D&D 5E What is Barovia like in the winter?

[Shades of Eternity]

Seeing as Barovia is a Romanian analogue, what rarely takes into the account that it would most likely have a harsh winter.

How will that change Curse of Strahd and the various encounters that occur?

 

[Tonguez]

The skies always dark and cloudy in Barovia isnt it? Its tends to be cool, though in Winter it drops to freezing, with thick snowdrifts blocking roads, avalanches in the high areas and hungry predators wandering closer to settlements

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It doesn't have winter. There are no seasons in the Shadowfell.

 

[Morrus]

Scary with vampires and stuff.

 

[Charlaquin]

Well, if you go with the land of the mists operating under nightmare logic, I imagine Barovia would be locked in a perpetual state of late autumn. Winter is always just around the corner, everyone is constantly worried if they’re going to be able to gather enough stores to last them through to the spring that will never actually come. It’s always been a rough harvest, and there never seems to be quite enough to go around.

 

[toucanbuzz]

Totally with @Charlaquin on this one. Barovia isn't a real place; it's a shadow realm created by the Dark Powers for its playthings. Most denizens in Barovia are shadows of people, without souls, and likely Strahd knows this and can be so callous and harsh to them because he knows the nature of his prison (and he thinks, if he does it right, he can escape). While Strahd controls the Land, and thus the weather/fog, I don't see the Dark Powers allowing seasons. Seasons represent change, and hope. That's antithetical to Ravenloft. It's a place of despair (hence the Ravens trying to do small things like wine to brighten people's days).

This does bring up a good, creepy point. If you have someone in the group who knows farms, crops, etc., they might come to the conclusion that there isn't enough to go around. The people will shrug and simply say that's what traders are for, from other lands, yet the PCs never seem to see any...

 

[Aarkvard]

Cold and dark and the wolves will be at the door.

 

[J.Quondam]

I've always imagine Barovian seasons to go something like:

Mud
Icy Mud
More Mud
Fog and Mud

which then brings us back to Mud.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

The thing is you can have unpredictable weather but still have consistency. Hell, I live in a country where I've seen snow in every month, but the chances are mostly improbable in the summer. I'd almost mix in a bit of russian folk tales into the mix. hell we already have baba yaga, then mix in some of the unclean (essentially unseelee that draw temptation).

Romanian Myths, Monsters, and Heroes - The Incredibly Long Journey just to see what falls out.

 

[Blue]

It's a demiplane, one that already replaces many of the rules of a natural world. It doesn't have seasons.