Looking for help with inspiration - rat-themed events

[alienux]

May I introduce you to Skavens?

http://warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Skaven


They are a warhammer-specific race of rat-people, but they are *awesome* and would work great in a D&D game IMO

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product...ildren-of-the-Horned-Rat?src=hottest_filtered

Great idea, I hadn't thought of Skavens. (Course I'm a big Blood Bowl and 40k fan, so anything Warhammer would get my vote )

 

[Schmoe]

Alright, I've come up with some "mood-setting" encounters to help create a little bit of atmosphere during the game. There are two lists, one for in town and one to use while adventuring. Here are the lists:

Town:

• A character wakes in the morning and finds his footlocker is full of rats. They have defecated all over his belongings and the stench is overpowering. -1 on Charisma checks until he can clean his gear.
• The local inn is out of vegetables. If the characters ask, they learn that rats got into the root cellar and ruined the inn’s stores. The root cellar shows heavy signs of a rat infestation.
• A child is crying in the street, calling for Whiskers. The child’s cat has disappeared.
• A character comes across a horrible scene. The bodies of three cats, badly gnawed and disfigured, have been hidden behind a stack of barrels outside the local supply store.
• As the characters are going to bed for the night, the furious sound of little scampering feet in the rafters keeps them awake. If they investigate they find gnawed corners and rodent droppings, but no rats. The noise persists all night, leaving the characters fatigued the next day unless they can find a way to get some peace and quiet.
• A greasy, flea-ridden beggar accosts the characters looking for handouts. He has a long, twitchy nose and a pronounced overbite. After being driven off, he vanishes down an alley. No one in town remembers seeing the beggar before.
• There is a great commotion down by the river. One of the locals has found a dead rat king (http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=94464&d=1519352787) and superstitious rumors fly.
• Walking down a street at night, the characters hear a skittering noise loud enough to draw their attention. In the shadows, they see a steady stream of rats coming from around a building and disappearing into a hole in the building’s foundation. The hole leads into the building’s cellar, but there is no sign of where the rats have gone. The building’s owner is oblivious.
• A number of sickly people are seen around town with open sores and boils. The town healers report many more people coming down with a strange disease.
• A local business is closed due to illness.
• A farmer at the tavern bemoans that all of his cats have disappeared in the last week. He’s not sure how he’s going to keep rats and mice out of the grain without his cats.

Adventuring:

• A dining room is crawling with rats. They scrabble across the table tops and climb over every surface. They squeak and scatter to give the party a wide berth, but don’t flee. They aren’t hostile. If any of the rats are harmed, all of the rats run away.
• At the very edge of torchlight, several dozen small red eyes glow back at the party, watching them. Those with darkvision or low-light vision see a mass of rats that seems to act synchronously. The mass disperses and vanishes into the shadows when the party approaches.
• A corpse sits slumped against the passageway wall. Its face is gnawed beyond all recognition, but the rest of the body is untouched.
• When a character wearing armor takes a blow that does max damage or critical damage, the straps on his armor snap and the armor hangs loosely, giving the character a -4 AC penalty and -4 to hit penalty until the end of combat. Inspection reveals that the straps have been gnawed through.
• While eating some rations, a character bites into something foul. His food has been spoiled by rat droppings.
• A character wakes up itching feverishly. Fleas infest the character’s head and private regions. The character will be unable to get a good night’s sleep and suffers a -1 penalty to Dex checks until he or she has a chance to bathe with soap.

If I have more ideas I'll definitely add them. I may also create more lists like these for other themes in the future. I really like to have events and encounter that help to set the mood for an adventure.

 

[Eltab]

One of the 3e Monster Manuals: Moon Rats. These magically-enhanced creatures get smarter when the moon is Full, and wane to just normal-looking and -acting rats when the moon is New. At their peak, they are smart enough to read and organized like a civilized society. They would be smart enough to contaminate the village wells, compelling the locals to flee-or-die and leave them in peace to perform some dastardly ritual / deed.

These particular rats do not carry bubonic plague (the "Black Death") but the were-rat might threaten the PCs as if he knows that some of the rats DO, and only his power prevents them from setting off an epidemic. He may be lying or not; your option.

Use a Swarm of Rats as part of an encounter. They show up after somebody / something has been killed, and attempt to devour the body. The problem for the PCs is, they are in between the rats and their next meal.

This sounds like a good time to pull out 3e Horror Adventures and use some of the techniques described therein.

 

[Eltab]

I am describing the DM that I wish I was.

+1

You and me both.

 

[pogre]

I wonder if you might include an infestation of fleas? With all of these ratty events surely fleas would make the PCs fear a plague outbreak?

 

[Mad_Jack]

One encounter you could do early on would be to have the party enter an alley and suddenly come upon a rat feasting on a dead bird or something... Anyone in the campaign world would know (possibly with an easy Int check) that the average rat would flee instantly if discovered out in the open.

However, instead of skittering away in panic, the rat bares its teeth and advances on the party hissing viciously.
Depending on how hard you want to push the scene, it may well follow the party out of the alley into the middle of a busy street and/or begin attacking if the party doesn't retreat quickly enough. If engaged, the rat fights to the death without hesitation.

It should be enough of a wtf moment that the party finds it highly disturbing.

Using it right near the beginning of the adventure would be a great way of either introducing the problem or escalating it. At the very least, even if the possibility of plague is off the table, the party still has to wonder if they're dealing with an impending rabies outbreak.

From Wikipedia:

Rabies is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the brain in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure.These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: violent movements, uncontrolled excitement, fear of water, an inability to move parts of the body, confusion, and loss of consciousness. Once symptoms appear, the result is nearly always death.The time period between contracting the disease and the start of symptoms is usually one to three months; however, this time period can vary from less than one week to more than one year.

There's a lot you can do with that to generate some serious atmosphere.

 

[alienux]

[*]While eating some rations, a character bites into something foul. His food has been spoiled by rat droppings.

And this ties in to current events

[video=youtube;gsfXYDqHh2M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=gsfXYDqHh2M[/video]

 

[Schmoe]

One encounter you could do early on would be to have the party enter an alley and suddenly come upon a rat feasting on a dead bird or something... Anyone in the campaign world would know (possibly with an easy Int check) that the average rat would flee instantly if discovered out in the open.

However, instead of skittering away in panic, the rat bares its teeth and advances on the party hissing viciously.
Depending on how hard you want to push the scene, it may well follow the party out of the alley into the middle of a busy street and/or begin attacking if the party doesn't retreat quickly enough. If engaged, the rat fights to the death without hesitation.

It should be enough of a wtf moment that the party finds it highly disturbing.

Using it right near the beginning of the adventure would be a great way of either introducing the problem or escalating it. At the very least, even if the possibility of plague is off the table, the party still has to wonder if they're dealing with an impending rabies outbreak.

Consider this stolen. Thanks!