Wilderness Dressing: Hills
Ancient ruins, lost mines and strange burial sites often lurk in the hilly wilderness areas bordering civilised lands. Adventure lies in such places.
Minor Events
The characters’ travels should not be boring affairs wherein either they encounter no one of note or end up fighting everyone (and everything) they meet. Use the minor events below, to add flavour and detail to their journey.
A murder of midnight black ravens erupt from the trees ahead.
The orange glow of sunrise or sunset silhouettes a wolf pack cresting a nearby hill.
A vulture sits motionless atop a cliff, watching the characters intently. Its pose and intense gaze suggest a malign intelligence—and hunger.
A distant rumble of thunder rolls toward the party; as a cold wind blows, damp with the scent of rain.
Wind whips the dusty path, throwing grit into the characters’ eyes.
The crunching of dried leaves and cracking twigs can be heard in the distance.
A stiff breeze blows the scent of wood smoke through the hills.
The sudden clatter of rocks rolling down a hill breaks the quiet.
The sun blazes high in the sky; a falcon dives toward the ground, in search of prey.
The sound of barking echoes through the hills. It slowly moves away from the party.
A large elk stands at bay, a short distance away. The hills rise sharply behind it.
Several birds wheel overhead, in full song.
Faint high-pitched squeaking heralds the arrival of a bat swarm.
A winged insect flies into a characters’ mouth and down their throat.
An orc, three arrows in its back, tumbles down a slope onto the trail.
The rumble of a distant rockslide fills the air.
A large raccoon clutching a small mouse in its paws eyes the party.
Flashes of light coming from between two distant hills, interrupts the gathering gloom.
A desultory drizzle begins to fall.
Dusty grey squirrels chatter while chasing one another around a large oak.
Minor Dressings
The hills should not be devoid of interesting, minor features. Use the features below as desired, possibly using them to add detail to a party’s campsite or to break up an otherwise uninteresting day’s travel.
Tucked into a small grotto stands the burned husk of a miner’s cabin.
A large patch of morel mushrooms sprout from the ground, in a boggy dell.
A thick growth of wild raspberry bushes has a path roughly chopped through it.
A recent rock slide partly covers the underbrush.
An old game trail crosses the trail; roll a 1d6: 1 tracks from a wild turkey, 2-4 no distinct tracks, 5 tracks of soft heeled boots, 6 bear scat.
A wild strawberry patch grows in the hollow between two low, grassy hills.
The characters find a small cairn of flat slate stone, surrounded by wild flowers.
A scrap of red silk is caught in the thorny grip of a wild white rose bush.
The path widens; a vine-covered cart with two broken wheels rest on the side of the trail.
A hollow among three steep hills drops into a 40-foot-deep sinkhole.
A dilapidated hunter’s cabin leans uneasily against a rocky hillside.
The low, broad outline of a stone archway pierces the grassy side of an evenly rounded hill.
Piles of tall grass lie in neat piles. Lazy smoke rise skyward from behind the hilltop.
Stunted blueberry bushes huddle about a small sunken pool of clear water.
A woodsman’s axe lies on the ground next to a pile of cut wood. Dried blood covers the axe.
The dry heat of the sun has baked dry cracked faces into the sparsely covered hills.
A group of semicircular hills rise in the distance; large, flat stones top all three.
The tumbled remains of a watchtower top a gently sloped hill.
This section of trail has been dug into the side of a hill, doubling its width.
A large earthen berm circles a ruined and abandoned hamlet.
This is an extract from Wilderness Dressing: Hills (Remastered) by Brian Gregory. This tremendously useful GM’s Resource is available in 5e, OSR and Pathfinder 1 editions.
Words Creighton Broadhurst Art Matt Morrow