Wilderness Dressing

Ordinary, but possibly interesting, things found while wandering in the wilderness.

  1. Stone building foundation, 20’x30’
  2. Stone wall, 3-4’ high, 7’ long
  3. Stone wall with doorway
  4. Cracked and broken fountain
  5. Pedestal, marble
  6. Statue on ground, headless, armless
  7. Head of a statue (human)
  8. One side of a small ravine has a bridge footing. No footing on other side.
  9. Small brook has bridge footings on either side. No sign of the bridge.
  10. Collapsed wooden building, 30’x40’.
  11. Wooden building, 30’x40’, no roof but otherwise intact.
  12. Stone fireplace and chimney.
  13. Boundary marker.
  14. Gravestone, illegible.
  15. Gravestone, 100+ years old.
  16. Memorial stone which reads, “In memory of John Williamson, who died in the East.”
  17. Small wooden shrine nailed to tree. Looks long disused.
  18. Stone on the side of a brook is covered with scores of burned-out candles.
  19. Stone bench, in fair shape.
  20. Small spring has brickwork around outlet.
  21. Foot of an enormous statue.
  22. One arch of a viaduct extends 30’ into the air. No sign of other segments.
  23. Collapsed viaduct segment extends some 100’ on the ground.
  24. Long-disused well.
  25. Face is carved into an old tree, some 15’ off the ground.
  26. Small (3’ high by 6’ long) stone cairn. If searched, a skeleton is beneath.
  27. Cobblestone path extends for 40’, then disappears.
  28. Eight rotting ropes dangle from a tree-limb, some have knots, some don’t.
  29. Tree has sixteen badger skulls nailed to its limbs.
  30. Fresco floor, partially covered by earth and debris, shows scenes of underwater animals and plants.
  31. Broken-down wagon. One axle is broken.
  32. Tree is carved with a heart, in which are the initials “K.L. + J.B.”
  33. Stag horns mounted on a tree trunk.
  34. Three concentric circles of stones on the ground, the largest is 15’ in diameter.
  35. Corner of stone building, walls extend 10’ in either direction.
  36. Iron post, 4’ high, with rusted hoop on top.
  37. Split-rail fence 30’ long.
  38. Rusty plough half-submerged in a small pond.
  39. Wooden bird house on a 7’ pole.
  40. Mostly-collapsed grain silo.
  41. Small (10’x10’) building on runners next to a small lake. The building has no floor. (For ice-fishing.)
  42. Large (6’ high) stone urn, partially overturned.
  43. Rotting remains of a makeshift raft next to a small river.
  44. Iron spikes set into a large tree, forming ladder-like rungs leading up 35’.
  45. Perfectly round stone, 10’ in diameter.
  46. Four booted footprints set in solid stone.
  47. Pig wall extends 20 yards.
  48. Mostly-collapsed barn. Only one corner is still upright.
  49. Religious symbol of carved stone, now moss-covered and somewhat askew.
  50. Small stone building (30’x40’), with only the walls remaining (almost completely intact). No roof, floor is covered with soil.

Written by 

Wargamer and RPG'er since the 1970's, author of Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage, and other things, and proprietor of the Greyhawk Grognard blog.

9 thoughts on “Wilderness Dressing

  1. @ Mike: Actually, five of these things are actually within a quarter mile of my house, in the woods.

    @ Roger: It's a very low stone wall, only about 2 feet high, made of stacked stones. Pigs can't jump over it, supposedly. They're all over this part of the country.

  2. Some lovely details here Joe. This all fits wonderfully for the kind of borderlands-wilderness my group is spending so much time in. Cheers!

  3. Joe … this is great little detail for my home campaign. It's great to have a little resource like this. Not that I can't do it, it's just nice to not have to … and other's ideas always seem so much more ingenious than one's own! 😉

  4. OFFICIALLY STOLEN. OFFICIALLY.

    Gonna be running "Girlfriends D&D" this coming Wednesday, the players made one foray into the Palace of the Silver Princess (Orange) last time, and now have to trek down to the plain to find new recruits. The map as it stands (my hex version of the one in the module) is pretty sparse, this will fill in any gaps nicely.

    – DYA

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