BETTER Worldbuilding : Exploration & The Weird Wilderness

[@k4pn0]

I think this is because we grow up disconnected from the wild, to no fault of our own. The very subject of tales, myths and legends has been disregarded. To venture into nature now it's not as simple as stepping outside your house, it's a set location behind a gate with a lock. Creativity and inspiration are fed by the the world around us. I'm guessing it's hard to inspire reverence and chills about a world you haven't really experienced yourself. It's hard to place blame but it would be thrilling to go through a campaign strictly in the wild with all the weirdness and beauty. I tried my best not to ramble😂

[@k4pn0]

frantically waves staff while snorting moss and yelling "All shall be returned!!

[@dylanc634]

when i was a kid I grew up in a very small town and I will admit It did inspire alot of my creative fantasy worlds as I would wonder around the woods with my friends playing silly fantasy games with sticks as swords. the disconnection is sometimes crazy especially when you hear people saying "Oh I can beat a bear with my two hands!" you're way of viewing it being disconnected from alot of people is something I never thought about. p.s I, too am trying my best not to ramble.

[@icantafford]

​@@dylanc634 As someone who grew up in a rural area, these assumptions about beating just about any large wild animal with bare hands always makes me laugh. Although making the forest a forboding and alien experience is something I struggle with since I would just walk through it casually in my every day life.

[@christopherhenderson8817]

​@@dylanc634 exact same here. Grew up playing a lot of make-believe with my dad in the woods. Absolutely love throwing focus on the wilderness.

[@Archaeo_Matt]

I tend to think of the world/wilds as THE over-dungeon. Things like cities and dungeons (ruins, caves, passageways to the underdark, etc.) are just nodes with the overarching dungeon that contains them. If the wilderness can be boring, then so can be the cities, or the delving dungeons. I'm fully on board with the main message of this video: think of your shared imagined setting, your campaign world, as a living, breathing thing in its own right; stock that world, in its entirety, with (hopefully) fun, (potentially) meaningful encounters that build on the living lore of that world. Cheers!

[@Tysto]

I agree with the sentiment, but you literally only gave one example of how to improve.

[@rosecityandbeyond]

See this is the kind of stuff I love to add to my games! The party encountered a chimera where the goat part was horrified at it's existence. There was a troll who lived under a bridge because it was a good way to get free food and counteract its fire vulnerability, and the party got past it by sending three goats in succession and running past when it ate the third one. If they camp outside and leave food lying around, that's a good way to get an owlbear encounter in the middle of the night. (stay tuned for Silly Lil Guys in Pathfinder series) As to the truly strange... the nightblooms await your arrival.

[@martabachynsky8545]

Three billy goats gruff, eh? 😀

[@rosecityandbeyond]

@@martabachynsky8545 Absolutely lol. The Bard made a Bardic Lore check to see if he knew how to defeat trolls xD

[@samurguybriyongtan146]

The animation series “Scavenger’s Reign” really leans into this. I love grounded places, in fact I base most of my wilderness places off of locations I’ve hiked through and camped in. But it needs to be good for adventure, not just for my memories of the place. There’s not sand, it’s blinding pyrite dunes. The grey clays hills leach color out of non-living objects, including hair and nails. There’s a cool shadowy place in a brutally hot desert canyon that has inexplicably become a gate to the Planes of frostrime. A place of peril and refuge and a possible tool. Turn real life up to 13 The further in, the weirder things should get.

[@DuelingDragonAdventures]

This is where the Mythic Overworld comes in. Myth must return to the fantasy TTRPG!

[@h8uall66]

This is the best TTRPG channel on this whole website. Yeah, you should never waste an opportunity to use travel to make your players feel more deeply connected to the world. Every overland trek is an opportunity to do some world building and create that sense of player investment that brings them back to the table. And you don’t even have to get crazy with it, the wilderness is already full of dangers and oddities. For example as the players are traveling through a rocky mountainous pass you could describe the ruins of old watchtowers and keeps in the distance to impress upon the players that this land they’re traveling through was once protected by a powerful expansionist empire that eventually spread itself too thin and collapsed. Now you’ve created centuries of history in their minds without really doing much at all.

[@TrillTheDM]

Appreciate the love. You get it!

[@jungcinema3687]

Immensly helpful video! I’ve been running my games as narrative as possible, without taking away player agency, and have always found a problem with wilderness exploration. Once the clip from ‘The Hobbit’ started playing, it clicked for me, because most of that book is out in the wilderness and is about that journey through it. That kind of added detail will enhance my gameplay even more, and without using some cheap table or list of ‘things that might happen’. Thanks!

[@onetruetroy]

I like this video and how it challenges the usual. I grew up reading more fantasy because of being introduced to D&D. I noticed early on that it and other roleplaying games were just games that concentrated the excitement methodically, and that’s just how you do it. That can be fun and quickly grows stale. - Thank you for making these videos and I subscribed to your channel.

[@stochasticagency]

Keep doing what you're doing, and thanks for taking the time to have that conversation with Runeslinger.

[@Robert-vk6bs]

I think the challenges that come from non magical terrain traversal create interesting problem solving challenges in themselves; such as your party running out of water, or suffer nutrient deficiencies from rations, slowed down by common and minor injuries or illness that turn into a serious problem if they aren't solved. Not to mention crossing difficult terrain like rivers, pathfinding around roads wiped away by flood or landslide, a local lord blocking off roads for bullshit aristocratic reasons, all while hailing heavy ass gear and maybe animals and vehicles. It can also be a great opportunity for world building little shrines or travel shelters or loot free historic ruins that can help tell a story. (all stuff (similar to what) I encountered in my own travels

[@sanddanglotka]

I love the travel across the wilderness parts in fantasy! Some times it's a soft sort of slice-of-life ride and sometimes really unexpected fun shit happens ❤

[@aaronabel4756]

Great video. KZbin has been throwing wilderness travel vids at me lately, mostly by people who don't touch grass. This is was a refreshing change.

[@madmanvarietyshow9605]

I recommend reading Frostbitten & Mutilated from Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The introduction especially has a great write up of treating the wilderness as an enemy. It's phenomenal and has stuck with me ever since.

[@sketchasaurrex4087]

It's definitely one of the 3 big environs: city, dungeon, wilderness. The journey is definitely part of the play. Exploration is a major post of gaming and has been forgotten by this newer wave of games and gamers.

[@homebrewisthebestbrew5270]

The last campaign I ran was set in a largely subarctic/arctic environment. The party was in a small coastal trading post, and I said, "You feel a swift, brutal, swirling chill by your feet--but your face feels no wind." The players are nervously like, WTF, and suddenly a local screams, "Ripper!" The townfolk scramble to cover in a near panic, leaving the PCs caught off guard in the street. Gathering their wits, they rush to a nearby tavern, where heavy shutters are being slammed shut. Then it hits--the RIPPER, a veritable wall of frigid wind moving at hurricane speed, creating a savage wind chill that can be potentially lethal to any creature not adapted for it. A ripper lasts only a few minutes, and leaves as if it never was. In the aftermath, the townfolk have to chisel their way out of their own front doors... The PCs remembered, and learned to take the hint. It saved their lives at least once later on in the campaign.

[@user-cw4zj6kc8u]

Arrakis is a great example of this. With sandworms roaming the deserts of Arrakis, the desert is alive and dangerous. Making its travelers needing to travel in a cautious way or needing aircraft to traverse it safely. Even harvesting spice is more dangerous and thus more interesting. It's also more impressive when the Fremen are able to travel the desert by using the sandworms as transportation thus showing how they are the true masters of their environment.

[@davidmorgan6896]

Just stumbled on your channel and it's excellent. Too many creators are focussing on WotC or new monsters when you seem to look to actually how to be a better GM. I've been involved in gaming for a long time. My core gaming friends I've known for over forty years. I have never heard one of them talk about enjoying the outdoors. I used to, half jokingly, suggest we went hiking and wild camping, but nobody else was ever up for it. I suspect this is broadly true of most gamers, but if you never go into the hills you don't know how to describe them.

[@TrillTheDM]

I appreciate the kind words. I'm just trying to discuss things I find interesting and hoping there's people out there that are interested as well. You're right on the money though. The more and more I've ventured out into the wild, the more I've realized just how daunting it is and by comparison just how little games do with making it engaging. At the same time I struggle with whether or not that feeling can truly be captured by a game or if it's only possible when it's your neck on the line. Tough call, but I'm trying to figure it out!

[@davidmorgan6896]

@TrillTheDM absolutely, but the same is going to be true of fighting or sneaking around. The very best we can do is to hint at these things, to provide something of the flavour of adventure without the necessary danger that makes for real adventure. This is why I am so committed to simulation in games, both RPGs and boardgames. I want to learn.

[@SunbornWanderer]

I really enjoyed this video. Ive been working on a new ttrpg and ive been wanting to create a way to make wilderness and travel more of a pillar in the game. Im only 12 pages in and i still have alot of work to do. Im hoping to make mechanics and tables to help make things interesting and strange during travel. Id love more videos on this topic.

[@KiddCrowley]

Banger video once again TRILL also how dare you trigger my childhood trauma with that Swamp of Sadness footage XD

[@TrillTheDM]

Appreciate it! Lol I cut it off before it got to the real bad part. That's a childhood growth moment though....

[@KiddCrowley]

@@TrillTheDM Yeah kids movies don't go as hard as 80s fantasies did XD

[@apollyonshost]

Running an online game and surprised my players with maps of a rainforest they're exploring that I made with Inkarnate. For my own amusement I added little blue dart frogs cause blue dart frogs was the only color dart frogs Inkarnate has, but my players found them and wanted to roll for Survival and Nature to find endemic life, and now I've got them running around obsessed with finding little markers that suggest a spot that they can search for critters or secrets and they've been having a blast!

[@verdigo1]

If you're going to do this, you'd better plan something out. Any hint that there's a plot hook or adventure element and your players will start making perception checks every two feet and slow things to a crawl. You'll spend the entire session in that forest and they'll get disappointed if all those 'ominous feelings' and hostility they're picking up from the environment doesn't end up being... a lich or something.

[@robertchmielecki2580]

Forbidden Lands have a neat travel system which is one of the cornerstones for stories in this game. It can be pretty easily transferred to other settings.

[@davidmorgan6896]

I keep saying this, but the biggest problem in TTRPGs is awful players. Lazy, unimaginative and wanting to be spoon fed adventures so that they can win by gaining levels.

[@Buzzerker_1775]

Good video. I'd like a more in-depth video on the subject

[@Buzzerker_1775]

Just found out that you have more videos about it; will watch them

[@nathanielmarquardt]

I feel like this can easily be applied to fantasy writing in general. will defiantly take this to heart with my own fiction

[@lapaludeumana]

Awesome take.

[@Scutifer_Mike]

I was 1000th Sub.

[@TrillTheDM]

Appreciate it dude!

[@mythiclore5508]

This is good writing advice as well.

[@ronecotex]

I think interactive Wilderness makes more sense a low stakes day in the life story for example someone running a logging business and they wind up King of the Forest tribes that's neat butt if you're doing an epic campaign the world's coming to an end this might seem more of a distraction

[@derpherp1810]

I kinda get where you are going with the video but there is still alot I don't understand on how I can spice it up. I was thinking of creating a nautral ecology of my world, but I don't know how that would interact with the players other than combat encounters or maybe they find some berries or some alchemical herbs and rocks along the way.

[@ronecotex]

I think it's early medieval or discovering a new world it is perfect setting for interactive wilderness pictures of animals tribes Watson potential

[@viktorvladeriow2239]

Preach !

[@martabachynsky8545]

When journeying through the wilderness, you often _do_ have to worry about the weather. Don't walk too close to a stream if there is a thunderstorm in the nearby hills (characters had to avoid getting washed out by a flash flood but got some goblins caught in the flood). It hasn't rained in a long time? Forest fire. _That_ was a terrifying encounter for my party: running away from a forest fire. In another campaign husband's bard character has the "city slicker" disadvantage for forest travel. While he thrives in cities and towns, he hates the wilderness and doesn't even know how to set up camp or forage (Survival skill is at -2).

[@Michael-gs3lw]

May I recommend Wildefeast? It's a new RPG about monster hunting and coocking. But by playing it, it's more about the traveling and the ecosystem exploration. It's interesting but it's really a shift from the usual. It's more Ghibli-ish. It's just that the time you spent to craft encounter for dungeons, cities and cie, you can do the same for your travel locations. Just expect your whole sceance to be about it ^^

[@jayteepodcast]

After listening to this video I thought of the last hex crawl I was in. For me I wanted something to happen or better description to get me into the setting. The Dm just did random combat encounters after combat encounter. I thought winning would get us closer to where we were going but in the end he told us we were lost. It felt like a waste of time. Dungeon craft talked about cutting the shoe leather of storytelling and exploration shouldn't be one of those. The Dm is the perception of every PC this is why backstories are important. If your Rogue was growing up in urban areas the outdoors should freak him out. Description should say as much.

[@duck_entertainment]

Alright, players gotta go through some mountains tonight so let’s see how they handle the darkness of these snowy peaks.

[@luizandrade6900]

I have been thinking about this for quite some time too, but how can I immerse the players in the perils of the wilderness without falling for excesses in "gritty realism" like you mentioned in the last video? Focus more on flavor and atmosfere than rolls to avoid mishaps and injuries?

[@TrillTheDM]

I think it depends on your definition of Gritty Realism. For me a bit of simulationist stuff isn't gritty. The last video was more focused on using gritty realism to strictly punish the players. I don't think it should be easy for the players to trek through the woods to be clear but I do think an emphasis on atmosphere and on the strangeness of the place they're in will draw them deeper into the mystery of the place. That way whatever unfortunate events or things that happen to the players don't come across as arbitrary or heavy handed but as logical consequence to their actions. It's difficult to give advice on just how "gritty" something should be because ultimately only you know your players and know the exact experience you'd like to portray within your game.

[@luizandrade6900]

@@TrillTheDM Thanks man. I have been running "The Isle of Dread" for some years now, but I think I am finally getting close to putting the "dread" back on those jungles lol.

[@peterdickinson4599]

I am not a fan of random encounters. I've always treated wilderness in my games as a liminal space. I tend to pre-roll on weather charts etc... so I have a clear idea of what the land will look and feel like during the journey period. The season is very important for informing on the atmosphere. I run Warhammer Fantasy RPG. Cubicle 7 produced some very interesting random theme charts in the Companion book to The Enemy Within. I always start there when the players head out from the (relative) safety of the city walls.

[@whyjay9959]

What's the last clip with the giants from?

[@squirrelfan5]

The Green Knight

[@whyjay9959]

@@squirrelfan5 Thanks.

[@ryanstrochinsky611]

id on the film at 1:13? real dark maybe black and white

[@TrillTheDM]

@@ryanstrochinsky611 Valhalla Rising

[@gunjfur8633]

Whats the movie at the end with giants?

[@madmanvarietyshow9605]

Think of the wilderness as a megadungeon.

[@TrillTheDM]

@@madmanvarietyshow9605 Absolutely

[@madmanvarietyshow9605]

@TrillTheDM It makes me think of the intro to Frostbitten & Mutilated. The author's intro goes really in depth into getting you into the mindset of a wilderness that wants you dead. It's stuck with me ever since but your video has helped me be able to apply it more and I Thank you sir!

[@danielv4793]

Good mechanics can enchance the travel, but they need a envoriment to get use of those mechanics

[@Therealravencry]

What movie(s) are playing in the background??

[@GrandAkuma]

Dot

[@kingcole5977]

I’m not sure on all of them, but I noticed: - The Green Knight (knight wandering into surreal landscapes) - The NeverEnding Story (horse and boy in swamp) - The Big Lebowski (toilet interrogation) - The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug (dwarves in spider forest)

[@Therealravencry]

@@kingcole5977 thanks!

[@thirtymilesniper]

Right on. If the party is missing some players are approaching a road fording a stream, put a steroid juiced wolverine thing there that the lawful... misjudging can't resist despite the protestation of the sensible coward. Damn, I got to the end and now I think you are planning to off one of us.

[@fabiov12silva62]

Can you put the subtitles on ? I am learning english and subtitles help me a lot 😢😢🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@TrillTheDM]

I have them enabled so I think if they're still not showing it's a KZbin issue.

[@kovi567]

Ah yes, you make the time inbetween adventures engaging by.... making it an adventure. Indeed good sir, I wish to have an adventure with my adventure. Might as well go and make some extra preparations for this adventure just to make sure it's not an unrewarding slugfest, sprinkling in some puzzles and loredumps too. Oh how lovely will my players find it to spend the entire session on getting fucked by nature itself! Serious talk: This only works if the expectation for it to happen is already there. If the adventure is set up so that he players know that the areas they will cross are dangerous, and having an encounter there is a given, not a chance, then yes, you could GET AWAY with making the passing of an area an adventure in itself. However, if the expectation is that the forest is indeed just a forest, and the route they chose is safe (enough) that trade flows through it, then it's quite ASSHOLISH to just dump a fey encounter on their unsuspecting mug. It also gets boring real fucking fast, and players WILL attempt to mitigate it, even going as far as taking longer and """"boring"""" routes just to not have to put up with straight up resource drains. Only way to get away with them is to provide a REWARD for putting up with this crap, and that's gonna get mighty hard when the backdrop is not the "Lost Woods of the Lich King", but "Bumfucknowhere Outskirts". And even then, if the expectation was that you gonna have a campaign of dungeon crawling, then random forest encounters going haywire and eating up session time will cause bitching, and thus eventually drama. At that point you'll just have to reduce their money/ supplies by the amount they'd need on the road and get on with it.

[@monkeibusiness]

He gets us. Just kidding, good video. Problem is: Players are not trained in this, they dont know how to deal with it. Its difficult!

[@MedievalFantasyTV]

Please, allow subtitles. Thanks.

[@TrillTheDM]

Should be on. Maybe it takes time for KZbin? Not sure.

[@LocardIII]

This is exactly why people talk so much trash about rangers. Rangers are supposed to make the wilderness safer! Doesn’t matter if it’s just travel.

[@GrugTalks]

These videos have made me realize just how much a hinderance logic can be in storytelling

[@Pelerin985]

Imagine a campaign that is actually about how wilderness slowly affect characters of the party, while they are confronted to their own doubts and fears by encountering strange, surreal events that lead them to insanity

[@20gamesboard]

Masters are trying to stay on point of the adventure. The wilderness is like traps - a side content and often a time waster(

[@TrillTheDM]

Wrong!

[@20gamesboard]

@@TrillTheDM Suppose you make a session twice a month. My average campaign is 30 session. Wilderness exploration can clog up to 5 sessions of that. It shifts focus significantly. It is not to say that exploration is bad - it's just changes the theme and possibly tone.

[@danielrood264]

I don't really get your perspective. One week you're trashing gritty realism and the next week you're suggesting we embrace it, at least in the wilderness between locations.

[@TrillTheDM]

I think you've confused the point of the video about Gritty Realism if you feel I was trashing it as a concept. I don't even agree that I'm advocating for gritty realism in this video.