The Average temperature is -49F. Water freezes at 32F. Beer and Wine (depending on %'s) and meats in the 20's (Source: Quick Google search lol)
Reading through this adventure, it seems that leaning on the survival horror aspect could be a great part of the story and struggle the heroes have to face.
Have any of you ruled that your party needs to thaw water and heat up any meat before consumption? Hell, even rations might freeze solid turning them into Popsicles.
It's worth assuming that "rations" will be different according to terrain. For example, Muktuk is frozen whale blubber, which was traditionally eaten by the Inuit people and would be a suitable source of cold weather nutrition. Desiccated foods, like dried oats, can also be eaten as is at very low temperature because they lack sufficient moisture to "freeze" together.
However, the bigger issue is not the inconvenience of frozen water/food, but rather that eating such food forces the body to expend a lot of energy to regulate its own temperature, regardless of its material phase. This is why eating snow for hydration is a bad idea.
Simply staying warm is going to be a bigger issue than reheating food. If the party has a reliable way to manage that, then rations shouldn't be a serious concern. Keep a small flask and snack bar on the inside of your coat, so that your body can keep them thawed, if you can afford to do so.
A lot depends on what level the party is. Icewind Dales: Rime of the Frostmaiden is meant to go from level 1 to 12. Things that will kill a first level become trivial rapidly with things like Create Food And Water around. At 5th level Leomund's Tiny Hut takes care of pretty much everything else.
Those are some good points! Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.
What are your thoughts on using variant encumbrance? Let's races with Powerful Build shine more, and urges the party to use sleds and axe beaks for transporting goods longer distances.
Example: 20str Goliath can carry 600 i think? 15x20=300×2=600 encumbered
Variant makes that 5×20=100×2=200 encumbered 400 heavily encumbered.
I haven't personally played that module, so I can't speak to it specifically, but if I recall correctly, snow leads to a lot of difficult terrain, so carrying capacity is going to be less important than speed. The Goliath carrying 400+ pounds is going to sink at least thigh deep into soft snow regardless of whether he can carry 400 or 600lbs. I think the module says that dogsleds functionally double the party's speed.
If you're looking for survival horror elements, then I'd play with snow blindness, disorientation, and environmental hazards, like avalanches, hidden lakes/rivers/crevasses, and predators, etc...
Falling into freezing water can be extremely hazardous, especially if the opening immediately freezes back over, or if a current pulls the player away from the opening they fell through.
The Variant rules for Encumbrance are never where I expect them to be. I scour the DMG to no avail. They're in the Player's Handbook. Argh.
I'd hate them. My 18 strength heavy armor Fighter would be Encumbered and pushing near Heavily. Schlepping around the extra gear needed for survival would put her over the top. And yet at 5th level (she's 4th) the party would have all the spells needed to make everything trivial again. At first level she wasn't that strong, so she'd have been Heavily Encumbered right from the beginning, and at 2nd level she's got no worries about food or water.
Animals and vehicles make the problem worse. The animals need food and water too. The vehicles need the animals to pull them, and may break in rough terrain.
The first part kinda adds to my idea, since variant encumbered reduces speed by 10, and heavily 20. If they go out to retrieve barrels of stolen wine, trying to carry that through the weather should be more difficult than a Goliath holding one in each arm with no penalty lol making keeping the dogs alive, safe, and fed an intricate part of the journey so they can complete their quest.
Avalanches are a fun addition, every 5 minutes you get a level of exhaustion. I plan to run a 30 minute timer when the party is buried instead of tracking 300 rounds. Bigger sense of urgency and a fair amount of time to save each other.
Getting lost in blizzards will also help add to the horror aspect. Splitting the party and not being able to see. I'm excited to start. Avernus was a huge let-down and this one seems a little more balanced
Definitely gonna run a session 0, set expectations and ask opinions on a lot of things. If, for example, I offer up variant encumbrance and the party unanimously hates the idea in def not gonna force it XD alternatively if they want to try something, there's no issue and swapping to not doing it if it isn't fun. One of my games we tried the variant injury table and the first combat the wizard had his hand bit off. No more wielding a sword and casting spells lol we opted to disregard that and not use the rules. Super brutal low level lol
I just recently ordered that third party Kickstarter revisiting the AD&D Dungeoneer's Survival Guide for 5e. I was wondering if someone would do a similar thing for the Wilderness Survival Guide but I think I'll just pick Memnosyne's brain in the future, good stuff!
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
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The Average temperature is -49F. Water freezes at 32F. Beer and Wine (depending on %'s) and meats in the 20's (Source: Quick Google search lol)
Reading through this adventure, it seems that leaning on the survival horror aspect could be a great part of the story and struggle the heroes have to face.
Have any of you ruled that your party needs to thaw water and heat up any meat before consumption? Hell, even rations might freeze solid turning them into Popsicles.
Call me Knives.
It's worth assuming that "rations" will be different according to terrain. For example, Muktuk is frozen whale blubber, which was traditionally eaten by the Inuit people and would be a suitable source of cold weather nutrition. Desiccated foods, like dried oats, can also be eaten as is at very low temperature because they lack sufficient moisture to "freeze" together.
However, the bigger issue is not the inconvenience of frozen water/food, but rather that eating such food forces the body to expend a lot of energy to regulate its own temperature, regardless of its material phase. This is why eating snow for hydration is a bad idea.
Simply staying warm is going to be a bigger issue than reheating food. If the party has a reliable way to manage that, then rations shouldn't be a serious concern. Keep a small flask and snack bar on the inside of your coat, so that your body can keep them thawed, if you can afford to do so.
A lot depends on what level the party is. Icewind Dales: Rime of the Frostmaiden is meant to go from level 1 to 12. Things that will kill a first level become trivial rapidly with things like Create Food And Water around. At 5th level Leomund's Tiny Hut takes care of pretty much everything else.
<Insert clever signature here>
Those are some good points! Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.
What are your thoughts on using variant encumbrance? Let's races with Powerful Build shine more, and urges the party to use sleds and axe beaks for transporting goods longer distances.
Example: 20str Goliath can carry 600 i think? 15x20=300×2=600 encumbered
Variant makes that 5×20=100×2=200 encumbered 400 heavily encumbered.
Call me Knives.
I haven't personally played that module, so I can't speak to it specifically, but if I recall correctly, snow leads to a lot of difficult terrain, so carrying capacity is going to be less important than speed. The Goliath carrying 400+ pounds is going to sink at least thigh deep into soft snow regardless of whether he can carry 400 or 600lbs. I think the module says that dogsleds functionally double the party's speed.
If you're looking for survival horror elements, then I'd play with snow blindness, disorientation, and environmental hazards, like avalanches, hidden lakes/rivers/crevasses, and predators, etc...
Falling into freezing water can be extremely hazardous, especially if the opening immediately freezes back over, or if a current pulls the player away from the opening they fell through.
The Variant rules for Encumbrance are never where I expect them to be. I scour the DMG to no avail. They're in the Player's Handbook. Argh.
I'd hate them. My 18 strength heavy armor Fighter would be Encumbered and pushing near Heavily. Schlepping around the extra gear needed for survival would put her over the top. And yet at 5th level (she's 4th) the party would have all the spells needed to make everything trivial again. At first level she wasn't that strong, so she'd have been Heavily Encumbered right from the beginning, and at 2nd level she's got no worries about food or water.
Animals and vehicles make the problem worse. The animals need food and water too. The vehicles need the animals to pull them, and may break in rough terrain.
<Insert clever signature here>
The first part kinda adds to my idea, since variant encumbered reduces speed by 10, and heavily 20. If they go out to retrieve barrels of stolen wine, trying to carry that through the weather should be more difficult than a Goliath holding one in each arm with no penalty lol making keeping the dogs alive, safe, and fed an intricate part of the journey so they can complete their quest.
Avalanches are a fun addition, every 5 minutes you get a level of exhaustion. I plan to run a 30 minute timer when the party is buried instead of tracking 300 rounds. Bigger sense of urgency and a fair amount of time to save each other.
Getting lost in blizzards will also help add to the horror aspect. Splitting the party and not being able to see. I'm excited to start. Avernus was a huge let-down and this one seems a little more balanced
Call me Knives.
Definitely gonna run a session 0, set expectations and ask opinions on a lot of things. If, for example, I offer up variant encumbrance and the party unanimously hates the idea in def not gonna force it XD alternatively if they want to try something, there's no issue and swapping to not doing it if it isn't fun. One of my games we tried the variant injury table and the first combat the wizard had his hand bit off. No more wielding a sword and casting spells lol we opted to disregard that and not use the rules. Super brutal low level lol
Call me Knives.
I just recently ordered that third party Kickstarter revisiting the AD&D Dungeoneer's Survival Guide for 5e. I was wondering if someone would do a similar thing for the Wilderness Survival Guide but I think I'll just pick Memnosyne's brain in the future, good stuff!
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.