Help a new DM out: Running a 3rd ed D&D swamp adventure

Amigu

Hey guys I posted this over on the Wizards forum too but thought I'd see what you have to ad.

I'm running a level 1 adventure set in a swamp and I ran it through it with my little brother as a trial game before I present it to my pickier friends. I'm having difficulty with a few things

-Monsters

the only low level enemies I can that suit the swamp setting are stirges. My main problem with them is that they do pretty nasty things to the players constitution but not much else! My brother ended up just leaving the swamp and resting up so that the constitution drain would go away and returning which slowed the game down and basically rendered the encounter useless!

Are there any other swampy critters that my level ones could encounter in battle?

-Terrain

How do I make the swamp feel like a swamp rule wise? Also do you have any ideas for landmarks I could have in the swamp?

-Special encounter

I have a special encounter near the end of the swamp where the players have to row a boat across a lake while bog boddies (zombies) try and drag them into the water. I haven't done this kind of thing before and am not sure on how to handle it.

I made the boat 15 feet long and said that one PC would have to sacrifice their action in order to row. Rowing moves the boat 15 feet. The zombies are in waist deep water (and are initially hiding in it fully submerged) I want to start the encounter by having a hand grab at the leg of one of the characters and the zombie will try and drag him into the water. How do i do that in game terms? Give the PC a dex saving throw followed by an attempt on the zombies behalf to grapple the PC? And what happens if a PC does get dragged off the boat? What kind of handicap would be fair for a PC submerged to his waist in bog water? How does he get back on/how can the other PC assist him?



-The boss

My PC's goal is to kill a giant toad whose nest is poisoning the local village water. The only problem is I can't find any rules for giant toads so i just used a reflavoured spider instead. The problem here is that in my trial run all the toad really did was charge the PCs and then get hacked to bits it didn't feel in anyway as if the PCs were fighting a giant toad. I wasn't sure what kind of poison to give the toad either... any ideas?

trophus

I myself am a DM preparing a lvl 1 (by now lvl 2) adventure in a swamp.

Just remember, you are the DM, you make the world, if you decide to do something unique and loose from the rules, you are allowed to. Just don't forget to keep it in line with the atmosphere from your game.

Myself, I decided to make a group of drow that, bent on world domination, control the weather through magic thus making the entire swamp dark and rainy forever so they can put up camp there. And they attack the non-afflicted areas by night.
The rainy area keeps growing untill the heroes stop it (that is.. IF they do)

However there are plenty of possibilities for encounters in swamps:
* You can let almost any humanoid travel through the swamp. They don't have to live there (though they could have a settlement or hut or something in the swamp. Make some swampfolk
* Low lvl water elementals do just fine in a swamp in my opinion.
* Small monstrous spiders do just fine in a swamp, expecially if there are lots of swamp trees.
* Any animal or group of animals could accidentally wander into a swamp and get lost. You could present it like: You see a small pack of Badgers, roll a knowledge nature (if none has that, you dont have to explain yourself, if somebody rolls good enough you can add: They seem to be lost)

* When your group goes to lvl 2 there's always the possibility of throwing in a constrictor snake.


As for landmarks, think of:
* A small abandoned wicker hut with voodoo dolls and such (Maybe a nice item for a caster)
* A very large, botched, swamp tree
* An especially large body of water, covered by fog
* A small camp of lost people of a nearby town (side-quest?)
* A ruined campsite with some corpses (nice for a nearby encounter)
* A half-sunken boat in a body of water (river-isch)


Hope this helps a little.
Good luck on your campaign

travathian

You take any sort of monstrous plant, fungus, slime, ooze, or jelly and simply reduce it down to their level. Plenty of normal animals like snakes and crocs can be a challenge for the party.

Lizardmen love swamps and are low level or can be adjusted to suit. You could always skip the toad thing and just say that a tribe of lizardmen is doing the poisoning in retaliation that the townfolk burned a large portion of the swamp in order to try and drive the lizardfolk tribe out of the area. Put the main lizardfolk base at the center of a large watery area. The bog bodies could have been created by lizardman necromancers as a means of protecting their base and scaring off natural predators. Their base could have a small above ground portion (thatched huts, lean twos, shelters, etc) and a much more extensive underground portion including nesting areas, a temple, necromancer hang out, etc.

This could easily be a multi-part adventure. Adventurers arrive at town, find out about poisoning. Maybe they help care for the wounded, do some questioning around town, see if anyone has information about the swamp. Lots of people talk about the lizardmen, how the swamp druid warned the town, how much they hate them, how after being attacked at night by them the town responded by trying to burn down the swamp. Now the sickness is worse and townsfolk are dying.

PCs respond by heading into the swamp. A number of encounters with misc animals/plants as they roam about the swamp looking for the lizardmen, because the map the townsfolk provided was horribly wrong or out of date.

They are found roaming by the 'friendly' druid who is able to help guide them, and also confirms the townsfolk story that the lizardmen attacked first. The druid put out the fire, but has tried to keep from both groups as to not get involved in their petty squabble. The druid will lead the PCs to the lizardmen but will leave them once they are close.

PCs come across some lizardmen patrols, blah blah blah. Eventually get to the open area with the visible island in the middle. Walking around the outskirts, more patrols, they find a small (think 8') row boat. Standing in the boat requires a Dex check with a penalty based on how many others are standing. Failure means being forced to sit back down, failing by more than 10 and you fall in the swamp. Characters attacking from a standing position get their full Str bonus to atk/dmg, sitting characters get no Str bonus to atk/dmg. Zombies have scaling in their entry, so it should be easy to mix in a number of different types. Maybe have the larger ones focus on rocking the boat or trying to pull someone into the water.

A few lizardmen on shore, some roaming on patrols, some arriving from patrols, leaving, etc. The PCs eventually come across one who speaks Common, who calls them out for attacking the peaceful lizardmen. The lizardmen will claim they have never attacked the village directly and only began poisoning the water in retaliation for the fires. Obviously the PCs can ignore this and continue butchering the whole group. You can flesh out the underground portion as a typical lair, a couple shaman, a couple necros, some more guards, the leader, womenfolk and hatchlings, etc. The PCs can head back to town with their trophies and be the heroes. If they stick around a bit, the poisonings are still going on (see end).

If the PCs decide to investigate further, the lizardmen will show them the underground and underwater path leading between their nest and the well supply of the town. A thorough searching of the caverns leads to finding a second well that happens to be near the druid's home. More investigation might lead them to finding out that the victims attacked at night in the town have very clean cut wounds, none of them terribly life threatening. The lizardfolk use serrated blades, teeth, claws or other weapons that would leave very different wounds.

Truth is, the druid has been playing boogie man by telling the townsfolk who live on the outskirts of town about the lizardmen, thus causing a scare. Then the druid staged the attack to set up the lizardmen hoping the townsfolk would respond. The fire wasn't planned, and why the druid put it out so quickly. The poisoning wasn't planned by the druid either, but after finding out the lizardfolk were doing it, the druid added additional, more potent poison, attempting to up the stakes. The druid hates both groups. The lizardmen for their use of necromancy (even though its defensive and the zombies were people long, long dead), and the townsfolk for slash/burn farming in the forest adjacent to the swamp. If the lizardfolk are killed by the PCs the druid simply keeps poisoning the townsfolk until they all die, leave, or are weak enough the druid can kill them all. If the PCs didn't wipe out the lizardfolk, they will agree to send along a few of their kind to help attack the druid, and in the end will allow the PCs to negotiate a treaty between them and the townsfolk. The townsfolk will need to be convinced that the helpful druid was actually behind all this.

Tons of opportunities for non-combat XP, and tons for combat XP from things besides lizardmen. By the time they get to the final showdown with the druid they can easily have gained a level or two.

Wow that was long

tzeentchling

Well, a giant toad sounds more like a skirmisher/controller. Inflicting status penalties on its opponent (poison based, perhaps, from toxic skin), grabbing opponent from a distance, making lots of jumps/teleports around.

But yeah, the enemies listed by Travathian are good suggestions.