Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TeddyKGB 01-05-04, 09:40 AM	I'm about to start a campaign in Chult (FR), for which there are very few resources available. What I'm looking for is advice and/or links to resources on jungle campaigns. The party will probably be doing a lot of travel through the jungles of Chult, but only one adventure was ever printed for it that I could find. I'm not really short on adventure ideas, but I could always use a few more if you've got them . . . Has anyone ever run a campaign in this region, or in a similar one in a different campaign world? How do you judge travel through the jungle? There are no roads, only rivers, landmarks, and game trails. Do you think that the maps need to be significantly more detailed than average because of this? Any other major concerns you can think of? So far, I intend for the party to be the chosen defenders of a small mining town in the Mistcliffs - a group of people who have given up the nomadic ways of the jungle and settled in the mountains. They chose these few apt pupils from the town to travel to Mezro and study there at the various adventurer's schools. I'm going to run a variant of the Duvik's Pass adventure (in the free adventures section) as soon as they return to the village. From there I'm thinking of sending them to see a sage high up in the mountains to research an ancient tome found in the mine, and then on a quest through the jungle to some run down temple to recover a lost artifact - similar to the Heart of the Jungle adventure detailed in the 2e supplement The Jungles of Chult.
Kalidor 01-05-04, 10:17 AM	DM: Alright, we're going to be doing a jungle theme in this campaign. Let's get everything set. Three weeks later DM: Okay, this is a very in depth campaign, with headhunters, lost tombs and spirits of the land. Adventure and intrigue will haunt your every turn. What do you want to do first? Players: We go to Waterdeep DM: ..........
TeddyKGB 01-05-04, 10:25 AM	God I hope not. Although they do plan to travel to the Moonshaes and Lantan eventually. If they tell me they want to go to Waterdeep before 10th level I'm either going to sink their ship or teleport them directly to Undermountain.
CerebrateKen 01-05-04, 01:48 PM	Originally posted by TeddyKGB I'm about to start a campaign in Chult (FR), for which there are very few resources available. What I'm looking for is advice and/or links to resources on jungle campaigns. Has anyone ever run a campaign in this region, or in a similar one in a different campaign world? How do you judge travel through the jungle? There are no roads, only rivers, landmarks, and game trails. Do you think that the maps need to be significantly more detailed than average because of this? Any other major concerns you can think of? My most recent campaign was set in a heavily-jungled equatorial region of my homebrew world. Typically the party kept to the civilised fringes of the tropical rainforest, but several times they had to traverse large areas of dense forest looking for lost cities and the like. It doesn't take much experience of woodland to discover how confusing this is. Navigation is tricky when trees prevent straight line travel and canopy density masks the sun and stars. Most people will travel at only a fraction of their normal speed as they hack their way through with machetes. (Druids' Woodland Stride ability is of course really useful here.) Water hazards are fun. If the party navigates by following a river then they may have to cross numerous tributaries. Fill these with piranha and crocodiles and watch your players have to use their initiatives or burn up their spells to avoid getting eaten. Dense areas of towering trees make ideal ambush places for forest-dwelling creatures. Giant spiders (Mirkwood anyone?) are great fun when they can attack from any direction. The trunks and foliage provide cover and concealment and make for more interesting three-dimensional object-filled encounter areas. That thick canopy also means higher-level parties who usually fly or wind-walk everywhere (oh so dull!) may need to walk for a change if they're to follow a path which is invisible from above the trees. Jungles make great dungeon-like environments in that you can provide pockets of interest anywhere. Perhaps blowpipe-wielding pygmies infest one area and primitive lost tribes another. Meanwhile the DM can add wandering monsters at will with far fewer ecological worries than most wilderness areas. Even enormous creatures like dinosaurs can get astonishingly close without being spotted. (I had a T-rex ambush my party from only ten feet away - mind you they hate me for it; lots of people got eaten that day :weep: ) As for mapping, you don't really need anything more than a flow diagram. Terrain features are effectively invisible when they're more than a few feet away, so you only ever need to describe the party's immediate surroundings. So long as you know the approximate layout of major areas of high ground, clearings and rivers, you can just dice for the details. (E.g. this river has a significant tributary every 1d4 miles.) Finally, don't forget to check out the rules for forest terrain in the 3.5e DMG (pp.87-8). Kind regards, CerebrateKen.
TeddyKGB 01-05-04, 05:39 PM	Cerebrate Ken, Thanks very much for your detailed advice. It will see a lot of use in my upcoming campaign. A flow chart sounds like a good idea. I think I'll just use the old Campaign Mapper software to do the basic outline of stuff and then create some random terrain tables.
CerebrateKen 01-05-04, 07:28 PM	Originally posted by TeddyKGB Cerebrate Ken, Thanks very much for your detailed advice. It will see a lot of use in my upcoming campaign. A great pleasure. Here are some details (3.0e I'm afraid) from my notes about those pygmies I mentioned: Red Pygmies Small: +1 size bonus to AC & Attacks, +4 to hide (3 feet tall on average) +2 Dex, -2 Str Base speed 20’, but may move through forested areas at full speed +2 racial bonus to Climb, Move Silently & Hide +1 racial attack bonus with blowpipes Poison users: +4 to saves vs. poison, immune to mishaps Favoured class: Barbarian All red pygmies are vicious LE killers. Blowpipe Small weapon (2’ long, wt. 1lb), range increment 30’. Blowpipe dart, 1d3/x3 piercing +poison Favoured poisons (equivalent): Type 1: Large scorpion venom DC 18 1d6 Str/1d6 Str (200 gp) Type 2: Purple worm poison DC 24 1d6 Str/1d6 Str (700 gp) Pygmy Village Villages comprise large huts on stilts, with bridges to platforms on nearby trees. Platforms and shelters are made of shaped stone and are immensely strong (wall of stone and stoneshape) with wood and vines for walls, floors and bridges. The largest hut is for the shaman and his wives. There will be a natural pool nearby for scrying. There is an unhallow spell cast with an area 130’ radius from the shaman’s hut. It casts invisibility purge on anyone who doesn’t worship the village totem (basically everyone who isn’t a villager.) Furthermore there is a magic circle against good in effect (+2 AC and +2 saves vs good attacks.) There are 10-30 hunters and an equal number of non-combatants in each village. Pygmies from each village wear animal tokens as tribal identification (feather token, parrot headdress, leopard or crocodile pelts, etc.) Various “animals” exist in the village due to reincarnation. Snares surround the village. Each walking party member has a 25% chance of standing on one while entering the village. (d6 damage and lifted off the ground – see PHB p.253.) Groups Hunting party: 4 hunters EL10 6 hunters EL11 8 hunters EL12 10 hunters plus shaman apprentice EL13 Village: 12 hunters and shaman EL15 20 hunters, shaman and apprentice EL16 30 hunters, shaman and 2 apprentices EL17 Pygmy Hunter: Male red pygmy Brb6; CR 6; Small humanoid; HD 6d12+18; hp 57; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft. (even in dense jungle); AC 18 (touch 14, flat-footed 18); Atk +8/+3 melee (1d6/19-20x2 + poison, barbed spine [short sword]) or +13/+8 ranged (+1 within 30’) (1d3+1/x3 and poison, blowpipe); SA Poison; SQ Barbarian abilities; AL LE; SV Fort +8 (+12 vs poison), Ref +5, Will +3; Str 12, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 11. Skills and Feats: Climb +12, Hide +18, Listen +10, Spot +3, Wild Lore +6; Point Blank Shot, Track, Weapon Focus (blowpipe). Possessions: Blowpipe +1, leather armour +2, poisoned darts (10 x type 1, 1 x type 2), poisoned blade(type 2), potion of CMW (2d8+5) Barbarian abilities: Fast movement, Rage 2/day, Uncanny dodge (Dex bonus to AC and can’t be flanked) Poison: Type 1: Large scorpion venom DC 18, 1d6 Str/1d6 Str (200 gp) Type 2: Purple worm poison DC 24, 1d6 Str/1d6 Str (700 gp) Pygmy Shaman: Male red pygmy Dru13; CR 13; Small humanoid; HD 13d8+39; hp 123; Init +6; Spd 20 ft. (even in dense jungle); AC 19 (touch 13, flat-footed 17); Atk +12/+7 melee (1d6+2 and poison, sickle); SQ Druid abilities; AL LE; SV Fort +11 (+15 vs poison), Ref +8, Will +15; Str 8, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 24, Cha 16. Skills and Feats: Animal Empathy +19, Concentration +19, Handle Animal +7, Heal +15, Hide +18, Knowledge (nature) +7, Listen +15, Spot +12, Wild Lore +6; Brew Potion, Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Craft Wondrous Item, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes. Possessions: Leather armour +4, Poisoned sickle +3 (type 2), periapt of wisdom +4, potion of CMW (2d8+5) Spells Prepared (6/7/7/6/5/4/3/2; base DC = 17 + spell level): 0 detect magic (6); 1st – cure light wounds (1d8+5) (4), entangle (2), obscuring mist; 2nd – barkskin (+5) (2), cat’s grace (3), charm person/animal; 3rd – cure moderate wounds (2d8+10) (3), contagion, neutralise poison, protection from elements; 4th – flame strike, giant vermin, scrying, sleet storm (2); 5th – ice storm, insect plague (2), tree stride; 6th – fire seeds, greater dispelling (2), 7th – harm, heal. Druid abilities: Nature sense, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, a thousand faces, wild shape (dire, tiny-large, 4/day.) Pygmy Shaman Apprentice: Male red pygmy Dru7; CR 7; Small humanoid; HD 7d8+21; hp 63; Init +6; Spd 20 ft. (even in dense jungle); AC 17 (touch 13, flat-footed 15); Atk +8 melee (1d6+1 and poison, sickle); SQ Druid abilities; AL LE; SV Fort +8 (+12 vs poison), Ref +4, Will +9; Str 8, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 19, Cha 16. Skills and Feats: Animal Empathy +13, Concentration +13, Handle Animal +7, Heal +10, Hide +12, Knowledge (nature) +7, Listen +10, Spot +12, Wild Lore +5; Brew Potion, Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Improved Initiative. Possessions: Leather armour +2, poisoned sickle +2 (type 2), potion of CMW (2d8+5) Spells Prepared (6/5/4/3/2; base DC = 14 + spell level): 0 – detect magic (6); 1st – CLW (1d8+5) (2), entangle (2), obscuring mist; 2nd – barkskin (+4), charm person/animal, cat’s grace (2); 3rd – CMW (2d8+7) (2), protection from elements; 4th – flame strike, sleet storm. Druid abilities: Nature sense, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, wild shape (small or medium, 3/day.) Kind regards, CerebrateKen
Chesterfield 01-05-04, 09:17 PM	Me and my partly fellow DM once had a talk(we never got anything out of it though) about the jungles of Chult and what to throw at the players when they wanted some fighting. The best idea(and the only one i can remember fairly well at the moment, im a bit tired.) was basicaly the same as the pygmy-thing. Except the pygmies weren't pygmies but gnomes. living in the "jungleman-style" with blowpipes and everything, and their hunters/wariors with a coupple of barbarian levels and maybe a ranger(tracker) or two leading the parties. the fancy thing about the idea was for them to capture and somehow gain control over some dinosaurs. a triceratops(or what ever the little fat one with three horns are called) with a partly fortified "basket" on its bag, in which 4-8 gnomes with shortbows and javelins could make quite a foe. I mean imagine one of those trambeling through the forest, knocking down the trees in its path, while the rest of the gnome warriors sneak up and suround the PC's. I dont know if this makes any sense, but at the moment the only time i can surf these boards are in the morning before i go to slep so my brain is even more out of order than normaly. Felix
Slivvy Gaidin 01-06-04, 01:16 AM	CerebrateKen, cool pygmies- just note that they are lawful, but their favoured class is Bbn. I think a Jungle game would be fun to play in. Make note of the high temperatures and humidity though, as wearing ANY armor will soon become very uncomfortable.
TeddyKGB 01-06-04, 04:31 AM	Thanks for all the ideas guys. Keep em coming if you've got more. Our first session is Saturday, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
CerebrateKen 01-06-04, 05:45 AM	Originally posted by Slivvy Gaidin CerebrateKen, cool pygmies- just note that they are lawful, but their favoured class is Bbn. Oops. Thanks for spotting that! Better make the race simply evil and the barbarian hunters NE. Kind regards, CerebrateKen
Pandaboy 01-06-04, 10:21 AM	Originally posted by Slivvy Gaidin CerebrateKen, cool pygmies- just note that they are lawful, but their favoured class is Bbn. I think a Jungle game would be fun to play in. Make note of the high temperatures and humidity though, as wearing ANY armor will soon become very uncomfortable. Pygmies would indeed be neutral, probably true neutral as they don't care about things you (society) care(s) about. Cannibal pygmies would be neutral evil. I use Armor Check Penalty = Attack Penalty for really hot environments where no sane person would wear heavy armor. Furthermore, for the jungle DM : Concealment is your friend. Those big leafy plants should offer at least 20% concealment on anything beyond 5'. Not easy using missile or reach weapons. Disease is your friend. There's an immense variety of life in the jungle, and our little invisible friends the germs are no exception. Instead of deadly jungle plagues, consider simple plagues that make PCs fatigued, exhausted or sickened.
Rasmus 01-06-04, 12:35 PM	If you are worried that they might skip the jungle, why not use the Chult material and make it somewhere else? On the other hand. You can't go to Waterdeep if you don't know it exsists.
CerebrateKen 01-06-04, 01:41 PM	Originally posted by Pandaboy I use Armor Check Penalty = Attack Penalty for really hot environments where no sane person would wear heavy armor.This certainly makes sense, but I would add a caveat or two about those high temperatures: Effectively, any heat penalties you care to invent are likely to apply throughout the whole campaign. This is a bit dull. You're essentially banning heavy armour, which limits the fighter archetypes available to your players. You're also leaving yourself open to criticism when you don't apply similar penalties to heavily laden or hard working characters, or perhaps even to creatures with thick fur or high natural armour. Or alternatively you're setting yourself up for loads of work to make nicely balanced and sensible high temperature rules and then remember to use them. And where do you set the threshold? Do you need to keep accurate track of temperature and humidity in case there are cooler days with lower penalties? How fast does the temperature plummet at night? How quickly does the temperature change as you go deeper underground? If the penalties are too severe for your players, they'll just learn {number of players} copies of endure elements every day and completely negate all your work. No, I decided it's all too much dull work. Your characters are presumably, like mine, native to that part of the world. Why not simply say that they've fully acclimatised? You can ignore all those complications and just carry on with the game. Plus, you can tell any players who want to go to Waterdeep that they'll be subject to the cold weather penalties of your choice for the first few years they're there :) Kind regards, CerebrateKen.
Pandaboy 01-07-04, 02:35 AM	I don't think anyone ever gets used to wearing full plate in extreme heat. There's many options for allowing the players to lessen the penalties... triple water rations, enchanted heavy armour (have them take a +1 full plate of the desert instead of the statistically sweet +3 full plate for a change), frequent sweat breaks when travelling, travelling at night when it's cooler...
TeddyKGB 01-07-04, 04:14 AM	CerebrateKen has a good point, and so does Pandaboy. I've been mulling this one over myself, and I'm leaning more towards Pandaboy. If anyone here has ever been in the Army (I have), you've probably worn body armor. It's Kevlar, and nowhere near as heavy or encumbering as full plate. It's probably more like leather, maybe a little heavier, and in the summer, it's hot. I mean, like salamander hot. And that's in the US Southeast, nowhere near a tropical jungle. I'm going to devise a penalty system for the use of armor heavier than light, probably very minor penalties for medium, and fairly drastic for heavy. I think it will add to the flavor of the campaign. Anyway, even if you could stand the heat, I don't think you'd want to be running around the jungle making the noise that plate makes anyway. ;)
BRJN 01-09-04, 11:05 PM	Remember that it is always very humid. Anything metal (such as armor and swords) will rust, wooden items will rot if not treated with preservatives, &c. Bug swarms. Army ants. Clouds of midges that ignore suits of armor and bite for 1 HP, then fly away. Wasp hordes. Movement should be very slow. Jungles are forests, after all. More open jungles will have lots of bushes or hedges. Poison ivy isn't actually tropical, but you could use some anyways. Jaguars live in the Central American jungles. Anything that stays in shadows and tracks you for a while is scarier than the thing that just lumbers in and picks a fight right away. Dare I say it? Indiana Jones and the <insert Artifact here>! :) Lots of wet ground, not just puddles and swamps, but hidden quaking bogs and stuff that makes PCs wish they had a 10' pole to see how deep down the solid ground really is.