Combat with large number of animals/NPCs

[squeezebox]

I've been lurking here for a few weeks, but this is my first post, so feel free to suggest a more appropriate forum for these kinds of questions. I'm a newbie at TTRPGs and Traveller, and for now playing strictly solo. And I'm probably more mechanics oriented than many players - versus narrative. I'm using the Classic Traveller "Marooned Alone" as a starter mission. I think understand the basics of combat in either Classic or Cepheus when dealing with one or two foes. But not sure how to handle a herd/swarm of animals. For example, in the Marooned Woods Encounter there's a herd of 22 Grazers, specified like so:

22 Grazers 100kg 12/10 cloth-1 5 hooves F5 A8 S1

Granted that there's a high probability of them fleeing, but if they don't or I decide to chase after them, how do you manage the stats within the combat? Lump them as 1 large combat and add up the stats, or in several clusters? That's still a huge "creature" for a small party to defeat.

BTW, I'm doing all my play using Foundry VTT and the TwoDSix module. It's working great so far.

 

[mike wightman]

Welcome
If they charge at you there is only one thing to do - run away and hide (ok two things but...

if you happen to be armed with a machine gun or man portable plasma or fusion gun you may be able to down a few of them before the inevitable stampy stampy, there is also the chance that the noise may scare them out of their stampede and cause them to flee

if they run away than do as lions do, pick off the last one in the herd and let the rest go.

 

[squeezebox]

Welcome
If they charge at you there is only one thing to do - run away and hide (ok two things but...

if you happen to be armed with a machine gun or man portable plasma or fusion gun you may be able to down a few of them before the inevitable stampy stampy, there is also the chance that the noise may scare them out of their stampede and cause them to flee

if they run away than do as lions do, pick off the last one in the herd and let the rest go.

Thanks! Just trying to figure what's "realistic" in such encounters, and how to balance hunting for food with personal safety. At least in this case the we have the same speed so I can run away.

 

[Ekofisk]

I'd try breaking it into clusters; a dominant bull/cow attacks while the rest mill about or flee for example. Another option might be small groups circling around attempting to intimidate the threat. Even in a full-on stampede they're unlikely to all go after you at once. Consider also that killing/injuring a few may cause the rest to break off.
Selfish herd theory

I would avoid combining the stats.

 

[bookwyrm]

You should only worry about the herd as a whole if you are hunting with a knife or other short range melee weapon in a place where the herd can only escape past/over you, or if it's just past mating season and there are young grazers that need to be protected. If your timing is really bad during mating season, you could be considered a rival...

If you do get trampled by a herd, damage could be based on damage done by one grazer plus one grazer for every ten that flee your way. This is a possible way to simulate getting trampled by one or more grazers in a herd.

Attacking from a distance in a direction that you can't be seen, heard, or scented is the way to go.

 

[Condottiere]

1. Extreme sports.

2. Target rich environment.

 

[Enoki]

Old school would have you using a piece of graph paper or hex paper and some counters representing the herd and yourself at some scale. The grazers react to your actions and move at some time period appropriate to the rules being used. You now have their movement and location plotted. You have the character's locations and movements plotted. The rules should be sufficient to allow you to determine what and how many can be fired on if that's what you're doing, and how everything moves in relationship to each other. You have the relative positions and know how far per 'turn' everything can move.

You have the stats for each 'counter' (animal or character), and simply resolve the situation by a turn by turn play on the graph paper or hex paper.

Add terrain and other features if you like. How much complexity and texture you want is up to you.

Sometimes old school is still the best school.

 

[squeezebox]

Old school would have you using a piece of graph paper or hex paper and some counters representing the herd and yourself at some scale. The grazers react to your actions and move at some time period appropriate to the rules being used. You now have their movement and location plotted. You have the character's locations and movements plotted. The rules should be sufficient to allow you to determine what and how many can be fired on if that's what you're doing, and how everything moves in relationship to each other. You have the relative positions and know how far per 'turn' everything can move.

You have the stats for each 'counter' (animal or character), and simply resolve the situation by a turn by turn play on the graph paper or hex paper.

Add terrain and other features if you like. How much complexity and texture you want is up to you.

Sometimes old school is still the best school.

I'm playing using Foundry VTT and the TwoDSix module, so have already created a scene with just a square grid. It's working well for managing the situations that require stats to resolve. I'm also slowly realizing that most of the encounters should not be combat - that's taking a while to sink in, coming from some dungeon crawling play. But I'm really enjoying thinking thru what the encounter should entail - I needed a richer more open ended and "realistic" system than the crawlers were providing.

 

[kilemall]

I'm playing using Foundry VTT and the TwoDSix module, so have already created a scene with just a square grid. It's working well for managing the situations that require stats to resolve. I'm also slowly realizing that most of the encounters should not be combat - that's taking a while to sink in, coming from some dungeon crawling play. But I'm really enjoying thinking thru what the encounter should entail - I needed a richer more open ended and "realistic" system than the crawlers were providing.

The behavior I expect most of the time from herbivores like these grazers is fleeing with relatively low chances of attacking. It’s the carnivores that are more likely to attack.

 

[squeezebox]

The behavior I expect most of the time from herbivores like these grazers is fleeing with relatively low chances of attacking. It’s the carnivores that are more likely to attack.

Yes, and hunting opportunities for me!

 

[Timerover51]

I've been lurking here for a few weeks, but this is my first post, so feel free to suggest a more appropriate forum for these kinds of questions. I'm a newbie at TTRPGs and Traveller, and for now playing strictly solo. And I'm probably more mechanics oriented than many players - versus narrative. I'm using the Classic Traveller "Marooned Alone" as a starter mission. I think understand the basics of combat in either Classic or Cepheus when dealing with one or two foes. But not sure how to handle a herd/swarm of animals. For example, in the Marooned Woods Encounter there's a herd of 22 Grazers, specified like so:

22 Grazers 100kg 12/10 cloth-1 5 hooves F5 A8 S1

Granted that there's a high probability of them fleeing, but if they don't or I decide to chase after them, how do you manage the stats within the combat? Lump them as 1 large combat and add up the stats, or in several clusters? That's still a huge "creature" for a small party to defeat.

BTW, I'm doing all my play using Foundry VTT and the TwoDSix module. It's working great so far.

From reviewing the Double Adventure equipment list, the survival rifle is listed as a Rifle-2, which sounds like a .22 Hornet survival weapon. The .22 Hornet is not viewed as suitable for deer hunting, while the grazers mentioned would approximate a deer in size, with a moderately thick hide. By the way, the listed weight for the weapon and ammunition is way low, as 500 rounds of .22 Hornet ammunition is going to around 3 to 4 kilograms by itself, and be fairly bulky. For a survival situation, the weapon is likely going to be using full-jacketed ammunition, to allow small game to be taken without blowing it up to an extent that it is rendered uneatable. For animals, I ignore the concept of hits to unconsciousness and simply treat the first number as the amount of damage done to kill it.

A for how to treat the group, you can treat them as all exactly identical, or treat them as 22 separate individuals. I would treat them as 22 separate individuals, with a variety of sizes. Treating the 12 hits as the largest creatures, I would have a few have a damage rating of 6 to 8, to represent juvenile individuals, and target one of those. Just use a 6-sided die roll to reduce the needed damage on your target, and roll until you get one with a damage rating of 6. That is the one you shoot. As the rifle is not soundless, the likely reaction of the small herd is to flee. These are not Cape Buffalo that you are shooting at. With them you would get a charge. Also, there is only so much meat that you can eat from one kill, before it goes bad on you, unless you have the time to try and air-dry some portions of it. The food values in Traveller for game are also way low, as an animal of this type will have between 40 to 60 percent of the carcass being edible. From a 50 kilogram carcass, you should get about 20 to 30 kilograms of edible meat.

You might want to search Project Gutenberg for some books on hunting. Just use the word "hunting" as your search term. Theodore Roosevelt also wrote some quite useful books on hunting in the American West.

 

[Timerover51]

Here is a sample of a herd of yak responding to being shot at.

The yak is not a dangerous animal except in the case of a solitary bull, which will sometimes charge a few yards at a time, till he falls dead at the hunter's feet, riddled with bullets. When in large bands yaks run at the first shot, rushing down ravines, through snow banks and across rivers, without a moment's hesitation, in a wild stampede.

The yak is a little smaller than the American Bison, and is a grazer. Note that it is the lone bulls that are the most dangerous.The quote comes from the book Hunting in Many Lands: The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club, edited by Theodore Roosevelt and George Grinnell, published in 1895, and can be found on Project Gutenberg. The book covers, as the title says, hunting in a large number of different areas with different game.

Another excellent book is by Sir Samuel Baker, probably the greatest Victorian hunter, called Wild Beasts and Their Ways. This can be found on both Project Gutenberg and archive.org. Baker was using black powder weapons for his hunting, which does affect the caliber of rifle that he recommends.

If you are running any adventures similar to Marooned and Marooned Alone, I would highly recommend a look at both of these books.

 

[Badenov]

The thing to watch out for is that after retreating, they don't break out missile launchers, as kangaroos are prone to do. .

 

[Vargr Breath]