Icelandic Adventure or How to get ideas for D&D by traveling
Mar 10, 2015 16:55:12 GMT
DMC, joatmoniac, and 1 more like this
Post by dm_mainprize on Mar 10, 2015 16:55:12 GMT
So as many of you know I went on a nice little vacation to Iceland of the past week and now that I am back wanted to share my experience with you guys. You may be wondering what my vacation has to do with D&D and I can assure you it has lots to do with. If any of you have seen the movie the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, then you will understand what it means when I say I am a lot like him. Sometimes I will see something entirely mundane that just activates something in my mind and can have the effect of creating an entire sub universe within my brain. This can be both very convenient and very inconvenient. Well in Iceland it became very convenient because all sorts of things jumped out to me as easy things to add or use for D&D. At the end of this I will make a list of exact campaign/monster/story ideas I came up with during this trip.
I will start by just saying that if you ever have it within your power to go to Iceland, DO NOT HESITATE. That place is unbelievably majestic. Everything about it forces you to be in awe of its power. I honestly felt I had been transported into another realm. If you are traveling to europe fly icelandair as you can book up-to a 7 day layover in Iceland for 0 charge. Seriously Do It.
Ok now I will get into the real stuff, the ideas I had for D&D while I was in Iceland. On Day 1 we landed In Keflavik Airport and took a bus to the capital city Reykjavik. This bus ride was about 40 minutes and I spent most of it staring out the window being amazed as the bus drove us over and through ancient cracked lava fields. It looked as though we were on the moon. Dark black jagged stones jutted forth from the earth and off in the distance you could see large mountains and steam rising from the earth. I instantly started thinking about my D&D world, which still contains at least one active volcano and was now able to visualize what the surrounding terrain would look and feel and smell like. Jagged, harsh, sulfuric, definitely difficult terrain for any hero to cross. One missed step and you have a rolled ankle or broken leg. The white snow began to fall and that snapped me out of the dream. We were nearing Reykjavik and I had to focus on a map of the area to figure out how to get from the bus station to the Hostel.
We arrived at the bus station and then decided to head on foot to the hostel as it was less than 2 miles away. Trudging through snow can be difficult, trudging through the snow with 40lb pack and a suitcase in tow can be even more so, but worse than these is also having a map which includes names like Laugavegur, Odinsgata, and Skólavörðustígur. I say it was difficult but it was also exciting and fun. Being an adventurer from a far away land having just arrived on the back of a mighty metal dragon(gold of course). I couldn’t help but think about what trouble might a player face when entering a new land, language barrier? do they have a map? how accurate is the map? are they prepared for different weather condition? Is there a local custom they don’t know or perhaps have backwards? Does there currency still have value or is it like US$ to ISK$? These were thoughts I had and they still linger in my mind as way to make the players journeys across the continents, kingdoms, and realms more interesting. We arrived at the hostel and stowed our gear as check in wasn’t for a few hours. Speaking of check in, do all taverns and inns always have rooms available? or might we make adventures go to a second location? We next head back up the hill to meet our guide for a brief 2 hour walking tour of the capital. This ended up being insanely helpful throughout the course of the week as I was able to establish 3 locations in my mind as waypoints and that allowed me to navigate the city fairly well. This brings up another thing to consider as a DM, how are your cities laid out? do they follow a grid pattern? are the maze like? what does the lay out mean for your players both in simply getting from point A to point B or perhaps how it affects chases. Reykjavik’s streets are chaos. It is said when people began moving and settling there the man in charge of roads simply said “build your home where ever you want, I will bring a road to you!” This causes there to many roads that don’t make much sense and road that exist but are not show or labeled on the map. Definitely something players might have to deal with when traveling to a new place none have ever been.
The walking tour did more than just give me a way to navigate. I learn a ton of sweet stuff about the city. I will talk about a few that I felt instantly applied being a DM. Firstly Iceland is divided into 4 geographic regions, North South East West. Each region is under the protection of a certain mythical being. A great Eagle or Griffon is said to protect the North, Giants protect the south, Dragons protect the east, and A huge Bull protects the west. This is just gold, having various regions of your world under the protection of certain beings either natural or supernatural. These protective beings are on the coins of iceland and on some prominent buildings. Things like that really add a sense of immersion to your world, having recognizable motifs and designs for various kingdoms and places is an easy way to clue your players into certain cultural detail. Another thing we discovered during the tour was tons of street art. Not graffiti, but large scale piece commissioned by home/business owners. These were stunningly beautiful. What role could graffiti or street art play in a D&D world? Could it just be for beautification? or is hidden within the art some secret messages or quests? perhaps graffiti is a way for various guild to mark of their turf? Fun ideas to consider. Another great thing was just learning the history of the city, many stops at statues and buildings gave us a good idea of who was important and why. Statues, carvings, and similar objects are a great way to give history and conflict to your towns and cities as well as let players know who is in charge both now and in the past. As the walking tour came to a close we returned to the hostel checked in and took a nap as we had been up for about 28 hours.
After a small nap it was time to get some food, luckily our hostel was also a bar/restaurant. So we went down stair and order some food and drinks. The evening went by and we just relaxed in the hostel because the next day was sure to be quite the adventure. Day 2 was to be a day trip out of the city to see some large waterfalls and hike up a into a glacier. We woke up at 7AM charged and ready, had breakfast and waited for our bus to arrive, and we waited, and waited. We gave them a 15 minute grace because it was snowing pretty intensely outside and perhaps the tour people were struggling with the weather. We called them and apparently some mis-communication happened and we didn’t get picked up. We managed to reschedule for Friday, and decide to not be bummed out and instead venture out and explore the city. We searched for more street art, took some picture of statues and sculptures, then went into the Harpa. The Harpa is a gigantic convention center right out on the edge of the water. It is massive and looks like an alien ship that has landed on the edge of the water. What similar type building could a city in our D&D worlds have? A wizards tower, a grand meeting hall? Inside the Harpa was full of the lovely glass Ravens hanging from the ceiling. Ravens are a huge part of the icons of iceland. The raven is a symbol for Odin and as such still have a large hold on Icelandic culture. What similar image or icon would be found in the cities of your world? Day 2 was all about exploring the city, not pursuing the “main quest” of the waterfall glacier excursion, and it only happened because of scheduling mix-up. What similar event could you use to have the players spend a day not chasing the villain? perhaps the scheduling mix-up was actually orchestrated by the villain to give him a head start over the players? So many things can come from the smallest mistake or change to the plan. Day 2 ended with more food and fun as well as attending a Folk Music Festival. Most of the songs were in Icelandic, but they were beautiful nonetheless. What cultural event or experience could you put your players in? Music? Drama? how would it affect the way they view this new land or its people?
Day 3 was insane. This was the day we went out to the National Park. At the park we Snorkelled in the Continental Divide, watched some Geysirs explode, and went to a the largest waterfall in Europe. Our guides name was Ásgeir which means Spear of the Gods, you can bet your sweet bippy that name will become an NPC in my world. This is an easy thing to do and I do it all the time, I meet people all the time, some of them are boring some interesting. If you need to come up with an NPC the people you know or meet on a day to day basis could be the perfect candidate or template. First we snorkelled. If you have never snorkelled or done scuba I strongly strongly suggest you try it. It is a truly profoundly alien experience. I got dive certified in college and it was one of the best decision I made. The place we snorkelled is cal Silfar, which means silver. It is a massively deep canyon full of water that is fed by a glacier. The water is fed underground through a massive lava field and is perfectly filtered by the time it gets above ground in this spot. This canyon is also the point where the North American continent and the European Continent are pulling apart. So when you snorkel or scuba here you are literally in a canyon that expands 1ish inch a year and you are looking down at new earth. That just blows my mind. Due to the clarity of the water visibility is at a maximum. At noon with the sun high in the sky you can see down to depth of around 200 meters, thats about 650 feet. Totally amazing. Along the snorkelling path is a point where you have to make a left turn a fork in the canyon. If you dont you hit a massive current and get sucked out into the lake quicker than you can think. Scary. Now something else to note, the water is freezing cold. So thermals, drysuits these are things you need to wear in order to not die. In these conditions what would your players have to deal with? Crossing river, dealing with cold water, strong currents or insane depths are all things to think about when your players come across something like this. When we left the canyon area we went into a glacial lagoon which was gorgeous of course. What kind of things could be found in a lagoon? Monsters? Treasures? Perhaps the lagoon has some healing properties? After getting out of the water and the suits, we got some hot chocolate and cookies. Best hot choc I have ever had. We then drove out to see a massive waterfall. This thing was pretty dang big and so powerful. Waterfalls could be an easy and terrifying thing to put in the path of your players and this one was no different. Not only could the water and the fall over the edge do the trick, also the temperature, the large chunks of razor sharp ice. Also the entire area around the fall was slick with ice and definitely difficult terrain. At so many point during this trip was I blown away by the power of Iceland and took note that it does not need to be magic or monsters that can be interesting but even things that exist here in our world that could make for very interesting and exciting events and encounters. Lastly we head to the Geyser. This place was crazy cool. We stepped out of the tour van amidst a mild snowfall but none was sticking to the earth, the ground in that area was just too hot. The air smelled of sulfur and gases and I immediately thought of demons and devil. Had those types of beings build this place? was it there lair? did they come here to relax and feel at home when running around the material plane? The steam and geysers did their thing blasting forth from the crust of creation with great power and force. Dangers in this area included toxic fumes, water at boiling temperatures, mud holes filled with hot mud that look safe to step on. Things to think about if you wanted to add something like this into your world. We made it back to Reykjavik in one piece and enjoyed more food and fun for the evening. The ideas I collected from this excursion were bubbling and boiling in my mind for the rest of the trip.
Day 4 we went to the Blue Lagoon. A very touristy spot where people go to get pampered and relax. Our experience however was quite the opposite. It was a stunningly miserable day as far as the weather was concerned. brutally strong winds and form of precipitation that would cause even the most burly of adventures to turn their face to avoid its cruel sting. I will take a minute now to discuss the weather in Iceland. Weather in Iceland is just as extreme and powerful as the landscape. Due to its location on earth it gets some crazy storms and weather. But the weather never seems to last more than 15-30 minutes. All throughout the trip the weather would alternate between, sunny-rainy-sleeting-snowing-hailing-whiteout blizzard-windy-cloudy or any combination of those. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. If the weather got bad you just hunkered down for 15 minutes and then carried on by stepping out into a bright sunny aftermath. So the weather on our blue lagoon day was quite anomalous, I was cold, windy, and snow/hailing all day. We got to the lagoon, got changed into our swimmies and stepped out into the chaos. The water was hot, around 85-95 degrees, the wind was creating 6-8inch waves of hot water and the air above and snow was frigid. My body was so confused. But it was insanely exciting and exhilarating. I have a tendency to see the good in each situation so as my wife was expecting a peaceful serene rest in the lagoon, I saw the power of Iceland and nature. What activity could your PCs be involved in that goes completely opposite to the plan? The whole trip was underlined by the idea of simply making PC deal with the power of nature and the elements. So many places you could have an elemental be the force behind the weather or conditions that affect your players. We drove back to Reykjavik and enjoyed the evening trying more local food and drink.
Day 5 is tied in my mind with Day 3. Day 5 was when we went on the Glacier/Waterfall tour that we missed on Day 2. I will just talk about the Glacier as I already talked about waterfalls and this post is getting kinda long. (sorry). So we drove out of the city and visited some waterfalls, none as big as the one we saw earlier, but none were less gorgeous or stunning. The glacier was some crazy crazy stuff. We arrived at the site and then got fitted with Crampons(metal spikes for walking/climbing on ice), as well as getting our Ice Axes(sadly not made of True Ice, see episode 18 LoL lore for more info). Then we marched about 20 minutes to the base of the Glacier. We fitted our crampons and got a short lesson on how to not die on the glacier. Primary rules, Follow the Guide, Step where he steps, don’t walk in the snow. We climbed up the glacier and got some cool history/science lessons along the way. Our guides names were Snori(probably kin of Dori Nori and Ori) and Thor(seriously, man crush). They were great and no one died. The risks of climbing a glacier seem clear, you are on ice and up pretty high. Falling would result in you sliding to the base of the glacier and crushing all the bones in you body on the way down. But there are other danger an adventurer might face that might not be so apparent. One of the survival rules is don’t walk in the snow. This is because snow fills up crevasses and holes(called Moulin). The crevasses form when the glacier makes a turn around a mountain or when it funnels through a choke point. Falling into these isn’t the worst thing. You simply get out or get wedged and die. The Moulin are far more terrifying. They are formed during the summer as the glacier melts and water runs down the top of it. This water pools and spirals in low spots and begins to drill a perfectly shaped hole down the glacier. Depending on where these are formed, they can be anywhere from 60-300 ft deep. As the the guide said falling into one of these is a “one way ticket”. These 2 things combined with the players lack of knowledge of how to spot them could easily cause a lot of pain. Also since this is D&D, what kind of terrible cold hearted creature would live in our versions of these natural occurrences? What terrible creature lies at the bottom of these holes waiting for its next meal? We descended the glacier as a snow storm rolled in and thanks the old gods and the new for not hitting us with that storm while we were at the top. After the glacier we went to the beach. This was a black beach, covered in volcanic sand and volcano pearls. On the way here our guide told us about the sand storms in Iceland. This caught me off guard I thought were in Iceland not Iraq! Well apparently sand storms do occur in Iceland but instead of desert sand it volcanic sand. They billow up in dark black walls of terror. Fling rock and obsidian across the land. They will push cars of roads, and shatter windows. That sounds scary enough for me to want to throw it at my players.
Those were the days we went out and did crazy stuff in the wilds of Iceland. The remainder of our days were spent resting and relaxing around Reykjavik. We did some shopping, saw some more sites, ate yummy food and drank yummy drinks. I will add 2 more things before I wrap this up as it is currently at 4 pages and anyone who stuck around through my bad spelling and grammar is a genuine hero. In many of the touristy shops there were trinkets and items for sale. Many were small statue of norse gods or local legends like trolls and elves. These would make for great addition to your table in the form of statues, player tokens, etc and all very fun and unique seeing as they come from iceland. Lastly rocks. When I was a kid I loved rocks, that has never really left me however I don’t collect them actively. I did however grab some when I was visiting various places around the southern coast of Iceland. In my word, the most common magic item are compass stones, they point the way to various things be that clean water, a forest, a town, etc. I grabbed stones from iceland to hand my player for use as compass stones. One from the Blue Lagoon one from each water fall, one from the glacier, one from the geyser and a few from the beach. I am really excited to share these with my player. I got a few from the beach that are large, about the size of my palm and perfectly smooth. I plan on painting runes or symbols on these to use at the table as well.
So that was the trip and the broad inspirations I collected there. I hope you can use something here to make your own worlds more real, exciting, harsh, and immersive. I sincerely applaud you if you managed to read all of this. I will know throw down a list of all my more specific ideas I had. Thanks for reading!
Ideas
An Epic creature or deity that is causing the continents to drift apart. The players must find a way to stop this before the world is sundered and destroyed by all the subsequent volcanos and earthquakes.
A canyon or crevasse of crystal clear water, it appears safe to swim in, upon entering into it the canyon/crevasse activates and slams together crushing all inside. Basically the channel is gigantic living being like a venus flytrap, but its filled with clear water to lure in food. The closing of its jaws could be fast or slow almost unnoticeable till it too late.
A deep chasm of water that a party must dive into to retrieve an item. This could be an easy way to introduce underwater play to your players without having them invest in a full campaign if you or them are not ready for it.
A deep chasm filled with crystal clear water, at the bottom of the place is a large ancient temple to a water god.
An area of land covered in geysers and geothermal hot pots. This area could be toxic because of poisonous gas and your players have to cross it.
Sentient Geysers that pursue beings that enter the land they inhabit. They burst forth from the earth burning and boiling their prey and then consuming their bodies.
A geothermal pool which would provide healing for the party.
A geothermal pool that players could dip their weapons in to make them do more damage to a nearby creature or monster. Basically blessing the items.
Guides that the players can higher to give them tours of cities, lands, sight, add tourism into your worlds as a gold sink and a way to show off the cool geography of your world. Also the guides could be villains, leading people out into the wild to kill/rob/sacrifice them.
A sculpture garden/Museum that is owned by an evil wizard. He either petrifies people to add to his collection or has a pet basilisk.
A waterfall that has a temple or dungeon hidden behind it.
Sandstorms, Also sand that isn’t just yellow or tan, but an color. How color would a green desert be.
A Castle built into a mountainside
A glacier coming out of a mountain range that is the home of frost giants and the physical manifestation of their attempt to expand their domain.
Weather that changes every 20 minutes due to science or due to magic.
That is all I wrote down on my phone, but I have more ideas in the cooker. If reading this post sparked any ideas in your mind please share them. Also I will post some pictures, but have like 500+ to upload so dont hold your breath. Thanks again for reading.
I will start by just saying that if you ever have it within your power to go to Iceland, DO NOT HESITATE. That place is unbelievably majestic. Everything about it forces you to be in awe of its power. I honestly felt I had been transported into another realm. If you are traveling to europe fly icelandair as you can book up-to a 7 day layover in Iceland for 0 charge. Seriously Do It.
Ok now I will get into the real stuff, the ideas I had for D&D while I was in Iceland. On Day 1 we landed In Keflavik Airport and took a bus to the capital city Reykjavik. This bus ride was about 40 minutes and I spent most of it staring out the window being amazed as the bus drove us over and through ancient cracked lava fields. It looked as though we were on the moon. Dark black jagged stones jutted forth from the earth and off in the distance you could see large mountains and steam rising from the earth. I instantly started thinking about my D&D world, which still contains at least one active volcano and was now able to visualize what the surrounding terrain would look and feel and smell like. Jagged, harsh, sulfuric, definitely difficult terrain for any hero to cross. One missed step and you have a rolled ankle or broken leg. The white snow began to fall and that snapped me out of the dream. We were nearing Reykjavik and I had to focus on a map of the area to figure out how to get from the bus station to the Hostel.
We arrived at the bus station and then decided to head on foot to the hostel as it was less than 2 miles away. Trudging through snow can be difficult, trudging through the snow with 40lb pack and a suitcase in tow can be even more so, but worse than these is also having a map which includes names like Laugavegur, Odinsgata, and Skólavörðustígur. I say it was difficult but it was also exciting and fun. Being an adventurer from a far away land having just arrived on the back of a mighty metal dragon(gold of course). I couldn’t help but think about what trouble might a player face when entering a new land, language barrier? do they have a map? how accurate is the map? are they prepared for different weather condition? Is there a local custom they don’t know or perhaps have backwards? Does there currency still have value or is it like US$ to ISK$? These were thoughts I had and they still linger in my mind as way to make the players journeys across the continents, kingdoms, and realms more interesting. We arrived at the hostel and stowed our gear as check in wasn’t for a few hours. Speaking of check in, do all taverns and inns always have rooms available? or might we make adventures go to a second location? We next head back up the hill to meet our guide for a brief 2 hour walking tour of the capital. This ended up being insanely helpful throughout the course of the week as I was able to establish 3 locations in my mind as waypoints and that allowed me to navigate the city fairly well. This brings up another thing to consider as a DM, how are your cities laid out? do they follow a grid pattern? are the maze like? what does the lay out mean for your players both in simply getting from point A to point B or perhaps how it affects chases. Reykjavik’s streets are chaos. It is said when people began moving and settling there the man in charge of roads simply said “build your home where ever you want, I will bring a road to you!” This causes there to many roads that don’t make much sense and road that exist but are not show or labeled on the map. Definitely something players might have to deal with when traveling to a new place none have ever been.
The walking tour did more than just give me a way to navigate. I learn a ton of sweet stuff about the city. I will talk about a few that I felt instantly applied being a DM. Firstly Iceland is divided into 4 geographic regions, North South East West. Each region is under the protection of a certain mythical being. A great Eagle or Griffon is said to protect the North, Giants protect the south, Dragons protect the east, and A huge Bull protects the west. This is just gold, having various regions of your world under the protection of certain beings either natural or supernatural. These protective beings are on the coins of iceland and on some prominent buildings. Things like that really add a sense of immersion to your world, having recognizable motifs and designs for various kingdoms and places is an easy way to clue your players into certain cultural detail. Another thing we discovered during the tour was tons of street art. Not graffiti, but large scale piece commissioned by home/business owners. These were stunningly beautiful. What role could graffiti or street art play in a D&D world? Could it just be for beautification? or is hidden within the art some secret messages or quests? perhaps graffiti is a way for various guild to mark of their turf? Fun ideas to consider. Another great thing was just learning the history of the city, many stops at statues and buildings gave us a good idea of who was important and why. Statues, carvings, and similar objects are a great way to give history and conflict to your towns and cities as well as let players know who is in charge both now and in the past. As the walking tour came to a close we returned to the hostel checked in and took a nap as we had been up for about 28 hours.
After a small nap it was time to get some food, luckily our hostel was also a bar/restaurant. So we went down stair and order some food and drinks. The evening went by and we just relaxed in the hostel because the next day was sure to be quite the adventure. Day 2 was to be a day trip out of the city to see some large waterfalls and hike up a into a glacier. We woke up at 7AM charged and ready, had breakfast and waited for our bus to arrive, and we waited, and waited. We gave them a 15 minute grace because it was snowing pretty intensely outside and perhaps the tour people were struggling with the weather. We called them and apparently some mis-communication happened and we didn’t get picked up. We managed to reschedule for Friday, and decide to not be bummed out and instead venture out and explore the city. We searched for more street art, took some picture of statues and sculptures, then went into the Harpa. The Harpa is a gigantic convention center right out on the edge of the water. It is massive and looks like an alien ship that has landed on the edge of the water. What similar type building could a city in our D&D worlds have? A wizards tower, a grand meeting hall? Inside the Harpa was full of the lovely glass Ravens hanging from the ceiling. Ravens are a huge part of the icons of iceland. The raven is a symbol for Odin and as such still have a large hold on Icelandic culture. What similar image or icon would be found in the cities of your world? Day 2 was all about exploring the city, not pursuing the “main quest” of the waterfall glacier excursion, and it only happened because of scheduling mix-up. What similar event could you use to have the players spend a day not chasing the villain? perhaps the scheduling mix-up was actually orchestrated by the villain to give him a head start over the players? So many things can come from the smallest mistake or change to the plan. Day 2 ended with more food and fun as well as attending a Folk Music Festival. Most of the songs were in Icelandic, but they were beautiful nonetheless. What cultural event or experience could you put your players in? Music? Drama? how would it affect the way they view this new land or its people?
Day 3 was insane. This was the day we went out to the National Park. At the park we Snorkelled in the Continental Divide, watched some Geysirs explode, and went to a the largest waterfall in Europe. Our guides name was Ásgeir which means Spear of the Gods, you can bet your sweet bippy that name will become an NPC in my world. This is an easy thing to do and I do it all the time, I meet people all the time, some of them are boring some interesting. If you need to come up with an NPC the people you know or meet on a day to day basis could be the perfect candidate or template. First we snorkelled. If you have never snorkelled or done scuba I strongly strongly suggest you try it. It is a truly profoundly alien experience. I got dive certified in college and it was one of the best decision I made. The place we snorkelled is cal Silfar, which means silver. It is a massively deep canyon full of water that is fed by a glacier. The water is fed underground through a massive lava field and is perfectly filtered by the time it gets above ground in this spot. This canyon is also the point where the North American continent and the European Continent are pulling apart. So when you snorkel or scuba here you are literally in a canyon that expands 1ish inch a year and you are looking down at new earth. That just blows my mind. Due to the clarity of the water visibility is at a maximum. At noon with the sun high in the sky you can see down to depth of around 200 meters, thats about 650 feet. Totally amazing. Along the snorkelling path is a point where you have to make a left turn a fork in the canyon. If you dont you hit a massive current and get sucked out into the lake quicker than you can think. Scary. Now something else to note, the water is freezing cold. So thermals, drysuits these are things you need to wear in order to not die. In these conditions what would your players have to deal with? Crossing river, dealing with cold water, strong currents or insane depths are all things to think about when your players come across something like this. When we left the canyon area we went into a glacial lagoon which was gorgeous of course. What kind of things could be found in a lagoon? Monsters? Treasures? Perhaps the lagoon has some healing properties? After getting out of the water and the suits, we got some hot chocolate and cookies. Best hot choc I have ever had. We then drove out to see a massive waterfall. This thing was pretty dang big and so powerful. Waterfalls could be an easy and terrifying thing to put in the path of your players and this one was no different. Not only could the water and the fall over the edge do the trick, also the temperature, the large chunks of razor sharp ice. Also the entire area around the fall was slick with ice and definitely difficult terrain. At so many point during this trip was I blown away by the power of Iceland and took note that it does not need to be magic or monsters that can be interesting but even things that exist here in our world that could make for very interesting and exciting events and encounters. Lastly we head to the Geyser. This place was crazy cool. We stepped out of the tour van amidst a mild snowfall but none was sticking to the earth, the ground in that area was just too hot. The air smelled of sulfur and gases and I immediately thought of demons and devil. Had those types of beings build this place? was it there lair? did they come here to relax and feel at home when running around the material plane? The steam and geysers did their thing blasting forth from the crust of creation with great power and force. Dangers in this area included toxic fumes, water at boiling temperatures, mud holes filled with hot mud that look safe to step on. Things to think about if you wanted to add something like this into your world. We made it back to Reykjavik in one piece and enjoyed more food and fun for the evening. The ideas I collected from this excursion were bubbling and boiling in my mind for the rest of the trip.
Day 4 we went to the Blue Lagoon. A very touristy spot where people go to get pampered and relax. Our experience however was quite the opposite. It was a stunningly miserable day as far as the weather was concerned. brutally strong winds and form of precipitation that would cause even the most burly of adventures to turn their face to avoid its cruel sting. I will take a minute now to discuss the weather in Iceland. Weather in Iceland is just as extreme and powerful as the landscape. Due to its location on earth it gets some crazy storms and weather. But the weather never seems to last more than 15-30 minutes. All throughout the trip the weather would alternate between, sunny-rainy-sleeting-snowing-hailing-whiteout blizzard-windy-cloudy or any combination of those. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. If the weather got bad you just hunkered down for 15 minutes and then carried on by stepping out into a bright sunny aftermath. So the weather on our blue lagoon day was quite anomalous, I was cold, windy, and snow/hailing all day. We got to the lagoon, got changed into our swimmies and stepped out into the chaos. The water was hot, around 85-95 degrees, the wind was creating 6-8inch waves of hot water and the air above and snow was frigid. My body was so confused. But it was insanely exciting and exhilarating. I have a tendency to see the good in each situation so as my wife was expecting a peaceful serene rest in the lagoon, I saw the power of Iceland and nature. What activity could your PCs be involved in that goes completely opposite to the plan? The whole trip was underlined by the idea of simply making PC deal with the power of nature and the elements. So many places you could have an elemental be the force behind the weather or conditions that affect your players. We drove back to Reykjavik and enjoyed the evening trying more local food and drink.
Day 5 is tied in my mind with Day 3. Day 5 was when we went on the Glacier/Waterfall tour that we missed on Day 2. I will just talk about the Glacier as I already talked about waterfalls and this post is getting kinda long. (sorry). So we drove out of the city and visited some waterfalls, none as big as the one we saw earlier, but none were less gorgeous or stunning. The glacier was some crazy crazy stuff. We arrived at the site and then got fitted with Crampons(metal spikes for walking/climbing on ice), as well as getting our Ice Axes(sadly not made of True Ice, see episode 18 LoL lore for more info). Then we marched about 20 minutes to the base of the Glacier. We fitted our crampons and got a short lesson on how to not die on the glacier. Primary rules, Follow the Guide, Step where he steps, don’t walk in the snow. We climbed up the glacier and got some cool history/science lessons along the way. Our guides names were Snori(probably kin of Dori Nori and Ori) and Thor(seriously, man crush). They were great and no one died. The risks of climbing a glacier seem clear, you are on ice and up pretty high. Falling would result in you sliding to the base of the glacier and crushing all the bones in you body on the way down. But there are other danger an adventurer might face that might not be so apparent. One of the survival rules is don’t walk in the snow. This is because snow fills up crevasses and holes(called Moulin). The crevasses form when the glacier makes a turn around a mountain or when it funnels through a choke point. Falling into these isn’t the worst thing. You simply get out or get wedged and die. The Moulin are far more terrifying. They are formed during the summer as the glacier melts and water runs down the top of it. This water pools and spirals in low spots and begins to drill a perfectly shaped hole down the glacier. Depending on where these are formed, they can be anywhere from 60-300 ft deep. As the the guide said falling into one of these is a “one way ticket”. These 2 things combined with the players lack of knowledge of how to spot them could easily cause a lot of pain. Also since this is D&D, what kind of terrible cold hearted creature would live in our versions of these natural occurrences? What terrible creature lies at the bottom of these holes waiting for its next meal? We descended the glacier as a snow storm rolled in and thanks the old gods and the new for not hitting us with that storm while we were at the top. After the glacier we went to the beach. This was a black beach, covered in volcanic sand and volcano pearls. On the way here our guide told us about the sand storms in Iceland. This caught me off guard I thought were in Iceland not Iraq! Well apparently sand storms do occur in Iceland but instead of desert sand it volcanic sand. They billow up in dark black walls of terror. Fling rock and obsidian across the land. They will push cars of roads, and shatter windows. That sounds scary enough for me to want to throw it at my players.
Those were the days we went out and did crazy stuff in the wilds of Iceland. The remainder of our days were spent resting and relaxing around Reykjavik. We did some shopping, saw some more sites, ate yummy food and drank yummy drinks. I will add 2 more things before I wrap this up as it is currently at 4 pages and anyone who stuck around through my bad spelling and grammar is a genuine hero. In many of the touristy shops there were trinkets and items for sale. Many were small statue of norse gods or local legends like trolls and elves. These would make for great addition to your table in the form of statues, player tokens, etc and all very fun and unique seeing as they come from iceland. Lastly rocks. When I was a kid I loved rocks, that has never really left me however I don’t collect them actively. I did however grab some when I was visiting various places around the southern coast of Iceland. In my word, the most common magic item are compass stones, they point the way to various things be that clean water, a forest, a town, etc. I grabbed stones from iceland to hand my player for use as compass stones. One from the Blue Lagoon one from each water fall, one from the glacier, one from the geyser and a few from the beach. I am really excited to share these with my player. I got a few from the beach that are large, about the size of my palm and perfectly smooth. I plan on painting runes or symbols on these to use at the table as well.
So that was the trip and the broad inspirations I collected there. I hope you can use something here to make your own worlds more real, exciting, harsh, and immersive. I sincerely applaud you if you managed to read all of this. I will know throw down a list of all my more specific ideas I had. Thanks for reading!
Ideas
An Epic creature or deity that is causing the continents to drift apart. The players must find a way to stop this before the world is sundered and destroyed by all the subsequent volcanos and earthquakes.
A canyon or crevasse of crystal clear water, it appears safe to swim in, upon entering into it the canyon/crevasse activates and slams together crushing all inside. Basically the channel is gigantic living being like a venus flytrap, but its filled with clear water to lure in food. The closing of its jaws could be fast or slow almost unnoticeable till it too late.
A deep chasm of water that a party must dive into to retrieve an item. This could be an easy way to introduce underwater play to your players without having them invest in a full campaign if you or them are not ready for it.
A deep chasm filled with crystal clear water, at the bottom of the place is a large ancient temple to a water god.
An area of land covered in geysers and geothermal hot pots. This area could be toxic because of poisonous gas and your players have to cross it.
Sentient Geysers that pursue beings that enter the land they inhabit. They burst forth from the earth burning and boiling their prey and then consuming their bodies.
A geothermal pool which would provide healing for the party.
A geothermal pool that players could dip their weapons in to make them do more damage to a nearby creature or monster. Basically blessing the items.
Guides that the players can higher to give them tours of cities, lands, sight, add tourism into your worlds as a gold sink and a way to show off the cool geography of your world. Also the guides could be villains, leading people out into the wild to kill/rob/sacrifice them.
A sculpture garden/Museum that is owned by an evil wizard. He either petrifies people to add to his collection or has a pet basilisk.
A waterfall that has a temple or dungeon hidden behind it.
Sandstorms, Also sand that isn’t just yellow or tan, but an color. How color would a green desert be.
A Castle built into a mountainside
A glacier coming out of a mountain range that is the home of frost giants and the physical manifestation of their attempt to expand their domain.
Weather that changes every 20 minutes due to science or due to magic.
That is all I wrote down on my phone, but I have more ideas in the cooker. If reading this post sparked any ideas in your mind please share them. Also I will post some pictures, but have like 500+ to upload so dont hold your breath. Thanks again for reading.
