Quote from: jeff37923;771434IIRC, but I'd have to check, you can have a planetary core rotating independantly of the crust and outer mantle, the inner mantle acting like a fluid bearing.

There are three requisites for a dynamo to operate:
An electrically conductive fluid medium
Kinetic energy provided by planetary rotation
An internal energy source to drive convective motions within the fluid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamo_theory

So it looks like that is another stumbling block to a shirt-sleeve environment.

Quote from: Marleycat;771248I think its a great concept but and it reminds me of Chronicles of Riddick among many other sources but I have always had a hard time imagining how an atmosphere would survive with no rotation.

A wizard did it.

Quote from: Grey Wanderer;771527A wizard did it.

They're such busybodies those wizards!

Quote from: Grey Wanderer;771527A wizard did it.

This.

I really think something of the, you know, fantasy has been lost from fantasy worlds when every single one of them is supposed to adhere to rigid rules of planetology.

As much as I like to bang the drum of "what-do-they-eat-and-where-do-they-shit" when it comes to dungeon design, there is a point where the hobgoblins tribes over the next ridge start to look a lot like foolish consistency.

The caveat to planetology, is that it could be completely wrong, note that that is the dynamo theory; because most stuff out of immediately testable physics is theoretical. It's why there has been a sea change in astronomy in the last few years.

Or to sum it up scientifically: we don't know shit.

Quote from: dragoner;771535The caveat to planetology, is that it could be completely wrong, note that that is the dynamo theory; because most stuff out of immediately testable physics is theoretical. It's why there has been a sea change in astronomy in the last few years.

Or to sum it up scientifically: we don't know shit.

Which just gives us some wiggle room to cheat.

Are we really contending with the scientific definition of "theory" here?

Quote from: jeff37923;771545Which just gives us some wiggle room to cheat.

Yes, because there can be exceptions to the rule, or even the rule doesn't necessarily work the way we think it does. As long as proof of impossibility doesn't exist, we are good to go.

Quote from: mightyuncle;771547Are we really contending with the scientific definition of "theory" here?

Do you mean such as a non-testable hypothesis?

Yes, that's not the scientific definition of "theory."

Thus the smiley.

Quote from: jeff37923;771545Which just gives us some wiggle room to cheat.

Screw wiggle room, I want fantasy worlds that are actually fantastic for a change.  Things like Inverse World, or Sundered Skies, or World Tree.

You know what, leave magic right out of it.  I'd be happy with a ringworld.  SUb-creation delenda est.

Quote from: Ravenswing;771475

Heck, the first adventure for my newest group had them traveling in the mountains in very early spring after a hard winter, and included the various trials and tribulations involved in mountaineering when the high country ravines still are 20' deep in snow (but watch for crevasses and undermining!) and the cliff walls have hanging ice just waiting to tumble down ...  Waitaminit.  You want to go up the ravine wall after those orcs, a half hour before sundown, above tree line, with a 40 mph wind kicking up?

Sorry, I'm still not seeing how that is not something to take care of in pre-game prep, rather than plan for it months or years in advance during initial setting design.

There may be some sort of disconnect, so I will attempt to better portray my position.

Here is what I usually do: At the end of the last session, the players stop at the base of a mountain that a large band of bandits is using to terrorize the neighboring areas from a fort just above the tree line. Two sessions ago (about a week in-game), the first snow fell and has been off and on since. The upcoming session, they want to avoid the trail the bandits use and instead scale the mountain and attack the bandits in the cave about a quarter mile up a sheer cliff face. Between last session and the upcoming one, I determine the following: The wind is blowing at whatever-mph (enough to cause penalties to climb) , it's lightly snowing (more penalties), and with their climbing equipment (if any; there's always that one guy), it will take them whatever-many hours (I don't have a number off the top of my head; that's what rules are for) to climb the cliff at a relatively safe pace. Every hour, you have to make a skill check.  Or, they can wait 3d12 hours for the conditions to clear up (more random encounters).

Of course seasons exist in my games. Day and night are there too. I don't even see how that could have been misinterpreted.

I consider creating Jet Streams, an El Nino, La Nina, a Polar Vortex or two, solar and lunar cycles, position in the galaxy, etc, to be tiresome and not important at all to my games. And certainly not important to creating setting, unless it directly and noticeably influences game play or is the focus of the game. For example; if the world's weather is controlled by storm giant god and defeating it will end the devastating storms that constantly ravage the world.

Or, if it rains anvils from the sky whenever the three moons are in alignment directly above the planet, which happens every 3 months; that would be something you need to come up with in setting design, and track it as the campaign goes on. Or if the fifth high tide brings with it crabmen, this would be important to keep track of if the players are on the coast. Otherwise, why keep track of it?
What I don't think is necessary is the level of detail for what is described in Bat in the Attic's post. I consider those to be mundane subjects that distract from more important aspects of designing the setting.

(Sorry if this was rambling or incoherent. It's been a long day)

Quote from: everloss;770726Bat in the Attic has some interesting stuff sometimes, but who the fuck is actually going to spend time thinking about air and ocean currents? Unless that is somehow central to the underlying theme of the setting, it's pointless and time-consuming.
I'm going to keep reading through his steps just to see if it continues to be as ludicrous as step one.

Actually they are ciritical in determining the geography.
The best thing to do is to use the ones we have on earth. So ocean currents say go clockwise in the north and anticlockwise in the south. If you change that it might seem minor but you would also have to make the sun rise in the west and set in the east cos the planet would have to be spinning in an oposite rotation, or its not a planet its a plane and then there is no horizon etc etc etc

So pretty important.

Quote from: Grey Wanderer;771527A wizard did it.

but then some guy is goign to ask when he reaches 25th level - where is the spell to create a planetary atmosphere... or remove one.