i-need-help-with-my-weather-drop-die-table

I Need Help With My Weather Drop Die Table

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0785

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Have you heard of a die drop table before? You print the table out. Then hold dice above it. Then drop the dice. Where the dice land is your result. It’s random generation meets physics. Here’s an example by Eric Nieudan called Dungeontown generator posted via the Die-Drop Table Heaven G+ Community.

Here’s a bigger version.

And here’s a hilarious NPC hairstyles drop die table shared by Mark Hunt:

Weather Drop Die Table

I created a weather generator for the druid PC in my Demonplague campaign. We’ve been using it for several sessions now, and the player enjoys it. However, it’s got some flaws and I want to make a new version of it, and I’m looking for your suggestions.

Here’s how it works.

Each night the druid can attune to nature and predict the next day’s weather. This is a house rule I made up. In the Demonplague adventure I’ll be publishing this year, weather is chaotic because of the recent natural disaster that has struck the region and turned the place into a fantasy post-apocalyptic struggle for survival.

So I wanted some gameplay added to the weather instead of the PCs just getting hit with storms, winds, and supernatural effects. PCs are just victims in this case.

But what if the druid could slightly tweak the weather? What if the weather became a fun, tactical choice each night for the players?

Thus the weather die drop table was born.

After attuning to nature, the druid drops a d6 and a d8. The dice placement determines the type of weather. The dice numbers determine precipitation and wind.

At the druid’s option, she can pick one die up and drop it again to hopefully get a different result. This is where weather becomes a fun game.

We’ve used the table several times now. (Unfortunately, the druid player has the weather table and I can’t take a photo of it for you right now.) The group debates on what the druid should do. Is wind and rain ok? Will that give the party or their foes an advantage during the assault on Icefell Keep tomorrow? Should there be a re-drop to try and make it windier and harder for the white dragon to keep following them?

Good roleplaying ensues.

With my design, however, results are getting repetitive. I need to add more potential results. Also, there’s occasional conflicts. Like when dice land on both hot and cold zones.

So I need to smooth a couple things out and make the table results more interesting. Any ideas?