This came up in my local campaign.

Do nobles fish? My initial reaction was to say 'no, of course not,' but one of my (more rurally inclined) players pointed out that hunting and fishing do seem to go hand in hand. What say you?

Hunting yes, it's traditional and allows you to show off and practise your skills of horse riding, spear use, archery etc. Tracking a deer or killing a boar - these are manly things.

But getting into a boat, using nets to catch slimy things? Where is the romance/skill/challenge in that? Besides, it's a job done by plebs, no-one owns the oceans. River fishing is not a courtly pursuit.

Mark

I'm not sure he means open sea fishing. More like Rod and Reel fishing, in river, brook and lake.
I can imagine that trout fishing might be a noble pasttime, but I'm not sure.

My first thought when I read this was.

Have the Knight make a worldy/lustful roll.
The only reason i could think of why a member of the noble class would do this was to have a secret meeting with a lover.
Or a romance roll if this was a task set by the court of roses.
or it was just my dirty mind

I think I would agree with others and say that fishing doesn't seem to be a knightly thing to me - unless perhaps it is for a very specific prize, some fantastical beast that has been sighted in the Lord's River - but atempting to catch minnows? I don't think so!

If you combine fishing with the Boating skill, it might actually make Boating a useful skill then ... for the commoners, anyway. :)

This came up in my local campaign.

Do nobles fish? My initial reaction was to say 'no, of course not,' but one of my (more rurally inclined) players pointed out that hunting and fishing do seem to go hand in hand. What say you?



I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Fisher King.

Which I wouldn't accept as evidence of nobles fishing at all.

--Greg

I don't believe we were referencing any particular type of fishing. The thing is, there are so many ways of fishing as to boggle the mind. There are just so many tools to do it, such as nets, rod and reel, spear, gigs, bow, hand grenades and dynamite....


I'm inclined to agree that net fishing is not likely 'noble.' Fishing with a rod is so unlike real labor that it almost strikes me as noble. Spear fishing and bow fishing do seem enough like hunting that they might make sense. Although on the whole, I'm still inclined to go with my initial "no, of course not" I also have to admit, I don't have any historic evidence per se to back that up.

Just a short reply...

Quote from Rob :
"On a completely unrelated note, do nobles fish? My initial reaction was to say 'no, of course not,' but one of my (more rurally inclined) players pointed out that hunting and fishing do seem to go hand in hand."

Traditionnaly nobles don't fish ! Never in arthurian legend; Hunting is for knights and fishing for monks ! The exception is the Fisher King but he's "méhaignié" and lose his virility and sexuality with "dolorous strike"... He can't hunting, only fishing is possible... For symbol, fishing is "contemplative" view and hunting is "active" view... and Jesus is egaly a fisher not a hunter.

I wonder if the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch makes it acceptable....
Sorry, couldn't resist.

I wonder if the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch makes it acceptable....
Ha!
Even if it did, you'ld have to convince the clerics that guard this wondrous artefact that you would need it to kill a ungodly or fiendish beast in the water. And then the creature in question probably would be too impure (not to mention vile tasting) to eat.... ;)

But you don't have to eat it, think of the Glory! you could just have it stuffed. Maybe in that case fishing might be a knightly pursuit. But not catching tiddlers, I think.

Mark

I wonder if the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch makes it acceptable....
Ha!
Even if it did, you'ld have to convince the clerics that guard this wondrous artefact that you would need it to kill a ungodly or fiendish beast in the water. And then the creature in question probably would be too impure (not to mention vile tasting) to eat.... ;)


I don't know about that. There seems to be a direct relationship between grossosity of the animal and it's taste. Lobsters and crabs, look like giant bugs, but taste like a little bit of heaven. Pigs wallow around in their own filth, but bacon makes anything better (or at least, so I'm told). Worst (and best) of all are snails escargot is a delicacy (again, at least I'm told so).

As a general rule I avoid eating things that wallow in anything slimy as an everyday activity, but they do have their fans.

Counterpoint: babies are adorable and delicious.