Adventures with Animals
July 26th, 2011
Hello everyone and welcome back to another all new Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. Longtime readers (and archive skimmers) will surely know that from time to time I pick some monster I think is underappreciated and try to convince you to make it a key element of your next adventure. Well, this week I’ve decided to champion not a single monster, but an entire type of monster I can’t help but observe is under appreciated.
These guys actually see a fair amount of play, usually at the whim of a random encounter table or as a convenient way to put a combat encounter in the otherwise unimportant cave the PCs just walked into, but rarely are given a chance to shine. Their best chance to be memorable is to serve as an ally to “real” characters, and most DMs who go out of their way to plan an encounter with one are usually only doing it to trick the PCs into thinking something else is going on and watch them squirm while dealing something so “mundane.” Have you guessed what creature type I’m talking about (or just read the article title)? That’s right kids, animals.
For my part, I doubt very seriously that any creature type or even any single monster spends less time in the spotlight than the animal. The animal may look soft as a monster, but nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, animals are amazing. Most DMs and players are familiar enough with animals to envision them in close to perfect detail, making the images evoked by them all the more vivid. Animals command our respect and evoke a primal sense of worry in us; after all, most of us would probably hesitate before confronting a raccoon loose in the backyard, let alone something like a jaguar in the deep jungle. The threat they pose to humans is very real; even people armed with early firearms would have real trouble facing down a grizzly bear, whose tough bones and hide would largely mitigate the effectiveness of such weapons. Real animals are even able to stand impressively against beings of fantastic creation. For example, Hercules (from Hercules: the legendary journey) is said to have the strength of ten men; by way of comparison, a silverback gorilla possess the strength of at least 15 men – that’s one and a half Herculeses. This all combines to give them a real edge in the realistic threat department.
Animals also possess fantastic forms; in fact, I would be hard pressed to find ten monsters with stranger forms than the hippopotamus or giraffe, they even have special abilities and powers which make them more fun to fight. Finally, animals are awe-inspiring, so much so that they have infiltrated myths and legends throughout human history. Even our most creative and terrifying fictional monsters draw on animals for their forms: massive muscular body like a gorilla, tentacles like an octopus, bat wings, scales like a lizard, claws like a tiger, etc.
Hopefully by now I’ve convinced you (or reaffirmed for you) that animals are definitely cool enough to be center of attention in your next adventure. Now comes the hard part: how do I make an animal, of all things, the center of attention for my adventure. This might not be as difficult to do as you might think, and you don’t even have to do anything weird or strange to make it happen. To that end I have a sample plot for you to take a look at.
Man Eater
Summoned to the village of Ikah in the Akia plains by the village elder, who has promised them a great reward, the PCs arrive just as twilight is beginning to set upon the once small village, now made large by the forest of felt tents surrounding the more permanent structures. While passing through the village, the intensity in the air is nearly tangible; everyone in town is starkly alert, despite the waning hour and obvious fatigue on the villagers’ hard faces. Young men and a few of the more able-bodied women and elderly patrol the sun-beaten dirt paths between structures, wearing swords and looks of fear mixed with determination, and even the children carry long knives strapped to their belts. When they arrive at the village elder’s hut, he explains to them why he called upon their services.
For nearly two months now, the plain has been plagued by the presence of a pack of man-eating lions. Every night, the brazen creatures creep into a dwelling, silent as the spreading darkness, and kill and eat the inhabitants. They’ve even been so bold as to sneak into the villages and thorps which dot the plains to claim their victims. While man-eaters have always been a problem on the plains, they are usually found to be old and starving and are thus easily dispatched, but so far all evidence suggests that this group is in perfect health – they’ve even killed some of the villagers who confronted them.
Normally, when faced with a situation like this everyone in the plains comes together to organize a defense, but the war in the south is complicating matters. More and more refugees are pouring into the village everyday, displaced by the chaos, and the elder explains that he simply doesn’t have the manpower to deal with the situation. As a result, the lions are slowly picking off the refugees. Now the refugees are starting to accuse the villagers of these lion attacks, claiming that the people of Ikah hate foreigners. Add to this the dwindling food supply, and the elder is worried that the villagers may have their own war on their hands any day now.
Since it has become clear to the elder that he needs outside help in dealing with this situation, he is willing to offer the PCs a substantial reward if they can bring him the heads of the lions responsible. They are a male and three females, each with specific marks noted by escaped victims of the attacks, so any old lions won’t do. With a final word of caution that these in particular lions seem to possess exceptional combat prowess, he sends the PCs to go and find their quarry.
Challenge: Hey – I want to hear about my favorite animal!
So, while I set out to write an article about animals in general, I only managed to get to lions before running out of time and space, so with a mind to address this as well as to encourage audience participation, I’m leaving things in the hands of you the reader with this challenge. Here’s how it works: send me an email at the address listed below, containing your favorite animal and a 100-200 word explanation of why that animal is so cool and I will write you a Grave Plots dedicated to that creature, to appear in this column at the next open spot. Hope to hear from you soon.
That’s all the time we have for this week’s Grave Plots. join us next time for more great plot hooks and adventure ideas; until then, allow me to wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.