Monday, February 3, 2014

Sandbox Wonders 4

33. Ice Flats - These areas look as if a great lake was covered in ice and then the water disappeared.  Sailing ice boats is a quick but dangerous way to cross them.  At night, fires and lights are often seen flickering below the ice, as if whole cities live beneath.
34. Fire Pools - An area of natural pools that smells faintly of stale oil and looks oily.  At night a pale fire flickers across the surface giving an eery glow to the whole area.  Water collected here will also burn in the dark.  Drinking the water is not advised.
35. Green Canyon - A small, winding canyon unrecognizable as such because its ground-level opening is filled with greenery.  Clambering down a trail into the canyon reveals that the greenery is from trees growing in mid-air, their roots bare.  The heartwood of these trees is buoyant.
36. The Weeping Stones - In an otherwise dry badlands, these pinkish, hard rocks trickle moisture.  Mosses and lush grasses grow around their bases.  Oval and each close to the size of a person, the rocks show signs of having been chipped at over the centuries.  A fist-sized chip will trickle a waterskin full in a day.
37. Summer Mountain - This mountain range is seasonal.  It slowly recedes into winter and pushes up in spring.  Tallest at the summer solstice, its behavior shapes the trade and ecology of the entire region.
38. The Speckled Shoals - These rocky shoals are dangerous to ships, but beautiful.  Made up of small rocks the many colors of fall leaves, these have actually fallen from the small trees that crown the shoals and grow leaves of stone.  Cuttings can be taken.
39. The Child of the Sun - Hidden in an underground cavern is a tiny sun.  Just like our sun but the size of an apple, it floats above the cavern floor.  Here warm breezes blow, green mosses spread across the cavern floor and mouse-sized cattle graze in the glow.
40. The Rotten Rocks - Actually two hills of greenish stone crumbling to powder.  The hills can be seen from quite a distance.  The powder decays metal as a rust monster.
41. Amber Beach - This long, sweeping beach hidden in a cove is made entirely of bits of amber smoothed by the sea.  The amber holds fragments of ancient trees, bugs, and some even tiny fairies.  It's said warming those over a fire will release the fairy which might perform a service.
42. Bower Village - Seen from nearby hills this looks like a thriving riverside village.  On closer inspection it's all made of straw, mud, and found objects.  A single male bower bird lives here.  If caught and moved elsewhere he will construct a similar village in approximately 1 month.

9 comments:

  1. (Blogger ate my comment?)

    All are good but I really like the child of the sun. Maybe even adding an orbiting planet that the players can visit (if shrunk).

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  2. Yeah Child of the Sun is a good one

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  3. The mini-sun is cute and all, but Jack-in-the-Box has the real money making idea for that cave.

    The Amber beach is a great idea too, and might have a party of dwarves there looking for the more valuable inclusions.

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  4. Dang it! My co-worker said I should have had a planet too, just after I published. So, no mini cows. How about this, if the players toss sand or dirt at the sun it will start orbiting and coalescing into a planet before their very eyes?

    Thanks for the comments.

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  5. I should have put a smiley in there so it's totally clear I feel no outrage or consternation about this :)

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  6. I like the summer mountains. I can totally see different monsters/inhabitants appearing at different points. Maybe a dungeon is only accessible the week before and after the solstice?

    Also, the tossing the dirt to make a planet? Love it!

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  7. Thanks. And if the players are foreigners in a place, or the place is largely uninhabited it could be really freaky to realize the mountains are shrinking.

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  8. Wait, didn't the post before this one end with #22 ?
    Are numbers 23-32 a hidden track?

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  9. Hah, that's a great idea. But, no, looks like I forgot to tag that post. I fixed it now. Thanks for letting me know.

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