Designing the Wyrdwood

After running a few sessions set within a strange dungeon filled with shining marvels and loathsome dangers, I became curious as to how to "open up" my game world - how to GM an adventure set within the world outside the dungeon, how to present interesting situations and challenges in the wilderness.

After researching the various game structures for wilderness adventures, I realized I wanted to do something a little different than the hexcrawl.  I gravitated toward the pointcrawl and the pathcrawl.  I resolved to create an outdoor space replete with compelling monsters, characters, items, and traps for my players to encounter.

Ultimately, I settled on the idea of a forest adventure.  I chose a name for my forest (the Wyrdwood), and gave it some flavor - it is an enchanted place suffused with magic, a sacred grove of ancient elves that worshipped the moon and paid tribute to a gigantic celestial moth.

In order to design a structure to facilitate play within the Wyrdwood, I created a pointcrawl/pathcrawl.  The forest is composed of multiple "spaces," similar to rooms in a dungeon, except that they are not bounded by walls.  Each space contains a different situation or encounter (a lair of giant predatory slugs, a ruined elven tower topped with a magical bell, a pond where the drowned dead dream restlessly).  

Rather than having doors or corridors connecting each space, there are various paths, including dirt walking trails, winding creeks, and and hoary roads.  But there are other, more intangible "connectors" between the spaces as well - lures to attract the players between the different spaces.  Druidic markings on the trees point the players toward a mysterious graveyard, heavy patches of moss point the players toward a sleeping moss giant, smoke above the trees leads to a witch's hut.

The players are certainly free to ignore these connectors, and travel to wherever they wish (most likely by following a cardinal direction).  I created some ideas for encounters to throw into these unmarked areas (hidden forest nymphs, wandering bandits, wicked death-druids).

The only thing left is to give my players a real hook for exploring the Wyrdwood.  I'm thinking it will probably be the promise of treasure, as my players are roleplaying as a newly chartered adventuring company, and their goal is to acquire riches and renown in order to build up their enterprise.  I have found that having the acquisition of gold as an objective is a quick and dirty way of motivating players, especially if one is running fast, short sessions.

From the Sylva Britannica, or Portraits of Forest Trees, Joseph George Strutt