Chapter 2: Survival Packs & Kits When the time comes for evacuation or civilization around you has collapsed, what do you have? Most of the time, you have clothes on your back. Maybe a dagger in your boot and a piece of jerky jammed in your pocket for snacking that you picked up at the Drunken Wolf. Well, that won’t keep you alive for long. You have to have your pack ready to pick up and go when the time comes. This chapter is designed to help you consider what is and is not a wise choice. But ultimately, it all comes to your personal preferences as well as the weather, region, season, and activities that you will be enduring. Such activities include being stationary or hiking, mountaineering or wandering the plains, swimming or running for your life. The type of survival situation will push the type of survival pack or kit you have.
Krom’s Tip: Do not rely on anyone else’s equipment for your survival. You never know who will fall off the cliff or be turned to ash by a psychotic pyromancer.
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of survival kits that you will need. There is the personal kit and the complete kit. A personal kit isn’t exactly a kit as it is what is on your body. This includes clothes, items in your pocket, items worn or fastened upon your person. A complete kit is just that, everything that can be found in a pack for carrying yourself that are essentialist items.
Personal KitAs described previously, a personal kit is something that is on your person. Not something carried in a pack or other means, but mandatory things that should be jammed into your boot, in your pocket, around your neck, something that is not an external carrying device. The reason is simple, items are misplaced more than you can imagine or dropped along the way. The most crucial items should be on your person because well, your body will never be misplaced unless you are dead. Let’s hope that is not the case. If it is, you can stop reading here.
The following are items to consider:
- Bandana or handkerchief
- Candles with flint and steel
- Metal cup
- Knife or small tools
- Thin rope
- Map
- Medicinal herb for minor aches and pain
- Jerky or dried food
- belt
Complete KitOnce the barest of essentials are secured upon your body and time permits for more gear to be grabbed, this is where the complete kit would come in handy. Having it put together ahead of time will provide you with a plan and giving you the confidence needed to survive.
When building your complete kit, keep in mind the bulkier and larger you make it, the more of a hindrance it will become and the more energy it will take to carry it through the environment. Carrying a thirty pound pack of gear through the desert is not practical and will likely get you killed in comparison to a five pound pack. Keep this in mind when designing your complete kit. Keep it small, but do not skimp either. It is a delicate balance between wants and needs for the survival situation that lies ahead.
Krom’s Tip: Don’t take more than you need. Excess on goods may seem good at the time, but will become bothersome to the future. Everything extra you carry is all the more energy you will be expending.
Personally speaking, my survival gear is generally jammed into a metal canister that I fabricated with a lid allowing it to be water tight. I chose my kit to fit inside of this for several reasons. First, it is water tight and I know the material inside will stay dry. Second, the canister doubles as a cooking instrument or storage container for water. Thirdly, it will fit proper in my pack allowing for other nonessential items.
Here is the list of things to consider in your complete survival kit:
- bandana – wear on head to keep the sun off, medical bandage, strainer to help purify water
- belt knife- also bring a sharpening stone to keep this tool sharp at all times
- candle – helps to get fires going and use as a light source
- cup – make sure it is metal as it can be used to boil water and cooking as well as traps
- dried food – can be used not only for yourself, but as bait for a trap or snare
- fire starting devices – bow and spindle, flint and steel, etc. are key elements if magic is unavailable.
- Fire starting tinder- good dry materials to help catch a spark and make light of fire making
- First aid materials – herbs, bandages, salve. Just the basics for injuries you will encounter.
- Fishing equipment – this includes sharp hooks, thin line and sinker material
- Map – knowing your terrain and location will be invaluable resource
- Mehril – you never know, you might find a traveling merchant along the way to barter goods
- Needle and thread – injuries or repairing of equipment.
- Rope – multiple purposes from shelter to climbing to securing equipment
- Snare wire – great at catching potential meals
Krom’s Tip: Be sure you have items for the following things… 1)starting fire 2) boiling water 3)creating shelter 4) hunting or fishing 5)splitting wood
Customization to your kitDepending on the place you are surviving will determine the kit you need. Some things to consider and the regions are:
Arid Regions, Desert and Canyons – Bring material that does not ‘breath’ well such as those vinyl corsets them catgirls wear. They can be used as a solar still to collect water.
Woodland Forest – Consider bringing herbal blends or netting like that of stockings are made from to put a barrier between yourself and mosquitos. They have been known to carry disease and make the sanest of individual go batty.
Snow and Arctic Region – extra clothing and animal furs