To be fair, Europe suffered such a thing right before the French Revolution, and at other times before and since, and the ecology didn’t collapse, even way up north.Yes. It's not that I have a problem with "winters that last for YEARS!" as part of a setting.
But if that very extreme scenario is going to be a part of the setting, it's going to have a massive impact on the world.
You can't portray a setting is more or less "generic Medievaland" and then throw in a huge twist like "winter for years" without addressing this major factor. I don't expect a PhD level treatise on farming and economics, but some level of effort needs to be taken to provide a rationale for how civilization keeps going.
Well, it’s 5e Dwarfs. Have you read Mordenkainen? Dwarves are evil now, and the world just pretends they’re good.I had a similar reaction when reading the intro....not sure what I'll do about it yet. Also, the dwarves should be quite established by this timeline, and be able to interact with the towns and give them food, but they apparently just ignore their plight?
It is a module....you the DM build the world, the module is a set of IKEA Blueprints that serves as the inspiration.So yeah, its lazy worldbuilding when a creator says "Here's a really cool idea. Now lets ignore all of the obvious ramifications of that idea and pretend everything else stays exactly the same."
Europe has never experienced anything remotely similar to what is described in Rime of the Frostmaiden or alluded to in Game of Thrones. Never. We aren't talking about short summer/long harsh winter.To be fair, Europe suffered such a thing right before the French Revolution, and at other times before and since, and the ecology didn’t collapse, even way up north.
Maybe not quite as extreme as the temperatures described in Rime, but the basic idea is what matters, not the specific details.
A winter that doesn’t end, lasting all the way into the next winter, isn’t necessarily an apocalypse. Especially in a world that has magical ecology that is even more adapted to the cold than real world creatures can be.
I think maybe the
no, it’s just different priorities from what you prefer. Nothing to do with quality.
I am personally glad that they don’t worry about stuff like this.
It is a module....you the DM build the world, the module is a set of IKEA Blueprints that serves as the inspiration.
Yes, IKEA Blueprints.
In a Gygax module you would probably get a random chart to roll percentile dice to determine the weather outcomes. Some results would be way too harsh, one result would be way too generous.
This ad hoc table from the module, invariably would conflict with a table that Gary already had in the 1e DMG, but you know...Gary just wrote the books...he didn't use the books.
Build the world you want.
Have you read Rime? It is easily, the BEST Official 5e module to date.If designers want me to pay out some $$$ for their efforts, they should put in a little work. WOTC ain't giving it away for free.
It's good common sense not to treat fantasy like it's moderately-hard eco sci-fi.I guess I prefer a modicum of common sense in my settings, but clearly I'm not the target audience.