Swamp Planet
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Basic Information

Swamp Planet is a subtype of jungle planet with a lot more water and mud. Aside from the dangers of loosing things in the muck, and maybe picking up some sort of parasite from the water, it's pretty much exactly like the jungle planet. For more ideas, see swamp and Everglades.

Another option would be to go for more of moorland or wetland look, with smaller plants (scraggly little things reminiscent of calluna) and colder climate.

As is explained on our swamp page, there are a number of different subtypes of wetland here on earth. A swamp planet may likewise include such distinctions as separate terrain or biome regions, or (taking the classic single biome planet trope to an extreme) the entire world may be based on a single sub-type. Here's a list of subtypes:

And, of course, we're talking about an alien world, so you should feel free to invent your own alien swamp subtypes. The alien biology pages might be helpful in that regards.



Game and Story Use

  • The inhospitable nature of swamp planets make them a natural place to hide out, if you're desperate. You may recall a little green guy who did that in some movie.
  • For more ideas, see jungle planet and swamp.
  • In Pulp Era science fiction, Venus was considered a swamp planet. Dinosaurs optional.
  • A single biome planet like this is generally considered to strain the suspension of disbelief, but "all swamp" is almost feasible if you allow for a planet with very little tectonic activity (and hence no plates colliding to build mountains), a high proportion of water to land and significant hydraulic turnover (so that any high ground will tend to weather down). This should give you a lot of low-lying ground, full of shallow seas and lakes, probably with a great deal of swamp in between. Just remember that the temperature of the swamp will vary - you might get seasonal salt marsh at the equator, surrounded by a steam tropical belt that gives way to temperate wet forest and fens followed by wet taiga and then permafrost.