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Mendicant
2017-07-13, 10:59 PM
The purpose of this thread is to brainstorm hazards and crises for a band of wilderness explorers that goes beyond dangerous local fauna. No need to limit ideas to strictly Earthlike conditions either--the killer storms of an alien planet or the wild hunt that races across a faerie realm are welcome too.

1. Dangerous local fauna, such as angry bears or a hungry wampa.
2. A flash flood in a rocky gorge.
3. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
4. Vast fields of beautiful flowers with highly toxic pollen.
5. Hill Giants tossing boulders as a game, heedless of puny humans who might all die if the rocks fall.
6. An atmosphere rich in a heavy gas like xenon that can turn asphyxiating in low-lying areas or depressions. If the wind drops explorers either need oxygen tanks with them or they need to get to high ground fast.

7. Raining diamonds in a storm with super sonic winds
8. Meteor bombardment storm
9. Solar flare that knocks out all electronics (admittedly this does happen on the Earth)

10. Falling trees in a windy forest.
11. Lightning strikes.
12. Heavy rain, bringing visibility back to maybe a few dozen meters and cooling characters off quickly.
13. Strong winds, compounding above problem and forcing balance checks on any path near:
14. Cliffs and steep declines.
15. Rock walls and steep inclines that need to be climbed.
16. Glaciers, hiding deep cracks covered up in a layer of snow.
17. A raging river.
18. Rocks fall, and you know what happens next.
19. Acidic and hot crater lakes.
20. Traps set by hunters.

21.Parasites that promote extremely aggressive behavior.
22. Acidic ordinary puddles.
23. A Von Neumann machine doing its harvesting. (Also possible on earth, but not widely associated with the fantasy genre.)

24. Dense fog in broken terrain.
25. Bandits.
26. Corrupt game wardens.
27. Poisonous plants.
28. Exposure ailments like trench foot and frostbite.
29. Sunstroke and dehydration.
30. A coven of hags who prey on travelers.
31. Faerie circles.

32. mating season for large dangerous animal, making them more agressive then normal
33. local wolfpack have united under a direwolf and are growing bold
34. local bridge has fallen apart/been taken out, either choose to search for a crossing or attempt to navigate the water there
35. angry druid
36. fungus has infested food supplies
37. seemingly recently abandoned campsite, everything looks really inviting for a nap, it's an illusion be a hostile spirit
38. old woman cries out for help and says that bandits are attacking her children, there are no bandits and children are hungry werewolves
39. local tree is focus point for druid cult that brings blood sacrfices to it, tree has over time transformed into evil genus locci
40. local tree was focus point for bloody druid cult which was wiped out by heroes, after that a bloodthirsty bandit was hung from it but his body disappeared after a day and now every once in a while folk from the nearby village have gone missing.

41. Quicksand. Simple and terrible.
42. Sandstorm if traversing the desert
43. Giant ant-lion beasts in the desert, just waiting for the party.
44. A mossy, overgrown cave the party heads into for shelter turns out to be the entrance to an ancient tomb filled with undead.
45. A little woodland cemetary, where the dead have started to become restless.
46. An enchanted forest that slowly begins to turn anyone traversing through it into a tree.
47. A magical fungus that grows and spreads at an incredible rate and will attempt to grow on the adventurers (or their gear) as they sleep.
48. A corrosive fog that will slowly cause the adventurer's gear to rust, rot and decay, though will be harmless to the adventurers themselves.

49. A beautiful misty forest, a little quieter than usual, where everything looks just so serene. It's a wonderful place that supports all living things, allowing creatures to go without food for weeks, to walk on broken legs and to continue their adventures even with mortal wounds like a half decapitated head. The effect wears off pretty quickly ones outside the forest.
50. A swamp that feeds on arrogance, the more you have the faster you sink. It borders a vine straddled forest that feeds on self doubt.
51. Something is watching you. You are reminded of this several times per session, at key moments.
52. After years and years of facing them, the wolves have learned how to make and use traps.
53. A space whale pod goes for some atmospheric flight on a feeding frenzy.

Mastikator
2017-07-13, 11:38 PM
Wait, non-Earth hazards are permitted? In that case...

7. Raining diamonds in a storm with super sonic winds
8. Meteor bombardment storm
9. Solar flare that knocks out all electronics (admittedly this does happen on the Earth)

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-07-14, 12:04 AM
Sounds like these will become two different lists.

For the earth one:

Falling trees in a windy forest.
Lightning strikes.
Heavy rain, bringing visibility back to maybe a few dozen meters and cooling characters off quickly.
Strong winds, compounding above problem and forcing balance checks on any path near:
Cliffs and steep declines.
Rock walls and steep inclines that need to be climbed.
Glaciers, hiding deep cracks covered up in a layer of snow.
A raging river.
Rocks fall, and you know what happens next.
Acidic and hot crater lakes.
Traps set by hunters.

For alien planets:

Parasites that promote extremely aggressive behavior.
Acidic ordinary puddles.
A Von Neumann machine doing its harvesting. (Also possible on earth, but not widely associated with the fantasy genre.)

Mendicant
2017-07-14, 10:44 PM
24. Dense fog in broken terrain.
25. Bandits.
26. Corrupt game wardens.
27. Poisonous plants.
28. Exposure ailments like trench foot and frostbite.
29. Sunstroke and dehydration.
30. A coven of hags who prey on travelers.
31. Faerie circles.

a_flemish_guy
2017-07-15, 01:43 AM
all for (fantasy) earth

32: mating season for large dangerous animal, making them more agressive then normal
33: local wolfpack have united under a direwolf and are growing bold
34: local bridge has fallen apart/been taken out, either choose to search for a crossing or attempt to navigate the water there
35: angry druid
36: fungus has infested food supplies
37: seemingly recently abandoned campsite, everything looks really inviting for a nap, it's an illusion be a hostile spirit
38: old woman cries out for help and says that bandits are attacking her children, there are no bandits and children are hungry werewolves
39: local tree is focus point for druid cult that brings blood sacrfices to it, tree has over time transformed into evil genus locci
40: local tree was focus point for bloody druid cult which was wiped out by heroes, after that a bloodthirsty bandit was hung from it but his body dissapeared after a day and now every once in a while folk from the nearby village have gone missing (maybe more a short search and rescue mission then a one-off encounter but still interesting also tree is still evil genus locci that wants blood sacrifices)

Chijinda
2017-07-15, 02:21 AM
41. Quicksand. Simple and terrible.
42. Sandstorm if traversing the desert
43. Giant ant-lion beasts in the desert, just waiting for the party.
44. A mossy, overgrown cave the party heads into for shelter turns out to be the entrance to an ancient tomb filled with undead.
45. A little woodland cemetary, where the dead have started to become restless.
46. An enchanted forest that slowly begins to turn anyone traversing through it into a tree.
47. A magical fungus that grows and spreads at an incredible rate and will attempt to grow on the adventurers (or their gear) as they sleep.
48. A corrosive fog that will slowly cause the adventurer's gear to rust, rot and decay, though will be harmless to the adventurers themselves.

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-07-15, 08:11 AM
Some more "out there" scenarios:
49. A beautiful misty forest, a little quieter than usual, where everything looks just so serene. It's a wonderful place that supports all living things, allowing creatures to go without food for weeks, to walk on broken legs and to continue their adventures even with mortal wounds like a half decapitated head. The effect wears off pretty quickly ones outside the forest.
50. A swamp that feeds on arrogance, the more you have the faster you sink. It borders a vine straddled forest that feeds on self doubt.
51. Something is watching you. You are reminded of this several times per session, at key moments.
52. After years and years of facing them, the wolves have learned how to make and use traps.
53. A space whale pod goes for some atmospheric flight on a feeding frenzy.

Lacco
2017-07-16, 04:58 AM
Small hole in ground, covered by grass that traps your horses leg (possible danger of losing horse)
Path crumbles and starts sliding downhill, taking you with it.
Large cracks appear, swallowing the heroes.
Dead parts of forest (no foraging/hunting possible)
Black Breath (creeping black fog that emanates from the ground, at first makes people nauseous, then slowly poisons them)
Rickety bridge over wild river
Toadstool circles (time passes differently inside than outside)
Devouring Tree
Stampede

Coventry
2017-07-17, 08:17 PM
Bladestorm - taken from the D&D description of Ocanthus, the fourth layer of Acheron. This plane has a permanent storm of razor-sharp shards of ice that inflicts 2d6 slashing damage every round ... with higher damage values in more intense parts of the storm.
Flash Flood - (repeat of #2) occurs when heavy rains falls nearby, but uphill. The water tends to flow into channels; areas that have small streams can turn into a raging torrent in seconds as the wall of water approaches at 9 feet per second (translates to a speed of 55 in D&D terms).
Wild Fire - In conditions of drought, heavy vegetation can be set on fire by any of a number of natural or unnatural means. In open grassland, fire can reach speeds of 14 miles per hour ... if my math is correct, that's a speed of 125 in D&D terms. An additional threat are the embers that float overhead - they can land behind a party and start a second fire which cuts off the avenue of escape.
Arcane Fog - taken from D&D. Areas of heavy magical industry and experimentation can become polluted by the leftover magic. While they last, arcane fogs can randomly inflict damage, emulate curses or polymorph effects, or any kind of spell effect.
Toxic Dumping Ground - the wizards guild of a local city has "solved" the sewage problem by setting up permanent portals that teleports the sewage a "safe distance away". Adventuring there is risky, but some times necessary, such as when the Duchess's wedding ring slips off her finger and goes down the drain.

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-07-18, 04:16 AM
Some more snow themed contributions:
68 Avalanche
69 Tree well
70 Rock field hidden under snow

White water:
71 Wave
72 Hole
73 Current under an overhanging rock
74 Syphon/underwater tunnel

Caves:
75 Cave-in
76 Barely large enough tunnel
77 Hot room near seismic activity
78 Slippery surface
79 Ledge
80 Salt golem