Cyclone Scenario - What would you do?

[Tonguez]

First my sympathise are with all those affected by Cyclone Yasi.

Second.
I was watching the news coverage and I got to thinking about the use of weather in RPGs. So have you ever had a cyclone hit as a scenario for the PCs to deal with.

Give them a day or two warning that a massive cyclone is going to hit the local village and cause major devestation. Have some isolated homesteads need saving, deal with gale force winds, flash floods and who knows what else.

Would you do it?
How would you do it?
Dos it sound 'playable'?

 

[Stormonu]

About a year after Katrina, in the World of Greyhawk game I was running, the characters had just brought their (pirate) ships into port at the city of Scant to have them fixed when a hurricane hit.

The party had to deal with the wind, rain and partial flooding of the city the first night (<edit>basically, finding somewhere safe to ride out the storm that didn't get ripped up or flooded). The next day, they had to deal with looters, wending through debris-laden streets, and garnering supplies only to find out they'd gotten caught up in a plot by agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood to upsurp the local government. Topped off with the fact that one of their ships had been washed some 100' feet inland into the city!

 

[Janx]

realistically, during a hurricane, you don't do jack taco. You don't leave shelter. If your in a flood zone, you may be in trouble, But even that depends on if your on the wet side.


warning some idiot who won't leave his trailer house, before the storm: plausible
During the storm? How are you going to know they NEED help? How are you going to find them, get there, and get them out? Not likely.
he may be fine riding it out, or he could be blown over or flooded, but he's out in the boonies by himself and ain't nobody to tell you things got worse.

For the PCs, they should be hunkered down in some shelter. That shelter might get flooded, might have the roof torn off (not likely, coastal buildings are usually built to withstand a basic hurricane).

If flooding happens, the whole region will be flooded. they will be rushing to break through the roof and float to safety

if something "evil" is going on outside during the windy part of the storm, how are they to know they need to go outside to fight the bad guy in 70MPH winds?

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Why all the talk about hurricanes? Anyway, unless there's weather magic at hand you can forget about doing anything about a cyclone. We can't predict when and where they will form (not well, anyway), to say nothing about where they'll touch down. So unless the PCs have a weather wizard in the right place at the right time with the right spell(s) all they can do is watch. Well, unless they can summon a powerful air elemental or something.

 

[steeldragons]

Why all the talk about hurricanes? Anyway, unless there's weather magic at hand you can forget about doing anything about a cyclone. We can't predict when and where they will form (not well, anyway), to say nothing about where they'll touch down. So unless the PCs have a weather wizard in the right place at the right time with the right spell(s) all they can do is watch. Well, unless they can summon a powerful air elemental or something.

The talk about hurricanes is because that's what the OP is referring to. A tropical cyclone = a hurricane (in the Atlantic version) or a typhoon (for the northwest Pacific)...not cyclone=tornado which seems to be what you're referring to.

Simple mistake. No big.

As for using one in a game...I have not. Imagine it would be a fun coupla days for the PCs to handle (or just hunker down)! Not sure about the "knowing before it hits" scenario though...unless you have some kind of "magical diviner weather service" in place.

Have fun and happy catastrophic-weather casting.
--Steel Dragons

 

[thejc]

Well people have stated the unpredictability of such things. Easily overcome by a seer or mad prophet "The winds sing and howl. Death is the melody. Destruction is the song. Two moon risings have ye before the sky unleashes it's fury."

Perhaps they always get high winds and tornados that time of year. This year the predictions seem particularly ripe for a big one.

Things to do.

Perhaps a wizard with some air elementals under his control seeks to loot a temple or artifact the town is guarding.

Stop some of the savage humanoids from killing the villagers for shelter.

Better yet negotiate the peaceful housing of the humanoids with the villagers.

Must brave the first wave of the storm to visit a druid and retrieve an artifact to protect the village. Perhaps they could be hit with a myriad of situational saves and skill checks(i.e. Reflex saves for footing, Will saves to not panic. Fort to keep eyes open and such) maybe in extremely high winds they take damage every round, saves to avoid large limbs and such.)

Hope these help!

 

[Stormonu]

For the PCs, they should be hunkered down in some shelter. That shelter might get flooded, might have the roof torn off (not likely, coastal buildings are usually built to withstand a basic hurricane).

If flooding happens, the whole region will be flooded. they will be rushing to break through the roof and float to safety

Sadly, the former isn't true in that coastal buildings are built to withstand hurricanes very well, even in modern times - Waveland, MS is proof enough of that from a direct strike (as is the Superdome, which barely survived being only sideswiped).

Likewise, the biggest danger in flooding is getting trapped in the roof. More than a few people were trapped in attics without a way to break out through the roof. And, you don't float to safety in a flood - without a sturdy boat, you drown in the rushing waters.

 

[Ringlerun]

I think i have used nearly every natural disaster there is against my players. Depending on the game and the tech level will depend on if they get any warning or not. A ranger or druid is good in a party for detecting that something is amiss. This usually gives the players time to get to shelter. Other than that i have had them exposed to the elements while they are trying to find a place to wait out the storm. ie like Gandalf and party going through the gap of Rohan.

 

[Haltherrion]

Assuming are asking what would I do as a ref:

I don't find playing FEMA all that exciting so probably would not put the players in the roll of rescuing random folks. Seems like it could get tedious. After the first rescue, I might simply abstract it out. "You want to rescue folks? Okay you rescued 2d20."

But having a serious weather disturbance add some obstacles to overcome could be fun. If the party is well established in an area and the storm would give them specific people they would want to assist, that could be interesting. But what would probably really get my attention would be one of:

• The storm and flooding has caused settled lands to be invaded by refugees from low lands that might not be very friendly, monsters and such.
• The storm occurs during the middle of some sort of event as a complicating factor- an important ritual, a coronation, etc.
• The storm could allow the PCs to do something they could not otherwise do. E.g. they want into a castle, see the storms signs and use it to gain entrance.
• The PCs are out travelling somewhere and get hit by the storm while in the transit. This could seem a little heavy handed so it might be better to give them some clue it is coming and give them a choice of taking the storm in transit or holed up somewhere.
• I was watching Twister last night and got to thinking it might be interesting if the storms served as a portal to some other world. You could do that with this storm although some portents might be appropriate.

Just some thoughts. Lots to work with.

 

[Janx]

Sadly, the former isn't true in that coastal buildings are built to withstand hurricanes very well, even in modern times - Waveland, MS is proof enough of that from a direct strike (as is the Superdome, which barely survived being only sideswiped).

Likewise, the biggest danger in flooding is getting trapped in the roof. More than a few people were trapped in attics without a way to break out through the roof. And, you don't float to safety in a flood - without a sturdy boat, you drown in the rushing waters.

I'll buy that, there's not much can stand a DIRECT hit. Stuff on the coast is gonna get flooded, and lighter buildings are SOL.

70 miles inland, my house is fine. Fence didn't hold up...

If a tornado touched down, I'd be screwed...

But from my standpoint, only thing I can do is stay inside. I could go outside and fight a bad guy, but in 70MPH winds, I wouldn't know he's out there needing to get killed, let alone to go find him.

To put all this practical stuff into something dramatic:
the PCs are less likely to have a weather forecast. it's always nice the day of the storm, so they're not going to see it coming (look at Galveston 1901).

the PCs could get hit while travelling near the coast. Thus, they're in the open, and you can spend a few skill challenges to get to shelter, cross some terrain until they're safe enough.

In a city, stuff COULD be happening during a hurricane (heck, somebody could have summoned one). Give the PCs enough info about where they need to be to stop bad guys, and you can have some fun with them out in the streets avoinding flying debris.

You can also play out having their shelter go bad (getting blown apart, flooded), which forces them to take action (thus being more interesting that hunkering down for 8 hours).