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Longwinter: Referee's Book
The snows are alive. A soft, cold spirit courses through them. Her lace threads the world; watching, drinking, listening, stroking, soothing, killing. Her touch is soft and icy. She is Winterwhite, the daughter of the Waterdrinker and the Northwind, and she is a terrible god. An avatar of ice and hunger, of visions and death.
Longwinter is the RPG sandbox of a realm that has broken its vows to Winterwhite and will now pay the cold price.
---///---
This book contains secret knowledge and mechanics for the referee.
The setting is profoundly close to that of Witchburner (by the same author and artist).
---///---
This sandbox includes:
~110 pages of content.
some colour illustrations.
3 variations of the Brezim map to represent changes as Winterwhite's curse bites harder.
faction trackers for the 5 key factions and over 40 events to represent different groups growing or waning in strength depending on player actions.
detailed weather and event tables to simulate a living setting.
detailed encounter tables for night and day, which grow harsher as Winterwhite's curse grows stronger.
several more tables to generate corpses, caches, vaults, and memories of summer.
optional playing card-based escape mechanic with 54 different locations, challenges and characters encountered in each location.
alternatively, the escape section serves as a resource to mine for winter locations, challenges, and characters.
---///---
Be aware:
This is a book of factions and winter encounters for the full-fledged mini-setting detailed in the Longwinter Visitor's Book.
The content is mostly system-neutral. It references some 5E or d20-style conventions, but should work with most low-power systems easily.
Many of the encounters, and particularly the escape, will not work with characters resistant to cold, capable of flight, or otherwise able to avoid the environmental challenges.
Longwinter is the RPG sandbox of a realm that has broken its vows to Winterwhite and will now pay the cold price.
---///---
This book contains secret knowledge and mechanics for the referee.
The setting is profoundly close to that of Witchburner (by the same author and artist).
---///---
This sandbox includes:
~110 pages of content.
some colour illustrations.
3 variations of the Brezim map to represent changes as Winterwhite's curse bites harder.
faction trackers for the 5 key factions and over 40 events to represent different groups growing or waning in strength depending on player actions.
detailed weather and event tables to simulate a living setting.
detailed encounter tables for night and day, which grow harsher as Winterwhite's curse grows stronger.
several more tables to generate corpses, caches, vaults, and memories of summer.
optional playing card-based escape mechanic with 54 different locations, challenges and characters encountered in each location.
alternatively, the escape section serves as a resource to mine for winter locations, challenges, and characters.
---///---
Be aware:
This is a book of factions and winter encounters for the full-fledged mini-setting detailed in the Longwinter Visitor's Book.
The content is mostly system-neutral. It references some 5E or d20-style conventions, but should work with most low-power systems easily.
Many of the encounters, and particularly the escape, will not work with characters resistant to cold, capable of flight, or otherwise able to avoid the environmental challenges.
- GenresRole Playing Games
114 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 2020
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 29, 2022
Luka Rejec's Longwinter campaign setting was a breath of fresh air on a cold winter's morning. The setting feels robust - full of history and exploration. It can easily be used as a full on campaign setting or as a mini winter setting which could last from 4 or so sessions depending on the paths players take.
I was pleasently surprised by this campaign. It was not on my radar at all and I've had it for over a year now (and I had the beta before that... Oops).
There are 2 books. The referee book gives all the behinde the screen details. The other reads like a visitor's guide to the area for both players and DM. I'm pretty sure you'd want both books for the full picture.
There is a great survival, almost Doomsday clock-esque, mechanic that drives the players forward. My favorite is the use of playing cards to generate location option. Player decisions matter a lot in Longwinter. Best if all, each location clearly telegraphs the risks and rewards so the decisions made aren't based entirely on luck. This should create good discussions between players as they weigh their options.
I'd really like to run this one someday. I'm not sure which system would work best for it, though I think it's pretty flexible. The visitors guide book provides rules for inventory, dealing with the cold, and rest/recovery are provided along with DC levels 1-20, so some sort of d20 system would probably work best.
I was pleasently surprised by this campaign. It was not on my radar at all and I've had it for over a year now (and I had the beta before that... Oops).
There are 2 books. The referee book gives all the behinde the screen details. The other reads like a visitor's guide to the area for both players and DM. I'm pretty sure you'd want both books for the full picture.
There is a great survival, almost Doomsday clock-esque, mechanic that drives the players forward. My favorite is the use of playing cards to generate location option. Player decisions matter a lot in Longwinter. Best if all, each location clearly telegraphs the risks and rewards so the decisions made aren't based entirely on luck. This should create good discussions between players as they weigh their options.
I'd really like to run this one someday. I'm not sure which system would work best for it, though I think it's pretty flexible. The visitors guide book provides rules for inventory, dealing with the cold, and rest/recovery are provided along with DC levels 1-20, so some sort of d20 system would probably work best.
December 30, 2021
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.
The Longwinter Referee's Book opens up the truth of what is going on in the Barony of Brezim. 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.
The Longwinter Referee's Book opens up the truth of what is going on in the Barony of Brezim. 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.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2023
Excellent sandbox structure, pick and choose the elements you want, creates a serious sense of foreboding and incites player action. Locations are cool, encounters are rad, winter events are brutal.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews