Calendars, weather sense and honesty
I am currently running a couple of RPG campaigns in Tolkien's Middle Earth; the first one is set seventy years before the fall of Erebor, and the second one four years after the Quest for Erebor.
So, I decided the day of the year (in game time) when the two campaigns were going to start, and we started from there. My players were very diligent in keeping track of the time, and we had a nice journal with all their notes about the events.
After a while, I decided to use some random weather generator. The first one was https://donjon.bin.sh/d20/weather/ ; this is a very simple weather generator, which is very good if you have to generate a week or two of data, but it becomes somehow cumbersome if you want to generate a longer calendar.
The second one was https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/6ckopi/rpg_weather_generator_daily_weather_based_in/ ; this is a very detailed generator, which will generate one year of weather. I modified it so that the names and descriptions were in Italian, and I switched to it.
For me, as a DM, this had the effect of removing the burden to think what was going to be the weather that day. I had it, I had different types of weather, and this made the game more enjoyable for my players and me.
But this had also an interesting effect on my players: all of sudden, the Weathersense skill, which up to that point was useless for them, became important, because they wanted to know if they were going to face a storm when they were going to adventure outdoor.
My learning on this is: be honest with your players.
For example, if as a DM I am not going to use any kind of calendar and weather, the Weathersense skill will be a waste for a player 99% of times. So, I should let the players know that this skill will be (more or less) useless for them. This is not a problem: as we are not really adventurers in the Middle Earth, there will always be abstractions and simplifications; but the players should know about them.
On the other hand, when I decide that the weather is a factor, as I said before, the game is enriched, and the game is more fun for everyone (including me), and allows you to play adventures which are more than the usual hack and slash.
Take the case that your adventures are underground (like in Moria, or in another abandoned Dwarven mine); they need water; how they can find it? How long can they resist without it? In such and similar conditions the adventurers will have to rely on their Survival skills. They will need fire: the perfect opportunity for a Dwarven character, or for a Mage with the suitable spell. Even the Light enchantment of a a Mage is important in the darkness.
Or, take the case that the adventures meet a bunch of strangers; can they understand where the strangers come from by their accent? I am pretty sure that a native English speaker can understand that I am from southern Europe (maybe even from Italy); can my adventurers understand if the strangers are from Bree? Or maybe from Esgaroth? Or maybe they are Southern people from Gondor; or maybe they are from Umbar, and in this case what are they doing here?
The same applies to the adventurers as well: a man from Esgaroth walking in the Prancing Pony in Bree will raise questions, some of them could just be innocent questions, like the ones which could make Barliman Butterbur; or a Ranger of the North (like Strider) could take an interest in them; or, even worse, a spy of the White Hand could send a message to the South.
So, the lesson for me is: check the available skills, and understand the encounters where they will be useful; and use this to enrich my world.
Roll the dice.
Have fun.
So, I decided the day of the year (in game time) when the two campaigns were going to start, and we started from there. My players were very diligent in keeping track of the time, and we had a nice journal with all their notes about the events.
After a while, I decided to use some random weather generator. The first one was https://donjon.bin.sh/d20/weather/ ; this is a very simple weather generator, which is very good if you have to generate a week or two of data, but it becomes somehow cumbersome if you want to generate a longer calendar.
The second one was https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/6ckopi/rpg_weather_generator_daily_weather_based_in/ ; this is a very detailed generator, which will generate one year of weather. I modified it so that the names and descriptions were in Italian, and I switched to it.
For me, as a DM, this had the effect of removing the burden to think what was going to be the weather that day. I had it, I had different types of weather, and this made the game more enjoyable for my players and me.
But this had also an interesting effect on my players: all of sudden, the Weathersense skill, which up to that point was useless for them, became important, because they wanted to know if they were going to face a storm when they were going to adventure outdoor.
My learning on this is: be honest with your players.
For example, if as a DM I am not going to use any kind of calendar and weather, the Weathersense skill will be a waste for a player 99% of times. So, I should let the players know that this skill will be (more or less) useless for them. This is not a problem: as we are not really adventurers in the Middle Earth, there will always be abstractions and simplifications; but the players should know about them.
On the other hand, when I decide that the weather is a factor, as I said before, the game is enriched, and the game is more fun for everyone (including me), and allows you to play adventures which are more than the usual hack and slash.
Take the case that your adventures are underground (like in Moria, or in another abandoned Dwarven mine); they need water; how they can find it? How long can they resist without it? In such and similar conditions the adventurers will have to rely on their Survival skills. They will need fire: the perfect opportunity for a Dwarven character, or for a Mage with the suitable spell. Even the Light enchantment of a a Mage is important in the darkness.
Or, take the case that the adventures meet a bunch of strangers; can they understand where the strangers come from by their accent? I am pretty sure that a native English speaker can understand that I am from southern Europe (maybe even from Italy); can my adventurers understand if the strangers are from Bree? Or maybe from Esgaroth? Or maybe they are Southern people from Gondor; or maybe they are from Umbar, and in this case what are they doing here?
The same applies to the adventurers as well: a man from Esgaroth walking in the Prancing Pony in Bree will raise questions, some of them could just be innocent questions, like the ones which could make Barliman Butterbur; or a Ranger of the North (like Strider) could take an interest in them; or, even worse, a spy of the White Hand could send a message to the South.
So, the lesson for me is: check the available skills, and understand the encounters where they will be useful; and use this to enrich my world.
Roll the dice.
Have fun.
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