Woodland Survival - Help out my game!

[Woas]

In a turn of events during the previous game session, the party has fled into the woodlands on the outskirts of a village that has turned hostile towards them.

Now, typically I prepare and run sessions that involve time in outdoor environs, there is a overarching order of events that usually happen. For example the party of adventurers are traveling from Town A to Town B through the country-side. Thats the typical situation and I can fast forward or slow down the speed of the trip to include any encounters/plot hooks along the way, as the path the adventurers take is fairly well defined.

But this is not the case this time. The overarching theme/goal of the game is still there but man, did the players really throw me for a loop. But I don't want it to stop me! I want to use the momentum of the situation and instead of fumbling the chance, really make something cool from all this. Like I said, the village the characters were at has pretty much turned hostile to them because of some really bad detective work and general lack of respect to local customs. The characters basically picked up all their earthly belongings and ran into whatever woods that lay next to the village to get away from a big angry mob.
What I'm asking for is some advice on making a fun, memorable, and exciting 'woodland survival' situation. What I don't want is to bog down the next couple sessions with constant random encounters or tedious 'Are you lost? Then you walk around in circles all day. Make camp.' I'd really like to play up the fact that the characters ran into the woods pretty much on the drop of a hat and have very limited water/trail rations and generally little gear prepared for this other than your typical stuff (I don't even think they have tents).

Does anyone have good advice from experience or just general knowledge to really spruce this up? Specific ways you've done 'lost in the woods' and tracked time/distance, interesting encounters to meet with? As a last little disclaimer, we play Iron Heroes. But I'll take any suggestions really, just know that the characters have zero access to magic.

Thanks,
Woas

 

[Jesus_marley]

wandering around in the woods....

perhaps have them find the ruins of a previous village that has been overgrown. the well leads down into a network of natural caves.

maybe stumble upon a river dam and a family of dire beavers.


how big are the woods that the party is wandering in? that could help with scenario ideas...

 

[Woas]

The forest really has no defined size. As is inherent with Iron Heroes a premade campaign setting like Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms isn't really available. So this is a homebrew world. The thing is though that I'm a big fan of the old Dungeoncraft articles and, I'm sure Hussar would be proud of me, as I am very "pro-adventure" .
So the woodland/forest can really be any size I want to fit the plot. What I know is that I want the forest to be big. Big enough so that the characters will have to 'deal' with it and not just stumble through it for a day and be out the other side.
Hope that helps.

 

[Zendragon]

Whats the character makeup of the party? A Ranger or Druid will go a long way in helping the party survive the food and water problem. Even an elf would help some. Make the player glad that points were put into survival. How far ar the villagers willing to follow the party. It should be a couple of days to ensure the characters just don't stop and regroup. Lack of sleep could be fun to see how they deal with that. Stumbling into an evil druids grove would provide plenty of challenges.

 

[DMH]

What time of year (or season) is it? They could starve if it is winter or even midsummer. I suggest using a lot more sounds than sights- squirrels and insects can spook a party if done right.

Monsters for a forest next to a village tend not to be of the eating humans sort (at least without depopulating the village). Fungal monsters, vermin, a large carnivorous animal or two and magical beasts might be best.

 

[Woas]

@ Zendragon - After giving the character sheets a good look-over it appears that of the 5 characters, only two of them have put any ranks into survival. And both of them only have 2 ranks worth! On top of this none of the characters are really 'woodsy' types. All part of why I wanted to 'peg' them for this instead of hand-wave over it and make it too easy.
Being "hunted" in the forest is a good idea though. The townsfolk really wanna hang these guys and will probably persue them for a couple days at least.

@DMH - Spring time. You're right, I'll avoid any carnivorous beasts for the most part.

 

[Slapzilla]

Nothing like a big ol' storm to make them cold, wet and willing to check out that strange light in the distance. 'Maybe it's shelter', one of them says....

Villagers with dogs, pitchforks and torches on their heels chasing them into a dead end of some kind and making them (gasp) responsible for what they did. (Huge fine perhaps)

This outrage may be the perfect opportunity for the creepy guy in town to make a powerplay with his ugly ex-merc buddies, consolidating authority and clamping down all kinds of new rules. (only until the situation is over...for your safety...)

Simple application of food and water needs should make them want to jump at the first invitation by the hermit/hedge witch no matter how unsavory. (Alchemical Necromancy?)

Two words; Hotel California

 

[Rhun]

There is a scene in a book I read where the tired, cold adventurers get their fire going and are ready to get their food cooked, when a huge ogre walks into camp and douses their fire with a big bucket of water. Then he proceeds to lecture them on how bad fire is for the forest and all the little animals.

Could throw something like that in, just for fun.

 

[Peni Griffin]

Prepare for this game by reading Gary Paulsen, specifically Hatchet and the other Brian books. In the YA section of a library or bookstore near you!

Make them play their skills and learn from experience. Ask them how they're going to solve this problem or that and give them fair die rolls to do reasonable things. Drop hints in the form of checks against preexisting knowledge - after all, they've all been in kitchens, some of them have heard hunting and fishing stories, they know what many wild foods look like because they've eaten them. Apply fatigue and starvation rules - make them feel how urgent it is to solve problems like getting enough water and sleep.

And do not dismiss the lethal power prey animals in a corner. Yes, the primary purposes of a stag's antlers are sexual display and competition with other males, but those antlers can kill you. So can those hooves, if the doe feels sufficiently threatened. So can just stumbling onto you, if say the deer has been spooked straight into you. Squirrels have teeth and jaws that can open walnuts fercryinoutloud. And don't get me started on moose. (Moose is in the Brian books)

And then there's the fay. Yes, it's Iron Heroes, but that doesn't mean there's no fay, just that they're more elusive and more scary. Also, the characters can believe in things that don't exist and be misled into taking problematical actions in response to a largely imaginary threat, especially after a few days of short sleep.

However, give them good access to food if they describe reasonable methods of finding it. Fungi, roots, berries, nuts, meat, honey, fish (you should let them find a water source early just to keep the search for it from becoming tedious), and bark will all be available, with different things peaking at different seasons. They can watch other animals to learn which ones are good, and even raid the caches of many forethoughtful animals.

 

[hong]

@ Zendragon - After giving the character sheets a good look-over it appears that of the 5 characters, only two of them have put any ranks into survival. And both of them only have 2 ranks worth! On top of this none of the characters are really 'woodsy' types. All part of why I wanted to 'peg' them for this instead of hand-wave over it and make it too easy.
Being "hunted" in the forest is a good idea though. The townsfolk really wanna hang these guys and will probably persue them for a couple days at least.

Note that Survival is usable untrained. A Wis 10 guy could survive indefinitely by taking 10, at least until something ate him.