Yep, what zedturtle said. I'd highly encourage the players to hunker down for the Winter. If they don't, the game itself has some naturally built-in consequences for travelling in the Fall and Winter, that makes it tougher to endure.zedturtle wrote:The only thing I would say is don't be afraid of utilizing time skips. I.E. narrate "after rescuing the hobbit, you are welcome company at the Inn during the autumn and winter. Occasionally you accompany Dody on trading trips to Beorn's hall and it is at one such trip early in the spring of 2947 that you find..."
I think it's important to convey that there is a different pace of life and modern transportation and communication are just not present.
So for TOR, our pacing has worked out to the recommended one to two adventures a year. My Star Wars game, on the other hand, is run at a frenetic pace, and my band of Rebels (we're still about a year before the events in 'A New Hope') have literally dozens of adventures in a year, racing at breakneck pace from one thrilling adventure to another.
But - as zed said - there's a tremendous difference between the two fanstasy worlds. In Star Wars, they're cruising through space in faster than light starships and communicating across vast distances. In Middle-earth, things move at a much slower pace.
I've found when I just tell the players that they've wintered wherever, and in the Spring they found... the players go along with it without any issues. This helps to slow down the pacing (as opposed to just saying "What do you want to do next?").
