Pterodactyl Hunt 1990

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Note: This page is a historical record of the decisions and events involved in the 1990 Pterodactyl Hunt. It was not and should not be used in the planning of any Pterodactyl Hunt, except as a reference.
The appropriate venue for those running the Pterodactyl Hunt to plan is the hunt list, hunt (at) swil.org.

Jed Hartman ran this hunt, with the possible assistance of Josh Smith. It took place on October 5th.

Table of contents

1 Monster list 2 Side Quests 3 Rule Set 4 Advice to Wizards 5 Anecdotes and Gameplay 6 Orientation 7 Layout 8 Economy 9 External Links

Monster list

The following monsters were used in the 1990 hunt:

Monster	Played by
The Black Knight
Hobgoblin Queen
Hydra
Oracle	Deb Holtzman
Necromant	Jim Moskowitz
Orc King
Pterodactyl(s)	Josh Smith
The Werewolf
The Jabberwock
The Ravenous Bug-blatter Beast of Traal	Jere7my Tho?rpe
The Vampire and Shadow

Side Quests

Rule Set

Advice to Wizards

What follow are some suggestions on how to be a Wizard for a Pterodactyl Hunt, including some suggestions on how to organize a Pterodactyl Hunt. They were written by Jed Hartman in October, 1990, and emailed to the wiki admins off-chat in October, 2006.

If you've agreed to be a Wizard, these suggestions may smooth your path. If you've always wanted to be a Wizard but weren't sure quite what it involved, this document may be of use.

One of the most important things for a Wizard (or Necromant, or Enchanter, or whatever the voguish term happens to be) to do is communicate with the Hunt organizers. In past years, the Hunt organizers usually WERE Wizards; but this has changed recently. If you're a Wizard but not an organizer, talk to the organizers well ahead of time. Also talk to your fellow Wizards. Do everything you can to make sure there are more than two Wizards, preferably about four (more on this later). Try to have at least one person who's been a Wizard before. Get a copy of the rules, read through them, and ask lots of questions about anything you don't understand. You will be in charge of interpreting and dealing with those rules during the Hunt; anything you don't want to make up on the fly should be dealt with ahead of time.

Along with the rules, get a copy of the map. Learn the boundaries. There are rarely boundary disputes, and exact boundaries probably aren't very important, but it's a good idea to know where they are so that you can describe them to players as necessary.

Before the night of the Hunt, make sure of several things (these are really in the organizers' jurisdiction, but check up on them to make sure they haven't forgotten. Don't pester them too much, but do remind them): that there are enough swords, squirt bottles for the Pterodactyls, garlic (or whatever is being used for garlic), silver swords, small pieces of candy, chocolate bars and pizza certificates as prizes, water balloons, orc ears/hobgoblin tails, and both dark and light trash bags for player and monster armor. If this stuff isn't available at the Hunt, it's you who'll have to deal with it.

On the night of the Hunt, bring a flashlight with you. Dress warmly if necessary (it usually is, and it can't hurt to have an extra jacket or sweater around). Arrive before the monsters are supposed to meet and check that everything is there. Try not to have a sore throat, as you'll be doing an awful lot of talking, much of it loud.

When the monsters arrive, the pandemonium gets into full swing. Wait until most of them are there, then get their attention (this may be difficult) and make SURE that all of them know the rules. Traditionally, the monsters have the final say in disputes between themselves and players, so they really should know the rules they'll be making decisions about. If many of them don't know the rules, read them the rules out loud. It's good practice; you'll have to do this a lot as the night wears on. Answer any questions they may have. Encourage them to eschew unnecessary violence and to be fair in dealing with players. Tell them to bring problems to a Wizard.

(Long aside: The way the Hunt went last time, Wizards didn't really do much besides answer questions in Parlours. This was largely due to there only being two of us, if I remember right. In my early hunts, there were four to five Wizards, of whom at least two would be out roaming the field with flashlights at any given time; they could then be adjudicators on a large scale. Maybe this is just not desirable, or not the way you want the Hunt to be, and that's fine; I'm just relaying information. We CAN run a Hunt with two or fewer Wizards; but it seems to me that things are smoother with more People In Authority available. Wizards can (as is occasionally necessary) check to make sure eggs are still in place [btw, Jim and I will need copies of the egg locations, as will the Oracle; I'm sure you know this, but I'd rather remind you unnecessarily than spend half the Hunt not knowing where they are, as has also happened]; escort wounded monsters or players to medical attention, keeping potential attackers at bay; provide on-the-fly adjudication and rules assistance when players get obnoxious or monsters get confused (or vice versa); make sure nobody's lying hurt in some dark place [admittedly, this has never happened, to my knowledge]; and so on. But I may just be on a power trip here, trying to justify wanting things to Go Back To The Way They Used To Be, since I didn't notice particularly many more problems last Hunt than previously; besides, this message is probably too late to do any good this time around. For future, though, I recommend more Wizards. End long aside.)

but actually organizing the thing is far beyond my capabilities, so I try to leave the organizing parts to the organizers.

Anecdotes and Gameplay

Orientation

Layout

This picture shows the playing area for the 1990 Pterodactyl Hunt.

Economy

External Links

	History of the Pterodactyl Hunt	(view·discuss)
Topics	Equipment | Economy | Victors | Characters | Quests | Organizing
Years	1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 2006 | 2007