Island

An island is land surrounded by water. Its species are a subset of the mainland's that arrived by accident and then diverged, often into forms larger or smaller than their relatives, and a population that has never met a predator does not flee from one. For a party, the constraint is logistics: supplies arrive by hull, and the way off is by hull as well.

Regional environment Terrestrial (land)

Tropical Dry Temperate Continental Polar

Lowland Highland

Crossing it

Navigate: DC 8
Forage: DC 12
Notice: DC 10

Distances are short. The limiting factor is leaving the island.

In play

One way off

Any retreat is to a landing point, a boat or a beacon. An encounter on an island cannot be walked away from.
Naive fauna

Native creatures that have never met an off-world predator do not flee and do not hide. Stealth against them is unnecessary and Intimidation does not work.
Endemic

Whatever lives here lives only here. A creature encountered on one island has no entry in any bestiary the party carries.

Variations

Volcanic

Steep, new, and still building. A central peak and almost no flat ground.
Atoll

A reef ring around a lagoon. The highest point is feet above sea level, and a storm crosses all of it.
Continental fragment

A piece of a larger landmass, cut off long enough for its species to diverge from the mainland's.

Worlds it occurs on

Aquan A world that is liquid down to the core, with no land, no shelf and no solid surface to stand on.
Terran (Oceanic) A world of ocean from pole to pole, with land only where a volcano has kept up.
Terran (Verdant) A rocky world with liquid water, breathable air and a magnetic field to protect them, rare and the cause of most wars.