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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: GHench on September 18, 2021, 08:45:04 PM

Title: Weather - done better
Post by: GHench on September 18, 2021, 08:45:04 PM
Generating random weather in RPGs never works that well because random tables are ...well, random. One minute it's sunshine, the next it's a blizzard.

Using a 'Weather Hex flower' allows you to generate weather that is more consistent, but still allows for some surprises:

Example image of a Weather Hex Flower:

(https://goblinshenchman.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/weather-hf-cover-sm.png)

In the Hex Flower example above you can see 7 days of weather indicated by the red path.

Link to PDF - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/367072/Weather-Hex-Flower (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/367072/Weather-Hex-Flower)
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 08:47:50 PM
Quote from: GHench on September 18, 2021, 08:45:04 PM
Generating random weather in RPGs never works that well because random tables are ...well, random. One minute it's sunshine, the next it's a blizzard.

Using a 'Weather Hex flower' allows you to generate weather that is more consistent, but still allows for some surprises:

What happens if the place you live can get all of the weather in your weather flower in the same day?

Should I move somewhere more realistic?
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: GHench on September 18, 2021, 08:53:32 PM
Re-design the HF to suit your RPG setting.
:O)
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Mithgarthr on September 18, 2021, 08:57:26 PM
Quote from: GHench on September 18, 2021, 08:45:04 PM
Generating random weather...

This is actually a pretty neat idea, OP. Thanks for sharing!


Quote from: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 08:47:50 PM
What happens if the place you live can get all of the weather in your weather flower in the same day?

Oh, are you a fellow Okie?  ;D

Quote from: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 08:47:50 PM
Should I move somewhere more realistic?

Reality's overrated.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: therealjcm on September 18, 2021, 09:00:29 PM
Quote from: Mithgarthr on September 18, 2021, 08:57:26 PM
Oh, are you a fellow Okie?  ;D

I was going to suggest that he might live in Denver, the only place I've ever lived that has blizzards followed immediately by warm sunny days.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 09:04:51 PM
Quote from: Mithgarthr on September 18, 2021, 08:57:26 PM
Quote from: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 08:47:50 PM
What happens if the place you live can get all of the weather in your weather flower in the same day?

Oh, are you a fellow Okie?  ;D

Quote from: therealjcm on September 18, 2021, 09:00:29 PM
I was going to suggest that he might live in Denver, the only place I've ever lived that has blizzards followed immediately by warm sunny days.

A little further south.  No further then that.

New Zealand has the Pacific on one side and the Tasman on the other and sometimes those guys dont co-ordinate with each other.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Mithgarthr on September 18, 2021, 09:13:55 PM
Quote from: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 09:04:51 PM
Quote from: Mithgarthr on September 18, 2021, 08:57:26 PM
Quote from: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 08:47:50 PM
What happens if the place you live can get all of the weather in your weather flower in the same day?

Oh, are you a fellow Okie?  ;D

Quote from: therealjcm on September 18, 2021, 09:00:29 PM
I was going to suggest that he might live in Denver, the only place I've ever lived that has blizzards followed immediately by warm sunny days.

A little further south.  No further then that.

New Zealand has the Pacific on one side and the Tasman on the other and sometimes those guys dont co-ordinate with each other.

Oh rad, I've always wanted to visit there. Looks gorgeous. Totally unfamiliar with what kind of weather you guys have; y'all are just a bit out of the tropic line, right? Fairly temperate, I'd assume?
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: GHench on September 19, 2021, 06:04:43 AM
The replies to this post are more variable than the weather ...
;O)
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Opaopajr on September 20, 2021, 05:09:45 AM
Thanks for sharing!  :) The 'trend' key helps give a way of visualizing the saddlepoint of 2d6, and functions as a guidepost of how to DIY other climates.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: zircher on September 24, 2021, 06:10:56 PM
Quote from: Mithgarthr on September 18, 2021, 08:57:26 PM
Oh, are you a fellow Okie?  ;D
I may resemble that.  :-)

To be honest, this year has been really good for the garden.  Only one killer frost early on.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: RPGPundit on October 08, 2021, 04:50:27 PM
Since I feel that checking minute weather changes in every campaign day is too much work for most games, I just treat weather as random encounters. You see that in my travel tables in Dark Albion and Lion & Dragon.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: zircher on October 08, 2021, 08:02:02 PM
That would put you on par with your typical weatherman that lives and dies by the computer model.  :-D
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Bren on October 09, 2021, 12:11:00 AM
Quote from: GHench on September 18, 2021, 08:45:04 PM
Using a 'Weather Hex flower' allows you to generate weather that is more consistent, but still allows for some surprises:
I like this idea. It looks nice. Both aesthetically and mechanically. I plan on using this for my Runequest in Glorantha campaign with different hex flowers for each season.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: S'mon on October 09, 2021, 02:13:49 AM
I roll a d8 for the weather, higher = better. What that actually means depends on climate, time of year, and any previous weather roll.

Since it's Free Kriegsspiel the result is always plausible/reasonable to me at least; and my players seem happy.  :D

I think there should be a lot more effort put into teaching GMs FK techniques like this, certainly for simulating all the parts of the world they don't want to use a mechanistic system for.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Prairie Dragon on October 09, 2021, 05:46:38 AM
Since we are bragging about weather in our own state, how many of you have seen lightning during a snow storm?  I have seen it many times in Nebraska...
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Zelen on October 09, 2021, 06:15:59 PM
Quote from: Shasarak on September 18, 2021, 08:47:50 PM
Quote from: GHench on September 18, 2021, 08:45:04 PM
Generating random weather in RPGs never works that well because random tables are ...well, random. One minute it's sunshine, the next it's a blizzard.

Using a 'Weather Hex flower' allows you to generate weather that is more consistent, but still allows for some surprises:

What happens if the place you live can get all of the weather in your weather flower in the same day?

Should I move somewhere more realistic?

You could probably just roll a number of times per day, as it suits you.

Cool idea, by the way, OP.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: RPGPundit on October 10, 2021, 05:32:18 PM
Quote from: zircher on October 08, 2021, 08:02:02 PM
That would put you on par with your typical weatherman that lives and dies by the computer model.  :-D

Exactly! Trust the Science, baby!
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: soltakss on October 24, 2021, 03:04:11 PM
The Weather Hex Flower is a cool idea.

At the moment, I am using a table to generate weather in Glorantha's Dorastor, but this could work equally as well.

I'll have a think about how it would work, probably having a different Hex Flower for each season.
Title: Re: Weather - done better
Post by: Bren on October 25, 2021, 07:58:11 PM
Quote from: soltakss on October 24, 2021, 03:04:11 PM
The Weather Hex Flower is a cool idea.

At the moment, I am using a table to generate weather in Glorantha's Dorastor, but this could work equally as well.

I'll have a think about how it would work, probably having a different Hex Flower for each season.
I made one for each of the five seasons for Sartar, but I haven't tried it out or even rigorously examined it to see if it gives plausible results.