PCs going to a jungle

[Wombat]

I am setting up a campaign in a Central American-style jungle environment. This allows me to have Mayan-like cities (including cities lost back to the jungle), creatures out of the lore of several different cultures, and the fun of disease

The characters will be outsiders to the area, probably not as vicious as the worst of the conquistadors, but as adventurous as the best of them. Yes, they will get to search for lost cities and fabled locales, fend off vampires (some of whom are bats, others of whom are walking, two-legged bloodsuckers...), deal with strange tribal customs, learn the ways of the jungle itself.

Many of the adversaries I am planning for them are shapeshifters -- I prefer "stealth adversaries" this way, sort of fitting with the jungle motif. However several dangers will be of the "mundane" variety -- poisonous insects and snakes, infested drinking water, disease, and the like. I feel the juxtaposition of the mundane and the fantastical problems will highlight just how alien of an environment it is to them.

I mean, if thumb-sized cockaroches don't give you the willies, nothing will...

 

[qstor]

There was an article in Dragon too a few years back that was pretty good if you have the Dragon archives CD-ROM

Mike

 

[CaffeineBoy]

Hey Roman! Apparently, our brains have much in common....

My homebrew is a jungle setting, so I've had occasion to run some of the ideas above and they're all good. From my own campaign, my favorites so far have been:

1) Aerugo dragons. Aerugo is that greenish patina that occurs when brass or copper rust. Who expects brass or copper dragons in a jungle? I used a few poor misplaced dragons with some jungle-appropriate skills and feats. And I figured the area would be damp, so the dragons developed this verdigris-like skin condition. PCs *naturally* assume they're green dragons. Hilarious.

2) Plant monsters. You'll never have a better opportunity to use Audrey 2 (or any other tenticled, giant Venus Flytrap sort of critter).

3) Spider Goblins from S&S's Creature Collection--they became a mainstay in my game. They frequently joined forces with Narleth (again from CC -- I loved that book) or ettercaps and are frequently found in the company of monstrous spiders.

4) Monkeys. Even ordinary monkeys can be a pain in the butt for PCs. Awakened monkeys, perhaps in league with an isolationist druid, can be even more hazardous. I also had a race of awakened white-furred monkey-men enslaved to an evil civilization that the PCs stumbled across. Lots of plots spun off of the PCs' attempts to free them.

Anybody else?

 

[Roman]

Hmm, dinosaurs... it certainly sounds atavistic enough. I may go along with that. What I will certainly include, though, are the ideas about the Naga and Yuan Ti. That is simply a must. I simply looove the idea of ape-elves swinging high in the canopy. An aerugo dragon might also make an appearance eventually - I plan to keep them there for a while (I will most likely give them an opportunity to rediscover and explore the ruins of an old civilization, and perhaps have them defend the ruins from interested wizards...). The ideas increasing versimilitude (the game trails, etc.) were great! And lots and lots of insects!

- The Insectile template from Savage Species is fun. I'll post some of my icky spider critters in a bit.

Please do

Hey Roman! Apparently, our brains have much in common....

Indeed

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I've just finished running an adventure in the Otobo Jungles in Hepmonaland (south of the main Greyhawk continent). The PCs were on a mission to collect rare orchids needed to cure the Shadowlands Taint.

I used the excellent Nyambe sourcebook (Atlas) for the various jungle races and for lots of background and flavour stuff. The lands of Nyambe were previously ruled by orc sorcerors so I had some ancient orc ruins, inhabited by yuan-ti. The trees the orchids were growing in were spriggan trees (800 feet tall!) from Atlas' Occult Lore and had lots of nasty inhabitants. There are quite a lot of good jungle monsters in MMII (corollax, cloaked apes, forest sloths etc).

Hope this helps


Richard

 

[Silver Moon]

Ah, Jungle Stories! Brings back old times. My first D&D experience was the classic module X1 "Isle of Dread", and we used another jungle module, I1 "Dwellers of the Forbidden City", to establish our home base. Both featured many of the monsters already suggested above. Dinosaurs, plant monsters, Yuan-ti and giant insects are all a must. Go heavy on the snakes, and toss in some tasoli and giant apes for the fun of it. Narrate in great detail when DMing the nighttime. A jungle can be a very scary place at night given all of the noise and the nocturnal predators.

 

[Joe123]

There are lots of small details a real world jungle can provide to make your game a bit brighter ,

On that note, I offer the following ...

Trees inside jungles grow up to 165 feet high. Vines at the canopy, climb, cling and weave. Many of these tall palms are older than 200 years.
JUNGLE FOOD: Yams, wild ginger, raspberry, blue quandong, bananas (only grow on the edge of the jungle and on river banks), purple plums, figs and apricot figs.

NUTS: Blackbean pod length 10-25 centimetres (poisonous) as well as nutmeg, which has seed inside.

PLANTS: A myriad of many plants, far too comprehensive to describe. Nevertheless, there are Orchids , which grow on the jungle floor and the edges of the forest. There is also plentiful foul smelling fungi. There are also epiphytes (very important), which are alternatively known as "air plants," which grow on the side of trees. They can weigh collectively as much as one-third of the whole tree! Their water source is the moist forest air. Stinging Trees exist in jungles, which release a poison, the fruit like mulberry from the tree is toxic. However, the conjevoi plant helms ease the pain.

JUNGLE CLIMATE: First thing is, there are generally two seasons in a jungle. Wet and Dry, each lasting about half the year. During the wet season, it rains daily, usually mid-afternoon, for at least one hour.The temperature of jungles is not that high, about 75 to 86 degrees F. However, the humidity is high and constantly between 77% to 88% relative humidity.

I agree dinosaurs and "lost civilizations" are appropriate. You may assign DCs for poisonous jungle things, like plants. When describing the jungle (which is essentially the same as a rainforest), emphasize the humidity, which would be the predominate feature for PCs, moreso than the actual heat from the temperature. Another big thing is WATER. The DMG recommends PCs in warm climates consume two or three amounts of what is required in temperate climates. Enforce thirst/fatigue rules if PCs run out of water and cannot make any.

A jungle in itself can provide a good deal of danger to PCs, simply from its physical environment.

Edit: I also recommend jaguars, panthers, leapords, (prowling through the night, etc) as well as monkeys! The dinosaurs presented in the MM are limited, to only four or so, but you can also create your own, (even based off real-word prehistoric dinosaurs).

 

[Roman]

The plant and food stuff is excellent - that will come in very handy.

BTW: die_kluge, I checked your story hour and although I did not get to the story part yet, I must say I very much like your house rules!

 

[releasethedogs]

there have been many articles in dragon about the dangers of the tropical rain forests. every thing from your armor rusting to endurance checks and plague. later this year iam putting out a book of jungle monsters. its going to have 150-200+ monsters, and soft cover(cheeper) all for aprox. 14.99

 

[Nifft]

Bicho-Mono (Tiny aberration, 0 ft. reach, 30 ft. move/climb)
'Monkey-Bug'. Insectile Monkey (+ poison bite); hunts in troupes of 3-18. Looks like a six-legged monkey with viscious fangs. Tactics: Drop on victim, attack en masse.
HD: 1d8 +2 (7 hp)
Init +4 (Dex)
AC 18 (+4 Dex, +2 Natural, +2 Size), Flat 14, Touch 16
BAB +0 / Grapple -12
Attack +6 (Bite 1 + Poison)
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +3
Abil: Str 3, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 5
SA: Poison Bite [DC 11, 1d4 Str]
SQ: Darkvision 60 ft., Tremorsense 60 ft., Wide Vision (+4 Spot, Can't be flanked), Natural Armor +2
Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bite)
Skills: Balance +12, Climb +15, Hide +15, Listen +5, Spot +9
CR: 2


Bicho-Vid (Large aberration, 10 ft. reach, 20 ft. move/climb)
Insectile Medium Viper; hunts alone (occasionally paired for mating). 'Bug-Vine'. Looks like a snake with hundreds of tiny insectoid legs -- almost a reptilian centipede. Tactics: Hide until victim comes near, then strike.
HD: 3d8 (13 hp)
Init +5 (Dex)
AC 19 (-1 Size, +5 Dex, +5 Natural), Flat 14, Touch 14
BAB +2 / Grapple +6
Attack +7 (Bite 1d4 + poison)
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +5
Abil: Str 10, Dex 21, Con 11, Int 1, Wis 14, Cha 2
SA: Poison Bite [DC 13, 1d6 Con]
SQ: Darkvision 60 ft., Tremorsense 60 ft., Wide Vision (+4 Spot, Can't be flanked), Natural Armor +2, Scent
Feat: Weapon Finesse, Ability Focus (Poison)
Skills: Balance +13, Climb +13, Hide +10, Listen +10, Spot +14
CR: 3


Pantera-Bicho (Medium aberration, 5 ft. reach, 40 ft. move/climb)
Insectile Panther; these six-legged cat-like creatures hunt alone or in pairs. They emit a hissing growl when cornered. Their favored tactic is to pounce on prey from a tree branch.
HD: 3d8 + 6 (19 hp)
Init +6 (Dex)
AC 21, Touch 16, Flat 15
BAB +2 / Grapple +5
Attack: +8 (Bite 1d6+3)
Full Attack: +8 (Bite 1d6+3), +3/+3 (Claw 1d4+1) and +8 (Rake 1d6+3)
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +3
SA: Improved Grab, Pounce, Rake
SQ: Darkvision 60 ft., Tremorsense 60 ft., Wide Vision, Scent
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Alertness
Skills: Balance +14, Climb +11, Hide +11, Listen +9, Move Silently +11, Spot +9
CR: 3

Improved Grab: If the critter succeeds on a bite attack, it automatically initiates a grapple as a free action.

Pounce: The critter can make a full attack as part of a charge action.

Rake: If the critter begins its action grappling, it gains an additional attack, as indicated.

Tremorsense: The critter can detect any creature within the indicated range, so long as both are touching the ground (or are supported by the same object).

Wide Vision: The critter cannot be flanked.


-- N