CAVERNS & CHAMELEONS!

Part 4: The Adventure

Caverns & Chameleons Copyright © 1980, 1983, 1997 Mark Rose & Chris Adams. All rights reserved.

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Organizing A Party

First, pick up the telephone and call everyone you know that plays and enjoys C&C. (This should take two or three seconds.) Now call everyone who does not know the game, but thinks that they may wish to play. Once you have collected six or seven sucke... people, drinks and food are next in line. After enough gross of salty pretzels and the trailer-load of brew has arrived, the guests are invited over and a good time is had by all. Calling, mapping, and the use of miniature figures are all relatively simple and harmless party games and will be covered in a future C&C supplement.

 

Time and Movement in the Caverns

Each turn takes ten minutes scale time, but only takes three hours real time. Each combat period takes ten seconds per squabble round (ten squabble rounds per turn). Players may have to engage in real combat to solve the results.

Movement Table

Encumbrance      Exploring/Mapping    Normal

Naked              2400 ft. per turn          4200 ft. per turn

Clothed w/o weapons  700 ft. per turn           900 ft. per turn

Dead               650 ft. per turn           0 ft. per turn

Weapons w/o clothes  750 ft. per turn           1000 ft. per turn

 

Encumbrance

Encumbrance is actually very easy to understand if you happen to have the mind of an Enrico Fermi tinted with Einstein. Better leave the mathematics to your MC (he thinks he's smart). However, please note that each character should have a 1500 lb. block of granite strapped to his/her back.

 

Light

All caverns are extremely dark, and artificial light must be produced. This can be done by rubbing a boggie's legs together, and will last for three turns. A boggie's legs may only be rubbed twice in one game. Enables party to see two feet (burning). If you'd rather have conventional, mundane things like lanterns, torches, or high-beam flashlights, well, you don't have to be part of the "in" group! See if we care!

 

Traps, Doors, Secret Doors, Surprise, and Wandering Nasties

Traps - These are strewn about the cavern. If a character passes over one, a six-sided die must be rolled. One through six equals death, unless the MC is feeling particularly nice today.

Doors - These are used as entrances to rooms. Sometimes they must be knocked down, causing painful shoulder muscle ligament injury to the character. Roll a one on a four-sided die to determine if arm must be put in sling.

Secret Doors - Elves may open secret doors when they pass by one. They do this by sacrificing a human (optional), then spiking the door open. Sometimes, these doors open onto several thousand nasty beasties, producing dire consequences.

Surprise! - This occurs when one party unexpectedly meetg another. All partymembers then yell, "Surprise!" at the top of their lungs, and run like fools to the nearest exit.

 

Wandering Nasties - There are an infinite number of these, and are used at the MC's discretion. To determine the number of wandering nasties confronted, roll six six-sided dice, multiply the number by four, divide by thirty-two, and develop a quotient containing that number and the equatorial circumference of the earth. To determine if they are friendly or hostile, roll two dice.

Hostile/Friendly Reaction Table

Score  Reaction

2       Nasty decides he hates your face. Swings with sword.

3-5     You make a smart crack about nasty's mother. Swings battleaxe.

6-8     No one cares. Total apathy. Roll again.

9-11    Decides you are tolerant, though smelly. Nasty will help.

12      Everything chummy! All pass round a beer.

 

Retainers

A retainer is a contraption of silver-colored wire molded to fit around, under, inbetween and across the player character's teeth in his mouth. It is used to give the character a nice smile, and to keep his molars from protruding through his cheeks. It is termed by some hireling, but the origins of this word remain obscure.

Hiring- Purchasing a retainer from an accredited orthodontist is an expensive procedure. The MC should adjust prices according to his own campaign, and don't forget to make appointments for periodic checkups.

Reactions - Every night, 2d6 must be rolled to determine retainer reaction:

2-4 Popped out of mouth into chamberpot.

5-6 Popped out of mouth, quite dusty.

7-8 Stayed in mouth, bleeding gums.

9-11 Stayed in mouth.

12 - Swallowed retainer, surgery needed.

Level and Loyalty- All retainers' levels are the same, and they cannot gain inexperience points as other dental work does. Retainers are very loyal, rarely leaving one mouth for another.

Use- Wearer must take one squabble round to insert and one squabble round to remove retainer at any time. Brushing both mouth and retainer is a good idea, and makes life much more pleasant for other partymembers.

Note that if the outside edges are filed and honed, the apparatus can be a quite effective weapon, especially if surreptitiously substituted for another individual's retainer.

 

Inexperience Points and Inexperience Levels

It is assumed when starting out, that one is as inexperienced as one can get. This you will soon find to be false. As the MC devises more and more bizarre and horrible adventures, the player character will realize that even though his character is gaining more and more inexperience, it does him absolutely no good when he is confronted with the MC's devilspawned product. Consequently, we have a never ending spiral of inexperience, where the more one plays and encounters nasties, etc., the more one becomes inexperienced. Sound confusing? Perhaps. Look at it this way, you won't be around long enough to find out anyhow.

Inexperience points are necessary to move up levels. ("Level" has actually little meaning to the game, and is merely designed to perplex. See Use of the Word "Level".) These points are gaincd by doing things relatively inexperienced people would do when in a life and death situation (i.e., dying). To ascertain inexperience points obtained by any player character when he/she defeats a nasty, or solves a particularly simple puzzle, follow the guidelines presented in the section How To Use The Dice, but do not use quasi-linear square roots.

 

[Part 4B: Self-Explanatory]

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