Writing for Biomes¶

All biomes are different from each other and this should be taken into account when writing (e.g a generalized hunting patrol shouldn't mention fishing in the desert). If the content you're writing is generalized (available in any biome), then you have to be careful to make it truly general in nature, able to be triggered no matter what the circumstances. Therefore, under most circumstances, making biome (or even camp) specific content is preferred for a more detailed, rich gameplay experience.

Each biome also has different prey available - see the randomized prey lists for inspiration, but be creative (though realistic) with your own prey choices. Cats cannot take down a giraffe, but there's plenty of unique things in the right size range for them to hunt that you could include in your content.

Here's a brief overview of our currently planned biomes, and their differences:

Seasonality refers to how strongly the seasons affect the biome.
Hazardous refers to the overall amount of danger (both in terms of environment and hostile creatures) the biome contains.
Herb availability refers to how easy it is to gather herbs.
Difficulty of interactions with cats outside the Clan refers to both how frequent and how dangerous interactions with rogues and loners are.
Amount of Twolegs interactions refers to how often Twolegs are seen in that biome and affect the Clan cats.

Beach¶

Beach is a low seasonality environment.
Beach is a medium hazardous environment.
Beach has medium herb availability.
Beach has a medium difficulty of interactions with cats outside the Clan.
Beach has a high amount of Twolegs interactions.

Tip

Take into account how seasons will affect the danger of being in the water e.g cold water in leaf-fall vs freezing water in leaf-bare. The Clans here will have increased skill checks for the swimmer skill, and interact with the water far more than land based biomes.

Desert¶

Desert is a high seasonality environment.
Desert is a high hazardous environment.
Desert has low herb availability.
Desert has an easy difficulty of interactions with cats outside the Clan.
Desert has a low amount of Twolegs interactions.

Tip

Take into account how the highly seasonal desert will affect the difficulty of the patrol. Greenleaf is dangerous in the desert - more sunlight is worse for the Clan. This results in the most interesting feature of the desert compared to other biomes - desert has flipped seasons. Leaf-bare, the rainy season, is a time of plenty, while greenleaf, the dry season, is a time of scarcity. Fresh water is an important resource here in ways not experienced in other biomes.

Cats outside the Clans and Twolegs are both rare in the desert, as it's not the most hospitable environment. While snow and sleet do fall in the desert on rare occasions, mostly leaf-bare has rain, not snow.

Forest¶

Forest is a medium seasonality environment.
Forest is a medium hazardous environment.
Forest has medium herb availability.
Forest has a medium difficulty of interactions with cats outside the Clan.
Forest has a medium amount of Twolegs interactions.

Tip

Forest is the 'default' biome, intended to most closely mimic the experience and risks of the warrior cats canon environment. This means that content created for the forest biome should more closely mimic the content in the warriors cat books than other biomes. You should make increased numbers of skill checks for the climber skill in this biome.

Mountainous¶

Mountainous is a high seasonality environment.
Mountainous is a high hazardous environment.
Mountainous has high herb availability.
Mountainous has an easy difficulty of interactions with cats outside the Clan.
Mountainous has a low amount of Twolegs interactions.

Tip

Living in the mountains isn't easy, but it affords the Clans who can survive there safety and isolation that are more difficult to come by then in other biomes. Snow falls in leaf-fall and newleaf, not just in leaf-bare, and leaf-bare has a deeper and colder chill than is display in warrior cats canon.

Plains¶

Plains are a medium seasonality environment.
Plains are a medium hazardous environment.
Plains have medium herb availability.
Plains have a medium difficulty of interactions with cats outside the Clan.
Plains has a medium amount of Twolegs interactions.

Tip

While sharing the same difficulty setting as forest, plains has a unique vibe with wide open spaces, a lack of cover, and a great dependence on the seasonal cycle of grass growth. You should create increased numbers of runner skill checks for this biome. These Clans frequently use tunnels to their advantage.

Wetlands¶

Wetlands are a low seasonality environment.
Wetlands are a high hazardous environment.
Wetlands have high herb availability.
Wetlands have a medium difficulty of interactions with cats outside the Clan.
Wetlands has a medium amount of Twolegs interactions.

Tip

Take into account how seasons will affect the danger of being in the water e.g cold water in leaf-fall vs freezing water in leaf-bare. The wetlands has snow and sleet fall, and frosts, but, similar to beach, snow is unlikely to build up thickly on the ground (the real problem is MUD). While wetlands environments have high herb availability, this is also the environment where is it the most easy to get poisoned or envenomed (chomped by a venomous creature). Wetlands Clans also eat a truly diverse array of frogs, snakes, and fish that makes the canonical ShadowClan diet look very normal and sensible. Expected increased numbers of swimmer skill checks in such a damp biome.