How do you do frequent, interesting, and varied environmental

>>48429796
I don't care about this thread. I just came by to say that quote in the pic is top tier.

Depends on why you need environmental challenges.
If you want the challenge to impede the players, put a small natural ocurence like a land slide
If you want the challenge to provide worldly-ness have the pcs come across other adventures setting up their camp
If you just want to add a combat encounter have the pcs meet a few robbers robbing, a pack of wolves, or a very angry polimorped duck

>>48430149
Also if you just want to fuck with the pcs put an upturned wagon filled with shitty magical items in it, provide no explanation

File: catania.jpg (403KB, 920x652px) Image search: [Google]

403KB, 920x652px

>him walk in swamp
>him get diseased
>him walk in stones
>him snap ankle
>him in witch place
>him got the devil innim
>him in bright light
>him lose sight
>him climb cliff
>him fall
>him in dark
>him stumble
>him near volcano
>him burned
>him in cloud place
>him can't breathe
>him walk in magic forest
>him get lost

>>48430149
I wanted to avoid saying any specific scenario in the OP so hopefully I wouldn't be the only one that could use the thread but, you know, unveiled bump.

I'm going to be running an adventure that's pretty much entirely social, but with a whole lot of travelling. It's kinda like a very elaborate trade sequence. So in the interest of still playing a game sometimes, I wanted to give them some funsies of a different kind in between, and was mostly inspired by the way Mouse Guard handles it.

>>48429979
I think that's fair.

>>48430831
>Parkour/narrow passages
>Old bridges being out or in disrepair
>river's out or in disrepair
>map is old and trails no longer exist/are marked wrong
>particularly violent storm
>particularly pacifist storm
>forest fire
>weird fantasy plants
>weird normal plants
>normal fantasy plants
>old ruins (actual proper old ruins, not that trap infested stuff you >hear so much about. just some old grown over foundations and >maybe a crumbled pillar)
>traps (the hunting kind)
>traps (the people kind)

Really weather in general can be fun to play around with, especially if you have fantasy weather as an option.

>>48429796
Hey, here's a toxic area you gotta go though. Take this sealed environment suit and some repair kits for when it breaks. Have the environment suit have a certain amount of HP, and the less HP the suit has, the more environmental damage the players take.

Suit at 40 hp? roll 1d10 for damage every round bypassing armor until suit is repaired.

Suit at 20? roll 2d10 for damage bypassing armor every round until it is repaired or reaches a higher threshold.

Suit at 0? Suit is now worthless and provides no protection.

>>48431732
Oh dear oh dear, radiation is reaching critical levels. Take strength/constitution damage over time until the leak is either patched, or until the players leave the hazard.

Of course, maybe there is no radiation, but damaged wires are misfiring and electricity arcs randomly. Have the players make agility checks to avoid getting zapped.

Maybe it's not the wiring, maybe the coolant pipes or fuel tanks are broken. Step into this lake of pungent chemicals to progress. Watch out for the fumes.

>>48430149
>If you want the challenge to provide worldly-ness have the pcs come across other adventures setting up their camp
Meeting the caravans from other towns on the road was one of the comfiest things about final fantasy crystal chronicles

>>48429796
This is a really great question that I come back to a lot in GMing or working on homebrew system stuff. Ultimately, what I've come to find is that location and environment should act as modifiers to spice-up other challenges. So rather than say, have the party come across a rope bridge over a canyon and make skill checks to survive; instead have an event take place there, and use the threat of falling and the flimsiness of the bridge as means to accentuate whatever goes on.

That bullshit out of the way, here's some examples I'm thinking up on the spot:
-A sudden storm has reduced visibility, and the threat of winds and thunder endanger the PCs; they should find shelter, and quickly... But who knows what else they'll find.
-The party comes to a crossroads that is not shown on their map, with 5 possible roads they could follow... And all of the signs claim they lead to the same destination.
-A gate and toll have been erected on the road in a particularly dangerous marsh by a greedy noble. However, the guards stationed at the toll are bored out of their minds, and won't charge the party the ludicrous fee IF the party can tell them an entertaining tale.
-A great, dangerous beast is sleeping in front of the bridge over the icy river. Waking the creature is tantamount to suicide... So how will the party get past?


Is that kinda what you're looking for?

>>48429796

> You are alone, child. There is only darkness for you, and only death for your people. These ancients are just the beginning. I will command a great and terrible army, and we will sail to a billion worlds. We will sail until every light has been extinguished.
> You are strong, child, but I am beyond strength. I am the end, and I have come for you, Finn.

> Stop.
> I have learned much from you. Thank you, my teachers. And now for your education.
> Before there was time, before there was anything, there was nothing. And before there was nothing, there were monsters.

Reminder that this is a cartoon aimed at children.

The problem with environmental challenges is making the consequences interesting. Giving them damage is usually pointless since if you're travelling for days most systems will allow you to heal in that time.

So you need to use up other resources instead. The best one is time. They lose time, which means they're late to whatever thing they were travelling to, and it'll be harder for them to accomplish their goals. You have to narrate it carefully so it doesn't feel like fiat (though making up rules on the fly like this basically is, unless your system has dedicated travelling rules. Know any that do?).
>asking around, your contacts inform you that Sneaky McEvil left town a few days ago right after the blizzard abated
For optimal results they need to know BEFORE they get in the blizzard that they're on the clock so they really feel the loss of travel time.

If you're doing something very simulationist draining food, repair supplies, fuel, w/e can work but isn't that interesting imo. Even if you don't normally track that stuff, giving them the option of leaving their cargo train behind (so no gear minus what they carry themselves) to climb over the landslide vs go the long way 'round with their entire wagonload of healing pots and magical items is an interesting choice for a one-off occasion.

Travelling vignettes (not necessarily challenges) can be fun too, gives an opportunity to roleplay. Other travellers, roadside monuments, unusual scenery can be fun to describe.