Ok, I didn't see anything explicitly having something to do with the topic of weather in Shadowrun when I did my search so here it goes. If most games are based in Seattle, and it seems like that's the case , you would think it would rain a lot during runs in that area. This in and of itself may effect how runs are performed and on the other side of the fence, how security is conducted, either for the better or worse. Add to the level of pollution and magic portrayed in the 2060s, runners should be encountering, acid rain, bad air days, mana storms and a host of other weather related problems with some frequency. I think the question and the responses speak for themselves, does weather have a significant impact on your campaign? GMs and Players should feel free to respond.

We rarely bothered with it in the old campaign, but during mine, the weather came into play whenever I remembered it. Often enough for a "whenever the GM says something" vote.

Usually it's damp. unpleasant. Seattle.

I wanted the option for "Neither rain nor sleet nor haile nor fog will stop us from ganking some schmoe for cash and earning a living."

It frequently rains and is foggy in my SR games. It adds atmosphere, paint the world grey, and it shall be depressing. I have had players in a blizzard, rain, fog, and a monsoon once, a long time ago.

Rain, heavy rain and wind, and fog are common.

Well BitBasher, it sounds like you probably should have checked the first option then.

Out of curiosity, beyond atmosphere, what in-game effects have GMs foisted... er developed for their players to overcome? Have any of you as a GM used or as a player encountered Acid Rain that did actual physical damage during a run? How about smog that was painful to breath without a respirator? Anyway, I'd like to hear some stories about this.

In most of my groups, we are neurotic about the weather. Of course, we're all in the Air Force and half of us are usually pilots, so its understandable.

Our group isn't exactly obsessive about checking the weather - it doesn't usually make a lot of difference. But the weather is there, and sometimes it becomes important. In one run, for example, the PCs used a snowstorm for cover while running the Quebec border... by driving their Bison across the hard-frozen surface of Lake Champlain. On another run, I used the conveniently frequent Seattle rain to cover taking out a cell tower with a Lightning Bolt.

I said "I thought the NAN shamans had cured that," but I include it as a background feature. In fact, I just had the PCs running around in February Seattle and Sioux Nation - wet and miserable in Seattle, freezing and dry in Sioux. It was just background, though. The characters had appropriate clothes and/or a warm vehicle nearby, not to mention heated buildings.

DeckerBob checks the Weather Channel Thursday morning on his Seattle apartment trid.

"You're watching the Weather Channel. And now your local on the 8's. Today, mostly cloudy, occasional rain, accumulation 1 inch. Tonight, scattered rain showers, accumulation 1/2 inch. Friday, scattered showers. Thunderstorms developing by late Friday night. Extended 3 day forecast - Saturday RAIN Sunday RAIN Monday RAIN."

DeckerBob wonders why he even bothers checking anymore.

I lived in Seattle for a number of years. From October to April you can pretty much count on the rain. On the flip side Seattle has great summers.

Runners in my games had best check the weather before they run or suffer the consequences. My favorite was running a group through an idyllic winter campaign (lovely, if unrealistic, snow, Amalgamated-Salvation Inc. Santas in the streets, etc.) where players considered stacking armor just to stay warm. Another good one was a scorching, smoggy, miasmatic summer in Seattle (major mojo afoot) which tied into a genetically-engineered-semi-magical plague outbreak thread. Just thinking about wearing an armored vest was enough to make some of them light-headed. Suddenly players began wondering if their "low" lifestyle really included air conditioning or not...

Just as rain, fog, and gloom add to the ambience of the cyber-punk/distopian future world of SR, GMs should not neglect the possibilities of oppressive heat and dryness (though humidity is just kind of annoying).

My favorite "hostile environment" to run my group through was a firestorm in Olympic National Park during a suprisingly dry autumn.

If only it weren't so darn uplifting to think about a campaign built around spring time in Seattle, I'd run it, just to say I had run players through all the seasons.

Ah but RangerJoe, I think you should reconsider your policy on spring time runs. If you did run in the spring as well as summer, winter, and fall, your players' surviving characters could bill themselves as "Runners for All Seasons."


Yes, I do crack myself up sometimes... Seriously RangerJoe, that was a good example of why weather/climate can be important, especially for folks on low lifestyle. (My vote would be no AC for Low Lifestyle folks unless they went to the mall during the day.) Anyway, if you use or have used weather keep the stories coming in.

Our GM usually generated the prevailing weather conditions and outside temperature for each day from a table he found somewhere.

We quickly found that the best camouflage colour for Seattle was dayglow yellow or orange, because that is the same colour wet weather gear 80% of people on the street were wearing.

On the flipside, our little visit to Africa was a little bit warmer and drier. Thank the goddess for air conditioned vehicles and solar powered refrigerators. Our characters spent much of the first week sprawled out in hammocks

Stupid cold was not cool. I never cared about weather until my GM (*RangerJoe cough cough*) made it obvious that if we didn't ask about the weather the weather was not going to be good for us. On the other hand wearing a ton of extra armor to keep warm did have its upsides. Its an easy way to change a teams dynamics. Got that cat burglar character who runs around in form fitting armor only, through them in the dead of winter and see how acrobatic they are in a heavy parka. Similarly, turning up the heat is a good way to get characters to shed some armor.


Namer18

This summer was incredibly unusual. It broke records in Western Washington for consecutive days WITHOUT rain! Amazing!

Also, for those that didn't read the entry in New Seattle...

Yeah, the weather can be a fairly important factor in operations. Just got to be prepared, plan ahead and use some (un)common sense. Runs where things like the weather would be vitally important are going to ones that are set in extreme environments or for things like T-bird smuggling. Whilst reading up on the Airforce para-rescue for the Medical Skills thread, came acorss these guys. Militant Weather Men.

Can anyone that lives in Seattle let us know how much and how often it snows? Rain is a given for the most part, but I'm not too sure about the snow.

Snow? It varies from none to a few inches that usually melt within the day. Very rarely has there been enough snowfall to last over a day and even more rare are times when a large amount (more than a few inches) of snow falls.

Let me give you an idea, I have lived here for 24 of my 28 years and I have YET to experience a white christmas... (Of course, I lived in Wisconsin for the other 4 years and I didn't see a white christmas there either...)

BUT, that is in the city proper. Head up the hill and you'll find all the snow you can stand.

For those of you that are unaware, the two main mountain passes across the Cascades (Highway 2 and I-90) are 3022' and 4061' in elevation. At those heights, the passes could be blocked with snow and it would still be raining around Seattle.

Ahhh yes. Weather that won't let you leave town while weather in town is deceptively ordinary. That could be a problem for some high-profile runners...

Heh, if you COULD have gone over the pass, you could just as easily head to the North or South.