The Obligatory Fishing Minigame: Adding Amazing Sole To Games

In the last few years, fishing minigames have become increasingly ubiquitous, with nearly every open-world game or management sim featuring some form of fishing minigame. However, until now, most TTRPG characters have been out of luck, as while there are a few fishing TTRPGs around, few TTRPGs feature a dedicated fishing mechanic. Thankfully, Five Point Games’ The Obligatory Fishing Minigame is here to change that, giving GMs and players a system-agnostic fishing minigame TTRPG that can be easily worked into other campaigns.

When you want to hit the lake in The Obligatory Fishing Minigame, you start by selecting your rod and what bait you’ll be using, with each combination allowing you to catch specific sizes of fish. Once this is picked, you decide what size of fish you’re aiming for, and this choice will affect what pair of dice you roll, with bigger fish requiring you to roll dice with more sides.

Taking Your TTRPG Characters On A Fishing Trip

After rolling your pair of dice, you consult the included tables to find what you’ve hooked on your rod and how much money that fish is worth. However, if you roll either double ones or the highest number on both dice, you get to roll again and land a trophy fish worth way more money than the standard variant.

You can then use this money to buy new rods and bait. However, it isn’t just a simple upward progression, as some items have limited uses before they break, forcing players to think tactically and weigh up risks and rewards when deciding what items they want to use and what fish they want to go for.

Capturing The Feel Of A Fishing Sidequest

The shop is also how Obligatory Fishing Minigame interfaces with other TTRPGs, as some items have limited stock. Once one of the items is sold out, the player has to stop playing the game for a while to give the storekeeper time to refresh their stock.

The best thing about The Obligatory Fishing Minigame is how focused it is. The writers knew what they wanted the game to be and deeply understood the genre they were emulating, and this shines through in the final product.

The casting mechanics are the best example of this, as they perfectly balance accessibility and complexity. The dice system is simple and easy to understand, uses minimal math, and resolves quickly. However, the various bait and rod choices mean that, despite the simplicity, players can easily spend several minutes working out the perfect rod and bait combinations to get the fish they want, meaning that players always feel like they’re actively shaping and controlling the narrative of their fishing adventure. This structure also means that the game perfectly captures the feeling of the fishing minigames found in most modern video games, as most of these games focus on rod and bait selection and boil the actual fishing down to a timed button press.

A Fishing TTRPG That Can Be Slotted Into Other Games

On top of this, the designers worked hard to make The Obligatory Fishing Minigame work seamlessly with other games. Most notably, players only need to keep track of their current items and money while playing The Obligatory Fishing Minigame, meaning the game doesn’t require a separate character sheet, as players can record their fishing progress in the margins or on the back of the sheet they’re using for the main game. Additionally, The Obligatory Fishing Minigame doesn’t assign stats to the characters, meaning players won’t get confused and try to use the minigame’s mechanics during the main game.

The shop refresh system shows a similar level of care and intentional design as, like the rest of the game, it is simple on the surface but works well in practice, as the item limit means that each fishing session lasts long enough to be satisfying without overstaying its welcome. Thus, GMs can include The Obligatory Fishing Minigame in their campaigns without worrying about players’ fishing habits overshadowing the main storyline or taking up most of each session.

A World Full Of Fantastic And Freaky Fish

The game caps all of this off with some fantastic writing and world-building. The rules are written in the voice of sketchy fishing supply store owner Simple Fisher Sam, meaning that every paragraph is dripping with personality while remaining easy to follow. Plus, the game’s item and fish table feature some fascinating ideas, especially in the Lake God and Oddities tiers, meaning that this is guaranteed to grab players’ imaginations and spark some memorable roleplay moments.

The Obligatory Fishing Minigame is a fantastic fishing-themed TTRPG that perfectly emulates modern videogame fishing sidequests. While the game may seem simple on the surface, if you take a moment to dip a little deeper, you’ll find an excellently designed game obviously built from the ground up to deliver a specific experience. Thanks to its simple but engaging mechanics, The Obligatory Fishing Minigame is the perfect way for players to blow off steam after an intense session.