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Tracking Feat RP Opportunities
Posted: 30 Oct 2004 09:06 PM |
The primary objectives of this article are:
1) Improve the quality of the role-played utilization of the Track feat.
2) Increase the frequency that players role-play the utilization of this feat.
3) Improve the immersion level and gaming experience for all players using the feat and also for those that witness the use of the feat.
The immediate purpose is not to establish rules for the feat in terms of game mechanics. The purpose, in short, is to encourage role-playing. Please keep this in the fore-front of your mind, while reading this article.
The following are guidelines and suggestions that work towards achieving each of these objectives.
Scenario 1 "BAD"
A common example of a "tracker" speaking to other members of a party:
Tracker: *searches for tracks* 3 troll berserkers, 2 shamans and a chief to the north.
Party Members (All): *charges towards the north*
Scenario 2 "GOOD"
A more desirable example follows. Please compare the above with the following:
Tracker: *looks closely at the ground and examines broken blades of grass* Trolls.
PC #2: *shakey voice* Can you tell how many?
Tracker: *mutters* Five, maybe six in all. Mixed group too. Looks like a couple of 'em are walking with staves heading off *points north* that way.
Tracker: *gestures to indicate two deeper impressions in the grass spaced about seven feet apart* They're moving fast, and one is bigger than the rest of 'em too.
Party Members (All): Bloody hell!!!
Party Leader: *grim faced, turning from the Tracker* Alright, Gandalf , flame the blades of Creepina Long and I. We're going to scout around the ridge and see if we can hit them from the west. You and Divinia head northward a bit and stand by for support in case things go badly.....
Each of the above are extreme and opposite examples selected specifically to illustrate a wide disparity in role-playing opportunity. The latter example arguably facilitates a more immersive and exciting atmosphere, and provides more opportunity for role-play and player interaction. Our desire is to see the role-play of this feat lean more towards the latter example.
To be successful in this objective, requires the efforts of everyone (players and DMs alike). The role-playing of the Track feat is not just the responsibility of the tracker, but is also the responsibility of the other players participating in a given group, as demonstrated in the prior examples.
A note about OOC considerations of online gaming: Certain aspects of online play often work against achieving our desired objectives. If you, as a player, strive to maximize the role-play opportunities that are available to you, that is all anyone can ask.
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What Is Tracking?
Defining the role of the Track feat (outside of game mechanics) may help to role-play the use of the feat in creative ways.
The ability to track reflects a practical ability to understand information available in the surrounding environment in order to better assess characteristics of a target.
The objective in tracking is to determine some or all of the following sets of information about your target(s):
Location
Direction of travel
Velocity
These combined define a vector that will allow a tracker to know where the threat is at a given point in time.
Species (including specific physical characteristics)
Numbers
Equipment carried (if any)
These combined define factors that allow the tracker to asses the type of threat.
The combined set of information available to the tracker is then most often used to guage threat levels and intent of the target(s). Once the threat is assessed, the tracker is better able to judge a suitable course of action in response to the identified threat.
This information is collected through the use of all five senses: vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell. In addition to direct observation from sensory input, the accomplished tracker adds prior experience, clues about how old a set of signs are, and even a bit of intuitive guesswork to reach conclusions on threat assessment. While the ability to track is not an arcane or divine gift, to the uninitiated observer it may very well seem magical, exceeding even divination magic, such as Clairaudience and Clairvoyance, in efficacy.
Examples of in-character Tracking Descriptors:
Location
“a faint rustling in the bushes ahead”, “maniacal laughter from behind the door”, “a blur of green in the distance” - Essentially anything that describes a fairly specific point in time and space.
Direction of travel:
“broken stems”, “bent or torn blades of grass” - Vegetation will bend, shear or break in the direction of travel.
“droplets of blood lead off to...” - to determine direction, any two signs, in series, will narrow things down.
Velocity
“footprint impressions are fainter at the heels, than at the toes” - Indicates that the (bipedal) target is sprinting instead of walking.
“birds and animals cry out in the distance” - Alerted creatures will call out in series as the target moves. If each warning cry is lower in volume than the last, your target is likely moving away from you.
“footprints are further apart (than usual)” - Indicates an increase in stride or pace.
*blood droplets are further apart* Changes in distance between drops of blood from a wounded creature may indicate increasing or decreasing rates of travel.
Species information (below) will further define possible rates of travel.
Species (including physical characteristics)
“foul orc-smell carried on the breeze”, “deer sign (droppings)”, “half eaten kobold remains showing jagged tearing of the now rancid flesh” – these all provide clues as to specific target species.
“leather boot prints (in the style popular in Midor)”, “large clawed footprints of a [creature]” - clear indicators of race or specific species.
“these (bantha) tracks are side-by-side” - When the sand-people ride bantha, they follow one another to hide their numbers. Everyone knows this! Those tracks weren't left by the sand-people.
Knowing certain creature habits can be indirect indicators of race or species of the target.
Numbers
“sixteen hoof prints” - there are four centaurs up ahead (Watch out!). There are various ways to describe creature numbers. Be creative!
As in other cases, knowing creature habits can help to determine estimates of their numbers. Some creatures tend to travel alone, others in groups, etc.
Equipment Carried (if any)
“left footprint is deeper” - Possibly carrying something. Perhaps a heavy shield. Armored soldiers in the wilderness? Possible signs of skirmish or war parties afield.
“a small, circular, and relatively deep mark” - sounds like a stave or walking stick. Is this a mage?
"a very small, circular, and relatively deep mark" - sounds like an ill-trained archer standing at rest, placing the stave of a longbow on the ground - instead of properly on top of the foot in order to prevent splintering at the end of the bowstave.
“a heeled boot print, with rounded toe” - in a similar style to what the militia of [town name] wears.
Examples of Common Misconceptions:
“You cannot track birds.” (or other airborne creatures)
The ability to track is not restricted solely to the ability to spot foot or paw prints on the ground. In this case, birds drop feathers, they drop droppings, and have distinctive calls facilitating the identification of species. Two such calls in close succession allow the estimate of location, distance and/or velocity of travel. Birds fly high in the sky, and thus often are viewable from greater distances than land-based creatures. Other creatures, such as mice or rabbits are threatened by passing creatures (like birds...or orcs). Such creatures call out in warning, and one that is steeped in Wilderness Lore may very well understand the meaning of such calls.
“You cannot tell a Troll Shaman from a Troll Berserker.” (or other such intra-specie differences)
The amount of information available to the accomplished tracker is not something that everyone can understand. In this example, consider perhaps that berserkers tend to be physically larger and take a slightly longer stride, so their tracks are further apart than normal. Shamans may carry material components for their meager spells and, on occasion, such things fall out of bags or pouches the shaman is likely to carry. Maybe they carry staves as symbols of power or ceremony within their tribe, and the stave leaves a fairly identifiable mark in the ground.
Read more about this feat from the d20 System Reference Document 3.0
Aside from defining the Track Feat in terms of d20 rules-based game mechanics, it adds some details - including some information that may help to describe the relative ease or difficulty of tracking in various environments, under certain conditions.
[N.B.: None of the Track Feat related information in the SRD is implemented in Neverwinter Nights. Only a small portion of this is directly implemented in Vives. The information is provided as a reference, to serve as a guideline and resource, for both players and DMs alike, to gauge efficacy of a role-played Track function.] |
Eyes In The Skies
Looking at you, I can read your mind. |
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