Teenage Mutant Cavemen On The Hunt

Hunting is a common activity of The People and with limited food stocks Teenage Mutant Cavemen will find themselves hunting frequently. This post covers the subject in a game-mechanical manner that should be modified by circumstance as the ML feels appropriate.

The Hunting Party
The People organize themselves into hunting parties of a 3-24. Each such party will be lead by a leader of the hunt. If PC's go hunting on their own one must be chosen as the leader of the hunt.

Each day of hunting has three Hunt Turns. When actively hunting for prey Teenage Mutant Caveman and other members of The People move 1/6th of daily movement each Hunt Turn.

Finding Prey
The hunting party will travel from the caves and establish a hunting camp and search for prey. Some areas will have ideal and well known prey.

The chance to find prey on each hunting turn is equal to Base Chance of Terrain + Tracking roll modifier of the Leader of the Hunt + 1% per member of the hunt.

Terrain..............Base Hunting Chance
Forested Hills.......10%
Lush Hills........... 20%
Scrub Hills.........15%
Barren Hills.........-5%
Lowland Forest.....15%
Forested Swamp.....10%
Marsh........................7%
Upland Pasture.......10%
Lowland Pasture......15%
Mountains......... -10%
Wasteland......... -20%
Waterside....... +10%

Distance from The Caves of The People
6 miles or less.... -10%
7-12 miles..... 0%
13+ miles..... +5%

Days of Hunt (don't count travel time to hunting ground)
1st Day....... 0%
2nd Day..... +5%
3rd Day......+10%
4th day......+20%
each additional day..... -5% cumulative

Circumstances
Raining................ -10%
Day after rain....... +5%
2 days after rain.....+15%
3+ rounds of combat earlier today....-10%

Note: a standard wandering monster roll is made for each day of hunting in addition to hunting rolls.

Identify the prey:
When one Finds prey the prey can be identified by same roll by The Leader of the Hunt, if he is unsure 2 other members of the hunting party may make a roll to identify the prey.

The leader of the hunt may decide to close in on the prey based on it's type and actual distance from the hunting party.

Time to locate prey:
2-6....Find prey this hunt turn
7-9...Find next hunt turn (no roll allowed to find more prey if track is followed)
10-12...Find tomorrow (no roll allowed to find more prey if track is followed)


Closing in on Prey
When prey is discovered the party must close in on the prey to get within striking distance. Each member of a party rolls % dice equal to the chance of the leader had in finding prey if they are successful they can get within striking distance on the first round. If anyone rolls doubles and fails their roll the game was spooked and will escape with no chance of being brought down.

Anyone who fails this roll will be in position on the 4th round of action (if there is any left)

Everyone who has closed in on prey will start a number of yards away as determined on the chart below:

Distance to Prey
Mountains.......30-180 yards
Hills..........70-120 yards
Forest.....20-120 yards
Swamp.....20-80 yards
Open....140-240 yards

Spring on the Prey
Check for surprise as normal against the prey. Prey will be surprised on a roll of 1-3 by a successful hunting party where all members have closed in. If even one member hasn't closed in the prey is only surprised on a 1-2. The number on the surprise roll is how many rounds of action the hunters will get before the prey reacts meaningfully.

Reaction of Prey (2d6)
2-6...Flee in Same Direction- usually downhill towards open ground
7-8...Scatter- the prey scatter in every direction.
9-12...Fight- the prey fights for 1-3 rounds, roll again afterward.


How many meals?
A beast provides as many meals as 40% of it's mass per 2 lbs in size, if weight of the prey is known.

If weight isn't known base the yield on general size and HD of prey

small.... 1d6 meals per 3 HD
man-sized... 2d6+ 1 meal per HD
large...... 4d6+ 2 meals per HD
huge.... 6d6 + 4 meals per HD

Experience points from hunting.
Hunters earn exp form the action of the hunt and returning meals to The Cave of The People

Action of the hunt: Calculate exp as normal for prey taken down. divide this among all members of the hunting party.

Each Meal Returned to The People:
3 exp per meal for leader of the hunt.
1 exp per meal for other members of the hunt.


Spotting Wandering Monsters
Teenage Mutant Cavemen and other members of the People are good at spotting sign they are in danger, having a 10% + tracking roll modifier of noting the presence of a wandering monster. Such a successful roll will alert the party to the presence of the potential foe and the party can break-off before the wandering monster closes or turn the tables on the wandering monster. If the ML has determined the wandering monster will surprise the party only the 1st roll made by the PC's has any chance of success to avoid surprise.