This post is the first in a new series by Silver Soul Gaming that we're publishing to several places in order to increase visibility. We want you to enjoy our products, so we're spreading them around. A PDF version of this supplement can be found for free on our website at https://silversoulgaming.com/tabletop-rpgs/. To prevent any confusion, I (Donald Bronson) am both "Lone Wolf," the Roleplaying Guru at Silver Soul Gaming, and Recon419A, the owner of this Steemit account.
Introduction
Welcome to the first release in the Fantastic Worlds lineup by Silver Soul Gaming. As a veteran game master with more than four thousand hours of role playing experience, here is where I'll share my extensive knowledge of worldbuilding for the benefit of new and old GM's alike. The article that follows is a deep dive into using bridges - that's right, bridges. Used right, even something so apparently straightforward can have great nuance and room for detail. Like all things, specific beats general, and knowing what type of bridge your PCs are going to encounter can make the difference between a cut-and-dry session, or one that really sticks in the mind. Like the future articles in the lineup, this explores not just what setting elements are, but how to use them. It's intended to give you ideas - a quick "something special" to spice up a pursuit or add flavor to a fortress. Odds are, you'll enjoy the ideas this gets swimming in your head. And if you do, we'd love to hear what you come up with - you can reach us at https://silversoulgaming.com/contact/. We're always driven by what you - the fans - want to hear and see in our products. So without further ado, let's get to it.
Bridges
Bridges can range from wide, dry, and safe to treacherous and narrow. As the bridge in question moves closer to the latter end of the spectrum, it becomes less a matter of course and more of an adventure to get across it. If used correctly, bridge crossings can add a fair bit of suspense to a session, split a party into two groups, or even send one or more characters or NPCs plunging to their doom.
Dangers of Bridges
This section lists some of the dangers common to all bridges. Dangers specific to each kind of bridge, or that affect some bridges more than others, are listed by each type of bridge individually.
Air Raids and Artillery
Bridges are, by definition, exposed. They are also strategically significant targets. In eras where aircraft or artillery exist, friendly or enemy forces may fire upon the heroes as they attempt to cross the bridge. In friendly territory, enemies may attempt to blast the bridge out from under them. In enemy territory, enemies may try to strafe them off the bridge, and friendly forces may try to blow it up, either not knowing the heroes are there or deciding that their deaths are less important than the strategic value of destroying the bridge.
Guardians
Bridges can have guardians. Sometimes, this is as simple as a toll booth (where perhaps the heroes don’t want to venture because they know there’s a wanted poster of them stuck to the side), while other times, it can be as impressive as a dragon or a many-headed hydra. In addition to simple combat, there are several other types of bridge guardian, which can even be mixed and matched at will to create a further plethora. I'll talk about Guardians more in their own upcoming supplement.
High Winds
Chasms and gorges are notorious for having gusting, unpredictable winds. These huge gashes in the landscape function much the same as skyscrapers do in a modern campaign – they catch the wind and redirect it in unpredictable directions. Even if the wind is not a threat to your heroes, be sure to emphasize that there is at least a slight breeze blowing – it will make the bridge feel more realistic. On the other hand, sometimes winds can be downright dangerous – especially on bridges with no handrails and slick surfaces. They also tend to suck heat right out of metal and stone bridges, meaning they can ice quite dangerously.
Rigged Explosives
Sometimes, enemy forces retreating over a bridge will rig it with explosives. Then, when the heroes attempt to cross, they will blast the bridge out from under them, denying passage to the advancing forces and causing them a fair number of casualties and equipment losses. Often, the only way to deal with placed explosives is to get down beneath the bridge and swing hand-over-hand to where the explosives are placed, disarming them or separating them from the bridge so that they fall into the water or the abyss below.
Ships
Bridges that span navigable rivers may put the heroes above or in front of ships. Ships equipped for war, as well as pirate vessels, may fire on the heroes as they attempt to cross, potentially damaging the bridge in the process. Alternately, the heroes (or the villains they are pursuing) may jump from the bridge to the deck of a ship passing underneath (which works especially well for low bridges in cities like Paris and Venice).
Slick Surfaces
Bridges near waterfalls, enveloped in mists, or running above underground rivers may be extremely slick – or even icy, depending on the temperature of the environment. Unperceptive PCs may find themselves slipping and sliding within inches of a hundred-meter drop before they even realize the danger. Even if the surrounding ground is clear, the bridge may be coated in ice, since it lacks the insulating property of having solid ground beneath it.
Types of Bridges
Bascule Bridges
Made famous by the tower bridge in London and by countless scenes where they are jumped by motorcycles and other fast-moving automobiles, bascule bridges split in the center and swing upwards to form an A-frame shape. Some stay open all the time and only close to allow trains to pass; others are made for automobiles and stay closed except when a boat requires passage.
Jumping the Bridge
Essentially the raison d’être of a bascule bridge, this requires a moving start and a lot of horsepower. For some reason, heroes love doing it, especially if it makes the difference between escaping and being caught by the bad guys. On the other hand, feel free to use the bridge as a way to let the heroes’ nemesis escape.
Drawbridges
Drawbridges (not to be confused with their modern counterpart, the Bascule Bridge) are part of a castle’s defenses, often accompanied by a portcullis. They can take some time to raise or lower, and of course, if the winch in the gatehouse is destroyed, they inevitably come crashing back down to their open positions. Not all drawbridges are found in castles, however; many can be found as entrances to walled towns or even spanning small rivers in areas where they're raised at night for defensive purposes.
As a Trap
Drawbridges can be an effective trap as much as a solid defensive measure. If the heroes are inside the castle, raising the drawbridge may trap them inside, although there is the possibility that they can make a narrow escape by jumping it. This can be a great way of isolating the heroes in a haunted castle for the night or removing the ability to retreat from a fight.
Jumping a Drawbridge
With a fast enough horse, and the right running start, a character can gallop up a partially-closed drawbridge (depending on the angle) and then jump his horse off the end, landing safely outside the castle. In modern settings that feature drawbridges, such as a pulp or mystery campaign, they may be able to do this with a motorcycle or a flower-painted van instead.
Rail Bridges
Rail bridges are the semi-walkable structures that span gorges and rivers in campaigns set from the mid-1800s onwards. Designed primarily for trains, they may or may not have a pedestrian walkway set alongside them. At worst, there may be no walkway, no handrails, and no superstructure to hold onto, forcing the heroes to go slowly and risk a dangerous fall.
Treacherous Footing
If a rail bridge lacks a pedestrian platform, walking across the narrow rails (which often have nothing in between them except the occasional cross-strut) can be a daunting proposition, especially if the conditions make the rails slick or icy or the heroes have to deal with high winds. Ice is even more of a danger on rail bridges than on normal bridges, due to the fact that the metal rails and superstructure will cool down even faster than a stone or wooden bridge would.
Trains
Train bridges are not primarily intended to carry heroes. Rather, they carry trains running on a regular schedule. Heroes who do not know this schedule can fall prey to the poor judgement that leaves them standing in the middle of the bridge when they hear the hair-raising blast of a train horn. Even if they know the schedule, there’s nothing to say the train won’t be running early, and nothing prohibits an unscheduled (and therefore highly suspicious) delivery to the enemy’s secret fortress. Furthermore, in times of conflict, train schedules are not often publicized, as doing so can lead to more effective air raids. In military campaigns, trains may even come with weapons or armed guards.
Removable Bridges
Removable bridges refer to a type of bridge designed to be removed for defensive purposes. They may form an entire bridge by themselves, or they may constitute only a section of the bridge. A typical configuration consists of a loose sections in the bridge which can be removed, leaving a gap that prevents usage by an attacking force. They're commonly found outside of villages (especially in the mountains) as a means of restricting entry that costs less than a gatehouse and a drawbridge.
Rope Bridges
Rope bridges in adventuring settings are often rickety and unreliable. Common in remote regions and frequently rotting from years of disrepair, they can present a challenge just to cross. Bridges in good repair, on the other hand, can indicate that someone (or something) lives nearby. Depending on the size and repair of the bridge, the PCs may be able to cross as a group (rarely) or only one at a time (much more common). In very remote regions, there may not even be planking – just a simple tightrope with rope handrails.
Rotten Planks
Sometimes, planks will be rotten enough for a character to put a foot through. Depending on the degree of disrepair and the urgency of the crossing, this might be a simple inconvenience, or it could result in the player plunging hundreds of meters to their doom or being caught by pursuing enemies. If they do put a foot through, it's often dramatic to have them fall through to their midriff or catch themselves by the fintertips, or for them to get stuck and be unable to pull their foot free.
Sabotage
Not all bridges are as safe as they look. A bridge that appears in otherwise good repair may have had its ropes frayed – either at the near end, in which case a perceptive character might spot the trap in time, or on the far side, where nothing short of witnessing the event will spare the inevitable. If the characters are being pursued or are otherwise in a rush, they may be even less likely to notice this kind of trap. Of course, the side on which the ropes are frayed will dictate the side to which the bridge will swing when the rope breaks at that point.
Fallen Trees
Sometimes, a tree will fall across a bridge, making passage more difficult and potentially dangerous. While the straining bridge may support the tree just fine, adding the weight of a character – especially a heavy one – could well be disastrous. What’s more, the planking underneath has no guarantee of being solid, and can be rotten just as easily as with other bridges. It's also possible that negotiating one's way around the tree where it meets the bridge could result in significant danger if climbing is involved, or if the players are being pursued and don't have time to pick their way around it.
Fire
Rope bridges are made of wood and plant fibers, and as such, they burn quite easily. The heroes (or villains) may burn a bridge to keep anyone from following after them – although this could be a problem if they then realize they are trapped with nowhere to run – or the heroes might be forced to flee across a bridge while the flames of a forest fire lick greedily at their heels. It’s even possible that lightning strikes, fire spells, or flaming arrows could envelop the center of the bridge in a blazing inferno, forcing the heroes to flee to either side and possibly splitting the party. It's worth noting that wood (especially treated wood) doesn't burn as easily as you'd think, but in dramatic settings it does tend to go up a fair bit easier than it would in real life.
Stone Bridges
Stone bridges can range from broad, railing-clad approaches to a sizeable village to narrow, treacherous paths across unfathomable depths. Like Khazad-Dum, thin bridges with no guard rails can be great settings for dramatic encounters. Like rail bridges in modern settings, these types of bridges ice quickly, especially in mountainous locations, and a slip can spell disaster. Bridges made of multiple stones with mortar in between can also give way if weight is placed upon them - not often entirely, but enough to send a hero tumbling into a raging river. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and giant monsters ramming into the bridge all tend to make such cobblestone bridges give way. Narrow stone causways are also often used as the entrances to castles or strongholds, with or without a drawbridge at the end as the final obstacle. This allows archers to pick off exposed attackers as they make their way along the bridge.
Log Bridges
Not all bridges are created by humans. Some are as simple as a log fallen appropriately across a stream. Unfortunately for our intrepid heroes, such bridges are often less than ideal in terms of stability and load bearing capabilities. They definitely won't support a horse or vehicle, but they can be just strong enough to support a hero.
Treacherous Footing
Log bridges are often low to the water, and located in parts of it (such as the top of a waterfall or over rapids) where there's a decent amount of spray that keeps the bridge slick and therefore treacherous. In other situations, the wood may be rotten, and therefore likely to shed its bark or rotted fragments to one side or the other. If the wood is sufficiently rotten, the bridge may even give way entirely. To add even more danger, there's the chance the log may roll or shift as weight is put upon it, and that chance increases if the soil beneath it is wet or if there are impacts nearby, such as fighting on the log.
Pontoon Bridges
Pontoon bridges are rarely seen outside of wartime settings, but they can also be used in disaster relief efforts or conditions resulting from a natural disaster, when the Army Corps of Engineers is called in. They consist of a series of floats on the water (or, in ancient times or improvised scenarios, a series of boats), covered over by (usually metal) decking that allows light vehicles and troops to walk upon it. This enables more armed forces to cross a river than could ordinarily do so, especially if the main bridge is out, but it doesn't always support heavy armor, and it's vulnerable to fire from enemy forces (especially artillery) both during and after being floated. Furthermore, it requires special materials and dedicated engineers that often have to be brought up specially from the rear of the invading forces.
Artillery
A single well-placed hit from most artillery, including tanks and plane-dropped bombs and torpedoes, spells the end of a pontoon bridge. They aren't exceptionally sturdy structures, and are easy to put out of commission. Thankfully, they're also pretty easy to repair, but it takes a minimum of about ten minutes to run up, inspect the damage, triage it, clear the wreckage, and get another pontoon into position. It can take even longer if the damage is severe. During that time, any forces on or near the bridge are vulnerable to repeated shelling and strafing from the air or river banks. Putting up a pontoon bridge (or repairing one) also requires specialized personnel, and the heroes may have to protect them from being shot at in order for them to finish the job.
Ships
Unlike a permanent bridge, a pontoon bridge totally blocks shipping up and down the river. They're often temporary, but if they have to remain for an extended period of time (such as if the real bridge was blown up) they can be a nuisance to ships traveling up and down the river, which have to either unload their supplies onto another ship or wait for engineers to move several of the pontoons out of position so they can pass. In either case, these are both moments of vulnerability for the persons involved, and are a great time for an enemy attack that the PCs must repel.
Bridges by the Genre
Fantasy
In a fantasy campaign, bridges can sometimes be the only way across a gorge or river, especially in settings without dragons or magical flight abilities (or when those things exist but aren’t available to the PCs). Compared with later eras, fantasy campaigns feature a predominance of rope, stone, and wooden bridges, though some rail bridges may exist in Dwarven mines and the like. Drawbridges are also common as the entrances to fortresses and the like, but just as often the defenders may use a removable plank bridge or a narrow stone bridge that's terribly exposed. Many villages use removable plank bridges as a cheap way of providing some minimal defense from invaders. In a setting involving magic, bridges may be magical (and therefore retractible or able to change shape or destination). In fact, one of the best uses of bridges is as "ways between places" - put them in an endless maze of platforms and paths between them and use that as a fast travel dimension (with its own dark secrets) or as a primary feature in underground dungeons.
Super Spies
In spies campaigns set in the modern era, bascule bridges are a virtual must - it's every spy hero's dream to jump a bascule bridge as the pursuing forces fail to jump it after her. Spies also frequently have to sneak onboard trains or into mountain fortresses, and this can leave them on a rail bridge when a train makes an unscheduled delivery to the evil lair. Spies attempting to outwit terrorists may also have to defuse bombs targeting civilian bridges. It's also not uncommon for spies to be hanging from a bridge with an enemy trying to step on their fingers - skybridges between buildings and large, notable real-life bridges are both great for this. With a skybridge, having your villain shoot out a window gives a near-perfect "that's a long fall" sort of scene.
World War II
In a World War II setting (or similar setting featuring post-industrial combat), heroes may need to take and secure a bridge - the classic "hold until relieved" of movies like "The Longest Day" and "A Bridge Too Far." As the only way for troop transports, supply convoys, and heavy armor to get across a river, road bridges are of crucial importance, and rail bridges can serve as important supply lines or troop pathway as well. If the primary bridge is destroyed, engineers can often build a pontoon bridge across a river, but this requires time, correct supplies, and protection from enemy fire - especially artillery. Each of these requirements could pose a further challenge for our military heroes. In "Super Nazi" settings that incorporate elements of Pulp or Superhero campaigns (such as a campaign featuring Captain America and the Howling Commandos or one styled after Indiana Jones), Nazis often hole up in castles, and this can mean drawbridges with narrow, exposed stone walkways leading up to them - a tactical nightmare, and a virtual requirement that the assault be entirely on foot.
Superheroes
In a superhero campaign setting, bridges provide a suitably epic backdrop for battles with supervillains or their minions. In the event of alien invasion, cars will inevitably be askew and flaming on them, and this can provide great potential for knockback rules and throwing heavy objects. If a bridge comes under fire from a supervillain (especially one who controls earthquakes or the weather), passerby can be put in danger, leading to the classic "catch the school bus" moment or a "stop the train" moment like the one at the beginning of The Incredibles. They also tend to get crammed with evacuees during certain cataclysmic events, so helping people across a damaged bridge could be a nice change of pace from tactical combat (or a great addition to it). Lastly, certain types of bridges can actually be held up by super-strong heroes if they begin to fail structurally. It's not really fun to pull a hero out of combat to make strength rolls every turn, but if it's done right it can sometimes work.
Science Fiction
In a science fiction campaign, heroes are likely to encounter anything they would in a moder campaign. If it's a cyberpunk world, bridges will be rusted and collapsing in poorer sectors. If it's a world with flying cars, road bridges will have been demolished or will have been left to crumble, at least in built-up places. Some settings where hard light is a reality will have retractible bridges made of that material, which can be collapsed at a moment's notice or even redirected to form arbitrary shapes or barriers. In general, where personal flight exists, bridges are less necessary, although they may still exist in the form of skybridges between buildings and in places where people don't have access to high technology, such as the undercities of many rich-and-poor metropolises. Retractible bridges (such as the one seen in "A New Hope") can also feature heavily in ships and space stations, and umbilical tubes connect ships, reaching from one airlock to another. A tear in one of those can spell disaster for persons inside or the ship on either side of it - remember, in more realistic space settings, an explosive decompression near a ship will almost certainly affect its operational safety, especially if shrapnel is involved.
Cyberpunk
In a cyberpunk or dystopian future scenario, bridges are likely to be in poor repair, especially when they find themselves in the domain of the have-nots. The gleaming upper city may have shimmering bridges of steel and stone, while rusting iron death-traps plague the lower bowels of the metropolis. If no one maintains them, bridges quickly become dangerous, and in settings with much crime, they often come with persons asking for "tolls" and refusing to take no for an answer.
Pulp
Pulp settings frequently make use of both modern and pre-modern bridges. If Nazis are involved, they almost always hole up in a castle, and that involves a drawbridge and narrow stone approach. In ancient temples and ruins, stone bridges may be ancient and prone to crumbling, and in jungle settings rope bridges are a must, perhaps with rot due to the damp environment or featuring a fallen tree. Sabotage is especially common in these sorts of stories, as is misfortune when crossing a bridge, since pulp heroes are renowned for their quick thinking and ability to get themselves out of a pickle. In settings with technologically advanced Nazis or mad doctors, retractible bridges may be seen, especially as dramatic entrances to rocket ships and war machines. In this case, it's very appropriate to have the heroes run up to the vehicle in question just as the antagonist slams the door, and then be stuck on a retracting bridge. It's also not uncommon for our intrepid heroes to encounter a bridge that's out or partially out, perhaps by crashing through road barriers during a pursuit.
Mystery
Bridges don't feature extensively in mystery, but they can be places where the victim jumped (or was pushed), especially in modern settings, and they can also be great dead-ends if they're out. Drawbridges can be used to seal the heroes in the castle overnight until help arrives in the morning, and rope bridges can be great traps if sabotaged appropriately. You may also want to use a haunted bridge - the best type is generally a covered bridge, especially one that's neglected and in a state of disrepair. In a more avante garde mystery, you might have a ghost occupying the skybridge of an office building or a sabotaged bascule bridge that results in a fatal accident. Rail bridges - especially in abandoned mines - can provide some entertainment as well (think Scooby-Doo or the Hardy Boys).
Author's Note
I wrote a rough outline of this piece some years ago and published it to a wiki on the internet. As part of my new partnership with Silver Soul Gaming and at the request of the Remuz RPG Group, I've gone back and touched it up for distribution in both places. The new, revised version is part of a newly-launched product line for Silver Soul Gaming, and as part of a promotional offering, permission is hereby granted to use and copy it for personal use, so long as credit is given both to myself and to Silver Soul Gaming. The formatting of this file's PDF version is credited to The Homebrewery.
Donald "Lone Wolf" Bronson
Roleplaying Guru
Silver Soul Gaming