I try not to develop forest adventures much. I create them around the actions of the players' characters. At any time players can just decide they don't want their characters wandering around in a forest, so they take off for the mountains or back underground. Usually they are in a forest if they enjoy travelling, are in pursuit of something, have been hired to find something in a forest, or there are elves or rangers in the group. Your world is theirs to wander and some players fancy themselves as explorers. If you are not stuck in module-after-module mode, you can create a more challenging world of intrigues, and life fantastic -- a chance for your players to roleplay and interact with other imaginary creatures or peoples.
If you feel confident in your storytelling and roleplaying abilities, run another group of adventurers (mixed in with the current plot or on an entirely different course) through the same forest at the same time your players' characters are there. Your group is entirely NPCs (non-player characters) and if you wish, you can roleplay each different NPC (Robin Williams would be excellent at this) as they interact with your players' characters. If your NPC adventurers number more than 4, adding a second DM to the game will help immensely, unless you are comfortably schizophrenic. But, if you do pull it off, you feel like an actor/director in his own movie. It can be an extraordinary feeling, and if you do it right, some of your players might like your NPCs enough to follow them or want to roleplay them. You can do this in any scenario realm, but I've had greater success with it in the forest realm . . .
DM: The fog is getting thicker. The woods you are travelling through seem almost spooky. With the fog and the thickness of the tree canopy, you can't decide if it is day or night. Way off in the distance, you hear a lone wolf howl three times.
Merltif: "What the hell is making that sound," I whisper to Lacenilch. I look at the ground for tracks.
Lacenilch: "If I had to guess, I would say a knight or armored rider. Unless we are paralleling a wagon caravan. It is hard to tell where sounds are coming from in this blasted fog."
Fafnee: "This blasted fog is keeping us hidden also."
DM: The only tracks you see on the trail path are hoofprints made by a small horse, possibly the unicorn you've been hunting. The clunking sound has stopped now, as if whatever was making it has stopped to listen. You then hear a different sound, somewhere overhead. Sounds like something big flying.
H'reenithli: "Oh, man! What the hell is that? I sure hope it ain't a drag'n. I've had my fill of them these past 4 days. Anyone hear that clunking sound?"
DM: The trail dips down off the ridge you were on into a small gully. The grass is lower here. Ahead, maybe 15 or 25 feet, you see what looks like flattened grass and torn up ground. Something doesn't feel right.
Merltif: "This is ideal for an ambush. Everyone off the trail. Get down low and wait for my signal to advance again."
DM: You hear an unnatural, bloodcurdling scream off to the right about a hundred yards and a rush of cracking limbs. Sounds like something heavy falling down through the trees.
Merltif:"GaaaaaaaH!" I leap to the left and roll until I am laying on the ground with my sword pointing ahead of me.
H'reenithli: I dive off to the right and stay as low as I can. Then I ready a quick magic missile spell.
Lacenilch: I'm too scared to move. I stand right where I am, with my sword up, trying to hide behind my shield. I am standing just off the trail.
Fafnee: I dive for the ground and crawl as fast as I can to my left, away from the trail. I pull out my short sword in one hand and a throwing axe in the other.
DM: There is a roar and a blast of light follows. Then a bellow of rage followed immediately by the clunking sound moving rapidly ahead through the trees and fog. There is the sound of more trees and branches breaking, then a woman's high-pitched scream that goes silent mid-way through the scream. Then you hear the clash of swords coming together, several of them. Again the angry roaring sound and another blast of light. More steel on steel clashing sounds and then the unmistakable sounds of longbow arrows whining through the air.
Merltif: Sounds like an ambush up ahead. I'm gonna stay right where I am and not even move.
Lacenilch: At the sound of the arrows, I drop to the ground and roll to the left and try to curl up in a ball, putting my shield on top of me.
DM: You hear something running towards your position, then an unearthly wail as it crashes to the ground noisily, thrashing around for several seconds, then no further sounds are heard from its position. There is a ripping sound, like a sailcloth ripping in the wind, amongst the trees then something heavy crashes into the forest top again and you hear wood snapping and more arrows launched. The sounds of swords clashing on armor dies down as if the battle is moving away from you. It then begins to rain. It rains for 10 minutes, then there is no sound at all, except droplets dripping from leaf to leaf.
Merltif: I'm going to wait at least 45 minutes before I signal to any of my group. Do we hear anything else?
DM: You hear the droplets and an occasional branch breaking overhead and ahead of your position. The fog swirls thicker now. You begin to hear a crackling sound that gains momentum then wafts into silence, then picks up again.
Lacenilch: Does it sound like fire? Are the woods on fire? I look at my shield to see if there are any arrows sticking in it.
DM: Yes, it sounds like fire. But it doesn't sound like the woods are on fire. It sounds confined to one spot. There are no arrows sticking in your shield, but your shield is covered with a substance that looks like blood.
Lacenilch: "Oh man. Oh man. It isn't raining. Something is bleeding on us. Eeeyeeuuwww. Oh man. I'm gonna be sick."
H'reenithli: I hear Lacenilch moaning. I look around me, in the grass. What color is the rain-soaked ground and grass?
DM: Kind of a mix of purplish red and darker reds. The crackling sound dies out and the only sound you hear is Lacenilch vomiting and moaning.
H'reenithli: I dissolve the spell I had ready to cast and move toward Lacenilch. "Lace, it's me, H'reen. I'm coming toward you. Don't whack me with your sword."
Merltif: "Oh man." I give the signal for the group to come together. I move toward Lacenilch.
DM: You reach Lacenilch and H'reen. H'reen is holding Lace and the two are rocking back and forth and H'reen is trying to calm her down.
Merltif: I move up next to them and try to check them for injuries. "Are you hurt? What's wrong?"
H'reen: "The child is scared, Merlt. I doubt she's ever been in battle. I'm not injured. Where's Fafnee?"
Merltif: I give the group-gather signal again. Do I hear anything besides Lace and H'reen?
DM: Just the sound of the droplets falling through the trees from leaf to leaf.
Merltif: "Fafnee? Over here," I whisper. "Fafnee, we're over here." I wait and listen.
DM: You hear naught except the droplets. Then, in the distance, you hear a lone wolf howl twice. Two minutes pass and a different wolf answers the first, with 3 short howls, followed by one long one.
H'reen: "They're calling to each other. Must be warriors trying to track each other down and re-group. I think the battle is over."
Merltif: "I'm going to look for Fafnee. Wait here." I crawl back to the trail and follow it back to where we all left it when the battle started. I am looking for Fafnee, calling his name, though not loudly so as to draw attention to myself should anyone be searching for stragglers.
DM: You find Fafnee laying on the ground. There is a large metallic shaft seemingly coming out of his back, just below his shoulders.
Merltif: "No!" I cry out. I rush to his side and check for a pulse. "Fafnee! Speak to me! Oh man. Oh man. Faf, it's me, Merlt. Wake up." I examine the shaft. Is it splintered wood or a spear?
DM: Neither. It's a knight's lance. You felt no pulse. I doubt he knew what killed him.
Merltif: "Oh, man. No, this wasn't supposed to happen. We're just supposed to find the unicorn, catch it and bring it back to Larlth. A simple job." I stand up and try to yank the lance out of his back.
DM: You pull the lance out, though it is a bit of a struggle to do so. When you get it out you see that the tip had been broken off before it hit Fafnee.
Merltif: I yell as loud as I can, the elven battlecry of death. "I, Merltif-nyn'dal of Sarnak, vow this day, to avenge the loss of my brother, Fafnee-nyn'dal of Sarnak. I shall not stop until I find the owner of this war lance and slay him or her. And if this person is dead, then I will hunt down and kill whomever was responsible for the wielder of this lance to lose it into my brother. This I so vow in blood." I use my knife to slash my forearm and let my blood run over the lance. I then drop to the ground and hold my brother in my arms and weep.
H'reen: I carry Lace down to where Merltif sits. "I think she's in shock. Let me bandage that arm of yours, Merltif. We've got to go back, you know. I'll put up a protective field around us and we'll stay right here until it lightens up and the fog lifts. If it doesn't I'll cast a spell to blow away the fog. Then we'll try to figure out what just happened. But right now we need to rest and mourn. He was a good friend. I too vow to avenge his death or die trying. When we get back home, we'll put together a group of warriors. And we'll avenge him." I cast a protection spell around us and try to use my healing spells to bring Lace back to us.
DM: A lone wolf howls but once, a long mournful howl that mingles with the fog and seems to come from afar.
Sometimes a player's character dies. It usually happens when you least expect it because you can't predict the outcome of a dice roll. As a DM, you can get so wrapped up in a game that it is a shock to you when a player's character dies suddenly. Remember, you are the narrator of the story. AD&D is a roleplaying game. It is just like movie and theater acting, except you usually don't get paid nor do you have your own Winnebago full of food, a hairstylist and personal trainer for the duration of the filming or theatrical performance. And like acting, roleplaying can evoke all the emotions in a person. AD&D is just a game. Remember that.
Last updated, March 14, 2008. Copyright © 1997-2008 Terry L. Karkos.
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