These random things articles are designed as quick idea generators for time-pressed GMs who want to inject some additional details into their game, in this article we look at random things that you might encounter in a swamp.
When you need some inspiration just roll a D20 and consult the table:
| No. | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | You come across a knot of trees twisted together and jutting out of the water, from a certain angle the outline of the trees resembles a hunched figure. |
| 2 | There is a crashing sound from nearby, followed by a large splash, perhaps it was just a branch falling from the trees, or maybe it was something else. |
| 3 | A brightly coloured frog sitting on a nearby banyan stump croaks loudly, it's throat distending as it does so. |
| 4 | The ground drops away sharply below you as you enter a deeper part of the swamp and struggle to keep your feet in the sucking mud. |
| 5 | From far up in the trees the loud call of a primate echoes through the air, disturbing the silence of the swampland. |
| 6 | Carved into the trunk of the tree up ahead is a strangle circular symbol, moss coats most of the entire tree but the symbol is mysteriously free of it. |
| 7 | Half submerged in the waist deep water, a suit of armour can be seen, it is covered in moss and vines, through them you can just about make out the white of bone. |
| 8 | What you think is a log floats past a few metres away, then it blinks at you with the hungry eyes of an alligator. |
| 9 | From some distance off you hear the sound of beating drums, growing closer. |
| 10 | Thick vines criss-cross the swamp in this area making travel extremely slow unless you cut through them, making a great deal of noise in the process. |
| 11 | A thick, clump of brightly coloured mushrooms grow from the damp remains of a collapsed, rotten log, they look tasty but could be poisonous. |
| 12 | With loud cries, a group of wading birds, disturbed by your presence takes flight amidst the fluttering of many feathered wings. |
| 13 | A misty cloud of insects hang in the air above the water, stinging and biting all who are forced to wade through the area. |
| 14 | The trees in this area of strung with webs, moisture glistening on their strands, a number of smaller spiders scitter through the webs, but they couldn't have made all of this. |
| 15 | A single canoe floats lazily past you, of the pilot there is no sign. |
| 16 | Blocks of stone sunk into the soft mud serve as a stable pathway in this area, perhaps it was built deliberately but the stone is so weathered it is impossible to tell. |
| 17 | The surface of the water here is criss-crossed by gigantic lily pads, they almost look big enough for a person to step on. |
| 18 | A single black rooster scratches it's path through the mud, it eyes you warily, bobbing it's head backwards and forwards. |
| 19 | In the centre of the swamp a lonely, decript old hut on stilts emergences from the muck, you can just make out a flickering candle flame in the window. |
| 20 | As you walk a thick mist settles over the water making the air even more humid and making it difficult to see. |