Tabletop RPGs

Cloud Forests (specifically the Atlantic Rainforest) - This is a little pet peeve of mine. Every single time someone makes a fantasy jungle, they almost always take inspiration from the Amazon or the Congo Rainforest, usually mixing those two. We forget, however, that jungles aren't always hot, aren't always in islands, and aren't always where you find huge pyramids with snakes inside. Introducing: The Serra do Mar Coastal Forests.

What I think makes it different than jungles is that it's subtropical around the south, so it actually gets pretty cold and very dry in the winter. People have died of cold during snaps there - 10º C / 50 F won't kill you fast, but with enough wind and without shelter, it can get dangerous. Aside from that, cloud forests are always a bit eerie and mysterious. Whenever I drive through them, there is this strange feeling of silence in the fog, like you don't want to talk too much out loud so as to not disturb... something. What lives here? Can it hear us? Is there something coming?

Also you DO NOT want to get caught in a thunderstorm here. There are no hurricanes or earthquakes, but the storms can be powerful enough to level weaker modern buildings.

Some fauna and possible critters you could find here include: a troop of lion tamarins who will try and distract you to steal your stuff; a little herd of tapirs or capybaras crossing a river; a puma out on the prowl; HUGE birds in general feel well at home here.

In terms of civilisations, the main peoples you could draw inspiration here are the Tupi peoples. They're very warlike and fierce, entire tribes live in a couple big houses made out of dried palm leaves (called a maloca, or just oca for short). They practice a mix of hunting-gathering and agriculture, mainly cassava (kinda like the maize of South America!) and beans, but also potatos and peanuts. The men's jobs are to hunt and to make war, and they take it very seriously; even their sports are geared towards war. Some of them practiced ritual anthropofagy (aka cannibalism) on occasion by dismembering a strong warrior and eating the flesh so as to absorb their power. Other tribes, of course, didn't do this at all, the Tupi are a huge linguistical group and there are exceptions to every rule.

There's a lot of cloud forests in New Zealand too which could be looked at for further inspiration.

Tropical wetlands (specifically the Pantanal) - When people think of "green hell", they think of a jungle, but the actual green hell is the Pantanal: the largest tropical wetland in the world. Around ten times bigger than the Everglades, this isn't just some swamp with big crocodiles, this is actually a huge flooded savannah.

The biggest killer here is the heat. See, jungles are hot and wet but there's leaf coverage. You don't get that luxury in the Pantanal. You may be trekking through thigh-deep water as hot as a boiling cauldron for an entire day before finding a tree dense enough to house you. Temperatures can get north of 32º C / 90 F every single day during September, and this is the heat that sticks in your skin because of the humidity. Even your sweat comes out hot, and don't think for a second the night is any better.

And did I mention the jaguars and boa constrictors? Jaguars are extremely competent swimmers and climbers, they're incredibly strong and have a powerful bite, and if you're in a tropical wetland like this one, chances are the jaguar has already seen you or heard you. Careful with those waters too, that's piranha country; and you may wake up to find a sucuri coiling around you, a serpent that usually grows between 2.5 and 4 meters (8 and 13 feet).