[World of Greyhawk] Adventures on the river

[Emirikol]

Getting a barge upriver by use of mules is not easy. Sometimes sails can aid in the endeavour. The use of mules on land to pull barges upriver is dangerous because you don't have the safety of the water.

One of the worst jobs of the Rhen then is to be a mule-driver. Back breaking work that can be prone to raids, assassinations, injuries and everything else. What do you do when you get to portions of the river where you cannot "mule" it? WHat do you do when you get to an area where someone doesn't want you on their land? Youve got to get into the water and swim to bring your lines far enough upriver to pull it off and somehow get your mules to that point.

Pulley trees and stones would likely have been common along most of Greyhawk's waterways because of the use by the Rhennee.

All of these concepts have been completely IGNORED in D&D to this point. Just how do the Rhen get their heavy barges upriver? Why would they bother to move large barges and not just remain on "houseboats?"



In D&D, sails and PERMANTENTIZED' GUST OF WIND spells can be helpful, but likely aren't going to get past the worst of it.

Other thoughts?

Jay






..

 

[PeterMikelsons]

Well, my players have thrown something of a curve ball at me. They are traveling from Furyondy to the Fellreev forest, and I assumed they would go by land (or perhaps air). No, they decided to travel by river. So they'll be taking the Crystal River to the Ritensa, and then up to the southern part of the Fellreev.

LGG says the Crystal is pretty safe, so I would breeze by that pretty fast. It also seems to say it is not navigable as far as Chendl, but you could alter that or say they are on a shallow draft river barge.

They will have to go down the Veng for a bit between Crystal and Ritensa. It is a major route, but not much used. LGG describes it as a tense place, contested by forces from Iuz and Furyondy.

As for the Ritensa, "Now a garbage dump, the river is fetid, foul-smelling, and sometimes poisonous." LGG also places it entirely within Iuz territory. How much extra are they paying for passage?

They decided to look to book passage on a Rhennee barge, so that arrangement lends itself to certain adventures.

I love your players. They just handed you a set of big gold adventure hooks. My suggestion would be to not spend too much time adventuring on the river, unless you're not very interested in the destination. I figure if overland travel takes too many sessions, players will never want to go anywhere. Just throw in a little colorful description and one or two fights with Iuz troops, and one or two roleplaying heavy Rhenee situations. One (obvious?) idea would be to explore why they are going to such a dangerous place. Spying? Smuggling goods to Iuz? Another is very simple - PC wakes up on barge to find a beloved (and aren't they all?) magic item gone. This will drive most players over the edge. The obvious plot of tracking down a youthful skilled thief on the barge and getting the item back without enraging the clan and getting thrown overboard sounds fun to me.

As for how far a barge travels in a day, is 5 miles/day (PHB p. 162) not detailed enough? How about doubling that going downstream?

 

[Wolfspider]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'll let you fine folks know how it goes....

 

[Gentlegamer]

Have you seen "Apocalypse Now"?

Better yet, have you read "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad?

 

[grodog]

The Confidence Man by Melville could also be fun (along with Moorcock's recent novel Blood).