Using the Environment

cinderblock · Post by **cinderblock** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:41 pm

I was just standing outside thinking about my current game and how to make it more interesting and was struck by the sounds or rather the pervasiveness of one sound. The cicadas are back (and on everything) and normally I would simply overlook their presence but the sound they make started overtaking my thoughts. The constant droning makes hearing anything people say impossible with just a few feet of distance and the normal traffic sounds that make up the white noise of the city are difficult to hear at best.

I was wondering what sort of phenomena people on this forum might be exposed to in their regions that could be lifted for use in games to describe strange happenings in different adventuring worlds?

i.e. the cicada hatchings, running of the salmon etc.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:03 pm

Aurora Borealis and Australis are fun, as are the scent of willow trees and the flight of the ladybug.

cinderblock · Post by **cinderblock** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:09 pm

Flight of the ladybug? Is there some folklore about this or some special occurence?

For example, the cicadas can be used to predict war or so the story goes. There is a pattern that appears on their wings that can form a "W" shape. If this occurs then supposedly we'll have seven years of war otherwise seven years of peace.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:13 pm

In Europe, during the Middle Ages, insects were destroying the crops, so the Catholic farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Soon some beetles came, ate the plant-destroying pests and saved the crops. The farmers began calling these good insects "The Beetles of Our Lady", and they eventually became known as "Lady Beetles" and then, later, "Ladybugs." The red wings represented the Virgin's cloak and the black spots represented her joys and sorrows.

So, a flight of ladybugs means there is a pestilence / plague, but hope is on the way.

There are also lots of other ladybug-related symbolisms, too.

Most everything has a meaning, if you look long enough at it.

I did a thing called Omens 101 on a similar subject... and, there will be some neat weather lore stuff in Domesday II.

Foxroe · Post by **Foxroe** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:33 am

Up in the Nor'east (about 50 miles SW of Miskatonic U ) we have an abundance of peepers and crickets. The racket they make can be quite pervasive at night. It can be kind of creepy ("Beware Wastri, the Hopping Prophet!"), but I kinda like it...

There is also the call of the Whip-poor-will at night sometimes, which is also kind of eerie. According to old wives' tales (aka Wikipedia), they can steal a departing soul.

And there's nothing quite like the cacophonous cawing of a murder of crows before the approaching storm...
-Fox

cinderblock · Post by **cinderblock** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:46 am

Nice! one question though... what's a peeper? Is that a regional nickname or am I just being dense?

Foxroe · Post by **Foxroe** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:01 am

cinderblock wrote:
Nice! one question though... what's a peeper? Is that a regional nickname or am I just being dense?

Sorry, yeah it's regional. A Spring Peeper is a frog. My bad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Peeper

-Fox

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:05 am

Foxroe wrote:
Sorry, yeah it's regional. A Spring Peeper is a frog. My bad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Peeper

-Fox

Yeah, has to be regional. A spring peeper out in these parts has nothing to do with critters and generally lands the offender in the pokey.

cinderblock · Post by **cinderblock** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:12 am

Actually thats kinda why I started this thread. I'm not as well traveled as I'd like so in my presentation of an area (during gaming) I can only provide broad strokes to provide the "feel" of the location. But now when I give a description of an environment similar to the NE then I can draw out that little gem (peeper..hehe) to help set the tone. It can be something like what serl was stating with the ladybugs, which was pretty cool btw, to the dementia inducing sound of cicadas (man are they getting to me ), to regional dialect.

Foxroe · Post by **Foxroe** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:21 am

DangerDwarf wrote:
Yeah, has to be regional. A spring peeper out in these parts has nothing to do with critters and generally lands the offender in the pokey.

-Fox

Foxroe · Post by **Foxroe** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:45 am

If you're looking for some creepy tropical fare, I was stationed in Hawaii for a couple of years. Despite the sunny veneer, night time could be down-right disconcerting.

Nothing gives you the heebie-jeebies like looking at the side of your house at night as the head lights from your car pass over it, and seeing it covered with hairy cane spiders the size of your hand, their many eyes glaring coldly back at you. Or looking past your feet into the cool, dark grass as you get out of your car, and seeing it teeming with black, chitinous 12-inch centipedes...
[shivers]

-Fox

dachda · Post by **dachda** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:32 am

Oregon's Willamette river valley has little tree frogs, that fill the evening with their little peeps, come spring. I imagine similarly to the NE spring peepers.
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Go0gleplex · Post by **Go0gleplex** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:35 am

Well...it's not a normal occurrence that most people pick up on in reality...but it can be a rather dramatic foreshadowing of things;

The day Princess Di was killed, i had walked out of my house at 3:45am to get to work and I stopped...because the air itself was completely still and silent. Like the whole world was poised, holding its breath...waiting. I KNEW something world shaking was going to happen that day.

So imagine something like that with your party as they wake up...and later finding out that so and so evil dude wiped out an orphanage or such n such evil was released/ awakened. Could be traumatic if done right I think.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:21 am

I would think dramatic is preferred over traumatic, but I think Traumatic would be the goal in a Ravenloft game.
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Jyrdan Fairblade · Post by **Jyrdan Fairblade** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:32 pm

*shudder*

Now that is horrifying. Reminds me of the time many years ago that I went to a friend's party that just so happened to be right near Three Mile Island. All of the bugs, but especially the spiders, were unusually large.

For my part, I live in the city, so I don't get too much nature. With summer coming soon, I am looking forward to seeing fireflies cavorting in my backyard.

Also in an urban environment, I can vouch for hearing bands practice (I'm convinced that the louder the band during practice, the worse they actually are) and during big sports events, the shouts and cries of fans watching. Fortunately, my street is pretty quiet most of the time.

Foxroe wrote:
Nothing gives you the heebie-jeebies like looking at the side of your house at night as the head lights from your car pass over it, and seeing it covered with hairy cane spiders the size of your hand, their many eyes glaring coldly back at you. Or looking past your feet into the cool, dark grass as you get out of your car, and seeing it teeming with black, chitinous 12-inch centipedes...
[shivers]

-Fox

Aladar · Post by **Aladar** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:41 pm

Rattlesnake and tarantula seasonal migrations are always fun and can signal the coming of our monsoons. Nothing like coming out of your house at night and having a rattlesnake laying on your porch on the still hot concrete.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:48 pm

If you have ever been to the deserts of Arizona or New Mexico, in the places where it gets the hottest, you might have encountered one of the most interesting cockroaches ever: flying albinos. These guys can make you sick, just from seeing them, and if they mass (as they tend to do), they generate a chemical that produces nauseating qualities, and some people are so susceptible to it, it actually renders them unconscious.

I met these guys when I lived on a reservation near the Mexico border. Fun stuff.

Aladar · Post by **Aladar** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:06 pm

Let's not forget about vinegaroons (Mastigoproctus giganteus) either, the skunk of the "insect" world. These things look like a large scorpian at first glance, but have a whip like tail instead of a stinger.
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dachda · Post by **dachda** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:18 pm

serleran wrote:
If you have ever been to the deserts of Arizona or New Mexico, in the places where it gets the hottest, you might have encountered one of the most interesting cockroaches ever: flying albinos. These guys can make you sick, just from seeing them, and if they mass (as they tend to do), they generate a chemical that produces nauseating qualities, and some people are so susceptible to it, it actually renders them unconscious.

I met these guys when I lived on a reservation near the Mexico border. Fun stuff.

Unconscious? Holy crap!!
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Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:46 pm

Regionally, I live in an area that has a lot of valleys in an otherwise pretty flat area. During chill summer mornings it is neat to see these valley's filled with fog while you are on top looking down into a fog bank. These valleys of fog burn off fast when the sun rises, but it's neat to see from above.

-O
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Go0gleplex · Post by **Go0gleplex** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:39 pm

I modelled a campaign on the area of the Scott River in norther CA after spending a week prospecting. Hills, buzzards, eagles...the lot of it. I could just see dwarves living in the steep rock hillsides of the river valley as it wound around.

The area I live in has a large lake with a huge marsh at the end of it...a good sized bay though too shallow for much other than sail boarding, hills and rivers on all sides but the west which is lots of beaches and 200 ft high bluffs mostly...and a saltwater marsh half mile south that is pretty good sized. The tide goes out and you see all the trees washed from up river stuck in the mud flats (Troll graveyard!) Often thought about doing this area up but never seemed to have the time.

On really hot days the fog comes in and the temps drop to mid 50s while it's 100 in areas like Portland. Or it'll creep over the top and around Cascade Head (mt) to the north of us like a white blanket. The echoing of the waves on the beach and reefs off shore is continuous and able to be heard for a mile inland.
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