I am a few sessions deep in a new homebrew campaign. The party has come to a farming town who’s water supply has dried up. The water supply is a small river that runs through the middle of the town, the river has been reduced to a very small stream. The leaders in the town have asked the party to investigate.
In theory if the party follows the stream north they will eventually come to a very rough makeshift dam and a fairly large sized reservoir that has built up behind it.
Based on the decision making the last few sessions I can totally see the party destroying the dam without thinking about what is downstream. If they do so a large portion of the town will be wiped out by the flash flood.
I have a few questions that I am trying to work out:
How would the townsfolk really know that it was the parties fault? If no one from the town witnesses them destroying the dam, or is it reasonable that the townsfolk just blame them because they sent them to investigate
What should the consequence be?
How would you handle the NPCs and possible NPC deaths? Roll a save for every NPC?
Before leaping ahead to the consequences of something that hasn’t happened yet it’s helpful to step back and acknowledge the limitations of the players behind the characters. Are any of them civil engineers or people who otherwise are familiar with water tables and topography? While it may seem obvious to the DM it isn’t necessarily obvious to players how much water is being held behind a dam, how far the dam is from the town and what the topography of the land is in between. If the party has an intelligent character (usually the wizard) have them make an int check (low DC) if this is something an intelligent person would probably realize. If they succeed, warn them in clear language that releasing the dam all at once will flood the village. If this is an oops all barbarians sort of group have a helpful NPC provide the same warning. I love playing the Mr Scott inspired Dwarven engineer who chastises the party for their lack of foresight. :)
I definitely wouldn’t roll. This seems like a potentially big story moment and you shouldn’t leave that to chance. Decide what will happen, then stick to it. I could easily see the different options you described, and maybe all of them happen. Some people die, some don’t. Among the survivors some might look right at the party, others not. Others will be more concerned with their loved ones who died. Some will stay to rebuild, others pack up to go to a new town, and will be too busy to care of the party did it. So see what the PCs do with that. Maybe they help people rebuild, or escort people to a new town. Maybe they admit their mistake. Maybe they never go back to that town. Either way, is there some other power center? A rival town that can now expand? A noble who has the town in their territory and is interested in finding out what happened? A church who lost their temple, and the relic that was inside? A guild that lost important records?
And if some people did die, their ghosts can haunt the party until they make it right. Whatever making it right looks like.
I am a few sessions deep in a new homebrew campaign. The party has come to a farming town who’s water supply has dried up. The water supply is a small river that runs through the middle of the town, the river has been reduced to a very small stream. The leaders in the town have asked the party to investigate.
In theory if the party follows the stream north they will eventually come to a very rough makeshift dam and a fairly large sized reservoir that has built up behind it.
Based on the decision making the last few sessions I can totally see the party destroying the dam without thinking about what is downstream. If they do so a large portion of the town will be wiped out by the flash flood.
I have a few questions that I am trying to work out:
How would the townsfolk really know that it was the parties fault? If no one from the town witnesses them destroying the dam, or is it reasonable that the townsfolk just blame them because they sent them to investigate
What should the consequence be?
How would you handle the NPCs and possible NPC deaths? Roll a save for every NPC?
thanks
welp, im gonna try to answer the questions you asked, not sure if theyll help though
How would the townsfolk really know that it was the parties fault? If no one from the town witnesses them destroying the dam, or is it reasonable that the townsfolk just blame them because they sent them to investigate
I'm not sure the townsfolk would if the party doesnt come back. Though usually theres at least one or two very intelligent folks in town, maybe they can go and roll some intelligence checks to see if they can figure it out. if they do, then wham, youve got a great reason for an npc to hunt them down and become an artificer menace to the party
if the party does come back, maybe a wise person in town is able to read them, and figure out via insight and intelligence that they did this. Maybe they start blessing the party with bad gifts or stuff like that
I am a few sessions deep in a new homebrew campaign. The party has come to a farming town who’s water supply has dried up. The water supply is a small river that runs through the middle of the town, the river has been reduced to a very small stream. The leaders in the town have asked the party to investigate.
In theory if the party follows the stream north they will eventually come to a very rough makeshift dam and a fairly large sized reservoir that has built up behind it.
Based on the decision making the last few sessions I can totally see the party destroying the dam without thinking about what is downstream. If they do so a large portion of the town will be wiped out by the flash flood.
I have a few questions that I am trying to work out:
How would the townsfolk really know that it was the parties fault? If no one from the town witnesses them destroying the dam, or is it reasonable that the townsfolk just blame them because they sent them to investigate
What should the consequence be?
How would you handle the NPCs and possible NPC deaths? Roll a save for every NPC?
thanks
It might not be the party's fault. Whomever made/owns the dam might destroy it themselves. That said, it'll be townie instinct to blame the party if they sent the party to investigate. Don't be afraid to lean into ignorance, even if the ignorance ends up being accidentally correct.
What you should certainly do is have any cleric deities, warlock patrons, etc backing the PCs react to the civilian deaths. E.g. a fiend patron might send their warlock a dream indicating deep satisfaction and approval for killing all those innocent people for no reason.
If you want to roll remember skill checks do not have to use the default ability. Survival(int) check could work.
Is the village known for harsh justice for incompetance (rather than a willful act). I would have the village survivors want to question the party. If they go back this can happen immediately, if not then their descriptions are given to a nearby city and when the PCs go there they are picked up by the guard for questioning (make it long enough after that they do not initially have a clue why they are arrested). If they are open and honest have the authorities be lenient on them (a fine or take them back to the village and spend a couple of days helping them recover). If they try to deceive and fail be a bit harsher on them but nothing leading to combat. If you do want combat from it do not have it against the authorities as it will really change the campaign, instead have it against a vigilante group that oppose the leniency of the authorities, then when the party kill them defending themselves there are no repercussions.
The townsfolk have no way to know who released the water or why. There is some chance they will blame the party if they return to the town after the event. However, how many townsfolk know that the party was asked to look into it? The town council and maybe a few advisors? If the town was worried something bad was going on they might not advertise the hiring in case the person responsible for the loss of water had agents in the town. In this case, very few townsfolk might actually know that the party was doing anything at all.
However some questions ...
1) How long has the water flow been reduced?
2) How much is it reduced?
3) How is a "very rough makeshift dam" managing to hold back a lot of water? If it is enough water to inundate the town which is a long way downstream then it is a lot of water. Unless the river is in a canyon or valley that would confine the flow - the water would go both downstream and spread out when the dam breaks. If the town is far enough away, they may not even see much excess water rise as the confined water floods extensive areas upstream (depending on terrain).
4) Water would fill the reservoir then start pouring over the dam until the outflow is back to where it was before ... unless the dam is immense.
5) If the dam is holding back a lot of water - what can the party do to accidentally release it? If the dam is that unstable - it was going to fall apart any moment anyway.
6) If it has been this way for a while (which is needed to build a substantial reservoir), what happened to the townsfolk who went to look for the problem before the party arrived? These are folk used to farming and the outdoors - a sudden drop in water flow in their river would be cause for concern for irrigation purposes and because they would know the water has to be going somewhere - so someone would have likely gone to look already - unless it just happened - in which case the reservoir may not be big enough to cause extensive flooding that far downstream.
P.S. As you can probably tell :), I'm the type of DM who likes their world to hold together in terms of internal and external logic so that it makes sense. Depending on your players, it can be a good idea to have some answers to these kinds of questions ready in case you are asked and as a DM, thinking about these sorts of things helps create more "realistic" villains/situations/NPCs etc.
The Survival skill is probably the best skill to use for determining who might realise the consequences of flooding the area with water.
I'd personally go for nature which mentions terrain, cartographer's tools or a background that involves engineering. Of course players should be able to make their case for another skill.
The townsfolk have no way to know who released the water or why. There is some chance they will blame the party if they return to the town after the event. However, how many townsfolk know that the party was asked to look into it? The town council and maybe a few advisors? If the town was worried something bad was going on they might not advertise the hiring in case the person responsible for the loss of water had agents in the town. In this case, very few townsfolk might actually know that the party was doing anything at all.
However some questions ...
1) How long has the water flow been reduced?
2) How much is it reduced?
3) How is a "very rough makeshift dam" managing to hold back a lot of water? If it is enough water to inundate the town which is a long way downstream then it is a lot of water. Unless the river is in a canyon or valley that would confine the flow - the water would go both downstream and spread out when the dam breaks. If the town is far enough away, they may not even see much excess water rise as the confined water floods extensive areas upstream (depending on terrain).
4) Water would fill the reservoir then start pouring over the dam until the outflow is back to where it was before ... unless the dam is immense.
5) If the dam is holding back a lot of water - what can the party do to accidentally release it? If the dam is that unstable - it was going to fall apart any moment anyway.
6) If it has been this way for a while (which is needed to build a substantial reservoir), what happened to the townsfolk who went to look for the problem before the party arrived? These are folk used to farming and the outdoors - a sudden drop in water flow in their river would be cause for concern for irrigation purposes and because they would know the water has to be going somewhere - so someone would have likely gone to look already - unless it just happened - in which case the reservoir may not be big enough to cause extensive flooding that far downstream.
P.S. As you can probably tell :), I'm the type of DM who likes their world to hold together in terms of internal and external logic so that it makes sense. Depending on your players, it can be a good idea to have some answers to these kinds of questions ready in case you are asked and as a DM, thinking about these sorts of things helps create more "realistic" villains/situations/NPCs etc.
A little back story might help, the party arrived in town after about 6 days of wilderness travel, the day after their arrival there is a townhall meeting where the party was asked to investigate. The entire garrison from the town left to deal with a problem to the south (the party crossed paths with them on their way to the town) there is a very small detachment of soldiers left in town, mostly they can’t leave because the town would be completed unprotected if they did. A very cowardly guard captain was left in command (son of a noble….long story)
The town sits at the base of some foothills that lead into larger mountains the river is smallish(based on my experiences with rivers, I grew up near one of the largest rivers in the USA, so my idea of a small river might be different.) but it is a fairly deep river even at the point when in runs through t the town, further up into the foot hills the river cuts a deep gouge in the rock between hills, which made it easy to dam up. It is early mid spring so the water would normally be high due to the runoff from the mountains.
To answer your questions:
1) The flow has been reduced significantly for about 4 days it was slowly decreasing for about a week prior to that, so about 10 days total.
2) The water has been reduced to a very small stream.
3) By “very rough makeshift” I mean boulders and trees wedged into the rocky gorge the river runs through.
4) The hills open up to a decent sized valley behind where the dam is, it is not full yet, but it is a lot of water.
5) I never underestimate any adventuring parties ability to find a creative way around what I have though out, or their ability to create complete chaos.
6) There are some towns folk and farmers missing who have gone to search out the problem. The Above mentioned “cowardly guard captain” reported at the town hall meeting that he went to investigate but her “dreadful and freighting” noises when he started to make his way up the dry riverbed canyon.
It always surprises me how much other DMs lowball the capability of NPC clerics. It wouldn't take much for the clerics of the neighbouring towns to convene and try to figure out what exactly went down, using divination spells if necessary.
You could even have them call in help from higher ups to dispense aid and suffrage to survivors, only for the player's in-character names to be mentioned in passing. From there, a high priest would easily be capable of casting - say - legend lore on the dam to figure out exactly what went down.
From there, we can start talking about full inquisitorial task force.
I am a few sessions deep in a new homebrew campaign. The party has come to a farming town who’s water supply has dried up. The water supply is a small river that runs through the middle of the town, the river has been reduced to a very small stream. The leaders in the town have asked the party to investigate.
In theory if the party follows the stream north they will eventually come to a very rough makeshift dam and a fairly large sized reservoir that has built up behind it.
Based on the decision making the last few sessions I can totally see the party destroying the dam without thinking about what is downstream. If they do so a large portion of the town will be wiped out by the flash flood.
I have a few questions that I am trying to work out:
How would the townsfolk really know that it was the parties fault? If no one from the town witnesses them destroying the dam, or is it reasonable that the townsfolk just blame them because they sent them to investigate
What should the consequence be?
How would you handle the NPCs and possible NPC deaths? Roll a save for every NPC?
thanks
Before leaping ahead to the consequences of something that hasn’t happened yet it’s helpful to step back and acknowledge the limitations of the players behind the characters. Are any of them civil engineers or people who otherwise are familiar with water tables and topography? While it may seem obvious to the DM it isn’t necessarily obvious to players how much water is being held behind a dam, how far the dam is from the town and what the topography of the land is in between. If the party has an intelligent character (usually the wizard) have them make an int check (low DC) if this is something an intelligent person would probably realize. If they succeed, warn them in clear language that releasing the dam all at once will flood the village. If this is an oops all barbarians sort of group have a helpful NPC provide the same warning. I love playing the Mr Scott inspired Dwarven engineer who chastises the party for their lack of foresight. :)
I definitely wouldn’t roll. This seems like a potentially big story moment and you shouldn’t leave that to chance.
Decide what will happen, then stick to it.
I could easily see the different options you described, and maybe all of them happen. Some people die, some don’t. Among the survivors some might look right at the party, others not. Others will be more concerned with their loved ones who died. Some will stay to rebuild, others pack up to go to a new town, and will be too busy to care of the party did it.
So see what the PCs do with that. Maybe they help people rebuild, or escort people to a new town. Maybe they admit their mistake. Maybe they never go back to that town.
Either way, is there some other power center? A rival town that can now expand? A noble who has the town in their territory and is interested in finding out what happened? A church who lost their temple, and the relic that was inside? A guild that lost important records?
And if some people did die, their ghosts can haunt the party until they make it right. Whatever making it right looks like.
The Survival skill is probably the best skill to use for determining who might realise the consequences of flooding the area with water.
welp, im gonna try to answer the questions you asked, not sure if theyll help though
How would the townsfolk really know that it was the parties fault? If no one from the town witnesses them destroying the dam, or is it reasonable that the townsfolk just blame them because they sent them to investigate
I'm not sure the townsfolk would if the party doesnt come back. Though usually theres at least one or two very intelligent folks in town, maybe they can go and roll some intelligence checks to see if they can figure it out. if they do, then wham, youve got a great reason for an npc to hunt them down and become an artificer menace to the party
if the party does come back, maybe a wise person in town is able to read them, and figure out via insight and intelligence that they did this. Maybe they start blessing the party with bad gifts or stuff like that
It might not be the party's fault. Whomever made/owns the dam might destroy it themselves. That said, it'll be townie instinct to blame the party if they sent the party to investigate. Don't be afraid to lean into ignorance, even if the ignorance ends up being accidentally correct.
What you should certainly do is have any cleric deities, warlock patrons, etc backing the PCs react to the civilian deaths. E.g. a fiend patron might send their warlock a dream indicating deep satisfaction and approval for killing all those innocent people for no reason.
If you want to roll remember skill checks do not have to use the default ability. Survival(int) check could work.
Is the village known for harsh justice for incompetance (rather than a willful act). I would have the village survivors want to question the party. If they go back this can happen immediately, if not then their descriptions are given to a nearby city and when the PCs go there they are picked up by the guard for questioning (make it long enough after that they do not initially have a clue why they are arrested). If they are open and honest have the authorities be lenient on them (a fine or take them back to the village and spend a couple of days helping them recover). If they try to deceive and fail be a bit harsher on them but nothing leading to combat. If you do want combat from it do not have it against the authorities as it will really change the campaign, instead have it against a vigilante group that oppose the leniency of the authorities, then when the party kill them defending themselves there are no repercussions.
The townsfolk have no way to know who released the water or why. There is some chance they will blame the party if they return to the town after the event. However, how many townsfolk know that the party was asked to look into it? The town council and maybe a few advisors? If the town was worried something bad was going on they might not advertise the hiring in case the person responsible for the loss of water had agents in the town. In this case, very few townsfolk might actually know that the party was doing anything at all.
However some questions ...
1) How long has the water flow been reduced?
2) How much is it reduced?
3) How is a "very rough makeshift dam" managing to hold back a lot of water? If it is enough water to inundate the town which is a long way downstream then it is a lot of water. Unless the river is in a canyon or valley that would confine the flow - the water would go both downstream and spread out when the dam breaks. If the town is far enough away, they may not even see much excess water rise as the confined water floods extensive areas upstream (depending on terrain).
4) Water would fill the reservoir then start pouring over the dam until the outflow is back to where it was before ... unless the dam is immense.
5) If the dam is holding back a lot of water - what can the party do to accidentally release it? If the dam is that unstable - it was going to fall apart any moment anyway.
6) If it has been this way for a while (which is needed to build a substantial reservoir), what happened to the townsfolk who went to look for the problem before the party arrived? These are folk used to farming and the outdoors - a sudden drop in water flow in their river would be cause for concern for irrigation purposes and because they would know the water has to be going somewhere - so someone would have likely gone to look already - unless it just happened - in which case the reservoir may not be big enough to cause extensive flooding that far downstream.
P.S. As you can probably tell :), I'm the type of DM who likes their world to hold together in terms of internal and external logic so that it makes sense. Depending on your players, it can be a good idea to have some answers to these kinds of questions ready in case you are asked and as a DM, thinking about these sorts of things helps create more "realistic" villains/situations/NPCs etc.
I suggest you do the following:
It depends on a few things and there are general points to keep in mind.
I'd personally go for nature which mentions terrain, cartographer's tools or a background that involves engineering. Of course players should be able to make their case for another skill.
A little back story might help, the party arrived in town after about 6 days of wilderness travel, the day after their arrival there is a townhall meeting where the party was asked to investigate. The entire garrison from the town left to deal with a problem to the south (the party crossed paths with them on their way to the town) there is a very small detachment of soldiers left in town, mostly they can’t leave because the town would be completed unprotected if they did. A very cowardly guard captain was left in command (son of a noble….long story)
The town sits at the base of some foothills that lead into larger mountains the river is smallish(based on my experiences with rivers, I grew up near one of the largest rivers in the USA, so my idea of a small river might be different.) but it is a fairly deep river even at the point when in runs through t the town, further up into the foot hills the river cuts a deep gouge in the rock between hills, which made it easy to dam up. It is early mid spring so the water would normally be high due to the runoff from the mountains.
To answer your questions:
1) The flow has been reduced significantly for about 4 days it was slowly decreasing for about a week prior to that, so about 10 days total.
2) The water has been reduced to a very small stream.
3) By “very rough makeshift” I mean boulders and trees wedged into the rocky gorge the river runs through.
4) The hills open up to a decent sized valley behind where the dam is, it is not full yet, but it is a lot of water.
5) I never underestimate any adventuring parties ability to find a creative way around what I have though out, or their ability to create complete chaos.
6) There are some towns folk and farmers missing who have gone to search out the problem. The Above mentioned “cowardly guard captain” reported at the town hall meeting that he went to investigate but her “dreadful and freighting” noises when he started to make his way up the dry riverbed canyon.
It always surprises me how much other DMs lowball the capability of NPC clerics. It wouldn't take much for the clerics of the neighbouring towns to convene and try to figure out what exactly went down, using divination spells if necessary.
You could even have them call in help from higher ups to dispense aid and suffrage to survivors, only for the player's in-character names to be mentioned in passing. From there, a high priest would easily be capable of casting - say - legend lore on the dam to figure out exactly what went down.
From there, we can start talking about full inquisitorial task force.
The water level is much reduced...
In the news recently was where this happened with a lake and they found various dead bodies that had been dumped there.
I wonder what the lower level in this adventure's town reveals in the lowered river level. :-)