I have a Gem Moon based system in my world that I'm building, there are six gem moons that stay in the sky for 7 years at a time (each mini-campaign lasts 10-12 sessions before jumping 7 years in the timeline to the next moon). These moons are in addition to the standard sun and moon that run like the real world.
I would like for each of these Moons to have an in game effect on the players, but also affect the world so that each mini-campaign has a different feel, as we revolve around the moons. I've thought of two ideas, and hopefully that may give you guys a baseline of what I'm trying to think of. The only caveat is each moon is represented by one of the 6 larger gods in my setting, but the players don't know that. So I'd like the effects to be inspired by the element of the God, without them getting suspicious. More like a when it's revealed, they'll be like, oh dang, I should've seen that coming lol all help is appreciated!
Effects of the Moons
Ruby Moon (Based on the God of Fire)
Effect on the Players:
Effect on the World:
Amber Moon (Based on the God of Light)
Effect on the Players:
Effect on the World:
Topaz Moon (Based on the God of Earth)
Effect on the Players:
Effect on the World:
Emerald Moon (Based on the God of Wind)
Effect on the Players:
Effect on the World:
Sapphire Moon (Based on the God of Water)
Effect on the Players: Fire cannot be created, even magically
Effect on the World: Lots of extra pelts are ordered and made. Hunting becomes a world-wide event to help the production of these to deal with the cold.
Amethyst Moon (Based on the God of Darkness)
Effect on the Players: When players hit zero, they begin with 2 Death Save Failures
Effect on the World: Potions are made more readily available and healing is discounted
I don't think the moons you have set a the time of this posting (Sapphire and Amethyst) are going to be good narratively or in a playability sense. I would suggest looking to maybe the Gem Dragons or other crystal features and modeling your moons off of effects that they have. So, something like this:
Ruby Moon: The light of the ruby moon casts a red glow amongst the populace, raising passions and driving monsters to action.
Player effects: +1 bonus to hit with attacks. +2 HP back per hit-dice spent during a short rest. Once per day, spend 1 hit die to add it's roll to damage on a physical attack.
World effect: Increased monster incursions and the beginning of seven years of more likely societal strife between nations. Tempers flare, great love stories are forged, and wild adventure is had.
Amber Moon: The light of the amber moon cools the passionate fires of the previous seven years. Peace begins to bloom and a cycle of diplomacy and healing begins.
Player effects: +1 bonus per dice to healing magics. +2 bonus to Persuasion and Animal Handling rolls. Once per day, each player can expend 1d4 and add the roll to one non-violent action.
World effects: Monster incursions decrease and society settles. Adventurers strike out to uncover lost treasures free from worry about overt monster attacks, only worrying about what they may disturb.
Topaz Moon: The light of the topaz moon brings the hunger for industry as seven years of peace have set the table for trade.
Player effects: + 1 bonus to AC. +2 bonus to Deception and Persuasion skills. Once per day players can expend 1d6 and add it to any roll that corresponds to a non-violent physical skill.
World effects: Trade explodes. Magic items and rich exotic goods become more prevalent. Fresh mines are unearthed which need adventurers to clear out, as they may disturb slumbering monsters.
Emerald Moon: The greenish hew of the emerald moon ushers in the winds of change. Children born of this age are prepared for the trials ahead of them as they will grow to adulthood during the ages of strife.
Player effects: Once per combat, one attack or save of the player's choice gains advantage. At the beginning of the age, each player rolls 3d20 and logs those numbers. They may expend these rolls during the course of this age to replace any dice roll.
World effects: Prophecy runs rampant. schools and secret enclaves begin acquiring young children to mold into pawns for the coming age of strife. Kidnapping and raiding for children rises. Adventurers are often called to help rescue these unfortunates.
Sapphire Moon: Under the blue sheen of the sapphire moon, the world awaits the prophesized end-times. Preparations are made to survive the coming age. Power struggles arise between leaders hoping to avert impending disaster. Countries struggle to re-forge old survival plans or attempt new methods.
Player effects: +2 bonus to Save DC of Enchantment/Illusion/and Divination spells. Once per combat, each player can spend a reaction on another players turn to become the target of an enemy attack, even if that attack would not normally be able to hit them. Once per day, each player can drink a bottle of salt water to regain hit points as if drinking a healing potion.
World effects: Society closes in on itself. Countries begin to close their borders and harden their defenses. Adventurers are often busy stamping out various new cults that begin to pop up.
Amethyst Moon: The purplish haze of the amethyst moon ushers in an age of darkness and strife. Evil awakens and the world shudders.
Player effects: Advantage on Stealth rolls and +2 bonus to attacks or Save DC's for Necromancy spells. Once per combat, players can "shadow jump" as a bonus action up to 15 feet. Once per day, players can choose to pre-fail a death save to regain 1/4th of their hit-point maximum rounded down as an action.
World effects: Darkness reigns and shadows are the vanguard of terror. Citizens huddle behind walled cities and soldiers guard their charges. In the outlands, small towns call on adventurers to help protect them from the nightly specters. Heroes begin to bloom during these years, cutting their teeth on shadows until the turn of a more violent age.
Wild Magic effects immediately spring to mind. So, maybe when it's the God of Fire's time, any fire magic might suffer or benefit from Wild Magic effects.
Pretty cool idea. One thing I would encourage you to consider is how is this affecting the players from a dungeon crawling perspective, like what different dungeons will they be tackling during each moon. For example, the Amethyst moon might make the dead stir in their graves, leading to some crypt themed dungeon crawls. The Topaz moon might make the earth roil and shift, revealing entrances to cave and under dark dungeons, that sort of thing. Once you got your dungeons squared away, then you can think about some world effects.
What kind of magic do you want in your world. Do you want big bombastic effects or something subtle? should they feel natural or alien ect..
How hard do you want the game to be?
The effects you currently have are very video gamey by that I mean they are like events that boost certain kinds of loot farming or attack styles with minimal in world explanation. The water one also seems to operate kind of like an amped up version of winter and a particularly terrifying one at that. A supernatural cold in line with something out of game of thrones. This really only makes sense if that god is particularly evil or they don't actually control that effect and are more like a guardian through this unstoppable time of hardship. E.g fire is a dry period like a drought where water can't be created magically, light is a period of non stop light and dark non stop night ect...
What kind of magic do you want in your world. Do you want big bombastic effects or something subtle? should they feel natural or alien ect..
How hard do you want the game to be?
The effects you currently have are very video gamey by that I mean they are like events that boost certain kinds of loot farming or attack styles with minimal in world explanation. The water one also seems to operate kind of like an amped up version of winter and a particularly terrifying one at that. A supernatural cold in line with something out of game of thrones. This really only makes sense if that god is particularly evil or they don't actually control that effect and are more like a guardian through this unstoppable time of hardship. E.g fire is a dry period like a drought where water can't be created magically, light is a period of non stop light and dark non stop night ect...
What impact do you want it to have on players? - can be different with each Moon. Some can be more impact full than others, as long as it's a significant difference. I'm more into the thematic aspect of it, than the mechanical impact
How often do the moons change? Basically every 10-12 sessions they will change. It will be 50-60 sessions before they encounter a moon for the 2nd time.
What kind of magic do you want in your world. Do you want big bombastic effects or something subtle? should they feel natural or alien ect.. this can be a both situation. We just got done with spelljammer and those characters will be coming into the new campaign down the line, so it's high enough magic for space travel, but not an entirely common practice.
How hard do you want the game to be? Harder than normal, because my players have been playing a while with me specifically as a DM and more often than not, thought that the difficulty should increase.
The God's at this point haven't had an alignment set, because we haven't used them. But the duality of the world is very common, so probably 2 good, 2 neutral, 2 evil to some degree. There's flexibility there.
Also, the game of thrones reference is actually a good base for what it would be like during that time period, so that would help with me fleshing out that moon's world effects
Pretty cool idea. One thing I would encourage you to consider is how is this affecting the players from a dungeon crawling perspective, like what different dungeons will they be tackling during each moon. For example, the Amethyst moon might make the dead stir in their graves, leading to some crypt themed dungeon crawls. The Topaz moon might make the earth roil and shift, revealing entrances to cave and under dark dungeons, that sort of thing. Once you got your dungeons squared away, then you can think about some world effects.
The issue with that is its very sandbox. I know where they are starting and will have a few different hooks available for them to proceed with, but the world is a build as you go type, but I hadn't considered at all the effects it would have on dungeons and that's a good aspect to consider!
Wild Magic effects immediately spring to mind. So, maybe when it's the God of Fire's time, any fire magic might suffer or benefit from Wild Magic effects.
I like that a lot!! BUT I do feel like that would make the wild magic subclass less unique. But I will definitely look through that table and see if I find any inspiration!!!
I don't think the moons you have set a the time of this posting (Sapphire and Amethyst) are going to be good narratively or in a playability sense. I would suggest looking to maybe the Gem Dragons or other crystal features and modeling your moons off of effects that they have. So, something like this:
Ruby Moon: The light of the ruby moon casts a red glow amongst the populace, raising passions and driving monsters to action.
Player effects: +1 bonus to hit with attacks. +2 HP back per hit-dice spent during a short rest. Once per day, spend 1 hit die to add it's roll to damage on a physical attack.
World effect: Increased monster incursions and the beginning of seven years of more likely societal strife between nations. Tempers flare, great love stories are forged, and wild adventure is had.
Amber Moon: The light of the amber moon cools the passionate fires of the previous seven years. Peace begins to bloom and a cycle of diplomacy and healing begins.
Player effects: +1 bonus per dice to healing magics. +2 bonus to Persuasion and Animal Handling rolls. Once per day, each player can expend 1d4 and add the roll to one non-violent action.
World effects: Monster incursions decrease and society settles. Adventurers strike out to uncover lost treasures free from worry about overt monster attacks, only worrying about what they may disturb.
Topaz Moon: The light of the topaz moon brings the hunger for industry as seven years of peace have set the table for trade.
Player effects: + 1 bonus to AC. +2 bonus to Deception and Persuasion skills. Once per day players can expend 1d6 and add it to any roll that corresponds to a non-violent physical skill.
World effects: Trade explodes. Magic items and rich exotic goods become more prevalent. Fresh mines are unearthed which need adventurers to clear out, as they may disturb slumbering monsters.
Emerald Moon: The greenish hew of the emerald moon ushers in the winds of change. Children born of this age are prepared for the trials ahead of them as they will grow to adulthood during the ages of strife.
Player effects: Once per combat, one attack or save of the player's choice gains advantage. At the beginning of the age, each player rolls 3d20 and logs those numbers. They may expend these rolls during the course of this age to replace any dice roll.
World effects: Prophecy runs rampant. schools and secret enclaves begin acquiring young children to mold into pawns for the coming age of strife. Kidnapping and raiding for children rises. Adventurers are often called to help rescue these unfortunates.
Sapphire Moon: Under the blue sheen of the sapphire moon, the world awaits the prophesized end-times. Preparations are made to survive the coming age. Power struggles arise between leaders hoping to avert impending disaster. Countries struggle to re-forge old survival plans or attempt new methods.
Player effects: +2 bonus to Save DC of Enchantment/Illusion/and Divination spells. Once per combat, each player can spend a reaction on another players turn to become the target of an enemy attack, even if that attack would not normally be able to hit them. Once per day, each player can drink a bottle of salt water to regain hit points as if drinking a healing potion.
World effects: Society closes in on itself. Countries begin to close their borders and harden their defenses. Adventurers are often busy stamping out various new cults that begin to pop up.
Amethyst Moon: The purplish haze of the amethyst moon ushers in an age of darkness and strife. Evil awakens and the world shudders.
Player effects: Advantage on Stealth rolls and +2 bonus to attacks or Save DC's for Necromancy spells. Once per combat, players can "shadow jump" as a bonus action up to 15 feet. Once per day, players can choose to pre-fail a death save to regain 1/4th of their hit-point maximum rounded down as an action.
World effects: Darkness reigns and shadows are the vanguard of terror. Citizens huddle behind walled cities and soldiers guard their charges. In the outlands, small towns call on adventurers to help protect them from the nightly specters. Heroes begin to bloom during these years, cutting their teeth on shadows until the turn of a more violent age.
I'm at a function right now, and can't FULLY dive into these like I want to to really sit and think about them. But just browsing, adding more math to remember that changes periodically, I think would have a negative impact on my table 😅 but I will review these probably tomorrow morning and see if any of the ideas give me inspiration!! I REALLY appreciate the effort you put here!! I normally don't get too many replies on my posts I feel like, so I wasn't expecting all these so soon!! 🥹
So under sapphire, there’s no fire? People are going to eat raw food for 7 years? Just lots and lots of veg I guess? Seems either unrealistic or a vegan utopia. Or there’s tons of ceviche and tartare — and food poisoning. Though I bet on the 1st day of that next cycle, there’s a hell of a barbecue.
Actually, that’s an idea, it seems like there would certainly be rituals and festivals that would make the transition from one to another. Might be fun to explore.
Beginning with 2 death saves is pretty punishing. Depending on the initiative order, someone could die before anyone even has a chance to help them.
I’d say instead of going all or nothing for those things, use resistant/vulnerable kind of mechanic. Fire works better or worse, not it doesn’t work at all. And you should really let the players know in advance. If I’m going wizard and take fire bolt only to find out I can’t use it at all, I’m going to be pretty upset. Game-mechanic alterations should always be something the players know about while they’re making their characters.
Finally, while I get you want to keep it from the players, it would be strange for the characters to not know. In world, this is something that’s been going on at regular intervals for who knows how long. The people, including the characters, should know what to expect, both when a cycle will start and what impacts it will have. It would just make logical sense for people to say, hey, there’s a wind cycle starting in 18 months, we should starts taking the precautions our parents warned us about.
As far as productive suggestions, I’d mess with the weather. Too much rain, not enough, crazy windstorms, etc. It’s easy to narrate, and it can add effects that are manageable and add flavor without killing people.
I think if the effects are going to be so extreme as there is no fire for long periods then the effects should probably be regional. I.e during the blue moon period there is like an arctic region which is supernaturally cold and can have no fire so people have to migrate away or use magic just to stay warm . Similarly there is a desert region which under the red moon has no water unless it's very carefully stored and possibly a volcanic region where the sky is blotted out with ash and fire. At the same time while the red moon is up the arctic region might be really pleasant and there may be more consistently safer spots between. The light could similarly have an are with no night and so bright in the day it blinds. Dark could have an area with no day and no light can illuminate You could even have two water regions, one which rains and floods and one which freezes.
I think if the effects are going to be so extreme as there is no fire for long periods then the effects should probably be regional. I.e during the blue moon period there is like an arctic region which is supernaturally cold and can have no fire so people have to migrate away or use magic just to stay warm . Similarly there is a desert region which under the red moon has no water unless it's very carefully stored and possibly a volcanic region where the sky is blotted out with ash and fire. At the same time while the red moon is up the arctic region might be really pleasant and there may be more consistently safer spots between. The light could similarly have an are with no night and so bright in the day it blinds. Dark could have an area with no day and no light can illuminate You could even have two water regions, one which rains and floods and one which freezes.
I actually really like this. Using one aspect and portraying that different per region.
Because the world is broken up into 4 Kingdoms, and then a massive archipelago in the center of them all, and that would be interesting to make each effect have a couple specific regions affected differently in that way!! Thank you for the idea!!
I don't think the moons you have set a the time of this posting (Sapphire and Amethyst) are going to be good narratively or in a playability sense. I would suggest looking to maybe the Gem Dragons or other crystal features and modeling your moons off of effects that they have. So, something like this:
Ruby Moon: The light of the ruby moon casts a red glow amongst the populace, raising passions and driving monsters to action.
Player effects: +1 bonus to hit with attacks. +2 HP back per hit-dice spent during a short rest. Once per day, spend 1 hit die to add it's roll to damage on a physical attack.
World effect: Increased monster incursions and the beginning of seven years of more likely societal strife between nations. Tempers flare, great love stories are forged, and wild adventure is had.
Amber Moon: The light of the amber moon cools the passionate fires of the previous seven years. Peace begins to bloom and a cycle of diplomacy and healing begins.
Player effects: +1 bonus per dice to healing magics. +2 bonus to Persuasion and Animal Handling rolls. Once per day, each player can expend 1d4 and add the roll to one non-violent action.
World effects: Monster incursions decrease and society settles. Adventurers strike out to uncover lost treasures free from worry about overt monster attacks, only worrying about what they may disturb.
Topaz Moon: The light of the topaz moon brings the hunger for industry as seven years of peace have set the table for trade.
Player effects: + 1 bonus to AC. +2 bonus to Deception and Persuasion skills. Once per day players can expend 1d6 and add it to any roll that corresponds to a non-violent physical skill.
World effects: Trade explodes. Magic items and rich exotic goods become more prevalent. Fresh mines are unearthed which need adventurers to clear out, as they may disturb slumbering monsters.
Emerald Moon: The greenish hew of the emerald moon ushers in the winds of change. Children born of this age are prepared for the trials ahead of them as they will grow to adulthood during the ages of strife.
Player effects: Once per combat, one attack or save of the player's choice gains advantage. At the beginning of the age, each player rolls 3d20 and logs those numbers. They may expend these rolls during the course of this age to replace any dice roll.
World effects: Prophecy runs rampant. schools and secret enclaves begin acquiring young children to mold into pawns for the coming age of strife. Kidnapping and raiding for children rises. Adventurers are often called to help rescue these unfortunates.
Sapphire Moon: Under the blue sheen of the sapphire moon, the world awaits the prophesized end-times. Preparations are made to survive the coming age. Power struggles arise between leaders hoping to avert impending disaster. Countries struggle to re-forge old survival plans or attempt new methods.
Player effects: +2 bonus to Save DC of Enchantment/Illusion/and Divination spells. Once per combat, each player can spend a reaction on another players turn to become the target of an enemy attack, even if that attack would not normally be able to hit them. Once per day, each player can drink a bottle of salt water to regain hit points as if drinking a healing potion.
World effects: Society closes in on itself. Countries begin to close their borders and harden their defenses. Adventurers are often busy stamping out various new cults that begin to pop up.
Amethyst Moon: The purplish haze of the amethyst moon ushers in an age of darkness and strife. Evil awakens and the world shudders.
Player effects: Advantage on Stealth rolls and +2 bonus to attacks or Save DC's for Necromancy spells. Once per combat, players can "shadow jump" as a bonus action up to 15 feet. Once per day, players can choose to pre-fail a death save to regain 1/4th of their hit-point maximum rounded down as an action.
World effects: Darkness reigns and shadows are the vanguard of terror. Citizens huddle behind walled cities and soldiers guard their charges. In the outlands, small towns call on adventurers to help protect them from the nightly specters. Heroes begin to bloom during these years, cutting their teeth on shadows until the turn of a more violent age.
I'm at a function right now, and can't FULLY dive into these like I want to to really sit and think about them. But just browsing, adding more math to remember that changes periodically, I think would have a negative impact on my table 😅 but I will review these probably tomorrow morning and see if any of the ideas give me inspiration!! I REALLY appreciate the effort you put here!! I normally don't get too many replies on my posts I feel like, so I wasn't expecting all these so soon!! 🥹
The numbers and/or effects were just guidelines to fit a theme, the main goal is to have a cycle that makes sense in-world and have society bend around it. In reality, there don't have to be any player effects at all, just world changes that drive stories in interesting places.
I have a Gem Moon based system in my world that I'm building, there are six gem moons that stay in the sky for 7 years at a time (each mini-campaign lasts 10-12 sessions before jumping 7 years in the timeline to the next moon). These moons are in addition to the standard sun and moon that run like the real world.
I would like for each of these Moons to have an in game effect on the players, but also affect the world so that each mini-campaign has a different feel, as we revolve around the moons. I've thought of two ideas, and hopefully that may give you guys a baseline of what I'm trying to think of. The only caveat is each moon is represented by one of the 6 larger gods in my setting, but the players don't know that. So I'd like the effects to be inspired by the element of the God, without them getting suspicious. More like a when it's revealed, they'll be like, oh dang, I should've seen that coming lol all help is appreciated!
Effects of the Moons
Published Subclasses
I don't think the moons you have set a the time of this posting (Sapphire and Amethyst) are going to be good narratively or in a playability sense. I would suggest looking to maybe the Gem Dragons or other crystal features and modeling your moons off of effects that they have. So, something like this:
Amber Moon: The light of the amber moon cools the passionate fires of the previous seven years. Peace begins to bloom and a cycle of diplomacy and healing begins.
Topaz Moon: The light of the topaz moon brings the hunger for industry as seven years of peace have set the table for trade.
Emerald Moon: The greenish hew of the emerald moon ushers in the winds of change. Children born of this age are prepared for the trials ahead of them as they will grow to adulthood during the ages of strife.
Sapphire Moon: Under the blue sheen of the sapphire moon, the world awaits the prophesized end-times. Preparations are made to survive the coming age. Power struggles arise between leaders hoping to avert impending disaster. Countries struggle to re-forge old survival plans or attempt new methods.
Amethyst Moon: The purplish haze of the amethyst moon ushers in an age of darkness and strife. Evil awakens and the world shudders.
Wild Magic effects immediately spring to mind. So, maybe when it's the God of Fire's time, any fire magic might suffer or benefit from Wild Magic effects.
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Pretty cool idea. One thing I would encourage you to consider is how is this affecting the players from a dungeon crawling perspective, like what different dungeons will they be tackling during each moon. For example, the Amethyst moon might make the dead stir in their graves, leading to some crypt themed dungeon crawls. The Topaz moon might make the earth roil and shift, revealing entrances to cave and under dark dungeons, that sort of thing. Once you got your dungeons squared away, then you can think about some world effects.
For me it depends on a few things
The effects you currently have are very video gamey by that I mean they are like events that boost certain kinds of loot farming or attack styles with minimal in world explanation. The water one also seems to operate kind of like an amped up version of winter and a particularly terrifying one at that. A supernatural cold in line with something out of game of thrones. This really only makes sense if that god is particularly evil or they don't actually control that effect and are more like a guardian through this unstoppable time of hardship. E.g fire is a dry period like a drought where water can't be created magically, light is a period of non stop light and dark non stop night ect...
What impact do you want it to have on players? - can be different with each Moon. Some can be more impact full than others, as long as it's a significant difference. I'm more into the thematic aspect of it, than the mechanical impact
How often do the moons change? Basically every 10-12 sessions they will change. It will be 50-60 sessions before they encounter a moon for the 2nd time.
What kind of magic do you want in your world. Do you want big bombastic effects or something subtle? should they feel natural or alien ect.. this can be a both situation. We just got done with spelljammer and those characters will be coming into the new campaign down the line, so it's high enough magic for space travel, but not an entirely common practice.
How hard do you want the game to be? Harder than normal, because my players have been playing a while with me specifically as a DM and more often than not, thought that the difficulty should increase.
The God's at this point haven't had an alignment set, because we haven't used them. But the duality of the world is very common, so probably 2 good, 2 neutral, 2 evil to some degree. There's flexibility there.
Also, the game of thrones reference is actually a good base for what it would be like during that time period, so that would help with me fleshing out that moon's world effects
Published Subclasses
The issue with that is its very sandbox. I know where they are starting and will have a few different hooks available for them to proceed with, but the world is a build as you go type, but I hadn't considered at all the effects it would have on dungeons and that's a good aspect to consider!
Published Subclasses
I like that a lot!! BUT I do feel like that would make the wild magic subclass less unique. But I will definitely look through that table and see if I find any inspiration!!!
Published Subclasses
I'm at a function right now, and can't FULLY dive into these like I want to to really sit and think about them. But just browsing, adding more math to remember that changes periodically, I think would have a negative impact on my table 😅 but I will review these probably tomorrow morning and see if any of the ideas give me inspiration!! I REALLY appreciate the effort you put here!! I normally don't get too many replies on my posts I feel like, so I wasn't expecting all these so soon!! 🥹
Published Subclasses
So under sapphire, there’s no fire? People are going to eat raw food for 7 years? Just lots and lots of veg I guess? Seems either unrealistic or a vegan utopia. Or there’s tons of ceviche and tartare — and food poisoning. Though I bet on the 1st day of that next cycle, there’s a hell of a barbecue.
Actually, that’s an idea, it seems like there would certainly be rituals and festivals that would make the transition from one to another. Might be fun to explore.
Beginning with 2 death saves is pretty punishing. Depending on the initiative order, someone could die before anyone even has a chance to help them.
I’d say instead of going all or nothing for those things, use resistant/vulnerable kind of mechanic. Fire works better or worse, not it doesn’t work at all.
And you should really let the players know in advance. If I’m going wizard and take fire bolt only to find out I can’t use it at all, I’m going to be pretty upset. Game-mechanic alterations should always be something the players know about while they’re making their characters.
Finally, while I get you want to keep it from the players, it would be strange for the characters to not know. In world, this is something that’s been going on at regular intervals for who knows how long. The people, including the characters, should know what to expect, both when a cycle will start and what impacts it will have. It would just make logical sense for people to say, hey, there’s a wind cycle starting in 18 months, we should starts taking the precautions our parents warned us about.
As far as productive suggestions, I’d mess with the weather. Too much rain, not enough, crazy windstorms, etc. It’s easy to narrate, and it can add effects that are manageable and add flavor without killing people.
I think if the effects are going to be so extreme as there is no fire for long periods then the effects should probably be regional. I.e during the blue moon period there is like an arctic region which is supernaturally cold and can have no fire so people have to migrate away or use magic just to stay warm . Similarly there is a desert region which under the red moon has no water unless it's very carefully stored and possibly a volcanic region where the sky is blotted out with ash and fire. At the same time while the red moon is up the arctic region might be really pleasant and there may be more consistently safer spots between. The light could similarly have an are with no night and so bright in the day it blinds. Dark could have an area with no day and no light can illuminate You could even have two water regions, one which rains and floods and one which freezes.
I actually really like this. Using one aspect and portraying that different per region.
Because the world is broken up into 4 Kingdoms, and then a massive archipelago in the center of them all, and that would be interesting to make each effect have a couple specific regions affected differently in that way!! Thank you for the idea!!
Published Subclasses
The numbers and/or effects were just guidelines to fit a theme, the main goal is to have a cycle that makes sense in-world and have society bend around it. In reality, there don't have to be any player effects at all, just world changes that drive stories in interesting places.