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-
While a campfire
is not an integral part of a campsite,
characters usu.
will want to build a small fire when they stop for
the night.
Although a fire
is needed for cooking,
that function is
incidental for the purposes of these rules;
technically,
practically any
food
that characters can obtain by hunting || foraging
is just as edible,
and at least as
nutritious, if it is eaten raw.
(However,
some plants are
poisonousunless
they are cooked,
so characters who
do not habitually cook their food may eventually regret their indiscretion.)
<note
which ones at DMG.J> <DMG.J2(unofficial)>
<OSRIC:
cook>
The primary function
of a campfire,
of course,
is to provide warmth
--
warmth that can
sometimes make the diffirence between life && death.
Depending on the
size of the party and the amount of warmth needed || desired,
a campfire can be
built in one<1>
of three<3>
sizes.
Table 38: CAMPFIRE CHARACTERISTICS
| Size | Fuel | START | Refuel | Wind Res. | Cap. | Vis. |
| Small | 6 | 2d20 | 3 | 20 | 6 | 240 |
| Medium | 12 | 2d20+5 | 6 | 30 | 10 | 360 |
| Large | 18 | 2d20+10 | 9 | 40 | 15 | 540 |
-
-
...... Warmth Provided at Given Distance ......
| - | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 |
| Small | 80 | 60 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Medium | - | 80 | 60 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Large | - | - | 80 | 60 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 0 |
Fuel
gives a value,
in turns,
for how long it
takes a single character to gather enough wood || other combustible {material}
to keep a fire of a certain size burning for eight<8>
hours.
This assumes,
of course,
that firewood is
available in the environment;
see
the text below for how the availability of fuel varies depending on
the climate,
type of terrain,
and time
of year.
START
gives the # of rounds it takes for a character without proficiency in fire-building
to ignite the fuel and stoke the blaze until it reaches the indicated size.
<?>
This assumes that
the character has the tools for fire-starting (flint && steel,
and a tinderbox),
the fuel is dry
and easy to ignite,
and the fire is
exposed to a breeze of no more than 15 mph.
If the wind
velocity is greater than 15 mph or the fuel is wet,
the time
needed to start the fire is 3d20 instead of 2d20 (plus the extra time for
a medium or large fire).
A character without
proficiency in fire-building cannot start a fire without the {aid} of tools,
and no character
can start a fire in a wind
of more than 30 mph without magical assistance.
<e>
<See the Fire-building
skill, for more info.>
Refuel,
expressed in turns,
refersr to how often
a fire's fuel must be replenished in order for it to remain at a certain
size.
If a fire is not
refueled at least this often,
it will shrink to
a fire of the next lower size.
A small
fire will not go out if it is not refueled within three
turns,
but it will get
so
small that it provides no warmth.
Wind
Res.
stands for wind resistance.
This quality pertains
only to unprotected fires or those that are built in front of shelters
that do not keep out all the wind that blows against them.
In a wind
greater than the indicated velocity,
the fire will falter
and flicker,
providing no warmth.
In +addition+,
there is a chance
that the wind will spread the fire to nearby combustible materials and
may start a larger,
uncontrollable
fire.
Cap.,
or capacity,
gives the #number#
of human-sized characters or creatures that can bed down at a distance
of 10 feet from the fire and receive the full benefit of its warmth throughout
a night of sleeping.
A fire's capacity
doubles for each additional 10 feet of distance.
For instance,
six men
can bed down in a rough circle 10 feet away from a small fire,
and the same fire
will warm 12 men equally if they all position themselves 20 feet away.
If characters cluster
around a fire at a distance of less than 10 feet,
the fire's capacity
diminishes by one-third at five feet,
by one-half at three
feet,
and by two-thirds
at one foot away.
Four characters
can bed down within five feet of a small fire,
three characters
can cluster within three feet of the fire,
and two characters
can be within one foot of a small fire at the same time.
Vis.,
or visibility,
gives a #,
in yards,
indicating the distance
at which a fire of the given size is visible in moonlight || darkness.
In twilight conditions,
this figure is reduced
by 1/3;
in daylight,
by 1/2.
In all cases,
the viewer's line
of sight must be relatively unobstructed:
The flame of a large
fire
will be easily visible at night from 540 yards away on a flat,
featureless plain.
Likewise,
the glow of the
fire will be seen from an equal distance even if it is being viewed through
a moderately dense forest.
It will not be visible
from a very long distance away if the viewer and the fire are on opposite
sides of a steep hill.
In twilight or daylight
conditions,
the flame of a fire
may not be visible from the indicated distance --
but the smoke given
off by the fire will reveal its presence nonetheless.
For information
on how well a campfire illuminates the surrounding AREA (from the perspective
of those within its radius of illumination),
see the section
on Vision and Visibility.
Warmth
Provided at Given Distance shows
how much a fire increases the effective temperature of the surrounding
air at various distances from the fire (expressed in feet).
The min. safe distance
for a certain fire is the distance at which the air temperature is raised
by 80 degrees;
a character or creature
who gets closer to a fire than the safe distance and does not MOVE away
promptly
(within 5 segments)
may suffer damage
as a result.
An entry of "--"
on the table indicates such a case;
an unprotected character
cannot remain closer than 3 feet from a medium fire or 5 feet from a
large fire without being burned.
The warming capabilities
described on the table assume that the fire is not exposed to a wind velocity
of more than 10 mph.
If the wind blowing
on the fire is greater than 10 mph,
the warmth it provides
on the side facing the wind is reduced by 5 degrees for every 10 mph or
fraction thereof of additional velocity.
On the side facing
away from the wind,
the safe distance
is increased by 10 feet or one increment on the table
(whichever is less)
for every 10 mph
or fraction thereof of wind velocity greater than
10 mph.
Example:
A
medium fire is blazing away in a north wind that
is blowing at 30 mph.
A
character bedded down on the north side of the fire 20 feet away benefits
from only a 20-degree increase in warmth
(instead
of 30,
which
is the amount of warmth the fire provides in a calmer wind),
and
someone on the south side of the fire must be at least 10 feet away from
it to avoid the possibility of suffering damage from the heat
(instead
of 3 feet, which is the safe distance for a medium fire in a calmer wind).
Table 39: AVAILABILITY OF FUEL
| - | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn |
| Desert | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Forest | 70 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Hills | 40 | 70 | 70 | 60 |
| Mountains | 20 | 30 | 40 | 40 |
| Plains | 50 | 70 | 80 | 70 |
| Swamp | 40 | 30 | 30 | 40 |
The above table gives
the percentage chance that characters will be able to gather fuel (wood)
for a fire from their immediate surroundings,
assuming that the
given terrain is in a temperate climate.
Modifiers for other
climates are as follows:
| - | Arctic | Subarctic | Subtropical | Tropical |
| Desert | -20 | -10 | -10 | -20 |
| Forest | -100 | -30 | +30 | +30 |
| Hills | -30 | -20 | +10 | +20 |
| Mountains | -40 | -30 | +20 | +30 |
| Plains | -60 | -40 | +20 | +20 |
| Swamp | -40 | -20 | +10 | +20 |
If a check for availability
of fuel indicates that none can be scavenged from the immediate area,
and characters keep
moving in hopes of finding a better spot to make camp,
the DM should allow
further checks every two turns.
<check the targets on the cac.htm page>
In the outdoors, there is no such thing as a safe fire. If a campfire
is left untended
for more than a few minutes or not properly
extinguished when
it's time to move on, it can spread and grow
with amazing SPEED
into a conflagration that may be impossible
to bring back under
control.
The cardinal rules of fire safety are the same in the game universe
as they are in the
real world. In summary, the rules are:
1. Do not build a fire on top of combustible material.
Always find a large
patch of bare ground, or clear an AREA of all living and
dead vegetation,
before building a fire on that spot. It will take
from 1 to 3 turns
for a single character to clear an AREA (DM's discretion),
depending on the
size of the fire to be built
and the current
wind velocity; in a resonably strong wind, sparks
and ash from a fire
can be carried as far as 100 feet away.
2. Do not build a larger fire than you need. If a small fire will
serve your purpose,
don't heap fuel on it until it grows to medium
or large size. It's
usu. better to build two small fires instead of
one medium fire;
small fires are easier to control and can be extinguished
more quickly (see
below).
3.
Never
leave a fire untended.
The primary duty of a sentry is to
be alert for threats
to the safety of the group, and the threat of a
fire getting out
of control is always present unless the characters
on sentry duty are
on the lookout for sparks and bits of glowing
ash. A campfire
will throw off sparks && ash once every 1d3
turns, and those
bits of flame will be carried in the direction of the
wind for 10-30 feet
(10 feet for a small fire, 20 feet for a medium
one, 30 feet for
a large one), plus one foot for every 1 mph of wind
velocity. If the
sparks and ash land on combustible material,
there is a 1 in
6 chance that the material will catch on fire. If this
"wild fire" is not
extinguished promptly, it may grow into a large
blaze that could
end up charring the terrain for several miles
around. How quickly
and how far a fire spreads is determined by
the DM depending
on the circumstances. If the wind
velocity is very
strong and the combustible material is very drry, a
fire with plenty
of fuel can reach uncontrollable proportions in a
matter of minutes.
If the wind is calm and the combustible material
is very sparse or
very wet, the fire may go out by itself. In an
average case (light
to moderate breeze, fairly combustible material),
a tiny flame will
gow into a small fire in 1 turn, into a medium
fire in 2 turns,
and into a large fire in 4 turns. If the fire is not extinguished
within 6 turns (one
hour) after it started, it will have grown
to uncontrollable
size, either because of the height of the blaze (a
flaming grove of
trees) or because of the AREA it covers (a grass
fire sweeping across
the plains). See the following text on Uncontrollable
Fires for
info on the effects
of a very large blaze.
4.
Always
put out what you started. The fire that kept you cozy
all night might
be nothing more than a pile of glowing embers at
sunrise -- but it's
still a fire, and it still can spread if characters
leave the campsite
before extinguishing it. A single character can
extinguish a small
fire built on bare ground in 5 rounds by stirring
and separating the
ashes, stamping on the larger pieces that are
still burning, and
covering the remains with dirt. A medium fire
can be extinguished
in this way in 1 turn, and a large fire can be
put out in 2 turns.
This time is cut in half if a second character assists,
or if a sufficient
amount of water is sprinkled or poured on
the embers -- 1
gallon for a small fire, 2 gallons for a medium fire,
or 4 gallons for
a large one. If the fire had to be built on top of combustible
material, the time
needed to extinguish it is twice as long
as given above,
because the material beneath the fire must also
be separated and
stirred. Even if all the proper precautions are
taken, there is
a 1 in 10 chance that a fire built on top of combustible
material will not
be completely extinguished. If a campfire is
left alive, it will
flare up in 2d4 turns after the characters leave the
AREA and may then
spread to the surrounding terrain as described
above.
A fire that gets
out of control will spread and grow as long as it
remains in contact
with fuel, or until some outside force (a rainstorm,
creation of water
by magical means, etc.) acts upon it to
slow it or put it
out. Such a fire will fan out from the place where it
started, at first
burning in a rough circle and then gradually
“stringing out”
until it becomes a line or wall of fire advancing in
the direction of
the wind. Animals - and characters, if they are
wise - will flee
from the path of the fire, either by running ahead
of the flames or
(if the creature is at least semi-intelligent) by trying
to skirt one end
or the other of the advancing wall.
An uncontrollable
fire will advance at a speed equal to one-half
of the wind velocity,
or at a speed of 5 mph in any case. In calm air
or a light breeze,
a man or animal moving at a trot can stay safely
ahead of the flames;
however, most creatures threatened by a
fire will probably
move faster than that for as long as they are
able.
One way to halt the
advance of an out-of-control fire without using
water is to build
a firebreak - an area of ground in the path of
the fire that has
been churned up and cleared to remove most or
all of the combustible
material. Spells such as dig and move earth
are helpful in this
effort. A party containing a fighter with 18
strength and a spade
of colossal excavation may also be able to
kill a fire in this
fashion. Even if a very extensive fire cannot be entirely
extinguished by
a single firebreak, the firebreak can be
used to cut the
blaze in half, so that characters can deal with two
smaller fires instead
of one large one. If characters do not have
the means to extinguish
an uncontrollable blaze, they may be
able to at least
save themselves by clearing an area and remaining
in that spot while
the fire burns around them and then moves
on farther downwind.
However, the characters may still suffer
damage from heat
or flames (see below) if they do not clear a
large enough space
and the fire gets too close to them.
<(BATTLESYSTEM)>
Q:
How fast will a forest burn?
A:
Assuming the the trees are very dry and
the
wind is calm, a fire started by a single
figure
stand begins as a ½?-diameter
circle
and expands ½? per turn until
extinguished.
If there is a light wind, the
fire
starts as a rectangle ½? wide and 1?
long,
aligned with the wind. Each turn
thereafter,
the fire spreads 1? downwind
and
½" to either side. If the wind is
strong,
the windward expansion is 2? per
turn.
Forest fires can spread much more
slowly
or quickly than this (damp, live
trees
are almost fireproof, save in exceptionally
strong
fires), but the foregoing is
sufficient
for most game situations. If you
think
a variant on these rules is in order,
decide
on one before the game starts.
(132.34)
Damage from Fire
In reality, no unprotected character can be immersed in or
closely surrounded
by flames for very long without dying. In the
realm
of heroic fantasy, direct exposure to fire is not always lethal
-- but it’s still
not something to be taken lightly.
As a general rule, a character who is engulfed in flames will suffer
10-15 points of
damage
(1d6+9) per round. This damage is
cut in half (rounded
up) if the victim makes a successful CON
Check with a +4
modifier to the die roll. If a character suffers
damage of this sort
equal to one-third of his full normal hit-point
total, he has been
rendered unconscious from the trauma of the
burns, and is no
longer allowed CON Checks to offset part
of the damage.
The preceding rule applies only when the victim is fully within a
fire, or when most
of the surface of his body (clothing and gear) is
actually aflame.
A character who comes into brief contact with a
fire (for instance,
when he leaps through a wall of fire) suffers 1d8
points of damage,
and every major piece of clothing or equipment
he is carrying must
save
vs. Normal Fire to avoid being
ignited. For every
major item that catches fire, the character will
suffer an additional
1d3 points of damage per round until the
flame is extinguished
or the item is discarded. A character whose
gear catches fire
can avoid damage by making a successful WIS
Check, indicating
that the character has remained calm, hit
the ground, and
rolled in order to put out the flames. An unsuccessful
WIS
Check indicates that the character has panicked;
he will run at top
speed in a random direction (away from
the fire, if possible)
and will take ld4 points of damage per round
until another character
catches him and helps to put out the
flames.
A character need not be in direct contact with fire in order to be
hurt by it; at short
distances, extreme heat can be almost as damaging
as actual fire.
A character who is closer than 5 feet to a
large
fire (such as a forest fire || a grass fire) or closer than 3 feet
to a medium fire
will suffer damage as if he was exposed to a temperature
of 120 degrees or
higher. (See the Temperature Damage <>
to Characters Table
in the section on Effects of the
Environment.) However,
in this case the damage adjustments for
level of activity
do not apply; someone who is inactive will take
just as much damage
from the fire’s heat as someone who is engaged
in strenuous activity.
If the distance between the character
and the fire is
greater than the amounts given above, the character
is relatively safe
but may still suffer damage from exposure to
extremely high temperatures
(as shown on the Temperature
Damage to Characters
Table). <link>
Obviously, there are a large # of possible situations
not
covered by these
rules for damage from fire. Using what is given
here as a guideline,
the DM must make reasonable
rulings on the amount
of damage and the chance of avoiding
damage that are
appropriate in a particular situation. In any
event, fire is something
that characters should respect, if not
fear: “Playing with
fire” can have disastrous consequences if its
destructive power
is allowed to spread.
