Medieval Fantasy in Winter
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- čas přidán 20. 06. 2024
- What was winter like in the medieval period? And what should adventurers do when it is cold outside? Winter is not adventuring season. Do this instead.
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00:00-2:41 Intro
2:41-5:44 Should you Adventure in Winter?
5:44-10:32 Alternative
10:32-17:39 Immersive Winter Activites
Instagram: / livinganachronismofficial
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-"Nowhere Land" "Winter Night", "Voice of an Angel", "Grundar", "Wonderland", "Lively Tavern", "Might & Magic", "Heartbeat", "Now we Feast", "Enchanted Forest", "The Lone Wolf" by Alexander Nakarada | www.serpentsoundstudios.com
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In Finland, we have even today so called 'deserted cabins' - which are a system of places to stay at for free along hiking trails and such. Some of those would be but permanent shelters for camping, some a little bit more. Built on purpose for a traveler aka hiker to stay in on their way somewhere. This functions basically on trust of people. Such locations are built where needed along the trails. And people who stay there know to not make a mess, and help keeping the fire wood ready, like chopping a bit for the next folks arriving having used some themselves. Obviously these days those locations are maintained by certain local institutions and such - but this sort of a system could well exist in some fantasy aka adventure world. Could even make for a curious location for some surprising events. Oh and there would also be some such fishing cabins on islands and such.
You Northmen truly are the best of us.
Surprising events, like a half-orc bursting through the door in the middle of the night because it's cold and he thinks the cabin occupants will let him in. Little does he know that the occupants are adventurers!
@@shishoka busting into anywhere in Finland is a really bad idea.
High-trust society living, akin to type 1 vs type 2 vending machine civilizations
@@shishoka what's wrong with half-orcs?
Another option in the "find an inn and pay for the winter" vein would be to find an inn (or even a farm) and offer your physical labor for a place to stay.
Like you said, there are always things that need doing, and they only get harder to do in the winter.
Woodcutting, roof repairs after a storm, fence mending, animal husbandry (it's a lot more working caring for animals if you can't let them roam for hay and water due to weather) all have to be done, and a travel hardened body would be handy.
And, as a seasoned adventure, you may have skills that may be beyond the average vagabond or hired hand.
Perhaps it's something as basic as driving a horse team (which isn't as simple as it sounds), or helping hunters track the wolf pack hunting the local sheep (something that is right up the adventurer's alley) or drilling with the local militia.
Great suggestions! Working for room and board sounds right up and adventurer's ally. Probably very common historically too!
Witchers who are travelling monster slayers for hire, in the witcher books definitely tried to find a place to winter out :) and when they failed to find it among humans, they returned to the witcher fortress of Kaer Morhen :) hehe.
" “That's a shame. I could do with a small sum to get through the winter.” The witcher took a sip from his jug, wiped away the froth. “I’m making my way to Yspaden, but I don't know if I’ll get there before the snows block the way. I might get stuck in one of the little towns on the Lutonski road.”
“Do you plan to stay long in Blaviken?”
“No. I’ve no time to waste. Winter's coming.”
“Where are you going to stay? With me perhaps? There's an empty room in the attic. Why get fleeced by the innkeepers, those thieves. We'll have a chat and you can tell me what's happening in the big, wide world.” Witcher, The Last Wish, story The Lesser Evil
:)
Working for your keep is a good plan, but I grew up on a farm. There's not enough work in the winter to take in another person. In medieval Europe, making food last until spring is a worry. If you show up at harvest, work hard until snow, cut lots of wood...maybe. Bonus points if you can sing or something else to entertain folks with cabin fever. Double bonus points if you can entertain fretful children.
Most crafters work in winter. Pick a craft with few tools if you travel with them, or find someone with a shop, smithy, cobbler etc who can afford to feed an assistant.
Lots of potential plot twists if you pick the wrong house to stay in!
"Honest pay for honest work"
so essentially the only time you would adventure during the winter is when something catastrophic has happened, the last resort of adventuring in the winter
I think so, at least with my current skill set. Frodo also makes such a comment in LOTR, he says he always thought adventures were something to be sought after, but realized that they simply happened out of necessity
Or if someone is desperate or rich enough to pay your inflated seasonal fees. Oh need a troll slain in the summer? 100gp. In the winter? 100gp, plus 30gp travel fee, 40gp cold fee, 15gp hazard fee, 25gp housing fee, 6gp animal winter gear fee, etc...
One thing I love about The One Ring RPG is that hunkering down for the winter is written into the rules, you're assumed to head home and spend the winter resting and preparing by doing things like reading maps, writing songs, and spending time with family (which lets you prepare a new character for once yours dies or retires)
Interesting video. Filming outside in sub zero temps is unpleasant and potentially dangerous if icy too. I've been spending hours carrying water for the horses, because of frozen pipes, so in a Fantasy setting your creatures will need to be looked after too. Horses drink about 4 gallons of water a day...
Always good to see you pop up on other channels, Jason! I was going to say something similar. In rural areas (at least in my country where many such areas are REALLY remote) the way we approach winter hasn't really changed for centuries. And I love it! When I watched some of your food/cooking videos and you talked about harvesting, making hay, animal tending, meat preservation etc. I thought "that sounds like last year to me", ha!
Thanks Jason! I am always very honored when you watch one of my videos! I'm actually hoping you'll make a video on how the different medieval social classes survived winter, and what winters would have been like in England! I was going to try to cover more history in this one, but decided to keep it focused on some actionable things people can do. But I'd love to see a video dedicated to the history. Cheers!
I remember raising pigs as a kid (as a member of 4-H and FFA, two agricultural programs for school aged folk in the US) and having to haul buckets of boiling hot water out to their pens to melt the water trough after the night's freeze was something i dreaded each winter.
They absolutely loved the hot mash they got as a winter treat though lol.
(It was their standard molasses and oats feed, but with hot water and powdered milk mixed in like a porridge... Not bad tasting tbh lol)
@@DH-xw6jp I've also heard of people taking an axe out to the barn to smash the ice in the troughs
@@russelljones3221 yeah. We used a tamping bar for ice breaking.
(Essentially a 4 foot bar with a chisle tip on one end.)
But that leaves you with water that is still below freezing and the floating ice chunks can fuse back together.
so you either have to take the ice out of the trough (wasteful and cold) or add hot water to melt everything after it is broken up.
An all winter, full house, for a large Inn, that specializes in hosting travelling adventurers. Great setting for a murder mystery campaign. I'm also thinking of stories like "The Hateful Eight" & "Thirty Days of Night" but in a medieval fantasy setting.
Imagine the hateful 8 plus 30 days of night mixed together. Everyone hates each other plus vampires and in a fantasy setting what other monsters wait out in the cold waiting to rend the heat and life from within the inn/tavern. Winter in fantasy is kinda terrifying and makes for horror settings way to easily.
Check out Jacob’s well.
Very much what I was picturing, lots of potential here for a story. Add a cabin fever mechanic and I imagine things could get pretty interesting
Barbarian Poirot? I'd read that.
This and J. Thomas's suggestions are AWESOME! A twist that could be thrown in, would be the positive or negative intention/effect of the murder on the ensuing situation. It could create a potential solution or inevitability.
In my husband's campaign, we have a thing called "wintering", where the adventurers spend time at home honing their skills, making stuff to sell, etc. Our characters would only travel during the winter when it was absolutely necessary. First edition had some really good information on weather, terrain and adventuring through it. We use some of the information from those books in our 3.5 D&D campaign. Edit to add: I stumbled upon your channel, and this is an excellent video; I have subscribed.
DUDE! you just described a mountain man outpost in early America! often in winter they would have trade posts, outpost forts or other similar areas they would spend winter in to avoid boredom.
That's exactly what I was thinking of as I suggested this 😉 it's a great idea, makes total sense adventurers would do it too!
Gotta gamble your wages, get a fresh brew, find new prospects during the winter
Winter is when you write your ballads and practice your music. Preferably in front of a roaring fire. If you're good enough at story-telling, singing and fluting, you will be welcomed back annually.
"There once was a hero named Ragnar the Red..."
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been,
of yellow leaves and glossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair...
(The first two verses of my favourite song from Bilbo, from the Fellowship of the Ring)
1. Adventure to a warmer climate.
2. continue adventuring
My favorite story of fantasy winter adventuring has to be the Green Knight. It takes place over Christmastime and it is staggeringly beautiful and immersive (I read the Tolkien translation), from the tangled woods to the Baron’s warm castle. The story gave me the impression, however, that Welsh December/January must not be nearly as cold as those months in other regions. The environment is described as grey and rainy more than snowy. Or maybe that’s just part of the fantasy.
If I remember correctly, Europe was actually going through a slight warming period before the 13th century, so there may well have been less snow
If you're close to the coast it gets just as cold but it doesn't snow much because of the sea, this affects the south coast a lot so I'm sure it would affect the west coast as well
Officially The Medieval Warm Period.
@@LivingAnachronism Gawaine and the Green Knight was written in the North of England. I live there (and was brought up in the Welsh borders) and trust me, it's on point for both. The Gulf stream means both are warmer and wetter than their latitude would suggest.
Britain in general is warmer and wetter than other nations at similar latitudes, because of the Gulf Stream bringing warm water and weather from the Caribbean across the Atlantic. As some people have mentioned, the Medieval warm period may have been a factor, although I should note that due to the stories of King Arthur were mostly written at very different times, things are very ahistorical. Technically "Arthurian times" would have been in the late first millennium AD, so the weather is pretty much up to the author. That being said, grey and rainy is definitely something England is known for!
A good option for an adventurer would be to travel somewhere with nicer weather. Kind of like how kings would have a home for the winter and a home for the summer.
Oh good idea!
This is also what I was thinking of when he mentioned a nomad and winter. Taking a note from Kramer, they would do what birds in nature usually do which is migrate south ahead of the winter weather. It would be planned out ahead of time and would also give them options like being hired as guards for merchants traveling to their home countries of fairer weather.
They would also "likely" have carts or wagons that could carry the nomads' gear, and possibly the guarantee of passage either on ships or through borders. That prospect would be priceless with the potential for limitless employment opportunities, including hunting any creatures that also venture south in the winter.
A white, silent dawn,
Inns quiet by the gentle morn,
Hark! geese fly, south sworn.
I certainly hope the beasties too, stay at home.
The Grimsel and Furka Pass in Switzerland had been scaled in Winter but of course inns on both sides and near the top gave shelter.
On good thing about traveling in winter is the lack of mud. Most ground is hard and normally untraversable ares like bogs and muddy roads are passable. Sledges could be used to move heavy stuff that would normally bog down horses and carts. Rivers also freeze over, enabling other travel forms of easy travel.
Ideas for winter quests.
1- Ice fishing
2- Chaga foraging
3- Rose hip harvesting
4- Rabbit hunting
In the Southwest states like Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, etc.
1- Gem hunting
2- Wild herb hunting (efedera, peyote, prickly pear, etc)
3- Gold and silver prospecting.
But do not sit in your troll hole like a lump getting fat.
Go out, recharge your vitamin D, go skiing, sledding, snow shoeing, etc.
But winter should not imprison you.
Lift weights. Do calisthenics
Southwest states? Nah, way too hot of a climate. High to Late medieval, especially late medieval, is a climate minimum. It means that in Florence, it was below the freeze, and below the freeze for a period of time long enough to make ice sculptures and they would stay there for the whole Christmas selebration. in Netherlands, the channels froze, and in England and Germany - there were no grapes growing. It means, that the climate of central Europe back then was way closer to Canada or middlewest Russia. In fact, at the recent temperature peak, about 2010, it got too warm for ice sculptures in Moscow, it's colder again now. So, it's a Moscow or Toronto kind of winter.
But you're right, as a local you would stay active and have to do a lot. Especially if you can afford decent warm clothes and boots (expensive! even now. ) and bigger portions of food.
You would also likely be harvesting natural ice for a medieval freezer on a lake (like Kristoff in Frozen), bear hunting (looking for the lair etc)... Probably there are monsters who sleep during winter so you'd be looking for a sleeping one to kill them. I wonder if dragons do so? Smaller beasts such as wolves attack humans and human settlements in packs when hungry.
Wood is also logged in winter, when it's dry and juiceless.
You're likely to use skis and sleighs as there are loads and loads of snow.
I dare say winter quests are one-day routes from a base and back, but they definitely are present.
@@annasolovyeva1013 You are welcome to come winter camping/hunting with me. It is nice up here in Northeast Minnesota. It got way upto 0 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday.
@@annasolovyeva1013 Reminder that Toronto is not representative of most of Canada.
Where I live, a place where the wild roses grow thick, the rose hips are either all eaten by the local fauna by late autumn or those few that do remain have gone bad.
I have a job that keeps me outside for a decent portion of the day, year round. The highs for most of next week where I live is going to be around -10. I can say from experience that I'm really glad I have a place to go and warm up. Trying to spend the entire day outside would be incredibly stupid. Stay warm people.
There are a few travel and adventure possibilities that come with the freezing temperatures. Some lakes, rivers and seas become frozen and traversible by foot or dogsled. Maybe it's the only time in the year you can safely reach a dungeon in the middle of a bog. Or it's the best time to hunt hibernating owlbears.
But yea, I too use this time to prepare for the coming of spring and enjoy some homebrew mead. Time to mend your armor and sharpen your blades. Maybe visit a monastery library to learn and research your next expedition target.
There is a great Amon Amarth song, that perfectly captures this feeling.
A secondary option to the guild hall/castle would be to migrate to a settlement a day’s winter march from some sort of winter-exclusive quest. Either a wild ingredient that is only harvestable during winter, but is dangerous enough to harvest to require an adventurer, the home of a monster that is most vulnerable during winter or only available to hunt during winter, and either has a high enough bounty or has transportable body parts that go for enough.
Monsters that survive by raiding human settlements, if they exist in your setting, would also be as much if not more of a threat in the winter, so those settlements might be interested in accommodating a couple adventurers in exchange for protection.
@@Sibula Guard duty as a low paying but expedient alternative during the winter months, I mean even in the cold months people will try and steal shit.
Also monsters will either get more desperate for resources in winter similar to wolves thus being bolder and aggressive, or hibernate as well.
What? Like the Mountain Men and later hunters who virtually exterminated the California Grizzly Bears by hunting them while they were hibernating in their dens & selling the meat & hides to miners & settlers?
The worst part of starting an outdoors job for the first time is winter... your hands become numb and ache horribly, you burn through calories and become hungrier and the time you spend outside seems to lengthen as your misery increases.
I highly recommend wool EVERYTHING; it’s so warm and comfortable, and it can be used to make just about anything, and very enjoyably too, and if you can get it, Varafeldr (pile woven wool, basically Medieval fake fur), though it’s quite pricey these days, unless you want to get an IKEA rug. Also, slight correction, but medieval houses were pretty thick walled, and had a central hearth, so indoors would have been quite warm for the average family, but an adventure would probably not be so lucky
The inside would also be really smoky. According to what I have heard, fireplaces are more of a late middle-aged invention. Even then, it wasted more heat and could set a thatched roof on fire, so not everyone could use a fireplace.
When Texas was covered in snow and many of us had no power for a week I hunkered down with a candle and a book. I had plenty warm clothing, I was pretty tempted to check out the world that never even sees an inch of snow cloaked in a foot of it, and I would have been fine going out for a few hours. The problem was there was no good way to warm up after getting back. I had limited ways to heat the place up and no means of acquiring new resources to change that. Simply having heat at the flip of a switch makes a huge difference.
I have often tried applying realism to exploration in Skyrim, and have tried out several "survival" mods to actually apply needs such as shelter and food. Given the eternal Winter of the northern mountains it gets real impossible real fast. Like you say, you either need to carry a significant shelter on your back or your daily trips need to be quite short.
2:50 noticing your boots I may suggest you to equipe yourself with a brush with medium bristles. It's useful to remove dirt from shoes, clothes, hair, etc and for the snow if you brush it away before sitting near a campfire or going back inside, it'll not melt soaking everything. A brush can come to use even for cleaning food (potatoes, radishes, etc) or to clean yourself if you don't have water to waste (I'm referring to dry brushing the skin)
Yep! Good tip.
Love the idea of the monsters breeding during the winter period and the young ones stirring up trouble next spring as they get old enough and get antsy with the nice weather! Lots of inspiration for world building thank you!
-Dan
I love the cold. I'd likely be out fighting ice trolls and such in fantasy adventure settings 🗡🛡
Summer is my down time, too hot to do anything.
Autumn is by far the best season. It's not too unbearably cold or too warm it's perfect.
And sadly this year my favorite season remained in the high 60s for a good portion of the season before dropping down into the low 30s super suddenly and snowing.
It's not just cold. At this time of year, it gets light at 8am and dark at 4pm and we aren't even that far north. Also, cold is less of a problem with modern clothing.
@@davidmorgan6896 You don't get it. I hate heat. Put me in historically accurate winter clothing and I would still overheat while active outdoors.
And less daylight is irrelevant. Especially in the snow, with all that white it's as if it were dusk or dawn.
I really love this idea of setting up a small Medieval Place in your home that is REALLY such a cool idea.
If you haven't seen it, I do have an (older) video on some ideas for doing that as well
@@LivingAnachronism I will definitely see about watching those ^^ thanks so much for your valuable incite. I am looking to go to Reckoning this year and your channel has been quite rewarding to watch and help me prepare some stuff. I plan to go Suzak-Mar and be a Spellscribe. Though I have had some struggle to find what all that entails. Beyond what is on the website. But I am super looking foward to it.
You could also check out the various 'Farm' series with historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn. Starting with Tales from the Green Valley they have done several of historical documentary TV series that show the life of ordinary people in several time periods like the medieval and Tudor. There are also several Christmas mini series that showcase food, recipes, customs and entertainments of peoples of the eras. All can be found on CZcams.
Definitely checking this out! Thank you! If it's anything like the guedelon castle series, I'll love it
Those are EXCELLENT! My husband and I just finished watching the Edwardian one, but our favorite is the Medieval one (castle building).
@@martabachynsky8545 I'm watching Victorian pharmacy right now, having been through all the others. Ruth Goodman is my new role model. She may be 40+ but she can do anything. In dress and corset. And fry something up after for dinner
@@tracybartels7535 Victorian pharmacy sounds really interesting! I'm going to have to look it up after Christmas. I just love Ruth, Alex, and Peter. Can't forget Clumper (good horse).
Love this and thanks for the textiles shout out. Winter is for making and mending, for sure. And embellishing - carving, tooling leather, embroidery and fancy knitting with colorwork or cables.
There is a reason they are called "Winter Quarters"
The way Kramer talks about freezing to death so casually😂 love this channel.
Haha! Thanks Bright Faith!
1. Great video, entertaining and motivational!
2. I recommend Welsh Viking's last video about how good is Viking clothing against cold weather.
3. Zac Evans is planning a stream about LotR: TT, to celebrate 20 years of it's release.
4. In winter, you find a place to stay - it's historical fact. For example: The Serbian hajduks were brigands (bandits) and guerrilla freedom fighters (rebels) throughout Ottoman-held Balkans, mainly in Serbia, who descended from the mountains and forests and robbed and attacked the Ottomans. People that helped hajduks were called jataks. Jataks lived in villages and towns and provided food and shelter for hajduks (especially during winter). In return, hajduks would give them part of the loot. They gathered at the end of April and live mainly outdoors till beginning of November. So, that's little over half a year in hiding and not going on an adventures =)
5. Maybe some storages that can be rented, where adventurers can store their winter equipment?
The Serbian hajduks sound really interesting!
Something I wanted to learn over the winter was crochet, so I can make wool gloves and socks and such for the winter. Also a good way to spend time with Gramma. I do like winter camping so I need to prepare for it - on a budget.
for a very historical take, try Nålebinding / sprang - which uses fairly short lengths of yard and an eyed needle to make a textile that looks like knitting or tunisan crochet at first glance.
@@karladenton5034 Very interesting, I'll look into it! But I think I'll start out as simple as it gets for some practice first before using wool and trying to make mittens that fit me..
@Mika Foxx
Give knitting a go. It's medieval. Crochet only goes back to the 1790s. Nalebinding goes back to ancient Egypt.
@@hollyingraham3980 Mostly wanted to go for crochet because it's what my grandma knows, plus I do mainly just want to stay warm. There's no reason crochet couldn't have existed back then, though.
EDIT: Nessmuck's "Woodcraft" was the bible to the legendary Horace Kephart, and as far as I know it's in public domain, having been published in the late 1800s. If anyone is interested I'll gladly provide a link*
Very respectfully, I'd advise adventurers to research old trappers and woodcrafters/bushcrafters. Most of these folk two, three hundred years ago/more were independent, soloed deep woods in winter on purpose to find the rich winter pelts of fur bearing animals. The lifestyle DEMANDED that you were able to travel as light as possible, while still having what you needed to survive, often relying on beasts of burden and sleds rather than carts for the extra gear... but it also revolved around much of the same mindset a ranger would've endured.
You can't afford to start sweating, and you can't use a new set of clothes. You restrict your labor and activity to compensate. You often find it's so damn cold that you dislike hydrating or going to the bathroom either number... so you become dehydrated and constipated, both of which can easily be fatal in the wild let alone winter.... so you FORCE yourself to sip canteen water kept deep against your person and you force yourself to MAKE a time per day to use the bathroom. You count and spend your calories, your daylight hours, and your nighttime rest with extreme care. And you don't just have furs all over the place as "winter gear," you've specifically chosen your wools and deep-winter furs that you'll need to survive specific temperatures and you adjust layers as you go, as needed. There's less "gear you're not wearing" than you'd think. And likely you'd use snowshoes rather than skis but that depends on the terrain and your equipment etc.
But yes, I agree fully that most adventurers would more logically hunker down, change occupations/prepare for other situations to come. In our fantasy settings it's important to note that still, basically, we're dependent on our normal, natural essences. It's also important to note that winters vary dramatically due to latitude and natural variation: my ancestors in the mountains spoke of some rare winters that were overwhelming in their brutality and severe cold.
A very realistic and appropriate discussion of the topic, as I expect from this excellent channel! Best wishes good sir
Thank you for the great bit of insight, and pointing towards the trappers of old.
During the winter months, before our Renaissance faire starts in February, I take care of my gear and as a craft I tie fishing flies and grow crops in my garden. But, it's always summer in Florida.
Other POV is people like me who lives in tropical climates. For us winter isn´t a problem, the temperature is usually very hot, so it droping by a couple degrees doesn´t affect us. here is 19ºC at 17:43
Amen. Forget putting on armor in summer. But winter is here! At least for a few weeks.
A more manageable option for carrying more stuff than can be stuffed in or on a pack is a packwheel (it probably has other names) it's basically a long handled wheelbarrow without the bucket on top. Strap all your heavy or bulky stuff (like tents, treasure, the pelts of the wolves you killed, whatever) to it and pull it behind you, you could tie it to a shoulder yoke or wide belt to free your hands up, but in any case you will be a bit encumbered if you get jumped by baddies/wild animals.
aka Hand Barrow. Has a deck of boards fastened to the 2 main struts, a stop/wall at the narrow end to stop your gear from slipping down and tangling with the wheel. Similar things were still being used into the 1970's at large rail passenger terminals to cart passenger's luggage.
Love this!! And you’re right, this is a time to slow down a bit, recoup, and take stock of the seasons before. I would love to see some vids that are more cozy, such as cleaning your gear by firelight or maybe even some Tolkien readings? Just good for thought! 😊
Absolutely, Lady Baccia, I'd love to do a couple videos like that
@@LivingAnachronism In Finland, we have even today so called 'deserted cabins' - which are a system of places to stay at for free along hiking trails and such. Some of those would be but permanent shelters for camping, some a little bit more. Built on purpose for a traveler aka hiker to stay in on their way somewhere. This functions basically on trust of people. Such locations are built where needed along the trails. And people who stay there know to not make a mess, and help keeping the fire wood ready, like chopping a bit for the next folks arriving having used some themselves. Obviously these days those locations are maintained by certain local institutions and such - but this sort of a system could well exist in some fantasy aka adventure world. Could even make for a curious location for some surprising events. Oh and there would also be some such fishing cabins on islands and such.
@@lyrigageforge3259 a similar type of cabins are also present in the more mountainous terrain of the US, perhaps most famously along the Appalachian Trail. I wouldn't be surprised if they are common in many cultures history, at least where one wasn't traveling where there would be a village or at least some kind of settlement spaced along the road at roughly a day's journey apart.
This was honestly very encouraging and inspiring. Life circumstances and the weather change really dampened my mood and motivation this year, and hearing you talk about using this time to prepare for spring was helpful. There’s something to be said about using a character or fantasy world to motivate yourself in real life.
Walking in the cold of the morning? I’m training for the long hikes in spring. Kickboxing/martial arts workout? Gotta stay loose and ready for those adventures and protecting my loved ones. Sewing new garments? I’m improving my level of comfort, mobility, and style. ;)
It really seems like dealing with being outside in the winter hasn't changed much for hundreds of years
Clothes have just gotten a bit more efficient for maintaining your body temp
the best part of modern clothes is that they don't just get immediately soaked through.
@@refoliation we have better more comfortable shoes, we don't need cloaks anymore, and we have elastic fabrics that allow more freedom of movement.
While coton is awful at managing moisture, wool isn't that bad. We still wear wool in winter now. Managing layers is more important.
@@arx3516I wish we still wore cloaks. The slight inconvenience would be more than made up for by the drip.
Personal book recommendation, for any fans of Japanese culture, Shogun by James Clavell. Started reading it and it's an absolute joy. It really emphasizes how alien 16th-17th century Japan and Asia in general would have felt to the European sailors.
And great tips on training and video games. I find it a neat idea, to play video games (possibly only) during the winter (instead of all year round). I'm also playing GoW 2018 right now, in a few days i'll be back at my folk and continuing the journey through Helheim. As for training, I am lucky that my folk have a huge garden in which I could work during the warm seasons, if I weren't in college all week round, but otherwise I started weightlifting to build and keep the strength I'll need in the garden.
Frontier homesteads might welcome guild vouched for adventurers over the winter. Extra swords in the long cold dark. Adventurers might also be able to pick up seasonal work within towns etc.
Working at a horse barn I really felt what you said about 'mud as far as the eye can see' - until the ground freezes it is so not fun trying to catch horses, I can only imagine how much more difficult trying to trek would be. I really enjoyed your recommendations for immersive activities, I tend to make plans for the new year right around now, and I love the idea of making your hobbies more intentional - definitely going to be referring back to this when the long, cold Canadian winter has me feeling down.
I just finished watching your video and have not read any if the comments. I wanted to point out that a lot of your advice doesn't apply to JUST adventuring or fantasy, it can be applied to our modern age with taking the time to better oneself.
Such was my hope!
Thank you for the excellent video! This was exactly what I needed.
My d&d games have always treated winter more or less equally to the other seasons, but you raise good points I'll have to draw upon.
On a more personal note, I've been feeling a little down as all my teaching gigs fell through this month, but I'll work my way through that list and immerse myself in other ways.
There is a lot of potential to doing winters this way.
one Campaign I ran had the party wintering in a castle, and getting caught up in a murder mystery as a result.
@@Itsjustavy ooh that's a good one. It's also a opportunity to let them design their own castle.
i had thought of an idea
in games like D&D there is options for how to spend your down time or alternative rewards for leveling up, for at least D&D BOTH those options can allow you to gain a feat
so if your D&D campaign is quite well thought out to at least have months and seasons you can then set it up so leveling only gives you ASIs BUT the winter break your able to do a long down time thing like gaining a feat, make a magic item or even retraining your class or subclass
@@Sawtooth44 I wonder about having a game where the players only level in the winter. I'd probably do something like each session is a season apart.
@@GeospatialSurvivalist that would be FAR too short unless your traveling MASSIVE distances, maybe a month per session or so, you then at least have a week to travel there and back and a week to quest
Great video, really useful and helpful. I myself live in Sweden, so I'm used to really cold and harsh winters. Don't know if it's my norse blood or if I'm just completely insane, but I've always found myself doing most adventuring during the winter. Bunch up with a lot of woolen clothing and furs, and I do cheat by using modern day boots, but I hide them under gaiters. Otherwise in the colder times of year, I spend a lot of time in my armory, which anyone can see on my channel.
Either way, always enjoy your videos. As silly as it may sound, your videos are like a warm light in the dark!
My primary LARP character is a mercenary/circus acrobat; as a group we explain winter camping as long term camps or winter homes; another means of paying for winter room and board is to be the entertainment at the inn.
I've gone Winter camping once, I remember waking up and finding some of my things frozen.
Same
A good source of inspiration are the Norse Sagas that feature characters going through winter. I recently reread _The Saga of Erik the Viking_ by Terry Jones, wich was heavily inspired in tone and theme by them, because I remembered reading it during my childhood and it having quite an impact on me. In it they put a hold on their adventure to spend the winter in a hut they build.
Your video reminded me of my fantasy D&D setting, The City of Kart. Their winter or Frost is on steroids for ancient magical reasons :D They have adventurers, a lot of them, and their guildhalls serve as hostels during the cold months. Everyone is hard pressed to acquire food, extra clothing, secure housing and most importantly, stock on fuel. I have so many stories about players having so much fun just surviving the elements, not even adventuring :D
1. Commenting for the algorithm
2. I finally got around to watching the Thanksgiving D&D game, it was fantastic.
3. Fantastic job on the video, outside of your defending Tolkien videos I think that this one might be your best yet, keep doing the Lord’s work.
Here in the bitter, bitter cold of South Carolina, I've resorted to wearing a coat when I go out.
If it gets any worse I'm afraid I'll have to get some thicker socks, or even.... A hat
D&D Magic Item
Boots of the Winterlands. These furred boots are snug and feel quite warm.
You can tolerate temperatures as low as −50 degrees Fahrenheit without any additional protection. If you wear heavy clothes, you can tolerate temperatures as low as −100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another skill to learn for those dark winter months is brewing your own mead or ale. What's more epic than sharing your own mead or ale with your friends and family during your DnD adventure or LARP? Or to enjoy at diner or just relaxing at the fire?
Great place to start learning how to brew your own mead is *City Steading Brews*. The equipment you'll need won't cost you more than €50. And most ingredients can easily be sourced from pretty much any supermarket.
Yes! We used to do that when my husband could drink alcohol. Allowed a great selection of historical ales at what was a fairly reasonable price. The house smelled amazing. Maybe ale-wifery will be my second career.
Entertaining and useful, thank you for the video. I also would like to say this can always be remedied with a warmer setting. I'm from the medditarrean, and besides global warmimg, our winters are mild and sometimes even warm. For example, this december the southern wind has constantly been blowing, you can go out in a t shirt and a thin hoodie. Its also been quite dry the past two weeks and i live in a damp area. Warmer weather is also prime environment for disease spreading.
CZcams is gaining self-awareness, methinks. It recommended me this video while I was sitting in my living room waiting for the coldest weather my area's had in decades to hit.
If you didn't have option to hunker down: You would carry your stuff in a sled during winter, maybe by a husky dog (doesn't need a lot of water or food and they are light enough so they dont sink most of the time). You can see pretty well as long as there is moonlight & stars during the winter since the snow reflects the light. you'd more likely need sunglasses during the day. Wet blizzards/rainstorms would be deadly so you would not want to travel in those weathers and you would not be able to see during the night during frost blizzards. Carrying dry firewood or oil (or fat) would be needed when you want to settle for the night and set your tent ( which you cover with furs and snow). If you needed light you would use a lantern or a small piece of wood (or fat). The Inuit mastered surviving in the north pole without any modern equipment so Id look up to them for inspiration for moving during the winter
Here here! Nothing beats a cold winter's night like a nice a comfy seat next to a fireplace enjoying a pipe, a strong spiced beer, and reading a good book.
My father, who grew up during the Great Depression, talked of cutting timber in the winter (in north Arkansas) and leading teams of horses pulling log wagons across frozen rivers and creeks while living with a cutting crew in the woods that my Grandfather was boss over. Dad was the oldest (13) and it was his job at Christmas to stay at the camp and take care of the horses while the rest of the crew went home. He talked of going out in the snow to pull up wild onions so they could have something green to eat with their lunch of biscuits and clabbered milk. I am 65 years old now and up until last year I worked as a lumber grader in an open shed with no heat in Illinois where in the winter we could start the day at 10 degrees Fahrenheit and hope it would get up to 25 before the end of the day. The wind could make it rough, but at least I didn't have snow blowing in on me like I did when I was 20-30 years old. If some equipment broke down I could take a break in the boiler room to warm up. Ah, the good old days.
There's a reason why we do medieval fantasy rpg in winter: it's so perfectly atmospheric. I'd add one or two things to your video: when settling down somewhere for winter, such as an Inn or a monastery, the characters can pay their stay by doing odd jobs for the owners. Or maybe being guest at a local temple or castle for a few months is payment back for a mission they have done in the past, like getting rid of a monster. Heck, you can probably just promise the hosts to protect them against any threat and that would be enough in many places to give you shelter and meals for the season. That's pretty much how we did I'm our D&Dr campaign when our players did not have permanent residency: they'd stay for a few months at their relatives (if they had any) or found hosts they'd help in the past. My ranger often paid his stay in venison.
Merry Christmas, man!
Really enjoyed the video.
Winter LARP for me is interesting. I have a caravan that I use as my lodging. It is double wall, wood interior with a canvas exterior, and straw unsulated. I have a wood burning stove inside and lots of blankets and animal pelts. The wheels can be easily removed and replaced with skis. I can move it myself summer or winter (though I do use a van), and if I were actually traveling with it, I would have a horse or 2 pulling it. In game, my character travels along rivers so that I do not have to carry water with me. I also have a large canvas tent that we use for storage when we set up camp, though we would likely use it as a stable. There are many ways to do a winter adventure.
In the western states, before barbed wire, ranches would have “line cabins” or cabins on property lines. It was the cowboy’s jobs to stay in the cabins during winter and keep cattle from straying off the home range. Travelers and cowboys looking for work knew that they could get a bunk and a meal at a line cabin in exchange for a little work. Those travelers were riding the “grub line”.
Really like that idea, there's a good story there if it's incorporated into fantasy
@@LivingAnachronism And I think I just came up with a way to make that happen
I like how in Mercedes Lackey's novels that the mercenary bands all have dedicated winter quarters in whichever towns or villages they could buy out.
But some people did work in the winter. Billmen and foresters had a specific civilian job in the winter, laying hedges, often accompanied by tilers. Some of them would rover the countryside looking for work. But they went from inn to inn.
I used to work door to door sales back in desperate years, so yeah i'm quite familiar with how the cold and winter can be a problem - caught pneumonia and because, as i say, desperation, i didn't get it treated until i was in the emergency room.
Brought new meaning to Bilbo's poem:
"When winter first begins to bite
and stones crack in the frosty night,
when pools are black and trees are bare,
'tis evil in the Wild to fare."
This is definitely one of my favourite videos of yours! You're so good at explaining and breaking down these concepts in a way that's entertaining but easy to understand. I lost it when you said it's only been two days! :D
Lots of great practical tips in here, And nice setup too! I've been watching your channel for a few years now and I love watching your progression. Yours is by far my favourite medieval channel to absorb information from. You, Kramer, are my people! Thanks for all you do. Looking forward to more and good luck on your adventures too!
Good advice. Always informative and entertaining.
I absolutely love camping in the cold, but these days I don’t use subpar gear like I used to, so now I’m much better prepared. The primary thing modern camping gear does for us is act as a substitute for time. Now you can bang out miles, have camp set in 10 minutes and call it a night, toasty warm and dry with no fire. When I went out with wool blankets and very little tech, a long fire was necessary, and so I could only hike a few miles and had to dedicate much time in camp for fire preparation, cooking, and purifying water with fire.
Great, thoughtful video, as usual! I love the recommendation to use winter to prepare for your next adventure. I've been doing some of that - Did some sharpening on two of my neglected outdoor blades the other day, and I've got a short sword and a trio of daggers in the works that I'm assembling. Also focusing on working out to be ready for hiking in the spring, and doing some planning for the next D&D session I'm DM-ing for my nieces and nephews. Winter is a great time for all of this! ONWARD!
Fantastic
love the new background for filming.
Horray the algorithm works! I just stumbled upon you via my subs for Shadiversity, Modern History, Scholagladitoria, Townsend etc. Great video, absolutely loved it.
Thanks for the video. Definitely time to hunker down here and prepare for next adventuring season. I've been working on garb and camping kit, and measuring time in LotR movies.
What an amazing and inspiring video! I always watch your videos the moment I can, and am always happy to have invested the time to do so. Keep it up, and enjoy your Christmas season.
I am definitely doing some of those suggestions while crafting cold weather garb (knit/crochet). Mid to late winter I will be prepping for spring. Starting seeds, crafting more mild weather items, and finishing equipment upgrades (prepping my bicycle lol).
Awesome.
I use the experience I have from the military to help flavor my DnD groups. Time in the cold is rough, and spending weeks doing it, with heating equipment failing, having to stave off hypothermia and frostbite.
Often, when winter starts to settle in, my parties will use whatever base the enemies were using as their own shelters. Cutting time by cleaning it up, repairing it, etc, and work quickly to hunt, gather wood, water, food, and hunker down.
The game usually shifts at that point to defending their home from wandering group trying to take over their base, or fighting the hostile monsters that only appear in the cold. If the party is forced out, it is rarely a good thing.
Nomadic people of the past often used winter time as "re-locating" time. The winter offers some pretty neat treats for travels. Water is frozen solid, so you can travel across a lake instead of walking around it. You can use sleds wich improves your capacity to haul stuff, especially if you use animals to drag those sleds. The Sapmi used reindeers in the past for this purpose, the american-natives pulled the sleds themselves. You could even walk across large lakes and seas.
Fabulous video, mate. There are piles of ideas here that I fully intend to begin incorporating into my current campaign immediately
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed!
This actually made me excited about winter
Cool stuff
Good video mate
Enjoyed it
Nice set man 👌👍 hope you have a great holiday season. Some lovely advice there. Cheers 🥂
Travel. Knowing that winter is approaching, head south. Tropical jungles; search for buried pirate treasure; Arabian Nights style adventures in the lands of the burning deserts (which are quite pleasant in the winter months); capture and train a herd of wild elephants for war.
Work on projects you never had time for on the road - craft a new weapon or armor; if you don't have the skill, hire (or trade for) someone to fit you for new armor (armor takes a while to craft).
Very good session.
Me watching this as the biggest blizzard in 5 years hits my city feeling the pinnacle of comfy
On the topic of skill-levelling; I’m person-who-is-trying-all-of-the-yarn-things! I’m primarily a spinster (in both senses of the word, and entirely voluntarily lol!), and spinning is becoming my life-work. It’s a very relaxing, meditative skill; and very useful and rewarding, too! Also, spindles are like potato chips; you can never have just one! XD I feel like I have about a hundred at this point… No, I don’t have a Problem, whatever are you talking about?😅
Writing letters to friends as your cosplay is great way to spend a winter evening.
Thank you very much for putting out this video! I have a campaign setting based off of the climate in central Siberia, and I’ve been thinking about how to adventure going even during the winter I figured that the winter is when the characters would be put on the offensive. No I also see that P can be a great time for more role-play heavy sessions and for characters to work on projects and downtime activities. So when winter arrives in that setting, it’ll probably be the mostly studying spells and crafting items with clothes they’ve gathered, but then it will also be interrupted by harsh weather conditions in the need to go out to repair the cabin after monster attacks and Briggstone the wall. Maybe the winter wolves attack the stationary Caribou herds Kept by someone in the town, and the players how to defend us dead winter wolves for there for and for some meat to replace what was lost from the reindeer herd.
Loving your weekly uploads, gives me something to look forward to. Have a merry Christmas. Or Winter solstice.😎
Merry Christmas Tony! Thank you!
If you're in the Pacific Northwest region, consider visiting Ursulmas, the last weekend in January, at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. Merchants, displays, sword-and-board combat, rapier combat, archery tournament stuff, lots happening...and you can come in modern clothes or in medieval, your choice, as it's open to the public and not just to Society of Creative Anachronism participants. You'll definitely want to dress in layers, as it can get quite cold in the big drafty Arena & inside the Grandstands...
well thought out, i didn't think of some of it
As a Wizard, my Character tends to rely on multiple layers of warm clothing and firebolt for hand warmers, with a Galder's tower for the squad to rest comfortably every night, and we STILL get bogged down by the winter quite heavily even with all the amenities of magic.
I never thought about any of this before lol. Lots of great ideas. 👍
i tried primitive camping in the winter once the first night got down to about 5F. i kept the fire going intermittently through the night waking up 3 times from the cold and building it back up before dozing off again. shortly after dawn i fixed a meal and ate it put the fire out and hiked back to the car (about 3 miles). it was miserable i got mild frostbite on my toes and slept again as soon as i got home - that was 1 day and night and i was in really good shape, had plenty of food and knew i could leave anytime safely.
I’m in a D&D game where the point is to find a lost civilization of Dragon Riders and become dragon riders ourselves. We’re prepping for a northward expedition and course we’re waiting for Winter to pass, but there will be plenty of cold and snow shenanigans.
Another banger. I’m lucky to be in an area where we only have a few snow storms a year, but this is all great advice for those few times when I WILL be stuck inside for a day or two
Great for when it's pouring rain too!
I'm from Brazil and the summer is hot as hell AND very wet (last week a tropical storm flooded my college). I spend my indoor time whit my friends, cooking, feasting, playing RPGs (indoor adventures, if you know what I mean), writing... When is hot and sunny, I ride my bike and swim.
Even a adventure had to know how spend some time quiet or doing other stuffs
Was not expecting a shoutout to Townsends... what a fantastic channel
great video.
Love this video.
Thank you!
I am a merchant and not an adventurer, so the winter is my time to restock my inventory. I'll be making a lot of new jewelry
My setting's "Age of Darkness": Year-round winter. Good luck.
As an Alaskan, traveling by foot in the winter (-28 Fahrenheit yesterday and it'll get colder soon) the fatigue really gets to you. Snow shoes or skis are amazingly helpful but what a lot of people forget is how much FOOD you need to consume. I generally eat about 3,000 calories a day and maintain a decent weight and size. If I'm hiking with a heavy pack in sub zero temps I'll go through 5,000 calories no problem and sometimes still lose weight. Water is also an issue, your bottle will freeze unless it's in your coat and making a fire with old school methods takes time. It's possible but definitely takes it out of you!
If you have the itch to try it, my honest suggestion it to practice close to home in case things go poorly. It's hard to focus and very draining when your core temp gets lost, things can go south quick! My wife and I camp in the winter sometimes and use wool blankets and big fluffy dogs to stay warm lol burrowing into deep snow banks and letting our Great Pyrenees Fezzik block the opening is surprisingly effective
a great video and good suggestions that i agree with
keep up the great work
Thanks Sean!
Title of the video: Realism in fantasy fiction .Brilliant analysis, and it tackles some very interesting and practical points.