|
|
Post by hengest on Nov 3, 2019 21:17:01 GMT -5
Inspired (suggested) by the presence of the forest sub here. Rather than have them all under places, I will have my Evening Bell forest ideas here. My notions of a "special" forest are heavily Tolkien-flavored, thanks to the Old Forest outside the Shire, which I think is a pretty excellent creation. That said, I think more can be done than a simple imitation of Old Man Willow. Whether all this stuff will fit with my other Evening Bell material, I don't know, but that's okay. *** The Old Man of the TrunkAn impossibly old man, naked and wind-blown to a barklike roughness. His only shelter is a kind of scrape that his body has made in the side of a hornbeam tree. He has left behind human social graces, even eye contact and body language, although he is not a wild man in the strictest sense. You can see a degree of unmistakably human, although inscrutable, organization in the sticks and oddments near his hornwood tree. He is not unfriendly and still has some use of language, but travellers will have extreme difficulty in understanding his replies to their questions. |
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Nov 4, 2019 0:05:34 GMT -5
Sweet!
|
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Nov 4, 2019 8:54:21 GMT -5
The Hazel StoolThe land here was once under human sway, although now there is no hint of cultivation. Only a sharp eye would catch what signs remain. Anyone, however, will notice the hazel stool. At its base, it is twice as wide as a tall man is tall, and it appears to have been left to its own devices for a lifetime or more. One wonders why it was tended for so long and then abandoned, and why it is the only coppiced tree around. It is difficult to see just what is at the center, as the stems and branches are so thick. *** The practice of coppicing involves cutting a young tree close to the ground to encourage the stump to send forth new stems over the following years. The resulting stump, if it is capable of continually regrowing, is called a stool. An abandoned stool will regrow in a characteristic shape. For example, a hazel stool, much smaller than the one described above, is shown below.  The hazel stool described in the post presents a bit of a mystery if it stands alone. It should not be alone in a field, because a lone tree is not a good candidate for coppicing, as the new growth will be eaten by grazing animals. Perhaps there was a wood here once, or perhaps grazing animals were kept away.
|
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Nov 4, 2019 21:50:21 GMT -5
The Tiny Fiddler
Standing at the edge of the wood, you hear a pleasant melody. The playing sounds masterful, but not magical. You look for the musician and see no one until her movements catch your eye. She is no more than one foot tall and appears to be playing purely for her own enjoyment, seated on a stone.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Nov 5, 2019 3:26:39 GMT -5
I have seen coppiced trees and did not know what I was looking at. Way cool!
|
|
|
|
Post by mao on Nov 5, 2019 6:26:00 GMT -5
I look forward to this thread maturing, cant wait
|
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Nov 5, 2019 15:13:06 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer, yes, I have too, and I have just started to learn about this kind of thing. It is a real pleasure and I hope to do some more with it. mao, thanks, let's hope it does mature.
|
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Nov 5, 2019 15:27:03 GMT -5
The Cross-Roads Pit
Wide open in the middle of the woods you come upon a pit, about 6' wide and 10' deep. A little ways away you see what must have been a crude wooden covering that served to hide the pit under a layer of leaves. Near the bottom of the pit, leading in four directions, are holes that some Men might be able to wriggle into unencumbered.
One of the holes appears to lead directly toward where the ground drops off abruptly above the river some 30' away.
|
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Nov 6, 2019 19:46:27 GMT -5
Explanation here, content below. I mentioned above, here, the practice of coppicing. There is a similar practice, pollarding, that involves cutting the tree much higher up. This may be preferred to coppicing, because the new shoots will be well above where grazing animals can eat them. It also allows more light to reach the floor, which can encourage brush growth and diversity (so says Wikipedia as linked above). That said, when a set of pollarded trees are abandoned and cease being cut on their cycle, they develop a very thick crown that cuts down heavily on light. They can have very unusual appearances, as shown here, as the primary branches can become thick like trunks. Epping Forest in London has such abandoned pollards. Its trees have not been pollarded since the late 19th century and their crowns greatly reduce the light that reaches the forest floor. *** The Twilight of the Pollards
The uncanny patriarchs stand too close together for your comfort, and their stems stand silent and branchless for much of their height. As you look up, you can see that there should be daylight above, but the forest floor has only the haze of twilight at noon. There are very few low-growing plants, and you feel as if you are walking through the grave of a great forest. You realize that you have entered the borderlands of the night when the sun is high in the sky. (To be continued) |
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Nov 8, 2019 12:11:02 GMT -5
Explanation here, content below. I mentioned above, here, the practice of coppicing. There is a similar practice, pollarding, that involves cutting the tree much higher up. This may be preferred to coppicing, because the new shoots will be well above where grazing animals can eat them. It also allows more light to reach the floor, which can encourage brush growth and diversity (so says Wikipedia as linked above). That said, when a set of pollarded trees are abandoned and cease being cut on their cycle, they develop a very thick crown that cuts down heavily on light. They can have very unusual appearances, as shown here, as the primary branches can become thick like trunks. Epping Forest in London has such abandoned pollards. Its trees have not been pollarded since the late 19th century and their crowns greatly reduce the light that reaches the forest floor. *** The Twilight of the Pollards
The uncanny patriarchs stand too close together for your comfort, and their stems stand silent and branchless for much of their height. As you look up, you can see that there should be daylight above, but the forest floor has only the haze of twilight at noon. There are very few low-growing plants, and you feel as if you are walking through the grave of a great forest. You realize that you have entered the borderlands of the night when the sun is high in the sky. (To be continued) A real black forest. |
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Nov 13, 2019 15:07:12 GMT -5
The Twilight of the Pollards, continued
When this wood was pollarded (or harvested) regularly, fairly wide paths were needed to allow the material to be carted out easily. With the lack of undergrowth, these paths remain even now. Despite the gloom of the pollards, one has the uncomfortable feeling of being quite visible to anyone, thanks to these wide alleys that run throughout the wood.
One such alley that runs north-south loops back on itself during travel from south to north, making endless pursuit along it possible. This must have had a purpose when the wood was used by the local population. Or perhaps it is merely a bit of broken-down enchantment that survives when the rest of the magic has failed over the years.
|
|
|
|
Post by mao on Nov 14, 2019 7:52:56 GMT -5
You could include same tiny planes, for example, a long forgotten stable to fantastic animal, the animals are gone but some lingering magic remains. The whole dimension is the stable
|
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Sept 9, 2020 19:54:35 GMT -5
You could include same tiny planes, for example, a long forgotten stable to fantastic animal, the animals are gone but some lingering magic remains. The whole dimension is the stable Do you remember quite what you meant here? How would one access this plane? Is the access all that makes it different from a regular stable? |
|
|
|
Post by mao on Sept 10, 2020 5:31:08 GMT -5
You could include same tiny planes, for example, a long forgotten stable to fantastic animal, the animals are gone but some lingering magic remains. The whole dimension is the stable Do you remember quite what you meant here? How would one access this plane? Is the access all that makes it different from a regular stable? I don't usually think real depth of how to access planes. I just sort of hand wave the process. i think very broadly and allow things to change as I run and although I don' plan for players actions , I just let it flow. Having said all that let me see if i can give you some answers.The stable as I see it would be extremely high fantasy from a forgotten age. Magic poop clening, water buckets that fill themselves . Hay that reproduces.etc.. The plane could be accessed from magical beasts finding hem and using them, something here w unicorns or blink dogs that would take them there Hope this helps, My all time favorite gaming book is" Planes of Possibilities" by Wiz of the Coast and have a lifetime of ideas about planes, you need nothing else as it is exhaustive on the subject |
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Feb 22, 2021 18:38:58 GMT -5
Do you remember quite what you meant here? How would one access this plane? Is the access all that makes it different from a regular stable? I don't usually think real depth of how to access planes. I just sort of hand wave the process. i think very broadly and allow things to change as I run and although I don' plan for players actions , I just let it flow. Having said all that let me see if i can give you some answers.The stable as I see it would be extremely high fantasy from a forgotten age. Magic poop clening, water buckets that fill themselves . Hay that reproduces.etc.. The plane could be accessed from magical beasts finding hem and using them, something here w unicorns or blink dogs that would take them there Hope this helps, My all time favorite gaming book is" Planes of Possibilities" by Wiz of the Coast and have a lifetime of ideas about planes, you need nothing else as it is exhaustive on the subject I had a thought, on the end of each branch on a Pollarded tree there sits a clear glass bubble inside of each is a tiny world in its own plane. If you lean on the bubble looking in, sometimes you fall in and shrink to the size of the world of this plane. |
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Feb 22, 2021 18:43:51 GMT -5
I had a thought, on the end of each branch on a Pollarded tree there sits a clear glass bubble inside of each is a tiny world in its own plane. If you lean on the bubble looking in, sometimes you fall in and shrink to the size of the world of this plane. Brilliant. Just perfect. Narnia meets the Bottle-City of Kandor meets ancient agricultural practices. |
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Feb 22, 2021 18:52:51 GMT -5
I had a thought, on the end of each branch on a Pollarded tree there sits a clear glass bubble inside of each is a tiny world in its own plane. If you lean on the bubble looking in, sometimes you fall in and shrink to the size of the world of this plane. Brilliant. Just perfect. Narnia meets the Bottle-City of Kandor meets ancient agricultural practices. Hah! That is a great connection, I did not think of that. |
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Feb 22, 2021 18:55:20 GMT -5
Brilliant. Just perfect. Narnia meets the Bottle-City of Kandor meets ancient agricultural practices. Hah! That is a great connection, I did not think of that. Seriously, I think that is an excellent idea for a "Wood of Many Worlds" kind of place / item. It could be used to house all mao's microplanes, adventures, regular planes, enchanted lands like Brigadoon, all or none of the above. You could run it mechnically or really turn up the mystery for magic. |
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Feb 22, 2021 18:59:02 GMT -5
Hah! That is a great connection, I did not think of that. Seriously, I think that is an excellent idea for a "Wood of Many Worlds" kind of place / item. It could be used to house all mao 's microplanes, adventures, regular planes, enchanted lands like Brigadoon, all or none of the above. You could run it mechanically or really turn up the mystery for magic. Hey mao , what do you think of this? A real World Tree! I like the name "Wood of Many Worlds" or "Tree of Many Worlds." |
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Mar 19, 2021 22:56:50 GMT -5
Do you remember quite what you meant here? How would one access this plane? Is the access all that makes it different from a regular stable? I don't usually think real depth of how to access planes. I just sort of hand wave the process. i think very broadly and allow things to change as I run and although I don' plan for players actions , I just let it flow. Having said all that let me see if i can give you some answers.The stable as I see it would be extremely high fantasy from a forgotten age. Magic poop clening, water buckets that fill themselves . Hay that reproduces.etc.. The plane could be accessed from magical beasts finding hem and using them, something here w unicorns or blink dogs that would take them there Hope this helps, My all time favorite gaming book is" Planes of Possibilities" by Wiz of the Coast and have a lifetime of ideas about planes, you need nothing else as it is exhaustive on the subject This post really makes me want to make the collaboration with you work well. We aren't quite opposites, more like...at right angles to each other. I would never go to the places you go or even think of them. |
|
|
|
Post by mao on Mar 20, 2021 3:45:27 GMT -5
I think we will complement each others style nicely, you have a lot going for you that I am envious of, you are the way I want to be
|
|
