Dehydration Rules
- At August 09, 2020
- By Great Quail
- In Deadlands
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All day I’ve faced a barren waste
Without the taste of water, cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water
Cool, clear, water
Keep a-movin’, Dan, don’t’cha listen to him, Dan
He’s a devil, not a man
He spreads the burning sand with water
The nights are cool and I’m a fool
Each star’s a pool of water
Cool water
But with the dawn I’ll wake and yawn
And carry on to water
Water, water, water,
Cool, clear, water
—Bob Nolan, “Cool Water”
Introduction
Whether searching for a lost city of gold, driven to starvation by a vision quest, or simply abandoned by gloating enemies, any self-respecting Deadlands character finds himself wandering the desert at least once in his career! After all, if it can happen to Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it can happen to you. And as countless adventurers have discovered, the pitiless sun and lack of food are terrible, but the real killer is dehydration. The fear of dying by thirst haunts more westerns than just Sergio Leone’s masterpiece, from George Plympton’s The Crooked Trail to the forgotten spaghetti western Johnny Yuma. It’s also a common plot device in desert adventures and tales of shipwreck, from Lawrence of Arabia to Open Water. The Internet Movie Database even has a page on the subject!
One of the joys of role-playing is developing gaming mechanics for horrifying situations. And while Deadlands may not demand the range of fear-based mechanics required by Call of Cthulhu or Vampire: The Masquerade, the official Savage Worlds rules on “Thirst” offer little guidance to Marshals setting a scenario in the harsh conditions of an arid desert or saltwater ocean. The following system expands the Savage Worlds rules on dehydration, offers a detailed description of dehydration-based “Fatigue,” and suggests a game mechanic for rationing water supplies.
Dehydration
Death by dehydration is a terrible fate, and historical literature is filled with brutal first-hand accounts of travelers suffering from extended periods of thirst. A suitably harrowing description is found in Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea, an account of the survivors of the destroyed whaleship Essex. It is worth quoting at length:
In 1906, W. J. McGee, Director of the St. Louis Public Museum, published one of the most detailed and graphic descriptions of the ravages of extreme dehydration ever recorded. McGee’s account was based on the experiences of Pablo Valencia, a forty-year-old sailor-turned-prospector, who survived almost seven days in the Arizona desert without water. The only liquid Valencia drank during his ordeal was the few drops of moisture he was able to extract from a scorpion and his own urine, which he collected each day in his canteen.
The men of the Essex were driven to similar extremes. “In vain was every expedient tried to relieve the raging fever of the throat,” Chase recalled. They knew that drinking saltwater would only worsen their condition, but this did not stop some of them from attempting to hold small quantities of it in their mouths, hoping that they might absorb some of the moisture. It only increased their thirst. Like Valencia, they drank their urine. “Our suffering during these calm days,” Chase wrote, “almost exceeded human belief.”
The Essex survivors had entered what McGee describes as the “cotton-mouth” phase of thirst. Saliva becomes thick and foul-tasting; the tongue clings irritatingly to the teeth and the roof of the mouth. Even though speech is difficult sufferers are often moved to complain ceaselessly about their thirst until their voices become so cracked and hoarse that they can speak no more. A lump seems to form in the throat, causing the sufferer to swallow repeatedly in a vain attempt to dislodge it. Severe pain is felt in the head and neck. The face feels full due to the shrinking of the skin. Hearing is affected, and many people begin to hallucinate.
Still to come for the Essex crew were the agonies of a mouth that has ceased to generate saliva. The tongue hardens into what McGee describes as “a senseless weight, swinging on the still-soft root and striking foreignly against the teeth.” Speech becomes impossible, although sufferers are known to moan and bellow. Next is the “blood sweats” phase, involving a “progressive mummification of the initially living body.” The tongue swells to such proportions that it squeezes past the jaws. The eyelids crack and the eyeballs begin to weep tears of blood. The throat is so swollen that breathing becomes difficult, creating an incongruous yet terrifying sensation of drowning. Finally, as the power of the sun inexorably draws the remaining moisture from the body, there is “living death,” the state into which Pablo Valencia had entered when McGee discovered him on a desert trail, crawling on his hands and knees:
[H]is lips had disappeared as if amputated, leaving low edges of blackened tissue; his teeth and gums projected like those of a skinned animal, but the flesh was black and dry as a hank of jerky; his nose was withered and shrunken to half its length, and the nostril-lining showing black; his eyes were set in a wink-less stare, with surrounding skin so contracted as to expose the conjunctiva, itself black as the gums . . . ; his skin [had] generally turned a ghastly purplish yet ashen gray, with great livid blotches and streaks; his lower legs and feet, with forearms and hands, were torn and scratched by contact with thorns and sharp rocks, yet even the freshest cuts were so many scratches in dry leather, without trace of blood.
Thanks to their daily half pint of water, the men of the Essex had not yet reached this point—but they were deteriorating rapidly.
While Pablo Valencia is one of the most famous cases of dehydration, the history of the West is filled with grim ordeals where travelers struggled to survive waterless conditions. An interested Marshal may research the Donner Party crossing the salt desert past Hasting’s Cutoff in 1846, the march of the Mormon Battalion to the Pacific Coast in 1847, the retreat of General Sibley’s Texans after the Battle of Glorieta Pass in 1862, or the “Staked Plains Horror of 1877,” an incident where the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry became lost in the waterless expanse of the Llano Estacado.
Game Mechanics: Water
Bless the Maker and His water.
Bless the coming and going of Him.
May His passage cleanse the world.
May He keep the world for His people.
—Frank Herbert, Dune
The official Savage Worlds rules state that an average adult male requires a daily minimum of two quarts of water under normal conditions, and a full gallon under conditions involving extreme heat, exertion, and sweating. While these quantities are lower than those suggested by contemporary health experts, they serve as minimum values required to stave off dehydration. Needless to say, traveling the desert counts as “extreme heat, exertion, and sweating!”
Sources of Dehydration
Water is lost by the body through defecation, urination, perspiration, and respiration. As the body begins to dehydrate, these functions become impaired, and begin shutting down in that order. A dehydrated character stops having bowel movements, urinates less frequently, and eventually stops sweating—a very dangerous sign! An adult male loses between 1½ to 2½ quarts of water each hour of heavy perspiration, so a character in danger of dehydration should avoid activities that cause sweating. Travel by night is advised, and physical exertion should be kept to a minimum. Eventually a dehydrated character cannot generate salvia, a sure harbinger of impending doom.
Carrying Water
As every hiker knows, water is surprisingly heavy; a single quart weighs almost 2.1 pounds, and a gallon weighs just over 8.3 pounds. If the Marshal and players are invested in encumbrance rules, these factors must be considered when budgeting the party’s water supply. For instance, a party of six preparing for a “safe” week in the desert requires a minimum of 42 gallons, or 350 pounds of water! And this is just drinking water—hygiene is another matter.
Pack Animals
If the travelers are accompanied by animals, their water needs must also be considered. A healthy horse requires 10 gallons of water each day, and may carry up to 300 pounds of weight. A mule requires the same amount of water as a horse, but carries only 200 pounds. A better choice is the burro, a small donkey bred to carry packs. A burro requires half the water intake of a horse and dehydrates more slowly. A burro only carries 150 pounds, but that’s enough water for three comfortable days of travel with a human partner. Of course, camels are the ideal desert companion. A domesticated camel may carry between 400–600 pounds of weight, and only requires water every ten days. Under emergency conditions, a camel may travel for months without drinking!
Metric Conversions
For those more comfortable with the metric system, one pint is 473 mL, so a quart of water is roughly equivalent to a liter, and has a mass just under one kilogram. One gallon is roughly 3.8 liters, and has a mass of 3.8 kg. One kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds.
Rationing Regimes
This is the bond of water… A man’s flesh is his own; the water belongs to the tribe.
—Frank Herbert, Dune
Even under ideal conditions, it’s sound policy to regulate water reserves while traveling through a desert. The following guidelines offer mechanics for four rationing regimes. No matter which regime is initially enacted, transitioning from a normal water intake to a restricted regimen grants a “grace period” of one day to adjust—the Vigor rolls begin on the second day of rationing. However, if dwindling water supplies force a further reduction in rations, a character already suffering from Fatigue or Exhaustion moves directly to the next level when he fails a Vigor roll.
Moderate Rationing (2 quarts/day)
Reducing a character’s water intake to two quarts per day requires the character to make a Vigor roll every 12 hours. Failing the roll brings Fatigue. No further Vigor rolls are required as long as this hydration level is maintained.
Strict Rationing (1 quart/day)
Reducing a character’s water intake to one quart per day requires the character to make a Vigor roll every 12 hours. Failing this Vigor roll brings Fatigue. However, the character must continue making Vigor rolls every 12 hours. (With Fatigue adding a –1 penalty to each roll.) The next failed roll brings Exhaustion. No further Vigor rolls are required as long as this hydration level is maintained.
Extreme Rationing (1 pint/day)
Reducing a character’s water intake to one pint per day requires the character to make a Vigor roll every 12 hours. Failing the first Vigor roll brings Fatigue. The second failed roll brings Exhaustion. The third failed roll brings Incapacitation. (Each of these rolls is subject to the appropriate penalties.) Every day, the incapacitated character must make a Vigor roll. If the roll is successful, he remains incapacitated but conscious. If the roll is failed, he begins suffering “Death by Dehydration” as described below.
Survival Rationing (<1 pint/day)
Reducing a character’s water intake to less than one pint per day requires the character to make a Vigor roll every 12 hours. Failing the first Vigor roll brings Fatigue. The second failed roll brings Exhaustion. The third failed roll brings Incapacitation. (Each of these rolls is subject to the appropriate penalties.) The character automatically begins suffering “Death by Dehydration” as described below.
Modifiers
The Marshal should adjust these Vigor rolls to reflect the behavior of the characters. If they have been traveling by night and avoiding perspiration, a +2 bonus may be applied; whereas undue exertion and sweating invites a –2 penalty. If a character’s rations fall somewhere between two regimes—say 1½ quarts per day—the Marshal should round to the more favorable category, but make the Vigor rolls more challenging. The Marshal may also expand or contract the length of time between Vigor rolls; but these periods should not be shorter than 6 hours or longer than 24 hours.
Dehydration-Based Fatigue
The official Savage Worlds rulebook deals with dehydration in the chapter on “Situational Rules.” Described under the heading of “Thirst” on page 89, dehydration is simply mapped onto the standard Fatigue system of Fatigue/Exhaustion/Incapacitation. Because these categories are fairly generic, the following descriptions provide guidance for role-playing Fatigue levels based solely on dehydration.
Fatigue
All Trait rolls receive a –1 penalty. The character occasionally stumbles, experiences headaches, and has difficulty concentrating for extended periods of time. Defecation and urination occur less frequently.
Exhaustion
All Trait rolls receive a –2 penalty. All the effects of Fatigue are experienced, plus the character suffers from painful cramps, dizziness, and hearing loss. Sweating occurs less frequently. The feeling of “cotton mouth” makes speech uncomfortable, and the character feels like he must constantly swallow. Every 12 hours, a Spirit roll must be passed or the character experiences a Dire Thirst Consequence from the table below.
Incapacitation
The character cannot move under his own power, and cannot make active Trait rolls. (Passive resistance rolls may be allowed at the Marshal’s discretion.) The character’s mouth has ceased to produce saliva, and his tongue swells to ghastly proportions. A feeling of agonizing thirst envelops the character, who paradoxically feels like he’s drowning. A Spirit roll is required to speak, with a failure producing an unintelligible groaning or bellowing. Lips and eyelids peel and crack, and blood seeps from the eyes. Visual and auditory hallucinations are frequent.
Dire Thirst Consequences (DTC)
Upon failing a Spirit roll, an Exhausted character suffers a “Dire Thirst Consequence” from the table below. A d10 is rolled and the effect is role-played. To reflect fraying sanity and escalating desperation, each failed Spirit roll generates a cumulative +1 modifier on the next DTC roll. The player is encouraged to weave these “dire consequences” into a narrative continuity, role-playing a character that is steadily deteriorating.
| 1d10 | Effect |
| 1-5 | Character experiences hallucinations for 1d4 hours. |
| 6-7 | Character begs for additional water rations. If the character is alone, he exceeds his rations. |
| 8 | Character sees a mirage of water, and will do anything to obtain it. |
| 9 | Character attempts to steal water rations. If alone, the character grossly exceeds his rations. |
| 10 | Character attempts to drink any liquid—blood, urine, saltwater, alcohol, etc. |
| 11 | Character collapses for 2d4 hours and cannot be roused. |
| 12 | In a momentary lapse of sanity, the character attempts to murder another character! If the character is alone, he drinks his remaining supply of water. The next failed Spirit roll brings a suicide attempt. |
For example, three bandits named Brian, Noelle, and Tyson are stranded in the desert. As their water rations dwindle, Tyson suffers from Exhaustion. He fails his first Spirit roll. (Made at a –2 Exhaustion penalty.) He rolls a 1d10 = 3 on the DTC table and suffers 1d4 hours of hallucinations: The desert is an ocean! There’s plenty of water! The angels are speaking to him! Twelve hours later, Tyson fails his second Spirit roll. He rolls 1d10+1 = 10 on the DTC table, and drinks the blood of a rattlesnake. Twelve hours later, Tyson fails his third Spirit roll, the poor wretch! He rolls 1d10+2 = 12 on the DTC table. Tyson plunges a knife into Noelle’s throat, laughing as he gobbles down her blood!
Death by Dehydration
Once an Incapacitated character begins the downward spiral of Death by Dehydration, he enters the phase of dehydration best described as “living mummification.” A character on this fatal path must make a Spirit roll every 12 hours, with each roll penalized by a cumulative –1 Dehydration Modifier. Failing a Spirit roll results in a fatal stroke. However, if the Marshal is particularly cruel, the character may be subjected to the “living death” described by W.J. McGee, transformed into a Harrowed character with the appearance of a desiccated mummy!
Recovery
A character affected by dehydration cannot be cured using the Healing skill or Greater Healing power. Only water can revive him. A dehydrated character must be gradually given water—too much water can lead to shock. (Modern methods involve saline IVs, but needless to say this is unavailable in the Old West.) Two quarts of water must be administered every 8-hour period, with each period reducing the character’s Fatigue by one level. If there is less water available, the Marshal may demand Vigor rolls to “pass” each restorative transition. This system is only applicable for characters who are Fatigued, Exhausted, or Incapacitated. If the character is suffering Death by Dehydration, the Marshal may prolong recovery by extending the 8-hour period to 24 hours, demand Vigor checks for Fatigue Level transitions, and inflict some form of permanent injury or Hindrance upon the recovered character—perhaps a 1-die reduction in Vigor and a permanent fear of thirst?
Succor
While Greater Healing cannot cure dehydration, the Succor power allows the caster to restore one level of Fatigue. Nevertheless, because Succor cannot address the root cause of dehydration Fatigue, the benefactor must continue making Vigor rolls appropriate to his rationing regime. Furthermore, each attempt to Succor the same individual brings a cumulative –2 penalty to the Spellcasting roll.
Finding Water
Thirsty Deadlands characters may attempt to stave off dehydration by drinking other fluids, locating water, or even conjuring water.
Drinking Other Fluids
Characters experiencing extreme thirst may be tempted to drink saltwater, blood, urine, or alcohol. However, a successful Survival roll realizes that such liquids actually make dehydration worse! While the sensation of moisture may being temporary relief, drinking any one of these fluids incurs a –1 penalty to the next Vigor roll. Furthermore, human urine and animal blood may contain toxins. (A notable exception is raw fish, and numerous shipwreck victims survived by sucking the water from fish. Their spines and eyeballs are apparently the best source!)
Survival Skill
Even the most arid desert supports life, usually in the form of insects, arachnids, and cacti. Once per day, a Survival roll vs. TN-8 may squeeze one pint of water from a desert or ocean, whether from pressing cacti, locating buried pockets of water, harvesting the morning dew, catching fish, etc. Each raise on this roll earns an additional pint of water.
Arcane Powers
Some Arcane abilities may be used to locate water. For instance, folk traditions like dowsing and doodlebugging may divine the presence of water, and Arcane characters may use powers such as Wilderness Ally or Beast Friend to “inquire” after hidden springs and wells. However, such powers can only locate existing sources—a radiesthesia pendulum or bewitched roadrunner can’t lead a traveler to an oasis that doesn’t exist! Only the Marshal knows whether or not such methods will be effective in a given area. A generous Marshal may decide that a successful divination attempt locates a plump stand of cacti, or a rocky depression filled with stagnant rainwater, or a sudden influx of flying fish cheerfully toppling into one’s lifeboat. Or, she may decide that a character’s dowsing rod leads to the heartbreak of a dry gulch, preferably adorned with a human skeleton!
Some arcane powers enable the caster to actually create water. According to the Savage Worlds rules, Elemental Manipulation conjures one pint of water for every Power Point expended. However, this is under normal conditions—desert conditions should make this feat somewhat more miraculous, demanding a higher expenditure of Power Points. This elevated difficulty may also be reflected in a higher Target Number for success, or a longer “cooldown” period before the spell can be recast. Spells that affect the weather may be used to summon rain, but bringing rain to a desert represents a challenging transition, and should also be subject to the same types of penalties applied to Elemental Manipulation.
For example, the Hunkpapa medicine man Akecheta is lost in the badlands. After becoming Fatigued by dehydration, he decides to cast Call Weather. Because he’s trying to summon rain from a cloudless desert sky, the Marshal sets the cost at 8 Power Points, or four times the usual amount, and elevates the Target Number to 8. After an hour-long rain dance, Akecheta rolls his d10 Tribal Medicine vs. TN-8, adjusting the roll with a –1 Fatigue Penalty. He fails the roll, and the Marshal rules out a second attempt until a full day has passed. Akecheta spends a Fate Chip to reroll the failed result, and he gets a raise. The clouds gather in a freak storm, and suddenly the desert is awash with cool, clear water!
Weird Science
In a Deadlands campaign that embraces the Weird Science of a steampunk milieu, Savant characters may use technical abilities to produce freshwater. Some possibilities include dehumidifiers, dew collectors, and weather controllers. Of course, the ne plus ultra is the “invention” of a moisture containment system, the nineteenth-century analog of the stillsuit from Frank Herbert’s Dune. Savants looking to design such devices should work with the Marshal and map them to appropriate Savage Worlds powers.
For example, finding himself adrift in a small dingey, the Savant Edward Prendick uses Elemental Manipulation to produce fresh water via “Dr. Prendick’s Desalinization Tablets.” Because there’s no freshwater for hundreds of miles, the Marshal rules that “purifying” one pint of seawater costs 3 Power Points and requires a Weird Science roll vs. TN-6. Furthermore, each successive attempt to cast Elemental Manipulation on the same day raises the Target Number by 2. Hopefully Prendick will be rescued soon—after all, what could be worse than his current fate?
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.And every tongue, through utter drought,
Was withered at the root;
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Sources & Notes
My first introduction to the effects of extreme hydration was Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. An excellent book, Philbrick cannot be held responsible for Ron Howard’s shitty movie adaptation. (Please note that Ron Howard has won an Oscar for Best Director, but not David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Spike Lee, or Quentin Tarantino.) Philbrick’s book led me to W.J. McGee’s original article, “Desert Thirst as a Disease,” printed here in the Journal of the Southwest with Bill Broyles’ useful introduction. The most helpful source of hard data was Claude A. Piantadosi’s The Biology of Human Survival: Life and Death in Extreme Environments. It’s a depressing read, but confirms that humans can survive up to 7-10 days without water, the reason I extended the duration of Vigor rolls past the official Savage Worlds system. Also helpful in the creation of this expansion were W.C. Nunn’s 1940 article, “Eighty-Six Hours without Water on the Texas Plains” from the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, “Four Things to Know about the Journey of the Mormon Battalion” from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, “Feeding Donkeys” from FAO.org, and “Water Usage in Desert Operations” from the Army Study Guide.
Image Credits
The banner image uses a still from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and depicts Tuco escorting “Blondie” into the desert. I borrowed the original photograph from “Sergio Leone: The Surrealist Western,” found on Doug Kim’s “Chasing Light” blog. The second image was based on a photo from Shutterstock. The song “Cool Water” was written in 1936 by Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. It has been covered by countless artists, including Hank Williams, Marty Robbins, Odetta, Johnny Cash, and Fleetwood Mac; and most recently appeared in the Coen Brother’s movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. And yes, Muad’Dib, “Ya hya chouhada!”
Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 9 August 2020
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
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