The importance of the seasons in your adventures/campaigns?

[Baron Opal]

Oh bother. I advanced the calendar six months and completely forgot to mention that they're trekking cross-country in late autumn. Cold winds and rain. They probably still thinking they walking through fields of spring flowers. Glad this thread was here to remind me.

Then again, they're in a cave system, so it probably doesn't matter much, anyway.

 

[Aikuchi]

Seasons and weather patterns are relatively important in the game world I run. The players make their choices but can be hamepered by a matter of timing when outdoors. Countries and nations wage wars differnetly during different seasons and downtime reasonble in different weather/terrain.

The PC's oft to use that in their plannin (granted this was in a long running campaign where they could acutally wait weeks if not months to prep before the .... event).

Yes

 

[DragonLancer]

For me the seasons are normally background, though there are times when I have a scenario exist because its the right season for X.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Seasons are only important for weather conditions (and keeping track of time). Sometimes festivals get mentioned but usually are not central to the plot/action.

 

[sniffles]

Time doesn't mean much in the campaigns I play in. One of my GMs likes to keep track of the date, but it has no effect on the campaign other than to allow him to introduce a holiday occasionally. We don't pay much attention to seasonal weather usually, although we do have one campaign in which the PCs spent a winter snowed in.

I wish my GMs would do more with seasons.

 

[Mycanid]

Great answers all! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Eosin the Red]

Winter is largely downtime in my campaigns. A time when PCs can rest and rebuild whatever they might need to do. There are raiders in some areas who wait until winter before launching their strikes (they use the frozen rivers as highways and the civilized lands are kind enough to build most towns within striking distance of an exit ramp). The start of spring means that few people are heading off to war but that everybody is preparing for it. Fall has the levy and militia deserting to gather the harvest. Standard stuff.

 

[grodog]

Been using seasons since before Greyhawk was published, and weather since "Weather in the World of Greyhawk" by David Axler in Dragon 68

 

[Mycanid]

Pardon me Grodog, but I have to interupt the thread a little bit to say

HOORAH FOR YOU!!!

I also have been doing the same thing, and do in my most recent adventure I finished last night.

Nice to know you're not alone, eh?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Every in my Midwood campaign has been explicitly tied to the seasons and holidays, even if they're recently passed holidays instead of the focus of the adventure. I find it adds a lot of realism to the game and helps draw in the players. A stakeout in the snow during the second adventure was a lot different than fugitives running from the law considering whether to brave the thawed-but-icy river a few months later.

It's almost painless to add to a campaign, IMO. There's a ton of great PDF products full of holidays and most campaign settings nowadays will have at least a few mentioned in passing. The Core Beliefs articles in Dragon also provide good examples to use, even if only as inspiration.

Tossing in the birthday of the local ruler and maybe their coronation day is also a good simple add-in.

And, heck, you can't do The Obligatory Halloween Adventure if you don't have a harvest holiday!