Dire Locations – places as combatants

There’s a thing that action movie makers know.

And I know it too, but I struggle with the implementation.

Combat isn’t just about what you are fighting – it’s about where you’re fighting.

Fight scenes in movies happen in amazing environments – place where the location is just as dangerous as their enemies.

I don’t do this near enough in my D&D games, but I have been implementing it in my superhero campaign.

• An innocent ally, tied to a missile about to go off.

• A death machine that sparks every round, killing indiscriminately.

• A building that is falling apart, ready to crash down onto the combatants.

• And I haven’t done it yet, but lets not forget about the classic – a bomb that’s counting down and ready to explode.

So what about fantasy games? How can we use this?

I’ve come up with some ideas for a few scenarios.

Crumbling Cavern
This fight takes place over two battlemaps. One is the top cavern – the other is the bottom.

The top cavern is divided into different areas, unknown to the players. Each one is numbered – lets say 1 to 8. The fight begins in the top cavern.

At the end of each combat round, roll a d4. On a result of 3-4, the cavern shakes and quakes. Rocks fall down from the ceiling. Nothing mechanical happens – this is just a warning.

On a 3-4, roll a d8 – that section of the floor crumbles. All creatures in that area fall to the bottom cavern, suffering some falling damage in the process. The fight continues there…

Up and Down
Magic is afoot! This encounter takes place in a magical room with a floor and a ceiling – again with two battlemaps.

For reference reasons, it’d be helpful to have each map marked with numbers down one side and letters down the other. That way you can see where the floor and ceiling match up.

Place four magical runes about the floor of the room. Place the same runes on the ceiling.

If a creature or PC steps on one of the runes, their own personal gravity is reversed. A PC on the floor flips over to the ceiling and vice versa.

Ranged attacks can target someone on either map.

Have fun with the chaos.

The Foundry

Throw this one in some big Dwarven dungeon or something. It’s a big foundry. Place about 12 vents around the map and number them 1-4 (each number will cover three vents).

At the end of every combat round, roll a 1d4. Each of the vents with that number erupt, shooting flame up into the sky. The PCs will figure out it’s happening right quick – and will try to turn it to their advantage

These were just a few quick ideas, and I’m sure I’ll be implementing some of them into the games I’m currently running. I hope they provide inspiration to you.

Do you have ideas of your own on this? Share them in the comments!