The Long Dark Winter

Mountain Village in Snow - Sano Seiji

Thanks to the random characters, the girls got through character creation very fast. Much faster than I anticipated. I thought that the "session 0" would be all about getting the players on the same page. Working out the characters, what they had, and all that jazz.

Getting from shall we play a game all the way to lets get this show on the road took half an hour. In no time all the sheets were filled and relationships sketched out. I looked out at three eager faces.

Crap!

Luckily its the 21st century, and I have my collection of RP books in pdf format on my laptop, which is lighter than some of my old books (looking at you Exalted 3rd). I had a game book I'd been wanting to try for a long time. It fit the idea of a rough town on the borderlands very well.

Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter.

It is a rules-light survival mini-game that can fit into any fantasy game. Situated in a tiny village that is short on survival goods before winter is about to start. You need to help guide the village through the dark winter until the warmth returns. It seemed a perfect fit, but I'd never run it before and was a little wary about the difficulty. The girls loved the idea, and started to name all the villagers and houses they would be taking care of....

The mountains of the moon: a great wall of rock and ice rising to the heavens. To the south lie the humid and fertile river valleys of the Purplelands. To the north lie the fetid swamps of the Bluelands. Deep in a valley carved by long melted glaciers lies a small path. Follow that path up along high cliffs and narrow ridges. You will reach a small collection of buildings huddled on the trail. Scattered trees and small patches of hardy crops surround the village of Highpass.

The soldiers came without warning. As the nights grew colder they appeared on the northern trail. The trail that led down to the Bluelands. Rumours of war echoed for years, but never appeared until today. The scores of armed men, little more than bandits in uniform, scoured the village for food and drink. Men lay beaten, women and children scattered. But when the soldiers left little else remained. The families of Highpass now looked at the coming night with fear.

The Spirits of Cold & Wind look on with amusement.

We setup the village as a small collection of 6 buildings and 30 people. This is double the recommendation in the book, but feels more like a "village" than 15 people. To makes things easier I allowed that livestock to supply more food. And gave them more as well.

It started out well enough. The villagers had stashed away enough food to let us survive the first week. But the Yaksha of the mountain was most cruel. Gripping the town in fists of ice from the moment the winter stars rose above the mountains. Basu, Meera, and Prija all froze in the first weeks. All went hungry while the strongest nursed frozen hands from gathering wood.  We culled the weaker livestock to take the edge off the hunger.

It was brutal. Every turn (week) you roll a die to see how cold it gets. It was the worst it could be for 4 turns. But it got darker. Something from the mountains was stealing any food and medicine they could gather. They lost 10 to cold and hunger. It wasn't looking good.

Mother Rani's prayers had been answered. Blue skies and warmer winds have taken away much of the snow. It almost feels like spring is here, if only there was more for the animals to eat. Everyone was startled when the old tree in the center of the square split in the cold night. Old Vikram says its a curse, but Archana went ahead and gathered the wood.

We should have listened and made offerings. But we didn't, so the Yaksha took the animals during the new moon. Scattered entrails and blood tainted the town square.

Things were looking up. With the warmer weather, the character could focus on collecting food. They were struggling to keep ahead.  Livestock allowed for emergency meals. But then something killed all the livestock, and the cold came back. The village was looking to die out in a couple of turns.

Then I got a scary question. Can dead villagers be used as food?

Suddenly it was 1972 and we were in the Andes... I ruled that a person would count as 1/2 a livestock, and you couldn't eat the sick. The villagers moved into three remaining houses named Elite, New Moon, New Gold. All food/fuel shortages hit New Moon.

This allowed a steady supply of food, enough to stop most of other people from dying.

Mother Rani wouldn't stop screaming. "We are cursed. The bhoot are angry. They will have their revenge!" No one spoke of the animal skulls left at the doorsteps. Or the stick figures hanging in the trees around the village.

Everyone grew sick in the coming days. Mother Rani lost her leg when a cut turned fetid.

The last month (4 turns) were hellish as well. Harsh winds, arguments amongst the villagers, accidental fires, something cursing everyone with sickness. The people living in New Moon kept dying, except for the lady with one leg... who survived everything - even miraculously coming back when she'd been left for dead!

11 survivors out of 30 people. But Archana made sure that her parents were always kept well fed and warm all winter. Now when the 3 characters make their way to the Violet City in spring, they will be bringing bundles of furs for sale. While the village of Highpass waits for their return before the next winter.