UVG: The Caravan Sheet

The UVG (my patreon) has grown a lot over the weeks and I got some friendly editing input from Skerples, and from that I realized I needed to restructure the introduction, so that the UVG makes sense to somebody approaching it without prior knowledge. And make a table of contents.
I've been doing that.

I've also been using a dagger axe to carve kobolds into kibble.

I have also been working on a very early design goal: creating a mid-level pointcrawl caravan game for the UVG. A traveling precursor to the fortress/stronghold game that D&D assumes (assumed) at level 9.

I've finally done most of that, revising and clarifying the rules, but especially, making a caravan sheet to track animals, helpers, supplies, inventory, trade goods, time, speed, and group finances.

It seems simple, but that and the actual map of the pointcrawl forced me to revisit so much of the setting, that the work just ballooned to take weeks of my time. It was fun, but also frustrating (I have piles of discarded maps and caravan sheets now).

Quick Breakdown of the Moving Pieces

The caravan is like a group character for the players, or perhaps a joint mobile base of operations.

Helpers are a bit like special abilities for the caravan, except squishy and prone to dying. Transport covers porters, animals, and wagons, it’s required for moving heavy things (like food and water) long distances.

Time is a key factor for making a journey into the steppe feel big, and inventory is simplified to focus on supplies and trade goods. Take note that I refer to the coinage simply as cash. Assume that 1 cash = 1 gold piece or 1 silver piece, whichever is the base unit in your game. Supplies are a mashup of water, food, and other essentials to keep humans going in the steppe.

I also propose the sack as a unit of stuff for D&D approximately equal to all the equipment an adventurer with 10 Strength can carry. Or 2500 cash in D&D 5E.

Does all this sound fun? Do you want to support my art and gaming? You can.

Yes. A Patreon.

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?