80+ Mountain Features For Fantasy Worldbuilding37 min read

Hills and volcanoes, peaks and passes! Welcome back, Outlander, to the 8th entry in Mythic Ecology, my series on how learning real-world landscape features can enrich our fantasy worldbuilding and storytelling. In this post I return to my minimalist framework for Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, fiction writers, and similar worldbuilders to merge the realms of general myth and geomorphology. Last entry we looked at tundra. As I resume my journey sketching a framework for designing Yridia, my unique D&D 5e fantasy world, let’s learn some mountain and hill terms, with a visual guide!

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On the topic of Mountain worldbuilding, I recommend Famous Hippo’s Guide to the Mountains for D&D 5e.

Moving on, in The Anatomy of Story (2007), John Truby identifies the Mountain as a narrative symbol for greatness and strength, seclusion and meditation, discomfort and challenge. The realm of philosophy and revelation, tough highlands folk, and potentially lords and tyrants as well.

Let’s revisit my minimalist framework for my worldbuilding. The six archetype tags with which I will flag all the various real-world land features in my Mythic Ecology Series:

1. Settlements: habitable regions of either Work or Play, Familiar or Exotic, offering diverse narrative functions: a Day in the Life, Home Base, Personal Reasons, Gathering Supplies. Can subvert tropes with Ruins or Escape.
2. Omens: sensational, temporal, or particularly pointed features that offer narrative functions of forshadowing, and good or evil portents. Can subvert tropes with a Wild Goose Chase.
3. Overlooks: sites of magnitude and grandeur, living monuments which can function narratively for finding resolve, invoking spirits, or as a Call to Adventure. Can subvert tropes with Dread or Betrayal.
4. Passageways: transitional journeylands, including magical portals, functioning narratively for initiation and return, thresholds and tests, shortcuts and setbacks.
5. Abyss: a void or confined space presenting scarcity or temptation, desperation and danger. Can subvert tropes with a Timely Rescue or Secret Refuge.
6. Battlegrounds: sites fit for epic, sprawling encounters and climax conflicts. Can subvert tropes with Alternative Solutions.

Feel free to submit your own ideas, or draw outside the lines. Alright, let’s see how mountains and hills fit in.

Mountain – a large landform that rises fairly steeply above the surrounding land over a limited area, and bigger than a hill.

Block Mountain – mountains formed by crust faults, where rocks have moved past each other from lifting or tilting, forming block mountains or horsts.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Dome – mountains formed by uplift from magma and related igneous structures, or salt, or complex strata folding, developing a rounded mound shape.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Fold Mountain – mountains formed by tectonic plate collision, resulting in various types of folds.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Plateau Mountains / Erosional Mountains – mountains formed by erosion, with elevated flatlands, usually found near fold mountains.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Volcano – mountains formed by a plate pushing below another, or at mid-ocean ridges or hotspots, as magma accumulates.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Badlands – dry terrain with softer, highly-eroded sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils, lacking loose rock and vegetation, and marked by steep slopes as well as color displays alternating from dark black or blue coal stria, to bright clays, to red scoria.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Bajada – a series of coalescing alluvial fans along a mountain front, formed as fan-shaped deposits of sediment, such as from flash floods in dry basins and playa lakes.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Cirque Glaciers – bowl-shaped valleys which contain glacial ice on mountainsides.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Abyss]

Mountain Range – a geographic area containing several geologically related mountains.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Shield Volcano – low profile volcano usually formed almost entirely of fluid lava flows.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Sky Islands – isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Abyss]

Stratovolcano – tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava and other ejecta.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways]

Somma Volcano – a volcanic caldera partially filled by a new central cone.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss]

Tuya – a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Battlegrounds]

Ridge – a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest.

Terrace – a step-like landform consisting of a flat or gently-sloping surface bounded by a steeper slope, typically in a series.

Anticline – an arch-like fold, typically convex, with its oldest beds at its core.
[Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Arete – a narrow ridge of rock which separates two valleys, formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys, or two glacial cirques erode toward each other.
[Overlooks, Abyss]

Bratschen – weathered ridges resulting from frost and wind wear, characterized by steep, rocky, rough, and bare slopes.
[Overlooks, Abyss]

Cirque Steps / Cirque Stairway – a sequence of cirques.
[Overlooks, Passageways]

Cuesta – hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side and a step slope on the other.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Fault Scarp – a small step or offset on the ground surface where one side of a fault has moved vertically compared to another.
[Overlooks, Passageways]

Flatiron – a steeply sloping triangular landform created by the differential erosion of a steeply dipping, erosion-resistant layer of rock overlying softer strata.
[Overlooks, Passageways]

Homoclinal Ridge / Strike Ridge – a ridge with a moderate sloping backslope and steeper frontslope.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Hogback – a long, narrow ridge or a series of hills with a narrow crest and steep slopes of nearly equal inclination on both flanks.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Monocline – a step-like fold in rock strata consisting of a zone of steeper dip within an otherwise horizontal or gently-dipping sequence.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Nunatak / Glacial Island – exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. “Rognon” refers to a smaller one rounded by glacial action.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Paha Ridges / Loess Ridges – prominent hills oriented from northwest to southeast, usually with large loess deposits. Erosional remnants, often at interstream divides.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks]

Syncline – a fold, usually concave, with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, typically but not always downward.
[Overlooks, Abyss]

Terracette – a hillside ridge formed as saturated soil expands then contracts as it dries, causing downhill movement.
[Settlements, Omens, Passageways]

Truncated Spur – a ridge descending toward a valley floor or coastline, cut short.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways]

Batholith – a large mass of intrusive igneous rock, forming from cooled magma.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Cliff – a vertical or near vertical rockface of substantial height.
[Omens, Overlooks, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Col / Gap / Notch – the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks, usually difficult terrain. “Notch” refer to an especially rugged one. Contrasts with mountain pass.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways]

Lava Spine – a vertically growing monolith of viscous lava that is slowly forced from a volcanic vent, such as those growing on a lava dome.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Mountain Pass – a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge.
[Passageways, Abyss]

Pinnacle / Tower / Spire / Needle / Natural Tower – an individual rock column isolated from others, shaped like a vertical shaft.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Pyramidal Peak / Glacial Horn – angular, sharply-pointed mountain peak resulting from cirque erosion as three or more glaciers diverged from a central point. Often nunataks.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Saddle – the region surrounding the highest point of the lowest point on the line tracing the drainage divide (col) connecting the peaks.
[Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Summit / Acme / Apex / Mountain Peak / Zenith – a point on a surface higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Double Summit / Double Peak / Twin Summit / Twin Peak – two points on a surface higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent, separated by a col or saddle.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Hill – a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, but smaller than a mountain.

Brae / Hillside – the side or brow of a hill.
[Overlooks, Passageways]

Breast-Shaped Hill – a hill in the shape of a nippled breast, often with cultural associations of a Mother Goddess figure.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Butte – an isolated hill taller than its width, with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top. Smaller than a Mesa or Plateau.
[Omens, Overlooks, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Cinder Cone – a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments around a volcanic vent.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss]

Conical Hill – a landform with a distinctly conical shape, usually of volcanic, karst, or erosion origin.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks]

Crag / Crag & Tail – a rocky hill or mountain isolated from other high ground. Formed as glaciers or ice sheets pass over resistant rock like granite. Frequently leaves a tail, a gradual fan or ridge with a tapered ramp.
[Overlooks]

Cryptodome – a roughly circular protrusion from slowly extruded viscous volcanic lava.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss]

Dome – a deformational landform of symmetrical anticlines intersecting each other at their peaks.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways]

Lava Dome – a roughly circular protrusion from slowly extruded viscous volcanic lava.
[Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss]

Drumlin – an elongated hill formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Foothills / Piedmonts – gradual increases in elevation at a mountain range’s base, higher hill range, or an upland area. Transition zones between lowlands and highlands, associated with alluvial fans and dissected plateaus.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways]

Hillock / Knoll / Knowe – a small hill.
[Omens]

Hornito – conical structures built up by lava ejected through an opening in the crust of a lava flow.
[Omens, Passageway]

Inselberg / Monadnock / Flyggberg – isolated rock hill or small mountain rising abruptly from relatively flat surrounding plain.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Bornhardt – a dome-shaped, steep-sided, bald rock outcropping. Subset of inselberg.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Kuppe – a rounded hill or low mountain, typically without a rock formation like a tor on top.
[Overlooks, Passageways]

Mogote – a steep-sided residual hill of limestone, marble, or dolomite on a flat plain.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Battlegrounds]

Nubbin – a small and gentle hill with a bedrock core dotted by rounded residual blocks.
[Omens, Passageways]

Pingo – a mound of earth-covered ice, usually single. Related to palsa.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Abyss]

Puy – a conical volcanic hill, often overgrown.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways]

Rolling Hills – a series of low hills.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Spatter Cone – landform of ejecta from a volcanic vent piled up in a conical shape after lava fountaining.
[Omens]

Thrustfold Belts – mountainous foothills adjacent to deformations and differentiations arising from plate tectonics.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Tor / Castle Koppie / Kopje – a large, freestanding rock outcrop rising abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. Sometimes refers to the hill itself.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Tuff Cone / Ash Cone – landform of ejecta from a volcanic vent piled up in a conical shape, arising as magma interacts with water.
[Omens, Overlooks]

Volcanic Plug – a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano.
[Settlements, Omens, Overlooks]

Dissected Plateau – plateau severely eroded to the point of having a sharp relief, without folding, faulting, or metamorphosis.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Fell / Fjall – a high and barren landscape, such as a mountain range or moor-covered hills.
[Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Mesa / Table Hill – an elevated area with a flat top and steep cliff sides. Much larger than a Butte, but smaller than a Plateau. Forms from surviving erosion of surrounding area, with top layer resisting denudation of underlying rocks; often in arid areas.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Abyss, Battlegrounds]

Moorland / Moor – upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, montane grasslands and shrublands biomes with low-growing vegetation on acidic soils, uncultivated hills and low-lying wetlands. Appears where tundra retreat.
[Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Plateau – elevated upland with at least one steep side spread over a large area; bigger than a mesa or butte; formed from tectonic, volcanic, or erosive activity.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Potrero – a long mesa with one end sloping upward to higher terrain, usually at the flanks of a mountain, as part of a dissected plateau.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Passageways, Battlegrounds]

Tepui – an isolated, tabletop, highlands mountain or mesa from remnant sandstone, formed from monadnocks.
[Settlements, Overlooks, Battlegrounds]

Blockfield / Felsenmeer / Boulder Field / Stone Field – a surface covered by boulder- or block-sized angular rocks associated with subsurface frost weathering, created as larger rock breaks down into smaller.
[Passageways, Abyss]

Colluvium – loose, unconsolidated sediments deposited at the base of hillslopes by washes and gravity, composed of silt and rock fragments.
[Passageways]

Fellfield – a slope, alpine or tundra, where freeze and thaw cycles and wind action support unique vegetation in rockfall deposits. Related to scree.
[Passageways]

Kame – an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel, and till which accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, deposited as the glacier melts.
[Passageways]

Scree – broken rock fragments at the base of steep rockfaces, pebble to plate sized, accumulated through periodic rockfall.
[Abyss]

I hope you enjoyed this eighth entry in my Mythic Ecology series! I look forward to continuing with it, I have some greater ambitions for developing this series into worldbuilding web tools. Give this a share if you liked it, and let me know in the comments if you have any feedback. I publish new posts on Tuesdays. In the meantime, I post original D&D memes and writing updates daily over on my site’s Facebook Page. Also, if you want to keep up-to-date on all my posts, check out my Newsletter Sign-Up to receive email notifications when I release new posts. A big thanks as always to my Patrons on Patreon, helping keep this project going: Anthony, Bewby, Chris, Eric & Jones, Geoff, Jason, Rudy, and Tom. Thanks for your support!