dont walk in winter wood

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Dont Walk in Winter Wood

By Clint Krause


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Dont Walk in Winter WoodRevised Print EditionCopyright Clint Krause 2006

www.clintkrause.com

Written and Designed By Clint KrauseCover Art By Travis SmithInterior Illustrations By Andrea SfiligoiVillage Map By Clint Krause

Special Thanks to:

Everyone who helped to test the game,Dan Bayn for his suggestions,Sean Argo and everyone at Magniforge,Cassie for being endlessly supportive,and youfor picking this up!


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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

What is a Role-Playing Game? 3

Setting 3

Legends of Winter Wood 6

Getting Started 18

Creating a Character 18

Narrative Style 19

Conflict Resolution 19

The Cold 20

Examples of Play 21

Into the Woods . . . 22

Weaving the Tale 24

The Witchs Curse 28


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IntroductionDont Walk in Winter Woodis a role-playing game thats intendedto instill the same eerie feeling that you get when telling ghoststories around a campfire. Think back to the times youve sat

around spinning creepy yarns with your friends. Rememberhow after you finished, maybe in the wee hours of the morning,you suddenly found yourself afraid of the dark again andeverything seemed just a little more frightening? This game isintended to evoke that same feeling.

Winter Wood is a very vague setting. This is intentional. Winter

Wood represents that place that almost everyone knew whenthey were growing up: the strange old mans house up thestreet, dead mans curve, the old haunted cemetery, all of theotherwise mundane locations that grow to be very spookythrough whispered folk-lore. As a setting, Winter Wood isintended to capture the essence of these places.

This games lite mechanics exist to provide an extra bit of tension(through the use of random die rolls) to your narrativeexperience. The rules are also designed so that you never haveto mention them during play. I find this aspect of the game veryimportant to maintaining the illusion that you and your friendsare simply retelling a story that happened long ago, rather thanplaying a game. I feel that it is extremely important in a game

like this one that the mood not be disrupted by rules. The morethe players can remain in the realm of pure imagination, thebetter.

This book is broken into two parts. The first details WinterWood, the Village, and the folk-legends surrounding them. Thissection is intended to show you the tone of the setting and togive you some material to work with in your own stories. The

second part of the book explains the rules of play with severaldescriptive examples and provides plenty of ideas for designingyour own journeys into Winter Wood. Of course, you could alsoadapt the setting to other game systems with relative ease.


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What is a Role-Playing Game?If this is your first time taking a look at a game like this, let metake a second to explain what its all about. A role-playing game(RPG for short) is a game in which the players work together to

create an entertaining, interactive story. Unlike some othergames, the goal of a role-playing game is not usually to win,but instead, to cooperate with the other players and have funtelling a story together. One of the players, usually called thegamemaster, acts as a referee for the rules of the game anddetermines the general setting and story elements that will beused. Each of the other players control one character within the

gamemasters setting. During play, each player takes on the roleof their character, supplying the characters dialogue, anddeclaring the actions that the character takes. The results of acharacter's actions are usually determined by rolling dice. Thegamemaster responds to the actions of the characters and tries toset-up interesting scenes for the characters to explore.

Thats role-playing in a nutshell; its sitting around a table withyour friends, enjoying each-others company, and being creative.If youre intrigued but need more information, check out theforums at www.rpg.net.

SettingDont Walk in Winter Woodis set in a vague period of the 17th-18th

century in a vague region of the colonial United States in a vaguevillage near some vague woods. The ambiguous nature of thesetting is intended to increase the mystery of the game.Remember, campfire stories arent about hard facts; theyreabout somethingthat happened someplace a long time ago. Thesetting is left open for you and your group to develop to yourliking. Have a specific place in mind for the Village? Great!Want to name the Village? Fine! Anything that you can do toindividualize the setting to your groups preferences willenhance your enjoyment of the game. You were graciousenough to throw down your hard-earned cash; this is yourgamenow.


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The VillageThe Village was founded shortly before the American

Revolution. It is a small and isolated town; several days travelfrom the nearest city. The Village is completely self-sufficientand the villagers rarely have any reason to leave. The villagershave farms, a general store, a schoolhouse, a town hall, a mid-wife, and pretty much anything else that a small town of thissort would need to survive. The Village is quite small in termsof population. Everyone knows everyone else and outsiders are

easily recognized. The place is pleasant enough, but thevillagers have a hard, work-filled life and they are very practicalpeople.

Winter WoodWinter Wood borders the east side of the Village. Thisoverbearing forest got its name from the colonists who founded

the village because of the strange, unseasonal cold that alwaysseems prevalent inside its borders. By night, the woods aresteeped in a seemingly perpetual fog and by day, the densefoliage blocks out most of the available light. In the autumn, thewoods become a sea of fallen leaves as the trees bare their paleskeletons. Winter Wood is quite large; in fact it has never beenfully explored by those who live in the Village. Most of thevillagers have no desire to enter the woods at all. Aside from thestrange chill within its borders Winter Wood has a long historyof strange happenings and untimely deaths. This history can betraced all the way back to the Indian tribes who have dwelt inthe region for centuries. All manner of supernatural occurrenceshave been linked to Winter Wood. Seemingly every tale ofghosts, goblins, faeries, and demons in the region has its roots inthese woods (perhaps rightfully so).


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An 18thcentury sketch of the Village

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Legends of Winter WoodDont walk in Winter Wood . . . Children growing up in theVillage hear this warning from their parents from the time theyare very young. Indeed, it seems that the wood is a dangerous

place. Over the years many people have gone missing within itsborders, never to be seen again. Of course, because of itsdreadful reputation, Winter Wood is the subject of manylegends. Some of these tales have been told in the Winter Woodregion for centuries.

Listen carefully, you may be the next to find yourself lost in the

woods . . .

The Indian LegendsLong ago, when the first settlers built the Village, they cameupon Indians who had dwelt in the nearby hills for centuries.The Indians were not hostile by any means but when they sawthat the settlers had built their village on the edge of the woodthey sent medicine men to persuade the settlers to move.

The Indians of this region had many legends about the woods.They believed that many of their great ancestors were buried inthe woods and that powerful spirits protected them. Of course,the villagers thought that the Indians simply wanted their landback and they were not going to fall for some fool Indian trick.They ignored the Indians stories of ancient spirits in the woods

and continued to build the Village.

As the medicine men conversed with the settlers, they sang astrange song of the forest, which, when translated, reads:


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There was a woman long, long ago:She came out of a hole.

In it dead people were buried.She made her house in a tree;

She was dressed in leaves,All long ago.When she walked among the dry leaves

Her feet were so coveredThe feet were invisible.

She walked through the woods,Singing all the time,

I want company; Im lonesome!A wild man heard her.

She saw him; she was afraid;From afar over the lakes and mountains

He came to her.She saw him; she was afraid;

She tried to flee away,For he was covered with the rainbow;

Color and light were his garments.She ran, and he pursued rapidly;

he chased her to the foot of a mountain.He spoke in a strange language;

She could not understand him at first.He would make her tell where she dwelt.

They married; they had two children.

One of them was a boy;He was blind from birth,

But he frightened his mother by his sight.He could tell her what was coming,

What was coming from afar.What was near he could not see.

He could see the bear and the moose

Far away beyond the mountains;He could see through everything.

From The Algonquin Legends of New Englandby Charles Leland, 1884.


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This song seems to be related to another Indian legend in whicha young girl, whose face was horribly scarred, was the onlyperson able to see an invisible being who lived deep in the forest.As the legend goes, a woman who could see the Invisible One

would become the beings bride and dwell with it in the spiritworld forever. This young girl, horribly abused by her sister andparents, sought out the Invisible One and saw it with her owneyes. According to oral tradition the girls face was healed andmade beautiful as soon as she laid eyes on the Invisible One andit took her into the woods to dwell in the spirit world.

The Indians also believe that one of their ancestors, a terrible andsavage war chief, is buried in a mound in the woods. The storygoes that this war chief (whose name has long been forgotten)was so murderous and brutal to his enemies that he would chopup their bodies and eat them in his stew.

One winter night, when the war chief was sleeping, he wasbetrayed by his own warriors. They bound him with rope and

dragged him into the forest. There was a great struggle as thewar chief tried to escape his binds. He claimed the heads ofthree warriors before he finally threw himself on one of thefallen warriors spears. The chief was hastily buried in a lowmound and the people of his tribe swore to forget his name andnever speak of his brutality again.

There is a legend, told amongst the Indians, that the war chiefhas become husband to the malignant spirit of the forest.Together they are a murderous couple. They are said to enjoyinflicting pain and misery on humans and do so at every chancethey get. Perhaps the war chief still waits in the woods,sharpening his tomahawk, waiting to seek his vengeance onthose who betrayed him.

The Tale of the First WinterThe Village was founded in late summer and by autumn it wasquite well established. The villagers had built houses and barns;


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they had plenty of food to eat, and not a soul among them hadany fear.

then the winter came . . .

The worst winter that the region had ever seen set upon thevillagers, trapping them in their newly constructed houses. Thetemperatures were frigid and the thick layers of snow on theground made travel impossible. Soon, the villagers began to runout of food. It was not clear how or why the food had vanishedso quickly. Many villagers suspected that someone had selfishlystolen it for themselves. It became obvious that if they were tosurvive the winter they would need to find more provisions. Fora while, no one was willing to step forward. Finally, a braveman named Anson Miller volunteered to go into the cold forestand hunt for food.

Anson Miller was a woodsman who had lived in the Villagesince its conception. Ansons wife, Kate, was a talented

seamstress and the towns music teacher. One frigid Decemberday Anson set off into Winter Wood carrying only what heneeded for the days hunt. Eventually, night fell and Anson hadstill not returned from the forest. The villagers grew worriedboth for Ansons life and for the food that they so desperatelyneeded. Two days passed without any sign of Anson and thevillagers began to give up hope. Ansons wife, Kate, was

distraught and blamed the other villagers for her husbandsdisappearance. Cowards! she shouted at them. All of youcowards! Now you die here!

The villagers assumed that Anson Miller had fallen victim to therelentless winter and they began to hole up in their woodenhomes. One by one, whole families began to die, first of

starvation, and then of the influenza that had swept across theVillage. Beside themselves with fear and hopelessness, thevillagers began to speculate that Kate Miller had put them allunder a curse for sending Anson into the woods alone. Yes,


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surely she was a witch. The villagers began harassing Kate andshe quickly became the village outcast.

By the time the weather broke, nearly half of the villagers were

dead. And so it was that when spring came there were nearly ahundred funerals and the village cemetery swelled. Those whocould afford it left the Village that spring. The remainingsettlement was quite small, but it grew in size the following yearas new settlers moved into the area.

After Ansons disappearance, Kate Miller rarely left her cottage.Many villagers claimed to hear the poor woman talking toherself in the dead of night, when all else was quiet. The villagechildren would dare each other to knock on the Widow Millersdoor and run away. They would dig up her plants and throwrocks at her cottage. They treated her terribly, and the Widowsspite for the community grew.

Almost a year after that terrible winter, a young boy walking

home from the Villages school house claimed to see a man wholooked like Anson Miller staring at him from the edge of thewoods. He said that the man beckoned for him to come closer tothe forest. As the boy got closer he noticed that the man had nolegs. The boy claimed that the upper torso of the man wasfloating in mid-air. The boy screamed and ran home.

When he told his parents what had happened they told the townconstable who searched the area where the boy had seen thestrange, floating man. The constable found nothing of anyinterest and the incident was attributed to the boys imagination.

This occurrence planted seeds of fear in the minds of thevillagers and rumors of the woods being haunted began to

circulate throughout the Village. Despite their fears, there wereno further incidents involving Winter Wood for several months.Then, one winter night, Kate Miller suddenly ran into WinterWood, screaming. No one knows exactly what happened. Some


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say she went mad because of the mischief of the towns children.Others say that she saw the ghost of her husband. The villagersconsidered Kates disappearance to be good riddance and no oneattempted to search for her. Kate Miller was never seen again.

Before long, her name was all but forgotten, save in wives tales.

Many years after Kates disappearance, a friend of the Millerfamily came upon Kates journal when sorting through herproperty for an auction. In it, she found a strange entry writtenthe night before Kate disappeared:

A page recovered from Kate Millers journal

Legend says that on cold winter nights, if you listen closely, youcan still hear Kate Millers screams echoing through WinterWood.

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The Indian Hill Ghost LightSince the conception of the Village, many of its inhabitants havereported seeing a strange orb of light bobbing in the air up on

Indian Hill. Witnesses claim that the orb is a small flicker ofpale light, which seems to hover slowly up and down the sidesof the hill.

Legend has it that this light is the spirit of an Indian who died onthe hill long ago. Though the story varies depending on theteller, the most common version of the legend says that long agothere was an Indian man who was exiled from his tribe. Theman lived alone on the hilltop for many years. One night,during a terrible thunderstorm the Indian had begun to make hisway down the hill to find shelter when he was struck bylightning and killed.

Those who believe in the legend say that the ghost light is theremains of the poor Indians lonely soul still roaming the hill

looking for friends and shelter.

The MeadowThere is a place, deep in Winter Wood, known only as themeadow. Village lore says that the meadow was used as agathering place by the Indians. Strange totems can still be foundthere, emblazoned in the bark of the trees. More recent legends

claim that strangers from far-away lands gather in the meadowduring the harvest season and conduct bizarre, pagan rites.Village children maintain that the best way to find the meadowis to walk into Winter Wood blindfolded. When the blindfold isremoved, the stories say, the traveler will find themself on theedge of the meadow.

The Sad Tale of Nelly AndersonAfter the disappearance of Kate Miller, superstition about thenature of Winter Wood spread throughout the Village. Most ofthe villagers accepted that the woods were haunted and began to


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warn their children not to play there. Of course, children do notoften do what they are told . . .

The story goes that three young children: Nelly Anderson, Noah

Wilson, and David Hutchinson went into the woods one day,playing and daring each other to go further and further. Theyran and played for several hours and they were having a greattime. When it started to get dark, the children began to head forhome but soon realized that they were lost. Nelly began to cryand Noah and David became very worried. The boys laterclaimed that they saw a woman come out of an old oak tree andfloat toward Nelly. They claimed that her skin seemed to bemade of clouds and that her eyes seemed to change colorrapidly. Tremendously frightened, the boys ran as fast as theycould back to the Village, leaving Nelly with the ghostly woman.

Soon, it was fully dark and Nelly hadnt returned from thewoods. Nellys parents were heart-broken. The villagersfrantically searched the woods for several weeks and found no

trace of the little girl. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.As if the disappearance of the young girl wasnt enough, one ofthe men who was searching for her was tragically killed when hetripped and fell into a shallow ravine.

The Village was devastated by the disappearance of the girl. Herparents left town soon after and never set foot in the Village

again. Some villagers believe that the girls disappearance was acontinuation of the curse placed on the village by the widowMiller. Many believe that the curse hangs over the Village, evento this day.

A new set of laws regarding Winter Wood was put into placefollowing Nelly Andersons disappearance. The laws mandated

that no one was to enter Winter Wood after dark withoutpermission from the village council. The villagers even went sofar as to post guards to patrol the border of the woods at night.Though some villagers still dared to venture into the woods


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I come up around the creek and it was real late. I thought I heardsome unruly noise up on Millers Hill so I loaded my musket andheaded up there with my hound Gerald. When I got up there I couldsmell something strange, a real fleshy smell. I got up to the very top of

the hill and I could hear these women out there on the knob hootin andhollerin. I snuck up there real quiet and watched them from somebushes. It was the widow Roe and her kin. They was mad says I. Theywere, all four, sitting there naked as babies rubbing that goats guts allon themselves. When I saw that I knew that they was witches and I ranback to the village to get some of the other boys. When we went back upthere they were gone. The next day we found them and put them underarrest one by one.

The Roe women had a swift trial and were sentenced to hang.Although the women furiously denied having done any evil, thetownsfolk were in no mood to argue the point. One cold anddreary October day the villagers led the four women out intoWinter Wood and hung them from an oak tree that stood on thebank of East Creek.

The widow and her three daughters were not given a properburial. Instead, they were left dangling by their necks from thetree on East creek. Weeks later, the town constable and severalvolunteers returned to the woods to check on the witches'bodies. When they arrived, they found the bodies missing andstrange, wooden effigies hanging in their places.

Many villagers believe that the Roe witches remain in WinterWood to this day. Some claim that the apparition of the fourwomen dangling from the tree will appear if you walk aroundthe hanging tree three times at midnight. Others claim that theyhave been the victims of ghostly activity for merely uttering thename Roe. Because of these superstitions, the legend of theRoe witches rarely spoken of by the villagers.


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Village WisdomOver time, the villagers have developed an array of charms,wards, and superstitions concerning the protection of oneselffrom evil. Common superstitions include:

Red ThreadThe women of the Village commonly tie thin pieces of red threadaround their necks. The origin of this practice is unknown, but itis said that evil spirits cannot see a woman whose neck isadorned with red thread. As a result of this superstition, nearlyevery woman in the Village includes a necklace of red thread inher daily wardrobe.

Door WardsIt is believed throughout the Village that a bent iron nail orcrucifix hung above the threshold of a house protects the housefrom all manner of supernatural creatures. This practice isthought to be particularly effective against the fair folk.

The Secret SignSome villagers believe that the dark entities that dwell in WinterWood can be held at bay by certain protective symbols. Thesacred sign is one such symbol. Though most of the villagersrefuse to make the secret sign in public because of its paganorigins, most everyone in the Village knows how the sigil ismade and many practice it in the privacy of their homes. The

secret sign is often drawn onto a floor with chalk; though somebelieve that tracing the pattern in the air with one hand is alsoeffective. Those who practice the secret sign claim that it servesas an effective ward against all manner of supernatural entities.

Burial TraditionsThe village cemetery is located along the southern border of the

Village, near the chapel and the edge of Winter Wood. Thevillagers believe that some special precautions must be taken toprotect the dead from the spirits of Winter Wood. Upon thedeath of a villager, the body is immediately taken to the village


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chapel where a priest blesses the body. After the blessing, asilver coin is placed under the tongue of the deceased. This isbelieved to protect the body from demonic possession. Finally,when the body is put into the ground, those who attended the

funeral depart from the cemetery taking different paths. This isbelieved to confuse spirits who might otherwise follow themourners to their homes.

Childrens GamesThe village children are brought up learning to fear WinterWood. It is quite common, however, for the children to entertainthemselves with the legends of the wood and a variety ofmischievous games have developed regarding the woods.

One such game, popular for the children to play on autumnnights, is called Millers Moan. In this game the children dareeach other to stand at the edge of the woods after dark and saythe name Anson Miller three times. The belief is that after thename is said three times the speaker will hear a dreadful moan

from the woods. In practice, however, it is much more commonfor the child being dared to lose his or her nerve and run away.

The women of Roe were talking to me,The women of Roe, so lovely to see,The women of Roe came walking with me,The women of Roe got hung in a tree.

-Childrens Rhyme


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Getting StartedThis game is best played someplace dark and a little bit cold.Playing around a campfire is ideal. If you dont have access to acampfire, a table in a dimly lit room will do nicely. The game

works best with a small group of players (3-4), but canaccommodate any number that the Watcher (Gamemaster) iscomfortable with. Each player will need one six-sided die. Youwill also need some way of keeping track of cold points. Glassbeads or other atmospheric trinkets are ideal for this. If nocounters are available, players can count their cold points ontheir fingers.

Now that youve gathered your things, lets go for a walk in thewoods . . .

Creating a CharacterCreating a character for this game is extremely easy as there areno statistics or attributes to calculate. Simply describe your

character in narrative terms. What is his or her name? Whatdoes he or she do? Why is he or she entering Winter Wood?You may develop your character in more depth if youd like butnot much more is needed just to play the game. Think back tothe stories youve told around the campfire. Characters in suchstories are often little more than a name or this guy I knew.

Remember, this game is set in a hazy period of history sometimein the 18thcentury: Tri-corn hats, black-powder firearms, andhorse-drawn carriages are commonplace. At night, the dark isheld at bay by moonlight and lanterns. Christianity is the onlysocially acceptable religion (though many practice other faiths insecret). Your character should fit into this setting as much aspossible. If you need help conceptualizing a character make sureto check out the inspirational sources listed in the introduction.


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Narrative StyleIn most role-playing games the players describe their charactersactions in the present tense and the first person. In Dont Walk inWinter Woodall actions and narrations are described by the

players and the Watcher in thepast tenseand the third person.

For example, rather than a player saying I walk into the fog andlisten closely for any sound he or she would say Aldouswalked into the fog and listened closely for any sound. Thismethod of narration is what gives the game the ambiance of acampfire story.

Conflict ResolutionWhenever a character comes across something that frightensthem or does them harm, the Watcher gives them one coldpoint. Characters automatically receive one cold point uponentering Winter Wood. Cold points can represent anything fromfear to insanity to physical wounds. Whenever the Watcher

wants the outcome of a characters action to be left to chance, heor she asks a yes or no question of the player. For instance, if theplayer says Aldous walked into the fog and listened closely forany sound the Watcher might say: Did he hear anything? Atthis point the player would roll a six-sided die. If the playersroll is higherthan the number of cold points he or she hasaccumulated, he or she may answer yes to the Watchers

question. If the players roll is equal to or lowerthan his or heraccumulated cold points the answer to the Watchers questionmust be no.

This mechanic allows the narrative of the game to proceedwithout anyone having to actually mention the rules. It isimportant, however, that the Watcher is careful to phrase his orher questions so that a yes answer is always beneficial to thecharacter and a no answer is detrimental.


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ExamplePlayer: Aldous walked into the fog and listened closely for anysound.

Watcher: Did he hear anything?(Player rolls a die and gets a 3, which is higher than the 2 coldpoints he currently has)

Player: Yes.

Watcher: He heard the sound of footsteps in the dry leavesahead of him.

Or alternately:

Player: Aldous walked into the fog and listened closely for anysound.

Watcher: Did he hear anything?

(Player rolls a die and gets a 1, which is lower than the 2 coldpoints he currently has)

Player: No.

Watcher: Aldous didnt hear anything. The woods seemedcompletely silent.

The ColdWhen a character has accumulated six or more cold points he orshe is somehow taken out of the scenario. If the characterreceived his or her sixth cold point from a physical wound he orshe probably dies. If the character received the sixth cold pointfrom a frightening event he or she probably faints or goes

insane. The effects of a sixth cold point are totally left to thediscretion of the Watcher, but should make sense given thecontext of events.


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Of course, it is possible for characters to get rid of their coldpoints through various actions in the game. A character thatreceives medical treatment or some other form of stress reliefmay discard one or two cold points depending on the situation.

However, while in Winter Wood, a character may never haveless than one cold point.

Examples of PlayExample OnePlayer: Aldous walked in to the abandoned shanty.

Watcher: As he entered he saw that though the place was inutter disarray, there was some evidence of recent inhabitation.Breadcrumbs were scattered all about the floor and a childs dollsat in a small chair in the center of the room. He also noticed amirror on the back wall of the room that seemed to be obscuredby fog.

Player: Aldous approached the mirror and carefully wiped thefog away.

Watcher: As Aldous looked into the mirror he saw his face inthe mirror suddenly change into the ghastly face of a deadwoman. (Hands Aldous player a cold point)

Player: Aldous shrieked and ran out of the shanty as fast as he

could.

Example TwoWatcher: The murderous specter rose directly out of the gravethat Aldous was standing on. Was he able to escape thecreatures grasp?(Aldous has already accumulated five cold points. Aldous

player rolls a die and gets a four!)

Player: No!


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Watcher: As the rest of the group watched in horror (he handseach player cold point) the specters ghostly hands pulledAldous directly into the unopenedgrave as if his body wassimply swallowed by the earth.

Into the Woods . . .This section discusses the role of the Watcher in the game. Whatfollows is intended to help Watchers achieve the proper moodfor the game and design their own adventures in Winter Wood.

Adventures in Dont Walk in Winter Woodare quite formulaic. A

typical session goes something like this:

1. The characters enter the woods in pursuit some goal.

2. Frightening events occur while the characters try toaccomplish their goal.

3. The characters either accomplish their goal or fail. Somecharacters die or go mad.

Follow these simple steps to construct a scenario for the game:

Step One: The PremiseYour first task is to determine whythe characters need to go intoWinter Wood. What will their goal for the session be? Once

youve decided on the goal for the characters journey into thewoods, let the players know so that they can create characterswith ample reason to pursue that goal. If you need someinspiration check out the books and films listed in theintroduction or take a trip to your local library and check outsome books on legends and folklore. Below are some examplesof good reasons for the characters to enter Winter Wood:

- A child had disappeared into the woods.

- A coven of witches had been kidnapping


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people and taking them into the woods.

- Livestock in the Village were being mutilated during the night.A hunt was organized to find the creature responsible.

- The characters had strange visions that told them to go into thewoods.

- The characters were travelers who found themselves lost orstranded in the woods.

- The crops were failing. The characters were sent to make anoffering to the spirit of the woods.

- A villager had contracted a deadly illness. The only cure was arare herb that grew in the woods.

- The Village was running out of food. The characters were sentto hunt in the woods.

- The characters were paranormal detectives, sent to investigatethe legends of the woods.

- A vampire began to stalk the Village by night.

- Rumors of a werewolf began to spread throughout the Village.

- An angry spirit could be heard wailing in the woods at night.The characters went into the woods to put the spirit to rest.

Step Two: The WoodsObviously, the meat of a Dont Walk in Winter Woodsession takesplace in the forest itself. Its best if the characters have some sort

of mystery to solve as they progress through the story (otherwisethe scenario might feel like a string of unrelated spookyencounters). Use the Legends of Winter Woodsection of this bookfor ideas on entities and events that the characters may


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encounter. When designing your adventure its best to firstdecide what entities and phenomena that the characters aregoing to encounter and build the scenario around them.

Step Three: The ResolutionEventually, the characters will probably die, go mad, or (iftheyre lucky) manage to escape the woods. Remember, thegame is not about winning or losing. Some of the mostmemorable stories will involve the deaths or disappearances ofthe characters. Use events from the sessions you play to inspirenew lore about Winter Wood. For instance, if a character diesthe players might run into his or her restless spirit during afuture session.

Weaving the TaleThe following advice is intended to help Watchers create theright mood for a game of Dont Walk in Winter Wood. Creating afeeling of fear and dread can be very difficult but, when it works,it is extremely satisfying. A Watcher can improve the mood andambiance of the game ten-fold by making a few minorconsiderations.

Where to PlayOne thing that will help to make your game a more uniqueexperience is to get your group outside its normal, comfortableenvironment. This game was designed so that it could easily be

played around a campfire. Obviously, you might not be able tobuild a fire every time you play. Luckily, there are some easyways to overcome this problem. If its a nice night, try playingoutside, perhaps at a picnic table in the park. If youd rather stayinside but still feel like creating the campfire mood, try havingeveryone sit in a circle on the floor with a candle or oil lamp inthe center. Any of these environmental nuances can greatly

enhance the ambiance of your game.


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should encounter nothing more than subtle hints that somethingsinister is going on. Youd be surprised how long you can keepyour players in paranoid suspense just by having theircharacters hear some leaves rustle nearby or find a single bloody

hand print on a tree.

There are two things to keep in mind for making yourencounters more frightening:

1. Implied Horror: A closed door with strange sounds comingfrom behind it is far more frightening than a million ghosts anddemons. When setting up your spooky encounters try toengineer them in such a way that the horror is only implied. Thisgives the players a hint that something scary is going on butdoesnt give them enough details to figure it out completely.The horrors spawned by a players imagination are often muchmore terrifying than anything that the Watcher could create. Agood example of this is the film The Blair Witch Project; noticehow, throughout the whole movie, you never actually see the

antagonist, just evidence of its presence. Its very effective stuff.

2. The Unknown: The unknown is the root of all human fears.As soon as a situation becomes easily explainable it is no longerscary. Take advantage of this and fill your adventures withmysteries and events that have no logical explanation.Supernatural events in your game should defy the laws of reality

in such a way that the players can never figure out what is goingto happen next.

Narrating EventsRemember, Dont Walk in Winter Woodis different than mostrole-playing games because it is played in the past tense. Thisgives the illusion that the story that you and your friends are

creating together already happened a long time ago. When youare narrating the events of the story, feel free to jump in andnarrate a player characters action for them. For instance, I oftenstart a session by saying They went in Winter Woods because . .


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. This sort of leading narration establishes certain things aboutthe story. Because the players already know that their characterswent into the woods they already know what to expect. Thisgets rid of the need to go through pointless scenes of exposition

to determine why the characters are together or why they aredoing what they are doing. Remember, however, that you mustuse this technique wisely. If you overuse your narrative powerthe players will begin to feel that they arent really in control oftheir characters, and if that happens, no one is going to have fun.Try to use narrative pushes only when they are helpful to makethe story more interesting, or to speed up the pace of a stalledgame.


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The Witchs CurseThe Witchs Curseis an introductory scenario that should giveyou some ideas about how a game of Dont Walk in Winter Woodmight progress. Notice that, in order to be consistent with game-

play, the adventure is written in the past tense.

BackgroundLate one October night Laura Ellis was getting water at EastCreek near the edge of the Village. As she bent over to fill herpitcher, she suddenly had the feeling that she was beingwatched. As Laura looked up she saw a strange woman

standing on the opposite bank of the creek. The woman askedfor a drink of water but Laura, who was quite startled, screamedand ran home as fast as she could. The next day Laura felldeathly ill. When she told her mother about the woman she hadseen, suspicions arose that Laura had been cursed by a witchfrom Winter Wood. Lauras condition continued to worsen andas word spread of the witch a group of villagers was elected togo into Winter Wood to find the witch and put an end to thecurse.

CharactersAlmost anyone from the Village would make a suitable characterfor this story. Characters that have some relation to Laura (asuitor, brother, or sister, etc . . .) would be particularly fitting.Characters who are zealous witch-hunter types (Village natives

or not) also work well. Of course, a character who isa witchcould add some interesting conflict to the story.

The Story BeginsThe characters should be encouraged to begin their investigationin and around the Village itself. There are a few locations of notewithin the Village:

- The Ellis HouseIf the characters visited the Ellis house they found the family tobe very upset. Lauras mother was very protective and Laura


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- The DreamOne of the characters dreamed of meeting a strange woman inthe forest. In this dream, the woman led the character to a treewhere the woman gave the character a knife, a nail, and a

hammer. The strange woman then told the character to carvethe image of one of the other characters on the tree with the knifeand hammer the nail into the figures heart. The player may beable to make a roll to see if his or her character was able to wakeup in time. If not, the character hammered the nail into the treeand the character who the dreaming character had chosen wassuddenly stricken with great, stabbing pain (and receives threecold points) from a terrible, bleeding wound.

- The BridgeThe characters came across a small wooden bridge thatspanned a deep creek bed. The bridge was painted red and itwas obviously quite old. Upon closer inspection, the charactersnoticed that various pieces of the bridge seem to have almostfinger-like protrusions. Even closer inspection showed that the

bridge was not made out of wood at all; it was made from thepetrified body parts of young children (each character whoinvestigated the bridge to this extent gains a cold point). If thecharacters tried to cut the bridge or tear it down they found thatthe wood bled slightly when damaged.

- The Witchs Cottage

The characters eventually came upon what appeared to be a veryold, abandoned cottage. As soon as they approached, theynoticed that the trees surrounding the cottage were filled withlarge, black birds that stared at them intently. Inside the cottagethey found a most disturbing sight: a menagerie of small,petrified limbs dangled from the ceiling (any characters whonoticed this receive a cold point). The cottage also contained a

large wooden trunk that had two dead, petrified children in it.Evidence of witchcraft was easy to find in this unhallowed place.The floor of the cottage was littered with melted candles andstrange herbs. From the back door of the witchs cottage the


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characters saw a dirt path that led to a cave near the banks ofEast Creek.

- The Cave and the Murder Tree

The characters came across a smallish cave set in a bluff near thecreek. Outside the cave was an old and withered oak tree. Uponcloser inspection, the characters found that the tree had a carvingin it that appeared to be a vague outline of a female figure. Anail had been driven into the center of this strange carving. Ifthe characters removed the nail, Laura Ellis was suddenlyhealed. As long as the nail remained in the tree, Laura Ellisremained sick and wounded and would eventually die. Anyother sort of damage inflicted on the tree was reflected on LauraEllis body (if the tree was burned, for instance, Laura Ellis bodywas burned as well).

After a short time the characters saw a strange, humanoidshadow emerge from the cave. The shadow then shifted into theform of a ghostly woman holding a foul hatchet. In a hushed

tone, the apparition asked the characters for a drink of water. Ifthe characters quenched her thirst by offering a drink, theapparition faded away and stopped haunting the village. If thecharacters didnt give the apparition a drink of water, the spiritbecame angry at their lack of hospitality and attacked them witha spectral hatchet.If the characters managed to escape or defeat the witchs ghost,

they may have made it back to the Village alive.


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About the Author

Clint Krause is a freelance writer, musician, and game designer. Aside fromthese activities, he enjoys reading, travel, and spending time with his wifeCassie. Clint has a degree in Creative Writing from Central Missouri StateUniversity. He currently lives in Knob Noster, Missouri. Visit Clint on theweb at www.clintkrause.com.

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