1000 Outlandish Moonrat Schemes (formerly: If I were a band of moonrats I would...)

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Hmmm. Trying to hook up with a god...

I have this image of hundreds of rats that gather once per month in the temple of the Moon Goddess, studying and petitioning to the goddess. Even if the goddess herself never answered, I think a priest of the moon goddess would be intriuged by creatures so "in touch with the moon" that they become awakened once per month. That would definitely be one way to set up an alliance, I think.

That, or judiciously befriending the young nobility... "Why, yes, your princess-ship, I am a talking rat..."

 

[rounser]

In the Forgotten Realms, Selune and Talona would be highly appropriate, methinks. Two groups of moon rats, one devoted to Selune and the other to Talona, could duke it out. The adventurers get called upon to help the Selunites just as the Talonites are gearing up to spread disease.

 

[CobaltGrC]

What do the rats really want? Well to stay intelligent forever ofcourse! In my campaign setting (an odd setting where myths and old school fairy tales with a twist come to life) moon rats have lassoed the moon with a large hook attached to a big crane they spent years constructing. They cranked the moon down out of orbit, and now it is suspended full in the sky. This allows them to keep thier intelligence, commanding thier many hordes of troublesome Jermlaine and warrior Ratlings(ratfolk). But ofcourse the nation of Jinxton is the center of Democracy, so they don't really seek to take over the world with a fist of evil, just to free it.


Oh and with a large hook dug in the side of the moon, and a long cable reaching from it to the surface of the world... it allows for the Gnomes, whom live in the moon to attempt to climb down, and to start investigating the unknown world below. Ah it's the begining of a new age for the Groven Myth..

 

[jester47]

1000 Outlandish Moonrat Schemes

Point to make:

Moonrats are only have sub human intelligence about 3 nights in the lunar cycle. Every other time they have an int of 3 or better. The most they ever get is 10. Yeah, there could be some spellcasters, but I want to use them as is.

Also, someone asked abut alignment. They are listed as Always Evil.

Now, if you have the book of vile darkness...
We can use the hivemind idea for a collective intelligence boost. A group of fifty five moonrats would get a dangerous intelligence boost. On the new moon they have an intelligence of 5 when gathered together. When the moon is full, this becomes an intelligence of 13. This could be one objective for several years.

I imagine a lot of the things that are done in and around the full moon are leaving instructions to themselves for when they are below average intelligence and can't remember what they were working on. They can get nicknacks and supplies in the off time (stuff always disappearing)

Sort of Pinky and the Brain rolled into one.

On first arrival, I would say:
Establish Alias
Lair
Eliminating the predators
Infiltration of city
Information gathering

These things are a great combined potential for weirdness, comic relief and sheer terror.

But I think we need more Outlandish stuff. Things that would make people go "what the fu...?"

Aaron.

 

[jester47]

One thing is diversionary tactics. They could engineer weird and bizzare spectacles to take attention away from what they are doing.

The fact that all the fountains in town are drained over night detracts from the fact that the ledger recording who entered and left the city was missing for a period of five hours.

A certain kind of graffiti indicates a moonrat safehouse.

One thing that they probably would also do is gather to plan. Gathering to plan, writing it all down and storing the parchments of the plans so they dont eat them in the meantime would be part of thier system. I can just see it. "Ok, so last time we figured out that we needed to write down the plan for this time. We got the parchment and we wrote down the plan. Where is the plan?" "Um, I think we ate it last week..." Just getting to the point where they can preserve their plans and actually make progress indicates all sorts of events.

Another thing to remember is that Moonrats get stronger in the moonlight. Up to +8 for a str of 10. So they can move heavier things.

 

[Inez Hull]

One of Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser books had intelligent rats taking over a city. I can't really remember the details but I would recommend checking this out if you'd like ideas. Hell, just read the books anyway, theyre tops.

 

[alsih2o]

A. putting members of the pack aboard gaurded ships and then gnawing through the ropes that keep them in dock.

this would scatter the population, setting a small group afloat on a ship with a full load

B. with their rogue-ish skill set i can see the lead rat becoming one of the citys great art collectors,one stolen piece at a time..

C. ally with the enemies of a town, and move around enuf items to guarantee an attack of undead while an army lays siege to the town

D. guide service- not many folks can take you all the way from where the sewers meet the river backwards up into the soft and stinky unerbelly of the city, but during the rights nights at the right price, moonrats can

E. start a decent business by laying back cheese cultures monthly. a modicum of a frontman would keep most folks from asking too many questions......"where do they get the milk?" you ask? where do you think all the towns cats have been disappearing to? KITTY MILKING HARNESSES!

imagine the adventurers entering the chambers of 2000 harnessed cats, milked and mistreated till used up, mewing for mercy.

F. i am sure a friendly agreement with a local vamp culd be a mutually beneficient exercise, the rats scaring the homeless towards the vamp, and the vamp leaving his digs for the rats during the day, and 3-5 nights a month

 

[I'm A Banana]

Bringing a nation to it's knees with disease in D&D is a LOT harder than it is in the real world. Cure Disease makes all your efforts virtually useless...

Still, maybe not a bad plan....definately something I could see them trying, only to find that they're subject to *fireballing* nests and such.

If you were only intelligent once a month, what would you do? Spend that time learning how to get intelligent all the time, I would think.

 

[incognito]

So what types of art would rats want to pursue? I don't have the MM2, so I don't know if Moonrats are supposed to be evil. If they're not, I can imagine them creating strange forms of art and graffiti that only shows up on the full moon. Things like writing, "The rats are only dirty because you force them to live in filth" on the sides of public buildings.

You know, that was damn funny - and although moonrats are evil, they are max INT 10, and spend most of thier time in the 5-7 range. Seems liek they are best used in comical or satyrical sense.

RangerW, that who post was $less

 

[jester47]

This is from a great story about rats and it gives some ideas...


Rats!
They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.


A group of rats that are more intelligent most of the time than the other animals of the city, probably would want to take out the other animals. So they would have plans for getting rid of cats and dogs. Or at least enslaving them.

I could see a whole sale kidnapping of infants! "Deliver 10 wheels of cheese to each sewer opening before the end of the full moon or the kids get it!"

Obviously there would be schemes to steal enough food for the rats to survive on for a month.

Perhaps they could create a band and essentially be party animals. Hey, were getting smarter! Lets throw a party! Weird things happen when they prepare for it.

Aaron