Rules for Fishing in OSR RPGs

Fishing? Really? Yep. There isn't an online video game in the world (well, maybe one)  that doesn't include fishing as an activity. Yet as I started to write this post I went looking for fishing, and "lo" did I find Vinlocks Ultimate Guide to Freshwater Fishing. It is pretty detailed and seems a little heavy to me for normal OSR play.

Why no fishing inmost games? I can see why there wouldn't be rules, fishing after all is boring as heck. Also it gives the PCs a free way to feed themselves. Some designers might want to force PCs to buy food and use that mechanism to strip the players of gold pieces.

Personally, I think its just because fishing is boring. None the less it might be important at some point for the players to keep their characters alive! I'm presenting here some rules for you that should remove the "boring" from the act of fishing and resolve the action with the "excitement" of an exploding die. So I'm going to assume here that we are talking about survival fishing and with that assumption we are not including the use of fishing nets, spears, or traps, but rather a rod and pole of survival manufacture, or a pre-purchased rod.

Fishing Rod: A two part rod that can be fitted together to create a longer rod. A number of strands of twine-like fishing line and a number of metal/bone hooks. Costing 5gp

Manufacturing a crude-rod, line, and hook while in the wild (assuming you have at least a knife) takes at least three hours and produces a crude rod, line and hook that can only be used once.

The act of fishing takes at least an hour. 

Roll 1D6, 

+1 for having a Fishing Rod (not Crude-rod)

+1 when fishing in moving river, or a lake of 1 acre or more in size.

On a 6+ You get enough fish to feed one character for one day. 

If the die rolls a natural 6, it explodes, and continues to explode on further 6s. Each additional die rolled (regardless of result) grants enough fish for another character, and costs an additional 15 minutes. Mods do not apply to exploding die rolls.

Example: Jake has a purchased fishing rod (+1) and is fishing a moving river (+1). He sits beside the river to fish for an hour (rolls 6, +2 mods = 8) . He has enough fish to eat for a day. The 6 on the die means he gets to roll a second die (rolls a 4, no mods apply). The second die does not explode again as he didn't roll a 6, however just  rolling a second die means he gains enough fish for a second character, and this took 1 hour 15 minutes.