At home Winter is here, In AD&D2ndED Winter is on the way!

a blog about cold.

The weather being what it is (going from bad to worse.) My Job has been busy this week, which has lead me to not feel like doing much after work, and a lull in my blog.

In this blog I want to touch on the weather, a popular talking point here in the Hudson Valley. For the Blog though I think I want to talk about the AD&D 2ed weather. In my attic book stash there might be a copy of the Wilderness Survival Guide, but I’m not sure. I will have to go check, because time is ticking in my AD@D2nded game and the party is about two months into a very short spring / summer.

I read a blog recently concerning weather, and cold, now naturally as I sit in my bed writing this I can’t find the original source.  If it was someone reading this let me know and I will add a link HERE.

My current campaign is taking place north, far north, almost tundra north.  Some of the characters are from the area some are not, but they all know it’s going to start getting cold. The area is most like Interior Alaska or Northern Canada.

So how am I going to handle this come the virtual winter?

I know some of my players drop in on this blog some of the time, so part of this posting is about them not being too surprised when the cold starts messing things up.

Hypothermia and Frost bite jump to mind.

Frost bite for example can afflict exposed skin in minutes.

Hypothermia is not much better; in truth it might be much, much worse.

But that’s not all.

Animals that are not native to the area will be hard pressed to act as mounts or even survive a night when exposed to -50 degrees F

Mundane swords have flex forged into them that will lessen in extreme cold, making weapon breakage more or a real possibility.

Bow strings will freeze, Water skins will freeze, and crossbows will jam or break.

I am not sure that I will use mechanical modifiers to represent the cold, but when I do they will be in the form of increasing constitution penalties as the character spends out in the extreme stuff.  I don't think any rule additions need to be too fancy or hard to keep track of,  just a slow spiral towards a quiet cold death.

So what does this all mean?

I set up this campaigning in the North lands, because it is an arena of the map that has been ignored during most of our gaming time. I did so realizing that the outdoors is going to play a much bigger role in this game than it has in our more southern city based games. It means that the players will have to find something to settle into for the winter when travel becomes more difficult. Or brave the elements if they decide they really have to get somewhere. Perhaps they will stumble on a large dungeon or underground area that will keep them occupied, The might head south before winter sets in , with the  spirit of the north winds nipping at their heels, or they might find refuge and enough to keep them busy in the city. Regardless what they decide to do, after a few more adventures the weather and how the players approach it are going to be big factors.

THE QUESTIONING:

• Do you use weather as a part of the campaign?
• Is it a hazard an afterthought or a big part of what you’re doing?
• What game do you think has the best rules for weather?
• Let me know what you think!
• Thank you for reading..

PS: More new about AIEE! The Quick RPG I have been kicking around: A character can now accidently turn his or herself inside out fumbling a spell. That is all.