At the moment I am running games afore the fall, (I have even managed to keep what is actually going to happen secret from a couple of players!) to lull my players into a false sense of security.

Anyhum, I recently read a book that I thought might be useful for people intending to actually run the long winter it is Cormac McCarthy's "the Road", I'm pretty sure most will have at least heard of it as it won a shed load of awards.

It's depiction of a wasted land after an asteroid impact is very well done, bleak and depressing but very well done, while it is set in a post contemporary world I feel that a lot of its descriptions of grey ash-falling skies and perfectly black nights would be useful for GM's runing the long winter.

Indeed, it's depiction of the decline of mankind and what he will do to stay alive in the very depths of deprivation would I feel be of use to GM's who want to run a really harsh worldview for their game of Desolation.

I'ts not an easy read and frankly it is flat out depressing (which is harsh praise indeed for someone who (repeatedly) reads Wyndamn's "Day of the Triffids" for fun) but not long, it took me 3 hours to read in one go (as it is suggested to be read) and I am not a particularly fast reader.

Anyhum read it/don't read it it's no skin of my nose *shrugs*

Walker

I read that as well and I have to agree... it really does capture the bleak and hopeless nature of the both the Long Winter and mankind in general (after an apocalypse).

The only other things I would add to WalkerRedEye's post is that: a) I found the lack of dialogue punctuation to be terribly irritating, and b) I heard the audio version was very, very good, and c) I think a movie adaptation is due next year (or so) with Viggo Mortenson.

But yeah... kinda depressing...

Hullo, Walker, Matt,

Yes, The Road is an excellent book to glean ideas for DESOLATION from, but like Matt, I had serious problems with the lack of dialogue punctuation, and it really spoiled my read of the book, to the point where I got about half-way through and almost decided to stop reading the thing! Very depressing book in a lot of ways, but a real goldmine of ideas for handling the Long Winter.

I picked up "The Road" last night and already 1/3 the way through it. I have to agree it's a good source for the setting. I wrote a short story a couple of weeks ago using a cheap, small 30 page journal, using the premise it was written by a survivor and once I ran out of paper that was it. I kept most of the bad stuff off page but after what I've read I might add more to the story in the rewrite. Ironically I used the same concept of a meteor hitting the earth and feel kind of Johnny come lately after seeing the book mentioned here and picking it up. I'd seen the book but didn't realize how his apocalypse happened.

Anyway, thanks for posting the book as a source!

Well it really isn't specifically noted, there is a tiny piece about explosions heard in the backstory and that's it, I just assumed it was a meteor (or possibly a super volcano; Yellowstone?) as not once does anyone mention radiation

I finished reading the book today. I agree with your commentary about the writing. Quotations would have been a god send to the story.

I’m still waiting for my copy of Desolation to arrive, but as far as using The Road as a source I've changed my opinion. The story obviously takes place years after the event with no chance of anyone or anything surviving in the long run whereas Desolation seems more of a setting where survivors set out to rebuild the world. Desolation’s description as given also doesn’t seem to lend toward cannibalism being a result as much as characters are fighting for survival due to lawlessness and resurgence of monsters. Granted one could run the campaign reflecting a style similar to The Road. I just believe Desolation is meant to represent a world like Krynn immediately after the Cataclysms or even the Forgotten Realms during the Year of Blue Fire or the first 10 years after (that being WotC’s explanation for the changes to D&D’s most popular setting due to the new fourth edition).

Perhaps there are areas within Scondera, wastelands, where people haven’t discovered that the world is fine outside their affected area and thus turn to cannibalism. It would lend nicely to a campaign for the characters to find a place like this and try to convince the residence that there alternative to eating each other. The characters could be on an adventure that leads them into this area and have to survive the trip in and out fighting not just to stay alive against monsters but becoming supper to people who should be allies. The final aspect could be for the party to have their food taken and to see if they turn to cannibalism or like the characters in The Road try to endure until they come across new supplies to help them on their way.

Modeling Desolation after The Road also seems to turn the world more into a reflection of Midnight (by Fantasy Flight Games). Its basis is that, unlike in LotR, the evil Sauron like god wins the final battle and takes over the world; the remaining good slowly dwindling while it tries to hold out against the darkness. The story for Midnight is great but its biggest downfall is that the story can get so depressing players give up, losing interest in it. I think the same result would happen if you tried going that route with Desolation.

Another viable solution to this is that the Night of Fire warped the minds of a community, now they crave the flesh of their own race. Or it could have been preexisting behavior, almost tradition, as some cultures of our own world.

For example one tribe, now extinct, would crack open a mother's skull when she died and the eldest daughter would eat her brain to gain her knowledge. Needless to say, a brain disease ran amok in the tribe. I forget where exactly it was, but I think South America.