Advantages/Disadvantages of Campfires

[Zulgyan]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a night campfire in the wilderness at your games?

Pros:
1. Most wild animals will not approach the camp, as they are afraid of the fire.
2. Meals that need cooking can be eaten (hunted game or animals)

Cons:
1. Will alert presence to men, humanoids, etc.
2. If weather is cold, no campire will mean a bad rest (-1 penalty to do stuff).

What else? Let's detail this.

[rustic313]

Morale penalties for hirelings forced to cold camp seem reasonable.

Cold camping gets old. No hot chow... no tea/coffee... nowhere to sit around and socialize...

Hardened special forces like PCs might not care but the hirelings probably will.

[Zulgyan]

Yes, hireling morale should be an issue.

[Piper]

Con: loss of night vision (and infravision for demi-humans if you allow it in your campaign).

[Porphyre]

May 1, 2020 21:53:52 GMT -6 Zulgyan said:

Yes, hireling morale should be an issue.

Not to mention the Hobbits won't stop complaining about the fact they already had to skip Elevenses and Afternoon tea ...

[tkdco2]

May 3, 2020 8:38:35 GMT -6 Porphyre said:

May 1, 2020 21:53:52 GMT -6 Zulgyan said:

Yes, hireling morale should be an issue.

Not to mention the Hobbits won't stop complaining about the fact they already had to skip Elevenses and Afternoon tea ...

Unless they're Dark Sun halflings, who'll just eat you instead.

[bigjackbrass]

Cold camping isn't merely uncomfortable, it can kill you. In freezing conditions you need a fire to melt your drinking water and, of course, to stay warm: Jack London's To Build a Fire is a recommended read. Unless you really know what you are doing and have some helpful gear then in colder conditions a fire is vital.

We tend to picture a clearing with everyone stretched out on their blankets around a teepee-shaped campfire, but that's often a lousy way to camp. Shelter is needed, especially if you're not lighting a fire (a basic shelter of branches with a blanket over the top makes quite a difference), for extra warmth and to stay dry. If you are cold then you're not going to have an uncomfortable night, you'll have an entirely worthless one. The following day you'll be sore, groggy, clumsy and vulnerable.

You can certainly go too far in a game, insisting on survival rolls every time the party sets up camp, but in a number of situations having a fire is not a choice, it's absolutely necessary.

[Finarvyn]

Campfires with advantage roll 2d20 and keep the better one.

[dicebro]

No difference in my game. That’s because I don’t distinguish between day and night. I just roll a d6 at the end of the move. It’s faster that way. Cheers.

[Vile Traveller]

If it's warm enough without one, do without. If you'll die without one, make one but expect visitors.

On the other hand, as mentioned above it's the intelligent wanderers who are the problem when it comes to campfires, because they're the only ones likely to approach one. If you are more afraid of the local wildlife, it's probably better to light one.

[tkdco2]

In my group we always have someone keeping watch in case of trouble. So if we need a fire, we build it.

[dicebro]

One disadvantage of a campfire is gathering dry wood. That takes a while unless you bring your own. Also, if it rains, then you’ve got a problem. Wet wood. Then there is the poison ivy, Bugs, And the snakes. Lots of potential problems of course, that all depends on how much you want to simulate an actual campfire experience. I did a search of the 3 little brown books for “campfire” and could not find one. The night time wilderness part of the game is as detailed as a referee wants to get but there aren’t any guidelines in the white box on how to do it. So be creative and have fun. Maybe create a die roll table from doing research about travel and camping in ancient times. I’d be willing to bet there are some accurate sources in the library.