Dark Season activities?

[Squaredeal Sten]

What do you imagine most Sartartites, or Esrolians or Tarshites for that matter, doing in Dark season and Storm season?  

 

In Sea season the farmers sow, in Earth season they reap.

In Sea season the caravans set forth, in Earth season they return.  (Do you want to be on the road in a snowstorm?)

Herders lead the herds forth in sea season, pasture them in high pastures in Fire season, bring them back down in Earth season, put then in the barn and feed them in freezing weather -  or slaughter excess animals in Dark season.

Fishers probably fish a lot less when the weather is stormy and their fingers freeze on the oars and rigging.

Obviously seasonality doesn’t affect crafter occupations that are done indoors – or occupations that have to be done regardless of the weather.  Or merchants with a shop, in contrast to the caravaners.  Or scholars and librarians.

It would be a good time for entertainers.

 

Yes I have read p.140 of RQiG.  “Spouting cheerful stories before their crackling fires”  is good for a while, but seems to me to be a recipe for cabin fever after 8-16 weeks.

 

Yes, prepare for Sacred Time – more in Storm season though.

 I imagine more cult instruction would be done in Dark Season – though the RQiG training rules don’t give extra rolls for winter.

I imagine farmers would do a lot of home craft production:  Weave in bad weather when you gardened in good weather.  Folks who use stone tools can knap flint.  Drill holes in shells for beads. 

Fishers can make nets. 

If you have the skill this is the time to make arrows. 

Fix the plow.   Dig a new privy, until the ground freezes.

Cut wood for that crackling fire?  No, you’d better do that in warm weather and give it time to dry out.  Green wood smokes too much.

Hunt?  As long as the weather isn’t too bad.  Orlanth initiates who can sense weather changes will be safer than others hunting in these seasons.

 

-  What else?

[Bill the barbarian]

Winter Adventures

The JC has at least one: The Throat of Winter

There is a free winter adventure here in BRP (can not remember name)

The opening adventure of RQ3 The Vikings if you have access is ripping good!

Too cold, great for adventure (John Carpenter's The thing in a Glorantha setting, anyone?)!

Write one and share it with us on the JC!

Thanks for the seasonal list above!

Edited August 3, 2021 by Bill the barbarian

[Hteph]

In old Sweden the winter activities was mainly two things, repairing all things that broke or was damaged during the more labor intensive seasons, and hunting. There is a reason the god Ull was the god of winter, skis and hunting, snow is excellent for tracking and slowing down large animals. So plenty of opportunity for those who dip in Valind's knowledge of skis.

 

 Stories and such entertainment was mostly for passing time while doing small work in bad light.

[Arcadiagt5]

I'm increasingly going to be running fewer adventures in Dark and Storm season, and when I do run them the cold rules from The Throat of Winter will be coming out to play. Certain players will find that their companions, used to flying south for the winter, may be, ah, very unwilling to stray from nice heated stables during these seasons. 

So characters will have less adventuring, more time for cult, ritual, training, etc. 

(And in one campaign the adventurers have been doing things that make a Weaponmaster think kindly of them. Of course a Weaponmaster thinking kindly enough of you to pay you a visit for a couple of seasons of free training is nice in principle but does it really have to come with so many bruises attached?) 

[Joerg]

14 minutes ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

Certain players will find that their companions, used to flying south for the winter, may be, ah, very unwilling to stray from nice heated stables during these seasons.

Why not have these companions take their riders along on that trip south? The calderas of Caladraland are said to be nice in Dark Season, or do they regularly fly further south?

Or do they fly south-east, to Teshnos, or even beyond? Have a nice typhoon season in the East Isles?

Edited August 3, 2021 by Joerg

[PhilHibbs]

For some reason, Dark Season is always when I would send out explorers in King of Dragon Pass. I can't remember why.

[Akhôrahil]

3 hours ago, Hteph said:

In old Sweden the winter activities was mainly two things, repairing all things that broke or was damaged during the more labor intensive seasons, and hunting. There is a reason the god Ull was the god of winter, skis and hunting, snow is excellent for tracking and slowing down large animals. So plenty of opportunity for those who dip in Valind's knowledge of skis.

Also some activities where winter actually offers better transportation, like sledges to pull logs in the snow or using frozen lakes and rivers as highways. Ice fishing is also good.

If you’re good with the cold and snow and your opponent isn’t, even raiding might work out. I’m thinking that in winter, the swamps in Dorastor are frozen and a lot of Chaos creatures are unhappy (Gorp frozen solid?). My players timed an incursion into Spider Woods for winter, rightly estimating that most spiders either die or hibernate.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Akhôrahil

[soltakss]

13 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Fishers probably fish a lot less when the weather is stormy and their fingers freeze on the oars and rigging.

They don't go out in boats, but ice fishing is good.

13 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

I imagine farmers would do a lot of home craft production:  Weave in bad weather when you gardened in good weather.  Folks who use stone tools can knap flint.  Drill holes in shells for beads. 

Fishers can make nets. 

If you have the skill this is the time to make arrows. 

Fix the plow.   Dig a new privy, until the ground freezes.

Cut wood for that crackling fire?  No, you’d better do that in warm weather and give it time to dry out.  Green wood smokes too much.

Yes, repairing things and doing the jobs that you have to do indoors is always good in Dark Season.

Spinning is a good thing, as all the family can help.

Knitting or making new clothes is also good, especially warm clothing.

13 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

-  What else?

Making lots of babies.

Telling stories

Retelling myths.

Getting on each other's nerves until you are forced to go hunting or fishing just to get away.

[Joerg]

Cod season in the northern Atlantic coast of Norway is in January, so people went out in boats. And then herring comes end of February...

Fishermen go out when there is fish to be caught, and if it is winter, then that's how it is.

[dumuzid]

In KoDP and Six Ages I always spent those seasons learning the mysteries, doing magic, and making spirit bargains.  The weather's miserable, and there's cruel things abroad.

[coffeemancer]

*wry baby-making smile*

I'm sure you can figure SOMETHING out...

[Bill the barbarian]

5 minutes ago, coffeemancer said:

I'm sure you can figure SOMETHING out...

As the first person to come up with the correct answer, I am sure ya win something!

[Arcadiagt5]

10 hours ago, Joerg said:

Why not have these companions take their riders along on that trip south? The calderas of Caladraland are said to be nice in Dark Season, or do they regularly fly further south?

Or do they fly south-east, to Teshnos, or even beyond? Have a nice typhoon season in the East Isles?

To be honest? I'm not really ready to venture outside of Dragon Pass just yet. 

[jajagappa]

12 minutes ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

To be honest? I'm not really ready to venture outside of Dragon Pass just yet. 

Cinder Pits along the Starfire Ridges.

[Hteph]

9 hours ago, Joerg said:

Cod season in the northern Atlantic coast of Norway is in January, so people went out in boats. And then herring comes end of February...

Fishermen go out when there is fish to be caught, and if it is winter, then that's how it is.

Absolutely, and when the lakes are frozen it is a excellent time to “pilka”. Fishing by boring hole in the ice and with correct knowledge and right circumstances it is more efficient than using a fishing pole in the summer.

[Squaredeal Sten]

Well for the time being in my own campaign, for Dark Season i gave the party some diplomacy (despite the weather) and a minor heroquest.  From which some of them picked up some rune magic, this is better than gold.  And one strange magic item. 

However the same issues apply for Storm Season - only worse weather.  

Anyway,  I have questions about ice fishing:  How hard is it to bore a hole in the ice without iron tools?  How Gloranthan is it, in your opinion?  Not for immediate application, I have no fisher players in my campaign.

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Squaredeal Sten
take out excess white space

[Rob Darvall]

Hibernate, like any sensible Odaylan.

[Joerg]

8 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Anyway,  I have questions about ice fishing:  How hard is it to bore a hole in the ice without iron tools?  How Gloranthan is it, in your opinion?  Not for immediate application, I have no fisher players in my campaign.

Never tried either, but I would imagine that a flint drill should be able to shave off ice quite well, too. Getting the ground/shaved ice out of the hole might require a spoon-like implement, possibly made from bone.

For building an igloo, bone knives are superior to any other material for cutting out the snow blocks, but that's slightly compressed snow, not solid ice.

[soltakss]

11 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Anyway,  I have questions about ice fishing:  How hard is it to bore a hole in the ice without iron tools?  How Gloranthan is it, in your opinion?  Not for immediate application, I have no fisher players in my campaign.

You can hack a hole in the ice with an axe or pick and that could be a bronze or bone tool. 

It is definitely Gloranthan, I would say.

[Akhôrahil]

3 hours ago, Joerg said:

Never tried either, but I would imagine that a flint drill should be able to shave off ice quite well, too. Getting the ground/shaved ice out of the hole might require a spoon-like implement, possibly made from bone.

For building an igloo, bone knives are superior to any other material for cutting out the snow blocks, but that's slightly compressed snow, not solid ice.

And if you keep fishing at the same hole, you will only have to get rid of recent ice. 

[Qizilbashwoman]

6 hours ago, soltakss said:

You can hack a hole in the ice with an axe or pick and that could be a bronze or bone tool. 

It is definitely Gloranthan, I would say.

yeah but the range of where it would be available is more limited!

[Squaredeal Sten]

9 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

yeah but the range of where it would be available is more limited!

I agree -  Esrolians streams don't freeze over.  Sartar streams might not freeze over often enough for anyone to develop ice fishing skill.  Then the Great Winter arrives -  what's the chance someone invents ice fishing? 

RW, nearly none, it's like inventing the bow 10,000 years after you have the atlatl.  So ice fishing takes 10,000 years to get there after you invent the fishhook. 

Does a Gloranthan hero do it and feed his clan during the Great Winter?  IMHO, the question is: Can he roll his Devise skill?

Edited August 8, 2021 by Squaredeal Sten
punctuation

[Joerg]

2 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

I agree -  Esrolians streams don't freeze over.  Sartar streams might not freeze over often enough for anyone to develop ice fishing skill.  Then the Great Winter arrives -  what's the chance someone invents ice fishing? 

The Ice fishing in the Nordic area usually takes place on lakes rather than rivers, as those tend not to freeze over before slowing down to lake-like conditions. Also, lakes are very common...

Ice fishing may be a survival strategy from back in the Greater Darkness, possibly elevated to a religious rite. Not quite a Great Hunt, but likely a popular festival headed by the river cults (in absence of lake deities). Sacrifice to the local lake spirit, skating races on bone skates, a feast with the catch.

2 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

RW, nearly none, it's like inventing the bow 10,000 years after you have the atlatl.  So ice fishing takes 10,000 years to get there after you invent the fishhook. 

What exactly is your source for these 10k years? It looks to me like the atlatl was already in use when the eastern migration of "modern" humans encountered the Denisovans.

And there is a totally new technology involved, the elastic force of a piece of wood transferred via the string to a third object. Use of the elastic force of wood or young trees probably features earlier in beast traps, and force transfer via strings to snares may be a precursor technology, too.

The Ahrensburg reindeer hunter finds show the period of atlatl-hunting and that of bow hunting to be just a millennium apart, but then the earlier reindeer hunters followed the herds as soon as tundra reclaimed the former glaciated lands, and will have used the atlatl further south already.

The fishhook is ancient technology, probably as old as the needle. It follows the availability of string, whether from sinews or plant fibers like tree bast.

The concept of bait practically pushes itself onto the hunter-gatherer. There is a nice shocking scene in "Die Blechtrommel" where a horse-head lowered into the Baltic Sea is used to catch eels without even the need for any other fishing gear, the eels simply burrowed their way into the dead meat and could be pulled out by hand.

If you go fishing for cod or haddock, a hook with some reflecting item (imitating a herring's scales) will be enough to provoke a bite. You need to animate the hook, though.

 

2 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Does a Gloranthan hero do it and feed his clan during the Great Winter?  IMHO, the question is: Can he roll his Devise skill?

Devise ought to work for any sort of trap, whether mechanical or static like a fish fence.

Could ice fishing feed a clan through winter? I doubt it, unless the clan's main primary production is fishing anyway. Keep them a step away from total starvation? Possibly. But over-fishing will occur quite quickly unless the fishing is plentiful enough to be the main primary production. Thus, the Enjossi might manage to survive perhaps even somewhat comfortably with the resources from Kjartan's Pool. Other clans? Not to that degree.

Hunters can become scavengers as wild beasts succumb to the frost.

 

The Choralinthor Bay remains warm enough for a brisk swim even in a normal winter, and we have no reports of the bay falling dry during the Windstop. That would have lessened the impact of the Great Winter considerably in the coastal lands, possibly even leading to a rise in population as refugee in-laws would flock to coastal settlements.

[Squaredeal Sten]

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

.......

What exactly is your source for these 10k years? It looks to me like the atlatl was already in use when the eastern migration of "modern" humans encountered the Denisovans.

......

The Ahrensburg reindeer hunter finds show the period of atlatl-hunting and that of bow hunting to be just a millennium apart, but then the earlier reindeer hunters followed the herds as soon as tundra reclaimed the former glaciated lands, and will have used the atlatl further south already.

.......

Actually 10,000 years was just a round number.  But I am aware of an archaeological find here in south Texas that involved an atlatl about 4,000 years old, as well as a bag woven out of plant fibers.   And when white men arrived here about 300 years ago and started writing things down, the hunters were using bows.  Now, there is noting in that that indicates the atalatl was invented 4,000 years ago, just that it was in use then and outmoded afterward.   It seems to me you are correct, the atlatl was in use when modern humans encountered Denisovians, and also very likely when modern humans entered North America.  That would indicate the period between invention of the atlatl in Eurasia and the invention of the bow in the Americas (perhaps independent of its invention in Eurasia and Africa) is at least 20,000 years, probably longer.  So my 10,000 years  is just a round number, it's on the order of 10,000 years -  might really be 100,000 between the two inventions, is certainly more than 1,000.  There was no patent office then.

[Squaredeal Sten]

8 hours ago, Joerg said:

The Ice fishing in the Nordic area usually takes place on lakes rather than rivers......

Could ice fishing feed a clan through winter? I doubt it, unless the clan's main primary production is fishing anyway. Keep them a step away from total starvation? Possibly. But over-fishing will occur quite quickly unless the fishing is plentiful enough to be the main primary production. Thus, the Enjossi might manage to survive perhaps even somewhat comfortably with the resources from Kjartan's Pool. Other clans? Not to that degree.

.......

The Choralinthor Bay remains warm enough for a brisk swim even in a normal winter, and we have no reports of the bay falling dry during the Windstop. That would have lessened the impact of the Great Winter considerably in the coastal lands, possibly even leading to a rise in population as refugee in-laws would flock to coastal settlements.

Both good thoughts about events on the ground during the Great Winter.  IMHO the prospect of over-fishing would not slow anyone down when starvation was at hand.  It might slow the recovery down a couple of years later.  And the whole Great Winter story is about being a step away from starvation, that's very consistent.

Yes, I can see Esrolia and southern / coastal Heortland and God Forgot being a lot better off than Sartar during the Great Winter.  And people moving toward food, that's natural.

Also food in and from Prax, dry though it is .  To me, who grew up in El Paso, the reported rainfall in Prax is not bad at all, and substantial agriculture would be practiced near the River of Cradles just as it is on the Real World Rio Grande, while away from the river RW cattle raising is just practiced with more acres per herd beast than in central or south Texas.      It is just not true that the whole West Texas / southern New Mexico area is like the Jornada del Muerto.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jornada_del_Muerto

Edited August 8, 2021 by Squaredeal Sten
spelling, my nemesis.