There was a weather themed blog carnival with unusually little uptake last month, and I think it’s because weather kind of sucks. Like, if it’s only ever a drag to have weather, why bother?

The obvious solution to me is to make weather fun. Inspired by Spiritfarer, whenever you would collect a resource from the area you’re in, you can instead collect a single bottle of a special weather related resource.

• Cloudy. A silver lining.
• Sunny. A ray of sunshine.
• Windy. A gust of wind.
• Snowy. A moment of silence.
• Stormy. A bolt of lightning.
• Blizzardy. A bite of frost.
• Foggy. A puff of fog.
• Monsoony. A close moment.

These can all be used as one would expect, but also collecting them en mass can be used to create magical items. Ten silver linings and a master smith’s time gives you a sword that is strong against undead, for example.

They could be combined in unique ways, too, both with traditional autogathered resources and with each other. A gust of wind and flaming puffshroom spores to create drifting cinders. A bottle of lightning and a puff of fog to create a static mist.

There should be some kind of tiering as well, but basically 1 bottle for a minor effect, 10 for a moderate effect, and 100 for a major effect. Probably best to equate this to level 1, 2 or 3 spells, or +0, +1, +2 weapons or something that fits your system. Or, like, not. Whatever floats your boat really.

I’d probably still have negative weather side effects, because yes, being lost in fog or blizzards and being slowed by storms or blustery winds totally makes things feel palpable. I prefer simple rules for this, like single hex delays for difficult weather and always wrong hex but always finding a secret when lost due to weather, then just playing the weather into encounters. I suggest being able to hide in fog, random lightning strikes in storms, visible ice in cold weather that can be used as a trap. Stuff like that.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on the weather. If you’ve got extra ideas for weather resources, extra ideas for how to use them, extra ways to make weather impactful in encounters, or any other thoughts, comment and I’ll add it in if you’d like!

7th August, 2023

Idle Cartulary