There’s a land where the mountains are nameless, and the rivers all run God knows where.
– Robert W. Service, The Spell of the Yukon
This small procedure hangs directly off the Worldwide Adventure Generator, as well as the wilderness survival rules found in Fantasy Rules. It answers a question those rules have traditionally left to the GM: when the country offers up game, what steps out of the pines—and what might it cost to take it?
The country pays out: meat for the larder, pelts and ivory for the poke; the country kills: the ice-bear does not flee, and the winter wolves are hungrier than you; and something here was here first: now and again an animal is wrong, and the wrongness always points down, down, down…
Note: The tint presented here is the Hinterlands; reskin the Quarry table and this procedure will go anywhere.
Reach for this procedure when the party spends a turn foraging (1-in-5 chance of success) or hunting (1-in-10 chance of success), or when a WAG encounter (Tables D & E) turns up a beast. On a successful find or a beast encounter, use the following steps to determine what.
Step 1: The Sign
The sign that something has passed here.
| 1d10 | Sign | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing but cold | No game worked this ground; -1 to the party’s next forage or hunt. |
| 2-3 | Old spoor | Tracks gone cold; a know nature or survival check (T5) to follow them to Step 2, otherwise the quarry is lost. |
| 4-5 | Fresh spoor | The animal is near and unaware; go to Step 2. |
| 6 | A kill, half-eaten | Something fed here first; go to Step 2, but a predator is close, and the Disposition roll is at -2 due to danger. |
| 7 | A den or winter lay | Young, stores, or a hide worth taking; go to Step 2 and if successful, harvest at +1 Quality. |
| 8-9 | The beast itself | Downwind and unaware; go to Step 2, and the party gains initiative. |
| 10 | An omen | The country is wrong here; go to Step 2, then follow “The Wrong Beast”. |
Note: If the PC possesses the know nature skill, they are able to determine what animal the spoor belongs to.
Step 2: The Quarry
What the sign belongs to.
| 1d10 | The Quarry | Description | Yield & Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snow hare or ptarmigan (T4; 1 HP) | Small game, quick across the open snow; an easy hunt but lean supper. | Food for 1 day; pelt or feathers (Utility, Poor-Common). |
| 2 | Caribou (T4; 2 HP) | Off the great herds, antlered and watchful at the wood’s edge. | Food for 1d5 days; hide & antler (Structural). |
| 3 | Stag of the pines (T5; 2 HP) | A rack like a chapel rafter; the old king of his thicket. | Food for 1d5+2 days; the rack (Trophy, Excellent). |
| 4 | Wolverine (T5; 4 HP; +1 damage) | Foul-tempered and fearless; it would as soon come for you as flee; usually hostile. | Little meat; a prized winter pelt (Trophy, Rare). |
| 5 | Northern fox (T4-5; 3-6 HP) | Ghost-quiet and bushy-tailed, gone usually before you even know it’s there. | Little meat; pelt (Utility, Excellent). |
| 6 | White wolves (T4; 4 HP each) | A pack of 2d5, lean and cunning; in deep winter, hungry and bold. | Pelts by the head; tough meat enough for 1d2 days. |
| 7 | Seal or walrus (T5; 4-6 HP) | Hauled out on the river ice and the Great White Sea margin; slow and heavy on land. | Food 1d5 days; oil and ivory (gp by Quality). |
| 8 | Ice-bear (T7; 8-11 HP; +2 damage) | The country’s apex predator; it does not back down. | Food for 1d5+5 days; prized pelt (Rare-Extraordinary). |
| 9 | Tusker of the High March (T8; 12-14 HP; +2 damage) | A shaggy giant moving in a small herd along the snowline. | Ivory worth real gold (); meat for a settlement. |
| 10 | The Wrong Beast | Roll again for to determine what it is; go to Step 3’s “The Wrong Beast” below. | Whatever it yields, it is corrupted or otherwise “wrong”. |
Step 3: Disposition & the Hunt
Roll the Reaction Table and read it for a beast:
| 1d10 | Disposition |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | It has your scent and charges or stalks. |
| 5-6 | It is wary, bristling, and could break either way. |
| 7-8 | It bolts, and the meat is lost unless you pursue. |
| 9 | It regards you neutrally. |
| 10 | It lets you approach: a clean shot and easy forage. |
The animal is killed like anything else: a standard Attack roll against its Toughness. Most game possess only 1-2 Hit Points, so a single clean strike (or a 1d5 hunting arrow) puts it down; survival or know nature may grant an attack bonus.
If an animal flees, it does so at its maximum speed; if a PC is of equal speed, the animal is gained (that is, within striking range) on a successful Reflex Challenge; three failed challenges and the animal successfully flees.
Yield is counted in food for a party of for so many days, the same “unit” the wilderness rules already use. Harvest beyond meat uses Monster Hunting rules.
The Wrong Beast
It is the right beast, and yet… it’s not. There are too many eyes, or the wrong number of them. It has an unearthly stink about it. It stares emptily, having broken away from its kin. It is moving North, ever North.
An animal that has heard the Dreamer’s Call in its sleep. Slaying it is no harder, but eating of it troubles a sleeper’s dreams, and its carcass draws worse things from down the wind. Whenever the Wrong Beast appears, advance The Dreamer Stirs a step.
Notes
- In the WAG loop: this procedure lives at Steps 4-5 (Encounter-Discovery); the Sign tints Table C, and a beast result on Table E goes directly to Step 2.
- Region tint: the Pine Expanse favors 2-4, 6; the White March runs to 1, 3, 5, 8, 9; the Meltlands to 1, 4, 7; the River Settlements and coast to 1, 5, 7; the open ice to 7, 8.
- The probability of encountering certain animals varies from one location to the next; for instance, Northern fox appear in higher number in the White March and Riverlands regions, increasing encounter odds from 1-in-10 to 1-in-5. To better represent this, each region will eventually have its own wildlife encounter tables.