How Death Frost Doom Was Won

I ran Death Frost Doom for my party (approx. sessions 49 to 53). Death Frost Doom is for many the original negadungeon. I ran a printout of the .pdf version 2, the one revised in 2014 by Zak S of Playing D&D With Pornstars (great blog, go read it).

It has reviews like,

"It's very atmospheric and mysterious, but the mystery doesn't give the players any clues to solve it. In the end, if they do the right thing it will by chance ..."

And:

"the "winning" scenario is damn near impossible."

I am sad to say these reviews were wrong. I was quite unable to execute a TPK. Not only that, all the PCs survived mostly unharmed and with their macguffin in hand!

Spoilers follow.

...

The Set Up
Because I'm lazy sometimes, I followed the instructions on the set up:

If this adventure is a part of a campaign (LR: well, if you can call my improvisations a campaign, sure): feed the players stories of inconceivable wealth hidden in the mountain, inside the shrine of an ancient death cult. If the players are in search of a special book, sword or other storied trinket it is rumored to be there (and is—probably in Area 22—but don't tell them that yet).

Ok, so ... the PCs have killed the pepper pot defense units (daleks), taken over Facility Zero, activated the Cryogi®™, and found out that to fully activate it they need to refuel the Facility Main Core. After successfully merging personalities with the mummified remains of Jane Smith, the Facility Administrator, in the Modified Ur-Reality Development Expansion Recreator™, Adobe Suttle accessed the lower level Builder Subroutine, which identified a location where an intact radiothermal barrel had been stored.

In the Mouths of the Meat Mountain of Madness™.

I believe the name of the location successfully alerted the PCs to the ridiculous potential lethality of this location.

I also outlined the whole adventure for myself to help run it in my notebook:

The Approach & The Cabin

The Shrine. Notice the Thumbworm of Doom.

...

The Play Through
DFD has a rather simple structure: Approach / Cabin / Shrine.

The Approach, which can be run as pretty much atmospheric. I added some random encounter tables, including a snow demon in the snow because Longwinter 2. The PCs ran from all encounters (saving those precious, rare hps), treated the rustic PC very kindly and generally did fine here.

The Cabin is a creepy, haunty cabin. The PCs mucked around with everything, and got useful information from much that was there. They were generally careful and nobody died terribly. The purple lotus powder was very popular. But again, nobody died. Hint: the painting shows the altar, which is where the holy radiothermal barrel was also displayed! With a pictomancer who can pass through paintings / walk into paintings, this was really harvested for information. The mad wizards also took samples of all the liquids and strange things they found for "later study".

The Shrine is the biggest part of the adventure and home of the death cult. It thematically splits into three interconnected sections: the cathedral and priest quarters (but the priests are long dead), the tombs of the greater dead (with lots of role-play opportunities here), and the crypts of the thousands of cult sacrifices.

First comes the cathedral and quarters. All the skulls and creepiness do give the game away, but the organ is a great toy and temptation a great mistress. Quinn and Todd played with it a lot, and ended up ageing 20 years each. Salami stole the offerings and was cursed with a disadvantage on all attack rolls. They explored the quarters thoroughly and found the connecting shaft to the tombs.

In the tombs they discovered the interrogator, and dispatched it, then next opened the tomb of the architect. There they had long discussions with the architect and learned about the praetor-pontifex. This was enough for them and they decided to first clear out the cathedral, while temporarily blocking the shaft.

After carefully going through everything that was left, they entered the crypts. There they found the the countless mummies. They methodically burned the priest and warrior mummies, collecting the melted jewellery afterwards. Going forward, they came to the parasite and became very, very careful. Quinn matched the parasite's song and Doc Odd gingerly removed the radiothermal barrel from the altar using the floating cheshire cat. They also tested one of the globes, and found it awakened a commoner mummy.

At this point, they sealed the commoner crypts and walked away.

And that was that! One interrogator killed and a couple of thousand sleeping mummies burned. One radiothermal barrel recovered.

...

The Summary
DFD is one large, scary, set bear trap. Everything else in the adventure is predicated on the PCs poking stuff.

A careful group that doesn't treat each adventure as a slaughter-yard / monster-hunting expedition should do fine. There are no "trick" gotchas - right from the get-go, the adventure makes clear how lethally dangerous things _can_ be. If a PC ignores the skulls, the curses, the warnings, and still picks up protected items, well, a PC suffers the effects.

OK, there is one "trick" in the dungeon that isn't explained well for players: the big skull countdown timer. It's not actually linked to something coming alive and hurting them, but to how much time they will have to escape once / if they awaken the dead horde.

When running the adventure, I was clear in the descriptive warnings and up front about risks, e.g., "the skull altar looks menacing," "the black water is dank and has an evil smell," "curses and warnings are depicted on the walls", "walking over the sleeping parasites looks like it will be very hard and there are so many spheres you might crush some of them," "the ice around the mummies of the warriors, in this second crypt, has already melted a bit more than the ice around the priest mummies."

Overall, I had a lot of fun running DFD. I think the players did, too.

One thing to keep in mind: if you have a game system that makes it hard to create new characters, neither the referee nor the players will want to see characters die! This is bad! Make character generation faster, and the games will be more fun!

...

Poking At Details

1. the map should have page numbers on it for faster reference.
2. white text on dark background doesn't leave space for notes.
3. I lost the printed out handout maps at some point.
4. I'll think of some more, but those are it for the moment.

...

The System
I run a 5E D&D game - more or less. You can find more about it here. I don't use backgrounds, bonds, inspiration, feats (mostly), and limit the maximum power range of characters to about levels 5–6. Individual spells, items, abilities, can exceed this by a lot, but hit points are generally low. I generally use morale (2d6), re-roll initiative each round, more lethal death rules (on 0 save or die, option for healer to rush in and use heal check instead of failed save), longer rests.

I had no problems converting the module on the fly.

...

Dramatis Personae (characters in italics present for most sessions).
Doc "Odd" Todd the Dentist Wizard / Mad Scientist, his Stage Coach, his Cheshire Cat Demon Familiar,
Salami Rocquefort the Gunslinger / Rogue, his henchman "Hi" John the Weed Cultist,
Adobe Suttle the Pictomancer AND Jane Smith, Facility Administrator Purple Class
Quinn Medicine Warrior the Warrior, her Goat Crystal Stardust, her Cat-Xenomorph Splice Jones
The Finisher, Saloon Brawler and Martial Artist,
Lem Goh, the Dwarf Technomancer who believes himself a golem,
Rod the Speed Freak / Fighter,
a few others that I forget right now ...

Session 50: Paranoia and Pyromania

A mad scientist dentist, a barroom brawler known only as "Finisher", a bearded pistolero, a bearded golem, a charlatan alchemist and a skinchanger gentleman explorer walk into Death Frost Doom. "On the walls are depictions of Duvan'ku priests leading the innocent to unholy sacrifice. The priests all wear balloon pants, fashionable vests and statement tall hats." Gentleman Explorer, "Can't touch this." "Yes, the Duvan'ku are all indeed wearing hammer pants." ... "The crypts of the priests are full of mummies, liquid time ice sublimating away." "How many are there?" "You estimate more than a thousand." "We should burn them." ... Smoke rises from the top of the mountain, as the party systematically torches the mummies. Bless the PCs' dark, paranoid little hearts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_paper#Other_industrial_uses_for_mummies

WTF Character Sheet v2

Building a character? Make your own sheet. Or grab this ultra-basic variant.

It might look like I haven't been up to anything ... but the last few months have seen me drawing copiously. Thanks for your patience!

Calendar of Longwinter2

One of the challenges of Longwinter is that time is limited and with the slow healing rules (long rest = 1 week, short rest = 1 day), time passes quickly. At first I thought I'd generate the weather completely, using a few complex weather tables. After a single play test, it turned out to be a rather silly idea. :'(

Instead, I'm pre-building the time table for the icebox. The reason it's a bit spread out is because I'm going to layout the whole thing as pages for taking notes on what the PCs are doing. Eventually.

It is the month of Rawearth

Week 1 - first light snows fall, Christmas wonderland, cool air, birds in trees (1: light breeze, 2: gentle snow, 3: rain and mud, 4: clear and cold, 5: wind with the smell of raw earth, 6: overcast and menacing). - 30% chance rain or snow makes tracking difficult.
Mon:
Tue:
Wed:
Thu:
Fri:
Sat:
Sun:

Week 2 - the soils harden, weak sun rays melt some of the snow, frosts and mists in the mornings, the last leaves fall (1: calm and cold and damp, 2: depressing drizzle from an overcast sky, 3: sudden, short flurries of snow, 4: clear with the smell of wood smoke, 5: an odd rumbling thunderstorm over the mountains, 6: a cold and grim day). - 50% chance sodden mud and slush makes tracking easy.
Mon: - Firstday of the Tsar's Mass when the Blue Pig shall be shanked.
Tue:
Wed:
Thu:
Fri:
Sat:
Sun:

Week 3 - the days brighten, then a snow starts to fall. First light, then heavier. Soon it is snowing without cease until all is white (1: bright and cold, 2: bright and warm, 3: light snow, 4: heavy snow, 5: blizzard, 6: white out). - heavy snow makes travel and tracking difficult, fresh snow makes tracking easy.
Mon:
Tue:
Wed:
Thu:
Fri: - Potnik Solstice, celebration of the Grey Walker,
Sat: - Tsarist Solstice, celebration of the unvictored Son, Feast of the Lower Line, the Black Sabbath that rekindles the Fire of Life.
Sun:

Week 4 - the snowfall ends, the landscape is blanketed in white and silence, an eagle flies soundlessly (1: calm and cold, 2: a vicious cold snap, 3: in a sudden warm spell a snowdrop blooms, 4: light snowfall and a rainbow haze, 5: dark clouds gather and press in close, 6: hazy clouds and an eclipse of the sun) - cold snaps makes survival checks difficult.
Mon:
Tue:
Wed: - St. Douglas' Day when the Fir is celebrated.
Thu:
Fri:
Sat:
Sun: - Eve of the Holy Pig when the pork is smoked.

It is the month of Glowgrow

Week 5 - the weather seems to hold its breath, ice and frosts sparkle on the trees, sleighs with bells jingle in the streets (1: morning frosts, 2: heavy hoar frosts beard the trees like old men, 3: calm and clear, 4: cold and windy, 5: light rainbow fog, 6: clouds gather above the mountain peaks like a flock of storm crows) - on frosty days tracking is easy.
Mon:
Tue:
Wed: - Shkraeti Solstice of the Darkened Heart
Thu:
Fri: - First Levelsday of Rustum
Sat:
Sun:

Week 6 - howling banshee winds bring dark clouds racing from the Cold Dwellings of Father Frost (1: rushing gales set shutters flapping and snow flurries flying, 2: amidst strong winds a sudden hailstorm hits, 3: unusual red lightning strikes the ridges, 4: sleet falls in dour sheets, 5: rolling like a wall, the cold pushes fog and frost before it, 6: sudden silence and snow that falls, seeming without end) - in wind, ranged attacks are difficult, in sleet or snow tracking, travel and survival checks are difficult.
Mon:
Tue:
Wed:
Thu:
Fri: - Second Levelsday of Rustum
Sat:
Sun:

Week 7
Mon:
Tue:
Wed:
Thu:
Fri: - Great Levelsday of Rustum, start of the 36 days of Peregrination
Sat:
Sun:

Week 8

It is the month of Icicles

Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12

It is the month of Littlegrass

Week 13
Week 14

Week 15
Mon:
Tue:
Wed:
Thu:
Fri:
Sat: - Wintersdead Eve
Sun: - New Year's Day

Week 16

Crowning the Rainbow King?

More Fighters (bit by bit)

In the post entitled, succinctly, "The Fighter", I described the basic Fighter of WTF and a few subtypes. I'm adding another subtype here.

Speed Freak
The speed freak's mind is like a compass, stopping at nothing. He's got fire in his pocket and he's lit up like a rocket, veins ablaze with the scurrying, urging, demanding need for speed.

• HD: 3d10
• HP: 20 + 3 * Con modifier
• Spells: cost 3 hit points or ability points per spell level, cantrips count as level one, rituals vary.
• Armor proficiency (roll d6): 1: light, 2: light and medium, 3: light and shields, 4: light, medium and shields, 5: shields only, 6: metal armors and shields only,
• Weapon proficiency: all weapons with a single damage die (so no great swords, they deal 2d6),
• Tools (roll d6): 1: mechanic's tools, 2: instrument (drums, bass guitar, trumpet or harmonica), 3: tinker's tools, 4: carpenter's tools, 5: gambling tools, 6: druggist's tools
• Saving Throws (roll d6): 1–2: Str and Dex, 3: Dex and Con, 4: Dex and Int, 5: Dex and Wis, 6: Dex and Cha,
• Skills: as per PHB (p. 72)

Starting abilities:

• Fighting Style (roll d6): 1: archery (+2 ranged), 2: dueling (+2 dmg with 1H weapon and no shield), 3: two-weapon fighting (add ability mod to second attack damage), 4: spear-fighting (+2 to hit with polearms), 5: dirty fighting (+1d6 sneak attack damage as thief), 6: pistolero (+2 dmg with pistols).
• Second Wind (as PHB 72) - self heal for 1d10 + 3 hp per short rest,
• Super Surge - two additional actions in a round, 1 times per short rest,

Speed Freak abilities:

• Faster and Faster - every time the speed freak rolls maximum damage on damage dice (e.g. 4 on a 1d4 or 13 on a 1d13), the speed demon gets an extra attack.
• Death Shot - can use reaction to make one final attack on being dropped to 0 hp, the death shot is an automatic critical if it hits.

Level up as fighter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7tTZTF2CyY

Session 40: Longwinter: End of the Underbaroness

We played our 40th session yesterday night and I learned a few things. I posted about it on Google+ and the post got long and then folks suggested I blog it so ... ok. Fine. Expanded repost.

The background to this session is basically this whole blog. Valleys, rivers, winter, artifacts.

A few days ago I was reviewing my point crawl and felt it had too many points. This was that point crawl, in node form:

Point crawl, node version.

The consensus was that I was being silly and didn't have a problem, that there weren't too many and that if I thought some were boring, I could just use them to have bad stuff happen there.

I ruminated and then spent about 10 minutes redrawing the point-crawl on A3 for my players to scribble on, spill food and drinks on.

This was that version 3:

Point crawl, version 3.

Anybody else notice that blogger html composer editing is really poor at layout?

OK, so that map started off the whole thread.

I guess it wasn't too many points. I trimmed a few of the more egregiously boring ones and made a few more loops. Full lines for cart-accessible routes, dashed lines for feet only, dotted for perilous terrain where you want a mule and don't bring along Grampappy MacDwarf, 'cos he's got a gimpy leg.

Each node is approximately 4 hours travel from another one, so a day's travel is two steps. In bad weather or terrain, a survival check determines if the travel is successful (so, potentially, a journey that should take 4 hours could end up really long if the PCs roll really badly). Getting lost is assumed to be included in that wasted time. Getting "really" lost is when you head off the node map.

Interestingly, I've found my games get better the less effort I put into my maps because I'm less invested in the artifact and materiality of the place - the unfolding adventure and gaming with friends becomes the heart of the product, not the map itself.

Here's a quick rundown of what happened at the table this week:

• Todd Odd, Royale and Salami purchased ice lice infested mine, 
• Hi John the Cultist stayed with Salami as his follower
• Belhak assassinated underbaroness Izolda of Gomilsk, 
• Todd Odd accepted a quest from Mongo Muti of the Cult of Indigogo to stop the Heresiarch of the Ultramarine cult in Vrelez, 
• Quinn got a lead on the whereabouts of her missing cat Sparklebutts, taken north by a filthy wildling,
• Quinn and Royale robbed a hospital, 
• lied to the militia (badly), 
• helped the militia, 
• achieved a 400 golden goat reward posted on the head of somebody who looks suspiciously like Belhak the Backstabber
• Belhak the Backstabber shaved
• Todd Odd the Doc did some dental work at the hospital, 
• The whole group went to the Funky Badger Karaoke, 
• They accepted the Count Mostar's grudging suggestion that he would accept a wishing orb for his curse-marked son,
• Royale got a letter of introduction to Count Rudolf of Rudvik,
• they met some filthy wildlings, 
• Lots of the PCs had a chit chat bribe session with the underbaronesses' butler, Herr Snoor,
• They went to Bunker Hill, 
• They drank Oscar's Spinal Chord, 
• They played with cats and goats,
• They learned that the difference between tsarists and wildlings was some very difficult to measure differences in average nose angle and face width-to-height ratios and about two bars of soap, hedge shears and less childhood malnutrition,

I don't really fully comprehend my players anymore, but oh well.

Crew: Belhak the Backstabber, Todd Odd "the Doc", Quinn Medicine Woman, Royale wit Cheese (bounty hunter), Salami et Rocquefort (bounty hunter).

Missing: Blanche de Namur, a warrior, the Necromancer Lawyer (forgot the name), another Warrior, another Thief

And here's a blow-by-blow account of how a hospital robbed, to give an impression of play style.

Me: after an (roll d6, comes up 5 not 1) uneventful voyage up the valley from Mostova you approach the little city of Gomilsk ... perched like a crown with it's white ring wall on top of an ancient Barrow from long long ago. Jutting up you see the temple of ... (point to players) ... what's it a temple of?
Royale w.C.: Kickstarter
Me: Seriously ... That's the best you can do?
Royale w.C.: Well, the other guy is the Cultist of Indigogo.
Me: Does anyone have something better?
Odd Todd the Doc: umm ... uhh ... wait ...
Belhak (the Backstabber): it looks like it's going to be Kickstarter
Me: Seriously?!
Salami w.R.: Shumashamashu
Me: What does that even mean?
Salami w.R.: I don't know! It's just not Kickstarter!
Belhak (the Backstabber): uh ... uhm ...
Me: Fine. Have it your way. The Temple of the Saint Kick Starter, who could start any chariot of the long long ago, even the Speed Demon V8, with a single kick. Anyway it's spires jut up and also the peak of the ... (point to player) where does Baron Boris III Borisov live?
Royale w.C. (excited): in a bunker!
Me: O_O ... ok, and the high chimney of the Bunker of Boris. It's said that it tunnels down into the belly of the Barrow, where the long dead of the long, long ago are buried. The Baron's father and grandfather led expeditions into the Belly, clearing out many of the filthy undead and automata that had been there, but the Mythic Underworld still occasionally belches forth, so the Baron lets adventurers go in for a small nominal fee of 1 golden goat per entry (at a silver standard of 20sp to 1gg, it's quite a fee).
Salami w.R.: ... wait, so they charge you to go in?
Me: yup.
Salami w.R.: They don't tax what you bring out?
Me: Nope, they don't care about that. They want the certain money.
Royale w.C.: So if we don't make it out, the baron still gets paid.
Me: Exactly.
Odd Todd the Doc: Are there any other services nearby?
Me: Sure, a graveyard, a hospice for the dying, a hospital for the living run by the Bloodletting Sisters of Mercy who also run a government sponsored health insurance system for adventurers, whereby they offer to take a 30% cut of the take (with a minimum franchise of 10 golden goats) for full healing.
Odd Todd the Doc: I go there to see if they have need of a dentist - i.e. Me!
Me: (roll dice) ... you come to the hospice and find two nurses in blood red wimples and seven patients (roll more dice) three of them had their teeth smashed in by a mace to the face. Ha! Mace to the face.
Quinn Medicine Woman: I ask them what happened.
Me: (mumbling like I had missing teeth) it just came out of the dark! Bump! It went bump in the dark and I was on my rear wiv my teef all flown! (back to normal voice) the others corroborate there was some big undead warrior with a mace and a big, totally dark shield that knocked their teeth out and left them for dead.
Belhak (the Backstabber): I offer my services for 10% of their take!
Me: 5%
Belhak (the Backstabber): 7%!
Me: Ok, they take your deal. (we roll dice and the final take is around 3 golden goats for a day's dentistry. Pretty decent) Right, guys, he's spending the day doing dentistry. What do you do?
Quinn Medicine Woman: So ... this is a hospital?
Me: Yes.
Quinn Medicine Woman: Do they have medicines and drugs?
Me: Of course, locked in the nurses' office in a few cupboards.
Royale w.C.: I can pick the locks! Um ... probably.
Quinn Medicine Woman: Ok, let's do it.
Me: Hang on, there are nurses all around, they'll see you. You need a distraction or something.
Quinn Medicine Woman: I have my cute cats and goats, I make them do tricks for the nurses.
Me:@_@... fine, roll Charisma or Animal Handling.
Quinn Medicine Woman: (rolls 12)
Me: Ok, they'll be distracted long enough for Royale w.C. to have one try, but if he mucks up too much, they'll notice.
Royale w.C.: I go for it. (rolls 17)
Me: Yeah, the ancient and much loved four-number combination lock would fool an illiterate yokel, but you're a heroic adventurer bounty hunter ... robbing a hospital. It doesn't stop you, the door falls open. The nurses are still enjoying Glitterdust and the Golden Goat playing with each other.
Royale w.C.: I quickly grab what I can.
Me: You toss what you can quickly into a bag ... we'll roll for what it was later, ok?
Royale w.C.: Ok.

... and that's pretty much how the hospital was robbed.

Usually bad puns or good plays also get accompanied by cheesy music.

NPCs of Longwinter, or at Least Some of Them

Names and descriptions and details can be swapped and I've separated them with em-dashes, but for layout purposes in this format, they're just listed.


Rudvik, the City of the Pit, the Silver City, the Guild Warren, built in the guts of the Gargantuan Golem Fact of the Long Long Ago. Suspended on the cliff above is an iron spider of a fortress, now the Home of Counting and Count

1. Counte Rudolf Rudov — the man with the golden hand and silver eye, his hands bedecked with rings, his abacus with beads of (1: amethyst, 2: emerald, 3: rubies, 4: sapphires, 5: garnets, 6: amber), his brow crowned with the Binary Bindlet.
2. Countess Krovela Rudolfova — the Counte's wife, who's skin is forever milky and young as the day they were wed by the Baron's grandfather.
3. Counteska Rudina Rudolfova — the Counte's daughter, some say witch, others wild thing. In truth she is (1: both, 2: neither, 3: a changeling, 4: a misunderstood goth).
4. Vizir Sokolov — the wizard of Rudvik, demons worry when he is near. He turns tears into joy, everyone's happy when he walks by.
5. Vaga — the death-dealer of Rudvik. Darkness stalks the steps of the death-dealer. Grown men become children in the presence of the death-dealer. The House of the Death-Dealer is surrounded by (1: shields, 2: skulls, 3: glass vials, 4: stone chimes, 5: silver-threaded copper coins, 6: feathers).
6. Moksijeva Maja — a noble fightress, tough and just.
7. Perimpepet — a brainy fellow, some would say a thief, he is a master of geomancy and mining.
8. Nur Gottlieb — a rustumi preacher-pundit.
9. Masad Obershtain — mason, builder and inn-keeper of the Sign of the Cog-clock.

Vrelets, the Sanatorium, the Village by the Marble Hall, built on the polychrome calcium ledge of the Great Hot Spring where even oranges may grow in the Dead Winter of the High Turan.

1. Jana Janova — the good-doctor of Vrelets, she brings sleep and peace to those who can do no more and administers the Rites of the Purple.
2. Ignobel Rosenberg — the mind-doctor of the Sanatorium, stitcher of souls and collector of dice.
3. Nedred Shvab — a noble fighter, strong and hardy.
4. Ostina Ostra — a smart lass, her wit sharper than her knife, but not by much. She would be a fox.
5. Niza Visoka — matron and mistress of the blood bush plantation of the Marble Head.

Gomilsk, the City of the Baron, the High Town, built on a barrow and a bond of blood.

1. Baron Boris III Borisov — blood-trothed ruler of the Vale of Saint Nom, a (1: kind, 2: harsh, 3: just, 4: oblivious, 5: scholarly, 6: arrogant) man out of his depth in games of strategy, but intensely good at games of luck. A rich man, he wants for a wife.
2. Baronovitsch Boris IV Borisov — the bastard son is not a bastard but a nerd. A seeker after knowledge, a delver into the barrow below the town.
3. Vera Plava — the fairest girl born of the Three Maidens of the Temple in living memory. Why does the Baron not take her? She loves (1: ivory, 2: hunting, 3: chess, 4: guns) but is (1: viciously smart, 2: spoiled rotten, 3: gentle as a lamb, 4: possessed of an ancient wraith).
4. Kanzler Rudolf Valentinov — headman of the Valentinov clan, advisor to Boris. He collects ancient tomes, is kind to cats and hates boys.
5. Haydn the Old — believer, preacher, spy.
6. Philby Philbyyev — khan's ambassador, connoisseur of rabbits and berrywine.
7. Morya Svetla — artifact merchant and calligrapher. Purveyor of fine amulets. She was abandoned by a dog in the dirt.
8. Ulvar Silbershtain — hydraulic priest of the Steam Demon.
9. Vincente de Biro — the bureaucratic head-tender of the Pneumatic Inn  and Brothel. Has a thing for the rabbit races.
10. Mossy Moz — there's taverns and there's taverns. This is one of the taverns. Flying axes are free.
11. Underbaroness Izolda — a tragic tale surrounds her, like a grim dress. One of woe and a lover lost.
12. Vod — a noble fighter, courageous and fine.
13. Medo — a smarmy wizard, purveyor of Toads and Toad charms, master of the pseudomantic school.
14. Lado Bezgov — roguish and dashing, with a dagger of gold and a dagger of dragon bone and a fiddle so fine, it makes grown women weep.

Mostova, the Big Bridge, the Bridge of Giants, the Enormous Living Stone Bridge, seriously, it's a town on a huge bridge built in the long, long ago.

1. Sheriff Leni — a jovial santa of a man with a dark past to overcome.
2. Counte Verruca Mostar — the man with the iron heart and the Gauntlet of Grimace who loves cats for the mysteries they bring.
3. Elena Trojska — the Purple Gunsmith. She betrayed a friend once. There are no bodies.
4. Mushter — a pair of legs that open up like butterfly wings and a mad dog that wouldn't sit still. But a doctor's a doctor, even if his speciality is rusty proctology.
5. Alfred Zorov — Zoro's House has beds, Zoro has a bar, his wife trades in curios. Worthless trinkets, you understand?
6. Jovan Vrv — a basketman does his thing, but a basketmaster runs the elevators to the river cold down below.
7. Oriana Diana — necromancer and lawyer, bringer of closure and wills. There's a parchment with her name on it. There's a locket clasped in the hands of a drowned deep one.
8. Elvis Dirtnap — he plays his (1: banjo, 2: guitar, 3: bass guitar, 4: violin, 5: piano, 6: guillotine) in the bar every third night, when he needs to forget.
9. Muti Mnogo — some cults are fun, some cults have mysteries. This cult has (1: fun weeds, 2: fun mushrooms, 3: fun incantations, 4: child sacrifice). Muti likes red and green.
10. Raven Girl — she plays with the ravens in the Circle of the Black Glass and nobody disturbs her.
11. Ebenezar Skrudjeyev — the Grand Toll-Master of the bridge, bearer of many chains, master of coin, mint and tea. He loves a good tale and collects old books.

Oak-that-bleeds-and-sings, the Longest House, the Hall of Horror and Home, hidden in the Pines where the Cold Wind "Reza" blows and cuts the flesh of evil men off their bones.

1. Chief Owlfox — bold and red-haired, the temptress of the woods, the soft-eyed widow who loves a good skirt and sharp knife. 
2. Chief Hawkbear — cunning and dark, bulky and grim, a shadow bringing firewood or death from the dark. He sees men's souls but is afraid of women.
3. Boris Turtledove — witchman, wizardwoman, shawls and feathers and thick furs. Man or woman, it's not clear, but reading the burnt bones is her art.
4. Karl Tree — a tree with the soul of a man, a man with the soul of a tree. Walk this way.
5. Boneman Grim — how can one die when one's soul has been cleansed of flesh?
6. Littlefox —so tempting, her tail so long. Her smile melts warriors' hearts.
7. Jane — an outlaw who likes big guns.
8. Shaman Owlfalcon — shaman and mushroom hunter.

The Last Trading House, the Green Bubble, the Most DFG Palace, clasping the marbled canyon walls like a demented translucent jelly-bird.

1. Vizkont de Konti — third licensed silver merchant of the House of the Fourth Leg,
2. Graham Schmidof — chicken-eating silversmith,
3. Velisa Darteu — beady-eyed jeweler of the Velvet Sisterhood,
4. Koliste Four-Two — khan supervisor with the big belt buckle and the mirrored eye,
5. Miszko Temni — smaller burdenbeast merchant in speckled fur,
6. Slavoshkrat Benzinov — glittering tinker artificer and karaoke star,
7. Origen Kanalov — swaggering artifact merchant with the poncho and the feathered clock,
8. Imba Takozela — leather-clad scholar from among the (1: rustuman, 2: petrograd, 3: morjanska, 4: turalia, 5: wolf-folk of the black wood, 6: white canyon),
9. Polona de Marko — spy, tailor, sailor and international trader of mystery,
10. Ibis Motel — smooth-talking flour-chucking food merchant with a cart of (1: boiled leeches, 2: broiled leeks, 3: grilled lima beans, 4: sautéed lemon-fish, 5: flambéed lobster, 6: fresh linear accelerated-growth lion-strip),
11. Kapsikun Kundarov — militiaman with the clockwork heart,
12. Petra do Pijer — churchman of the (1: rustuman leveller, 2: tsarist hierarchist, 3: petrogradist poly-sacralism, 4: kentauri shamanism, 5: shkraeti pragmatism, 6: potnik sweat-lodge vision fatherhood) persuasion with a gilded monocle,
13. Ozrik Tamogled — fanatical lay rustuman leveller (1: carpenter, 2: shoemaker, 3: levite, 4: soldier, 5: roundhead, 6: turncoat),
14. Elbreht Adamov — ruin explorer mumbling incoherently and tapping with a metal leg,
15. scavenger with a wooden pistol and pet (1: cat, 2: rat, 3: clockwork hat, 4: dire rat, 5: animated mat, 6: bat),
16. Vina de Vin — moustache-twirling restauranteur and cheese maker,
17. Angela Merser — pleasure mercer with red shoes and a (1: boudoir, 2: synth-sensorium, 3: opium bowl, 4: rolling papers, 5: fine wines, 6: smoked shifter meat),
18. Tabor Three-Three — kentauri fighter swaggering without a care in the world,
19. Onda Tako — friendly and almost discrete agent of the (1: viles, 2: viladrines, 3: moss-fuckers, 4: tree-huggers, 5: vile bastards, 6: deathless doppelgangers),
20. Djet — mysterious stranger known as (1: traveler, 2: walker, 3: jack, 4: jane, 5: loper, 6: stinker).

The Last Trading House is a joint enterprise of the Baron's Bullion Company and the Khanal Silver Company built in the shell of an ancient builder DFG palace (spheroid subtype B) in the Most Canyon.

Longwinter 1 vs. Longwinter 2

The original icebox.

About five years ago I ran my first Longwinter sandbox (or rather "icebox") game with my Tolmin D&D group. We used a cobbled-together Microlite variant I assembled after giving up on 4th Edition. It was one of the most fun campaigns I ever had, a time-limited survival-horror game of dwindling resources and sudden death in the cold, frozen wilderness.

This year I've decided to revisit the setting with my current D&D group, the Golden Goats. I replicated part of the experience by lightly re-skinning 5th Edition to have everyone start at 3rd level and not proceed far beyond 5th level (WTF!). Right off the bat I ran into the fun experience of the icebox morphing into something weird and different.

The original Longwinter was a grim, slightly viking-infused slog of ice and snow, axes and crossbows among the long-rotted ruins of a formerly advanced civilization.

The new Longwinter game has quickly become a pseudo-slavic spaghetti-western romp of pistols and great swords in a gold-rush setting of jostling humanities plundering and rediscovering the leftovers of an alien civilization (Picnic at the Roadside, Stalker).

With bad jokes. Many, many bad jokes.

But that's just how different groups run, and it's great. However, I've also run into other interesting game design challenges.

1. Wilderness survival is not much fun with this group. Tracking details doesn't help and just gets in the way of the loose and silly game we usually run. I need to find a better mini-game for this than the list of loot and equipment and prices and space requirements D&D usually requires.
2. My original icebox (see above) was built before I had as much experience with this kind of game. It had A LOT of locations (I count around 29) and I'm discovering that's too much. I can't keep them all straight in my head, and I don't have the time to prepare them all. Not to mention, the players just aren't going to see most of them. Realistically, we do about 0.5 locations per session.

What's one to do?

Copper memorite being held back by descendant.

Worms That Fight

Bearded blubber worm, AC: 10, HD: 8d12 (52 hp), Speed: Slow 20' (sudden extension),

Abilities: sudden extension (as a free action stretches up to 30' to attack a target and possibly pull it back), grappling beard (bitten enemy must save vs. paralysis or be entangled in the blubber worms blubby beard, entangled enemies are automatically attacked by soft slurping maw every round), blubber (takes no damage from bludgeoning weapons and half damage from slashing weapons), swallow (swallowed enemies must save vs. sleep each round and take 1 damage per round)

Attacks: +8 soft slurping maw 1d4 (swallows on a roll of 1), +5 rolling coils of blubber 2d6 (knock prone on a roll of 7, can attack up to 3 adjacent enemies with coils of blubber).

Bunny-eared bendy worm, AC: 10 (16 head), HD: 6d12 + 6 (45 hp), Speed: Slow 20' (sudden extension) or burrow (10'),

Abilities: sudden extension (as a free action stretches up to 20' to attack a target and possibly bite off a limb), nippy teeth (on a natural 15 to 20 it bites off a weapon or shield from the target, if the target has no weapon or shield, it's a hand that goes down the gullet), tough head (takes half damage from attacks to head, frontal ray or missile attacks have a 50% chance of being reflected), eruption (attacks from under the ground, high chance to surprise, deals 2d6 damage to all creatures within 15' from flying debris, save vs. knockdown), pull into tunnel (if it grabs a target to eat, it will pull it back into its burrow and try to escape with its meal).

Attacks: two bites in quick succession +9 nippy bite 2d8 (bites off item or limb on 15–20) and +7 grabby careful bite 1d4 and meal is 'grappled' (+7 to worm's grapple roll, additional 1d8 non-lethal damage per round).

Attacking the Bunny-eared bendy worm when it's carefully holding onto its meal has a 50% chance of hurting the meal.

Largiferous Leech of the Lich, AC: 8, HD: 6d12 + 1 (40 hp), Speed: Slow 20' (leap 'n' flip) or swim (30'),

Abilities: leap 'n' flip (leap up to 20' feat away, and on landing spin up to 180º doing 2d8 crushing damage in a 20' radius, save Dex DC 12 for half, free suckle attack after leap 'n' flip), writhing death throes (on 0 hp keeps writhing and dealing 1d8 crushing damage in a 10' radius for 1d8+1 rounds, save Dex DC 12 for half), blood is health (gain temporary hp equal to amount drained).

Attacks: +6 sucky suckle 3d6 (causes heart attack on a roll of 1, 1, 1) and +7 flabby whumpf 1d8 crushing damage.

A Largiferous Leech that feeds to bursting (suckles until its hit points total 100) erupts in a fountain of blood and gore, leaving at its core a innocent blood-omened child, drawn from across time and space to wade through rivers of blood and paint the heavens red with the lamentations of the weak and the wicked.

Animals. PCs are Buying Animals.

1. Standard Issue Mule (10 silvers), carries 20, AC: 10, HP: 11 (2d8+2), Speed: 40', sure-footed (Adv. Dex and Str saves), Melee: +2 kicky hooves 1d4+2,
2. Heroic Mule (60 silvers), carries 30, AC: 11, HP: 14 (2d8+5), Speed: 40', sure-footed (Adv. Dex and Str saves), ornery (Adv. Wis saves), tough (Con save on 0 hp to still have 1 hp), Melee: +4 killer kicky hooves 1d6+2,
3. Pony (30 silvers), carries 10, AC: 10, HP: 11 (2d8+2), Speed: 40', shkraet-lover (shkraets are blood-bound to ponies and have advantage on animal handling checkis with them, ponies have advantage on Charisma checks against shkraets), Melee: +2 sharp kicky hooves 2d4+2,
4. Bill the Special Pony (10 silvers), carries 10, AC: 9, HP: 5 (2d8-4), Speed: 30', undying (Adv. on Con save to survive at 0 hp), no attacks.
5. Horse (75 silvers), carries 20, AC: 10, HP: 13 (2d10+2), Speed: 50', tasty (potniks and kentauri regain 1 extra hit point when resting while eating horse),  Melee: +2 kicky hooves 2d4+3,
6. Burdenbeast, David Model (600 silvers), carries 40, AC: 11, HP: 45 (6d10+12), Speed: 40', regenerating (regains 2 hp per night), mindless (immune to fear and mind-affecting abilities), toxic (flesh is inedible, 5% may cause mutations), no attacks.
7. Mountain Dog (50 silvers), carries 5, AC: 12, HP: 5 (1d8+1), Speed: 40', tracker (gives Adv. to masters who can track), pull-down (creatures hit in melee must save on DC 11 Str or be knocked prone), Melee: +3 bitey teeths 1d6+1,
8. Cute Doge (100 silvers), carries 1, AC: 12, HP: 5 (1d8+1), Speed: 40', cute (gives Adv. to master on Charisma checks), pull-down (DC 10 Str or knock prone), Melee: +3 bitey teeths 1d6+1,
9. Wolf Hound (!Divyak) (100 silvers), carries 1, AC: 13, HP: 11 (2d8+2), Speed: 40', pull-down (DC 11 Str or knock prone), master's pack (Advantage on attack vs. master's melee target), Melee: +4 very bitey teeths 2d4+2,
10. Fox (!Divyak) (50 silvers), carries 0, AC: 14, HP: 3 (1d6), Speed: 40', cute (gives Adv. to master on Charisma checks), alert (gives Adv. to master saves vs. surprise), bravely runs away (fights only if cornered), Melee: +4 sharp teeths 1d4,
11. Hunting Bird, Orelski Eagle (200 silvers), carries 0, AC: 12, HP: 3 (1d6), Speed: 60', regal and impressive, hunter (gives Adv. on hunting survival checks), Melee: +4 slashy talons 1d4+2,
12. Musk Ox (50 silvers), carries 40, AC: 11, HP: 19 (3d10+3), Speed: 40', sure-footed (Adv. Dex and Str saves), charge (extra 2d4 damage and DC 13 Str or knock down), Melee: +4 head butt 2d4+3,
13. Cow (10 silvers), AC: 10, HP: 11 (2d8+2), Speed: 40', charge (extra 2d4 damage and DC 12 Str or knock down), Melee: +2 head butt 2d4+2,
14. Sheep or Goat (1 silver), AC: 10, HP: 5 (1d8), Speed: 40', sheepish or goatish, Melee: +2 head butt 1d4,
15. Chicken (2 coppers), AC: 11, HP: 1 (1d4-1), Speed: 40', chicken and egg, Melee: +1 peck 1,
16. Pig (3 silvers), AC: 10, HP: 5 (1d8), Speed: 40', eats anything, pull down (on hit DC 11 Str or knock prone), Melee: +2 gore 1d4,
17. Yummy Pig (10 silvers), AC: 8, HP: 6 (1d8+1), Speed: 30', fat, eats anything, yummy, Melee: +1 sit 1,
18. Burdenbeast, Ozric Model (500 silvers), carries 10, AC: 12, HP: 24 (4d10), Speed: 50', single-rider model, mindless, toxic mutagenic flesh, Melee: +3 kick 1d8+1,
19. Burdenbeast, Isabel Model (1000 silvers), carries 60, AC: 12, HP: 45 (6d10+12), Speed: 30', regenerating (regains 2 hp per night), mindless, toxic mutagenic flesh, sure-footed, no attacks,
20. Eye of Observation, Floater, Floating Eye, Eye of Alert (!Viladrine) (200 silvers), carries 0, AC: 14, HP: 3 (1d6), Speed: 40', regenerating (2 hp per night), mindless, toxic mutagenic flesh, telepathic alarm signal, image projection, Ranged: +5 scorching heat ray of marking 1d4 50/150, Spell: silent image,

Burdenbeasts are created biomantically from beast egg masses. They can be healed with source cylinders or by plugging their umbilicals into organic nutrition source exchange creation kits (ONSECKs).

What do Folks Wield? Weapons and Such

What folks use shapes what the world is.

Melee weapons:

1. Club, cosh, cudgel, stick—1d4 bludgeoning—simple, light (5 coppers, Enc: 1)
2. Knife, dagger, stiletto—1d4 piercing—simple, finesse, light, thrown 20/60 (2 silvers, Enc: 1)
3. Great club, war club (!Divyak)—1d8 bludgeoning—simple, two-handed (1 silver, Enc: 2)
4. Axe, ice axe, wood axe, small axe—1d6 slashing—simple, light, 20/60 (5 silvers, Enc: 1)
5. Stone mace, mace—1d6 bludgeoning—simple (10 silvers, Enc: 1)
6. Spear, war spear—1d6/1d8 piercing—simple, thrown 20/60, versatile (5 silvers, Enc: 1)
7. Staff, quarterstaff—1d6/1d8 bludgeoning—simple, versatile (1 silver, Enc: 1)
8. Battle axe, war axe—1d8/1d10 slashing—versatile (20 silvers, Enc: 1)
9. Flail—1d8 bludgeoning (10 silvers, Enc: 1)
10. Polearm—1d10 bludgeoning, piercing or slashing—heavy, reach, two-handed (40 silvers, Enc: 2)
11. Great axe (!Divyak)—1d12 slashing—heavy, two-handed (60 silvers, Enc: 2)
12. Great sword—2d6 slashing—heavy, two-handed (100 silvers, Enc: 2)
13. Broad sword, long sword, falchion—1d8/1d10 slashing—versatile (50 silvers, Enc: 1)
14. Town sword, rapier, short sword—1d6 piercing—finesse, light (50 silvers, Enc: 1)
15. Maul (!Divyak, !Kentaur)—2d6 bludgeoning—heavy, two-handed (20 silvers, Enc: 2)
16. Lance (!Kentaur)—1d12 piercing—reach, special (20 silvers, Enc: 1)
17. Flanged mace—1d8/1d10 bludgeoning—versatile (30 silvers, Enc: 1)
18. Whip—1d4 slashing—finesse, reach (3 silvers, Enc: 1)
19. Net, hooked net, hunting net—1 bludgeoning—special, thrown 5/15 (1 silver, Enc: 1)

Ranged weapons:

1. Light crossbow—1d8 piercing—simple, loading, two-handed, range 80/320 (30 silver, Enc: 2)
2. Heavy crosswbow—1d10 piercing—loading, two-handed, heavy, range 100/400 (100 silver, Enc: 2)
3. Hunting bow—1d6 piercing—simple, two-handed, range 80/320 (10 silver, Enc: 2)
4. Long bow (!Divyak)—1d8 piercing—two-handed, heavy, range 150/600 (50 silver, Enc: 2)
5. Electric wand gun (!Viladrine)—2d6 electric—source, range 30/90 (1000 silver, Enc: 1)

Gunpowder weapons:

1. Gunpowder keg—7d6 explosive—heavy, keg, radius 10/30 (500 silvers, Enc: 4)
2. Dynamite stick—3d6 explosive—thrown 20/60, radius 5/20 (50 silvers, Enc: 1)
3. Pistol, revolver—1d10 piercing—gunpowder, range 50/150, reload 6 (400 silvers, Enc: 1)
4. Rifle—1d12 piercing—gunpowder, two-handed, range 80/240, reload 5 (600 silvers, Enc: 2)
5. Shotgun—2d8 piercing—gunpowder, two-handed, range 30/90, reload 2 (500 silvers, Enc: 2)

Weird Treasures I of the Long, Long Ago

1. Source cylinders are small, heavy metal magic batteries of ancient origin. They occasionally burst into flames, dealing 1d6 damage. (20 silvers, small)
2. Wishing orbs are milky paradisoid spheres the size of an average-sized apple or an exceptionally large chicken egg. Fools use them as pleasure stimulants, shrinks use them as therapy aids, psychopomps deploy them as spirit journey assistive devices. (400 silvers, Enc 1)
3. Aural ivory is scraped from the pseudo-organic deposits left by evaporating aural ectoplasm. Witches use it to balance auras, priests carve amulets from it and retirement operatives ingest it to detect synths. (20 silvers, small)
4. Silver veins are chromatic, builder-grown synth-corals used to infiltrate organics. They've been successfully used as preservation materials, mutagens, deep sleep activators and astral voyaging launchers. (1000 silvers, Enc 1)
5. Plaz cards are ancient synthetic artifacts of the long, long ago. Tsarists and Shkraets use them as writing materials for the traditional Kontakti Poetry and exchange them on Name Days and every Silver Ship Day. Some technomancers can read the magic waves in plaz cards. 5% function as keys in builder dungeons or work as machine instructionals. (1 silver for basic plaz cards, 100 silvers and more for keys or instructionals, small)
6. Pearl card boxes are shiny and inscrutable magic devices of the long forgotten times with mouths for eating plaz cards. Sometimes they play back archaic Kontakti Poetry, other times they project astral ghosts and sometimes they eat plaz cards and stop working. Intact pearl card boxes are also highly valuable as abacus replacements and RAM input units. (500 silvers, Enc 1)
7. Blue scrolls are slippery, semi-translucent scrolls with white diagrams in the Builder Script. Hardly readable, fragile but cherished by archivists. (100–2000 silvers, Enc 1)
8. Burden-beast modulators are pearl and silver arks used to modify bio-engineered meat and read red cards. (5000 silvers, Enc 5)
9. Plaz-man statues simulate life, with hard plaz eyes rolling under their carapaces. Rustumani levellers say they were builder child-rearing units and instructors, and should thus be entirely obliterated. (2000 silvers, Enc 10)
10. Field-forcing modulators are semi-mythical magic golems that allow permanent, shaped fields of force and even projected sky-bridges. (10,000 silvers, Enc 12)
11. Bronze spirdles are oddly-shaped bits of builder-matter that tend to accumulate near some sites. Wizards like to use them to bend rules and reality. According to Numi of the Many Facets of Metropolis, each spirdle is unique and assembling the correct order of spirdles will restore the builders to the broken world. (20 silvers, Enc 1)
12. Trumpet-shaped artifacts are like spirdles, but preferred by Thieves. (20 silvers, Enc 1)
13. Lunar scales are round and look like the moon, but function like spirdles preferred by Fighters. (20 silvers, Enc 1)
14. Unvisibium tiles are small, flat, ceramic and invisible. Eyes slide off them and attention dissipates around them. There's quite a few of them, but nobody's really sure what to do with them. (20 silvers, Enc 1)
15. Plaz sheaves are unmarked and unmarkable parchments made of plaz, but they are obviously valuable, because they come from long ago and carry traces of the mysterious old times. (10 silvers, small)
16. Pliomass bricks are self-setting clay that biomancers can manipulate into new shapes with their thoughts, before becoming stiff again. (100 silvers, Enc 1)
17. Beast-egg masses are programmable cellular clusters that can be encouraged to form new beasts, though biomancers struggle to replicate the successes of the ancients. (1500 silvers, Enc 3)
18. House seeds are living-stone program/converter units. (600 silvers, Enc 2)
19. OMM Boxes convert organics to source cylinder charges, as such they are rather valuable. (900 silvers, Enc 4)
20. Crystal skull-spheres are little spheres with crystal skulls floating in them. Speculations abound about their use, but 10% of them do hold spells. (50–500 silvers, small)

Note: several small objects take a slot.

What Do Folks Wear? Armours and Such.

1. On running the first two sessions of WTF Longwinter, I discovered that a detailed equipment and shopping list is useful. Thus, armors and such:
   
   Light Stuff:
   
   
   1. Padded or Crappy Armor (5 silvers), AC: 11 + Dex mod., D Stealth, Cold: 1, Enc: 1, 
   2. Fur Armor (!Divyak) (80 silvers), AC: 11 + Dex mod., Cold: 2, Enc: 1,
   3. Leather Armor (10 silvers), AC: 11 + Dex mod., Cold: 1, Enc: 1,
   4. Long, Cool, Padded Leather Coat (40 silvers), AC: 11 + Dex mod.,  A Looking Like A Cool Customer, Cold: 1, Enc: 1,
   5. Studded Leather Armor (50 silvers), AC: 12 + Dex mod., Cold: 1, Enc: 1,
   6. Tactleneck Full Spider Mesh (!Viladrine) (2000 silvers), AC: 13 + Dex mod., Cold: 1, Enc: 1,
   Medium Stuff:
   1. Hide and Hair Armor (!Divyak) (10 silvers), AC: 12 + Dex mod (max 2), Cold: 2, Enc: 2,
   2. Chain Shirt (100 silvers), AC: 13 + Dex mod (max 2), Cold: 0, Enc: 2,
   3. Breast Plate (600 silvers), AC: 14 + Dex mod (max 2), Cold: 0, Enc: 2,
   4. Half Plate (1000 silvers), AC: 15 + Dex mod (max 2), Str: 13, D Stealth, Cold: -1, Enc: 2,
   5. Cermalite Cuirass* (!Viladrine) (4000 silvers), AC: 15 + Dex mod (max 3), Cold: 1, Enc: 1,

   Heavy Stuff:
   1. Chain Mail (300 silvers), AC: 16, Str 13, D Stealth, Cold: -1, Enc: 3,
   2. Ironpine Splint Armor (!Divyak) (500 silvers), AC: 17, Str 15, D Stealth, Cold: 0, Enc: 3,
   3. Regal Tsarist Plate (1500 silvers), AC: 18, Str 15, D Stealth, Cold: -1, Enc: 3,
   4. Walker Shkraet Piston Suit (3000 silvers), AC: 18, Con 13, D Stealth, Cold: -1, Enc: 3,
   5. Skyfaller / Deathdealer Suit MkII** (!Viladrine) (10000 silvers), AC: 18, D Stealth, Cold: 1, Enc: 2,

   Shields:
   1. Light Shield (5 silvers), +1 AC, Enc: 1,
   2. Regular Shield (10 silvers), +2 AC, Enc: 2,
   3. Cermalite Shield* (!Viladrine) (500 silvers), +2 AC, Enc: 1,
   Note: all armors impose D to swimming except the Tactleneck Full Spider Mesh.
   *Cermalite gives advantage on saves vs. bullets and energy projectiles.
   **The Suit MkII comes with advanced inbuilt healing magics that heal the user with the life force of other creatures. As an action the user can drain a helpless creature of 1d6 hit points and regain 1 hit point. Every time a 1 is rolled while draining, the suit soul-knitting engine is discharged for the day.

The Fighter

_last of the classes I'll be needing ... hammering this out_

Class Features:

• Hit Dice: 3d10
• Hit Points: 20 + 3 * Con modifier
• Spells: cost 3 hit points or ability points per spell level, cantrips count as level one, rituals vary.

• Armor proficiency (roll d6): 1: light and shields, 2: light, shields and medium, 3–6: all armors and shields
• Weapon proficiency: all weapons,
• Tools (roll d6): 1: none, 2: iron chess set, 3: instrument (guitar, banjo, flute or fiddle), 4: smith's tools, 5: fletcher's tools, 6: leatherworker's tools,
• Saving Throws (roll d6): 1–3: Str and Con, 4: Str and Dex, 5: Con and Dex, 6: Str and Cha
• Skills: 2 skills, as per PHB (p. 72)

Starting abilities:

1. Pick a fighting style (archery (+2 ranged), defense (+1 AC w armor), dueling (+2 dmg with 1h weapon and no shield), great-weapon fighting (reroll 1 and 2 with 2h weapon), protection, two-weapon fighting (add ability mod to second attack damage), 
2. Second Wind (as PHB 72) - self heal for 1d10 + 3 hp per short rest,
3. Action Surge (as PHB 72) - additional action, 2 times per short rest,
4. Per subtype ...

Champion

1. Improved Critical (19-20),
2. Get up again, attack that reduces you to 0 hp reduces you to 1 hp instead, once per long rest,

Battle Master

1. Combat Superiority (as PHB 73-74), 4d8 combat dice, 3 maneuvers, save DC 10 + modifier,
2. Proficiency with one more tool set,

Weirding Knight

1. blood-bound weapon, counts as magical, +2 damage for every 1 point of hit points or ability score burned,
2. advantage on saves vs. fear and mind-affecting effects,

Wild Warrior

1. Danger Sense (as barbarian, PHB 48), advantage on Dex saves vs. effects you can see,
2. Reckless Attack (as barbarian, PHB 48), advantage on attacks, attacks against you also have advantage for rest of turn,

Martial Artist

1. Unarmed Attacks deal 1d4 damage,
2. Unarmored Defense (add Con or Wis modifier to AC when not wearing armour),
3. Fast (+10' speed) when not wearing armour,

Slow-motion Sniper

1. Sniper, no penalty on ranged attacks at long range,
2. Bullet Time, can use reaction to dodge an incoming ranged attack (can declare before or after attack dice are rolled, but before damage is rolled),

Shield Maiden

1. Shield Bash, can use reaction to shield bash attack an adjacent enemy, or an enemy that melee attacks the shield maiden (whether the attack hits or not),
2. Turtle Up, the opposite of reckless attack: disadvantage on attacks, attacks on the shield maiden also have disadvantage for rest of turn,

... and then eventually you level up (sort of):

1. +1 proficiency,
2. gain 3 hp,
3. gain 3 hp,
4. gain 3 hp,
5. gain 3 hp,
6. increase movement speed by 5',
7. improve 1 ability score by 1,
8. improve 1 ability score by 1,
9. extra attack,
10. gain uncanny dodge (if already have uncanny dodge, can now also use bonus action for uncanny dodge),
11. become expert in existing skill,
12. learn new skill,
13. learn new weapon,
14. gain +2 to hit with existing weapon,
15. increase damage die with existing weapon,
16. gain +1 AC with armor type (light, medium or heavy)
17. gain one feat (see PHB),
18. improve 1 ability score by 2
19. indomitable, twice per short rest you can reroll a saving throw that you fail,
20. guided strike (as war cleric, PHB 63), once per rest add +10 to attack roll after seeing the result.

The Thief

... _again, basically third level_

Class Features:

• Hit Dice: 3d8
• Hit Points: 16 + 3 * Con modifier
• Spells: cost 2 hit points or ability points per spell level, cantrips count as level 1, rituals vary.

• Armor proficiency (roll d6): 1: none, 2: leather, 3–5: all light armors, 6: light and medium armors
• Weapon proficiency: simple weapons and (roll d6) 1: 1-handed swords and crossbows, 2: whips and pistols, 3: halberds and rifles, 4: short swords, wands and warhammers, 5: great swords, 6: all gunpowder weapons,
• Tools: thief's tools and (roll d6) 1: barber's kit, 2: artist's kit, 3: gunsmith's kit, 4: navigator's kit, 5: prospector's kit, 6: mechanic's kit,
• Saving Throws (roll d6): 1–3: Dex and Int, 4: Dex and Cha, 5: Dex and Str, 6: Dex and Wis
• Skills: as per PHB (p. 95)

Starting abilities:

1. Expertise (as PHB 96)
2. Sneak Attach, +2d6 damage with advantage or flanking (PHB p. 96)
3. Cunning Action (dash, disengage hide).
4. Per subtype ...

Thief

1. Fast Hands (as PHB 97),
2. Climb fast, jump far (Second-Story Work, PHB 97),

Killer

1. Proficient with poisoning kit,
2. Advantage on first-strike (if win initiative),
3. Auto-crit surprised enemies,

Bounty Hunter

1. +2 to hit with gunpowder weapons,
2. Favored enemy: humans (as ranger PHB 91),
3. Natural explorer (forest and mountains),

Dandy Duelist

1. +2 bonus to damage with single-handed weapon and no shield (can drop damage bonus and +1 AC from off-hand dagger),
2. uncanny dodge (reaction to halve attack's damage, as PHB 96),
3. jack of all trades (as PHB 54), +1 proficiency bonus to all untrained skill checks,

... and then eventually you level up (sort of):

1. +1 proficiency,
2. gain 2 hp,
3. gain 3 hp,
4. gain 3 hp,
5. increase movement speed by 5',
6. improve 1 ability score by 1,
7. improve 1 ability score by 1,
8. increase sneak attack by 1d6,
9. gain uncanny dodge (if already have uncanny dodge, can now also use bonus action for uncanny dodge),
10. become expert in existing skill,
11. become expert in existing skill,
12. learn new skill,
13. jack of all trades +1 (if already has jack of all trades, increase to +2),
14. learn new weapon,
15. gain +2 to hit with existing weapon,
16. learn new armor,
17. gain one feat,
18. gain a 6th level ability,
19. gain evasion (PHB 96), Dex save for half damage results in no damage instead,
20. unarmored defense (as monk, PHB 78), gain Wisdom modifier to AC when unarmored.

What Are These PCs? Species and Monsters

They are humans, and by humans ...

1. Tsarists (imperialists, ducksmen, truefolk, landsmen, the many-shaded), bonuses to Str and Wis, Talents: lucky critical hits (x3 damage like half-orcs), advantage on saves vs. one type of attack (1: poison, 2: disease, 3: charm, 4: curses, 5: paralysis, petrification and polymorph, 6: death magic),
2. Shkraets (wholemen, engineers, ratmen, lead-sniffers), bonuses to Con and Int, Talents: advantage to one skill, night vision,
3. Potniks (travellers, thieves, gypsies, merchants, crafters), bonuses to Dex and Cha, Talents: lucky (re-roll 1s like halflings), expertise on one skill or kit,

There are also some inhuman monsters ...

1. Weird Viles (skinchangers, soulbearers), bonuses to Int, Dex and Cha, penalties to Wis, Con, Talents: immortal, shapeshift, soul shift,
2. Divyaks (wildlings, wolfmen, totemist monsters, natural slaves), bonuses to Str and Con, penalties to Int and Cha, Talents: totem, skin change, survival (like orcs, may recover from killing blow),
3. Kentauri (bio-engineered warmachines, monsters of the steppes, related to harpies, satyrs, merfolk, trolls and giants), bonuses to Str and Con, penalties to Charisma and Wisdom, Talents: warmachines, fearless, rage, may be large, fast

The Wizard ...

... _and like all the dashing heroes, is basically third level_

Class Features:

• Hit Dice: 3d6
• Hit Points: 12 + 3 * Con modifier
• Spells: as third level wizard (see PHB). Casting additional spells beyond the spell slot limit costs 1 hit point or ability point per spell level. Cantrips count as level 1. Rituals vary.

• Armor proficiency (roll d6): 1–4: none, 5: leather, 6: all light armors,
• Weapon proficiency: dagger, staff and (roll d6) 1: slings, darts, light crossbows, 2: pistols, 3: rifles, 4: short swords, 5: maces, 6: axes and pole arms,
• Tools: calligrapher's kit and (roll d6) 1: alchemist's kit, 2: dentist's kit, 3: gunsmith's kit, 4: archaeologist's kit, 5: doctor's kit, 6: herbalist's kit,
• Saving Throws (roll d6): 1–3: Int and Wis, 4: Int and Cha, 5: Wis and Cha, 6: Int and Con
• Skills: as per PHB

Starting abilities:

1. Opening the Valves of the Soul (arcane recovery) - every short rest cast 3 hit points worth of spells for free,
2. Spell Slots (restored per long rest): Cantrips: 4, 1st Level: 4, 2nd Level: 2
3. Choose an arcane school: 1: soul magic, 2: forced magic, 3: biomancy, 4: skin changing, 5: arcane polytech, 6: black magic

Soul Magic (similar to enchantment)

1. Hypnotic Gaze (as PHB 117),
2. Starting spells: Minor Illusion, Charm Person, Disguise Self, Illusory Script, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Hold Person

Forced Magic (similar to abjuration)

1. Arcane Ward (slightly modified from PHB 115) - lasts for a day, has 6 + Int modifier hit points, regains 1 hit point for every ability point you spend to cast a spell,
2. Starting spells: Blade Ward, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Jump, Tenser's Floating Disk, Knock, Shatter

Biomancy (similar to cleric's healing magic)

1. Disciple of the Biologician (as Disciple of Life, PHB 60) - every healing spell restores an additional 3 hit points, every healing spell not cast as a careful ritual has a 5% chance of causing a mutation,
2. Channel Life Force (similar to Channel Divinity: Preserve Life, PHB 60) - once per long rest you can channel life force (15 hit points) from one subject within 30 feet to another three subjects. You can restore any subject to no more than half of its hit point maximum. Unwilling subjects get a save.
3. Starting spells: Cure Wounds, Lesser Restoration, Enlarge/Reduce, Aid, Spider Climb, Spike Growth, Poison Spray

Skin Changing (polymorphymancy, similar to a druid's shapechange abilities)

1. Wild Shape (as Druid, PHB p. 66), transform into a 1/4 CR beast twice per short or long rest (e.g. wolf)
2. Regenerating Beast (partly as Druid Combat Wild Shape, PHB p. 69), while a beast, use bonus action to expend one spell slot and regain 1d8 hp per level of the spell slot expended. An expended cantrip restores 1d4 hp.
3. Starting spells: Thorn Whip, Goodberry, Animal Friendship, Disguise Self, Expeditious Retreat, Enlarge/Reduce, Enhance Ability,

Arcane Polytech (similar to ... well, not sure, conjuration and transmutation I guess)

1. Minor Conjuration (as PHB 116) - summons up a small object within a few meters,
2. Arcane Snake (as Poisonous Snake, PHB 308) - you possess an organized-matter snake-like projection, which you can give basic commands. AC 13, hp 2, Speed 30, +5 bite 1 damage, Poison DC 10 Con (2d4/half).
3. Spells: Mage Hand, Find Familiar*, Alarm, Grease, Blur, Cloud of Daggers, Heat Metal

... and then eventually you level up (sort of):

1. +1 proficiency,
2. gain 1 hp,
3. gain 1 hp,
4. gain 1 hp,
5. gain 1 hp,
6. gain 2 hp,
7. improve 1 ability score by 1,
8. improve 1 ability score by 1,
9. +1 cantrip spell slot,
10. +1 1st level spell slot,
11. +1 2nd level spell slot,
12. +1 3rd level spell slot,
13. +1 3rd level spell slot,
14. reduce cost of one spell by 1,
15. gain new skill,
16. become expert in existing skill, 
17. learn new weapon,
18. learn new armor,
19. gain one feat,
20. gain a 6th level ability.

What is your spell book?

1. a pliomastic memory implant (overclock once per long rest to +2 to Int for a day, then -4 to Int until end of next long rest),
2. a weird-silk quippu (can read and use for rituals in complete darkness),
3. an intelligent weapon or implement (it whispers the spells back to you when you sleep),
4. a regular manskin-bound tome as used by the divyak shamans (divyaks will like you better),
5. a proper tsarist tome from before the breaking of the Golden Reign (tsarists will nod and like you),
6. a crystal ball that plays back your spells (you can throw it as a grenade for touch effects, it won't break, don't worry).

Resting and Basic Commodities v.1

Note: on testing, it turned out this system was too complex for our group (and me as DM).

Longwinter runs with a slightly modified "gritty realism" rest variant (DMG p. 267). By default a short rest lasts 7 hours, and a long rest 7 days. But if you decide to splurge on ...

1. fine shelter in the lavish fur suite (10 silvers per day), then a rest lasts 5 hours/days and you recuperate from an ill effect in 1 day.
2. good shelter in the sturdy boar's rest (40 coppers per day), then a rest lasts 6 hours/days and you recuperate from an ill effect in 2 days.
3. average shelter at the groveling pilgrim's rest (10 coppers per day), then a rest lasts 7 hours/days and you recuperate from an ill effect in 3 days.
4. poor shelter in the cow pen (1 copper per day), then a rest lasts 10 hours/days and you recuperate from an ill effect in 4 days.
5. miserable shelter in the gutters behind the offalatorium (free!), then a rest lasts 14 hours/days and you recuperate from an ill effect in 6 days.

... so what monies are used in the Blood-bound Baron's lands?

1 golden goat = 20 silvers = 400 coppers

... I should probably also bring up encumbrance rules. Items occupy slots (or boxes, or lines, or checks, or pockets, or whatever, but I'll call them slots) and each character can carry as many slots as that character's strength score.

500 coins = 1 slot

... so what were those basic commodities that get hard to get once folks start getting Desperate?

1. fine shelter (10 silvers per day)
2. good shelter (40 coppers per day)
3. average shelter (10 coppers per day)
   poor shelter (1 copper per day) {cannot run out due to Desperation}
4. fine liquor (20 coppers) +1d4 hp [1/2 slot]
5. poor liquor (1 copper) +1 hp [1/2 slot]
6. heating fuel (1 copper) +5 to exhaustion saves with stove [1 slot]
7. fine wool cloak (20 silvers) +5 to exhaustion saves [1 slot]
8. warm cloak (5 silvers) +2 to exhaustion saves [1 slot]
9. poncy fur-lined tent (160 silvers) +10 to exhaustion saves for a few people [6 slots]
10. sturdy hide tent (40 silvers) +5 to exhaustion saves for a few people [4 slots]
11. economical tent (10 silvers) no penalty to exhaustion saves [2 slots]
12. good camping rations from Godshkraeling & Godshkraeling (2 silvers per day) +5 to exhaustion saves for a few people [1 slot]
13. military-grade camping rations from the Alpaca Co. (10 coppers per day) +2 to exhaustion saves for a few people, 5% chance of spoilage [1 slot]
14. premium economical camping rations (3 coppers per day) no penalty to exhaustion saves for a few people, 20% chance of spoilage [1 slot]
15. good bedroll (200 coppers) +5 to exhaustion saves [1 slot]
16. poor bedroll (50 coppers) no penalty to exhaustion saves [1 slot]
17. fine hat, gloves and boots (40 silvers each, 100 silvers the set) +2 to exhaustion saves each, +10 all together [1/3 slot each]
18. average hat, gloves and boots (10 silvers each, 25 silvers the set) +1 to exhaustion saves each, +5 all together [1/3 slot each]
    poor hat, gloves and boots (120 coppers the set) no penalty to exhaustion saves [1 slot] {cannot run out due to Desperation}
19. fine fur coat instead of armor (100 silvers) +10 to exhaustion saves [1 slot]
20. good warm coat instead of armor (20 silvers) +5 to exhaustion saves [1 slot]

Each missing piece of vital cold-weather survival equipment (tent, camping kit, bedroll, accessories) imposes a disadvantage on exhaustion saves.

Stopping for a Breather at this Scenic Spot ...

you gaze in wonder at the ...

1. frozen waterfall promising an ice climb to an encrusted ruby giant lichen,
2. natural marble arched and flittering moon phantoms,
3. cantilevered shell house over an iridescent tar pit,
4. petrified agate tree house platform,
5. geyser of azure water and the rainbow panoply of extremophiles,
6. three great converted mass ejectors,
7. bridge of crystalline needles,
8. grand yellow glass staircase sidling sensuously up the mountainside,
9. red bubble hull of a long-punctured pleasure dome,
10. dragon waterfall jangling in the sculpted wraith-kept garden,
11. pristine pink ice cave above a glimmering green-snowfield,
12. fallen titanic turquoise hand wedged between two redwoods,
13. giant rib cage gate with enigmatic quadrilateral glyphs,
14. bone dolmen rising above the little shingle hut,
15. way-shelter wedged in the metal skull of a great iron giant,
16. four pillars of quartz forty feet high,
17. flash-frozen school of fish in midair,
18. vertical reality dislocation gate shearing the hillside,
19. toppled obsidian monolith used as a foot bridge,
20. pit of toxic liquid amber refuse from the WTF,
21. three plaza-stone benches perched incongruously on a broken bridge support,
22. bloodbush garden nestled in the vermillion marble canyon,
23. crackling lightning spewing from the blue-glowing gash in the glassy earth,
24. long line of petrified crucified penitents stretching up the mountain side,
25. mountain that turns out to be the cyclopean terraces of attendant structure 4,
26. fungus webbed violet crystal wreckage of WTF 6,
27. wondrous livingstone double tunnels piercing right through the flank of the mountain,
28. smoothly sliding mythic round door beneath a jaspis overhang,
29. regenerating bulk of a bound and decapitated great war beast pinned beneath a great yellow rock,
30. fruitful chestnut tree surrounded by soft downy grass and little yellow flowers.

This NPC Will Reward You Handsomely If You ...

1. secure a (1: silver, 2: happy tea, 3: panacea, 4: blood bush) contract from the (1: Ulver the hydraulic priest of Vrelets, 2: the blood-bond baron, 3: lady Snowhands herself, 4: the Rudvik monopoly),
2. recover seven (1: source cylinders, 2: para-temporal partridges, 3: wishing orbs, 4: burdenbeast modulators, 5: ) from this totally legit drop on the (1: upper Rokolom ridge, 2: lower pits of Rudvik, 3: unholy birth-death pits of the two-chiefs, 4: red glacier of Married Mother mountain),
3. bring back safely an unwieldy cargo of (1: aural ivory, 2: divyak children, 3: silver-vein mummies, 4: plaza hole-cards) from a trading fort just beyond (1: Vrelets, 2: Rudvik, 3: Last Devil bridge, 4: Oak-that-bleeds-and-sings),
4. track down and bring in (1: outlaw Jane, 2: the rustumi preacher-pundit Nur Gottlieb, 3: ni-khan Balô the bold, 4: a brain-parasite last seen riding Sydney Pink), preferably alive,
5. convert three (1: noble fighters, 2: sultry wizards, 3: brainy thieves) to the (1: rustumi equivalency, 2: shkraeti masonry, 3: tsarist orthodoxy, 4: skin-shifter shamanism),
6. recover and reactivate an intact (1: plazman speaker statue, 2: field-forcing modulator, 3: radio-thermal barrel, 4: silver dragon),
7. hunt down a trophy of an (1: ice dragon, 2: mountain giant, 3: abominable snowman, 4: death machine, 5: true druid, 6: white owlbear),
8. kill the (1: underbaron of Gomilsk, 2: good-doctor of Vrelets, 3: death dealer of Rudvik, 4: oligarch toll-master of Mostova) for (1: a trustworthy fellow, 2: an honest lady, 3: a reputable demon summoner, 4: a fine fop, 5: a dashing dandy, 6: a gay ganglemalion),
9. tour and paint the (1: three snow queens, 2: the five steams, 3: the two landed moons, 4: the four towers, 5: the six iron giants, 6: the seven-hundred crystal pillars of singing sylaphim) for the great _Collectorium of Murjansk_.
10. ... there was no NPC. You're seeking your (1: wife, 2: horse, 3: golden gun, 4: black blade, 5: son's killer, 6: ice-wraith lord).