TEXT: RIVERS
  AND
  RIVER
  ENCOUNTERS
  Follow Me, And Die!
  Larry Hamilton
  SNI-005
  
  i
  Text Copyright: Follow Me, And Die! Entertainment, LLC © 2018
  Blog: followmeanddie.com
  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FollowMeAndDie
  Follow Me, And Die! Avatar by Satine Phoenix
  Cover Illustration: Art In the Public Domain
  Font: Liberation Serif, SIL Open Font License 1.1
  Rivers & River Encounters
  Tables and Musings to Help Make Rivers and River Encounters
  Rivers serve many purposes, from water and food supply to transportation and borders.
  They are impediments to cross or boundaries to defend. Within these pages, you will
  find ideas and random tables to help you add some variety to the rivers and encounters
  in, on, and around them more interesting.
  
  Table of Contents
  Placing Rivers
  2
  Topics To Keep In Mind
  2
  Source
  2
  Beginnings
  2
  Endings
  2
  Crossings
  3
  Ferry
  4
  Bridge
  4
  Portage
  5
  Control of Traffic
  5
  Weather
  6
  Geology
  6
  What’s On The Bluff?
  6
  What’s That Vessel Ahead?
  6
  What’s In The Deep Spot?
  6
  What Is the Nearest Crossing?
  7
  How Many Drops In The Rapids?
  7
  What’s Behind The Water Fall?
  7
  What’s In The Pool Beneath The Falls?
  7
  What Does The Mill Do?
  7
  Natural Obstacles
  8
  Manufactured Obstacles
  8
  Hazards
  8
  Characteristics Of River Section
  8
  Canals
  9
  Conclusion
  9
  Glossary
  10
  ii
  
  1
  Rivers come in all shapes and sizes, from dry creeks
  in the desert that only flow when it rains, to mighty
  rivers like the Missouri, Nile, or Amazon. They all
  have a source, tributaries, general direction of flow,
  branches, rapids, falls, and estuaries or mouths. They
  can be fast, slow, relatively short, or very long. They
  can freeze over in winter allowing wild herds, trade,
  or war to cross.
  All rivers have a means to cross them, whether by
  fording, ferrying, boat, or bridge. They all have a
  means to travel them if wide and deep enough. The
  creeks I wandered as a boy were rarely deep enough
  to find a spot to swim, so traffic would cross them at
  the easiest spot to avoid getting soaked or stuck.
  Larger rivers, like the Missouri were first avenues of
  exploration and trade. Nearly any size boat can be
  found, up to small ships, and a huge number of
  barges.
  Intelligent races can attempt to wrest control of rivers
  for their own purposes, such as irrigation, dams to
  store water for dry conditions, dams for hydro power
  for grinding grain or sawing logs, or for generating
  electricity. Locks can be implemented to make a river
  part of a canal to make both trade and travel over
  difficult terrain more feasible.
  Where there is trade, there are towns, warehouses,
  shops, merchants, thieves, bandits, and river pirates.
  Where there is trade, the authorities come looking for
  taxes to pay for putting down the pirates and thieves,
  As the traffic becomes more peaceful, the taxes
  increase to cover more and more.
  Druids would argue against too drastic a change to a
  river, using their natural magic to thwart attempts to
  tame it.
  Rivers have their own wonders both to behold and
  dangerous to the unwary. Huge bluffs overlooking the
  river make a great place to jump in, but also make a
  great location for a fort or monster lair. Sand and
  gravel bars impede traffic, but can aid in crossing.
  They can also shift during flooding. Bends in rivers
  can host deep depressions suitable for the biggest
  fish, and the things that eat the biggest fish.
  Low areas form bogs, swamps, marshes, and fens.
  Trees fall and form areas to block traffic, make a
  danger to traffic, and hide both game and predator.
  Beavers construct dams for their homes and to make
  an environment to their liking. While attractive to
  other wildlife, farmers and villages may not like it.
  Rivers are also a source of water and great cities tend
  to only be built near them. They can become
  corrupted or polluted and poison the population and
  wildlife.
  The following terms and the ideas they suggest
  should be kept in mind when planning adventures
  involving rivers: terrain, geography, natural hazards,
  control of traffic, strategic points, wildlife (game and
  predator), monsters, thieves, bandits, and pirates.
  navy, patrol, tax and tariff collectors, trade wars,
  embargoes, boycotts, boat and ship construction,
  barge traffic, source, width, depth, falls, tributaries,
  branches, bends, bluffs, fords, ferries, bridges, canals,
  dams, locks, estuaries, mouths, watersheds. rain,
  floods, droughts, aqueducts, aquifers, caves, caverns,
  grottoes, cenotes, glaciers, ice, snow, spring thaw,
  flash floods, encounters,
  
  2
  Placing Rivers
  There are two methods of placing rivers. There may
  be other ways, but I think they would be sub classes
  of the following.
  1. Let the terrain you place on the map dictate where
  to put rivers.
  2. Draw the rivers first to dictate where you put the
  terrain.
  The following tables will aid with developing the
  river and its terrain, or help flesh out the river and
  terrain you provide. All of these tables will give you
  ideas to make the things they suggest your own.
  Keep in mind that water seeks its own level via the
  easiest path. Water only flows uphill via magic or
  great technological effort. Rivers do not branch, in
  most cases. Smaller creeks and rivers feed into lager
  streams and rivers. Eventually, rivers pour into lakes
  or seas.
  Rivers should flow away from higher elevations,even
  on vast plains will find the easiest path. If a nearly
  level plain, the river may meander in miles of
  switchbacks as it seeks the easiest path to the lowest
  point.
  Topics To Keep In Mind
  Rather than plot out the whole river, the GM can pick
  what part of the river they need for a specific location
  or encounter.
  All rivers have a few things in common:
  •
  Source or starting point
  •
  Beginnings
  •
  Endings
  •
  Crossings
  •
  Portage
  •
  Control of Traffic
  •
  Weather
  •
  Geology
  Source
  All streams & rivers have a source, or starting point.
  •
  Spring
  •
  Glacial Melt
  •
  Mountain Stream
  Beginnings
  The source of a river or stream is called the
  headwaters. Watercourses that begin as springs or
  flow from other openings in the ground are often
  considered holy places, or places of magic and
  healing.
  Finding the source of major rivers has been seen as a
  prize. The Nile was one of the last major rivers in the
  world to have its source documented by science.
  There is a game that was released in the 1980s called
  Source of The Nile. It is informed by the period of
  colonial expansion and exploration in Africa.
  Types of Beginnings:
  •
  Spring
  •
  Crack
  •
  Cave – Surface opening of underground river.
  Could be a very small opening that is enlarged
  by those who find it over time.
  •
  Glacial melt
  •
  Mountain peak – The annual spring thaw and
  rains maintain the flow of water.
  •
  Marshlands
  Endings
  There are two ways a river is considered to end, as an
  estuary into a body of water, whether fresh or salt
  water, such as a lake or ocean, or the confluence of
  two or more rivers into a single, larger river..
  Freshwater bodies can be ponds, lakes, or inland seas.
  The size of the water body will determine the
  navigability of the watercourse. Lakes and ponds
  may have marsh or swamp lands at the estuary in a
  relatively level area.
  Saltwater bodies tend to be seas or oceans. Often the
  mouth of rivers fill with sediment from silt and may
  limit navigation by seagoing vessels.
  
  3
  Crossings
  When a watercourse crosses your intended path, how
  do you cross it?
  These ideas can also be applied to other barriers, like
  gaps, gorges, peaks, etc.
  Step Over Them
  Walk, Step, Leap, Running Jump - For narrow creeks
  and streams.
  Find a better path
  The banks of creeks can be very steep on one side
  and low on the other. If traveling with mounts and
  wagons, it may require miles of detours to find a
  location to cross.
  Natural Bridge
  This can be a tree, rock, packed earth, packed snow,
  ice, or the bodies or bones of one or more dead
  creatures.
  Directed Natural Bridge
  Such as a root bridges.
  These are living trees, roots, or other plant matter
  guided by humans to cross over gorges and rivers.
  They can be quite elaborate and the surface of the
  bridge can be packed with dirt and fitted with stones
  to make a solid surface.
  Elves, druids, and other forest denizens make such
  structures in the trees.
  Ford
  A ford is a location for a natural or artificial crossing
  that allows individuals, mounts, and wagons to safely
  cross except during flooding. The ground on each
  side is often about the same level.
  Stepping Stones
  These tend to be smooth round stones that are
  commonly slick without water. Water makes them
  more so.
  Wise locals will replace or overlay them with flat
  stones for more sure footing.
  Mixed Stone & Natural Gravel
  The shallow area has trapped the smaller rocks and
  stones creating a wet, but serviceable crossing. The
  intervention of intelligent species may enhance it or
  destroy it for their own purposes.
  Sandy Crossing
  More gravel and sand than stones. Area could be
  prone to liquefaction with the sand becoming
  “quicksand.”
  Wet Crossing
  Anything from getting your feet wet to not so deep
  you’re swimming for foot traffic.
  Anything too deep to walk, but not needing a boat.
  Riding a riding animal or pack animal.
  A vehicle, whether rowed, polled, or drawn or pushed
  by animals or an engine.
  
  4
  Ferry
  Where the water is consistently deep enough that foot
  and vehicle traffic can’t make it, but a bridge is not
  justifiable or impossible.
  Ferries can cross a distance not much wider than the
  ferry, to great distances. In addition to crossing
  watercourses, they can cross lakes and seas to islands
  or cross straits.
  Ferries can be tethered or free. The simplest tethered
  ferries use the tether to pull the ferry and cargo along.
  Some use a capstan powered by the crew or beast(s)
  of burden. The capstan is put on the shore for the
  most efficiency. It could also be a tread wheel
  powered by the crew or beast of burden.
  Ferries have a fee that is what the market will bear.
  There is taxation of it, unless the ferry is initiated
  prior to “civilization” catching up with it.
  Often ferries exist in slightly deeper water to a nearby
  ford and is for those who want to stay dry, or for
  cargo that they don’t want to risk not getting to
  market. In this case, the ferry can’t charge too much,
  or people will simply go to the ford.
  Ferries are also used in locations that are too wide for
  existing technology or resources to bridge.
  Ferries can be passenger ferries which only
  accommodate people and their personal possessions.
  Basically boats.
  Vehicle and cargo ferries have ramps and flat decks to
  enable beast drawn vehicles and powered vehicles to
  embark and disembark.
  Bridge
  These vavy from simple footbridges for pedestrian
  traffic, to bridges allowing wagons to cross.
  Narrow bridges will have a system to control the flow
  of traffic if it is only wide enough for traffic in one
  direction.
  Daily shift changes, the length of the market day, etc.
  will influence the busiest time for narrow bridges.
  Taxes, fees, and tariffs are collected for maintenance
  costs and revenue for the crown.
  Construction most commonly uses the cheapest
  material available that can do the job.
  Wood is used for the narrowest spans that are not
  easily forded. Heavy traffic may lead to replacement
  with stone for durability and less frequent repairs and
  breakdowns. While wooden brides are more prone to
  washing out, even stone bridges can fail in severe
  floods with logs of debris.
  Stone can be used from the river, if enough can be
  found nearby. Otherwise you will need a quarry
  within a reasonable distance for the materials.
  Brick can be used for narrow spans if the materials
  and technology exist.
  Cement and Concrete technology can increase the
  distance that can be spanned with the knowledge to
  use pilings at the base of arches.
  Aqueducts are bridges for water. In areas where they
  cross the same spans as other traffic, they could share
  the same bridge.
  Aqueducts can also be used to extend watercourses
  for waterborne travel, and are called navigable
  aqueducts.
  An ancient well-built bridge may stay in service for
  centuries with little or no maintenance. If a portion of
  the bridge collapses and cannot be repaired, the
  remaining surface may become living space or a
  market, crowded with shops and houses, with a rope
  bridge connecting the remaining surface of the
  bridge.
  
  5
  Portage
  Similar to how a watercourse can interrupt land
  travel, land can interrupt water travel. There can be
  low points in a river such as where there is a ford,
  gravel or sand bar, collection of large stones, debris
  deposited by floods, or low water caused by drought.
  Portaging is simply porting (carrying) your craft
  overland until you reach more water. Historically, one
  thinks of the canoes of trappers and traders, and the
  boats of Lewis & Clark. However, there have been
  instances of sizable boats and ships being portaged.
  Normally, all but the smallest crafts are unloaded
  prior to portaging. This requires sufficient numbers to
  carry both the vessel and the cargo.
  For the largest vessels, trees are cut to make rollers
  for the vessel to be propelled over the rolling logs.
  The crew moves the logs already traversed to the
  front repeatedly, until deep water is reached.
  In ancient Greece there was a paved trackway, called
  the Diolkos, to ease moving hips and cargo over the
  isthmus of Corinth. This was roughly four miles.
  There are many types of things that can force the
  occupants of a water craft to portage it.
  •
  Low water
  •
  Drought
  •
  Sand bar
  •
  Gravel bar
  •
  Rocks
  •
  Landslide
  •
  Avalanche
  •
  Ice
  •
  Flood debris – rocks, trees, building, bodies, etc.
  •
  New bridges or ferry tether lines.
  •
  Collapsed bridges
  •
  Sunken or wrecked vessels.
  •
  Large water creatures like hippos, or monsters.
  •
  Rapids
  •
  Falls
  Control of Traffic
  Whether traveling on or across a watercourse, others
  will want to control it. Control can be in the form of
  legal or extralegal activity. What is considered
  extralegal in the heart of civilization, might be the
  closest thing to law in the borderlands.
  Theft
  Lone Thieves - These will be the pick pockets and
  those who prey on lone travelers.
  Bandits – A bit more organized and may operate a
  protection racket at the crossing or narrow point.
  Pirates – They will roam up and down the river to
  take the trade goods and other valuables. Land raids
  will be within striking distance of the river with a
  path kept clear to their fast escape route down river.
  Law
  Whether the frontier suddenly arrives or the already
  civilized interior, the law will make its presence felt
  in the form of taxation, fees, tariffs, fines and more.
  Individual – A self-appointed law man or the
  designated constable of the jurisdiction. They might
  deputize assistants. A paladin passing through might
  disrupt the bandits or pirates, and have to stay on to
  prevent their return. Any fees to help cover expenses,
  most will consider to be taxes.
  Garrison – Troops in a fortification. They will be
  placed in the most strategic point. If the high point is
  too far to practically control the traffic choke point on
  the river, they will establish a standing watch, or
  regular patrol to the high point.
  In a more civilized region or cities, the garrison will
  be the gatehouse or tower built over the tollbooth. A
  village or town will arise around these locations.
  Fort or Castle – Troops will have a more substantial
  and imposing base to project even more strength.
  Way Stations and Hostels – Way stations for officials,
  hostels, inns, and taverns will rise up along a road or
  river that is the main trade route. In the wilderness,
  the ruins of these from fallen empires might be the
  center point for a small village, or a hideout for
  bandits, goblins, or a lair of some monster.
  Boats, Barges, and Ships – The national or local ruler
  will patrol the river to protect their own investments
  in trade and to ensure taxes keep rolling in to
  maintain their power.
  
  6
  Weather
  Weather affects navigation of watercourses. Too
  much rain leads to flooding and until the chaos
  subsides navigation is dangerous. Drought leads to
  inability to travel, without portage. Seasonal
  variations in rainfall will lead to semi-predictable
  peaks and valleys in navigability. Winter in temperate
  and further regions will lead to ice partially or
  completely blocking traffic via the river.
  If frozen to sufficient thickness wild herd animals,
  followed by their predators can cross rivers that lack
  high banks. Bandits and war parties can utilize this
  new bridge also. Ice that is thin leads to accidents.
  Children feared lost beneath the ice or in danger of it
  could be an adventure hook.
  Drought of an extent to halt traffic will have
  repercussions on trade, irrigation, diplomacy, and
  many potentially dying of thirst. Water from a river is
  easier to access than boring through rock. Work
  projects to build cisterns for water storage for the
  next drought, and seeking water will lead to finding
  items of lost civilizations and provide many
  adventure hooks.
  Geology
  Hills and mountains and sedimentary rock along the
  banks will most likely hold some form of cave or
  cavern. They may be quite obvious or only be known
  to a few locals, or be the lairs of predators or
  monsters. Some could be bandit hideouts, hidden
  behind waterfalls, surface entrances to a cavern
  system that eventually leads to the underdark, or the
  interior world of the planet.
  Cliffs are natural outlooks and can slump if earth or
  soft stone, or boulders or dead trees can come
  crashing down. Wyverns might nest on a cliff
  overlooking the river crossing causing an impact on
  trade and thus taxes.
  What’s On The Bluff?
  Populate caves with cave dwelling animals, monsters,
  or use What’s In The Vessel Ahead?
  Reasons for ruins could be fire, earthquake, attack, or
  just really old.
  Occupied could be by animals or monsters making a
  lair, or by squatters or bandits.
  What’s That Vessel Ahead?
  An empty vessel could be abandoned, or drifted off
  while the occupants were ashore. Occupants could be
  dead or captured. There might be a hungry or
  wounded animal or monster aboard.
  Bandits, Pirates, and Patrols will be armed. Bandits
  and Pirates will hide their weapons until ready to
  strike. Patrols will present their weapons as a show of
  force.
  What’s In The Deep Spot?
  A deep spot in a stream or river is usually at a bend
  where the flowing water can scoop out a wider,
  deeper channel.
  d6
  What’s In The Deep Spot?
  1
  Normal fish, some large
  2
  Big, hungry, monstrous fish
  3
  Giant Crawfish
  4
  Alligator or Crocodile
  5
  Intelligent Freshwater Creature
  6
  Nothing
  d6
  What’s In The
  Vessel Ahead?
  1
  Empty
  2
  Explorers/Trappers
  /Adventurers
  3
  Fugitives
  4
  Bandits/Pirates
  5
  Merchants
  6
  Patrol
  d6
  What’s That
  Vessel Ahead?
  1
  Canoe
  2
  Rowboat
  3
  Raft
  4
  Barge
  5
  Ship
  6
  Wreck
  d6
  STATUS
  1
  Ruin/Empty
  2
  Ruin/Occupied
  3
  Occupied
  4
  Occupied
  5
  Abandoned/Empty
  6 Abandoned/Occupied
  d6
  WHAT
  1
  Cave
  2
  Tower
  3
  Fort
  4
  Town
  5
  Animals
  6
  Monsters
  
  7
  What Is the Nearest Crossing?
  Roll another d6:
  Odd = Upstream, Even = Downstream
  Rapids - Is there a line at the rapids for vessels,
  people, mounts, wild animals, or monsters to take
  their turn to cross or shoot the rapids?
  Is there a path to portage around the rapids? Is it
  visible from the river?
  Fast or Slow rapids? Are they basically level, or do
  they have drops?
  How Many Drops In The Rapids?
  Roll another d6:
  Odd = 1 die, Even = 2 dice of above type.
  Are their sharp or jagged rocks in the rapids?
  Are their fallen trees or the debris of wrecks, with or
  without survivors, on the rapids?
  Is there a falls after the rapids?
  Is there a section of rapids that will trap a boat if it
  doesn’t go through with enough speed or proper
  angle?
  What’s Behind The Water Fall?
  What’s In The Pool Beneath The Falls?
  At a small rapids, or a mill pond created by a low
  dam, you may find a mill.
  What Does The Mill Do?
  See the Status table on page 6 to determine the status
  of the mill.
  d8
  What Does The Mill Do?
  1
  Wire Drawing Mills
  2
  Sawmill
  (wood or stone, such as marble)
  3
  Gristmill (grain)
  4
  Gristmill (grain)
  5
  Textiles (spinning & weaving)
  6
  Trip Hammermills
  (shredding or crushing grain or
  stone, or blacksmithing)
  7
  Rolling Mills
  (cold or hot rolling metal)
  8
  Paper
  d6
  How Far Is The
  Nearest
  Crossing?
  1
  d4 miles
  2
  d6 miles
  3
  D8 miles
  4
  d10 miles
  5
  d12 miles
  6
  d20 miles
  d6
  How Many Drops In
  this Section Of
  Rapids?
  1
  d4 Drops
  2
  d6 Drops
  3
  d8 Drops
  4
  d10 Drops
  5
  d12 Drops
  6
  d20 Drops
  d6
  What’s Behind The Water Fall?
  1
  Sheer Rock
  2
  Jagged Outcroppings
  3
  Narrow Slippery Path Between Banks
  4
  Cave Entrance
  (Determine size of entrance & cave.)
  5
  Rock Overhang With Small Niche Below
  (May be a hidey hole for an animal, or a
  wounded animal, or skeleton is found.)
  6
  Dark Damp Warm Opening
  (Actually mouth of an ambush predator.)
  d6
  What’s In The Pool Beneath The
  Falls?
  1
  Use What’s In The Deep Spot on p. 9
  2
  Deep spot with underwater cave
  entrance.
  3
  Shallow Pool
  4
  Flat Rock Outcropping
  5
  Jagged Rocks
  6
  d6
  What Is The
  Nearest
  Crossing?
  1-2
  Ford
  3-4
  Ferry
  5-6
  Bridge
  
  How many major tributaries flow into this river?
  1d6
  Major or minor rivers?
  1d6 Even = Major, Odd = Minor.
  How many minor tributaries in the next 100 miles?
  1d20. Lower numbers indicate a dry area due to hills
  or mountains on one or both banks that slop away
  from the river. If two banks it is a canyon.
  Higher numbers indicate a wet area, either a lowland
  wetland, or the slopes of hills and mountains direct
  the flow towards the river.
  How many rapids on the river?
  How many falls on the river? How many of those
  falls are from tributaries, where the falls is the inlet
  from the tributary river?
  How high are the falls? Here is a list to give you
  some ideas.
  •
  Angel Falls, Venezuela is 979 meters (3,212 feet)
  •
  Tugela Falls, South Africa is 948 meters (3,220
  feet)
  •
  Tres Hemanas Falls, Peru 914 meters (2,999 feet)
  •
  Olo’upene Falls, USA 900 meters (2,953 feet)
  •
  There are many other falls of great heights. These
  tend not to have the volume of water as shorter
  falls.
  •
  Victoria Falls, southern Africa 108 meters (355
  feet) It is between the nations of Zambia and
  Zimbabwe.
  •
  Niagara Falls, USA 53.6 meters (176 feet)
  NOTE: Rocks at the bottom reduce this by 100
  feet.
  Natural Obstacles
  Manufactured Obstacles
  Hazards
  Characteristics Of River Section
  8
  d6
  Manufactured Obstacles
  1
  Beaver Dam
  (normal or giant beavers)
  2
  Dam
  (mill pond, irrigation, town water
  supply, flood control)
  3
  Locks from Canal
  4
  Wreck
  (accident, storm, or deliberate)
  5
  Rock Fall from cliff
  (Preparations for a dam or ambush)
  6
  Tree Fall
  (ambush or careless loggers)
  d10
  Hazards
  1
  Flood
  (heavy rain, snow melt, dam
  break)
  2
  Rock Fall
  3
  Tree Fall
  4
  Earthquake
  (Rock and/or Tree Fall)
  5
  Tornado/Waterspout
  6
  Volcanoes
  (earthquake, rock & tree fall,
  steam, pyroclastic flow, etc.)
  7
  Quicksand
  8
  Dangerous River Animals
  (alligator, crocodile, hippo, bears
  hunting fish, large wild herds
  crossing river)
  9
  Battle/War
  10
  Large Animals or Monsters
  (fighting due to mating season,
  recent kill of prey, territory, etc.)
  d6
  Natural Obstacles
  1
  Rapids
  2
  Log Jam
  (Either flood or logging upriver.)
  3
  Falls
  4
  Shallows/Ford
  5
  Rockslide from Cliff
  6
  Tree Fall
  d8
  Characteristics Of This Section
  Of River....
  1
  Long, wide, and slow
  2
  Long, narrow, and fast
  3
  Series of rapids
  4
  Series of rapids & falls
  5
  Series of switchbacks
  6
  Series of falls
  7
  High cliffs on one or both sides
  8
  Low marshlands with many
  channels
  
  Canals
  Does it have locks?
  Ancient canals did not have locks as they cut them in
  relatively flat lands.
  Any hills or rise higher than digging alone can handle
  will require locks.
  Locks require the ability to both flood the lock once
  the gates are closed, and drain the lock so the gates
  can be opened.
  Most locks will be narrow and result in narrower
  barges.
  Erie Canal barges were pulled by mules walking on a
  path along the canal. The teamster walked with the
  mule(s).
  Canals can also be polled.
  Canals could be combined with an irrigation ditch to
  help get water to fields.
  Irrigation ditches are prone to evaporation, but are
  easier to build than tunnels bored through rock or
  lined with stone or brick.
  How far is it from the river to the fields?
  What are the main crops in this region? Food crops,
  or money crops, like cotton for cloth or rare spices.
  If a river or creek is in a desert or arid area is it a
  permanent watercourse, or seasonal?
  If it is seasonal, the locals may do all they can to fill
  cisterns, ponds, or other water cachements.
  Seasonal rivers are prone to flooding early in the
  season and late in the season there is not enough for
  navigation, if ever.
  If a permanent river, civilization will fan out up to 50
  miles or so either side of the river as with the ancient
  Nile and Mesopotamian civilizations.
  Is the river a “frontier” for one civilization that has
  just “discovered” it, but just “the river” for anther?
  This can result in the river becoming a boundary
  between clashing cultures until they either decide to
  live together, or one wrests control of both banks of
  the river. In the latter case, control of the river would
  tend to fluctuate every generation or so as a region in
  flux. Unless one side had a total victory over the
  other to maintain control for decades or centuries.
  Conclusion
  Use this booklet as a framework for building your
  own campaign world. The preceding are tools to help
  build locations and encounters. One need not detail
  every mile, bend, fall, and rapids in a river. Merely
  specify what one will find in a particular point along
  a river.
  If you don’t want to map out a river journey, don’t
  suggest any information to your party to help them
  think of it. Make all journeys cross rivers and you
  won’t have to do much detail, or use the same
  methods for land travel, focus on the narrative of the
  journey with only highlights of the scenery. Placing
  specific encounters, or developing encounters that
  you can fit into any place along a river will ease your
  work load.
  9
  
  Glossary
  Stream: A body of water with surface water flowing
  within the bed and banks of a channel.
  Types of Streams:
  Brook: A stream smaller than a creek, especially
  one that is fed by a spring or seep. It is usually small
  and easily forded. A brook is characterized by its
  shallowness.
  Creek: In North America, Australia and New
  Zealand, a small to medium-sized natural stream.
  Sometimes navigable by motor craft and may be
  intermittent.
  Burn: A watercourse (in size from a large stream
  to a small river).
  River: A large natural stream, which may be a
  waterway.
  Runnel: The linear channel between the parallel
  ridges or bars on a shoreline beach or river
  floodplain, or between a bar and the shore. Also
  called a swale.
  Tributary: A contributory stream, or a stream
  which does not reach a static body of water such as
  a lake or ocean, but joins another river (a parent
  river). Sometimes also called a branch or fork.
  Wadi: A usually dry creek bed or gulch that
  temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, or
  seasonally. See also Arroyo and Wadi (creek).
  Pool: A segment where the water is deeper and
  slower moving.
  Rapids: A turbulent, fast-flowing stretch of a stream
  or river.
  Riffle: A segment where the flow is shallower and
  more turbulent.
  Run: A somewhat smoothly flowing segment of the
  stream.
  Bayou: A slow-moving stream or a marshy lake.
  Headland: An area of water bordered by land on
  three sides.
  Kettle (or kettle lake): A shallow, sediment-filled
  body of water formed by retreating glaciers or
  draining floodwaters.
  Mere: A lake or body of water that is broad in
  relation to its depth.
  Salt marsh: A type of marsh that is a transitional
  zone between land and an area, such as a slough, bay,
  or estuary, with salty or brackish water.
  Source: The original point from which the river or
  stream flows. A river's source is sometimes a spring.
  Subglacial lake: A lake that is permanently covered
  by ice and whose water remains liquid by the
  pressure of the ice sheet and geothermal heating.
  They often occur under glaciers or ice caps
  Tarn: A mountain lake or pool formed in a cirque
  excavated by a glacier.
  A cirque is an amphitheater-like valley formed by
  glacial erosion.
  A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn
  Moraine is formed from debris previously carried
  along by a glacier and normally consisting of
  somewhat rounded particles ranging in size from
  large boulders to minute glacial flour (silt like rock).
  Vernal pool: A shallow, natural depression in level
  ground, with no permanent above-ground outlet, that
  holds water seasonally.
  Wetland: An environment "at the interface between
  truly terrestrial ecosystems and truly aquatic systems
  making them different from each yet highly
  dependent on both".
  Types of Wetland:
  Swamp: A wetland that features permanent
  inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies
  of water, generally with a substantial number of
  hummocks, or dry-land protrusions. A swamp is a
  wetland that is forested
  Marsh: A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by
  herbaceous rather than woody plant species, such as
  grasses, rushes or reeds. Often along edges of lakes
  and streams.
  A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates
  peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses,
  and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one
  of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for
  bogs include mire, quagmire, and muskeg; alkaline
  mires are called fens.
  10
  
  Fen: Along with bogs, fens are a kind of mire. Fens
  frequently have a high diversity of other plant
  species including carnivorous plants such as
  Pinguicula, also called butterworts. Lure, trap, and
  digest insects with sticky, glandular leaves.
  Mire: A mire (or quagmire) is a wetland type,
  dominated by living, peat-forming plants. There are
  four types of mire: bog, fen, marsh and swamp. A
  bog is a mire that due to its location relative to the
  surrounding landscape obtains most of its water
  from rainfall (ombrotrophic), while a fen is located
  on a slope, flat, or depression and gets most of its
  water from soil- or groundwater (minerotrophic).
  Waterfall or cascade: The fall of water where the
  stream goes over a sudden drop called a knickpoint;
  some knickpoints are formed by erosion when water
  flows over an especially resistant stratum, followed
  by one less so. The stream expends kinetic energy in
  "trying" to eliminate the knickpoint.
  Waterway: Any navigable body of water
  Spring: A point at which water flows from an aquifer
  to the Earth's surface.
  Types of Spring:
  Seepage or filtration spring. The term seep refers
  to springs with small flow rates in which the source
  water has filtered through permeable earth.
  Fracture springs, discharge from faults, joints, or
  fissures in the earth, in which springs have followed
  a natural course of voids or weaknesses in the
  bedrock.
  Tubular springs, in which the water flows from
  underground caverns.
  Wonky holes, which are freshwater submarine
  exit points for coral and sediment covered sediment
  filled old river channels.
  Sacred springs: A spring that has religious
  significance. For example, sacred springs in ancient
  Greece were home to water spirits, such as nymphs.
  Weir: A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the
  width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of
  water and usually results in a change in the height of
  the river level. There are many designs of weir, but
  commonly water flows freely over the top of the weir
  crest before cascading down to a lower level.
  Mill pond: A reservoir built to provide flowing water
  to a watermill
  Watermills: Mill ponds are created by a weir that
  impounds water that then flows over the structure.
  The energy created by the change in height of the
  water can then be used to power waterwheels that
  power various kinds of water mills.
  Grotto: A natural or artificial cave used by humans in
  both modern times and antiquity, and historically or
  prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often
  small caves near water that are usually flooded or
  liable to flood at high tide.
  Aqueduct: Bridges for conveying water, also called
  water bridges, are constructed to convey
  watercourses across gaps such as valleys or ravines.
  The term aqueduct may also be used to refer to the
  entire watercourse, as well as the bridge. Large
  navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for
  boats or ships.
  Watercourse: The channel that a flowing body of
  water follows.
  Current: The flow of water, in a river or stream,
  influenced by gravity as the water moves downhill. In
  tidal zones, the current in rivers and streams may
  reverse on the flood tide before resuming on the ebb
  tide.
  Banks: Land along the sides of rivers. May be low or
  high, earth or rock.
  Upper Course: Where the river is still young and
  quite small, often up in the hills. Often steep valleys
  and waterfalls are found in the upper course.
  Confluence: Where two rivers meet.
  Tributary: A smaller river that flows into a bigger
  river
  Middle Course: This is when the river gets larger-
  the valleys may be wider and the slopes more gentle.
  Meander: A Meander is when the river flows in S-
  shaped bends.
  Ox-Bow Lake: an isolated pond left behind after a
  river changes course. Also Billabong in Australia.
  Flood Plain: This is normally in the lower course of
  the river, and where the land either side of the river is
  very flat; when there is a lot of rain, the river may
  overflow and flood the land either side.
  Lower Course: The Lower course of the river is
  when it approaches the sea. The river is at its widest,
  and it often goes through flat land (the flood plain).
  11
  
  Mouth: The river mouth is where the river meets the
  sea- it may be very wide (an Estuary) or split into
  smaller channels (called a Delta).
  Estuary: A wide river mouth.
  Delta: A river mouth with many channels due to silt
  build up.
  Distributary: Opposite of a Tributary is when one or
  more channels branch away from the main channel.
  This is most common in river deltas.
  Upstream: In the direction of the river source,
  opposite its flow.
  Downstream: In the direction of the river mouth, or
  with the flow.
  River Bed: The bottom of the river.
  Aquifer: An underground layer of water-bearing
  permeable rock. It is groundwater that can be
  accessed via a well.
  Cistern: Waterproof receptacle for holding liquids,
  usually water
  Lake: Body of water formed by the inflow of a river
  or stream, and there may be one or more outflows.
  There is no formal definition to distinguish a lake
  from a pond, other than a general understanding that
  a lake is bigger. They may be formed naturally by the
  geological conditions, or created by natural or
  constructed dams.
  The contents of this glossary is thanks to the many
  people who have contributed the information to
  Wikipedia. I have re-phrased many terms for length
  and combined different terms for the same thing into
  a single entry.
  12
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Old School Revival (OSR(ic))/[Adventure Design & Dungeoncraft]/Worldbuilding & Ecology/Follow Me And Die! Wilderness Encounters/Rivers & River Encounters.pdf