D&D Weather!!!

[Ringan]

Autumn's my favorite season for adventures, too. For me, I think it's partly Tolkien and partly because it's my personal favorite season.

Autumn is my favorite season. I even have a magical forest in my campaign world that is always in a state of "autumn".

I think I might have to use this in my next campaign

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I know that in Rokugan, campaign season starts in spring, after the snow thaws. Of course, that's for wars between clans.

Adventures are whenever adventures are. You can't tell the Dragon to come back in a couple of months. The Villain won't put his plans on hold because the heroes don't feel like adventuring right now (in fact, a prudent villain would wait until it's most inconvenient for heroes to go adventuring before setting his plans in motion. Those heroes can be real pests)

Of course, if you mean those who will go seek "adventure", rather than having adventure happen to them (you know, those guys who are often little more than grave robbers and mercenaries), they might wait until spring. That way they have a whole season ahead of them, and don't have to cut short their "adventuring" because of the coming winter (which could mean freezing to death or starving).

 

[Scribble]

I'm the opposite. I always pictured campaigns starting in the spring as the snows thawed and the roads became passable again. Wandering bards brought new tales of strange goings-on, and it was time for every good adventurer to shake off the cob-webs of an indolent winter and hit the road.

Autumn was when campaigns wrapped up.

Well... in this case I don't really mean any actual campaigns... Just when I imagine a typical D&D type event, it always seems like I envision it taking place in the fall.

I think like I said it's partly because Elmore was/is my favorite D&D artist, and also like others have said fall is my favorite season... My birthday is in October so...

It's weird... even though things are dying for the winter... the world always seems more "alive" to me in the fall.

 

[Michael Dean]

It's weird... even though things are dying for the winter... the world always seems more "alive" to me in the fall.

My birthday is in late September and fall is my favorite time of the year because of the holiday season beginning with Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas. So in my mind's eye, I always think of the festivals and fairs that would take place in a D & D world. At the same time, I love the melancholy feel of autumn where everything is dying off before the cold and snow season.

 

[RSKennan]

I agree with everyone who says that fall feels like D&D. It does for me too-it's definitely my favorite season. Along with the Elmore factor, I was thinking that maybe it had to do with another form of nostalgia- I used to kick off campaigns at the start of the school year. Or, if we're looking for deeper symbolism, fall represents the death before a rebirth (or sleep before awakening), and many D&D worlds are set in a magical past that may be coming to a close.

Oddly, despite my preference for fall, my own Morningstar setting was largely a summer world. In the newest version I'm developing it's more temperate, though.

 

[JohnSnow]

One could argue that there's a certain "fading glory" concept in early D&D that seems to suggest the "feel" of Autumn. Elmore picked that up in his paintings by depicting them taking place in fall. Basically, I guess I'm saying that classic D&D had a Dark Ages feel to it that was evocative of "Fall."

Regarding the Lord of the Rings, I'm quite certain Tolkien's choice of seasons was very intentional and symbolic. Sauron's rise was like the world entering a long winter. When Aragorn was crowned, it was coming out of it. Yes, it took a YEAR (or was it close to two?), but who remembers that part? IIRC, the reason Frodo's wound pained him outside Mordor is because it was the ANNIVERSARY of his wounding on Weathertop. Likewise, the flowering of the White Tree was VERY intentional symbolism. Many magical realms from myth and legend (and fantasy) experience "perpetual summer" or "perpetual spring." For instance, Unseelie (the evil realm of Faerie) is often thought of as being in perpetual winter.

Seasons have a significance to them that seems to resonate within our consciousness. Even if you don't live someplace where you've experienced "real seasons" (as I don't), you still get it.

I think George Martin puts it best. Basically, in the standard premise of early D&D...

"Winter is Coming."

If that doesn't imply fall, I don't know what does.

 

[Nyaricus]

Frodo left Bag End the 23rd of September 3018 and on March 25th 3019 reached Mount Doom and dropped the ring into it's pits (well, there was a struggle between him and Gollum, et al, but you get the point).

I've had an ongoing debate with some friends about that, and they can't wrap their mind around that the War of the Ring took place in only a half-year. Oh well :\

 

[KingCrab]

It's not strange. I began playing D&D around the time that Dragons of Autumn Twilight (from the Dragonlance Chronicles) came out. The book had a huge influence on me as a kid, as well as my overall midevil fantasy picture.

 

[Banshee16]

No, it's not strange. I live in Michigan and I always thought that adventuring weather was in the fall. Maybe because I've always enjoyed sitting in front of a cozy fire I've built and reading my D & D books. I also blame Tolkein because when I think of the Shire, I think harvest time and the fall colors.

Adventuring during the summer would suck....I mean, "Protection from Mosquitos" must be an epic spell or something, and without it, those adventurers are screwed...

So, stick to fall

Banshee