D&D 5E Weather Tables

[Psikerlord#]

Some quick & easy weather tables for your RPG

https://lowfantasygaming.com/2017/01/27/weather-tables/

 

[MNblockhead]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

How do you use weather tables in your campaign?

I find I ignore weather unless it matters. But I'm starting to rethink that approach. I think it can help with immersion if I make a quick roll and add weather to my descriptions based on the roll.

"A chill wind blows and you head out from the city gates and down the road across the steppes heading towards the gray clouds gathering in the distance."

 

[Psikerlord#]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

How do you use weather tables in your campaign?

I find I ignore weather unless it matters. But I'm starting to rethink that approach. I think it can help with immersion if I make a quick roll and add weather to my descriptions based on the roll.

"A chill wind blows and you head out from the city gates and down the road across the steppes heading towards the gray clouds gathering in the distance."

Thanks MNblockhead. To be honest, previously I didnt worry about weather.

But more recently, esp as I try to figure out a more sandbox approach, I'm finding a bit of detail about the weather (and it being random too, which the players also understand) does add a pinch of flavour.

Mechanics wise, if it's raining heavily it affects perception/climbing, or if it's terribly hot i might give a small penalty during a long chase or attempt at a forced march, that kind of thing. Also might affect random encounters, eg less humans on the roads during a storm, that kind of thing.

 

[Lanefan]

I've always had weather be a factor, even if just to say "You all wake up in the morning and it's bright and sunny." Sometimes, weather becomes a nuisance (mostly when visibility is reduced or when high winds make listening difficult) but most often I just use it to add to the flavour. The challenge for me sometimes is remembering NOT to tell them the weather when they're deep underground and have no way of knowing it.

I dreamed up my own admittedly over-complex weather tables before I even started DMing (so, over 33 years ago) and used them for a while, but now I just kinda do it by feel based on a single roll. That said, I'm something of a weather geek in real life too, which makes this sort of thing pretty easy.

Lan-"it doesn't take much looking to realize most 'official' published settings were never vetted by a weather/climate geek during design"-efan

 

[MNblockhead]

IThe challenge for me sometimes is remembering NOT to tell them the weather when they're deep underground and have no way of knowing it.

Fret not, your natural inclination is the better practice.

If you want to add some flavor and challenge to your underground sessions, and still get to make use of your weather tables while underground, check out the guide to weather considerations from the British Caving Association: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...zVYR3qc2A&sig2=CZbvfU0k-PWA3eQxBgIJnA&cad=rja


Just reading the preface helps an adventure write itself:

Caving is a popular sport in Great Britain and is enjoyed by people of all ages, many of whom undertake the activity without incident. However, unless properly prepared a caving trip can be risky. An important part of this preparation should be consideration of the weather and its effect on the selected cave. Caves are often wild places and situated in areas that are subject to the vagaries of the British weather. This publication aims to help the caver to ‘read the weather’ and to understand
how it may affect caves. By making this an essential part of planning any caving trip, it is hoped that people will enjoy a trip free from incidents caused by rising water levels in caves.

Some other interesting bits: for modern cavers, flood-related incidents are a greater threat than falls. In the past it was falls and then flood-related. How many hours have we spent in caves in DnD and never had to deal with flash flooding, rapidly raising water levels, and other flooding threats?

Look at the photos on pages 30 and 31. Makes me want to break out the graph paper and write up an adventure.

Page 41. Checklist for navigating deep water in caves. Why isn't "buoyancy aid" a standard item of equipment in DnD along with pitons and rope?

On my side of the pond, the U.S. National Park Service's website for Wind Cave National Park has a cool Web page on "Cave Meteorology." https://www.nps.gov/wica/learn/nature/cave-meteorology.htm

 

[devincutler]

IMO any weather chart needs to be by season. if you could expand yours out to 4 charts (1 for each season), It's work much better.

 

[MNblockhead]

IMO any weather chart needs to be by season. if you could expand yours out to 4 charts (1 for each season), It's work much better.

Another approach, which I often use, is I use the Historical Weather page at Weather Underground: https://www.wunderground.com/history/

My home-brew world is pretty earth like in terms to the cycle of seasons and my regions and realms are amalgamations of cultures. If I need to describe the weather in a game, I can just type in the airport code for a similar earth region and the same month and day as in my game, but for the prior year. I use airport codes because I fly a lot for business and it is quicker for me to type in the airport code than typingn in city and country.

In RealmWorks, which I use for campaign management, i add a weather field for many regions or adventure areas that gives the airport code for a place with similar weather.

The resulting page in Weather Underground give you everything you want to know about the weather for that day. I mainly look at the Hourly Weather Conditions. You can keep the page open during that adventuring day and just note the times when the weather changes.

 

[guachi]

I don't use weather charts, I use actual weather. A few years ago I started doing exactly what MNblockhead mentions - same website, same features (hourly conditions? yes, please).

It's fairly trivial to pick a city that has weather similar to your fantasy city, pick a year (I don't use anything in the last 25 years because of global warming skewing results high), download csv of daily weather one month at a time, spend a few minutes reformatting, print and keep handy.

For more fine-grained results, you can access weather by the hour as MNblockhead mentions. It's surprisingly easy and it certainly adds to verisimilitude (actual, real weather!!!).

Also makes the weather prediction part of the druidcraft cantrip extremely useful.

I highly recommend "real weather" for any DM, especially if you have an internet connection handy while you game.

 

[Psikerlord#]

IMO any weather chart needs to be by season. if you could expand yours out to 4 charts (1 for each season), It's work much better.

I confess wanting to keep it simple, without resorting to seasonal tables. The GM could probably just use +\- 1 for hot or cool seasons?