So you a bunch of you would be cool if the adventure cut three or four encounters and filled those pages with situation exposition and world logistics instead?
One of my proposed solutions was a sidebar. Not even a full page.
So, how about cutting a piece of art? Would you mind getting one less half-page of art in exchange for more robust world-building? Or maybe we can cut out something else. Heck, Mad Mage had at least one entirely pointless encounter that I know took a lot of text to explain. Maybe Rhime has an encounter that is basically just "hungry wolves attack you" that could be cut with no loss.
We've had over 300 posts arguing about less than .01% of the mod. Because WOTC didn't explicitly detail out something that most groups are going to not notice, ignore or the DM is going to have to spend 5 minutes adjusting to suit their idea of realistic. The posters complaining base their judgement on modern standards without accepting that some regions have had nearly total crop failures in the past yet people survived.
I don't expect reality simulation from anything D&D, I don't see why anyone would expect it now. What were they supposed to do? Hire a group of climatologists, historians, experts in sub arctic flora and fauna to write a scientifically accurate paper? Because honestly I have no clue what changes to the climate would have to be made to get the level of desperation implied by the mod. While I haven't read the mod my take is that if things don't change, the north is looking at a near extinction level event for surface dwellers. It has to be bad. How bad? Heck if I know.
If you think the description is too harsh (or not harsh enough) change the 3 sentences involved. For example it's spring of the 2nd year and it's getting worse, not better. They're starting to get desperate. While they had barely enough resources to make it through the past year they won't survive another. Tweak the temperatures so the lowest values only happen now and then, adjust the con DC to whatever value makes sense. Done.
If there are major problems with the structure of the rest of the mod, fine. I haven't read the mod I have no clue. But this? Meh.
Will most groups notice it? Maybe. Can't say. Seems like everyone is going to hear the part in question, it is after all, the hook of the adventure.
As for a team of climate and flora experts? No. I don't think they needed that. But, this is not something that requires that level of expertise in the first place. Most plants work on a yearly cycle. It has been two years with no sun (or very little sun) and no spring, so no pollination or creation of new seeds for annuals which literally die after a year.
I don't need to be an expert in climate and plants to realize that that is a "bad thing" after a year. After two years, I would expect everything to be dead. But we are being told that it will be at least
two and a half to three years for the plants and animals to be at risk of dying? That doesn't make sense.
And could I change it? Yes, of course I could. But just because I can change the entire timeline of the adventure plot they created, doesn't mean that it is a good thing that I had to do that.
And, since I saw you bring it up in your other post, and I know these discussions can ramble, I will repeat again. I'm not saying the adventure is worthless, or that WoTC is incompetent. This sort of writing happens all the time in Fantasy. I get that. But, this isn't a background detail, or a strange setting piece, this is the entire premise of the adventure. That's a big deal, isn't it?