After taking a hiatus to make The Unseen World, I’ve been back to Winds of the North, playtesting a full campaign and making more adjustments. There aren’t any major mechanical changes, but there are many adjustments, some additions, a variety of fixes, and a few clarifications. The game has been very loose in several areas, making it too easy as you progress through the years. This update is focused mainly on slowing down certain resources and activities, evening out the challenge some. Here’s a breakdown of most of the changes:
Items
- New and craftable items: Padded Armor, Wolf Tunic (replaces Gilded Tunic), Decorated Tunic (replaces Silk Tunic), Lord’s Cloak.
- DEF bonuses on Armor almost all converted into Armor Points.
- Flax: Now Yields 2 Cloth (was 1).
- Steel: Value increased to 20s, up from 16s.
- Mail Shirt/Hauberk: Added Padded Armor as a material cost.
- Wool Cloak, Tusk, and Tunic added to the Market. Wool Cloak no longer destroyed when reduced to 0 AP. Tusk and Tunic moved to Materials on item lists. Wool Cloak moved to Armor on item lists and material cost reduced to 1 Wool.
- Leisure Items specify “At Home.” We may yet see an Ice-Skating item…
- Special Craft/Build materials: Reworded as “[item] Material.” When Building or Crafting, you can use additional Materials that apply new special properties to what you’re making (as described on the Material).
- Ships reduced in size (30/40 Supporters). Knarr has 3 Storage, Drakkar has 1.
Activities
- Build: Build options re-ordered to match the order they are explained. Requirements moved to Information and bolded. Repair Ship moved to below Basic Buildings since it does not have any requirements.
- Craft tables: Added Value column. Repair: Now includes Craft bonuses.
- Explore: Discoveries section added as a reminder.
- Recuperate: Happiness bonuses changed (more levels and accommodates higher Happiness). Total healing adjusted.
- Plant Crops: Spend 1 Seed of the same type to re-roll (once per Activity).
- Visit the Market: Gain a Trade Request only with a 5+ on a D8 roll. (Services): Builders (advanced and basic): Fill 1 construction box for a building under construction.
Rules
- Hirðmenn: Can no longer give items to Hirðmenn (it was a neat idea but was messy rules-wise and ultimately unneeded). Tic box added to each line. Some have limited-use abilities, mark the tic box when you use them as a reminder that you cannot use them again. Remove it when their ability can be used again.
- Skills/Skill Bonuses: Mark a * next to it to denote a re-roll. Bonuses: Duplicate sources are not cumulative, each source must have a different name (cannot double-up Faering). Skill Tests that include normal Activity bonuses re-written to the following format: “Test Wisdom (Craft).”
- Clarified, you can’t use more than two 1-handed items or one 2-handed item at the same time (Bow and Hunting Spear don’t stack for Hunting).
- Clarification. Everyone begins Healthy but can become Sick. Only Healthy Household members can perform tasks at End of Month.
- Fame: Limit of 1 Fame gain per Activity. Extra Fame earned converted into 5 Food and 5 Silver. When you earn Fame but don’t meet the requirements, gain 5 Food and 5 Silver instead.
- Clarification. An empty Crop square cannot become Flourishing except with the blessing from the gods during Jol Festival Sacrifice.
- Each Trade Request level now represents a merchant (not all named yet) that requests different amounts of items. Completing three Trade Requests for a merchant gives Loyalty Rewards. At Fame 1, you can only complete requests for the first Merchant (can take requests from any), others unlock at Fame 3, 6, and 7. When gaining a Trade Request, you choose which merchant to gain the Request from. Most rewards and level completion rewards (now called Loyalty Rewards) have had Silver, Food, and Ale reduced, and amounts of items requested have been adjusted to scale correctly with the rewards.
Seasons & Processing Time
- End of Year: Added reminders for updating stats and resetting Sheep.
- End of Month Feast adjustments. Increased resource cost for 3rd feast. Reduced Supporters. Added optional Expertise to 3rd and 4th feast. Choose two options for 4th feast. Improved formatting. Without a Mead Hall, you can now only spend 1 Ale (it used to scale by population because it was the primary way of increasing Happiness, but that’s no longer the case).
- Storm: No longer roll to see if a Crop is destroyed, always resolve Storm damage.
- End of Winter: Step 3: lose 3 Happiness per death. Roll for yourself: 1-3: You weaken terribly, lose 1 HP. 8: Recover 1 HP.
Other
- Prologue: Instructions added for filling in Skill Bonuses and Combat Quick Reference. Starting Companion: Once per Month, re-roll a Skill Test.
- Fame: Rewards from the start of Fame Events removed (they were supposed to have been removed last time with the other bonus rewards, but they were overlooked).
- Encounter/Event rewards adjusted. Many Food and Silver rewards lowered, Cloth and Wool added to several.
- Supporters from rewards reduced, and requirements added and adjusted to Fame levels. There were far too many Supporters rewarded, and this may still need further adjustment.
Character Sheets
- Overall increased space for important information (less erasing), better Weather tracking, and information moved around for better spacing, less clutter, and pages reorganized so commonly-used information can more easily be kept face-up and visible during play.
- Ships, Trade Requests, Combat reference moved to page 2, The Farm moved to page 3 (with Storage on page 4).
- Space for Silver widened.
- Happiness and Population moved to the Farm (Leisure bonus next to Happiness).
- Weather and time tracking moved to page 5. All types of Weather now listed, you only mark which one is active instead of writing and re-writing it in one space.
- Storage: Slightly reduced space for Information/Value and increased room for recording Quantity (less erasing).
- Hirðmenn slots now numbered according to what level of Fame they are unlocked.
- Combat Reference: Initiative, split for Land/Sea.
- Total Fields reduced: 2 large, 4 small.
- Buildings: Lines widened for more space to record information.
Thomas P. King, author and game designer 