Traveling throughout Outer World is exciting, but also perilous. Sometimes the danger doesn't come from a monster or ne'er-do-well like one might expect, but from the land itself.
Below are a few examples of Harmful Terrain as described in the Journey section of the BREAK!! tabletop rpg rulebook. These might surround an important adventure site, add some perilous color to a location in your saga, or work as an explanation as to why merchants usually take the long way around when traveling to a particular settlement.
Ailments contracted from the below Harmful Territory examples can be healed in the normal fashion described in their individual entries, Abilities that remove said Ailments, or by simply remaining outside of the Harmful Terrain for at least 24 hours and resting. Also note that Bio-Mechanoids and other characters immune to things that affect organic individuals are immune to effects that can be blocked with re-breathers or armor with the Anti-Hazard custom ability.
Scorching Sands
- Most commonly encountered in the Blazing Garden, these desserts have absorbed so much of the sun machine's light that they have become dangerously hot. Watch out for all the fire aligned creatures that stalk these sands!
- Contracted Ailment: Failing a Grit Check while traveling through or entering the Scorching Sands means you incur the Fatigued Ailment. You can avoid this by wearing Extreme Weather Clothing (Heat).
- Inhabitants: Monsters in the sands often breathe fire and have protection from heat. It's said dancing cacti that bring luck hang around as well, but few have ever seen them.
Doldrum Flats
- Certain places in the Wistful Dark are so devoid of joy and energy that they sap that from anything traveling around them. This is usually due to the presence of a particularly terrible curse or grudge. These places are grey and near lifeless, with twisted plant life and some sort of heavy mist framing them.
- Contracted Ailment: Failing a Grit Check while traveling through or entering the Doldrum Flats means you incur the Dispirited Ailment. You can avoid this if wearing armor with the Anti-Hazard custom ability.
- Inhabitants: Not many creatures are able to live in the Doldrum Flats, though wicked undead are fond of wandering around them hoping to pick off helplessly despondent travelers. Strangely, the occasional flower will grow here and these are beautiful and rather valuable.
Confounding Cavern
- Deep in the Buried Kingdom are caverns of reflective crystal and echoing halls that confuse and discombobulate. It's very easy to lose both your senses and your way in these winding tunnels. Scholars wonder if some primordial magic left behind by the Creator is to blame.
- Contracted Ailment: Failing a Grit Check while traveling through or entering a Confounding Cavern means you incur the Disoriented Ailment. Understanding Creator's Script renders you immune to this effect.
- Inhabitants: The main dangers here come from getting lost or harming yourself. These caverns often seem to be near places of ancient importance and so any defenses or guardians of such locations also pose a threat.
Petrifying Forest
- Sometimes if an unshaped is slain in a particularly violent or indelicate way, its body curses the ground where it lies and fills it with calcifying energy. The trees that grow here are made of bone, ice, or rock, and anything living that passes through has a chance of joining them in that state.
- Contracted Ailment: Failing a Grit Check while traveling through or entering a Petrifying Forest means you incur the Petrified Ailment. This can be avoided by wearing armor with the Anti-Hazard custom Ability.
- Inhabitants: Twisted monsters made of the forest's cursed material wander these places and collect - or destroy - statues made from unwary travelers. They are tough and difficult to harm, but some might make for good crafting material if skinned.
Bounce Bog
- Among the marshes and wetlands of the Twilight Meridian is the occasional Bounce Bog, where pent up whimsy gasses can cause animal, monster, and folk alike to become oddly buoyant. The animals and plants that live in these places are sometimes carried elsewhere by the wind, which can warn travelers of their presence.
- Contracted Ailment: Failing a Grit Check while traveling through or entering a Bounce Bog means you incur the Ballooned Ailment. This can be avoided by wearing a Re-Breather, or armor with the Anti-Hazard custom Ability.
- Inhabitants: Creatures that have adapted to these places use their odd state to their advantage, bobbing smoothly along the surface of the water. Some of the larger floating plants can be used as makeshift transportation if pruned.
Frosted Tundra
- The eternal night of the Wistful Dark can create these bitterly cold regions that are often covered in a blanket of permanent snow. The wind here can occasionally sound like mournful singing, only making it all the more haunting.
- Contracted Ailment: Failing a Grit Check while traveling through a Frosted Tundra means you incur the Fatigued Ailment. This can be avoided by wearing an Extreme Weather (Cold) outfit.
- Inhabitants and Other Dangers: The monsters that wander a Frosted Tundra are unsurprisingly imbued with ice abilities. The occasional frozen undead also graces these dreadful lands.
Flux Fields
- Flux fields are odd spots where the flow of mana is so precariously balanced it's actually volatile, causing the landscape and its inhabitants to shift on occasion and become a little gooey. These are mostly found in the Twilight Meridian, but have been seen in other parts of Outer World as well.
- Contracted Ailment: Failing a Grit Check while traveling through a Flux Field means you incur the Jellyfied Ailment. This can be avoided by wearing armor with the Anti-Hazard custom ability.
- Inhabitants and Other Dangers: Odd, flexible monsters that look partially melted stalk the Flux Field. In addition, certain individuals find the risks of living in them are outweighed by the potential magical studies that can be conducted in these spaces.
- Many ancient facilities from the 3rd Aeon have gone unmaintained, falling in disrepair and creating an excess of magic that pollutes the land. Frankly, some of these structures were doing it while they were being maintained, but that's neither here nor there. The thing to understand is that the spots getting the worst of it sprout any number of strange magical flora, becoming garishly colorful and dangerous.
- Contracted Ailment: Traveling through a Prismatic Wasteland exposes you to Arcane Contamination Syndrome. This can be avoided by wearing armor with the Anti-Hazard Custom ability.
- GM NOTE!: This one is just here to show that you can play around with Harmful Terrain to induce other effects alongside Status Ailments!
- Inhabitants and Other Dangers: Creatures within the Prismatic Wasteland often have abilities associated with a particular Odditis symptom. In addition, while the plants here are contaminated, they often can be used to make potent imbued consumables.