I finally got time to sit down and read through both parts of Luka Rejec's Longwinter setting and I'm glad I did(*). Split across two pristine perfect bound books, I was almost afraid to handle it because it reminded me of freshly fallen snow that you didn't want to disturb. That snow has bursts of glorious colour, where Luka's pen and ink style illustrations capture the essence of the setting. The first book is the Visitor's Book (104-pages), a gazetteer of the Barony of Brezim, a high valleyed alpine setting. The second book is the Referee's book (114-pages), which provides details of the factions, encounters and the metaplot that the characters will hopefully endure and break free from.
(*)Disclaimer; I back Luka's Patreon and read this as it developed initially, but made no contributions to the work itself.
The Longwinter Visitor's Book presents enough to use the setting for a campaign; written in the style of an in-game guidebook, it describes the history, notable personages, factions, towns and geographical features such as the mountains, forests and rivers. Although quite short, these layer together nicely to provide plenty of hooks and opportunities for adventures. The setting feels early modern (with technology close to the 1920s/1930s albeit done in such a way that it is magical). It would suit a low powered D&D game (although there are certain types of character and ability that would ruin this) but part of me found myself realising that this would work with most low-heroic systems. Traveller sprung to mind, but there are hints for Luka's SEACAT and 5e included. The setting includes guns, so definitely isn't vanilla D&D.
The later part of the book provides core rules for travel, survival and encounters. Guidance on encumbrance, dealing with cold and some sample equipment is provided. The book wraps with a short story that illustrates the setting.
Finishing the book, I imagined shenanigans not unlike those in Helvéczia, with the characters being drawn into machinations between factions such as the Oldsettlers, Baronials and Wolffolk. The book describes it as a cosy roleplaying setting of high mountains and deep problems. A land of beauty in the summer and cold and snow in the winter. If you don't read the second book, that's the natural thing to be thinking. Except for the ill-omens.
Spoiler Break - don't read any more if you want to play this
The Longwinter Referee's Book opens up the truth of the matter. The high mountains were settled with the blessing of the local goddess, Winterwhite, and certain pacts were entered into. Pacts that are about to be broken and bring a terrible ending upon the Barony should they not be met. A winter will fall that's colder and darker than any seen in living memory. A goddesses' wrath is a terrible thing.
The book opens by explaining the meta-plot, using some fiction to illustrate the key elements. The factions are revisited, their potential fates described with guidance on elements that will happen should they gain advantage and also how setbacks will affect them.
There are new maps for the Barony, showing the coming of winter over November, December and Janurary, detailing the spread of the snow and ice and the impact upon travel.
The guidance suggests a longer-form campaign where the characters arrive towards the end of summer and start to encounter signs and portents that all is not well. However, there's also guidance on how to run a shorter form game. If you chose to start in January, you'll be deep into survival horror. Each month has tables for events, weather and encounters. The amount of fuel, food and the kind of protective clothing that the characters have will become increasingly critical as Fimbulwinter descends.
It is likely that the characters will want to flee; indeed, this is the most likely route for them to survive as discovering anything about the pact that has been broken will be challenging, and restoring it even more so, as it relies on a dark ritual. Escape may be the only sensible solution, and there is a procedurally generated method to do this.
A card deck is used to represent the different terrain types; forest, icefields, rivers and mountains. They have linked challenges and characters that can be encountered. These are flavourful nutshells that provide great hooks for encounters. They replace the normal encounter system once escape is planned. A successful escape can only be made once the characters have collected either 3 of a kind or 4 in a row. Alternatively, you could just plumb them for encounters and ideas and run a more traditional style game as the characters struggle to escape. The book ends with some useful guidance on how to deal with the aftermath of an escape, and to judge how well it has gone.
CONCLUSION
Longwinter is the third winter setting I've read recently (The Bitter Reach & Rime of the Frostmaiden being the others) and it is possibly the best. It certainly contends with the Bitter Reach for that position. It's unique, flavourful and - once the metaplot kicks in - it will present a terrifying challenge to players to make their characters survive against a wrathful supernatural threat. It looks gorgeous and is full of the kind of little hooks that draw you onwards.
Recommended.
29 December 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment