Cold as you've never known

I'm about to play in a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign that will take place is a cold environment. I wanted the desert, others wanted the cold north. I grew up in NH where we'd occasionally get temperatures of -35F. That's temperature, not wind chill. I know - and hate - the cold. Tonight I emailed the group the following message, with minor edits for the forum. Hope you enjoy it! Oh, and stay warm.

You wanted a cold campaign. Here's real cold for you.

Imagine a nice warm summer's eve like tonight. It's 75 degrees
outside at the moment, pleasant save the bugs and humidity. Now
imagine it's 0 degrees outside, a temperature that is rare if not
entirely unknown to the DC area. That's the current temperature at
McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

If you find that a tad uncomfortable, take it a little further. Drop
the temperature another 75 degrees to -75. That's roughly the current
temperature at the South Pole. These aren't wind chill factors, these
are temperatures.

Actually it's not too bad at the pole tonight. I've seen it well into
the -80s, and the forecast low for Saturday is -86.. ^_^

Dress warmly for [our Frostburn campaign].

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/livingsouthpole/index.jsp

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I had to run stadium stairs for discus conditioning in 0 degrees. It actually wasn't that bad since we working hard enough to warm our bodies up.

Coldest temp i've ever een in has been about -10 a couple winters ago in cincinnati.

BTW, I dont get it. I've never done Dungeons and Dragons. Are you actually outside?

I think the coldest I've been was on a camping trip. It was (supposedly) summer, so I only had a thin sleeping bag. I woke up around 4am shivering like mad. I tucked deeper into the sleeping bag and did up the drawstring and tried to get back to sleep but I couldn't. I stayed curled up in the sleeping bag shivering until the sun hit the tent and warmed it up enough for me to venture out and put some clothes on (around 8am). I don't know what the temperature was, but everything was covered in ice so it must have been pretty cold, and the whole time I was only in what I would really class as a light jacket (that thin bag); the kind you can wear on sunny days quite comfortably.

I'm usually pretty good with the cold; but I think being very tired and not being able to sleep and having nothing to do but think bout how cold it is for 4 hours made it worse.

Shannonb said:

BTW, I dont get it. I've never done Dungeons and Dragons. Are you actually outside?

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No. We're actually inside a warm (or cool, season depending) house just pretending to be in the chosen environment. Still, it's role playing, so you have to play as if you're in that kind of environment and plan accordingly. It's a pretty neat game actually.

Last winter I went camping with my dad and it was real cold to me here in NC. It was a low of 18 I think! That night there was a canes game on so I called my mom on the cell phone and had her put the phone by the TV so I could listen to the game!

I think a couple of years ago it got down to about 3 or 4 degrees in the middle of the night, of course I was out in the middle of the night driving and I had to stop and get gas. The worst part was how windy it was. I believe the wind chill was like -15 for the night.

Shannonb said:

... Coldest temp i've ever een in has been about -10 a couple winters ago in cincinnati. ...

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Must've been the same year I spent Christmas at my parents' in Ohio ~ they got two feet of snow and it was -10. The snow not only covered the chimney but it froze so you couldn't even start a fire in the fireplace. I told my mother I love her dearly, but that's probably the last holiday season I'm spending there!

Coldest I have ever been was right where you said: I was on four expeditions to Antarctica back in the 60's. Not really sure the coldest - we were in a snow mine and the thermometer only went to -180 degrees F. In spite of that it was the most exciting time of my life.

Hi PapaNoHair!

I figured someone at M-F might have actually been to Antarctica. I should have titled the thread as "Cold as most of us have never known." Brrrr!!!!!!

Earlier this summer I met someone who was with the National Science Foundation and had spent a few tours down there, including time at the pole. Her photos were fantastic and the stories equally so. The cold however seems unimagineable to me.

Well in MN -10 isn't unheard of in the winter

PapaNoHair said:

Coldest I have ever been was right where you said: I was on four expeditions to Antarctica back in the 60's. Not really sure the coldest - we were in a snow mine and the thermometer only went to -180 degrees F. In spite of that it was the most exciting time of my life.

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That is awesome!!!! I'm jealous.

In my early 20's I had an opportunity to go to Antarctica to help assemble Labs/buildings for a 3 or 6 month period... I chose not to go, but it was very tempting. I'll bet it would have been a great experience.

I'm ready for the winter here in NC. I like winter time because that means winter break, hockey season, and Christmas!!(The once a year holiday for a free new apple toy!!)

I love the cold, and cant wait for winter. When i lived in VT the coldest weather i saw was -35 before the wind chill

One winter quite a while ago here in canada.... it was -50 Celsius and there was a huge snow storm. (I think thats about -58 Fahrenheit.)

I think the coldest I can remember was when I was in elementary school in northern IN. It got down to -30 in the day for the high! That was a cold walk to school!! The next day it was in the 20's. It didn't really register since both days were below freezing, but that was a 50 degree jump in the high temp in 24 hours.

mathogre said:

No. We're actually inside a warm (or cool, season depending) house just pretending to be in the chosen environment. Still, it's role playing, so you have to play as if you're in that kind of environment and plan accordingly. It's a pretty neat game actually.

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Playing along is fun, until it gets to the point of LARPing. People like that take it WAY over the top. I knew of a game store near me, and LARPers put the restaurant next door out of business because they would stand outside to smoke and they scared away all the customers haha. Hopefully Mathogre, you don't LARP...

Jeff said:

Playing along is fun, until it gets to the point of LARPing. People like that take it WAY over the top. I knew of a game store near me, and LARPers put the restaurant next door out of business because they would stand outside to smoke and they scared away all the customers haha. Hopefully Mathogre, you don't LARP...

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I'm scary without LARPing. -_^

Truthfully though I don't LARP. I think LARPing would be fun, but doing things to drive a restaurant out of business isn't right.

I'm sure it wasn't on purpose, but it happened. Personally, I thought it was funny.

-45c.

Brr.

mathogre said:

It's a pretty neat game actually.

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Ya, if you're 12.......



















Just Kidding!

Bet I get -Rep for that one....