Starting in winter

Nobody is meant to be punished for when they started. If you turn up in the middle of winter, the camp sees you right, and there are things to do in the cold that nobody else has a head start on.

What you're given#

Come in once the hard frosts have set in and the camp lends you a coat and gives you a pair of snowshoes. The coat keeps out 20% of the cold, the same as a hide coat, and it wears through after about 3 h of play. That's long enough to get a hide or two and sew a coat of your own. It can't be sold, traded or given away, and if you take it off it goes back to the camp for the next person.

For your first couple of hours the cold only gets at you by about half as well, easing off to all of it. See The cold.

The camp pot#

Through the cold months there's a pot of stew on by the camp fire. Anyone can have a bowl once every 15 min. It's plain fare: it fills you up to 65 at most, the same as any plain food, so it keeps you going but you'll still want proper meals of your own. The camp fire never goes out, so it's always somewhere to warm up.

Earning your keep#

The camp doesn't pay for anything; gold only comes out of the ground in Thole. But wood is wanted all winter, and with a stone axe you can cut logs, split firewood and build up your Woodcutting. Settlers who'd rather not split their own will trade for it, or you can put it on a stall, and you come out of the winter with something to show for it and maybe a stake toward a claim of your own.

What winter has going for it#

Ice fishing needs no boat, snares want nothing but a bit of hide, and snow makes animals easy to follow. Winter is also the time for cutting timber. You can stake a claim in winter as well: the ground's frozen so nothing can be planted, but you can cut and haul the logs for a cabin and be ready to build when the thaw comes.

Neighbours#

When someone new comes in during the winter, the Lantern says so. If you trust them, they can sleep under your roof and make it their home until they've got their own.