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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Navigating in a Land of Fog and Rain

This subject is appropriate for the weather here today.  We've got down pours and flooding.  It makes a mundane trip/landscape more challenging.  I avoid the word interesting, because while I like my fantasy exciting and interesting.  I like my real life less so.  Especially when it comes to traveling. 

Take a normal travel route in your game and add weather.  That ogre encounter you planned can take on a different level of difficult by adding rain, fog, snow or a fricking tornado!  I've never had a tornado in my game.  I may need to do that.  When I do add an environmental element to an encounter I usually add some modifiers to make it relevant.

Say the group is headed north on a road they've travel hundreds of times, but the day is rainy and patchy fog hangs in the air.  When Mr. Ogre Grumpy Pants bursts through the fog and rumbles towards the party, wielding a barn door as a club what happens now? 

  • Everyone with a one handed weapon is at -1 to hit and to damage.  
  • Two handed weapons are -2 to hit and to damage.  When you can't find good footing then it's more difficult to drive a strike home.  
  • A miss requires a Dex roll.  A failure could means they get twisted up and fall.  Could mean the pommel of the weapon is wet and slips out their hand.  Requiring a round to get up or get retrieve a weapon.
Some may say this is too fiddly.  I say BAH.  I don't think I've ever said BAH.  It adds a interesting element to a typically encounter.  In more extreme weather the penalties would be worse.  But for now, I'm just writing about typical weather. 

I wrote the rain away.  The rain stopped here.  I must be magic.
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5 comments:

  1. TreyJune 25, 2014 at 2:25 PM

    I think I've heard you say "bah" before. But this looks like a good system.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Happy WhiskJune 25, 2014 at 3:01 PM

    Hahaha, this was a funny post. Mr. Orge Grumpy Pants bursts through the fog. Good stuff.

    PS: Carrot Cake Cupcakes in the oven, frosting ready, dishes done, now just waiting for you to bring home pizza.

    Smooch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chris C.June 25, 2014 at 4:56 PM

    On a rainy day like today I am Mr. Ogre Grumpy Pants. I have a battle-worn barn door slung over my shoulder as I write this.

    Nice system, though. I may have to steal it the next time you guys are tramping overland in Ephemera.

    Then I'll be Mr. Weather System Stealer Pants.

    ReplyDelete
  4. OSRbaronJune 26, 2014 at 7:15 PM

    Consider this yoinked multiple times. I like simple little enhancers like this for the game.

    Sorry to thread-crap, but I also love the way you display the list of other blogs and would love to add the feature to my own blog. Can you direct me to the instructions for adding it? osrbaron at gmail dot com
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Scott AndersonJune 28, 2014 at 12:58 AM

    We always use weather. It makes everything interesting. Even on nice weather days, the heroes sometimes will debate whether to cut short their current scheme in order to travel safely to their next one.

    Every campaign morning, that's the first question for the referee: "what's it like out today?" I keep a year of weather reports pregenerated right behind my campaign calendar.

    ReplyDelete