My players are about to set out and hunt a mysterious creature that has been attacking citizens in the jungle outside the walls. I was wondering if you all had any advice on how to structure such a hunt. Personally, most of my adventures have either taken the form of a series of social encounters or an objective based "dungeon" crawl with specific geographical bounds. Since the hunt is in the wilds and the players do not have any strict territorial bounds to their search, I am a little out of my depths. So, if you have any ideas or anything, it would be appreciated. I am open to hearing ideas about anything from how many/how often for random encounters to tips on handling the tracking and ending "boss fight" with the mysterious creature. Any tips, ideas, etc. that you can provide would be appreciated.
Scooby-Doo it. Make them have to find out what the creature is. Were their witnesses to the attack, and if so were they reliable accounts (just because they're honest doesn't mean they're right)? What about evidence (bullettes would leave raised earth and gapping holes, basilisks may leave crumb like stone behind after a meal, etc)? Is their any local folklore or urban legends that point to a culprit (or can act as a red harring)? As far as the tracking goes, Survival checks with a DC that reflects how much research and clue finding they succeeded at. If they were researching the wrong monster, who's to say they don't track and kill one, leaving the real beast to continue it's hunt. There's a lot that can be done with this, but it mostly depends on what they're hunting. Do you have a monster in mind?
Sounds like an interesting adventure! I've never run something like it, but a few ideas immediately came to mind:
- Determine how quickly the creature moves, how often it stops, how long it stops for, if it does any of its own hunting for food and how long that takes. Is the creature going anywhere in particular?
- Use the above information to design "checkpoints" for the players. Maybe they lose the trail briefly when the reach a river. Maybe they get attacked by something else, and the confusion of battle disturbs and hides the trail. Is the creature intelligent enough to create a false set of tracks and double back? Maybe, even if it isn't, create a situation which causes it to look like that might be the case (could be a fun way to build up tension within the party; does it know it's being hunted? Might it set up an ambush?).
- I would use rolling to track the creature sparingly, but still use it. At these checkpoints, use the roll to determine how quickly the trail gets found again, rather than simply succeed/fail. Use the creature's predetermined timeline vs. the players' tracking successes and travel speed to determine their progress.
- The checkpoints should mostly be environmental-type puzzles. How does the party cross a fast-flowing river? How do they climb a steep cliff face? Make these more involved than just "roll to beat the puzzle".
I forgot to include that if, through the process of tracking the creature, they could learn things about it that might help them in the final confrontation. It makes the hunt something worth focusing on, rather than just a timesink until the big fight.
The monster hunting quests from The Witcher 3 provide an excellent template for these types of adventures. (Below are just a few examples off the top of my head)
1) Questioning the locals and/or victims regarding the creature that attacked. (Physical Features, any observed Strengths/Weaknesses, etc.)
2) Search the scene of the last known attack for physical evidence/clues. (ex: Blood, Footprints, Fur Samples, etc.)
3) Once the players track down the creature's lair, include the added challenge of needing appropriate bait to lure the creature out of hiding.
A lot of this is going to depend on the nature of the beast itself. Is the creature native to the area, or has it arrived from elsewhere? Is it an intelligent creature, able to think and reason, or is it just doing beast things because it's hungry or claiming new territory after being displaced? Depending on these sorts of questions, you'll need to establish a pattern of behavior, and flavor it with a motivation relevant to the current events.
Speaking of current events, what exactly is the reason that people have been attacked by the creature? Were the people just traveling along and the beast attacked them (territorial)? Or were they moving through the jungle and disrupting the area in some way, such as logging or harvesting plants (again territorial, perhaps defense of nature)? Or perhaps some of them were hunters after other things, and caught some kind of sign of the creature and went to investigate (self-defense after getting backed into a corner)?
Something else important to consider. Would the locals recognize the creature? Is it something they are familiar with, or that they could at least describe in detail? If the creature is from "elsewhere" (not just on the world, but different planes of existence are possibilities here) perhaps they are completely unfamiliar with it and give very erratic and wild descriptions. Consider the backstories, backgrounds, and relevant skills of your party. Would they recognize the creature from the descriptions? Would they be able to figure out if the people describing their encounters have no idea what they're talking about?
And finally, especially if the creature is intelligent, how will your players finally deal with it? Are you going to force them to murder it? Or perhaps it can be reasoned with. Perhaps you can put an even bigger twist on it, and the creature is itself a victim of circumstance and is just as much in need of the help of your party as the people the creature had attacked. How would this interract with the alignment(s) of the members of the party? Would they disagree on what to do next? Would they simply release the creature, or would they help it? Perhaps they were supposed to prove they had killed it, forcing them to fake it's death to complete their quest.
As an example, perhaps a creature from the Plane of Fire got pulled through a short term natural portal, and is both lost and stranded in the extremely unfamiliar jungles where your campaign is taking place. It doesn't know where it is, or where to go, let alone how to get home. So it is extremely insecure about it's own safety, and out of desperation, will attack anything that doesn't immediately flee before it. More than anything, it wants to be left alone to figure out what to do next, so it's going to move away from areas of high activity near the city and go deep into the heart of the jungle looking for somewhere secluded to hide.
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My players are about to set out and hunt a mysterious creature that has been attacking citizens in the jungle outside the walls. I was wondering if you all had any advice on how to structure such a hunt. Personally, most of my adventures have either taken the form of a series of social encounters or an objective based "dungeon" crawl with specific geographical bounds. Since the hunt is in the wilds and the players do not have any strict territorial bounds to their search, I am a little out of my depths. So, if you have any ideas or anything, it would be appreciated. I am open to hearing ideas about anything from how many/how often for random encounters to tips on handling the tracking and ending "boss fight" with the mysterious creature. Any tips, ideas, etc. that you can provide would be appreciated.
Scooby-Doo it. Make them have to find out what the creature is. Were their witnesses to the attack, and if so were they reliable accounts (just because they're honest doesn't mean they're right)? What about evidence (bullettes would leave raised earth and gapping holes, basilisks may leave crumb like stone behind after a meal, etc)? Is their any local folklore or urban legends that point to a culprit (or can act as a red harring)? As far as the tracking goes, Survival checks with a DC that reflects how much research and clue finding they succeeded at. If they were researching the wrong monster, who's to say they don't track and kill one, leaving the real beast to continue it's hunt. There's a lot that can be done with this, but it mostly depends on what they're hunting. Do you have a monster in mind?
#OpenDnD. #DnDBegone
Sounds like an interesting adventure! I've never run something like it, but a few ideas immediately came to mind:
- Determine how quickly the creature moves, how often it stops, how long it stops for, if it does any of its own hunting for food and how long that takes. Is the creature going anywhere in particular?
- Use the above information to design "checkpoints" for the players. Maybe they lose the trail briefly when the reach a river. Maybe they get attacked by something else, and the confusion of battle disturbs and hides the trail. Is the creature intelligent enough to create a false set of tracks and double back? Maybe, even if it isn't, create a situation which causes it to look like that might be the case (could be a fun way to build up tension within the party; does it know it's being hunted? Might it set up an ambush?).
- I would use rolling to track the creature sparingly, but still use it. At these checkpoints, use the roll to determine how quickly the trail gets found again, rather than simply succeed/fail. Use the creature's predetermined timeline vs. the players' tracking successes and travel speed to determine their progress.
- The checkpoints should mostly be environmental-type puzzles. How does the party cross a fast-flowing river? How do they climb a steep cliff face? Make these more involved than just "roll to beat the puzzle".
I forgot to include that if, through the process of tracking the creature, they could learn things about it that might help them in the final confrontation. It makes the hunt something worth focusing on, rather than just a timesink until the big fight.
The monster hunting quests from The Witcher 3 provide an excellent template for these types of adventures. (Below are just a few examples off the top of my head)
1) Questioning the locals and/or victims regarding the creature that attacked. (Physical Features, any observed Strengths/Weaknesses, etc.)
2) Search the scene of the last known attack for physical evidence/clues. (ex: Blood, Footprints, Fur Samples, etc.)
3) Once the players track down the creature's lair, include the added challenge of needing appropriate bait to lure the creature out of hiding.
Hope this helps and Happy Gaming!
What about if the creature is hunting the party? Like stalking them?
A lot of this is going to depend on the nature of the beast itself. Is the creature native to the area, or has it arrived from elsewhere? Is it an intelligent creature, able to think and reason, or is it just doing beast things because it's hungry or claiming new territory after being displaced? Depending on these sorts of questions, you'll need to establish a pattern of behavior, and flavor it with a motivation relevant to the current events.
Speaking of current events, what exactly is the reason that people have been attacked by the creature? Were the people just traveling along and the beast attacked them (territorial)? Or were they moving through the jungle and disrupting the area in some way, such as logging or harvesting plants (again territorial, perhaps defense of nature)? Or perhaps some of them were hunters after other things, and caught some kind of sign of the creature and went to investigate (self-defense after getting backed into a corner)?
Something else important to consider. Would the locals recognize the creature? Is it something they are familiar with, or that they could at least describe in detail? If the creature is from "elsewhere" (not just on the world, but different planes of existence are possibilities here) perhaps they are completely unfamiliar with it and give very erratic and wild descriptions. Consider the backstories, backgrounds, and relevant skills of your party. Would they recognize the creature from the descriptions? Would they be able to figure out if the people describing their encounters have no idea what they're talking about?
And finally, especially if the creature is intelligent, how will your players finally deal with it? Are you going to force them to murder it? Or perhaps it can be reasoned with. Perhaps you can put an even bigger twist on it, and the creature is itself a victim of circumstance and is just as much in need of the help of your party as the people the creature had attacked. How would this interract with the alignment(s) of the members of the party? Would they disagree on what to do next? Would they simply release the creature, or would they help it? Perhaps they were supposed to prove they had killed it, forcing them to fake it's death to complete their quest.
As an example, perhaps a creature from the Plane of Fire got pulled through a short term natural portal, and is both lost and stranded in the extremely unfamiliar jungles where your campaign is taking place. It doesn't know where it is, or where to go, let alone how to get home. So it is extremely insecure about it's own safety, and out of desperation, will attack anything that doesn't immediately flee before it. More than anything, it wants to be left alone to figure out what to do next, so it's going to move away from areas of high activity near the city and go deep into the heart of the jungle looking for somewhere secluded to hide.