<<< X-Scouts, Get your Dinosaur Punching badge

[Freakshow]

Well, if the boy scouts can go out into the wilderness, don't you think the X-Men should be able to do that? Naturally, that's what you'd assume. So, here we go. A handful or two of Xavier's up and coming finest are going to be sent out into the Savage Land. They'll have to delve into the most dangerous and thick tropical forest, find their own food and water, and try not to die. You know, because of the dinosaurs trying to eat you (which will probably happen).

The area we'll be camping in is away from any of the local primitives and away from the known active territories of some major predators (raptors, rexes, sabretooths, etc.), probably about a day's walk out from Utopia. This is for the younger X-Men and Junior/Senior Com levels officially meant to make the freshies learn to work and depend on one another. A team building exercise, so to speak. It will give us all a chance to develop our relationships with one another, as well as pick up the necessary skills to survive and help other people when you are not given anything but a bottle of water, a sleeping bag, and maybe a hatchet.

We can do a few threads with the lot of us, or split up as we need to. We don't need to play out every day (I guess they'll be out for about a week or so). The first thread should be setting up camp or getting there, the rest being our chance to explore out in the wilderness. There isn't going to be any super-intense climax to this. It's character building in the woods, learning a few things, learning to appreci/hate each other, maybe a tyrannosaur attack. Who knows? If you have any suggestions for what specific events people want to go through, post 'em up or just wing it!

A few of the participants should already have a decent feel for what's edible and what's not, since they've been there since the mansion blew up.

Logan - Supervisor
Elixir - Co-Supervisor

Freakshow
Squirrel Girl
Noriko
Anole
Rho
Hulkling

Kind of full, so not really a recruiting call. More of an... put up ideas if you want to before we start, call. This will be set at the end of November/start of December.

Get ready to earn your pair of fur-pants!

[Elixir]

I like this. I'd suggest about ten days, a couple to get acclimated and the rest for the actual experience. Of course, there's no real risk of death, bu lot of opportunity to confront real danger and have our characters interact in a very different environment. I am totally in this and am very excited to see it develop. When do we start?

[Freakshow]

Camp Wanahokaloogy

[Squirrel Girl]

I'll save you, Kevin!

-WHACKWHACKWHACKs with a stick-

[Freakshow]

Since we're all still setting up camp, I think now's a good time to figure out what exactly we want to do. I have a few survival-based ideas, namely because I watch Survivor Man too much. These are all merely circumstances of interaction. Here we go:

1) A lesson in food: There are of course going to be an assortment of strange foods to eat in Savage Land. Fruits, plants, and animals, we've got to get our food some how. We can forage for fruits and berries, maybe someone eats one that's not so healthy and end up sick. Or, we find some primitive rodent like a rabbit or civet of some kind, then we get to watch someone skin it.

For a thread: Split into two teams. One team gets to hunt, the other gets to forage. This gives us a chance to have a small bit of action going on while the kids talk and develop relationships.

2) Shelter: We have our fancy shmansy tents and bed rolls, but it's good to learn how to build our own. Standard survival shelters are lean-tos and frame shelters. With the tropical conditions of Savage Land, there's undoubtedly going to be some heavy rain out there, so knowing how to make one of these comes pretty easy.

For a thread: Again, two teams. Each team is given the task to build a shelter and they have to sleep in it for the night. This night, there's going to be some nasty weather, and they're stuck in their shelters with one another.

3) Making fire without flint, matches, gas, or anything. Only your wits.

For a thread: no idea.

4) Dealing with fauna: surviving in the wild is always difficult, especially since you know you're not the top of the food-chain. Normally people deal with bears, wolves, cougars, and things like that. We, on the other hand, have to deal with dinosaurs. At any point in time, we could be stalked by a velociraptor or watched by a T-rex, or even stepped on in a stampede of sauropods. It's a regular Skull Island in Savage Land.

For a thread: A lot of options here. One day we could go out to a plainy area and watch the dinosaurs, when suddenly some predators spring a trap on the herbivores and we get caught in the middle of a massive stampede. Someone could wake up in the middle of the night and find a scavenger rooting through their pack. A genuine case of dinosaur attack. Who knows?

5) Dealing with Injured: Though we have Elixir here to save our butts if anything bad was to befall us, I think it might be a good lesson for someone to get hurt. Break an ankle, arm, or something to that effect. Maybe someone comes down with a fever. This involves a lot of care and puts a great amount of stress on people who have to take care of them. Not only are you concerned with your survival, but their's, and sometimes you must make a difficult decision on their fate. It could say a lot about you and who you trust.

6) Getting Lost: traveling through forests can be difficult, especially if you haven't been there before. While foraging or hunting, maybe somebody gets their sense of direction off and goes left instead of right. Being alone puts you at terrible risk of being eaten by the local predators, but being with someone else? Your survival can depend on them.

For a thread: Pretty simple. Part of the group gets lost, part of the group has to find them. The circumstances would be any event: a small earthquake opens a chasm that people fall in to. They're stick and need to find their way out. Meanwhile, their rescuers are stuck looking for them. Maybe someone slips down a slick embankment or are chased by a dinosaur away from the party and get lost that way. Lotta things to do, really.

7) Surviving a Night: At the end of our survival training, it might be a good idea to head at the last night alone. Taking everything we've learned in the ten or so days in the wilds of Savage Land we get a chance to put it to good use. Getting food for ourselves by ourselves, getting water, fire, a shelter, and everything, only to reflect on what has transpired.

For a thread: Maybe individual, single-post threads describing what our characters go through and how they feel about what's transpired in their survival. The savage lands can change a man or woman and reveal who they truly are.


Feel free to add anything and say yay or nay on any of these!

As stated earlier, this is all circumstances for use to work through while we develop. If you have any character-related things, just stack them into things. Feel free to talk about what you want to do with one another. I know Doreen and Kevin are meant to have a clash, but I'd like to figure out some stuff with a few more of you. Just need to think up what.