Hazards of Combat: Craft a spirited name for your hazards

Mud is strikes fear into the hearts of heavily armoured combatants
The first helping hand you can offer your poor, underrated and under-appreciated combat hazards is to give them a great name. A name with gusto, panache, or spirit gives hazards a surge of vitality and interest. A great name inspires.
Instead of calling the mud in the middle “difficult terrain”, call it Grom’s Brown Demise. Rename ye olde pool of lava The Bubbling Heart of Hate. Switch razorgrass to The Slicing Green Tide.
If you find a hazard inspiring, you’re more likely to remember to use it during battles when you already have a dozen other things going on. Nay, not just use it, but employ it, like a finely honed game master weapon. Instead of just plopping difficult terrain down on the battlemat, the name of it inspires a GMing fever that demands you wield the hazard with subtle malice and perfect implementation before the fever breaks.
A compelling name also adds new interest in the hazard from your players. Some players will riff off the name to roleplay better during combat. Some players will see beyond the squiggly lines drawn on the map and be inpsired to play with more energy just because you’ve put such care and interesting detail into the game.
A spirited name begs world and campaign design. The group will wonder who this Grom person was, or why the locals call lava a bubbling heart of hate. If you get into the habit of naming your hazards with style, you’ll find a new source of development hooks that pays off in the long run.
If you have certain hazards – and their names – recur during the campaign, you are sure to inspire not only yourself but your group to investigate the history, mention the name to NPCs, and get more curious about the world in general.
It sounds too simple, I know, but crafting fun names is another great way to add a sense of wonder and mystery to your world.
- Hazards of Combat: What is a combat hazard?
- Hazards of Combat: Craft a spirited name for your hazards
- Types Of Combat Hazards – Terrain
- Types Of Combat Hazards – Environment
- Types Of Combat Hazards – Traps
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August 14th, 2009 at 8:54 am
[…] Craft a spirited name for your hazards […]
August 14th, 2009 at 11:19 am
That is awesome advice. It is simple–but the rewards are great.
August 15th, 2009 at 5:16 am
A great start to the series, Johnn. Looking forward to the next installment!
August 16th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Thanks Golgotha and Mike!
August 18th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
[…] Craft a spirited name for your hazards […]
August 20th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Once again Johnn you have out done yourself I was so glad when 4th added this element to the DMG and am even happier that you have taken the ball and RUN with it-I am SO looking forward to seeing the contest entries_I had some great ones but was too late to submit
August 20th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
It’s never too late, Aramax. Even if not elegible for the prize draw, we could always think about running your ideas here as a ‘guest blog’ or in the RPT e-zine as ‘extras’.
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I’ll try and send something in a week or so!
August 30th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Much the same thing could be done to “generalized” **terrain hazards.** (I’m using the term VERY loosely) For instance, in modern times with SCUBA gear, one is warned of “the bends” (even though technically speaking “the bends” isn’t an terrain hazard– it’s more of an environmental hazard)
Some Examples
One could be warned of “The Riftlands” where stone gives way underfoot unexpectantly, and where the most surefooted mules have been known to stumble, and have taken not a few of their less sure footed cousins to their doom.
Another example is that one could be warned to stay away from the “Wastelands” or “Badlands” — a landscape so inhospitible to any life that it starts to sap the very life force out of creatures or plants that are unwary enough to enter. Whether the place is inhospitable to life because the air drains life itself, is too hot and dry (or humid!), or conversely too cold, or lacks proper air or water, or even ground itself! to walk upon.
A third example is “The Deeps” — an Underdark of the Underdark — a place that is so deep that not much dare venture that far beneath the earth’s surface, and even less that ventures that deep returns, and those few which do are forever changed physically, psychollogically, and spiritually. Maybe there are evils down there that no one would dare disturb if they knew about their existance– and their existance if discovered would distroy the world for the very knowledge
A fourth example is “the beyond” which could be in outerspace or in the planes which the laws of physics are changed in unpredictable, random ways — or ways that are not intuitive (for instance the ability to stop on a dime, change directions and continue moving with no loss of momentum), where monsters that the players *think* they know the abilities of, no longer apply (trolls that regenerate with fire and acid, but other attacks work normally), where they themselves are able to get new abilities, powers, and skills that none have ever had before.
Maybe whole civilization(s) have built in these very concepts of “place” *terrains*
Just my 2 cp.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Great examples James. I call these default terrains in the Types Of Combat Hazards – Terrain because they are ubiquitous on the battlemap. Mike mentioned society-level hazards to me in an email as well. Great minds think alike!
September 8th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
[…] Craft a spirited name for your hazards […]
September 8th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
[…] Craft a spirited name for your hazards […]