Worldbuilding: Marsh or Swamp

[Deeds]

So I'm still making my d&d 3.5 world for several future sessions and I'd like any ideas about what I've got so far. The marsh is meant to be hostile to players and they're intended to visit around level 3-6


The marsh is large - it's treated as it's own country though no civilized kingdom represents it or recognizes the inhabitants as rulers
The water level of the marsh varies from ankle deep mud to shoulder deep water
The marsh's dominant humanoids are the Lizardfolk led by a half-black dragon lizardfolk. The lizardfolk are not necessarily on friendly terms with the adult dragon that lives in the swamp.
The black dragon has made a point to breed with anything that moves - crocodiles, dire bats, and other creatures are often half black dragon
2 decades ago, cultists summoned a demon and it became trapped after the demise of the cultists. Whatever is trapping the demon causes it to bleed into the marsh - this has affected the wild life as well.
Gnomes neighbor the marsh. They've turned their lands into usable farmland like Polders. They're fairly adept at dealing with the dragon spawn that occasionally wander into their homelands.


How can I add onto the marsh? Name ideas? General brainstorming is appreciated. :smile:

[Lord Torath]

When populating your swamp, I'd be very careful including monsters with paralyzing attacks. No sleep effects, either. Otherwise, one failed save will kill the character (asleep/paralyzed/held = unable to keep your head above water/keep water from flooding your nose). Just a friendly word of advice...

[Max_Killjoy]

For reference:

Marsh vs Swamp (https://www.google.com/search?as_q=marsh+vs+swamp)

Marsh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh)

Swamp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamps)

[Honest Tiefling]

Let's think about an obvious problem: Why would the players go into such a horrible place?

1) Valuable herbs or plants grow in the place, and someone needs them. Then you'd need to define what this herb is, and why people haven't stockpiled it. Perhaps the demonic blood created an herb ala Adonis. These herbs are dangerous, and best not used by novice herbalists. In the hands of someone skilled, they can be used to grant abnormal vitality, but not without...Side effects. So they'd only be used quite sparingly.

2) There are lizardfolk factions, some of which might be friendly/recruited. Maybe to put a spin on things, some lizardfolk became druids dedicated to keeping the demon sealed. They are violent and prone to cannibalism, but aren't outright villains. (Hey, if you're dead, you're dead. Leaving dead corpses around a demonic site is a bad idea, so might as well have a nice meal). Their violence might only be in service of keeping the demon sealed, and they tend to kill any potential treasure seekers (perhaps the demon was killed in a temple with artifacts and wealth?) who might accidentally release the demon.

3) Maybe the dragons, having lived in the swamp so long and without the benefit of druidic magic have succumbed to the influence of the demon, making for demonic dragon spawn. The gnomes are sending out for help and have sent their non-combatants away in the hopes of containing the threat.

[Deeds]

When populating your swamp, I'd be very careful including monsters with paralyzing attacks. No sleep effects, either. Otherwise, one failed save will kill the character (asleep/paralyzed/held = unable to keep your head above water/keep water from flooding your nose). Just a friendly word of advice...
Mmkay, sounds good. I'm still ok about drowning being a hazard but it won't be a save or die but it'll probably be related to crocodile grappling. Thanks for the advice.




Marsh vs Swamps

Cool, I'm envisioning a swamp then. It's certainly a wooded area.

[halfeye]

For reference:

Marsh vs Swamp (https://www.google.com/search?as_q=marsh+vs+swamp)

Marsh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh)

Swamp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamps)

Is a bog a swamp or a marsh, or neither then?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog

Okay, it's not then:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland

There are also fens:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland

Choose well and good luck OP. :smallbiggrin:

[VoxRationis]

The marsh is large - it's treated as it's own country though no civilized kingdom represents it or recognizes the inhabitants as rulers
...
Gnomes neighbor the marsh. They've turned their lands into usable farmland like Polders. They're fairly adept at dealing with the dragon spawn that occasionally wander into their homelands.


How can I add onto the marsh? Name ideas? General brainstorming is appreciated. :smile:

So what do you mean by "treated as its own country"? If nothing represents its inhabitants or recognizes an authority inside it, it's not really a country so much as a region, albeit a large one.

Re. name ideas: Without knowing the sorts of names and languages you use in your setting, it's hard to answer this, but I would guess that at the least, there should be a name in whatever draconic language your setting uses, and probably some other name, possibly derived from it, used by other cultures. I'm not sure how aboriginal these gnomes are supposed to be, but if they neighbor, rather than inhabit, the marsh proper, they probably have their own name for it. It might be a corruption of the original draconic name, or it might be Gnomish for "giant swamp" or "terrible place" or something of that sort. Then you have the name(s) that other parties use to describe the region. Again, I'm not sure about the languages in your setting. If we're going with English, it'll probably either be a mispronunciation of a local term or something like "Black Swamp," "the Drakefen," or some similar construction. The older the contact with English speakers, the more the English word for it will be slurred together and mutated, possibly until the original meaning of the words aren't recognizable. It's possible that archaic terms for "dragon," "black," or "swamp" will be used in place of those we jump to first today.

[Steel Mirror]

Since the gnomes are the most civilizing influence you've thrown out for this area, I'll toss out a couple of names that seem gnomish to me!

Tupland
Dinwiddie Down
Fockelhof Fen
Pobukkit
The Halfwet Dims
Stirgebite Swamp

I like the idea of a single really bored (really horny?) black dragon being responsible for multiple subspecies of half-draconic critters crawling all over the swamp. For some reason I picture him as a total deep-swamp hillbilly, the kind that aint real keen on outsiders in his swamp and don't need no society round these parts, we greet strangers with acid breath 'round here. Not the sharpest tooth in the jaw, as dragons measure it, but he knows the swamp and its denizens like the tip of his tail, and enjoys huntin' him some city folk and making a sport of it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jBF1dcTlcM) whenever they're dumb enough to poke around in his swamp.

For the demon's blood, for some reason that started getting me thinking about what effects the blood in the water is having on the people who live in and around the swamp. Maybe certain tribes of lizardfolk near the place where the demon is trapped have been mysteriously disappearing. Now recently some of the gnomes who work in the polders (and drink water from the swamp) have been developing more acute night vision, a taste for rare meat, and having some strange dreams. Now one or two are even going missing at night, with tracks leading off into the swamp...