It's the hottest day of the year...
While melting slowly into my chair today on what seems to be the start of a harsh heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest I was thinking about stories which involve the hottest day of the year trope. Everyone in these stories are exhausted, agitated, and slick with sweat making what ever ordeal they are already going through that much worse. The heat wave is a more sinister version of the more in your face disaster like a hurricane or tornado but eats away at you slowly instead of an explosion of escalating misery. So what's that got to do with RPGs?
THE HEAT WAVE
Beyond its aesthetic a heat wave can be used as a motivator, a hazard, or even a character all its own in your story. In addition to mechanical ways mentioned here keep in mind that the heat wave is just as powerful as just another layer on top of the current setting. Take care to describe the liminal haze of the crossroads. The odor of rancid sweat or herds of grazing animals. The lazy buzz of flies and mosquitos. The Trophy Incursion Hester's Mill does a fine job of showcasing ways to describe a lazy sinister heat that I much enjoyed while running it.
However, where description helps set the tone our mechanics will make sure the characters feel it while traveling across a desert or plumbing the remains of a hill side fortress with the sun bearing down on them. I'm going to make this into a bit of a series showcasing such mechanics in the myriad of games I play from Best Left Buried to Pathfinder and maybe even World of Darkness with several different interpretations. The first will be the heat wave as a Best Left Buried Disease.
THE HEAT WAVE: As A Disease (Disease mechanics are featured in the BLB Consequences Zine which is one of my favorite supplements for the system you should go get HERE.)
SUN ROT
*This disease is transmitted by Apophis Wasps or the baleful light of the Black Sun.*
Stage 1:
The disease drains the vitality of the victim causing them to become scarred by patches of scaly, cracked, and sensitive skin that flakes off in bloody dust when even slight pressure is applied.
Any time your bare skin is touched you immediately begin to bleed losing 1 Vigour per round until the bleeding is staunched by a Wits check from you or an ally.
Stage 2:
Your head begins to pound like a drum while your eyes twitch constantly and your skin loses all feeling as it scabs over. You are in constant pain.
All rest becomes Poor rest regardless of the conditions of the camp or establishment.
Stage 3:
The Rot now begins to eat away at your reality. For you, the sun turns black and the world is cast into a perpetual darkness with strange shapes and lost souls beckoning you at the edge of your vision.
You cannot make Observation checks. All checks requiring sight are Against The Odds.
CURING SUN ROT
‣ At Recovery's end, pass a Brawn Check to reduce Sun Rot 1 Stage.
‣ Covering the Infected's body in ointments and fresh gauze grants the Upper Hand.
‣ Alternatively, Sun Rot can be cured by a specially made ointment from the oils and flesh of a Shadowclad monster.
What if the Heat Wave was so pernicious as to be a trap that follows the characters everywhere they go and actively seeks to undermine them? Next time we'll be putting together the heat wave in Pathfinder 2E not as a simple weather effect to hamper overland travel but as a Hazard. Also noodling on the idea of the heat wave as a monster but we'll see where that goes. Thanks for reading.
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