Forests | Adventuring Environments | D&D | TTRPG | Web DM

Get SIDEQUEST DECKS: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We're kicking off a new series about ADVENTURING ENVIRONMENTS this week for all your dungeon masters who want to bring your encounters and worldbuilding to the next level. We're starting with FORESTS! The woods are a foreboding and hazardous place. Here's how we make forest adventures engaging, memorable, and meaningful.
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Time stamps:
3:15 Forest types and ecology
6:10 combat tactics in forests
8:33 resources
13:55 forest hazards
22:21 creatures, magical beasts, and monsters in forests
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Written & Hosted by Jim Davis and Jonathan Pruitt
Produced and Directed by Emma Lambert
Edited by Brandon Fraley
Web DM was created by Travis Boles, Jonathan Pruitt, and Jim Davis
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[@WebDM]

Thanks for watching! Get Sidequest decks: www.kickstarter.com/projects/inkwellideas/rpg-sidequest-decks?ref=3f7b9b Get our bonus podcast, discounts, and way more: patreon.com/webdm

[@apollo3604]

Requests: Desert biome At sea on a ship. Under the sea. Ocean and lake. Frozen. Unrelated but also a request: favorite dungeon puzzles.

[@Kangaxxter]

I love the quarantine editing that makes it seem like Jim and Pruitt are in the same room again.

[@daviddobarganes9115]

Pioneers

[@jacobq.2204]

Its really silly they are still doing this if it is for COVID. Like pathetic really.

[@Kangaxxter]

@@jacobq.2204 I mean, it's also because they live like 1500mi away from each other

[@marktan3368]

I love how sometimes Jim has monster hands.

[@kelkiiii]

@@jacobq.2204 not really

[@ismirdochegal4804]

The two things I do to get inspiration for Forest Adventures: 1) Go outside 2) The Artwork from Magic: the Gathering

[@Claviceptic]

Unrelated, but Filigree Familiar is a great idea for a gnome's familiar.

[@misterpig7739]

Another source of inspiration I like to use is the Xanth book series by Piers Anthony plus I like how it explores how magic being everywhere but mostly low level magic for almost everybody changes things.

[@Otes]

@@misterpig7739 holy shit I didn’t know other people read his books and I’m currently writing a one shot based on zombie master Jonathan and his wife Millie(in my game Millie is going to be the lich that created Jonathan) and they will have an army of zombies that are only aggressive towards “invaders”

[@benniek1050]

Tree puns, really? That's a low hanging fruit😂😂😂

[@dicorockhimself]

I mean sometimes you have to branch out and explore the underbrush

[@Dyundu]

I wood not make such jokes if I were you.

[@dynamicworlds1]

If you want low hanging fruit, we can talk about bushes 😉

[@dicorockhimself]

@@dynamicworlds1 I don't have the barriers for that

[@grumpyoldmanjoe9735]

Glad he didn't leaf any out.

[@andrewhalverson6974]

A forest that springs to life in a desert whenever it rains, then dries up into a desert again after a day. It's populated by vegipygmies and has rare herbs and plants that exist nowhere else.

[@apollo3604]

These are the types of videos I want fellas. Bring it on.

[@WebDM]

Tell us what you think!

[@kristoffrickerson6701]

Yeeees

[@kaleidoslug7777]

@@WebDM I'd love a video focused on the desert, if possible? I feel like there's enough content in there for entire campaigns

[@nicksteinke4526]

@@kaleidoslug7777 I second that

[@Highstar7331]

@@WebDM Could become a new series. Various deep dives or looks into the usual biomes.

[@ellisworonowicz4691]

There are forests in real life that are just extensions of the same individual. The clonal colony named "Pando" might be one of the largest living organisms on earth!

[@flysteel288]

Bless this channel! My campaign features a galactic territory called the Elven Conclave, where elves and treants grow up together soul bound and aid each other throughout their entire lives. This will definitely be helpful planning any sessions I hold on those planets

[@WebDM]

Glad to help!!

[@meikahidenori]

It doesn't hurt to look into different forests from around the world too for inspiration. I live in Australia and our bushland forests is vastly different to England and would have different plants and creatures...and monster lore too.

[@einheit02]

I am so, so, so glad Jim's beard is coming back. Also, Pruitt's beard looks great.

[@StevetheSteve01]

“Time spent adventuring counts towards item creation” mindblown.gif. Makes perfect sense the way Jim described it as questing to build something. It’s much more satisfying and engaging than spending x gold and down time!

[@joeguy9528]

This is the kinda intro that really sticks with you.

[@WebDM]

Really roots itself in your unconscious

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

Store this valuable info in a trunk for safekeeping.

[@Xenibalt]

pruits puns legendary ability to NOT withhold

[@Jah_Coby]

Don't forget giant bees/wasps in your forests to really utilize those layers. And give them flyby for real terror.

[@WebDM]

Sturges. Ugh

[@AriesFireDragon1]

Giant ticks are a good gross out, check out the necrotic ticks also.

[@Bluecho4]

The party wanders through the forest. They come to a ravine, and seek to cross over it using a fallen log as a bridge. Except halfway across, they hear the buzzing. Turns out, a hive of giant wasps have colonized the side of the ravine. Roll initiative.

[@thirdwordbird3011]

Adventuring environments could be a great series. Great vid

[@redviego6714]

I can't wait for the eventual ocean environment and pirate puns

[@anthonynorman7545]

Rrr you shore you're ready to set sail on such a treasure hunt ?

[@andrewearl7864]

Pruitts beard is becoming more epic every video.

[@matthewryall167]

Yes yes yes! This is the video series i have been waiting for, cant wait for you two to cover all the envioments. And i hope you cover unlisted fantastical environments such as space.

[@WebDM]

Enjoy, Matthew!

[@matthewryall167]

@@WebDM personal im in love with the idea of forrest giants, these 18ft tall, elvish features, slim, off green skin. That live as hunter gatherers, likely distant and a bit isolationist but kind and reasonable if you can show respect to them and the forrest.

[@geoffdewitt6845]

@@matthewryall167 I think forest giants are included in either Tome of Beasts or the Creature Codex, both from Kobold Press. Worth a look, if you can pick 'em up.

[@geoffdewitt6845]

This stuff is eminently useful for both the fluff and the crunch! Can y'all do space, too? I'm trying to ptep for an Esper Genesis game (which I picked up on y'all's recommendation). Thanks a bunch!!!

[@JnJake]

This is some evergreen content at it's very best! It chlorophyls my heart with joy to watch!

[@DeusMachina_EXE]

That god damnit in the intro was genuine. Or good acting.

[@WebDM]

We are pro pun on the Web DMiplane but it sometimes does still get to us

[@jakecrichton562]

I've had to put my campaign on hold due to health issues, but it's a forest campaign. This video has helped get the brain juices flowing again. Many thanks to both of you.

[@WebDM]

Hope you can get back to it soon!

[@jakecrichton562]

@@WebDM me too. I've got some serious lung damage and 3 or 4 levels of exhaustion at all times. I can't speak at length anymore, it puts a real damper on being a DM. Thank you though, I hope to one day get back to the DM chair.

[@Bluecho4]

I had an idea that combined a forest with a "meat mold" concept I had a while back. To make it short, there's a fleshy organism that combines the qualities of meat and fungus, that grows in underground caves. For when you want one of those gross fleshy dungeons. Spawning grotesque monsters like out of Silent Hill, to go out and get food for it. It's an entire thing. Point is, because it has properties of fungus, it grows into the soil itself like mycelium, a network of fleshy strands. Just like mycelium, it can intertwine with the roots of plants and develop a mutualistic relationship with them. Providing them water and nutrients, while the plants give it a portion of the products of photosynthesis. Normally, this is largely benign. My idea was that in a certain forest, there was a blight decades ago that killed trees from the inside out. Druids had to set fire to huge tracts of forest, just to contain the blight. But this one sections seemed untouched, so it was allowed to stay. In reality, those trees were blighted too, it's just that the meat mold in the soil was there, and grew into the blight-filled cavities within the trees, eating the blight. It saved the trees, but now the trees are full of meat. So now, anyone living in the area knows the forest as the woods of screaming trees or the wood of the bleeding trees, because whenever someone tries to cut them down screams and blood issue from them. People avoid the place like the plague. It's also full of all sorts of dangers. Dryads that have become maddened and warped and in thrall to the meat mold, because their trees are so entwined with it. They're got cultists that worship the forest, and treat the blood in the trees as a sacrament. Capturing people and feeding them to the forest, because the meat mold hungers. The aforementioned meat monsters that stalk the grounds. The dryads, who know arcane lore, taught the meat Druidic magic, and so now some trees have mouths that can mumble incantations. And, of course, there's a whole meaty dungeon located somewhere deep in those woods. The center of the infestation.

[@Troommate]

Loving Pruitts Nick Offerman Beard :D

[@somedm3080]

A monster idea; a troll that slammed a bunch of still living branches into its skin to make it have it's own living ghillie suit. Could be really mean and make it live symbiotically with a bunch of twig blights.

[@rho2582]

I was just thinking about different adventure environments including forests today. It's like they can read my mind.

[@WebDM]

Hahaahaha that would be funny haha like if we could read your mind hahahaha lol 👀

[@dragonshadestudios]

I ran a hexcrawl campaign that involved an ancient primordial fey-ruled forest that resisted the encroachment of mortal civilizations. Each day spent within the forest rusted and corroded metallic equipment, and certain harmful spells would cause plant growth to slowly grab at the PCs. The experience of it left such an ongoing sense of dread and respect towards it, that the PCs willingly spent days or weeks travelling through the hexes outside the forest so they didn't have to go through it.

[@dicorockhimself]

With all those puns they've left me sappy

[@WebDM]

Hah!

[@RedFangMoon]

I'm here for all the puns!! I love the intros for the puns so much.

[@WebDM]

We wouldn't wanna leaf you hanging!

[@trajanfidelis1532]

Supportive Comment for Yubus-Tubus

[@justinjones8274]

Yep perfect content!! Do Tundras next for Icewind Dale! So much to talk about with the ecology of Kelvins Cairn and the Sea of Moving Ice.

[@WebDM]

Thank you!

[@lordnaarghul]

It's a wonder you didn't talk about the Mirkwood-style forest. The evil forest, the forest where everything about these woods is unpleasant. Not that the woods are hostile, but that the woods are *evil". Perhaps the woods where ghosts and undead exist, and getting lost means people are doomed. The evil, haunted, perhaps even cursed forest is one of my favorite concepts. Like a dark version of the Lost Woods from the Zelda franchise.

[@mr.bluesky4130]

If anyone thinks insect mimicry doesn’t work on people, I was in Costa Rica and saw a giant Yellowjacket crawling on the ground at me out of the corner of my eye and full tilt sprinted away from it until my guide picked it up and showed it was just a moth. One half of its body was moth. The other half was a yellow jacket body. I was still terrified. Mimicry works

[@GoldenXShark22]

I just wanna say how much I absolutely adore your videos and podcasts. if it's not for the awesome wealth of ttrpg knowledge, it's for the awesome chill talks you guys have. please do what you do, however you like to do it. I'm here for it, and thanks again for all the work you guys put in. ❤️

[@WebDM]

Thank you so much!

[@andrewhalverson6974]

Deserts! Arctic zones! Mountains, Gandalf. MOUNTAINS!

[@Ciberbuster]

When I think in a forest encounter, my gold standard is the movie Predator with Schwarzenegger: a hunter more powerful than you, that knows the lay of the land and mostly can't be seen. You must learn to use your environment to have any chance.

[@abrahamsorby8193]

25:01 you would know if you were in a green dragons territory because of all the broken trees, it'd be like game trails...but giant game trails. It would look like a tornado tore through the woods but less chaotic

[@Mrdr]

Hey guys! Been a fan for quite some time. Y'all rule. Environments are a great series of topics for discussion, looking forward to the rest. My players are venturing into the Cormanthor forest in my Forgotten Realms homebrew & I could definitely use some ideas.

[@anderslundtoft2315]

Fantastic! More envioment talk! I guys gave SO many great ideas!

[@WebDM]

Thanks for the kind words Anders!

[@Rantaku]

Fantastic type of video! You guys are the best DnD channel to take something mundane like a forest setting and helping new/intermediate DMs think big ideas

[@WebDM]

Thank you so much!!!

[@JonnySaysHi413]

Looking forward to more episodes in this series! When walking the dog in the woods I'll record some of the walk so I can reference back to it - the ambient noises, the colours, the shift in the topography etc. It's a very good technique for when writing and describing forested locations.

[@Loalrikowki]

All those tree puns really made Jim face...*palm*.

[@misterpig7739]

For good ideas for magical forests I like to take inspiration from the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony. I also use them for inspiration for other things as well but most of them have at least a little bit of a magical forest though some have more than others.

[@loganricard8713]

So this is why Jim normally writes the intros

[@Overlord99762]

Pruitt looks like a skinny version of the Bloody Baron

[@sambro6657]

This is a setting I love or a concept for a setting so thank you guys so much

[@edwinbergeron4201]

Love the terrain topic, forests are so inspiring but I am waiting to hear your thoughts on the other!

[@KyokushinFighter229]

Hype for this video. My party's been on a survival/exploration campaign through an uncharted, heavily forested territory. I found your videos on encounter tables and hex crawls extremely helpful in setting up the overworld map, and they've been having a blast!

[@WebDM]

Glad to hear it!

[@mattalford3862]

Such great advice! Thank you

[@randallmarcum9998]

Great vid that could easily be turned into a series about adventuring in different terrains

[@BlazingBlazer1]

At first, it seems like this is such a simple topic but you guys went really in depth and i absolutely love it, keep it coming guys!

[@WebDM]

Thank you!

[@andrewhalverson6974]

A Forrest of floating trees tethered to the earth and each other by vines. They carry islands of earth and rock with them that become unique microcosms. Now they are being harvested to build airships.

[@parttimehero8640]

Man this video coming out two day's befor I start my first homebrew Spelljammer inspired campaign starting in a rain forest. It could not have been better :)

[@WebDM]

Glad to help! Have fun playing Spelljammer!

[@PrehistoricLizard]

Love these kinds of videos. Really helps get those juices flowing.

[@WebDM]

Woot! Glad you're enjoying it

[@dylancox631]

Pruitt: Less puns? You're barking up the wrong tree. Jim: God damn it... LOL

[@katszulga1888]

I like a really long legged green dragon, kinda shaggy, moving like the spirit of the forest from Princess Mononoke.

[@m34nb34n]

the movie The Revenant comes to mind for deep wilderness treks

[@UltimateMustacheX]

I've never heard that canopy joke before. That was a good one.

[@Claviceptic]

The beard game is strong in this episode. Thanks for another great video!

[@suzieparis3503]

Pruitt’s beard is looking Awesome! Good material here as always guys, thanks.

[@WebDM]

Thank you Suzie!

[@derekstein6193]

I ironically enjoyed that opening. Sometimes when you do a bit, it is best just to fully lean into it.

[@southron_d1349]

Elves making a strategic "re-tree-t". Don't tell me Pruitt missed that one!

[@andrewthegeek6522]

don´t forget trees count as 3/4ths cover which is a +5 to ac please wizards step behind the trees

[@yaldabaoth2]

arbor resintment, very clever.

[@Sirdragonmar]

Thanks for the inspiration! I’m running with two characters who believe in Thor right now it’d be so cool if they could learn a new spell as a reward!

[@OttPocket28]

Do the inception thing is some of the best DM advice, though. Thanks Pruitt!

[@andrewthegeek6522]

27:50 i was starting to get worried druids would´nt come up

[@NerfThisBoardGames]

The best of the leafy terrains

[@praywithpio6028]

When the animals and insects in the forest are silent, danger is near.

[@ryanwalker9520]

Damn, pillars of light and pools of shadow.

[@DrVikingrMD]

Didnt pull any PUNches on this video and that's what I appreciate about y'all!

[@joaquinlippincott321]

Find I’ve been pining for a video like that.

[@Balcamion79]

I just started my daughters on a campaign that's going to feature almost exclusively plant based enemies. It might turn them into predatory vegetarians, but they won't have the moral dilemma of killing humanoids.

[@WebDM]

Nice!

[@StrifeA217]

i thought it would be cool to bring a Leshen or Leshy to life while wondering though a deep forest. have totems marking its territory and if the party doesnt see them or ignores them theres a higher chance they could be attacked by it, and then looking into it D&D already has a Leshen.... feel a little foolish but I think it could make for cool random encounter, you see the totems and with a higher perception check you can catch sight off the leshen, and if they choose not to cross the totems and go around the party catches sight of the leshen on the edge of the territory watching them. you guys are giving some other cool ideas. The cared dryad would be cool maybe allow the druid the opportunity to heal the tree and maybe help heal the dryad as a result.

[@LordM46]

Well yes Forest is a great adventure bio, a magic place, a dark place or something completely different you can meet any kind of monster/villains or friends her. A lot of food, treasure, ruins and more. Prey and predators (common unusual and supernatural).Druids, shamans, hags, evil or good wizards, dryads, trolls, giants, barbarians, bandits, fey, wyvern, dragons.

[@m34nb34n]

I gave a like JUST for the forest puns

[@akaking7499]

Immediately I had this idea of a LOG SHARK! The party is strolling through a thick forest covered a heavy rug of foliage. No traces of land dwelling animals, but the sky is filled with birds and critters. (PARAM) Even more odd, lots of trees have damaged bark, but no trace of footprint follows it. (PARAM PARAM) Wait! Where did that massive log go? (PARAM PARAM PARAM PARAM) why is the ground shaking!? WTF IS THAT! (pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa) LOG SHARK! It's basically a log is filled with unseely fay bug sprites that animate it and hunt large pray! ESPECIALLY NOSY ADVENTURERS

[@akaking7499]

I'm gonna draw and stat him now

[@Otes]

I just noticed that the dice bag on the book stack is a knock off crown royal bag lol

[@blazepond5518]

this is peak beard pruitt

[@jackcoleman1978]

I see the meme about them swapping is still going hard in this episode.

[@MrJudeWanamaker]

I willow Leaf here happy!

[@epileptictrees5213]

Great to hear yew guys o-pine on this subject, fir sure. Without this channel, wood I have a reason to log on every day? Maybe, maple not. Sorry, don't mean to get sappy.

[@WebDM]

10/10

[@shripnidley101]

best thumbnail

[@nicolaezenoaga9756]

Thanks

[@Nas0630]

Campaign plot idea: Ferngully

[@WebDM]

Heck yes

[@gunitgamer]

Yeah Pruitt, too many puns

[@bohemianprince7944]

IT'S WEDNESDAY MY DUDES!!🤙🤙🤙🥳

[@WebDM]

Yes indeed!!

[@indigobryan]

How loud would that speak with plants spell turn out? I can imagine if the forest is spread as some massive Flora creature the responce you get is just a loud low rumble you have to make the effort to understand

[@Boxvoko]

Oakay, intreesting

[@WebDM]

We see what you did there

[@consecrated2718]

Man Pruitt just hit like a super combo from street fighter

[@basementmadetapes]

Strongest thumbnail game

[@DaMapleMoose]

the puns.. they hurt so much

[@TheFearmonger]

jim seemed stumped at first

[@aaronmcdermott192]

More environments coming?

[@ShayStokes]

I've been trying to draw up a Fey Eladrin who's actually from the Feywild, but I'm struggling to figure out what their life would've been like there. Anyone have any ideas / resources I could use?

[@benweinberg3819]

There's a lot of different themes and tones you can take the feywild. Could go A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pan's Labyrinth, Jim Henson's Labyrinth, Brother's Grimm dark fairy tales, Spirited Away/Princess Mononoke, heck I've run it as a spoof of our local rennaisance faire. Fey can be tricky, but they may also just follow different laws than us mortals. In the standard 5e cosmology, its a place of exuberant emotion contrasting the bleak Shadowfell. I personally like Dael Kingsmill's videos on the subject and 4e's Heroes of the Feywild might have some inspiration!

[@esbeng.s.a9761]

I do rember a story I hear from Africa where in a dwoid, zebra and antilots started to die with a full stomich which pusselz people a lot. This happed over a long time, before people found out that the animals was getting poisned by the agasia tree, which had motified it’s definces agianst bugs to proted it from the animals So remember mother natur is a cold hearted bitch and at the same time the warmest person you will ever meet

[@ttprophet]

You are deep in the mud, covered in shrubs. You are being hunted. But you trust your training and rely on stealth to overcome your trackers. Day turns to night. And you use the cover of darkness to move. A twig snaps and you peer through the darkness over your shoulder just in time to see the legendary hero, ______________ , release an arrow into your chest. You fall to the ground, unable to move. Unable to speak. The "Hero" lords over your corpse. All you can do is stare. You don't blink. He doesn't even bother to look you in your eyes. How insulting. "It isn't fair!" you think to yourself. days nights, days nights, days nights. flies, ants, maggots. You melt into the earth. You sprout into a tree. You are cut down. They use your body to build a wall along a village edge. A young girls voice from the village: "Where are you?" "I'm right here" you try to say. Then she looks at you as if she heard. "There you are!" Your soul glows. You've been lonely for so long. "Finally someone to talk to!" , but she runs to a pile of hay where she finds her friend hiding, and they continue to frolic elsewhere. A woman's voice this time: Why can't you remember? Why can't you remember why you were hunted? What did you do? Is it so difficult to remember? How were you caught? Where were you going? You were coming to me... remember? You try to remember. Flashes of maggots, and a face lording over you... he wouldn't look you in the eye... how insulting! Was it insulting? You don't remember. Who was that face again? It seemed important at the time... It aches you to your core that no memories come to mind. "That cursed forest. I shall never go there again!"

[@r3liability]

I just imagine a more serpentine Green Dragon can just pretend to be a tree, horizontal or vertical. How fun and terrible🐉🌳

[@RovingJack]

so you're saying we should run forest runs?

[@ricnog7468]

all those puns at the beginning. y'all gotta leaf that alone

[@samueloconnor2938]

Coworker heard that drum intro and asked if I was watching p*rnhub. I told him no even better it’s Web Dm

[@WebDM]

Bless you. We are better than that. We think.

[@samueloconnor2938]

@@WebDM yes. Yes you for sure are