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A recent episode of one of my
favorite shows,
Primeval, had our intrepid heroes travelling
to a monster-infested future to stop the bad guy (actually a woman)
before she could bring her nefarious plans to fruition. The
team consisted of a special forces type (Veteran), a former
detective (Experienced) and two science types (Green). Knowing
that one of the critters they would be encountering would be the
Future Predators, our team wisely packed several concussion grenades
with which to "blind" those beasts. However, the group took
only two firearms -- a sub-machinegun and a shotgun -- no backup
weapons, no sidearms, not even a knife. Shortly after
travelling through the anomaly, one of the weapons was destroyed by
a giant bug, and the other was snatched away by a
Future Predator,
leaving our heroes virtually defenseless.
Later, the cop and the two
science-types find themselves treed in the Cretaceous by a band of
raptors. Remembering, suddenly, they have a sack full of
concussion grenades, they drop one amongst the raptors. Of
course, one of the science guys is too busy talking to take cover
and is knocked from his perch and is injured. Knowing they
have an injured team member, and also knowing the raptors will wake
up shortly, do they decide to kill the raptors? Nope.
They sit around stupidly talking until the critters wake up and
start causing problems again.
Characters like these are honestly
too stupid to live, and are only saved by the fact their writers
give them unlikely outs. Unfortunately, characters like this
are far too common in the media. Characters in role-playing
games should be considerably more savvy. Hence our tips for
Monster Hunting:
You can never have too much
firepower. Each member of the team
should pack as powerful weaponry as can be obtained in that milieu,
and a lot of it. If you're in a fantasy setting, make sure you
have some sort of ranged weapon, such as a bow or crossbow, a
stand-off weapon like a polearm, a close-in weapon like a sword or
axe, and a last-resort weapon such as a dagger. For more
modern settings a rifle or a shotgun would become the main weapon,
with a pistol or sub-machinegun for closer actions, and possibly a
pocket pistol as a last resort. Don't forget to carry a knife
of some sort, as it will come in handy for more than just fighting.
Party size also counts here.
If you're going to a place crawling with 150 kg monsters just
waiting for their next snack, four people (two of whom would be
useless in a fight) are just not going to cut it. Detail or
hire a team to accompany you; get as many as you can. In
addition to the extra firepower, they also provide extra sets of
eyes, and can come in handy for march security or perimeter defense.
This was a major failing of one of
my other favorite shows,
Stargate SG-1. Sure, a four-
or five-person team might be ideal from a writer's point of view,
but it sucks when it comes to reality. There is a reason a
Green Beret A-Team has a dozen members; indeed considering the jobs
SG-1 was called on to do, an A-Team would've been the ideal
organization to use.
A friend of mine on another site
had a few comments regarding firepower, or lack thereof:
If your gun jams, or runs out
of ammo, don't just throw it away. These issues can be fixed,
easily. You see this more often on TV shows than movies.
The character's weapon no longer fires so he just tosses it away.
First off, that pistol he just discarded was probably worth about
$350 to $500, so he just threw a lot of money in the trash.
Secondly, jams can be easily cleared, and, if your party has
standardized its weaponry ammunition should be fairly easy to come
by. If worse-comes-to-worse, use the damned thing as a club.
Never miss a chance to pick up
extra guns and ammo, from any available source. This should be
standard practice for any group adventuring in harm's way, but on TV
and in the movies you see the heroes pass up this opportunity time
and again. Of course, when dealing with non-human monsters who
may not use weapons, this point is moot, but then again a
well-prepared party should be lousy with ammunition anyway.
True, shooting a vampire or
other such normally-immortal baddie won't kill them, but won't they
be much less likely to chase you if their heads are shotgunned mush?
It doesn't matter if you can't kill the
thing coming after you; at least you can slow it down. Even
Cthulhu was deterred by an application of kinetic energy (it was hit
by a boat). If you can buy yourself some time, maybe you and
your team can get away.
There is nothing wrong with
taking the time to ensure that that masked psychopath on the
floor/hanging from the tree/at the bottom of the ravine/impaled on
the piece of wood is really dead. A bullet to the head is a good
start; three is better. Remember our
raptor friends from earlier? The two science-types should've
stomped on the raptor's heads until they were sure the critters were
dead. The last thing you need is for the monster you were sure
was toast to get up and start chasing you again.
Jason Voorhees, Michael Meyers,
and Leatherface make good use of sharp implements and gardening
tools. They'll work for you, too.
Remember that knife we talked about earlier? Of course, if it
has gotten to the point where you're within arm's reach of the
baddie, things have probably already gone pear-shaped for your
party.
Any large, solid, portable
object (fire extinguishers, wrenches, hammers, shovels, etc.) is a
weapon waiting for a user. Don't ignore them.
Sometimes you're not hunting the monster, but the
monster is hunting you. If you are caught without your weapons
or your team, don't stand there like some horror-movie victim just
waiting for the critter's teeth to sink into your quivering flesh --
grab something and throw it or swing it. If you can make the
monster back off you may just be able to get away or summon help.
Bring Vehicles.
Sufficient, or even exorbitant, firepower is only one facet of a
successful monster hunt. There is an old adage in the military
that amateurs study tactics and professionals study logistics.
The same is true when it comes to hunting
Things-Man-Was-Not-Meant-To-Know. If the situation permits,
bring along a vehicle or three. Vehicles will allow you to
close with or escape danger rapidly. Vehicles will also allow
you to carry more and bigger weapons, and additional ammunition and
other supplies. Vehicles can also double as shelter should the
situation arise.
This was a major peeve of mine
regarding
Stargate SG-1. The stargate was five meters
wide — more than sufficient to allow a
HMMWV to drive through.
The teams then could explore larger areas of a planet, carry
supplies for base camps, and evacuate wounded should the situation
dictate. Instead our intrepid heroes trudged through the
wilderness hoping to stumble across something interesting.
If the situation precludes
bringing along a vehicle, and the campaign is a future or
near-future one, substitute robots. Combat robots have already
made their debut in the sands of the Middle East. In a few
years several companies will field robots that can tote large
amounts of equipment over just about any terrain.
Vehicles and robots are more than
just logistical tools. They can also be used as weapons in a
pinch. There is nothing like being hit with 2+ tonnes of metal
travelling at several meters per second to make a monster think
twice. And even relatively small robots can be sent to
distract the baddie allowing the team to get away.
Train, Train, Train.
You may have heard the old military axiom: "sweat more in
peace, bleed less in war." This holds true for monster-hunting
teams too. Your team needs to work as a team, not as a group
of individuals. The latter gets picked off, one-by-one, by the
baddies. Remember the group at the beginning of this article?
We had a soldier, a cop, and two geeks. While the first two
were no great shakes when it came to taking out the baddies, the
latter two were completely useless — and one of them was downright
stupid in a stressful situation. You don't need characters
like this on your team. If you are going to be saddled with
science-types (for plot purposes, obviously), make sure they know
how to use the weapons available to the team, your communications
protocols, rally points, and anything else vital to the survival of
the team and the success of the mission. Otherwise, it's
likely the monster will eat them first and then come after your
now-depleted team.
Also, it's a good idea to
cross-train your team on each-other's equipment. It would not
be a good thing should you lose the only member of your crew who can
operate a specific weapon or device, especially if that weapon or
device is vital to the completion of your mission.
Plan for Everything, Including
the Unexpected. In the
Primeval episode referenced
in this article (and really, just about any
Primeval episode)
the characters charged ahead without much of a plan other than
finding the bad guy. This might work if you have the writers
on your side, but in the world of monster-hunting it cannot be
counted on. Have an idea in advance what your objectives are
and what contingencies there may be, and make sure everyone on your
team knows these too.
If you have the opportunity,
rehearse the operation, and then rehearse it again with some members
of your team missing to ensure you can complete the mission should
you suffer casualties. As mentioned above, have a rally point
should everything go pear-shaped, and make contingencies for dealing
with wounded team-mates. If the monster has been running off
with innocent victims, have a plan if any should be found alive.
You may have noticed these tips
would also apply in many military gaming situations. The
reason for this is simple: monster-hunting is pretty much
identical to any other type of human violence. It doesn't
matter if the monster in question is of the intelligent sort (in
which case it's likely to follow to a greater or lesser extent the
tips in this article to deal with its foes), or a mindless killing
machine; operations to defeat it are going to resemble military
operations.
In the end it all comes down to
which one of you will come out of the situation alive.
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