In this new edition of the herbal, a new field has been
added to the description of each herb. This is the
Climatic Zone section. A normal world can be assumed to be
divided into five climatic zones :- Tropical, Subtropical,
Temperate, Cold and Polar. A few notes are below in order
to help the GM determine which zone a given section of
their world will fall into:
Tropical: the tropical regions are those located close
to
the equator. They typically have an average annual and
monthly temperature of around of over 20°C (68°F). They
also have a tendency to have wet summers and drier
winters, as you get towards their boundaries. On Earth
the Tropical region may be considered to be approximately
12° north and south of the equator. Papua New Guinea and
Peru have tropical climates.
Subtropical: the subtropics typically have anywhere from
4 - 11 months with temperatures of over 20°C (68°F) with
the balance of the year having temperatures of between 10
- 20 °C (50 - 68 °F). It extends roughly between
latitudes 12 - 25°. Northern Australia and the Florida
Peninsula both fall into this area.
Temperate: the temperate regions are anywhere which has
4
- 12 months with temperatures between 10 - 20 °C (50 - 68
°F) and the rest of the year is colder. For convenience
they can be considered to lie between latitudes of 25 - 45°.
Southern Europe, the USA and Australia generally fall into
this zone.
Cold: A cold region has 1 - 4 months with a temperature
of between 10 - 20 °C (50 - 68 °F) with the rest
of the
year being colder. It can be considered to fall between 45
- 65° latitude. Canada, the southern half of Alaska and
Scandinavia all fall into this region.
Polar: The polar regions have a year round average
temperature of less than 10 °C (50 °F). They lie above
latitudes of 65°. Greenland, Antarctica, and the most
northern reaches of Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia all
lie in this zone.
The above is a guide for game purposes only and is not
absolutely accurate, geographically speaking. It must
also be remembered that other factors, such as elevation
above sea level, the location of rain shadows, ocean
currents etc, also effect climate. Also, I have limited
the number of climatic zones to the ones above, and there
are many others. Some of the herbs may be found in a
‘tropical desert’. Under those circumstances it should be
inferred that the herb is found in hot deserts, not that
these deserts have ‘wet summers’. |
