Topic: Natural Hazards

[Thom @ ICE]

PCs can't wear armor constantly, and my players know that once they set up camp the only person(s) in armor are those who are on watch. Everyone else is in a relaxed mode - unless there is a definitive reason to be wearing armor.

As was pointed out previously, HARP offers the detailed skills to play out every interaction/action in a PC's day - or the ability to roll the dice only when necessary... One of the main reasons I don't roll the dice as often as some might is that I like the fumbles to be impactful - and I don't like the idea of having them occur 10 times each day because I rolled to see if someone found a certain herb, or if they rode their horse that day for 8 hours and had multiple skill checks during that time.   To each their own, and may you all enjoy it.....

[RandalThor]

As was pointed out previously, HARP offers the detailed skills to play out every interaction/action in a PC's day - or the ability to roll the dice only when necessary... One of the main reasons I don't roll the dice as often as some might is that I like the fumbles to be impactful - and I don't like the idea of having them occur 10 times each day because I rolled to see if someone found a certain herb, or if they rode their horse that day for 8 hours and had multiple skill checks during that time.   To each their own, and may you all enjoy it.....

Yeah, I have been thinking along these lines myself.  I am thinking about instituting a basic skill number, like setting a base TN, that I will use to determine if they are able to do something without consciously acting. (Sort of like a subconscious/basic ability.) Not sure of exactly how to do this yet, maybe taking their skill bonus and adding 55 to set the TN, and then compare that to the difficulty of whatever is going on to see if they automatically succeed or fail. Only in specific situations (and combat, of course) or if the player wants to spend a Fate Point to have a chance to change a result by actually rolling the skill check will they roll.

Still not sure of how, or if, to do this.

[Thom @ ICE]

I would say if their total skill bonus plus the difficulty modifier exceeds 100 there's no reason to roll.
Also, I would allow bonus for extending an attempt over time, which again should be considered before the above.

[RandalThor]

I would say if their total skill bonus plus the difficulty modifier exceeds 100 there's no reason to roll.
Also, I would allow bonus for extending an attempt over time, which again should be considered before the above.

That sounds reasonable. I will look into trying that. Unfortunately for the group, their outdoor skills are really terrible so I don't see them being able to succeed this way. Which means I must make them roll in order to give them a chance to succeed. 

[RandalThor]

So, I have some specific situations in mind and I would like some ideas on how to handle them, with some ideas as to the possible consequences for failure. Thanks in advance for any assistance. Just so you know, they are in the far northern reaches of Jaiman, the Quellbourne area to be exact (up on the 2000' high plateau and heading north into the mountains there), and it is late spring. I would imagine that the area would correspond to Alaska or Norway/Sweden on Earth, roughly. (Terry if I am wrong, please correct me.) So, while it is late spring, it is still very cold, generally above freezing during the day and just below freezing at night.

I am doing this in three "legs": (1) The Plateau - generally flat, but of high elevation, (2) The Foothills - funny enough, they start out a little lower than the plateau but, of course, eventually rise higher, plus there is a small patch of Cold Moors here, and (3) The Mountains - this is the roughest part of the trip, being as much up and down as across. Each leg is estimated at taking roughly 5-days (though they are traveling much different distances during each leg, of course) and will have it's own situation. They are in order, below: (These do not include any creature encounters, as those I don't have any problem dealing with, and I don't want to have creatures in with these, at least not right now.)

Heavy Rainstorm: The group is out in the open when this strikes, up on the plateau, so I don't see them finding shelter  so much as making shelter, so survival skill check? If so: What difficulty? And what "punishment" for failure? Colds and such, giving them negatives for several days and slowing them down? Possibly killing a mount or two?

Late Snowstorm/Minor Blizzard: Here the group will be in the foothills of the mountains, so they could possibly find shelter, which is still a survival check. Failure means....? Some Tiny Cold Crits to simulate frostbite? 

Avalanche: Nothing too huge, mostly to make the passage more difficult, forcing the players to think of the best/safest way to continue on. Other than some climbing checks, which would be made really difficult for the animals, I don't have any idea of how to handle this.

My main reason for having these things in here are to reinforce the idea that skills and abilities other than combat and combat support are very important and should not be slighted. Though, I do not want to smack my players in the face too hard with this, just make sure they get the point, and hopefully in a fun, exciting game-moment way.

Ooh. I forgot to mention that they will be needing to cross a melted-snow swollen, fast moving river at one point. It is at what would be a decent crossing-point otherwise (damn, I forgot what those were called), but with the increase in the volume of water it is more dangerous than usual. I am sure some animal handling will be involved here, which is probably how I am going to handle this: the PCs have to control the animals which will do most of the work crossing the river. Failure could mean anything from lost equipment, to beings swept away by the current, I imagine. But, again, I don't necessarily want this to be insta-death (though it very easily could be, I know), so how do I handle the situation if one totally flubs their handle animal check and the horse goes bonkers?

[Thom @ ICE]

First, before they go out, I would have them do a survival check, and make note of what their roll was. If their highest skill bonus is +50, and the roll was 76 then they scored a 126 total - which means that they prepared for the trip and remembered even the hard to remember stuff (tents and bedrolls would be easy, extra packs to store spare clothing in would be light, extra waterproofing oil/fat to use on the tents and packs to ensure that they keep you and your gear dry would be medium, a condenser to collect purified water from steam would be hard). Now in this case they should have prepared pretty well.  The nice thing about doing the roll in advance like this, you can apply that result later on when the player says that they put up the tent to protect from the rain, and because you know that they had easily achieved the Easy skill check with that roll you let them do that because they have the gear.   If the final roll had been 76 total, then they would forget the light, medium and hard stuff, but remember the easy stuff.... in other words, they brought the tent and bedroll, but have no extra packs, etc.  Now that you have that pre-adventure roll done.... onto your other questions.

Heavy Rainstorm: The group is out in the open when this strikes, up on the plateau, so I don't see them finding shelter  so much as making shelter, so survival skill check? If so: What difficulty? And what "punishment" for failure? Colds and such, giving them negatives for several days and slowing them down? Possibly killing a mount or two?

Making a shelter is an easy idea, but the question is whether or not they have the right supplies (refer to the pre-adventure survival check) or that they can figure out what to do (Hard Maneuver at this time assuming they don't have the supplies they need. 

Now the rules have a section on page 86 that specifically tell you how to handle cold environments, but that's a bit too detailed for me personally....  I would simply conduct the check like a CRR.  Survival Skill against a CRR(120) is resolved with no effect.  CRR(100) resolve as a Cold Crit -80.  CRR(80) Cold Crit -60   CRR(60) Cold Crit -40   CRR(40) Cold Crit -20   Note that the cold critical descriptions are more for a cold blast, so you would need to adjust the descriptive piece, but use the injuries listed.  You can roll separate CRR checks for each person and each animal.  A Person is checked using their Survival Skill, unless the most knowledgeable person assists them (in which case use their input as a bonus).  Animals, go with whoever is caring for them, unless  directed by someone (again use the skill as a bonus).

Late Snowstorm/Minor Blizzard: Here the group will be in the foothills of the mountains, so they could possibly find shelter, which is still a survival check. Failure means....? Some Tiny Cold Crits to simulate frostbite? 

Again, I'd handle same way as above.

Avalanche: Nothing too huge, mostly to make the passage more difficult, forcing the players to think of the best/safest way to continue on. Other than some climbing checks, which would be made really difficult for the animals, I don't have any idea of how to handle this.

The only actual action is climbing, so that's what you use.  As for the animals... sorry but they don't get to be forced along a small cliff...  they are still animals.  If they are nearby when the avalanche occurs I would definitely do some animal handling checks.

My main reason for having these things in here are to reinforce the idea that skills and abilities other than combat and combat support are very important and should not be slighted. Though, I do not want to smack my players in the face too hard with this, just make sure they get the point, and hopefully in a fun, exciting game-moment way.

Ooh. I forgot to mention that they will be needing to cross a melted-snow swollen, fast moving river at one point. It is at what would be a decent crossing-point otherwise (damn, I forgot what those were called), but with the increase in the volume of water it is more dangerous than usual. I am sure some animal handling will be involved here, which is probably how I am going to handle this: the PCs have to control the animals which will do most of the work crossing the river. Failure could mean anything from lost equipment, to beings swept away by the current, I imagine. But, again, I don't necessarily want this to be insta-death (though it very easily could be, I know), so how do I handle the situation if one totally flubs their handle animal check and the horse goes bonkers?

How swift is this water?  In most cases the animals will make it across eventually.  It's the gear and whether they are available to you on the other side that are key.  Additionally another survival check to understand how to cross the water in the best way.

[Pat]

For the heavy rainstorm, you could have a few penalties:
1) Failed survival check, party sets up camp in a dry river bed (since it's a plateau a flood plain maybe?) Heavy rain causes a flood.
2) If party can't set a fire (failed check or no firewood) party sleeps in damps clothes (stamina check next morning or negative modifier).
3) Damage to equipment (rust), any paper saturated, tinder box soaked, travel rations go moldy etc

For late snow storm/blizzard:
1) Effects of cold on party. Negatives to PC's wearing metal armour (effects of cold), negatives to spell casters using somatic skills due to chilled fingers.
2) Could party seperate? Or loss of a pack animal? Tracking skills to be used to find all.
3) Damage to exposed weapons such as bow strings. Roll for damage or to repair.

For the avalanche:
1) (If riding), riding check to keep away from avalanche (penalty for icy conditions?)
2) Running (if not riding or PC falls from horse) check. More checks for running PC's than riding.
3) If caught in the avalanche, have a portion of supplies lost in the snow. Do support animals die? Do PC's take damage?

When fording the river, if the horse goes bonkers, I'd make a second riding roll to see if the PC is bucked off the horse (a really poor riding roll). If yes then the PC can make swimming rolls to get either back to the shore or continue across (PC's choice but it may be more dangerous to continue in a fast flowing river). If no then the PC needs to make another riding roll to get the horse under control (maybe at a penalty if the horse is agitated or increase the difficulty modifier).

The penalties could be loss of animals (and any equipment on the animal), loss of personal equipment (shield, dagger, sword, helmet etc) due to being bucked into the river. Possible damage from items being carried in the river (rocks, branches etc)

[RandalThor]

First, before they go out, I would have them do a survival check, and make note of what their roll was. If their highest skill bonus is +50, and the roll was 76 then they scored a 126 total - which means that they prepared for the trip and remembered even the hard to remember stuff (tents and bedrolls would be easy, extra packs to store spare clothing in would be light, extra waterproofing oil/fat to use on the tents and packs to ensure that they keep you and your gear dry would be medium, a condenser to collect purified water from steam would be hard). Now in this case they should have prepared pretty well.  The nice thing about doing the roll in advance like this, you can apply that result later on when the player says that they put up the tent to protect from the rain, and because you know that they had easily achieved the Easy skill check with that roll you let them do that because they have the gear.   If the final roll had been 76 total, then they would forget the light, medium and hard stuff, but remember the easy stuff.... in other words, they brought the tent and bedroll, but have no extra packs, etc.  Now that you have that pre-adventure roll done.... onto your other questions.

I had planned on an initial survival check already, and to use it as the modifier for some of the skill checks they would be needing during the trip. One thing they are also going to have to decide is if they are going alone (stupid) or if they are willing to take some troops with them and be both in charge and responsible for the troops. They have this option because one of the PCs just got knighted and he needs the practice/experience of being in charge.

2) Could party seperate? Or loss of a pack animal? Tracking skills to be used to find all.

Ooh, this is a great idea, especially if they bring some troops along. A few of the troops and several pack animals could get lost and need to be found - as fast as possible. Even if they don't have the troops, losing a couple of pack animals and their supplies could be devastating to their chances of survival in the long run.

Thanks for all the ideas, and please don't be shy about tossing any more out that come to mind.

[Turbs]

I generally use natural hazards to divert/introduce characters to one-off encounters..

fierce storm cause pc's to look for cover/shelter - they come across a ruined tower, as they are setting up camp they clear away some dirt to build their fire but reveal a trap door,
What ever could be below?

however..

you can set up a scenario where PC's are chasing  their quarry on a ship..  as they close they realize a huge essence storm is approaching.  they have to make a decision to push on and try and catch them or divert.. if they do push then add all sorts of strange essence-phenomena they PC's have to over come..
They could also be the ones being chased in the same situation.