PCs starting a forest fire?

[adwyn]

IRL I live in an area plagued by forest fires, and at any given time at least half of the group has experience on the fire line. Thus it is one of the first tactics they think of, to the point we've added half a page of house rules covering forest fires.

 

[TheEvil]

It was a wargame campaign, but there was discussion about using the fireshot of the catapults to drive some archers out of the wooded area. I believe guy yelled out: "Remember, only you can prevent forests!" I don't think they ended up firing, but the comment had people rolling.

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

When I first saw this thread, I thought "God no.. My players would never do that.."
And then I started thinking.. A few years ago, when they were being attacked by Goblins.. Our Druid (!) doused her blanket with Oil, and then wrapped it around a dead pine, and lit it up, to cause a distraction, and allow the PCs to escape. They were hoping that it would cause a big enough forest fire that they could escape in the Ensuing chaos.

I was just being a jerk that day I ruled that the Wargs that the Goblins had with them smelled the oil and fire as soon as it was lit, before it had any time to spread. So that very round, two of the wargs went over to investigate, and found the lone druid, seperated from the party.

Heh.. Poor Iracundia. Somehow, they all made it out alive, but the forest did, in fact, lose a big chunk.

 

[Sarellion]

IIRC forests weren´t so prone to fire in earlier times, as they burned more regularly. The trees lost their leaves and so but the tree in itself was only singed.
By preventing small fires there is more flammable material in the woods, so that even the trees themselves burn.

 

[KB9JMQ]

I have had a party consider it before to wipe out a group of creatures but came up with a better plan instead.

 

[John Morrow]

Have PCs in your campaign ever contemplated or actually started a forest fire?

In a Warhammer FRP game years ago, yes. And we actually did, too.

The operative phrase was, "Only you can start forest fires." (An old motto for an ad campaign to stop forest fires featuring Smokey the Bear.)

 

[the Jester]

Oh, geez...

So the party of about a dozen has three unpopular halflings in it. One was a pyromaniac who had burned down a building in a town a day or so back. (Most of the rest of the party didn't know about this.) The party has a falling out as they are heading into the hills, and the halflings split off and head up hill while the others head down slope. Behind them, the halfling pyro lights a brush fire, which soon starts racing up hill after him and his halfling pals. Before two long the light woods along the mountains are a huge conflagration, two of the halflings are dead and the survivor (not the pyro) is praying she doesn't die from smoke inhalation while she waits it out in the center of a small river.

 

[The Shaman]

IRL I live in an area plagued by forest fires, and at any given time at least half of the group has experience on the fire line. Thus it is one of the first tactics they think of, to the point we've added half a page of house rules covering forest fires.

Gee, a bunch of wildland firefighters in Missoula? Who'd a-thunk it?!?

(I'm a red card-carrying crew boss, engine boss, and type 4 IC.)

As both a player and a GM, I've used forest fires, brush fires, prairie fires...sometimes as a combat tactic, sometimes as roleplaying device (ecologically-savvy druids, barbarians, and rangers), somtimes as a plot device.

In the words of Butthead, "Uhhhh...uhh-huh...uh-huh...fire's cool!"

 

[Evilhalfling]

Well a not a forest, but the PCs of my longest running 2nd ed game let loose a large fire elemental onto a dry plain. It managed to burn much of an entire kingdom (low magic world) The party was blamed as the fire elemental gladly shared their name with everyone it met.

As for actuall forest fire - well we had a knockdown battle that killed half the party, but the enemies were the ones laying down down fireballs - to add insult to injury the party had the two local druids with them, one PC one NPC they died in the confliguration. It should have started a fire but it took place in an uninhabited area, and I think I forgot.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I had PCs torch a forest in my last campaign... However it was a deadwood and home to a Druidic Lich. It burned out the weaker evil trees, the stronger ones had fire resistant sap. Still, probably made things easier for them.