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All the little questions

Water Bob

Adventurer
All the little questions that come up in a game....

Here's one that came up at the end of last game, and I need an answer for it before we play again next Saturday.

The PCs ended the game by following a dry river bed down into a fairly tight canyon (15-30 feet across, 85 feet high). This is during an incredibly bad rain storm. In fact, they were using the canyon as a guide not to get lost.

The spend the night in a small cave they found in the canyon's side. It rained the entire next day. I described how the dry river bed became wet, then hand ankle deep water. A little later, I reminded them that the water was rising--it was knee deep. Finally, it becomes waist deep.

All the while, it is storming, heavily, for most of the day. I'm sure the intensity of the storm varies. There are some hours when it is drizzling and some where it's like someone is pouring a bucket over you.



The PCs need food. And, in deed, on of them has a bone fish hook and some line among their equipment.

The question is this: Is there any fish in the river?





It cracks me up sometimes when I consider all the off-the-wall things that I consider after a game. Is this or that possible...how long does it take to do this....how should I implement that in the game.

I'm not that much of an outdoorsman, and I really have no idea if a dry canyon experiencing a flash flood will carry fish with it.

And, if does....with the storm....that's some fast, rushing water. Even if there is fish, is fishing possible?





So...

Question 1 - Is there fish.

Question 2 - If so, would you say the fishing is Poor, Fair, or Good?

Questin 3 - Is fishing even possible under those condidtions?
 

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In general.....no fish.

For the most part flash flooding does not effect fish much. As fish are under the water and not on top, they are not much effected when say a lake over flows. For them to get carried into a formerly dry canyon would take something like a dam to break.

But for fish to get into a 'new' river...well there would need to be an overflowed spot with fish nearby, like a lake that flows to that location.

So.....no fishing.

But animals are attracted to water, so if the characters stay by the water they are sure to encounter plenty of animal life coming for a drink.

(plus there are some animals like lung fish that sleep in dry river beds and wait for water to swim again....)
 

There are no fish.

Also, are these players totally insane?! :-O

Why are they not afraid of a flash flood? Are you some kind of commie pinko liberal GM they know won't drown all their PCs?
 

There are no fish.

Also, are these players totally insane?! :-O

Why are they not afraid of a flash flood? Are you some kind of commie pinko liberal GM they know won't drown all their PCs?

:p Yeah. To heck with trying to fish, how about finding a way to climb out of the canyon or build some kind of boat or raft?
 


There are no fish.

Agreed.

Also, are these players totally insane?! :-O

Why are they not afraid of a flash flood? Are you some kind of commie pinko liberal GM they know won't drown all their PCs?

Insane? No. Although I've put plenty of clues for them to find, I think it's a combination of no outdoorsmen and their focus on getting away from the demon and the undead that was chasing them.

Last game session, A demon flew through the rain soaked sky. Down below, these zombie-like undead scattered after them and chased them for 8 hours, well into the night. The Undead never tire. But, with the PCs, they survived 4 CON checks to avoid exhaustion and non-lethal damage due to fatigue.

And, they were beat up from the fight--one character had 2 HP left, another had 6 HP.

It was raining, hard, but they went into the canyon to help blind the demon. The baddie has to fly directly over the canyon to see them.

The PCs finally found a small cave--a crack, really, in the wall, that they scuttled into and collapsed until morning.

They had escaped the demon and the undead (for now), but it was still raining, and the dry river bed is about waist or chest deep now.

That's where we ended the game.

Maybe, with a clearer head and some time, the players will realize that a flash flood is possible.
 

Question 1 - Is there fish.

In the real world, no. But in a fantasy world, it depends. If the god of rivers also has dominion over river-dwelling fish, and this flash flood is a result of his squabble with the god of the land, then perhaps the existence of a new river also implies the existence of fish?

So, really, it's down to your campaign. I would default to "no" unless there was a good reason to do otherwise.

Question 2 - If so, would you say the fishing is Poor, Fair, or Good?

Questin 3 - Is fishing even possible under those condidtions?

If there are indeed fish then you may be able to fish for them. But... I would be more worried about the other servitors of the river god, who may well be intent on "fishing" for men...
 

Why are they not afraid of a flash flood?

Because the players don't really have any significant knowledge of them? If the players weren't cottoning on to the idea of a flash flood being really dangerous here, I'd probably bring it up to any character with ranks in Know (Nature), Know (Geography), or Survival.
 

Actually, it depends.

They aren't common, and dont exist in every dry ecosystem, but there are certain fish, amphibian and crustacean species that can go into dormant states when things get dry, emerging only when seasonal or flash flooding occur.

The Story of the "Tadpole Shrimp"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anostraca
Lungfish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Slender African Lungfish: WhoZoo
Desert Survivor: Looking for Fish in the Desert
Adaptations of Desert Amphibians & Reptiles

So, if you want there to be fish, etc., let it be so. But given what is known about them, the shrimp- or your FRPG variant thereof- would be the best bet- according to NatGeo, " the microscopic eggs can remain dormant for a season or for hundreds if not millions of years, and can survive temperatures of extremes of over 124 degrees F and below zero, the eggs are strewn with the wind and will hatch only after a certain amount of water pressure is present thus ensuring a new generation lives on, but not all eggs will hatch every time."

(And who knows what they taste like?)

As for catching them...well, that will be tricky, and will be dependent on how many there are, how shallow & turbulent the water, and their proposed fishing technique.

(I, for one, would not be keen on "noodling"/"hand fishing" in a fantasy world...)
 
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