Navigation
The marsh is an ever-shifting environment with paths forming and reforming at random. The only constant sections are the so-called swamp causeways, remains left over from the sinking of Berelaind. These “causeways” are tricky to spot. Nearer the town they are marked by raised boards and then by pebble markers. Deeper into the marshland it takes a skilled ranger to discern the route.
- Tracking -10 every mile (hex) to check for a path.
- Near success – unsure but safe
- Partial success – false trail safe passage but eventually stops (retrace steps)
- Failure – false trail until party start sinking
If the party lose the path they can still navigate but now it is a -50 tracking roll and going gets much harder. If there is a causeway in the hex at the GM discretion the party may find their way onto it.
Random encounters
Random encounters are rolled for each hex. Depending on your style and the PC levels you may choose to change the number or type of foe/hazard encountered.
Causeway encounters
| Roll | Type | number | details |
| 1-20 | Wildlife | D6 | Non-aggressive |
| 21-40 | Wildlife | D6 | aggressive |
| 41-45 | Loose ground | AG roll to avoid – ST roll to escape | |
| 46-60 | Adventurers | D6 | See adventurers table select |
| 61-70 | Ancient trap | 1 | See traps table |
| 71-74 | Undead | 1 | Random corpse light |
| 75-76 | Water Maia | 1 | Will not attack |
| 77-80 | Swamp man | 1 | Will run away |
| 81-85 | Giant leech | 1 | Will launch for the biggest party member |
| 86-90 | Giant cat fish | 1 | Surprise attack Bash |
| 91-95 | Giant crocodile | 1 | Surprise attack |
| 96-98 | Evil tree | 1 | +40 PR enchantment |
| 99 | Watcher in the water | 1 | Random scare encounter |
Swamp encounters
| Roll | Type | Number | details |
| 1-10 | Wildlife | D6 | Non-aggressive |
| 11-30 | Wildlife | D6 | aggressive |
| 30-45 | Loose ground | AG roll to avoid – ST roll to escape | |
| 46-50 | Adventurers | D6 | See adventurers table select |
| 51-65 | Ancient trap | 1 | See traps table |
| 66-76 | Undead | 1 | Random corpse light |
| 77-80 | Water Maia | 1 | Will not attack |
| 81-85 | Giant leech | 1 | Will launch for the biggest party member |
| 86-90 | Giant cat fish | 1 | Surprise attack Bash |
| 91-95 | Giant crocodile | 1 | Surprise attack |
| 96-99 | Evil tree | 1 | +40 PR enchantment |
| 100 | Watcher in the water | 1 | Random scare encounter |
Rediscovering the joys of MERP 