CAMELS: Are they comic relief in your campaigns? and a download

[Dragon Snack]

I have miniatures for 5 camels (including 2 pack camels), but they only made a brief appearance in one campaign (and not one I was DMing). Just long enough for a Gorgon to turn them to stone in the very next encounter...

That may be comic relief, but I wasn't laughing.

 

[seans23]

There was an NPC druid who had a camel for an animal companion in our campaign.

 

[kolikeos]

Elephants, not camels.

 

[Mark CMG]

There was a time when I would occasionally think of camels as potential comic relief. Then I read Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival and it is hard for me to see them in that light anymore. They are a rather amazing animal.

Elephants, not camels.

Oh, yes. Elephants still amusement to no end.

 

[Ferrum]

Please see: Flying Camel Brigade for Pielorinho's retelling of our campaign's camel dealings.

As a side note, our DM used a very goofy voice when speaking for the camels, adding to the hilarity quite expertly.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Please note: Never hold a torch or any other flaming object near a camels butt. When they fart, and you are, treat it as a fireball waith a CL5.

This is no joke. I've seen it happen up close and personal. Pretty scary.

 

[awayfarer]

They served admirably as both blue dragon snacks and giant scorpion snacks in recent adventures. And the loss of a few camels meant we couldn't haul all of the treasures of some evil genies back home. That's some serious, non-comical stuff!

Blue Dragon: Camels? Don't talk to me about camels. I smoke two packs a day as is.

*This would probably be more appropriate with a red dragon.

 

[Lanefan]

*Everything* is sometimes used as comic relief in my games; camels are no exception on the rare times they appear. That said, I've only had one or two desert-based adventures; in one, a bad guy was known mostly for the unusual camel he rode...and that's probably the only time in my long DMing career a camel has had *any* useful significance at all.

However, there was a Centaur PC in my game for quite some time; an NPC they met who didn't know what a Centaur was but had dimly heard of camels (didn't know what those were either) called him a camel, and - much to the Centaur player's annoyance - it stuck.

Lanefan

 

[mmadsen]

In a campaign I was in a few years ago, I was a desert ranger. To take a bunch of softy city folk through the desert, we bought camels and had them pull our wagon.

Camels pulling a wagon through the desert?

 

[Wombat]

I've known too many camels (and camelids) to think of them as "comic relief". Nasty, vulgar, brutish things, they have a foul temper, a determined set of opinions, a nasty habit of spitting on anything that doesn't please them, assuming they don't step on it first, they are excellent beasts of burden in a harsh environment, but don't assume they are kindly, cute, or comical.

**ugh**