Singing in the Rain
Why is the weather so important in a tabletop game? For starters, just think how important it is in real life. It's a cloud always floating above our conversations, used as idle chit-chat as or as a focal point in any discussion of recent travels and activities. “How was your trip?” "It was fine, the food was good, but it rained most of the time we were there.” It's something we can all relate to. Though, not unlike personal measurements of temperatures as "cold" or "hot," the experience, observation, and relation of any weather event is going to vary from person to person. The weather is so deeply ingrained into any setting, we tend to take it for granted and overlook storytelling possibilities. Even deep caves, far from the tumult of above-ground weather patterns, can described as "damp", "humid," "dry," "cold," "hot," "smoky," or "foggy" with each one establishing both setting and tone differently. It's an easy bit of "flavor text" you can add to any of your tabletop games. (Yes, even in "Single Biome Planet" settings like Star Wars.) Even spaceships cam have environmental controls that aren’t working quite right or are simply insufficient for the size and nature of the vessel. Keep track of the weather you've already described and drizzle that flavor across various aspects of your session. Did a player flub an attack roll? Perhaps a glint of sunshine threw them off last second. Maybe the humidity made the grip on their weapon just a bit slippery. Did a gust of wind push that fireball shot a little back and to the left? Social interactions should change as well. Soggy rainy weather for days? The townsfolk are probably a little grumpy. Yet another dry sunny day making it difficult to farm? This could put people on edge as well. We've certainly been reminded how snow and ice become can obstacles that hamper people’s lives and routines. So remember to jot down the important points and build on them. (Maybe even keep a "Weather Stone Tracker" in your GM notes!)
Seasons don’t fear the reaper
Seasons may not fear the reaper (nor the sun, the wind, nor the rain), but maybe your players should fear the seasons a bit. Aside from serving as flavor text, weather can be also used to move the story along. The ship’s sensors or the local shaman’s "weather sense" or even a TV or radio broadcast (if your setting has such things) may predict a huge storm the necessitates your adventures getting out of there right now. Or perhaps heavy driving hail, enough to cause serious damage, sends your players scrambling into a particular refuge, like a cave, old farm house, or abandoned watch tower, and kicks off a little side quest. In addition to flavoring the setting and general activity, weather can also provide some flavor to the challenges characters face. That isn’t just a zombie, it is a mud zombie that may be slower and slow down those around it with rough sticky terrain. That doesn’t have to be just a regular goblin, it could be a storm goblin that has electric powers during thunderstorms. And that;'s before we even get into "major" weather events resulting from cataclysmic environmental changes like earthquakes, tsunami, and good ol' lava. There are tons of possibilities, but be sure to operate within player expectations - no one wants to feel railroaded, especially through "random" chance.
You don’t have to use a traditional Weather Stone, but don't let that stop them from appearing, whether as large campsite accoutrements or as player character's trusty necklace. You should always include weather though, however you can. It can bring you inspiration in unexpected ways, change the mood of a session into something unique, or simply be an extra bit of flavor text to bring games more in line with the real world. Everything except ICE. We don’t like ICE. Keep ICE out of your games. That may be weeks of storm-related hassle talking, though, or recent political issues. Until next week folks, enjoy your tables, your weather, and your dice.
Send questions, comments, and old-timey phrases for radio weather forecasts in Call of Cthulhu games to neversaydice20@gmail.com.
