Wintering Over

[GRWelsh]

I was thinking of imposing a hiatus on the campaign to allow some time to pass, and one idea I had for how to do this was the concept of "wintering over." My campaign is nearing Brewfest 575 CY, and after that it will be the month of Patchwall (October) so I am going to start dropping hints that camping outside at night is getting colder even with a campfire, the ground is getting harder, and it is increasingly uncomfortable... By the month of Ready'reat (November) since they are in a high altitude they will feel the first snow flurries blowing down from the Crystalmists, and perhaps experience an early ice storm. They will find outdoor travel and adventuring much less feasible and will have to take thought to where they will winter over for the next few months which may be snowbound. Most folk in a medieval level society stop travelling and even making warfare in the winter. In game terms, this will allow characters like magic-users to have down time to work on potions, scrolls, spell research, etc. Other characters can work on long term goals such as preaching to build up a congregation, politics, training men-at-arms and hirelings, etc. For the most part it will be down time in which they are assumed to be doing not much that is productive... feasting, huddling around the hearth, telling stories, and planning for their next year. I also want to move the calendar forward and have a longer term sense of time for characters. I don't want the entire campaign feel compressed into a few months since the players have been playing for years, and I'd like to see characters age and have their abilities affected by that. This way we don't end up with 10th level fighter lords who are still 16 years old and that sort of thing...

What do you guys think of this idea? Have you done similar things to move the calendar forward in your campaigns?

I think EGG had a rule in the DMG about time passing in the game at the same rate as time passing in real life between adventures. That also might be a good rule to start enforcing... with certain exceptions of course, such as when the party is in the middle of a big adventure that spans game sessions.

[geneweigel]

I would go by matching the year's last digit to make it easy with my first Greyhawk timeline matched up to the last entry 576 but -4 years according to when it was adopted I think it was retconned back to the characters from 1982. So it has my first gameplay as 572 to make it easier when the Greyhawk shared DM campaign was full swing in 1986 (576).

So 1991 was 581, for example, it was cheesy but it was the only way to compromise merging all the characters from different campaigns and dumbing it down so the records wouldnt be that hard to figure being shared DMing chores. I think that is why I became tired of the Greyhawk setting (Well mostly because lack of new Gygax stuff of course) because I was left holding the Greyhawk bag and the other DMs fell off the DMing. Taylor's last real DMing chore was TOEE. After that it was just vanilla one shots of which he ran some duds, so the years were left to me.

I keep time records but I think that the play of time and focus of it passing should lean heavy on the players. So I won't mention it passing or what is pending or running out.

I also would match the season. So winter was winter, etc.

[grodog]

Jun 12, 2023 12:17:25 GMT -5 GRWelsh said:

What do you guys think of this idea? Have you done similar things to move the calendar forward in your campaigns?

I have, although not as much in Greyhawk as in other games like Ars Magica or Vampire. I’ve not played Pendragon, which is the model RPG for campaigns spanning generations of PCs.

I love the idea of “wintering over” and think it could be an interesting addition to the campaign’s feel. Do you use the aging rules, too?—the passage of time will be a boost to most PCs early on.

Will you actually stop play during the real winter months, too, or just in-game?

Allan.

[GRWelsh]

I was originally thinking that wintering over for the characters would coincide with a hiatus in real life (not necessarily winter in real life). So, for example, I might tell my players I am going to take a break from DMing and we will play other games for a few months (ALIEN RPG one shots, TALISMAN, ULTRAMARINES, BETRAYAL AT THE HOUSE ON THE HILL, and SETTLERS OF CATAN are some of our favorites). Then when we return to my Greyhawk Campaign, some time will have passed for the characters as well as the players. We'll pick up in Spring 576 CY and say the characters have spent several months in the castle, town, dwarven hall, etc. of their choice and now that the rivers have thawed and buds are appearing on the trees they are eager to get outside and do some adventuring again! Something like that.

I do use the aging rules, so yes, it will be of benefit to the characters at this point since they are all young.

I like the idea of "the game year corresponds to the real year, the game season corresponds to the real season" approach as well. So, in Spring 2021 I could have said it was Spring 571 CY and now since it is late Spring 2023 it would be late Spring/low summer 573 CY in the campaign as an example. I would have liked that. Some things in the campaign are time-sensitive so it won't always be a 1-1 match, but overall it is a decent guideline for moving the calendar along.

[Scott]

Unless the PCs are engaged in some protracted adventure, we've always wintered over. But in the Flanaess most areas really don't have much of a winter.
Playing training, unconscious, and spell memorization rules by the book pushes time forward as well.
I don't remember if it was mentioned in the OD&D rules, or just how Gary ran it, but each expedition to the dungeon woould advance the calendar a week to push time along.

[GRWelsh]

Yes, I'm using the phrase "wintering over" euphemistically for any protracted down time where the characters are not adventuring. It just so happens that in the region my players are currently at is a high altitude with a longer or at least harsher winter than most of the Flanaess has.

[GRWelsh]

My campaign is now on winter hiatus. One of my players, Randy, is going to run a mini-campaign set in his own AD&D fantasy world starting 12/23 and is projected to go for at least 3 sessions. I think each time I take a break from DMing I'm going to rule that time has passed for the characters as well. I've always wanted to do more with time passing and age modifiers in the campaign, and this gives me an excuse to do that. We'll probably resume in Spring 2024 which will coincide with Growfest, 576 CY.

[GRWelsh]

We started playing again on Saturday, 3/2. The party:

- Aeray, 4th level paladin of St Cuthbert (Randy)
- Dain, 6th level cleric of Pelor (Eric)
- Tory, 5th level magic-user (Cindy)
- Balul, 6th level mountain dwarf thief (Ray)
- Brakazar, 5th level half-orc fighter (Brian)
- Cassandra, 2nd level fighter (Cindy)
- Osgoth, 2nd level ranger (Brian)
- Titus, 2nd level cleric of St Cuthbert (Randy)
- The Traveler, 2nd level cleric of Fharlanghn (Eric)
- Tanathil, 1st/2nd level high elf fighter/thief (Ray)
- McGalen, 2nd level half-gnome fighter (Wes)

I did a 'rewind' to pick the game back up in Gorna last fall and had the combined party (both main and secondary characters) play out their journey home to Hochoch. They made it about halfway after encountering two trolls who had come out of the Oytwood to attack a farm near the road. They slew the trolls and reduced them to ashes, and are now resting up at a baron's castle. The party was:

[GRWelsh]

We played last Saturday 3/16 and the party had the Ready'Reat feast at the great hall of the baron they were staying with. The party was:

- Aeray, 4th level paladin of St Cuthbert (Randy)
- Dain, 6th level cleric of Pelor (Eric)
- Tory, 5th level magic-user (Cindy)
- Balul, 6th level mountain dwarf thief (Ray)
- Brakazar, 5th level half-orc fighter (Brian)
- Cassandra, 2nd level fighter (Cindy)
- Osgoth, 2nd level ranger (Brian)
- Titus, 3rd level cleric of St Cuthbert (Randy)
- The Traveler, 3rd level cleric of Fharlanghn (Eric)
- Tanathil, 1st/2nd level high elf fighter/thief (Ray)

Then they continued their journey home, going north and then east around the Oytwood. One evening at dusk and just as they were about to make camp, they heard weird bird-like noises that turned into singing. Half of the party failed their saves and started riding or walking towards the woods. As they approached the woods, they could see a small camp with four human figures standing there in arms and armor, and behind them what appeared to be an angel... Those who saved versus magic tried to hold back the others but were unable to do so, so then they followed along and what they saw was not an angel but a hideous bird-monster! In fact, there were two of them! A battle ensued as the party had to fight the brigands the harpies had charmed. The harpies pulled back into the woods and flew up into the trees, still singing. As others came further in, the harpies dropped down and tried to charm some of the characters by touching them from behind but missed. Aeray, Tory, Brakazar, Tanathil, and the Traveler were the ones who made their saves and killed the brigands and then the harpies. The party found the harpy lair high in a nearby tree, a nest made of mud and sticks and filled with filth, feathers, bones, rusted weapons, a gold ring, and a slashed open leather satchel with silver and gold coins. One of the brigands had a pouch of five gems. The party made camp after burying the human bodies. The next day, the wind picked up and a sleet storm occurred, but the party wanted to travel anyway, and they took some damage from the exposure to the elements but they pressed on. They crossed the fortified bridge at the Javan River and then made it to the wayside shrine of Fharlanghn where they stayed the night in comfort. The next day, they finally made it back to Hochoch, just as a gentle snow started to fall. Finally... They were back home!

In the next game session there were be a time jump to spring CY 576 after the party finishes wintering over in Hochoch.

The harpy encounter could have gone much differently. If the harpies had successfully touched and charmed player characters they would have then fought to defend the monsters. The players were scared since half of their characters were rushing into the woods without caution and eager to see the 'angels.' Dain had silence spells prayed for, which would have negated the singing effect, but he failed his save versus magic.

[Scott]

Harpies are tough. There’s an encounter in ToEE, a pressure plate drops a gate trapping the party with harpies and then ghouls rush in. It’s ended a few campaigns.

[GRWelsh]

Yep, I remember that one! If harpies are up high and concealed in any way, it makes them hard to deal with. Eric commented about how dangerous harpies are when they act cleverly... I had the harpies retreat and fly up in the trees and keep singing, drawing the party further in. I just rolled badly for the harpies. Eric also commented about his characters not having missile weapons. In general, this party is pretty weak at using missile fire, so hopefully this encounter wake some of them up.