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It is an obvious, but
important, fact of life in the wilderness that
comfortable, man-made structures do not
conveniently appear
whenever characters are in need of shelter
&& warmth. If
adventurers are moving through well-mapped
territory, they may be
able to plan their route && time
their journey so that they arrive at
places of natural shelter (assuming such
places are marked on
the map) when it comes time to stop for
the night. Even if they are
moving through an unfamiliar AREA, they
may occasionally get
lucky and find a small cave
on the face of a rocky slope, a thick
grove of trees at the edge of a grassy
plain,
or a large pile of dead
wood and tangled vegetation in the middle
of a swamp.
But more often than
not, characters can only be guaranteed of
having shelter if they are able to fashion
some kind of STRUCT
from avail. natural materials, or if they
take the necessary
gear && materials along on their
journey.
The terrain and the time of year are the
major factors in determining
the chance for a character or group of
characters to be
able to locate a natural shelter or construct
something out of natural
materials that will provide protection
from the elements. In an
evergreen forest, it’s fairly easy to
scrounge up long, straight
pieces of wood and boughs to make a windbreak;
on a flat plain
or in a mountainous area at high elevation,
it is practically impossible
to find such materials, and characters
must hope to run
across some natural feature (a shallow
gully, a small cave beneath
an outcropping of rock) if they need to
get out of the wind
and keep dry.
Table 35: CHANCE OF FINDING A NATURAL
SHELTER
| - | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn |
| Desert | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Forest | 90 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Hills | 40 | 60 | 70 | 60 |
| Plains | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Mountains | 30 | 40 | 40 | 30 |
| Swamp | 40 | 50 | 50 | 40 |
The table gives percentage chances for
characters to find a
natural shelter or easily obtain materials
that can be used to construct
a temporary shelter. The DM should check
whenever characters indicate that they
are looking for shelter. If a
check fails and characters keep moving,
further checks may be
made at intervals of three turns until
shelter is found or until characters
decide to stop moving and make camp in
an unsheltered
area.
Desert
terrain has no vegetation that characters can use (or
hide behind), but they will occasionally
run across irregularities in
the surface - large rocks, small crevasses,
a steeply sloping
sand dune -that provide shelter on at
least one side.
Forest
areas are replete with natural shelter. An especially
dense patch of trees or large plants can
give characters some
protection from wind and precipitation
simply by its presence.
However, pack animals may not be willing
or able to enter an area
of closely packed vegetation unless there
is a path into it or
through it that they can negotiate. In
a forest of normal or even
light density, boughs or branches can
be cut from trees and laid
across a grid of poles to give characters
a roof over their heads
and (if it is properly positioned) protection
from the full force of
wind and precipitation. It takes 3-8 turns
(ld6+2) for a single
character to obtain the materials for
a simple shelter of this type,
minus 2 turns (to a minimum of 3) for
each additional character
assisting in the work. It takes another
6 turns for a character to
lash togetherthe poles and bind the “shingles”
to the grid, minus
1 turn for each additional character assisting
(to a maximum of
two helpers). This construction time is
halved if a character with
proficiency in rope use is among those
doing the work.
Hills,
by their nature, are full of irregular terrain that can serve
as a simple windbreak. During the spring,
summer, and autumn,
thick and sturdy vegetation is also fairly
abundant, so that characters
can fashion a windbreak out of greenery
just as if they
were in a forest.
Mountains,
for this purpose, are considered to be rough, rocky
areas with little or no vegetation. If
vegetation does exist in a
mountainous area, treat it as either hills
or forest for determining
the chance of finding shelter. The entries
for “Mountains” on the
above table represent the chance that
characters will come
across some natural feature (a cave, alcove,
“chimney” between
two rock faces, etc.) that is large enough
to contain them and located
where the wind cannot get inside it.
Plains
are generally flat, but not necessarily featureless. Even
a small gully, two or three feet deep,
can enable a character to get
out of the wind - but, of course, he can
still be drenched or covered
with snow (and if it’s raining very heavily,
a gully is the worst
possible place to use for shelter). Also,
if a plain has some vegetation
more substantial than grasses and knee-high
scrub brush,
characters may be able to scavenge enough
branches and
greenery for a windbreak. Unless the area
is one with relatively
lush vegetation, it will take 7-12 turns
(compared to 3-8 turns in a
forest; see above) for a single character
to obtain enough materials
for a simple shelter.
Swamp
areas usually have some vegetation that can be scavenged,
and it is not too unlikely that characters
will come across a
pile of debris, a fallen tree, or some
other similar feature of the
terrain that can serve as a shelter or
the foundation for one.
For purposes of determining how much protection
a natural
shelter offers, refer to the Portable
Shelter Characteristics Table
(in the following section) and use the
following guidelines: A natural
shelter constructed from many small pieces
of vegetation is
usually a poor shelter, at best adequate.
One made from relatively
few pieces of large, sturdy vegetation
is adequate or perhaps
good. The side of a large rock facing
away from the wind
offers good protection from the wind,
but only adequate or poor
protection from precipitation. A cave
in the face of a mountain
slope is a superior shelter in all respects
(assuming, of course,
that the opening faces away from the wind).
The DM’s
judgment will prevail in any circumstances
not covered by
these guidelines.
For purposes of determining how much protection
a natural
shelter offers, refer to the Portable
Shelter Characteristics Table
(in the following section) and use the
following guidelines: A natural
shelter constructed from many small pieces
of vegetation is
usually a poor shelter, at best
adequate.
One made from relatively
few pieces of large, sturdy vegetation
is adequate or perhaps
good. The side of a large rock
facing away from the wind
offers good protection from the wind,
but only adequate or poor
protection from precipitation. A cave
in the face of a mountain
slope is a superior shelter in
all respects (assuming, of course,
that the opening faces away from the wind).
The DM’s
judgment will prevail in any circumstances
not covered by
these guidelines.
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