I've seen a couple different posts about random weather tables, including a thread on Dragonsfoot. My own contribution there was pretty simple: make a reaction roll for the weather. If the weather is hostile, it gets worse, whatever "worse" means for that region and season; Hostile weather in spring or fall means rain, usually, and Very Hostile weather is a thunderstorm. If the weather is Friendly, it eases up; Very Friendly weather will be unseasonably mild and pleasant.
Durations for weather is usually longer for the higher rolls. Hostile weather rolls every four hours, Neutral weather every eight hours, Friendly weather every day. Either Very Hostile or Very Friendly weather rolls every hour. Repeated results generally increase the degree of the weather as well as extend the effect; Neutral reactions keep the weather the same.
I'm kind of wondering, though, if I should add a dicemap for even more options. Perhaps that's overkill. I do kind of like the idea of Very Hostile weather having a 1 in 6 chance of turning into something weird, like a sudden bank of smog that chokes and stings, or actual icicles stabbing down from the clouds. Maybe even some weirder results?
That strikes me as a great, decidedly old-school (i.e. heavily interpreted) and all-purpose way to get weather. I like it!
ReplyDeleteTwo rolls, one for temperature and one for precipitation, should cover most circumstances.
ReplyDelete... Brilliant. I've been using an over complicated table where I roll a D8 and add it to the month compare to a two tables for temp and weather. Your method is very simple and intuitive 9and I doubt the players would lament the daily dice and table checks to see when a blizzard is hitting them.) Consider this stolen.
ReplyDeletePersonifying the weather. You clever, clever devil you!
ReplyDeleteYep, I like the idea of personifying things to make them simple. I'd do it for other things, too, like whether a volcano rumbles or actually erupts.
ReplyDeleteDo I get to apply my Charisma bonus as I petition the weather spirits for a favorable wind?
ReplyDeleteIs that your class ability?
ReplyDeleteBy default, in D&D, you can't alter the winds without high-level magic, but I could see building a "weather-worker" class that could petition the winds directly.
In fact, maybe I'll do so...
Petitioning the winds reminds me of Earthsea - cool :)
ReplyDeleteWow. I've been doing this recently and I thought it was a clever innovation. I wonder if I read this before and subconsciously regurgitated the idea or whether this was a case of independent convergent evolution.
ReplyDelete