Ice-Fishing Mini Game (5e Compatible, Rules-Light)
A two-part winter festival mini-game for your table: an ice fishing competition followed by a creature battle royale. Perfect for a holiday one-shot or a fun side activity in your campaign.
Every year, my online group holds a special event called Fishapalooza, where each of us "hosts" a stall or runs a one-shot taking place at a festival all about FISH. Sometimes it's on a tropical island, sometimes it's in a cute bustling port town, and one year we did it in December so we set it in the polar north at Christmas. This is a very silly mini-game anyone can slide into their party's adventure for some fierce yet nonviolent festival fun.
What's included: This post contains all the rules you need to run this event. While we were playing using Nimble, this is just as compatible with D&D and easily tweaked for other systems. I also made digital creature cards and tokens this—download links are at the bottom. ++ Skip to downloads
Part 1: Ice Fishing Race
Setting the Scene
Out on the frozen ocean, holes have been cut into the ice. Hefty fishing rods with odd-shaped hooks wait nearby—upon closer inspection, the hooks seem to have some kind of paralytic catch-and-release system installed.
A crowd of spectators is gathering to watch the competition. The holes are surprisingly big... what could be lurking below the ice?
How It Works
This is a timed event: how many fish can you catch in 4 rounds?
Each round, players:
- Describe their approach. Ask them: "What stat is your character rolling with? How are you trying to catch fish?" The stranger the better, really—let that RP shine.
- Roll the dice. The result determines which creature they catch (see table below).
- Record the catch. Track what each player catches—they'll need these creatures for Part 2.
Catch Table
| Roll | Creature |
|---|---|
| 1–5 | Nothing! |
| 6–8 | Tohohoad |
| 9–11 | Pirhanukka |
| 12–15 | Chrab |
| 16–19 | Snanta |
| 20+ | Octomas |
We played with low-level characters. Adjust the ranges to suit your party!
Running the Event
- Make it dramatic! When someone catches a new creature for the first time, describe it with flair. The teeth are gnashing! The tentacles are tentacle-ing!
- Track catches on a shared table. Here's an example:
| Player | Tohohoad | Pirhanukka | Chrab | Snanta | Octomas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bash | — | — | 1 | 3 | — |
| Verinya | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 |
| Zid | 1 | 1 | — | — | 2 |
| Hank | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 |
- Speed things up after Round 1. Have each player roll their remaining 3 rounds at once, and go through them one person at a time. Just make sure anyone who pulls up a new creature gets the full fanfare.
- Accidents happen. If a stray NPC gets snapped up by something with teeth... well, it's a dangerous place.
After everyone's caught (and released) their catches, have the spectators cheer and usher them into a nearby tent.
Part 2: Creature Battle Royale
Setting the Scene
Inside the large tent, it's dark except for a small pedestal illuminated at the centre of the room. Magic wisps around it. As you approach, you recognize the pedestal as a recreation of the shoreline outside, but less frozen over, with tiny icebergs floating in the water.
Leaning in closer, little shapes wiggle around in the water—you recognize miniature conjurations of the creatures you caught outside.
The spectators around you, hushed as you entered, now begin to slowly chant: "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Fish Fight!
Players use the creatures they caught in Part 1 to battle it out in a tiny magical arena. The player with the last creature standing wins!
Setup
- Share the creature cards so everyone can see each creature's stats and abilities.
- I drew up a very simple map the day of, with mostly water but some icebergs and shoreline.
- Populate your arena with tokens for each player's catches. (I used Owlbear Rodeo with my online group, and put coloured rings around tokens to show which player owns each creature. To each their own for choice of VTT!)
- Give your players a verbal rundown of the simplified combat rules below, then roll initiative!
- Use the initiative order to have each player choose where their fish begin in the arena. (I just assigned corners since I had 4 players.)
- FIGHT TO THE (magically simulated) DEATH!
Simplified Combat Rules
- Three action points per round. On your turn, you can use an action point to have a creature move or attack, in any combination. You can spend all your Action Points on 1 creature or use them on different creatures. If you take a reaction (Octomas) while it's someone else's turn, you have one less Action Point the next time you take your turn.
- No attack rolls. If you're in reach, just roll damage.
- Movement: All creatures can swim. Some can also move on land/ice (check their stat card for "speed" vs "swim").
- Abilities: Each creature has special actions noted on their card.
We were using Nimble not D&D at the time; the action point system above is based on how combat works in Nimble!
The Prize
What does the winner get? It could be a pile of gold. It could be a cake shaped like one of their creatures. In our game, it was...
Pink Pufflepill Gillfish
Wondrous Item, Requires Attunement
A pink fish the size of a fingernail floats demurely in the water before you—possibly the cutest fish you have ever seen. When swallowed alive, the Pink Pufflepill Gillfish grants its power to the swallower.
Attunement: A creature attunes to this item by swallowing it alive, gaining the following benefits:
- Charisma Boost. Your Charisma score becomes 19 while you have the fish in your body. This has no effect if your Charisma is already 19 or higher.
- Aquatic Charm. You have advantage on Charisma checks when interacting with underwater creatures.
- Spellcasting. You can use an action to cast one of the following spells: Entangle, Invisibility, or Polymorph. Once used, each spell can't be cast again until the next dawn. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
- Gills. You grow a pair of gills that allow you to breathe underwater.
Cursed. When a creature swallows the fish, they are cursed. They automatically attune to the fish and cannot remove it from their body. While attuned, the creature gains the following flaw: "You cannot resist cute things."
Downloads
Download the creature stat cards and tokens for use in your VTT or for printing below. Files are PNGs, downloaded as a zipped folder.
- Creature Cards — Stats and abilities for all five creatures
- Creature Tokens — For use in Owlbear Rodeo, Foundry, Roll20, etc.
Disclaimer: I ran this one time, and we had fun! Has not been playtested beyond that—but if you give it a spin and have some thoughts, let me know! ++ hello@questadon.com