Tuesday 30 November 2010

Snow blows in


Snow has fallen here too. Forget wintry mix - it's almost a blizzard. The freeze begins.

The dramatic and changeable climate was one of the features of Port Blacksand I loved most. (For more on the city and my feelings about it see yesterday's post.) Being a seaport, it was explained in Blacksand!, meant blazing sunshine could easily give way to a pea soup fog or heavy snow with little in the way of warning. Its weather anchored the city geographically, gifted it character and made Blacksand more of a living space.


The same was true for the setting of Games Workshop's Necromunda, the polluted, half-abandoned domes sunk deep in the base of the towering megacity Hive Primus.

The Outlanders supplement to the original boxed game contained rules for weather conditions and related events. Hazy memory tells me it had gales to topple gangers from walkways, true acid rain, electrical discharges, toxic sludge and the hivequake. The same book also featured a superb bestiary section, describing the Underhive's bizarre flora and fauna. My favourites were the ash clams waiting to snare the careless. As much as the evocative texts, all of this potential served to make the landscapes real.

If the game sounds interesting - it is - the latest version of the rulebook is available online or printed and bound, the current miniatures are here and the Eastern Fringe is a good place to find out more. Some older material may have gone, but it's not forgotten.

With winter setting in and our landscapes changing around us, the senses are caught unawares, memories grow vivid and imagination wakes. It seems the right time to ask: how do the games you play have you breathing the air of the setting?

4 comments:

The Angry Lurker said...

I am reading your post at work in Gravesend wondering how I am getting home as there is a blizzard outside my window.

Porky said...

I hope you manage. It really can make every journey an adventure, new and surprising.

Fresh snow makes me feel like a child again. In fact, when I read your comment I imagined distracting the blizzard and nipping out the other side of the building. Wouldn't work in the real world I suppose. But if you need a plan B...

Paul´s Bods said...

Snow is great fun....I hope enough falls here so I cna build an igloo...not much fun to drive in though...
Cheers
Paul

Porky said...

That'll be one big igloo, or one very small car...

Love your blog too - I've just counted myself in.