Dont Walk in Winter Wood

By Clint Krause

Dont Walk in Winter Wood

Revised Print Edition
Copyright Clint Krause 2006
www.clintkrause.com
Written and Designed By Clint Krause
Cover Art By Travis Smith
Interior Illustrations By Andrea Sfiligoi
Village 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 you for picking this up!

Table of Contents
Introduction

What is a Role-Playing Game?

Setting

Legends of Winter Wood

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

Introduction
Dont Walk in Winter Wood is a role-playing game thats intended
to instill the same eerie feeling that you get when telling ghost
stories around a campfire. Think back to the times youve sat
around spinning creepy yarns with your friends. Remember
how after you finished, maybe in the wee hours of the morning,
you suddenly found yourself afraid of the dark again and
everything seemed just a little more frightening? This game is
intended to evoke that same feeling.
Winter Wood is a very vague setting. This is intentional. Winter
Wood represents that place that almost everyone knew when
they were growing up: the strange old mans house up the
street, dead mans curve, the old haunted cemetery, all of the
otherwise mundane locations that grow to be very spooky
through whispered folk-lore. As a setting, Winter Wood is
intended 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 narrative
experience. The rules are also designed so that you never have
to mention them during play. I find this aspect of the game very
important to maintaining the illusion that you and your friends
are simply retelling a story that happened long ago, rather than
playing a game. I feel that it is extremely important in a game
like this one that the mood not be disrupted by rules. The more
the players can remain in the realm of pure imagination, the
better.
This book is broken into two parts. The first details Winter
Wood, the Village, and the folk-legends surrounding them. This
section is intended to show you the tone of the setting and to
give you some material to work with in your own stories. The
second part of the book explains the rules of play with several
descriptive examples and provides plenty of ideas for designing
your own journeys into Winter Wood. Of course, you could also
adapt the setting to other game systems with relative ease.
1

Likewise, the simple, narrative-driven mechanics work great for

games in almost any horror setting.
This game makes for a great one-shot session when youre in the
mood for something spooky. It also serves as the perfect RPG to
tote along on your next camping trip. So what are you waiting
for? Gather up your friends, get cozy around the fire, and get
lost in the woods for an evening.
Thanks for checking this out,
Clint

Inspiration
The following material had some influence on the style and tone
of Dont Walk in Winter Wood.
Movies
The Blair Witch Project
The Village
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Sleepy Hollow
Fiction and Poetry
The Lottery By Shirley Jackson
Man--Sized in Marble By Edith Nesbit
The Horla By Guy de Maupassant
The Raven By Edgar Allen Poe
Young Goodman Brown By Nathaniel Hawthorn
Music
Opeth (particularly Blackwater Park, Damnation, and Ghost
Reveries)

What is a Role-Playing Game?

If this is your first time taking a look at a game like this, let me
take 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 other
games, the goal of a role-playing game is not usually to win,
but instead, to cooperate with the other players and have fun
telling a story together. One of the players, usually called the
gamemaster, acts as a referee for the rules of the game and
determines the general setting and story elements that will be
used. Each of the other players control one character within the
gamemasters setting. During play, each player takes on the role
of their character, supplying the characters dialogue, and
declaring the actions that the character takes. The results of a
character's actions are usually determined by rolling dice. The
gamemaster responds to the actions of the characters and tries to
set-up interesting scenes for the characters to explore.
Thats role-playing in a nutshell; its sitting around a table with
your friends, enjoying each-others company, and being creative.
If youre intrigued but need more information, check out the
forums at www.rpg.net.

Setting
Dont Walk in Winter Wood is set in a vague period of the 17th-18th
century in a vague region of the colonial United States in a vague
village near some vague woods. The ambiguous nature of the
setting is intended to increase the mystery of the game.
Remember, campfire stories arent about hard facts; theyre
about something that happened someplace a long time ago. The
setting is left open for you and your group to develop to your
liking. Have a specific place in mind for the Village? Great!
Want to name the Village? Fine! Anything that you can do to
individualize the setting to your groups preferences will
enhance your enjoyment of the game. You were gracious
enough to throw down your hard-earned cash; this is your game
now.
3

The Village
The Village was founded shortly before the American
Revolution. It is a small and isolated town; several days travel
from the nearest city. The Village is completely self-sufficient
and the villagers rarely have any reason to leave. The villagers
have farms, a general store, a schoolhouse, a town hall, a midwife, and pretty much anything else that a small town of this
sort would need to survive. The Village is quite small in terms
of population. Everyone knows everyone else and outsiders are
easily recognized. The place is pleasant enough, but the
villagers have a hard, work-filled life and they are very practical
people.
Winter Wood
Winter Wood borders the east side of the Village. This
overbearing forest got its name from the colonists who founded
the village because of the strange, unseasonal cold that always
seems prevalent inside its borders. By night, the woods are
steeped in a seemingly perpetual fog and by day, the dense
foliage blocks out most of the available light. In the autumn, the
woods become a sea of fallen leaves as the trees bare their pale
skeletons. Winter Wood is quite large; in fact it has never been
fully explored by those who live in the Village. Most of the
villagers have no desire to enter the woods at all. Aside from the
strange chill within its borders Winter Wood has a long history
of strange happenings and untimely deaths. This history can be
traced all the way back to the Indian tribes who have dwelt in
the region for centuries. All manner of supernatural occurrences
have been linked to Winter Wood. Seemingly every tale of
ghosts, goblins, faeries, and demons in the region has its roots in
these woods (perhaps rightfully so).

An 18th century sketch of the Village

Legends of Winter Wood

Dont walk in Winter Wood . . . Children growing up in the
Village hear this warning from their parents from the time they
are very young. Indeed, it seems that the wood is a dangerous
place. Over the years many people have gone missing within its
borders, never to be seen again. Of course, because of its
dreadful reputation, Winter Wood is the subject of many
legends. Some of these tales have been told in the Winter Wood
region for centuries.
Listen carefully, you may be the next to find yourself lost in the
woods . . .
The Indian Legends
Long ago, when the first settlers built the Village, they came
upon Indians who had dwelt in the nearby hills for centuries.
The Indians were not hostile by any means but when they saw
that the settlers had built their village on the edge of the wood
they 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 in
the woods and that powerful spirits protected them. Of course,
the villagers thought that the Indians simply wanted their land
back 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 a
strange song of the forest, which, when translated, reads:

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 covered
The 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 England
by Charles Leland, 1884.
7

This song seems to be related to another Indian legend in which

a young girl, whose face was horribly scarred, was the only
person 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 spirit
world forever. This young girl, horribly abused by her sister and
parents, sought out the Invisible One and saw it with her own
eyes. According to oral tradition the girls face was healed and
made beautiful as soon as she laid eyes on the Invisible One and
it took her into the woods to dwell in the spirit world.
The Indians also believe that one of their ancestors, a terrible and
savage war chief, is buried in a mound in the woods. The story
goes that this war chief (whose name has long been forgotten)
was so murderous and brutal to his enemies that he would chop
up their bodies and eat them in his stew.
One winter night, when the war chief was sleeping, he was
betrayed by his own warriors. They bound him with rope and
dragged him into the forest. There was a great struggle as the
war chief tried to escape his binds. He claimed the heads of
three warriors before he finally threw himself on one of the
fallen warriors spears. The chief was hastily buried in a low
mound and the people of his tribe swore to forget his name and
never speak of his brutality again.
There is a legend, told amongst the Indians, that the war chief
has become husband to the malignant spirit of the forest.
Together they are a murderous couple. They are said to enjoy
inflicting pain and misery on humans and do so at every chance
they get. Perhaps the war chief still waits in the woods,
sharpening his tomahawk, waiting to seek his vengeance on
those who betrayed him.
The Tale of the First Winter
The Village was founded in late summer and by autumn it was
quite well established. The villagers had built houses and barns;
8

they had plenty of food to eat, and not a soul among them had
any fear.
then the winter came . . .
The worst winter that the region had ever seen set upon the
villagers, trapping them in their newly constructed houses. The
temperatures were frigid and the thick layers of snow on the
ground made travel impossible. Soon, the villagers began to run
out of food. It was not clear how or why the food had vanished
so quickly. Many villagers suspected that someone had selfishly
stolen it for themselves. It became obvious that if they were to
survive the winter they would need to find more provisions. For
a while, no one was willing to step forward. Finally, a brave
man named Anson Miller volunteered to go into the cold forest
and hunt for food.
Anson Miller was a woodsman who had lived in the Village
since its conception. Ansons wife, Kate, was a talented
seamstress and the towns music teacher. One frigid December
day Anson set off into Winter Wood carrying only what he
needed for the days hunt. Eventually, night fell and Anson had
still not returned from the forest. The villagers grew worried
both for Ansons life and for the food that they so desperately
needed. Two days passed without any sign of Anson and the
villagers began to give up hope. Ansons wife, Kate, was
distraught and blamed the other villagers for her husbands
disappearance. Cowards! she shouted at them. All of you
cowards! Now you die here!
The villagers assumed that Anson Miller had fallen victim to the
relentless winter and they began to hole up in their wooden
homes. One by one, whole families began to die, first of
starvation, and then of the influenza that had swept across the
Village. Beside themselves with fear and hopelessness, the
villagers began to speculate that Kate Miller had put them all
under a curse for sending Anson into the woods alone. Yes,
9

surely she was a witch. The villagers began harassing Kate and
she 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 a
hundred funerals and the village cemetery swelled. Those who
could afford it left the Village that spring. The remaining
settlement was quite small, but it grew in size the following year
as new settlers moved into the area.
After Ansons disappearance, Kate Miller rarely left her cottage.
Many villagers claimed to hear the poor woman talking to
herself in the dead of night, when all else was quiet. The village
children would dare each other to knock on the Widow Millers
door and run away. They would dig up her plants and throw
rocks at her cottage. They treated her terribly, and the Widows
spite 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 who
looked like Anson Miller staring at him from the edge of the
woods. He said that the man beckoned for him to come closer to
the forest. As the boy got closer he noticed that the man had no
legs. The boy claimed that the upper torso of the man was
floating in mid-air. The boy screamed and ran home.
When he told his parents what had happened they told the town
constable who searched the area where the boy had seen the
strange, floating man. The constable found nothing of any
interest and the incident was attributed to the boys imagination.
This occurrence planted seeds of fear in the minds of the
villagers and rumors of the woods being haunted began to
circulate throughout the Village. Despite their fears, there were
no further incidents involving Winter Wood for several months.
Then, one winter night, Kate Miller suddenly ran into Winter
Wood, screaming. No one knows exactly what happened. Some
10

say she went mad because of the mischief of the towns children.
Others say that she saw the ghost of her husband. The villagers
considered Kates disappearance to be good riddance and no one
attempted 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 Miller
family came upon Kates journal when sorting through her
property for an auction. In it, she found a strange entry written
the night before Kate disappeared:

A page recovered from Kate Millers journal

Legend says that on cold winter nights, if you listen closely, you
can still hear Kate Millers screams echoing through Winter
Wood.
11

The Indian Hill Ghost Light

Since the conception of the Village, many of its inhabitants have
reported seeing a strange orb of light bobbing in the air up on
Indian Hill. Witnesses claim that the orb is a small flicker of
pale light, which seems to hover slowly up and down the sides
of the hill.
Legend has it that this light is the spirit of an Indian who died on
the hill long ago. Though the story varies depending on the
teller, the most common version of the legend says that long ago
there was an Indian man who was exiled from his tribe. The
man lived alone on the hilltop for many years. One night,
during a terrible thunderstorm the Indian had begun to make his
way down the hill to find shelter when he was struck by
lightning and killed.
Those who believe in the legend say that the ghost light is the
remains of the poor Indians lonely soul still roaming the hill
looking for friends and shelter.
The Meadow
There is a place, deep in Winter Wood, known only as the
meadow. Village lore says that the meadow was used as a
gathering place by the Indians. Strange totems can still be found
there, emblazoned in the bark of the trees. More recent legends
claim that strangers from far-away lands gather in the meadow
during the harvest season and conduct bizarre, pagan rites.
Village children maintain that the best way to find the meadow
is to walk into Winter Wood blindfolded. When the blindfold is
removed, the stories say, the traveler will find themself on the
edge of the meadow.
The Sad Tale of Nelly Anderson
After the disappearance of Kate Miller, superstition about the
nature of Winter Wood spread throughout the Village. Most of
the villagers accepted that the woods were haunted and began to
12

warn their children not to play there. Of course, children do not

often 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. They
ran and played for several hours and they were having a great
time. When it started to get dark, the children began to head for
home but soon realized that they were lost. Nelly began to cry
and Noah and David became very worried. The boys later
claimed that they saw a woman come out of an old oak tree and
float toward Nelly. They claimed that her skin seemed to be
made of clouds and that her eyes seemed to change color
rapidly. Tremendously frightened, the boys ran as fast as they
could back to the Village, leaving Nelly with the ghostly woman.
Soon, it was fully dark and Nelly hadnt returned from the
woods. Nellys parents were heart-broken. The villagers
frantically 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 of
the men who was searching for her was tragically killed when he
tripped and fell into a shallow ravine.
The Village was devastated by the disappearance of the girl. Her
parents left town soon after and never set foot in the Village
again. Some villagers believe that the girls disappearance was a
continuation of the curse placed on the village by the widow
Miller. Many believe that the curse hangs over the Village, even
to this day.
A new set of laws regarding Winter Wood was put into place
following Nelly Andersons disappearance. The laws mandated
that no one was to enter Winter Wood after dark without
permission from the village council. The villagers even went so
far as to post guards to patrol the border of the woods at night.
Though some villagers still dared to venture into the woods
13

during the day to gather kindling and herbs, most scorned the
place and stayed as far away as possible.
For nearly twenty years there were no more incidents in Winter
Wood. The horrific events that had taken place in the woods
became the subject matter for legends and ghost stories, which
were told to the village children on dark, cold nights to keep
them in line.
The Legend of the Roe Witches
One autumn, a widow by the name of Agitha Roe came to live in
the Village with her three teenage daughters: Rose, Catherine,
and Elizabeth. Agitha was a peculiar and eccentric woman and
she did not blend well with the more practically minded
villagers. Agitha and her daughters lived a quiet, reclusive life
and rarely interacted with the other villagers. At first, the
villagers simply regarded Agitha as being a bit odd, but rumors
soon spread that she was completely mad.
One night, the village preacher saw Agitha near the cemetery
talking to herself. The preacher began to suspect that Agitha
might be practicing witchcraft. Rumor quickly spread
throughout the Village that Agitha and her daughters were
witches and were sneaking off into Winter Wood at night to
consort with the dark spirits there. The women were confronted
and they denied the accusations. With no proof, the villagers
could do little to the women except to shun them from local
businesses and activities. The Roe women continued to live at
odds with the other villagers for nearly a year. Then, one night,
the town constable, Mr. Arthur Fuller, came across the four
women gutting a goat in what he believed to be a satanic ritual.
Fuller later wrote of the event:

14

I come up around the creek and it was real late. I thought I heard
some unruly noise up on Millers Hill so I loaded my musket and
headed up there with my hound Gerald. When I got up there I could
smell 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 and
hollerin. I snuck up there real quiet and watched them from some
bushes. It was the widow Roe and her kin. They was mad says I. They
were, all four, sitting there naked as babies rubbing that goats guts all
on themselves. When I saw that I knew that they was witches and I ran
back to the village to get some of the other boys. When we went back up
there they were gone. The next day we found them and put them under
arrest one by one.
The Roe women had a swift trial and were sentenced to hang.
Although the women furiously denied having done any evil, the
townsfolk were in no mood to argue the point. One cold and
dreary October day the villagers led the four women out into
Winter Wood and hung them from an oak tree that stood on the
bank of East Creek.
The widow and her three daughters were not given a proper
burial. Instead, they were left dangling by their necks from the
tree on East creek. Weeks later, the town constable and several
volunteers returned to the woods to check on the witches'
bodies. When they arrived, they found the bodies missing and
strange, wooden effigies hanging in their places.
Many villagers believe that the Roe witches remain in Winter
Wood to this day. Some claim that the apparition of the four
women dangling from the tree will appear if you walk around
the hanging tree three times at midnight. Others claim that they
have been the victims of ghostly activity for merely uttering the
name Roe. Because of these superstitions, the legend of the
Roe witches rarely spoken of by the villagers.

15

Village Wisdom
Over time, the villagers have developed an array of charms,
wards, and superstitions concerning the protection of oneself
from evil. Common superstitions include:
Red Thread
The women of the Village commonly tie thin pieces of red thread
around their necks. The origin of this practice is unknown, but it
is said that evil spirits cannot see a woman whose neck is
adorned with red thread. As a result of this superstition, nearly
every woman in the Village includes a necklace of red thread in
her daily wardrobe.
Door Wards
It is believed throughout the Village that a bent iron nail or
crucifix hung above the threshold of a house protects the house
from all manner of supernatural creatures. This practice is
thought to be particularly effective against the fair folk.
The Secret Sign
Some villagers believe that the dark entities that dwell in Winter
Wood can be held at bay by certain protective symbols. The
sacred sign is one such symbol. Though most of the villagers
refuse to make the secret sign in public because of its pagan
origins, most everyone in the Village knows how the sigil is
made and many practice it in the privacy of their homes. The
secret sign is often drawn onto a floor with chalk; though some
believe that tracing the pattern in the air with one hand is also
effective. Those who practice the secret sign claim that it serves
as an effective ward against all manner of supernatural entities.
Burial Traditions
The village cemetery is located along the southern border of the
Village, near the chapel and the edge of Winter Wood. The
villagers believe that some special precautions must be taken to
protect the dead from the spirits of Winter Wood. Upon the
death of a villager, the body is immediately taken to the village
16

chapel where a priest blesses the body. After the blessing, a

silver coin is placed under the tongue of the deceased. This is
believed 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 is
believed to confuse spirits who might otherwise follow the
mourners to their homes.
Childrens Games
The village children are brought up learning to fear Winter
Wood. It is quite common, however, for the children to entertain
themselves with the legends of the wood and a variety of
mischievous games have developed regarding the woods.
One such game, popular for the children to play on autumn
nights, is called Millers Moan. In this game the children dare
each other to stand at the edge of the woods after dark and say
the name Anson Miller three times. The belief is that after the
name is said three times the speaker will hear a dreadful moan
from the woods. In practice, however, it is much more common
for 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

17

Getting Started
This game is best played someplace dark and a little bit cold.
Playing around a campfire is ideal. If you dont have access to a
campfire, a table in a dimly lit room will do nicely. The game
works best with a small group of players (3-4), but can
accommodate any number that the Watcher (Gamemaster) is
comfortable with. Each player will need one six-sided die. You
will also need some way of keeping track of cold points. Glass
beads or other atmospheric trinkets are ideal for this. If no
counters are available, players can count their cold points on
their fingers.
Now that youve gathered your things, lets go for a walk in the
woods . . .

Creating a Character
Creating a character for this game is extremely easy as there are
no statistics or attributes to calculate. Simply describe your
character in narrative terms. What is his or her name? What
does he or she do? Why is he or she entering Winter Wood?
You may develop your character in more depth if youd like but
not much more is needed just to play the game. Think back to
the stories youve told around the campfire. Characters in such
stories are often little more than a name or this guy I knew.
Remember, this game is set in a hazy period of history sometime
in the 18th century: Tri-corn hats, black-powder firearms, and
horse-drawn carriages are commonplace. At night, the dark is
held at bay by moonlight and lanterns. Christianity is the only
socially acceptable religion (though many practice other faiths in
secret). Your character should fit into this setting as much as
possible. If you need help conceptualizing a character make sure
to check out the inspirational sources listed in the introduction.

18

Narrative Style
In most role-playing games the players describe their characters
actions in the present tense and the first person. In Dont Walk in
Winter Wood all actions and narrations are described by the
players and the Watcher in the past tense and the third person.
For example, rather than a player saying I walk into the fog and
listen closely for any sound he or she would say Aldous
walked into the fog and listened closely for any sound. This
method of narration is what gives the game the ambiance of a
campfire story.

Conflict Resolution
Whenever a character comes across something that frightens
them or does them harm, the Watcher gives them one cold
point. Characters automatically receive one cold point upon
entering Winter Wood. Cold points can represent anything from
fear to insanity to physical wounds. Whenever the Watcher
wants the outcome of a characters action to be left to chance, he
or she asks a yes or no question of the player. For instance, if the
player says Aldous walked into the fog and listened closely for
any sound the Watcher might say: Did he hear anything? At
this point the player would roll a six-sided die. If the players
roll is higher than the number of cold points he or she has
accumulated, he or she may answer yes to the Watchers
question. If the players roll is equal to or lower than his or her
accumulated cold points the answer to the Watchers question
must be no.
This mechanic allows the narrative of the game to proceed
without anyone having to actually mention the rules. It is
important, however, that the Watcher is careful to phrase his or
her questions so that a yes answer is always beneficial to the
character and a no answer is detrimental.

19

Example
Player: Aldous walked into the fog and listened closely for any
sound.
Watcher: Did he hear anything?
(Player rolls a die and gets a 3, which is higher than the 2 cold
points he currently has)
Player: Yes.
Watcher: He heard the sound of footsteps in the dry leaves
ahead of him.
Or alternately:
Player: Aldous walked into the fog and listened closely for any
sound.
Watcher: Did he hear anything?
(Player rolls a die and gets a 1, which is lower than the 2 cold
points he currently has)
Player: No.
Watcher: Aldous didnt hear anything. The woods seemed
completely silent.

The Cold
When a character has accumulated six or more cold points he or
she is somehow taken out of the scenario. If the character
received his or her sixth cold point from a physical wound he or
she probably dies. If the character received the sixth cold point
from a frightening event he or she probably faints or goes
insane. The effects of a sixth cold point are totally left to the
discretion of the Watcher, but should make sense given the
context of events.
20

Of course, it is possible for characters to get rid of their cold

points through various actions in the game. A character that
receives medical treatment or some other form of stress relief
may discard one or two cold points depending on the situation.
However, while in Winter Wood, a character may never have
less than one cold point.

Examples of Play
Example One
Player: Aldous walked in to the abandoned shanty.
Watcher: As he entered he saw that though the place was in
utter disarray, there was some evidence of recent inhabitation.
Breadcrumbs were scattered all about the floor and a childs doll
sat in a small chair in the center of the room. He also noticed a
mirror on the back wall of the room that seemed to be obscured
by fog.
Player: Aldous approached the mirror and carefully wiped the
fog away.
Watcher: As Aldous looked into the mirror he saw his face in
the mirror suddenly change into the ghastly face of a dead
woman. (Hands Aldous player a cold point)
Player: Aldous shrieked and ran out of the shanty as fast as he
could.
Example Two
Watcher: The murderous specter rose directly out of the grave
that Aldous was standing on. Was he able to escape the
creatures 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 hands

each player cold point) the specters ghostly hands pulled
Aldous directly into the unopened grave as if his body was
simply swallowed by the earth.

Into the Woods . . .

This section discusses the role of the Watcher in the game. What
follows is intended to help Watchers achieve the proper mood
for the game and design their own adventures in Winter Wood.
Adventures in Dont Walk in Winter Wood are 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 to
accomplish their goal.
3. The characters either accomplish their goal or fail. Some
characters die or go mad.
Follow these simple steps to construct a scenario for the game:
Step One: The Premise
Your first task is to determine why the characters need to go into
Winter Wood. What will their goal for the session be? Once
youve decided on the goal for the characters journey into the
woods, let the players know so that they can create characters
with ample reason to pursue that goal. If you need some
inspiration check out the books and films listed in the
introduction or take a trip to your local library and check out
some books on legends and folklore. Below are some examples
of 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 the
woods.
- The characters were travelers who found themselves lost or
stranded in the woods.
- The crops were failing. The characters were sent to make an
offering to the spirit of the woods.
- A villager had contracted a deadly illness. The only cure was a
rare herb that grew in the woods.
- The Village was running out of food. The characters were sent
to hunt in the woods.
- The characters were paranormal detectives, sent to investigate
the 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 Woods
Obviously, the meat of a Dont Walk in Winter Wood session takes
place in the forest itself. Its best if the characters have some sort
of mystery to solve as they progress through the story (otherwise
the scenario might feel like a string of unrelated spooky
encounters). Use the Legends of Winter Wood section of this book
for ideas on entities and events that the characters may
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encounter. When designing your adventure its best to first

decide what entities and phenomena that the characters are
going to encounter and build the scenario around them.
Step Three: The Resolution
Eventually, the characters will probably die, go mad, or (if
theyre lucky) manage to escape the woods. Remember, the
game is not about winning or losing. Some of the most
memorable stories will involve the deaths or disappearances of
the characters. Use events from the sessions you play to inspire
new lore about Winter Wood. For instance, if a character dies
the players might run into his or her restless spirit during a
future session.

Weaving the Tale

The following advice is intended to help Watchers create the
right mood for a game of Dont Walk in Winter Wood. Creating a
feeling of fear and dread can be very difficult but, when it works,
it is extremely satisfying. A Watcher can improve the mood and
ambiance of the game ten-fold by making a few minor
considerations.
Where to Play
One thing that will help to make your game a more unique
experience is to get your group outside its normal, comfortable
environment. This game was designed so that it could easily be
played around a campfire. Obviously, you might not be able to
build a fire every time you play. Luckily, there are some easy
ways to overcome this problem. If its a nice night, try playing
outside, perhaps at a picnic table in the park. If youd rather stay
inside but still feel like creating the campfire mood, try having
everyone sit in a circle on the floor with a candle or oil lamp in
the center. Any of these environmental nuances can greatly
enhance the ambiance of your game.

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Telling the Story

Before you get ready to run a session, take a moment and think
back to the times youve been sitting around with friends and
family telling ghost stories. Remember the tone of the
storytellers voice as he or she embellished a ghastly detail.
Remember the hushed tones that he or she spoke in when the
aftermath of the tale was described. As a Watcher, you should
use these techniques when you are running a game. Describe a
small detail in a whisper. When there is a loud noise clap your
hands loudly and jump to startle the players. Use any tricks that
a good storyteller would use to give your players a more pulsepounding experience.
Making it Spooky
The goal of a session of Dont Walk in Winter Wood is to entertain
the players and Watcher by providing them with some spooky
thrills. Humans like to be scared. Its an adrenaline rush and a
break from the normal emotional cycle. You want to do your
best to create a feeling of dread and fear amongst your players.
Of course, you want to create good fear, not bad fear. Good fear
is fun. Good fear is pretty much why people play games like
this in the first place. You get that same creepy feeling that you
remember getting when you were young and thought that there
was a monster under your bed. Good fear is harmless. Bad fear,
on the other hand, you want to avoid. You dont want to make
your players uncomfortable or make them wish they hadnt
played the game. To avoid this, talk to your players before the
game. Some people can handle higher levels of spookiness than
others. You need to determine the level of fear that youre trying
to create before the game and be sensitive to each players
feelings on the matter.
Folkloric Fear
Subtlety is the key to producing folklore-style horror. A
hundred flesh eating zombies attacking the characters may be
fun, but its far from subtle, and wont evoke any kind of fear in
the players. In the early stages of the scenario, the characters
25

should encounter nothing more than subtle hints that something

sinister is going on. Youd be surprised how long you can keep
your players in paranoid suspense just by having their
characters 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 your
encounters more frightening:
1. Implied Horror: A closed door with strange sounds coming
from behind it is far more frightening than a million ghosts and
demons. When setting up your spooky encounters try to
engineer them in such a way that the horror is only implied. This
gives the players a hint that something scary is going on but
doesnt give them enough details to figure it out completely.
The horrors spawned by a players imagination are often much
more terrifying than anything that the Watcher could create. A
good example of this is the film The Blair Witch Project; notice
how, 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 longer
scary. Take advantage of this and fill your adventures with
mysteries 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 going
to happen next.
Narrating Events
Remember, Dont Walk in Winter Wood is different than most
role-playing games because it is played in the past tense. This
gives the illusion that the story that you and your friends are
creating together already happened a long time ago. When you
are narrating the events of the story, feel free to jump in and
narrate a player characters action for them. For instance, I often
start a session by saying They went in Winter Woods because . .
26

. This sort of leading narration establishes certain things about

the story. Because the players already know that their characters
went into the woods they already know what to expect. This
gets rid of the need to go through pointless scenes of exposition
to determine why the characters are together or why they are
doing what they are doing. Remember, however, that you must
use this technique wisely. If you overuse your narrative power
the players will begin to feel that they arent really in control of
their characters, and if that happens, no one is going to have fun.
Try to use narrative pushes only when they are helpful to make
the story more interesting, or to speed up the pace of a stalled
game.

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The Witchs Curse

The Witchs Curse is an introductory scenario that should give
you some ideas about how a game of Dont Walk in Winter Wood
might progress. Notice that, in order to be consistent with gameplay, the adventure is written in the past tense.
Background
Late one October night Laura Ellis was getting water at East
Creek near the edge of the Village. As she bent over to fill her
pitcher, she suddenly had the feeling that she was being
watched. As Laura looked up she saw a strange woman
standing on the opposite bank of the creek. The woman asked
for a drink of water but Laura, who was quite startled, screamed
and ran home as fast as she could. The next day Laura fell
deathly ill. When she told her mother about the woman she had
seen, suspicions arose that Laura had been cursed by a witch
from Winter Wood. Lauras condition continued to worsen and
as word spread of the witch a group of villagers was elected to
go into Winter Wood to find the witch and put an end to the
curse.
Characters
Almost anyone from the Village would make a suitable character
for this story. Characters that have some relation to Laura (a
suitor, 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 is a witch
could add some interesting conflict to the story.
The Story Begins
The characters should be encouraged to begin their investigation
in and around the Village itself. There are a few locations of note
within the Village:
- The Ellis House
If the characters visited the Ellis house they found the family to
be very upset. Lauras mother was very protective and Laura
28

was confined to her bed. Lauras mother was reluctant to allow

the characters to speak with Laura due to her condition. If she
was pushed, however, Lauras mother allowed the characters to
speak to Laura briefly but asked them not to upset her. Though
Laura was obviously in a great deal of pain she managed to tell
her story to the characters. She told them of the old woman by
the creek and of the wounds that she had suffered since. There
was a visible, bleeding wound on Lauras chest and although her
mother had bandaged it, she continued to be in great pain.
- East Creek
If the characters investigated East Creek, they found Lauras
pitcher lying on its side on the bank of the creek. There were
some obvious footprints where Laura was kneeling but no sign
of anyone having been on the other side of the creek.
- The Village Chapel
If the characters visited the village chapel, they met with the
towns priest who gave them as much aid as he could. He gave
the whole group a blessing and gave someone in the group a
bottle of holy water to assail the witch with should they find her.
If pressed further, the priest told the characters that he believed
that the girl was under a satanic spell and that it would only be
lifted if the witch was killed. He also warned them about the
dangers of Winter Wood, which he claimed was planted by the
devil himself.
Into the woods
As soon as the characters left the Village, they began to feel the
cold of the woods (remember to give each player a cold point).
Use the following events as landmark points in the game.
The characters searched the woods for a few hours before night
fell and they needed to make camp.

29

- The Dream
One of the characters dreamed of meeting a strange woman in
the forest. In this dream, the woman led the character to a tree
where the woman gave the character a knife, a nail, and a
hammer. The strange woman then told the character to carve
the image of one of the other characters on the tree with the knife
and hammer the nail into the figures heart. The player may be
able to make a roll to see if his or her character was able to wake
up in time. If not, the character hammered the nail into the tree
and the character who the dreaming character had chosen was
suddenly stricken with great, stabbing pain (and receives three
cold points) from a terrible, bleeding wound.
- The Bridge
The characters came across a small wooden bridge that
spanned a deep creek bed. The bridge was painted red and it
was obviously quite old. Upon closer inspection, the characters
noticed that various pieces of the bridge seem to have almost
finger-like protrusions. Even closer inspection showed that the
bridge was not made out of wood at all; it was made from the
petrified body parts of young children (each character who
investigated the bridge to this extent gains a cold point). If the
characters tried to cut the bridge or tear it down they found that
the wood bled slightly when damaged.
- The Witchs Cottage
The characters eventually came upon what appeared to be a very
old, abandoned cottage. As soon as they approached, they
noticed that the trees surrounding the cottage were filled with
large, black birds that stared at them intently. Inside the cottage
they found a most disturbing sight: a menagerie of small,
petrified limbs dangled from the ceiling (any characters who
noticed 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 and
strange herbs. From the back door of the witchs cottage the
30

characters saw a dirt path that led to a cave near the banks of
East Creek.
- The Cave and the Murder Tree
The characters came across a smallish cave set in a bluff near the
creek. Outside the cave was an old and withered oak tree. Upon
closer inspection, the characters found that the tree had a carving
in it that appeared to be a vague outline of a female figure. A
nail had been driven into the center of this strange carving. If
the characters removed the nail, Laura Ellis was suddenly
healed. As long as the nail remained in the tree, Laura Ellis
remained sick and wounded and would eventually die. Any
other sort of damage inflicted on the tree was reflected on Laura
Ellis body (if the tree was burned, for instance, Laura Ellis body
was burned as well).
After a short time the characters saw a strange, humanoid
shadow emerge from the cave. The shadow then shifted into the
form of a ghostly woman holding a foul hatchet. In a hushed
tone, the apparition asked the characters for a drink of water. If
the characters quenched her thirst by offering a drink, the
apparition faded away and stopped haunting the village. If the
characters didnt give the apparition a drink of water, the spirit
became angry at their lack of hospitality and attacked them with
a 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 from
these activities, he enjoys reading, travel, and spending time with his wife
Cassie. Clint has a degree in Creative Writing from Central Missouri State
University. He currently lives in Knob Noster, Missouri. Visit Clint on the
web at www.clintkrause.com.