Right now, the rain is falling.

[Greybar]

On the idea of more frequent environmental flavor for the players:
Yeah, I ought to do more of that. I had a lot of fun with it with an episode a while ago. Here's a bit from a story hour entry a bit down the road:

As night falls, thunder and lightning begin to play through the heavens. The tense smell of ozone fills the air. The sky is heavy, but no rain comes to release the tension. The colors of the thunderous display are wrong - not the crisp white levinbolts and grey clouds, but creeping with tinges of red and green. A bolt of greenish lightning crashes through the sky, smiting a tree near the party.

Unnatural nature is a good clue for player concern. They know the colors of the chaos-forces to be black, red, and green...

On the other side of rain is sun. Some of the more mechanical discussions on the board have talked about what kind of requirements there are to get the big cities of fantasy while using middle-ages agriculture. The blessings of divine fertility upon the land bring forth crops to rival modern Earth industrial technology.

But what happens when the blessings of the fertility goddess is removed, when she is no longer happy with her children, or perhaps she no longer cares? If the fertility divinity is a Goddess of the Sun, then that rich, fertile sun becomes cruel and harsh.

The early morning light shows fields desperate for rain, baked by the sun. Scattered livestock nibble at parched grass. A dog sits on the porch of a tattered farmhouse, his tongue lolling in the heat that already has begun to grip the air itself. A farmer coaxes small drips of milk from a cow whose bones jut at the shoulders.

What happens to a city whose high population was brought with the bounty of divine blessing, when that blessing is removed? Hunger in the streets among the poor, reaching its bony fingers into the homes of the middle class as the drought continues. How long can the rich who have food hold their gates against the starving mobs?
ala A Clash of Kings, perhaps

Do you want to march through plains of grass brittle from heat and drought? How's that metal armor feeling? Make sure you don't brush bare skin against the surface of your friend's metal shield. The good news is that even the predators are driven to hide in the shade during the heat of the day.

John

 

[Greybar]

Oh, and I have to throw out a contrast for Piratecat's mood. I'm about 10 miles from him or so, and maybe 20 miles from Umbran at max.

Rainy Sunday. A wonderful day - an excuse to sit down with a hot cup of tea. It's supposed to be summer now, but you wouldn't know it from the temperature - I'm wearing a comfy flannel long-sleeve. Perfect day to log in to ENWorld, and hopefully to get on with some writing for my game.

Guess I'd better stop with the ENWorld and get to that...

John

 

[Glyfair]

The talk of constant rain reminds me of Skyfall Lake in Glorantha.

The story is a god (Skyriver Titan) was wounded by a spear above this area. It rains almost constantly over the lake. Of course, because of the supernatural/mythics origin of the rain, all sorts of strange things can be found floating in the lake. Indeed, a group of Trolls (Gloranthan Trolls) run nets through the lake selling whatever they find.

Unfortunately, the things that wash down from the sky, are occasionally alive and very, very angry. "Fishing" in Skyfall Lake isn't exactly a safe job.

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[bwgwl]

here in Jersey this spring/summer, it seems we've had a day of sunshine for every week of rain so far...

in my M&M supers campaign recently, i had a weather-controlling villain show up indirectly... he changed the weather to help cover his other team-mates who did show up to take on the PCs. funny how none of the PCs noticed (or at least they didn't comment on) when the the sky went from clear blue to stormy and overcast -- and then the villains appeared. and the sky cleared right up again as soon as the villains ran away.

it seems a weather-controlling villain (such as a high-level druid in a fantasy world) could literally hold a city hostage by simply messing with (or threatening to mess with) the weather. in a medieval world where everyone is so dependent on crops (and crop yield is so dependent on weather), a villain like that could pretty much dictate his terms.

"ONE MILLION gold pieces.... or your city will never see rain again!"

 

[RangerWickett]

Did you ever talk with your friends and try to figure out what type of element each of you were? You know, Earth is stoic and gruff on the outside, but very loyal. Water is cool in any situation, relaxed and likeable. Fire is emotionally vigorous, prone to intense moods and often arguments, but cherishing life's every flare of pain like it was the light of God himself. And Air is light, generally unconcerned with normal concerns of everyday life, but liable to cry over hurt feelings, or to spend a whole day watching the clouds breeze by.

I figured out that I'm a mix of fire and air, depending on the situation, so if I follow some fantasy logic, combining fire and air makes lightning. Is it no wonder, then, that I love storms?

My entire current campaign is based on storms and wind. The PCs are escorting a young air mage on a pilgrimage to all manner of magical sites strong with elemental air power, where she is trying to slowly unlock her full powers and become attuned to the magic of the world's winds. All of our best fights have been in thunderstorms (and one was in a hurricane; bet you don't get those in Boston very often), and the group is slowly catching on to the fact that the villain is also a powerful air mage, who seems to want to stop them for some reason.

Ancient legend says that the Stormchaser Tomb, burial place of the cruel mage Pilus, who tormented the world millenia ago, flies among the clouds in a giant sailing ship, following the paths of great storms so that its appearance is always heralded by thunder and lightning.

The huge isthmus port city of Seaquen, a vital link to international trade, has incurred the ire of the powerful nation Nau-Hereth, whose leaders hire powerful mages to destroy the city with storm. But the mages only agree to the mission because of the support the Nau-Herethim pledge, giving them greater access to spell and ritual components, plus numerous bodyguards. With the help of the Nau-Herethim, and under the pretense of destroying a city of several million people, the mages plan to summon the Stormchaser Tomb and pillage its ancient magic. They manage to create the hurricane with relative ease, but after over a week of letting the hurricane wait ominously, only ten miles out to sea, the Tomb has not shown up, and the mages' employers are starting to ask what is taking so long.


In a wretched bayou nearby Seaquen, bizarre undead plants have been straying onto normally safe roadways, attacking travelers and disrupting the traffic of thousands of people who enter and leave Seaquen each day. The bayou is too huge to explore on foot, and even with flight magic it's unknown if it would be possible to find the source of these strange creatures. But numerous divinations by hired mages around the city all report generally the same thing - "He who was damned with fire and forsaken by storm shall lay a blight upon his home."

Research into old folk myths reveal that many centuries ago there existed a small village in that same bayou. A young necromancer, barely a theat to anyone, was burned at the stake for crimes the villagers had just imagined out of fear. The day he was burned, a storm was approaching the village, and he hoped it might spare him by putting out the flames, but only after he was nearly dead from burns did the storm arrive, actually a crashing hurricane that destroyed the village and killed almost all living there. The folk myths say that the necromancer still exerts his will in death, by raising the dead around his village whenever a hurricane approaches. Indeed, there has been a correlation between hurricanes and small amounts of undead, but never to this magnitude. But never before has a hurricane waited at sea for a week, threatening, but not approaching.


In Seaquen itself, there have been a rash of non-fatal attacks on rich merchants. The merchants have all been stabbed with only mild wounds, but immediately after the attacks they lose the ability to speak. Through writing, they have been able to share the information that their attackers were groups of three, and that they used a silver dagger. One of the attacked merchants hires the PCs to get to the bottom of what's going on. No ransom notes have been sent, so it seems that only proactive measures will help.

Everyone knows the stories of twenty years ago, when the famous half-Elf assassin Manlang Linnel terrorized the city by rendering all government officials mute. He was finally captured, and managed to receive a life sentence instead of death because he agreed to give them all their voices back. He too was known to use a silver dagger, but it was never found. Unfortunately, this past week's rainfall has raised water levels so much that the dungeon Linnel was in flooded, drowning him and numerous other prisoners. The place is still flooded, and city ordinances prevent communing with the dead and other forms of necromancy, so no one is officially sanctioned to interrogate Linnel's body.

In truth, Nau-Herethim agents have hired a group of assassins who possess the Voicesealer Dagger. Originally they planned to buy or steal the dagger, until they learned that a key piece of its magic -- the pommel gem that actually holds the stolen breaths -- is missing. Since the Nau-Herethim have only a few people they can spare to look, they have the assassins attack merchants who are rich enough to hire their own help. By keeping tabs on the merchants, the Nau-Herethim will know if anyone else manages to find the pommel gem. The mages who are creating the hurricane claim they need the gem to fully release the storm's potential. Of course, the PCs will manage to stumble onto the necessary clues that will lead them to breaking into the flooded prison and recovering the gem. Linnel is still alive even deep underwater, because twenty years ago he swallowed his gemstone to keep it from his captors, and ever since then he has never had to breathe.

 

[Ferret]

US East Coast Weather Table
=============================

1 - Rain
2 - Sheets of Rain
3 - Rain, thunder, and lightning.
4 - Slightly drippy light rain that makes you think it won't rain much, but then it does.
5 - Brief sunlight followed by rain
6 - DM's Choice or Roll Again


... hope that helps.

Well

Devon Weather Table
=============================

1 - Rain
2 - Rain
3 - Rain
4 - Gama ray uv radiation from the sun, transforming 3/4 of the population into old people
5 - Rain
6 - DM's Choice or Roll Again

 

[Plane Sailing]

[ramble]

Okay, your turn. Weather related adventure idea? Distract me. If I hadn't mentioned it, it's raining outside.

When my 5th-7th level party were adventuring in the winter months it was cold and snowy all the time. The main reminder of this was hourly Fort saves to avoid hypothermia, and the desperate struggle to keep the horses alive.

It isn't strictly an adventure idea, but I've always found snow the easiest way of bringing weather into a game.

Besides which, I'm languishing in a heat wave at the moment (in the UK. Go figure!) so the idea of rain has a certain, ah, appeal.

Cheers

 

[Plane Sailing]

Well

Devon Weather Table
=============================

1 - Rain
2 - Rain
3 - Rain
4 - Gama ray uv radiation from the sun, transforming 3/4 of the population into old people
5 - Rain
6 - DM's Choice or Roll Again

Ooo, I've just come back from a weeks holiday in North Devon, and we must have rolled 4 at least half of the time!

I think that 2 could probably be "misty rain" and 3 could be "rainy mist" and I'd be sorely tempted to make 5 into "fat rain".

Cheers

 

[Silver Moon]

Hey P-Kitty, I can related (as I live just an hour or so north of you). If this keeps up we should seriously consider building an ark. We have had all of one weekend during the last 12 when it didn't rain! It did let up for a few hours, long enough to let the sheep graze on the rapidly growing lawn, and for my daughters to take the two friendliest for a walk (on dog leases - the neighbor's love watching this).

Back to the topic at hand, I will toss out occassional weather references now and then, but it has only been a major factor in one module. An army of villains attacked the adventuring party's island home base simultaneous to a class-five hurricane (and no, it wasn't a coincidence, high-level druid and mage enemies had enhanced the storm and steered it that direction). What was most interesting was the party pulling out the stops to use magical combinations to actually diminish the storm (down to a class-three, which was still a major role playing challenge for them).

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

What a marvelous post P-Kitty! This does get the old juices flowing in my addled brain.

On a side note it's been lovely here in Chicago for most of June...