RPG Talk‘s December 2016 Design Contest was to design a weather phenomenon.

Specifically:

Describe a weather phenomenon for a role-playing game. What conditions are needed to initiate the phenomenon? How do the residents react? How long does it last? Can it be predicted? Entries are limited to 1,000 words and should be game system agnostic.

Warning:This was written entirely as a result of a dumb conversation, and my not coming up with anything even slightly sensible.

My entry is below, or you can download the PDF here.

Also check out:

The PDF of Halfjack‘s (AKA Brad Murray) entry here.

The PDF of Duneaughts‘s entry here.

Turtlehat’s entry here.

Lustnado

The phenomenon known as a “Lustnado” is not necessarily a tornado, but is a front of high winds. These winds carry on them a chemical, pheromone or magical power which has the effect of increasing the desire to mate in humans (and other sentient and non-sentient animals of the GMs choosing).

Details

The strong winds blow in, always from a particular direction, and usually the strength of the wind correlates with the strength of the effect. The winds can last up to 5-7 days, but more frequently 1-2 days. If the population is significantly advance to be able to predict wind strength and direction, they will be able to predict a Lustnado with relative accuracy.

Effect on the population

The effect of a Lustnado can itself vary quite significantly. At its weakest, it’s only noticed when 9 months later, there is a slight increase in birth rates. At its strongest… well not much work gets done for those few days. A few deaths from over exhaustion.

For some settlements, a Lustnado is treated as a religious holiday. A commandment from (one of) their god(s), or a test (if abstinence is part of their beliefs).

Children of the Wind

According to folklore, Children of the Wind themselves take on many of the characteristics of their namesake. Moving where they please, never chained down to one place. They are wistful and full of wanderlust. More than one politician has subtly had their official date of birth changed to avoid this classification. Conversely, bards are far more likely to come from this group (judging by the amount who claim to be one).

Cause

The cause (and whether it’s known by the populace) is entirely up to the GM, but some potential options for regions that the winds could have passed through, are presented here:

A large forest or field which contains a plant which produces a pheromone.

An area of high latent magic. The location of an ancient festival to a fertility god.

An area where magical creatures who prey on humans live. They use the effect to lure humans (mermaids etc)