Looking for some good descriptions of swamp/marsh/bayou type terrain

[NewJeffCT]

My D&D group is going to be headed into a marshy area tonight and I want to do a good job describing the scene to them. Sometimes, my descriptions/flavor text is where my rustiness as a DM shows up most. (in my old D&D group, the DM did a great job of setting up encounters in this type of terrain, but my memory is drawing a blank on how he set it up in game...)

It's a warm region - so, you could compare it to a Louisiana bayou or even the Everglades in Florida. Also, how prevalent is mist/fog in this type of environment?

I'm mostly looking for sight/scenery descriptions, as well as sounds. But, smell would be good as well. Not sure how much you really need "taste" description in D&D, other than something like, "you can almost taste the dank smell on your tongue" type of things.

[TrogL]

1. It's wet

[DS1]

2. I think the single word "bog" does it for me every time

[AllegroRondo]

3. think wet

so wet, it feels like you're breathing water
so wet, the ground is mushy, and your footprints fill in with water
so wet, you're sweat cant even evaporate

and dont forget the bugs. huge clouds of gnats, mosquitos, and god knows what else, that think you're a buffet.

[NewJeffCT]

6. thanks - that's the right idea

with each step, you boots sink a bit into the muddy wet ground, and each step brings a sucking sound as you pick your foot up again. With each step, your muddy footprint quickly fills with water and you know that traces of your passing will soon be gone, covered in a new layer of mud and slime.

[AngryAmish]

4. swampy, marshy and bayouy

[lost-in-nj]

5. Stepping on the ground is like

walking on a sponge....

buoyant and wet
your foot makes a sploosh sound as you pull it up from the mud

lost

[TrogL]

7. Don't forget the banjo player

but have him playing a dirge.

[NewJeffCT]

10. I actually bought a $1 little wind chime at Michael's

that I have to create a little atmosphere. They'll hear a tinkling sound off in the distance, well sort of like those hollow wooden wind chimes you hear.

Only, they'll discover that the thing making the wind chime sound is hollowed-out bones fashioned into a crude wind chime that is obviously intended to mark somebody, or something's territory.

[DS1]

8. wet and dark and dank and full of bugs as you trudge along

until you clear away some of the thinner saplings and realize you're standing at the base of Paris Hilton's clitoris.

[NewJeffCT]

9. ROFL

:spray:

well, since one player in the group is a woman, I'm not sure how well that would go over.

[pitohui]

11. i've seen a lot of mist/fog in lake martin and atchafalya cypress swamps

but honestly the fog season is fall/winter/early spring in my opinion or maybe it's just that when it's really hot i'm not out there to see any mist

but i tend to think of mist/fog as more of the cooler time of year

you need a boat such as a flatboat or piroque, the "terrain" is not walkable in most places

[NewJeffCT]

13. well, in the game

it is springtime.

so, some mist or fog could be possible, especially in the morning and at dusk, no?

[pitohui]

19. yes esp morning EOM

.

[EstimatedProphet]

12. The ground shakes with each footstep

Small trees as far as 10 feet away tremble as you move. Everything becomes gray at arm's length.

[LanternWaste]

14. Try Hounds of Baskervilles with Jeremy Brett.

Try Hounds of Baskervilles with Jeremy Brett for some inspiration. Nice depiction of bog lands...

(it's tonight-- never mind)

I didn't know people in Connecticut could play D&D :evilgrin:

[NewJeffCT]

15. not sure what you mean by that?

people in CT playing D&D?

[LanternWaste]

17. I had forgotten it's an inside joke.

I had forgotten it's an inside joke. it's almost a habit for me to say/write that.

When we used to play D&D and had an outsider sit in for a session or two, we'd ask where they were from and invariably end with "Oh, I didn't know the played D&D in _____" in a derisive voice.

Much like one would feign surprise and say, "Wow! I didn't know you guys already had cable TV in Oklahoma... good for you!!!" and pat them on the head.

[NewJeffCT]

24. ah, got it now

I understand.

[Maraya1969]

16. You can sense the presence of the alligator that is watching you.

And you wonder where the snakes around you are.

[Westegg]

18. "Cryptically fluorescent" and it smells like...

...a gross of Pop 'N' Fresh muffins have been partially baked and had dumped on them the leftovers from last week's church-social green salad, which no one would say was all that fresh to begin with.

[Jamastiene]

20. That sounds like fun.

I don't know of any D&D groups in my area any more.

I would include the mist just for better game play. Reduced visibility could come in handy for some players to excel while others need something to help them out too. It could help with dynamics.

Smells:
I'd use some of these words
earthen
leafy
compost
swamp gas
stench

Visuals:
mist, like you said
moon glow or moon light(that always adds to atmospheric descriptions especially if you talk about shadows)
shadows
silhouette (as in trees in silhouette in the moon light)
mossy
stone, stones, stony
squishy (walking through those types of areas sounds squishy)

Sounds:
frogs "singing" or chirping
bullfrogs (deep voices)
owls cackling, laughing maniacal laughter(some owls sound like raving lunatics in the night, no kidding) Here's a link so you can hear their mating call, it's crazy sounding
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/barred_owl.htm

Check out their mating sounds and sound #7

Also, here are some sounds that you could describe without telling them it's owls
http://members.tripod.com/sasquatchsearch/sounds/barredowl1note2.mp3

[SPKrazy]

21. The water was bracken and muddy...

there were vines hanging from the cyprus trees... noises nearby making a splash as they entered the water.

The moon lit the swamp with an eerie glow.

[XemaSab]

23. Brackish means part fresh, part salt.

Bracken is an upland fern. :P

[SPKrazy]

27. i know but aren't some swamps bracken?

[NV Whino]

22. Sucky.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. Miasmal - more of a "smell" thing

He shall be washed as white as snow,
By all the martyr'd virgins kist,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

from The Hippopotamus, T.S.Eliot

[Fire Walk With Me]

26. ...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BjTO0231nM0