Citação sobre Clima e Topografia.

A passagem abaixo foi retirada de "The Tao of D&D":

Having said that, let's get down to business.  In having tried to create a random system for filling hexes with junk, I have created lists ... things which fall into four basic categories: occupants, features, topography and events.

Events may occur at any time, repetitiously, and have no influence on the hex at all.  Distilling out events which depend on biological incidents, such as the 17-year cycle of the cicada, a great many examples are inextricably connected to the weather: thunder storms, 'dry lightning' (thunderstorms which produce no precipitation but which produce lightning), heat waves, heat 'storms' (excessive heat waves which last extensive periods), droughts, fog, mist, drizzle, rain, blizzards, ice storms, hail, drifting snow, sleet, ice melt and accumulated rime or black ice.  Other events, some related to the effect of weather, might include forest fires, wild fires, 'bog fires' (spontaneous igniting of escaping gases), firestorms and fire 'whirls' (vertically oriented rotating columns of air, potentially containing draft winds of over 100 mph), pyrocumulus clouds (clouds often associated with volcanic eruptions, causing turbulence and potentially producing lightning), gaseous emissions from active volcations, full volcanic eruptions, mudslides, flash floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, avalanches, meteor strikes and so on.  Then of course there are magical phenomena which might account for raining frogs, St. Elmo's fire, 'foo fighters' (glowing globes of greenish light often reported by pilots), spontaneous appearances or disappearances, shifts in reality, etcetera, etcetera.

Topography is a little more down to earth, but includes more than merely the lay of the land - flora, drainage and geology are equally as important at the geography of a hex.  What are 'hills/ - are they gently sloping downs, such as southern England or Ohio, or do they display exposed rock, such as the Ozarks?  Are the ponds sink-holes, or are they fed by small streams or natural springs?  Is the forest made of hawthorne trees, with thick briars as undergrowth, or easily marched through aspen woods?  Either might occur at the same latitude.

Features may be man-made, or natural, even impermanent.  An odd-shaped mountain, a pillar of rock, an ancient crater, peculiar gnarled trees, a dungeon entrance, trails, a burned out area, stone statues left over from an ancient race ...

As idéias apresentadas parecem extremamente boas para ser exploradas em aventuras e campanhas como fontes de inspiração e desafio - além de adicionarem um grau de detalhe que ajuda muito a criar interesse e clima para a estória desenvolvida durante o jogo. Em particular, a utilização de eventos climáticos bizarros é bastante sugestiva, e pode trazer muitos problemas a um grupo de aventureiros desavisado. O texto completo, que, curiosamente, não trata especificamente nem do clima nem da topografia, pode ser encontrado aqui.