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© 1998-2001 Dru
Pagliassotti
All rights reserved.
Surviving Mother Nature
 Most RPG adventures
pit the player characters against a villain, be it monster or human. There's
something satisfyiing about such plots. Good versus evil is central to
our human storytelling culture.
But once in a while
you can give the PCs an even greater challenge by pitting them against
a completely neutral foe.
The planet itself.
Weather,
climate, terrain, disasters—all of these affect the world around
us every day. People freeze to death, die of dehydration, are lost at
sea, are killed in an earthquake, are made homeless by a hurricane. Yet
how often does weather, terrain, or natural disaster figure in an RPG
adventure? Sure, you wouldn't want to use it all of the time. Heroes can't
wrestle down an earthquake; they can't imprison a tornado. But they can
survive one, or help others survive one, and sometimes that provides as
much an opportunity for heroism and roleplaying as would deafeating any
nefarious villain bent on world destruction.
So next time you plan
an adventure, think about throwing in an even greater threat to the PCs'
survival than another cackling necromancer, raging motorcycle gang, evil
Dark Lord of Sith, or army of ghouls and zombies.
Weather.
Many worldbuilders are good at setting terrain, but have problems figuring
out weather patterns. Sure, we all know it's colder toward the poles and
warmer toward the equator, but other than that? The site What
Forces Affect Our Weather? will help worldbuilders figure out when
and where certain weather phenomona should occur. Those building Earthlike
worlds, or running games set on earth, may want to check out online and
downloadable Global
Climate Maps, which provide tons of information about anything you'd
want to know about weather around the world. And if you want to work some
wild weather into your game, check out About's
list of links to Disasters and Hazards like avalanches, fires, glaciers,
hurricanes, storms, tornadoes, tsunamis and volcanos.
Less ambitious players
and GMs might be interested in Frugal's page, which offers a neat list
of natural
signs of impending weather—how to "read" the weather
from clouds, insect behavior, smoke movement, and so forth.
Sometimes, however,
a global view isn't necessary. The adventure is going to occur in the
arctic, in the desert, on the ocean ... so all the GM cares about are
the specific dangers of those types of climate or terrain. Survival guides
for each abound on the web, if you know where to look.
General
Survival. First, general survival guides are fun reading not only
for "Survivor" show fans and campers, but also for any GM who'd
like to bring some realism into a game. The Aviation
Survival Guide contains wonderful chapters on desert
survival, tropical
survival, cold
weather survival, and sea
survival, as well as many other useful wilderness and disaster survival
tips.
The Survivor
Center's General Survival Guide provides more basic information on
shelter and food. The center's Survival
Medical FAQ would make interesting reading for a GM running a modern-day
game who'd like to deal with, for example, dangers of old medicines or
problems with hypothermia or dehydration.
Since finding food is
always a survival issue, some GMs and readers might be interested in checking
out Buckshot's Camp,
filled with articles on trapping and preparing animals for dinner. Frugal
has some sure-to-make-PCs-squirm pages on eating
insects and eating
reptiles, too. (As an iguana-pet owner myself, that last one made
me wince a lot!) Be sure to check out the info on finding,
using, and cleaning water, too.
Finally, FEMA's
Preparing for a Disaster site offers advice on preparing for natural
and man-made disasters, from earthquakes to nuclear war. (Another site
deals more extensively with survivalism
and nuclear war.) GMs could use these tips as hints on what kinds
of events, problems, and secondary damage could be caused by a natural
(or man-made) disaster in a game.
Deserts.
Running a desert game? I remember an AD&D game where our characters
had to cast the spell "Purify Water" on our own urine so that
we could drink it when our water ran out. Ick. In addition to the Aviation
Survival guide mentioned above, Dusty
Dan's Desert Survival page lists info on desert terrain, climate,
and dangers, great reading for a GM. He also offers general
desert and desert camping information. Frugal's
desert page lists interesting factoids like how much water a person
needs to survive, how long until a person dehydrates, and so forth.
Cold
Weather. In another game, I nearly had a Deadlands character freeze
to death in a snowstorm ... he never failed to pack warm clothes after
that! To supplement the cold weather survival info in the Aviation Survival
Guide, check out this illustrated
article on how to build a snow cave. In addition, About offers a number
of links to winter
camping information. This article
on hypothermia is also important when dealing with cold weather. Finally,
Frugal offers a tip that the writers of The Empire Strikes Back
must have read ... how to keep warm in a blood
bath.
Sea
Survival. There are more dangers in the open water than sharks and
pirates. The Aviation Survival guide links to sea survival, but another
article of interest concerns hypothermia
and cold water survival, offering info about the "Rule of 50"
and the "mammalian diving reflex." A "Titantic" reprise,
anyone?
There's
nothing more dangerous, arbitrary, and careless of human life than our
own planet Earth. Weather can't be stared down; terrain can't be reasoned
with. Laws won't control it and punishment won't affect it. Teach your
players some respect for this powerful force ... run an adventure that
pits them against the most perilous foe of all, Mother Nature!
originally written February 9, 2001
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