx Рік тому

    Love that you are releasing more Videos again, thank you🙏😁

  • @Death_Wish
    @Death_Wish Рік тому +4

    I think you found your new series!!! I’d love to see one of these for each biome (especially the under dark). If you looking for a name I’d mirror your basically (monster) series and go with advancely (biome)

  • @ASquared544
    @ASquared544 Рік тому +1

    Man, this video would’ve been fantastic a month ago when my party went to a swamp

  • @Gollvieg
    @Gollvieg Рік тому

    I have a campaign going on where the Empire the PCs come from committed a war crime against two separate Kingdoms of elves by diverting a major river, turning one Kingdom into a desert and the other into a swamp. Just to make sure the now swamp elves do not get too comfortable in their poisoned, stagnant bog, Lizardfolk were encouraged to move in.

  • @gmkgoat
    @gmkgoat Рік тому

    Wetlands are great, man. Probably my favorite biome, even above mountains.

  • @spanner5686
    @spanner5686 Рік тому +1

    Now I have to add a swamp, thanks Runester

  • @tamaraschmeling7361
    @tamaraschmeling7361 Рік тому +1

    I feel spoiled having this many videos come out so soon after each other.

  • @NimbusEntry
    @NimbusEntry Рік тому +2

    Honestly, if you are looking at possibly doing pathfinder, I HIGHLY recommend sinking your teeth some of the lore/setting books Paizo releases. They are 1000x better than any setting content that WotC ever puts out and is all REALLY interesting and well fleshed out. They arent gonna be valuable to 95% of the userbase who either run homebrew settings or are only ever players, but its great content for those who want inspiration for homebrew, this sort of youtube content, or actually want to play in Golarian

  • @CSDragon
    @CSDragon Рік тому +1

    Swamps are easy, for every 4 of them there's a Phyrexian Obliterator chilling about

  • @socialwizard
    @socialwizard Рік тому

    actually perfect timing. i'm hosting a session on friday where the group will be exploring a swamp planet for the first time!

  • @JayeLime
    @JayeLime Рік тому

    Thank god for this video, I was just about to throw my party into a swamp

  • @andreashesseerichsen438
    @andreashesseerichsen438 Рік тому +1

    I used this for an awesome lizard folk encounter now my players have a Pet giant lizard

  • @Braincain007
    @Braincain007 Рік тому

    Me, a Louisianian: Ah yes now I can finally run a d&d game that reminds me of home.
    But in seriousness, to add to this I want to say that swamp folklore is also something to think about. Ghosts and Spirits are said to inhabit the swamp, and idea swamp witches come from the practitioners of VooDoo out in the swamps outside New Orleans (we call em Voodoo queens).
    I think the game "Gabrial Knight: Sins of the Father" does a great job showing off how you could use the dark nature of VooDoo in you'd own D&D games.

  • @citizensguard3433
    @citizensguard3433 Рік тому

    YOU'RE THE CHOSEN ONE, LOGAN!
    This is the EXACT video I needed, at the EXACT time I needed it!

  • @shadow8928
    @shadow8928 Рік тому

    Swamp gas enhancing EVERY fire based action (like fireball) would be funny :p

  • @batham1185
    @batham1185 Рік тому

    I really like this kind of video, I’d love to see more in the future.
    Have you ever thought about doing a video about dinosaurs and how to use them?

  • @Isamu27298
    @Isamu27298 Рік тому

    Its so good to have you back

  • @remingtonwright6796
    @remingtonwright6796 Рік тому

    Been rewatching your "basically" series to get my Logan fix, and came to the realization that we do not yet have a "basically goblins".

  • @MangocheeseLlama
    @MangocheeseLlama Рік тому

    Alligator tastes like chicken but you have to pound the meat so that it’s extra transparent. Make sure the meat doesn’t group together it makes it too chewy. I personally like dipping it in egg and flour and salt.

  • @FreedomAndPeaceOnly
    @FreedomAndPeaceOnly Рік тому +1

    Runesmith upload, _LETS GOOOOOOO!!!!_ 😆
    🍵😌👌

  • @parttimehero8640
    @parttimehero8640 Рік тому +1

    Man can't wait to send my #Pathfinder 2e group into a nasty and bug filled swamp

  • @ryankunst668
    @ryankunst668 Рік тому

    I really love the idea of the hillbilly matriarch froghemoth who lounges in their backwater shanty house and has a small army of spawn who do her bidding.

  • @anthonycapitano6103
    @anthonycapitano6103 Рік тому

    Always enjoy your videos!

  • @lumbermac5998
    @lumbermac5998 Рік тому

    Confirming now that alligator is fire. Been eating it my whole life. It tastes like chicken and pork put together.

  • @ChartreuseDan
    @ChartreuseDan Рік тому

    Ttrpg deliverance, gotcha, can do. I'll make sure the players know it was your idea 😁👍

  • @abasynjhera1429
    @abasynjhera1429 Рік тому

    surinam toad froghemoth is amazing thanks for that idea

  • @fernandozavaletabustos205
    @fernandozavaletabustos205 Рік тому

    I am glad you are back!

  • @caosisaac
    @caosisaac Рік тому

    I was dming a game where my players were in a swamp in the feywilds trying to get information from a coven of green hags; trying to find an elf soldier that had gone missing. The hags had the soldier as a pet inside a birdcage and my players actually managed to make a deal that got the soldier back, but then when the hags had a group of perytons they used to guard their home fly down to carry them out one of the players thought they were under attack and took a swipe at a peryton. Of course full scale combat and chaos broke out after that.
    One of my druid players decided to try out the conjure woodland beings strat to summon a couple pixies to transform the pali and barb into t-rexes. It worked but concentration broke on conjure woodland beings soon after. I decided since they were in the feywild the pixies didnt vanish; just were no longer under control of the druid. The pixies found the combat entertaining to watch so held their concentration on polymorph; and decided to rob the coven of hags as they were dealing with the party. Pretty fun and chaotic session.

  • @alessandropereira4976
    @alessandropereira4976 Рік тому

    POV: Runesmith just watched Shrek and now you’ll watch him talking about an excuse to use shrek’s scenes

  • @marcogenovesi8570
    @marcogenovesi8570 Рік тому

    It's good to see you are back on track

  • @joshuaturnquist5538
    @joshuaturnquist5538 Рік тому

    Finally, respect for the Froghemoth.

  • @christopherrivera1214
    @christopherrivera1214 Рік тому

    great video love the content

  • @keithjones5568
    @keithjones5568 Рік тому +1

    Alligator is tasty, it's got a neutral fish flavor... However, the meat is texturally similar to chicken.
    Plus also, great video.

  • @nonya9120
    @nonya9120 Рік тому

    Geezer here... Many sessions out yet, but I am planning to use the old, Airship down. Should put the kittens off into swamp lands. Game on.

  • @librarianseth5572
    @librarianseth5572 Рік тому

    I came up with a concept for a campaign that's just seeing how many obscure player races you can cram into an isolated plateau, and I think your swamp advice fits pretty well. I'm going to share what I have so far, if anyone wants to add their notes.
    There are two races of pterosaur people living on the tepui/plateau above a village, and the village relies greatly on trade from the isolated culture of reptiles. These two races have a social hierarchy that separates the wingless pterrans from the winged Pterafolk, and for as long as anyone can remember this hasn't stopped their culture from functioning. When your adventurers visit the village at the foot of the plateau, everyone is worried because trade with the pterosaur people has suddenly ceased, and once your players begin to investigate they see that the two races have become locked in a war for dominance.

  • @tomjohnson9674
    @tomjohnson9674 Рік тому

    Interesting... thanks. I actually have the party going to look in a swamp for a lich's phylactery which is guarded by a black dragon. Thanks for tips on how to use the actual enviorment,

  • @thekalechipsvendetta
    @thekalechipsvendetta Рік тому

    Lego reference apprecited

  • @bce6936
    @bce6936 Рік тому +1

    i love you so much, welcome back

  • @the_well-known_stranger2275

    Runesmith is back!!!

  • @theworstspeedrunner
    @theworstspeedrunner Рік тому

    Swamp ent that's massive

  • @fateric007
    @fateric007 Рік тому

    Bring the spell Water Walk. Worked for us.

  • @Thrashmetaltherapy
    @Thrashmetaltherapy Рік тому

    2:35 fucking killed me man lmfao

  • @lumbersnackenterprises
    @lumbersnackenterprises Рік тому

    I find that Swamp Water tastes like E. Coli

  • @icarusstudio6960
    @icarusstudio6960 Рік тому

    Well! That's my trypophobia triggered 😂

  • @jacobc8019
    @jacobc8019 Рік тому

    Where the Lizardfolk chill 😊💚

  • @spensirmclife6549
    @spensirmclife6549 Рік тому

    Man just as I ended my campaign set in a swamp

  • @felixpeters2001
    @felixpeters2001 Рік тому

    Love swamps
    they are good

  • @anthonyambrose7830
    @anthonyambrose7830 Рік тому

    The return of the rune king

  • @Klint_Izwudd
    @Klint_Izwudd Рік тому

    What people don't take into account with swamps, exhaustion.
    Aside from it being 3 times as hard to walk, where are you going to sleep? How are you going to dry yourself off? How do you stay warm?
    Magic? Shut up. No wizards allowed.

  • @Fallenmonkd20
    @Fallenmonkd20 Рік тому

    That's the last way I expected to Cameo in one of your videos

  • @malcolmgreene8830
    @malcolmgreene8830 Рік тому +1

    Remember folks after you fight a swamp dragon make sure you partake in the meat🥩 and IRL those leathery bastards taste good👌🏽👌🏽😎

  • @jaimeanguixdiaz1577
    @jaimeanguixdiaz1577 Рік тому +2

    Day 43 asking Runesmith to do a Basically Theros.

  • @SitInTheShayd
    @SitInTheShayd Рік тому

    Basically froghemoths? Pretty please Mr Rune man

  • @natejoseph4121
    @natejoseph4121 Рік тому

    Good to hear your voice again

  • @xyreniaofcthrayn1195
    @xyreniaofcthrayn1195 Рік тому

    dissapointed the humble lord of the swamp catfish wasnt mentioned oversized catfish are the number one death by swamp creature because fishermen. Dem bounties are astronomically well paid.