# Weather Generator?



## Kamaloo (Jan 6, 2009)

I've been wanting to generate weather that makes sense over a long period of time, so I don't get the "it's hot! now it's cold! now there's a tornado!" sort of weather most generators seem to supply. I'm thinking one that supplies temperature, precipitation, cloud cover and wind conditions over a period of 12 30-day months, with seasonal and climate variations. Does anyone have a link to a reasonable generator like that which doesn't require much work to use? A lot to ask I know, but I can hope!


----------



## Edgewood (Jan 6, 2009)

I have a couple of weather generators that I have used in the past but none have ever been able to exactly simulate the evolving weather patterns that you're looking for.

What I do is go on line and look for a real world locale that approximates the area and climate that I want to simulate. Use their weather logs as the weather pattern for that area. Check the NOAA site. They have links to historical weather for most parts of the world.

www.noaa.gov/


----------



## Lanefan (Jan 7, 2009)

'Bout the only thing most random weather generators are any good for is determining the weather on the very first day of your campaign.  After that, you're better off just rolling some dice (skewing the odds towards normality for the season and location) to see how it's trending from yesterday.

So, if it's midsummer in a typical temperate climate and your random generator gives "heavy rain, windy, very cold" on Day 1, then for Day 2 you'd roll d% for each condition:

1. pretty much anything less than 99% means the rain has at least eased off; less than about 80% means the rain has stopped; less than 60% means the sun has partly come out; and less than 40% means it's sunny;
2. same for wind...the average summer day has at least *some* breeze, so your median roll wants to indicate a light breeze; to continue yesterday's "windy" you'd need over 90%, and it'd take about 97% to increase to "very windy";
3. much the same as above; skew wildly toward normal and only allow an extreme roll to enhance or continue the unusual weather.

That said, if the mood you're trying to set demands a thunderstorm, then there's a thunderstorm. 

Lane-"the climatology I studied in college has to be useful for something"-fan


----------



## Celebrim (Jan 7, 2009)

I once tried to create a weather generator that worked by adjusting the previous temperature, but what I discovered was that it was really easy for you to have a run of luck and end up with 'global warming' or 'global cooling'.  Even with dampening modifiers on the dice roll based on departure from average temperature, I was never happy with the result.

My suggestion for generating weather would be pick a city with a climate similar to the one you want to simulate, and then go to online weather site (wunderground.com, for example) and look up its historical temperatures for a suitably long period.   Or simply record the weather it experiences for the week you are planning the session.  

In my experience, it's not a good idea to generate random weather on a daily basis.  Instead, pregenerate (by whatever method) a couple weeks worth of weather.  Likewise, pregenerate your 'random encounters' (if you want any) and spend some time thinking about how you want to handle them.  Minimize the amount of on the fly dice rolling and creation you have to do.  You'll always find yourself improvising the unexpected, but try to handle the expected before the last minute.


----------



## Filcher (Jan 7, 2009)

The Greyhawk box set had a sweet weather generator in the glossography. (Accounting for latitudes and all that.) Don't know if we ever cause to use it...


----------



## Mark (Jan 7, 2009)

"Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get." - Robert A. Heinlein


I like to to decide on climate and then just either choose or randomize the weather slightly off a norm.  I feel that the weather, like major villains, should only manifest in the extreme based on a conscious choice by the DM (because the DM is the one who has to deal with it the most).


----------



## Edena_of_Neith (Jan 7, 2009)

No need for a Weather Generator, if you take a particular look at Climate.

  Think of Climate as an Endless War between Good and Evil, only in this case, Hot and Cold.
  This war, instead of progressing slowly, progresses rapidly and annoyingly, with one Battle Front coming through after another, every few days.  (The term 'Front', ala Warm Front or Cold Front, was taken from a Real World War and it's fronts.)

  So, it turns cold.  Then hot.  Then cold.  Then hot.  Then colder.  Then hotter.  Then less cold.  Then less hot.  In mad succession, never ending.
  Each front brings storms of wind and rain, followed by gusty winds, followed by partly cloudy weather or sunny weather.  Occasionally, a slow moving or nearly stationary front brings a long period of storms and rain.

  If it is summer, these storms are rain storms.
  If it is winter, these storms are snow storms (or, occasionally, ice storms or sleet storms.)
  If it is spring or autumn, the storms could be of any kind.

  If the storms are gentle, light rain or snow falls.
  If the storms are heavy, thunderstorms or thundersnow occurs.
  If the storms are strong, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, or very deep snow and blizzard conditions, occur.  

  Now ...

  There is always some Clown out there, in the D&D multiverse, who thinks he should be the guy running the weather, and not the weather.
  Or the druids decide they are going to get revenge for the latest attack on their forest.
  Or the elementals were let into the world, and they want to show off.
  Or the efreeti decide to heat things up a bit.
  Or the lich decides winter would be more appropriate (even they it is still July.)

  Counterforces move to try to correct the weather imbalance, which of course stokes more magical interference in the weather ... the chain reaction of this can lead to some pretty serious problems worldwide.

  I mean, even in the Real World, the weather is unpredictable and downright freakish at times.  Throw in magic and rabble rousers, and the occasional troublemaker, and a lot of faerie and elemental forces that want to have it their way, and counterforces, and just about anything you want could happen.

  Hurricanes?
  Hurricanes normally occur over warm water of 80 degrees or higher (27 celsius or higher.)  Normally, they begin over areas where the weather is (paradoxically) tranquil and calm, down in the tropics.
  Once started, they - much like bulls - rush along, mowing everything down in their path.
  Since hurricanes are such enormous weather systems, affecting in some cases more than one million square miles of surface area in one way or another, they can throw side effects into regions thousands of miles from themselves.
  Fooling around with hurricanes using magic is ... well ... dangerous.  It is much like trying to control a raging forest fire with a garden hose.  Unless you've got some pretty powerful magic, you may unleash something you never intended, playing around with such forces.

  There are some campaigns where the weather is artificially generated by resident faerie beings or wizards, and one of them is the Flanaess region of Oerth (Greyhawk.)
  There, the climate is warm temperate or subtropical from Veluna and northern Furyondy, east through the Shieldlands, to northern Nyrond and the Theocracy of the Pale, across the mountains to Ratik, and offshore to a point well north of the Lendore Isles.
  West of the Crystalmists, the climate is subtropical all the way to the ocean north of Zeif, and warm temperate up through Tusmit.
  *North* of this line, the climate turns from warm temperate to subarctic within a hundred miles, except only in Perrenland which is cold temperate.

  What does subarctic mean?  What does it mean versus temperate?
  Simple:

  Tropical = always summer
  Subtropical = always summer, but occasional cold snaps for 4 months
  Very Warm temperate = 6 months of summer (2 to 3 months of winter.)
  Warm temperate = 4 months of summer, 4 months of winter.
  Cold temperate = 3 months of summer, 5 months of winter.
  Frigid temperate = 3 months of summer, 6 months of winter.
  Subarctic = 3 months of summer, 7 to 9 months of winter.
  Tundra = 2 months of (quite variable) summer, 9 to 10 months of winter.
  Arctic = Always winter.

  Final thing:  A classic rule of thumb about the Temperate climate is that you are always importing somebody else's climate.  You never really have your own (and you wish the climate from somewhere else would leave, and it does, but then you wish what replaced it would go away too, and ...)


----------



## Kris (Jan 7, 2009)

I made a table a while back for the main area in my campaign world... I think it was loosely based on something I saw in an old MERP sourcebook long ago.

Most of the time I just used it as a general guide (just for consistency) - but I have also used it to determine one week/month from another (and if week 2 was drastically different from week 1, I would make the transition slowly over the course of a few days or so).

Here's a link to that table if you think it might be of interest (though it does have 28 days in each of its 13 months/moon cycles):

_(broken link removed)_

It's far from perfect, but (hopefully) it might spark a few ideas (or not  ).

* * *

*Edit*: Sorry - it doesn't seem to want to link directly... but it appears on this page of my campaign website:
http://airtha.freehostia.com/page23.html


----------



## Thanael (Jan 7, 2009)

Filcher said:


> The Greyhawk box set had a sweet weather generator in the glossography. (Accounting for latitudes and all that.) Don't know if we ever cause to use it...




Someone put that thing online here: Weather Forecaster for Greyhawk World


----------



## Kamaloo (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks for all your suggestions (and links)! I'll definitely look into them. Thanael, thanks for the generator link, it's just the sort of thing I was looking for.

If anyone knows of a more modifiable generator, maybe a downloadable one, don't hesitate to link me!


----------



## Mighty Halfling (Jan 7, 2009)

Didn't Cobra Commander make a weather generator? He was a real jerk with that, if I recall.


----------



## Jhaelen (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanael said:


> Someone put that thing online here: Weather Forecaster for Greyhawk World



Wow, awesome!


----------



## CharlesRyan (Jan 7, 2009)

Just out of curiosity, why do you need a generator?

Recently, I've been trying to make weather a more significant factor in my campaign, in part to add a sense of veracity and in part to provide another potential tactical factor to my encounters (at least, the outdoor ones) and the heroes' plans.

I thought about some sort of system to generate the weather, but ultimately decided that I didn't need it. I don't use a random generator to come up with my maps; why should I do it for the weather.

I choose the weather (within reasonable expectations) that fits the challenges or atmosphere I want for my story. In the same way that I design a map, pick out opponents, or otherwise set up elements for an encounter or segment of a story.

I recommend that route!


----------



## Kamaloo (Jan 7, 2009)

CharlesRyan: I'd like a generator because I have no real feel for believable weather patterns and because I'm lazy and don't want to have to keep track of it beyond checking a list in case the matter comes up in the game. If it were left up to me the weather would probably always be dry and sunny with no wind, LOL! I like the idea of random weather patterns being a factor to deal with, I just don't want to have to do the work myself.

The D&D 1e Wilderness Survival Guide seems to have the sort of thing I'd imagined, but it'd take forever to sit and determine the changes day by day, which is why a generator to do the grunt work would be welcome.


----------



## Arnwyn (Jan 7, 2009)

The 1e Wilderness Survival Guide. Bar-none.

I still use it to this very day. There was a generator online that actually generated the weather from the WSG for you... I don't know if it's still out there, but Google is your friend. I printed off a year for _each_ terrain in _each_ climate type, and I'm ready to go for life.

And I agree - "making it up" is hugely unsatisfying (both for me and my players).


----------



## Scribble (Jan 7, 2009)

Roll a d6:

1. Choose whatever weather will annoy your PCs the most.
2. Choose whatever weather will annoy your PCs the most.
3. Choose whatever weather will annoy your PCs the most.
4. Choose whatever weather will annoy your PCs the most.
5. Choose whatever weather will annoy your PCs the most.
6. Re-roll


----------



## Kamaloo (Jan 7, 2009)

Arnwyn: I actually did find a generator based on the WSG online, but I couldn't get it to work (I just get an error message). This is the link: Dungeon Master Utilities

Does this work for anyone else?


----------



## Vorput (Jan 7, 2009)

Edena_of_Neith that was a great fun little post.  I'd give you xp, but I've allotted my giving for this 24 hours.


----------



## Mark (Jan 8, 2009)

Vorput said:


> Edena_of_Neith that was a great fun little post.  I'd give you xp, but I've allotted my giving for this 24 hours.




I'll get it for you.


----------



## Edena_of_Neith (Jan 8, 2009)

Thank you both.


----------



## Edena_of_Neith (Jan 8, 2009)

To the poster above who is really unhappy with Made-Up Weather, and his friends:

  You wish the weather to be truly random, with dice rolls determining it?
  That is great, since that is what you wish.  But if your group does not understand the basics of weather, they won't be able to distinguish Made-Up Weather and Random Weather, because even with dice rolls the DM will be forced to arbitrate.
  In this case, the more the DM understands weather, the less he has to arbitrate it, and the more completely it can be given over to the dice rolling, become truly Random.

  On Earth, in the northern hemisphere, we are close enough to our sun and the sun angle is high enough to produce specific effects.  These effects are the basis of Summer.
  The ground heats up under the long sunny days (or, even on cloudy days ... some sunlight still comes through) and it warms the air above it.  If there is forest, the ground is less warm, but it is still moderately warm.
  The ground is cool, chilly down deep.  The air is moderate, cool in the shade, and chilly at night.  Cool winds blow, rustling the trees, waving the meadow grass, the sound of leaves competing with the birds and insects.

  Does this remind you of something?  It is Summer in the North, in southern Canada, in most of Europe.  It is in the 50s at night, but it is in the 70s during the day.  It starts heating up about an hour after sunrise, and the summer evening and early night sees only a slow drop in temperature, as the ground cools.
  Of course, it is much warmer if you are standing in the sun.  The sun tries to warm you just as it warms the ground.  You can become quite overheated, just standing there in the midday sun, even if it is quite cool in the shade.  Sit in the comfort of a shaded porch or under the canopy of tree limbs, and picnics are the order of the day, no?

  In areas of the temperate latitudes where the ground is all prairie or steppe, daytime temperatures are more likely to peak in the 80s.  Nighttime lows rise into the low 60s.  The open land heats up more intensely under the temperate sun. and the short nights give it less time to cool back down.
  If it is desert, in the temperature latitudes, it goes into the 90s during the day, and drops into the 60s at night.
  If it is constantly cloudy, it goes only into the 60s during the day, and falls into the 50s at night.

  Most areas with this kind of summer climate, which are humid, are known as Snow Forest Climates.  New England, Germany, and Poland enjoy this climate.
  If the winter is milder, generally above freezing, the climate is known as Marine West Coast, and this climate is extremely famous because it is shared by Great Britain, France, and the US Pacific Northwest.
  If the weather is dry, and no trees grow, you have the climate of Colorado or Wyoming or southern Minnesota, or the famous climate of the steppes of Central Asia.
  If the weather is extremely dry, think of northern Nevada or western Utah, inland Oregon and Washington State.  Or the desert areas south of the great steppes of central Asia.

  The sun is the primary force of warmth, and at these latitudes it shines for 14 to 16 hours per day in June (not much less in May or July, and in August the land is so much warmer from the long summer that the retreating sunlight doesn't mean much.)
  The nights are brief, the period of total darkness even more brief, but are surprisingly chilly.
  If it is cloudy, windy, and humid (or raining) it can be downright cold, even during the summer.  The chill doesn't bother the trees, but it can bother people.

  Again, at these latitudes (40 to 50 north latitude) it is the sun that is the primary force of warmth ... if you are near the ocean and mountains do not block it off, the ocean is also a source of warmth ... and of storms and rain and wind, endless humidity, giving rise to the term Temperate Rainforest (Washington State.)

  Now, look at Average Temperate Maps for these areas, and you will see that ... the Average Temperature does *not* correspond to what I just wrote!
  Why is that?

  There is a Great Ribbon of Roaring Air that circles the world, a writhing stream of hurricane force winds up high in the sky, known as the Jet Stream.  Ever hear of it?  Of course!
  This strange beast, the Jet Stream, moves back and forth across the temperate latitudes during the summer.  Why this occurs is complicated, but a simplistic summary (for gaming) is that warm air pushes at it from one side, and cold air from the other.  
  Think of a long, long snake, and someone is pushing at it with a stick from one side, and someone is pushing (at another part of it) from the other, and the annoyed snake is hissing and lashing out, and writhing, and trying to straighten itself (it never succeeds) and carry on with it's business.  Well, the Jet Stream looks a lot like that.

  If the Jet Stream moves off to your north, then hot humid air from the Tropics moves in, it turns miserably humid, highs are in the 90s (occasionally, in the 100s, especially deep inland and over dry areas), and lows in the 70s (or even, 80s.)
  Then the Jet Stream moves off to the South, and cold dry air from the Arctic moves in.  It is summer, so it is not that cold, but it is still chilly.  Highs drop into the 70s, lows drop into the 40s.  The sky is crystal clear, the sun blazes down (and it is still barely warm, even in the sun), and the wind blows cold from the north.

  The Average, as it is called, is just that:  the Average.  It is not the actual weather at any given time.  The actual weather are those times of mild days and chill nights, or heat waves, or cold waves.
  Simple rule of thumb, obvious, is:  the further north you are, the fewer heat waves, the more cold waves ... and the reverse is true (ask anyone in the American Midwest.)

  Sometimes the Jet Stream moves right over your area, and stays there.  *This* is when it is *most likely* to be stormy, tornadoes are most likely to occur (tornadoes are produced, simplistically speaking, by the heating of the sun and the passage of warm and cold fronts, but the Jet Stream being around really helps this process out.)
  It is also likely to be the windiest time, for strong weather systems produce vast areas of wind, and the Jet Stream - a windy affair - increases winds at the ground.
  Strong winds help blow in the warmest and the coldest air, and big storm systems reinforce this, so the warmest of summer air and the coolest, occur during these windy periods (a windy warm night, or a windy cold day, both common in the North in the summer.)

  Why doesn't it snow in the summer?  Why doesn't it freeze?  (light frosts can occasionally occur ...)
  The ground is too warm.  Snow falling from the clouds warms, melts, and turns to rain before it reaches the ground, even during the coldest cold waves, in the summer.  
  Freezes?  The warm ground keeps the air temperature up.  There isn't time for the ground to cool enough, and the air, before the sun is back up and shedding it's warmth.  The sun rises high enough in the sky to shed a whole lot of warmth, enough to compensate for any cold wave, and the cold moderates.

  Why doesn't it get warmer and warmer under the sun, until it is frying hot?
  Actually, it can get rather frying hot, if the Jet Stream stays off to the north long enough, and this is your classic Summer Heatwave.
  But, I mean, why doesn't it get FRYING hot, 120 or higher?
  It doesn't do that because the sun is not strong enough, and heat waves never last long enough, and forests and plants mitigate the heat, and clouds mitigate the sun's strength, and ... something is always interfering, even if it is only a brief thunderstorm that brings sudden cooling.  Something always interferes with the heating process.  (This interference keeps temperatures almost always below 100, and usually below 90.)
  For it to actually go to 110, some really unusual weather patterns would have to occur.   Every degree beyond that, is much more difficult yet, requires a more freakish set of conditions.

  So, sometimes it is in the 70s during the day and 50s at night, cool, moist, hot in the midday sun, pleasant in the afternoon, cool at sunset, chilly at night.
  Sometimes it is hot and humid, in the 90s during the day, 70s at night, and still quite warm when you are trying to sleep (too warm ...)
  Sometimes chilly winds blow, it struggles to reach 70, it falls to 45 that night, and it's not really a good time for picnics.
  And sometimes, it is just warm and moderately humid, in the 80s during the day and 60s at night, with pleasant evenings and cool nights.

  The last kind of weather is most common just prior to heat waves, just after heat waves (where the cold air hasn't started rushing in yet, and the ground is still very warm), and sometimes the typical weather if the Jet Stream is off to the north (ala, Pennslyvania or Ohio on a typical summer day.)
  You wouldn't call this weather strictly a heat wave, nor a cold wave.  It is just ... well, typical summertime warmth.  Hot in the sun, warm in the shade, pleasant in the evening, cool at night, and sometimes too humid to be comfortable.  Great for golfing, not so good for football.  Great for picnics, not so good for swimming.

  Here is how our Weather Service described the possibilities of these conditions, using their *own* 6 sided dice, for the state of Ohio:

  1.  Hot and quite humid.  Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s.
  2.  Warm and humid.  Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.
  3.  Warm and somewhat humid.  Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.
  4.  Cool and humid (clammy.)  Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
  5.  Cool and dry.  Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
  6.  Very cool and dry.  Highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s.

  How many days above 90 each summer?  Around 20.
  How many nights below 50 each summer?  Around 20, also.

  Rain, thunderstorms, and severe weather occur as you shift from one kind of weather to another.  That is a fundamental rule of weather.
  When a weather pattern is stable, it is clear and sunny.  Or the reverse, cloudy and rainy, with the garden style variety of rain (gentle or moderate, but persistent, with 1 or 2 inches over several days ... but no violent storms during the stable period.)

  That is Summer.  There is much more to Summer than that, but there's a start.  The more you know about summer, the more you can create dice rolls to produce Random Weather appropriate to the season.

  For example, you had thrown a 2, indicating warm and humid weather.
  You roll, and the dice roll is a 1.  That means hot and humid.  That means a warm front is coming through.  That means the Jet Stream is off to the north of the area, or about to move off north.
  Storms are possible, even likely.  So, another d6 (now, I'm making this up.)

  1:  Partly cloudy, then partly cloudy and hot and humid.  No rain.  Light winds from the east, turning southeast, then south.
  2:  Partly cloudy, then cloudy with light rain, then moderate rain, then partly cloudy and hot and humid.  Breezy.  Winds southeast, then south.
  3:  Partly cloudy, then cloudy with thunderstorms.  Breezy.  Turning hot and humid.
  4.  Partly cloudy, then cloudy, then torrential rain and severe thunderstorms. Afterwards, strong south winds, partly cloudy (or even mostly cloudy) and hot and humid.
  5.  As 4, but after the storms pass, it turns hot and dry, not hot and humid.  (An indicator that perhaps more unusual weather yet is on the way.)
  6.  Sudden severe storms, flooding, hail, and tornadoes, followed by strong winds, partly cloudy skies, turning hot and humid.

  Whatever happens, remember that weather is continuous.  It can shift suddenly, but tends to be a work in progress, altogether and all the time.
  The PCs can awaken to clear skies or cloudy skies, to cold or to heat, to humid or dry conditions, but most likely things are still in the process of changing to those conditions when they awaken.  And eat.  And journey.  Fight.  Rest.  Fight again.  Rest.  Fight again.  Journey on.  Eat dinner.  Tell stories.  Go to bed.
  Weather is the Great Unending Story.

  You could set up a really elaborate set of dice rolls to cover this, going even as far as Rolemaster did.
  Just remember that you'll be rolling a lot, because the weather in your setting is constantly changing, no?  Unless the setting is very unlike Earth, or wizards/druids/others are fooling with the weather, it should be changing, evolving, as it is normally always doing.

  Study the other seasons.  Spring, autumn, winter.
  Study the major climates around the Earth, as defined by Köppen.
  Study microclimates (some of these are downright fascinating.)
  Watch weather forecasts, watch the Weather Channel a lot.  (And listen to whether forecasters discuss the incoming warm or cold fronts, incoming weather events.  Some do so with great gusto, even if nothing particularly outstanding is happening.)

  You'll get a feel for the dice rolls to create.  And, there will be no sense of it being Contrived.  Knowing how it works in the Real World, you can extrapolate that into your game, and your players - subjects of Real World weather themselves - will feel right at home.

  *Then* you throw in the joker with the Control Weather spell, and start with the DM nastiness ...  : )


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 8, 2009)

I've found this one to be very useful - it gives you several different choices for both type of terrain and climate, and you can fill it in for any time of the year... so, if you want a tropical forest in the middle of July, then you can get the weather for a week in July.  Or, you can get it for any time of the year.

That way, if the PCs decide to migrate from a tropical area to a temperate one, you can easily change the weather forecast.

OpenRoleplaying.org - Gaming Tools

This is what I got for tropical forest in summertime with 500' elevation:

Year 2008, July 1:
High/Low: 	90° F / 75° F 	Wind: 	None

Year 2008, July 2:
High/Low: 	90° F / 70° F 	Wind: 	SE 10 mph
Precipitation:   	0.8 inches of rain fell.

Year 2008, July 3:
High/Low: 	85° F / 70° F 	Wind: 	SE 20 mph
Precipitation:   	0.8 inches of rain fell.

Year 2008, July 4:
High/Low: 	85° F / 65° F 	Wind: 	SE 20 mph

Year 2008, July 5:
High/Low: 	80° F / 65° F 	Wind: 	SE 20 mph

Year 2008, July 6:
High/Low: 	85° F / 65° F 	Wind: 	SE 5 mph

Year 2008, July 7:
High/Low: 	85° F / 70° F 	Wind: 	None
Precipitation:   	1.5 inches of rain fell.


----------



## Wisdom Penalty (Jan 8, 2009)

Wow. I find it hard to believe there's not a weather generator out there that gives the moon phase, a high/low temp, precipitation, and winds within a tidy calendar format.  There are a couple neat ones linked from there, but some have an odd 7-day cap on the result they spit out. Is this truly a lost cause or is my google-fu weak?


----------



## Arnwyn (Jan 8, 2009)

I haven't been able to find the one I used.

It was entirely web-based, used the 1e WSG as the basis, did up to a month at a time, and was printable. (It did everything that Wisdom Penalty points out above [including adding special weather - tornadoes, heat waves, hurricanes, etc - when appropriate], except moon phases.)

Drat. It was great.


----------



## maddman75 (Jan 8, 2009)

Striking out on a new adventure - Clear and windy
Just saved the day/found new hope - sunny
Betrayl or loss - rain or light snow
Struggling against nature's wrath - Storm or blizzard

Thought I'd include this for those of us that look at settings as stage sets rather than simulations.


----------



## Lanefan (Jan 9, 2009)

Wisdom Penalty said:


> Wow. I find it hard to believe there's not a weather generator out there that gives the moon phase,



Well, the moon phases on your game world are highly unlikely to be the same as on Earth, unless you use the exact same rotation timing etc., and only have one big moon orbiting your world instead of several small ones... Once you figure out the length of your month (full moon to full moon, or more complicated perhaps in cases of multiple moons) the phases are dirt-easy to fill in.







> a high/low temp, precipitation, and winds within a tidy calendar format.  There are a couple neat ones linked from there, but some have an odd 7-day cap on the result they spit out. Is this truly a lost cause or is my google-fu weak?



Sometimes the accuweather 15-day forecast is about as useful as a random weather generator for two weeks; use that. 

Lanefan


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 9, 2009)

Wisdom Penalty said:


> Wow. I find it hard to believe there's not a weather generator out there that gives the moon phase, a high/low temp, precipitation, and winds within a tidy calendar format.  There are a couple neat ones linked from there, but some have an odd 7-day cap on the result they spit out. Is this truly a lost cause or is my google-fu weak?




The one I quoted above does have the capability of turning the moon phases on & off, and also has calendars for the Forgotten Realms & Greyhawk.

But, it only goes out for 7 days.

Here is the same with moon phases "on" for the Forgotten Realms, and it can change from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Year 2008, Kythorn 30:
High/Low: 	70° F / 50° F 	Wind: 	N 15 mph
Moon(s):   	Selune is a waxing gibbous moon.

Year 2008, Flamerule 1:
High/Low: 	70° F / 50° F 	Wind: 	N 15 mph
Moon(s):   	Selune is a waxing gibbous moon.

Year 2008, Flamerule 2:
High/Low: 	70° F / 50° F 	Wind: 	N 15 mph
Moon(s):   	Selune is a full moon.

Year 2008, Flamerule 3:
High/Low: 	70° F / 55° F 	Wind: 	N 5 mph
Moon(s):   	Selune is a full moon.
Precipitation:   	0.5 inches of rain fell.

Year 2008, Flamerule 4:
High/Low: 	80° F / 60° F 	Wind: 	None
Moon(s):   	Selune is a full moon.

Year 2008, Flamerule 5:
High/Low: 	80° F / 60° F 	Wind: 	None
Moon(s):   	Selune is a waning gibbous moon.

Year 2008, Flamerule 6:
High/Low: 	80° F / 60° F 	Wind: 	None
Moon(s):   	Selune is a waning gibbous moon.


----------



## kh2ouija (Oct 12, 2009)

I wrote a weather generator based on the Wilderness Survival Guide AD&D book by Kim Mohan and decided to link it here since I found this thread while looking for inspiration  Feel free to send comments or suggestions if you like it.

Weather generation | Stefan's blog


----------



## Gilladian (Oct 12, 2009)

Very nice Kh2ouija!

I love the WSG weather generator, and use it frequently.

However, I do also rely on another resource: I purchased a "World Weather Guide" and have assigned regions from it to my campaign world. I can then do a quick lookup of the "standard" weather/temp for the region, and pick the weather of the moment from what is likely to be going on. Choosing a variation of the weather that helps the plot along is never a bad thing!

I also found taking a few weeks to read and absorb a couple of books on weather and climate really helped me in designing my campaign worlds, helping me make reasonable choices about the weather, climate, and terrain combinations.


----------

