Zach over at RPG Blog II have decided to start off today with some nice weather based discussion. I felt like rambling, so I made a post of it.
RPG Blog II: Friday Discussion: Using The Seasons And Weather In Your Game
My latest campaign didn't make much use of weather, since most of the time the players where underground anyway! But, I do remember when I first got the idea of using weather in a game.
Back when I was younger than today, there was an expansion published for the biggest FRPG in Sweden, Drakar & Demoner. (yeah, it looks a lot like dungeons and dragons, doesn't it?) That expasion Gigant, included a whole chapter on weather, and even included a nifty little sheet you could fill out, depending on in which climate zone your campaign took place. We gobbled it up (with every other optional rule there was) and from then on rolled for weather every day.
Since then it has been less common for me, but I have never really stopped using it. I used weather charts from Rolemaster in one campaign (BRP based game hacked into a Rolemaster hybrid. Really!), and even used the Wildeness Survival Guide for AD&D (for which some grumpy old men have an irrational hatred) in one campaign.
The thing is, when playing a game where treat the wilderness as anything more than just a highway, weather effects are cruicial to make the experience of the wild come alive, I think. What you do in a wilderness camapaign is to test your mettle against the elements, and to not include weather would like not letting monsters attack more than one PC at a time! Just to easy!
Why do I feel there has to be rules for weather then? I'll be frank and say that it's a lingering fondness for realism. Also, I bet most of us would never let it rain as often as it does in real life. Then I'm also pretty sure than if you are getting really hosed but weather once, or suffer silly amount of luck, it will coincide much better if it's all randomized. Roll some dice and have fun, eh?