Shipwreck survival

[Vynticator]

What kinds of skills (and penalties to those skills) would a party face if shipwrecked on a cold, exposed coastline with absolutely no equipment or clothing?

Fishing.
Survival - Beach is an obvious one. But what penalties would accrue for the following:
1) unfamiliar coastline/flora/fauna
2) total lack of equipment

Perhaps different penalties for different aspects of Survival skill? After all, it covers:
-Finding food
-Finding fresh water
-Building improvised shelter
-An 'eye for country'
-Trapping wild animals

I'd have thought -5 for building shelter without *any* equipment. Seem fair?
No penalty for finding shellfish and berries (presumably, equipment-free)
No penalty for finding fresh water (no equipment needed)
-3 perhaps for trapping without rope, hammer, hooks, etc to build a snare? Or is that too harsh?

I'm thinking there will likely be penalties to IQ and DX from accrued fatigue after the swim to shore in icy waters. Also from lack of sleep over time if shelter not found quickly.

I'd really welcome other ideas on this - I want this to be a tough, gritty 'out of the comfort zone' challenge for otherwise very robust, supernormal-warrior-type characters.

[Nereidalbel]

No penalty on making shelter, since you can break branches off trees and brush for that. However, it will take longer if nobody has a knife.
Unless somebody has points in any Survival skill, ask the players what kind of shelter they're trying to make. If they focus on a roof over their heads instead of insulation from the ground, they've made a mistake.

As for improvised tools to make fishing possible, what kind of rocks are on this island? Any kind of flint, shale, or obsidian gives relatively easily produced spear heads.

Trapping can involve using a large rock instead of a hammer, but, some sort of vine is needed for rope.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Vynticator

What kinds of skills (and penalties to those skills) would a party face if shipwrecked on a cold, exposed coastline with absolutely no equipment or clothing?

How cold are we talking about here? Because that sounds like a good way to die fast to me, pretty much regardless of skills.

Fishing.
Survival - Beach is an obvious one. But what penalties would accrue for the following:
1) unfamiliar coastline/flora/fauna

Unless it's very unfamiliar (e.g. on an alien planet), I'd say no penalty.

2) total lack of equipment

Depends a lot on what kind of coastline they're on. There are places where you can fish barehanded, but most places that are cold and exposed aren't going to be them. Fishing per se is basically a no go until they can put together some equipment.

Perhaps different penalties for different aspects of Survival skill? After all, it covers:
-Finding food

Seaweed, shellfish, whatever's in tidepools. Anything else puts you back into needing gear.

-Finding fresh water

No penalty.

-Building improvised shelter

Once again, depends heavily on where you are. If there's sufficient deadfall, driftwood, or and/or reasonably sized rocks nearby then a windbreak or lean-to should be possible, although it won't be a good one without some kind of tools.

-An 'eye for country'

Is pretty much what Survival skill is.

-Trapping wild animals

-3 perhaps for trapping without rope, hammer, hooks, etc to build a snare? Or is that too harsh?

For the most part all you really need is a knife, although some twine will certainly help. If you haven't got a knife, -3 seems about right. If anyone's got Armory TL/0, that'll be a huge help, because then they can make stone, bone, or shell knives, fish spears, etc. which aren't great but will do wonders for your ability to apply many aspects of Survival skill.

[Rocket Man]

Since they're cold, wet and naked, make sure to keep the "Cold" section of Basic Set: Campaigns handy until either the temperature improves or the PCs improvise heat or shelter. (B430, and the penalties will be steep: -5 to the HT roll for no clothing in freezing weather and another -5 for wet "clothes.")

[Vynticator]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

How cold are we talking about here? Because that sounds like a good way to die fast to me, pretty much regardless of skills.

South-west coast of Sweden in late October. Sea temp for the swim to shore was 55'F; Air temp daytime is 40-48'F. Weather is light rain/sleet. Sandy beach, light forest inland, fresh water abundant within 1km.

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Unless it's very unfamiliar (e.g. on an alien planet), I'd say no penalty.

It's Scandinavian coast; they are more used to Mediterranean.

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Depends a lot on what kind of coastline they're on. There are places where you can fish barehanded, but most places that are cold and exposed aren't going to be them. Fishing per se is basically a no go until they can put together some equipment.

Seaweed, shellfish, whatever's in tidepools. Anything else puts you back into needing gear.

No penalty.

Once again, depends heavily on where you are. If there's sufficient deadfall, driftwood, or and/or reasonably sized rocks nearby then a windbreak or lean-to should be possible, although it won't be a good one without some kind of tools.

Is pretty much what Survival skill is.

For the most part all you really need is a knife, although some twine will certainly help. If you haven't got a knife, -3 seems about right. If anyone's got Armory TL/0, that'll be a huge help, because then they can make stone, bone, or shell knives, fish spears, etc. which aren't great but will do wonders for your ability to apply many aspects of Survival skill.

Sensible and helpful, thanks.

[Vynticator]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Since they're cold, wet and naked, make sure to keep the "Cold" section of Basic Set: Campaigns handy until either the temperature improves or the PCs improvise heat or shelter. (B430, and the penalties will be steep: -5 to the HT roll for no clothing in freezing weather and another -5 for wet "clothes.")

Would you really apply *both* penalties here? Skin can be dried fairly easily if you have *no* clothing, no?

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Vynticator

Would you really apply *both* penalties here? Skin can be dried fairly easily if you have *no* clothing, no?

It's one or the other. Either way, they're in trouble until somebody makes a fire.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Vynticator

South-west coast of Sweden in late October. Sea temp for the swim to shore was 55'F; Air temp daytime is 40-48'F. Weather is light rain/sleet. Sandy beach, light forest inland, fresh water abundant within 1km.

Sleet at 40 F and above?

After the start of the Iron Age, I'd expect people to be available within a few kilometers, certainly not more than a day's walk. This isn't a deserted shore. If you manage not to freeze to death before the weather clears enough to see smoke plumes, it should be trivial to find a settlement, so building snares or finding food isn't much of an issue. There'll likely be fishing boats in visible range once the weather clears too. Indeed I'd expect somebody to notice a wreck and be along to see if there is anything salvageable from it within a day or two of the storm ending. If not, you should try to salvage something from the wreck, if nothing else there should be some bits of wood and cordage.

And how exactly do people shipwrecked in the Baltic end up *naked* anyway? They weren't naked shipboard, or likely to strip in the water. Mind you can freeze to death in wet clothing as easily as you can naked, but it's hard to see how you can end up with absolutely nothing.

Edit: if you want them to have to survive more than a day or two on their own, your best bet is to strand them on one of the many little islands here. Of course that tends to make it a lot harder to justify the fresh water.

[Vynticator]

Sleet - assuming base air temp was at the lower end of the range given, I thought perhaps 'wind chill' might cause snow to come down as sleet sometimes. I'm not a weather expert, though!

Why they're naked - the ship sank several miles offshore. They'll have had to swim for a couple of hours. If they're smart, they'll have ditched their clothes to reduce drag. Dark Ages (9th Century) wool shirts aren't a great swimming aid.

How the heck they survive that swim in the first place? HT14, Swimming 16+, genetic temperature tolerance slightly beyond the normal human range. I did mention they were supernormals.

I think you're right, there are likely to be a few tiny fishing villages in the area. It's surviving the first night or so after the long swim that I expect will be the hardest part.

[acrosome]

I thought that with no equipment just about everything is already at a blanket -5. Survival skill assumes at least the possession of Personal Basics, doesn't it?