This morning, I posted about my Winter adventures on the forums here.
That’s my car if you were wondering… after I dug it out!
Shortly after, Omnius, who’s allergic to snow I’m told, wrote a good weather-themed post.
Well all that snow and ice also inspired me to go dig in the TV tropes site for some Snowy fluff for my favorite RPG genre.
Okay, so 2 express snow-themed tropes:
Snowed in:
An easy way to isolate a place. A frequent manifestation is the snow day. Sometimes this is any snow at all, sometimes you’ll at least require that the roads be blocked with it. Used in a wide variety of situations: Locked Room Mystery, Locked In A Room (especially–duh!–Locked In A Freezer), A House Divided, The Siege, Whack A Mole, stuck with the psycho…
If a metric ton of snow hits a specific area of your campaign, the dynamics change. Played badly, it can feel like a poor excuse for a Railroad (à la Pre-Moria in Lords of the Rings). But played wisely it can lead to an interesting adventure.
For example, the year’s last caravan to a secluded outpost is stuck in the Deadwinds Pass by a freakishly early snowstorm. Unknown to most, it was bringing something that many different regional factions wanted to get their hands on. PCs are sent to save the caravan/Recover the item.
You can also substitute snow with a Sandstorm, a Flood or even a Fire and build an adventure around it.
Onwards to the next Trope:
Snow Means Death (Yeah I had to shovel about 2 tons of this stuff…):
There are many ideas associated with snow: Tranquility, purity, cleanliness, beauty…
So naturally, many people are shown dramatically dying in the snow. It may have something to do with how red blood contrasts so sharply with white snow, especially when gentle snowflakes are falling around a scene of carnage. (Snip)
As beautiful as snow is, it also signifies winter, associated with the death of the year (In the north hemisphere at least), the death of crops, and the death of the sun. Snow also covers the entire world with a blanket of white, and in Eastern cultures, white is the color of death. Whatever the reason, using snow is a great way to portray a character on the verge of dying or a place torn by war in a very artful manner.
That’s just so Flufftastic isn’t it?
Using the Snow = Death symbolism, I can picture a kingdom that fell under the influence of the Death Goddess, plunging it in eternal winter. While the country is filled with Strife, Murder and War, a constant Snowfall hides away the blood and makes the country appear far more peaceful than it really is.
In D&D, you have a huge number of critters to populate such a Winter-cursed place:
- Ice Trolls
- White Dragons
- Ice Devils
- Remoraz
- Winter Wolves
Winter! Pretty, peaceful, deadly!
White dragons are better than no dragons, but I`d substite snow for fire an squeeze some red-dragon uber-awesomeness in this game.
Seriously though, The Shining has to be the ultimate example of being snowed in. I think th snow excuse works better if it’s a premise rather than an excuse.
Good ol winter wolves, they are like regular wolves but far nastier. Bite, trip, bite, bite. And for real shock value (though this only works the first time…) add still spell and a few levels of sorcerer. I kid thee not the party caster will never be more terrified then when a wolf belts out a counter spell.
PS Wolves are my favorite-ist monster ever.
Interestingly to me, the title of this post is also my ring tone.
And as for the allergy?
The Stay Puft Marshmallow man isn’t all CGI in the new video game. They threw some snow at me and let me swell and then started filming it to use as a basis for the final animation.
Thirty Days of Night also uses the trope to great effect (the comic at least, haven’t seen the movie.)
Dave: Added to my ‘look at this soon’ list.
Omnius: We’ve found your super weakness! In a RPG, such a disadvatage is worth a lot of points…. if you play a campaign in a temperate environment!
Zozeer: I love Cold-related critters. Heck all my MMORPGs characters have an Ice theme whenever I can pull it off…
Dave,
Yeah, the snow and full night for 30 days held in the movie. And it is a great idea. Can’t speak a lot for the movie, but it was entertaining in spots. But great concept connection.
I like the idea of a sudden “ice age” allowing the migration or re-appearance or mutation of critters that are very foreign to the characters. Or maybe the dwarves are doing rites to extend their domain out of the mountains. Or a force opposed to the jungle-dwelling yuan-ti has instigated the cool down and the party actually ends up working with previous enemies to stop the collateral damage.
All sorts of good ideas. Gotta go get a group…