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Tactics of the Wild:
Bring Realism Into Wildlife Encounters
by Dariel QuiogueHaving found recently myself with a lot of leisure time but limited mobility, I've been spending a lot of time on the National Geographic and Discovery channels. So what?! you ask. What the heck does that have to do with gaming?
Well, my philosophy has always been that everything is grist for the mill … and I picked up something quite valuable from being such a couch potato. Ever taken a look at how traditional RPG's handle animals in combat, as opposed to how they fight in real life? There's a world of difference between the two, and if like me you've been using the rulebooks as your guide to GM'ing animal encounters, you've been glossing over a lot of important details.
With the observations of this frustrated naturalist in mind, let's now take a look at how we can better run wildlife encounters in our games.
RPG-fostered Myths About Animals in CombatFirst, let's take a look at some of the myths we must dispel in order to get more realism out of wildlife encounters in our games.
Myth #1: animals are dumb and attack mindlessly. With the exception of ants and such, this is dead wrong. Animals have a keen sense of self-preservation, and are quick to back off when the odds are against them. Moreover, most animals have developed specific tactics for attack and defense. This is specially true of pack hunters like wolves. There is even evidence now that great white sharks hunt in pairs - one shows itself and holds the attention of the prey, usually a seal, while another sneaks up from below or behind to grab the distracted animal.
Myth #2: animals use multiple attacks. Traditional games like AD&D base an animal's attacks on the number of their natural weapons. Thus an animal like a tiger may be assigned a bite plus four claw strikes. This is inaccurate. Animals use their natural weapons in a coordinated technique that makes the most of their abilities. A tiger doesn't go swat, swat, swat, swat, chomp, he goes leap-grab-chomp, taking down his quarry and finishing it off with a bite to throat or skull if the takedown is successful. And it is all done in a very fluid sequence, such that it is practically a single action.
Myth #3: in most RPG's, the only reason most animals attack adventurers is to eat them. There are a lot of possible reasons for any given animal to attack, and satisfying hunger is only one of them. In fact most large predators would rather avoid human beings than attack them. Moreover, predators don't just strike from out of nowhere; they will wait for opportunities to single out a member of the party rather than attacking when everyone is together, and they will wait for opportunities when the party's guard is down or individuals are on their own, such as when they are sleeping, answering the call of nature, fetching water or firewood, and so on.
Myth #4: animals attack without warning. True for the stalking predators, but dead wrong for most other animals and non-predatory attacks. Again, remember that animals have a very strong sense of self-preservation: an animal defending itself or its territory will will try all sorts of tricks to get its way rather than actually dive into combat and risk getting hurt or killed. Most animals will make warning noises and make intimidating displays, hoping to discourage a perceived threat or rival - for example, the rattlesnake's rattling or the cobra's rearing and puffing out of its hood.
Myth #5: an animal protecting its young will fight to the death. It is true that an animal fighting to protect its young can be exceptionally fierce, but it will not continue fighting if it believes the odds are hopeless. Rather than perish itself, most animal mothers would rather abandon the current brood in a losing battle to live another day and raise a new brood.
Types of Wildlife EncountersThe Talislanta game has an excellent method of categorizing encounters, which I will expand a little:
Traces
The adventurers find the tracks, droppings, or other signs of an animal's presence, though they do not encounter the animal itself. This can be used to warn the party of the existence or presence of some dangerous or otherwise significant animal. This is where characters with good wilderness skills such as Tracking or Animal Lore can come in useful, as they can garner more information from these traces than any other characters.
Portents
An animal's presence is detected by its calls or the noise it makes as it crashes through underbrush, or a domestic animal reacts to its near presence, or a vague shadow of it is seen; there is no clear sighting of the creature itself. This can alert a party to a creature's near presence, while at the same time keeping the creature's identity a possible mystery. This works specially well in horror, where the suggestion of a threat looming outside one's field of vision can be much more frightening than actually exposing the threat to plain sight. Again, characters with good wilderness skills have the potential to making more sense out of the encounter and unlocking its solution, if a solution is required.
Sightings
An animal is sighted plainly from a good distance; the party is far enough away that they can choose whether or not to have a close encounter with the creature or not. Creatures spotted thus are most likely to be carrying on the natural, normal functions of living - grooming, playing, looking for food, resting, etc etc - though more unusual circumstances are also possible. Curious predators may be following a party either to feast on their scraps or for more sinister reasons.
Close Encounter
The party, either by choice or by accident, comes into such close contact with a creature that immediate action is needed - fight, flee, hide, and so on. It is at this point that we must ask whether a creature may attack or pose a danger, why it does so, and how.
Reasons Why Animals Attack HumansWhat are the real reasons why an animal might attack or pose danger to an adventurer or party of adventurers? Let's take a quick look at some of the stronger possibilities:
Environmental Hazards
Some animals, and many poisonous plants, don't really attack at all. Rather, they are passive environmental hazards; one merely suffers the effects of blundering into them. Animals such as sea urchins and stonefish, and plants like poison ivy, inflict their harm upon contact. Other animals create hazards indirectly by their activities; for example, one reason why rabbits and prairie dogs are regarded as pests is because their burrows often break the legs of horses and cattle.
Self Defense
One of the most common reasons why we get attacked by animals is simple - we blunder into them. Literally. Given the habits of many animals and a human's relatively low perception, it's all too easy to inadvertently back a creature into a corner or disturb it in a manner that it perceives as threatening. Snakes for example like to hide in grass or under rocks and underbrush; step too close, and you threaten the snake by your presence and sheer size. If you don't back off as soon as it warns you, chances are you will get bitten. Many insects also swarm to the attack when you disturb their nests; I still remember sitting on a rocking chair that had a wasp nest underneath - once I started rocking, out flew an angry squadron of wasps. The pain they inflicted was a real eye-opener.
Many animals will display or use some sort of warning signal before they actually attack in self defense. You can actually make encounters more tense by surprising a character with such a warning display, then letting them realize that they will have to work hard at escaping. Most PC's, for example, can kill an ordinary snake with a single swipe of their favorite weapon; but let a snake suddenly rear up beside that PC's ankle, and let the player know in no uncertain terms that the snake can strike as soon as it detects a threatening movement, and watch your player sweat.
A good rule to remember is that given the chance, most animals would rather flee than fight. However, no animal is more dangerous than a cornered animal, because then it will do anything to break free, and with the strength of an adrenaline boost behind it. Some animals become very aggressive when provoked; for example, the spectacle of the corrida, the bullfight, would not be possible if the Spanish bull were not so feisty when pricked.
Territoriality and Dominance
Many animals stake out a definite territory and will defend it against all comers. Usually this means that the animal will defend against members of its own species alone, but from time to time even a human may be perceived as a challenger. Some reef fish, for example, will charge and nip divers who come too close - no matter that the size difference is huge. Again, an animal that feels its territorial rights are being challenged will usually make warning displays first, before actually committing itself to combat. If the display is enough to make the perceived challenger back down, the animal is likely to back off itself rather than attack.
Social animals can be specially dangerous because their lives center around a constant struggle for dominance, the so-called "pecking order". One reason why people often get bitten by dogs is because they fail to understand the meaning of dominance and submission among their canine companions. Your own dog, for example, may see you as its pack leader, and so submit to you; but it may not have the same opinion of your friends. You can approach that dog and look it in the eyes and roughhouse with it, because it submits to you; but let your friend do the same, and the dog may bite - because to its mind, it regards your friend as an equal or inferior, and it is defending its social status from an upstart.
In the wild, large predators and large herd animals are the most likely creatures to attack human beings out of territorial reasons.
Nest Guarding
Many animals care for their young while they are still weak and defenseless. Approaching the young or the nest or den where they are kept often triggers a very strong defensive reaction. Such animals will threaten and even attack even the largest predators; I remember watching a National Geographic feature where a determined fairy tern - smaller than a pigeon - repeatedly divebombed a polar bear approaching its nest, pecking at the bear's nose until the bear decided to look for a less painful meal.
However, as mentioned above, an animal fighting to protect its young prizes its own survival above those of its brood. Sacrificing oneself to preserve the lives of helpless cubs or nestlings who will die without care anyway makes no ecological sense, as both the parent and the young will be lost. Once it becomes apparent that the battle is being lost, chances are the parent will abandon its young.
Predation: Ambush
All right, now we get into what is the most-used reason for animal attacks in RPG's; predation. There are many kinds of predators, and each kind has its own preferred modus operandi for securing its meals. One common method is that of ambush; lying in wait for prey to wander by.
Ambush predators require three things; the ability to hide well, a hunting ground where prey is likely to pass by, and the means to attack quickly when prey does pass by. Crocodiles, bottom-dwelling fish like the carpet shark, and some snakes are good examples of ambush predators. Most of them have the ability to exert themselves in sudden bursts of speed and strong jaws to seize and hold prey. Ambush predators that attack large prey also tend to have ingenious means of killing their prey; crocodiles drag land animals into deep water to drown them, while many snakes inject poison.
The main challenge for an adventuring party is to spot the ambush before they can blunder into it; for once they have blundered into such an ambush, chances are the ambusher can seize a party member and bear him or her off before anyone can do much about it.
Predation: Curiosity and the Chase Reflex
Predators are opportunistic; they must be able to take advantage of any chance to get a meal, because unlike herbivores, their chances of feeding are always uncertain. To be a good opportunist, one must have curiosity; the drive to investigate any chance of getting a meal is important to survival. Thus many predators have a strong innate curiosity and will often check out anything new in their stamping grounds.
This is the reason for many shark attacks. The truth is, if a shark attacks in dead earnest, with their sharp teeth and their jaws capable of exerting hundreds of pounds of pressure per square inch, a human has practically no chance. So why do so many shark attack victims survive? Probably because the shark just wanted to know if the person tasted good or not before going in for a kill - and not finding human flesh to its taste, simply abandoned the victim.
Predators from sharks to wolves to big cats are always testing things - specially living creatures - to see if they might be good to eat. Often this testing takes the form of "playful" behavior, but in truth it is an information-gathering drive. Should the creature being investigated show signs of being weak or vulnerable, or panics, the play stops and the intent of the predator becomes deadly serious - literally.
One of the worst possible errors a man or beast can make when being investigated by a curious predator is to panic. Fear is, in truth, a most valuable ally. Many predators have an instinctive reaction to panic; it triggers a full attack, wherefore the common wisdom that one should not run away from a barking dog. Some predators are even able to make deliberate use of fear; by showing themselves or making noise to panic prey, they provoke the prey into making blunders that make them easier to catch. Chasing animals like wolves run their quarry to exhaustion; lions hunting in prides drive antelope into ambushes; killer whales and dolphins even herd schools of fish into tight balls and worry them to exhaustion before closing in to feed on the densely packed, tired fish.
A corollary to this line of thinking is that fighting back pays off. A predator always prefers easy prey to prey that may inflict serious injury upon its attacker - which is why US park rangers advise hikers being attacked by bears or mountain lions to scream, struggle, punch, use a stick, and otherwise fight tooth and nail - because a predator encountering a determined resistance will likely as not back off and look for something easier to kill.
Predation: Active Hunting
It's rare for a predatory animal to actively hunt and stalk human beings, but it does happen. In fact it probably happened with somewhat greater frequency in olden times when the wilderness was larger and man's weapons were less effective. Nevertheless, it is only one of the reasons why an animal might attack an adventurer or adventuring party, and given that most such are quite well-armed and appear formidable, only the very largest and fiercest predators would normally consider attacking them.
However, from time to time, large predators like big cats learn that average human beings are pretty easy prey; no natural armor, no natural weapons, low strength for their size, and a perception so low in comparison to wild animals that they might as well be blind. These man-eaters begin to prowl around human settlements and routes and centers of activity, hoping to catch one in a vulnerable situation. Tigers have been known to stalk woodcutters for hours on end, stopping only when the woodcutter made it back to civilization. A documented case in Africa records lions so audacious they would sneak into villages and camps to carry off sleeping adult humans.
This can make an interesting setup for a short adventure; tracking down and ridding a locale of a notorious man-eater can be a serious challenge, specially if you are not using a level-based game where PC's grow inordinately powerful compared to non-character creatures. Can you imagine adapting the movie "The Ghost in the Darkness" to, say, Castle Falkenstein?
When setting a creature to actively hunt your adventurers, bear in mind that most predators will attack only if they have the advantage of surprise, or numbers and energy; thus they prefer prey that are unaware, isolated, and weak - either through youth, sickness, or exhaustion. Only desperate predators will take on large prey at full strength, as the possible cost in injury can be too high. However, active hunters can be very persistent; they may stalk a party or wait for hours outside their camp for an opportunity to strike, lulling its intended prey into a false sense of security by remaing out of sight until someone's guard drops and a kill can be made.
Tactics of the WildNow that we have a better idea of how encounters with animals may take place and why they might attack, we can examine their tactics.
Flight
Most animals, on encountering human beings, will immediately turn tail and flee. Many will also emit some kind of warning to others of their kind, in the form of a call, a color flash, a scent, or whatnot; often other creatures can also recognize these fear signals and react in similar fashion themselves.
Evasion/Hiding
Slower animals or those reluctant to leave a favored spot will try to find a hiding place. Many animals are excellent at concealing themselves, what with protective coloration and a good instinct for finding good hiding places.
Threat Displays
When cornered or provoked, most animals would rather resolve the situation by intimidation. Warning signs vary widely, but in general they are all aimed at making the animal look larger and more ferocious or frighten away by loud, distinctive noises. Dogs and cats bristle and make growling noises. Sharks arch their backs and swim jerkily. Bulls snort, stamp, and shake their heads. A cobra rears up and spreads its hood. Many animals may even make mock attacks. A character with some kind of Animal Lore skill can decipher the meanings of such threat displays and know that there's still time to back off rather than fight.
Deterrence
Some animals have special tricks up their sleeves to deter a would-be attacker or a blundering human and use them when all attempts at avoidance or intimidation have failed. Skunks have their infamous scent glands. Some termites and ants can squirt irritating formic acid. Octopi have their ink jets. Porcupines turn around to present their quills. Other animals have no weapons, but are loaded with armor, and so act merely to make sure their protection is impregnable; turtles, for example, simply tuck head and limbs into their shells.
Attack
The last resort for an animal defending itself or its territory or young is to attack. A hunting predator, on the other hand, has been working all this time to create the proper conditions for a successful attack.
Considering that animals use coordinated techniques (rather than multiple swats) when attacking, how now are we to categorize the forms of attack and defense that animals use? I believe, from observation, that there are really only two basic methods of attack; Striking and Grabbing (a very few creatures have ranged attacks, but these are enough like human methods of ranged combat that they need no discussion).
Striking attacks include all kinds of horn attacks, kicks, stomps, punches, claw swipes, and bite-and-release attacks such as practiced by poisonous snakes on larger prey; what these have in common is that they are all aimed at inflicting hurt without an attempt to seize and hold the target. Striking attacks are more commonly seen as a self-defensive behavior, both in predators and prey animals. Striking attacks are very similar to human brawling or weapon attacks; for example, kicks and stomps with hooved feet could be described as equivalent to mace blows, while bite-and-release or "slashing" attacks can be compared to knife or sword cuts.
Grabbing attacks, on the other hand, are the predator's specialty. These are attacks that aim to seize and overpower a victim, which of course a predator must do in order to feed; here we can include the cat's pounce, practiced by all felines from the house tabby to the great tiger, the bite-and-coil maneuver of the constrictor snakes, the tentacle attack of the octopus, and the bear's hug-and-bite routine.
Such attacks have a double action; the first is an attempt to seize and immobilize the victim, and the second is the actual killing blow or bite, the two happening in very rapid sequence if the first action is a success. Other animals like the wild boar or the crocodile seize their victims and worry at them like a terrier at your favorite rug, striving to tear flesh by shaking the victim in their jaws.
In game terms, a successful Grab attack would mean that the victim suffers the result of a wrestling hold (whatever that is in your favorite game system), giving the attacking creature a better chance at causing greater damage as it continues to savage the victim. Obviously, if an attacking creature succeeds at a Grabbing attack and manages to keep its victim down, the victim will soon be reduced to helplessness and dispatched.
Conclusion: Giving Your Monsters Teeth
(pun intended)Summing up, we have looked at some RPG myths about animal behavior, examined some of the more common reasons why real-world animals might attack a human being, categorized the kinds of encounters one might have with wildlife, and dissected the tactics an animal might use in a close encounter with man. What now?
Well, we now have a better grasp of how to run animal encounters more realistically in our games. At least I do. However, one thing I realized is that in the context of traditional RPG's like AD&D, there's still one very important element lacking. Because AD&D and its ilk are oriented toward slaying "monsters", their mechanics do not foster much of a respect for dangerous creatures unless they are of the outrightly fantastic sort like dragons or griffins. Killing "monsters" is too easy in these games, whereas the "monster's" attacks are not strong enough to make higher-level characters worry.
How can we bring some needed verisimilitude and respect for the power of the wild in our games? Here are some of my thoughts:
Mystery
Keeping a creature's exact identity a secret from your players can wreak havoc on their nerves - and it's also very realistic specially in thick forest or jungle. The less they know of a creature, the more they can imagine about it - and nothing stokes fear like an active imagination.
Elusiveness
Many animals are either very stealthy or nocturnal, and often both. Many of the most dangerous creatures are simply never seen until it's too late. Consider this piece of trivia: There are about 100,000 lions and 12,000 cheetahs in all of Africa; any visitor to a good national park is almost sure to see some sooner or later. But that same visitor will be very lucky to see a leopard at all. However, there are estimated to be about 500,000 leopards on the continent - nearly five times as many lions and cheetahs combined.
Cunning and Persistence
Many dangerous animals are both cunning and persistent. Cunning usually manifests itself in the creature's choices of time and place for its attacks; active predators will almost always try to isolate their prey from the group or wait for an opportunity to get at an individual who has separated from the group. Many predator attacks will take place at night, without much warning if at all, and if frightened or fought off, the predator simply disappears back into the darkness - perhaps to try again when the adventurers go back to sleep …
The big cats in particular are known to observe potential prey for some time before finally setting up an ambush or picking out a target prior to charging. In game terms, predators will tend to attack adventurers who are on their own and in locations where attack from cover is easy; the most plausible scenarios would be when someone goes off to find water or firewood, or answers the call of nature some distance from the camp.
Persistence shows in the way many predators shadow potential prey for hours, even days. Imagine a winter journey where the party - all on horseback - spots a pack of wolves on the horizon. That night, they hear the wolves howling only a few hundred yards away. The next day, the wolves are still behind them, following just out of bowshot. This goes on and on, until finally the wolves work up the courage to steal food from the camp itself, or attack the horses at their pickets. Indeed, a party's horses are the best target for predator attacks; not only are they more likely to be on the prey list, they are also often put in situations where they can't run or fight, such as when tied down for the night. Not to mention the trouble that can be caused by a panicked horse …
Desperation - specially from hunger - can make animals much more dangerous. A desperate predator is more likely to take big chances, and be more willing to take on dangerous prey, than one that is not. Perhaps you can assign attack or damage bonuses to creatures for extreme hunger, fear, or other strong motivation to attack as appropriate.
Physical and Sensory Superiority
Pound for pound, most wild animals, predator or herbivore, are much stronger than the average human being. They also tend to be much faster, capable of leaping higher and farther or running faster and/or with more endurance, and are much more surefooted to boot. In other words, given the usual terrain type of a wildlife encounter, the wildlife has most of the advantages.
Equally important to remember is the fact that most animals have better senses when it comes to early detection; better low-light vision, better hearing, and better sense of smell, than any human being. It is very difficult to surprise a wild animal unless one is an experienced hunter.
Fighting Ability and Technique
Lastly, there's the fighting ability and technique of your pet monsters to consider. Forget what your rulebooks say about the number of attacks a creature has and how much damage it cause per; imagine instead how it would use its natural weapons most effectively based on what kind of creature it is and its intelligence, and wing it from there. Figure an overall damage rating for sheer size, ferocity, and effectivity of its weapons.
Imagine what the consequences of a successful attack by that creature would be; for example, would a man-size victim be knocked down? or held or even fully immobilized? Remember that most predators use Grabbing attacks, and that it becomes progressively more difficult to escape from that once caught. Many game systems have mechanics for charging attacks, giving bonuses to damage or such; remember that many animals are capable of using this. Large quadrupeds that charge will also tend to trample downed victims. All in all, wild animals should be much more dangerous to the adventurer, even to a great hero.
In the end, the one sure thing the adventurer can count on is the survival instinct of the creature he's fighting. Few wild animals will fight to the death if there is any other way out, or when it is obvious that they are losing the battle. The likeliest outcome of a wildlife encounter that ends in combat is the animal's flight back into the bush, leaving a shaken and perhaps injured adventurer breathing hard and thanking his gods for escaping that close call.
Yet even that may cause as much trouble as one is saved; imagine your brave band of adventurers tangling with a dragon, wounding it severely, only to see it fly away and disappear - only to come back days, months, even years later, older and wiser and stronger, with vengeance in mind …
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