Crossovers between Seasons

I've never been a fan of throwing in too many ingredients, because it just muddies the output. But a single ingredient just isn't enough to get interesting flavour profiles happening. A single season gives a strong vibe, but interesting twists can happen when the seasons are mixed.I touched on this a few times in the last couple of posts, such a Judge Anderson's spring story versus a summer for for Judge Dredd in the Movie Dredd (2012). The aim is to contrast one season versus another, whether that's a characters story in the larger world, or two characters' stories playing off against one another.

 

Remembering that different characters can be at different stages of their life journey, within the same communal story and setting, these narratives don't have to apply to every character. Contrasting narratives between two different characters can be awesome to highlight different parts of the story, as well as the different attitudes and motives of the characters involved. Here's one of those bits where a lot of traditional role-playing games really struggle, especially in the context of game balance (which I've discussed here, here, and here... as well as many other places on the blog), D&D deos this exceptionally poorly, often setting the expectation that all of the characters going on an adventure together are within a few levels of each other. I think it's more "realistic" and more narratively interesting to have a range of characters from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels, each providing their input to the story in a meaningful way that makes sense for their role.

Anyway, here's how I'm currently thinking of the pattern for the seasonal stories    

Spring

Spring stories in a Spring setting

The character is growing and developing in a world that is also growing and developing. They have opportunities, and the means to exploit these opportunities. Maybe a bit like stereotypical "Baby Boomers" in the 1950s and 1960s. The economy is growing, and they've got the chance to grow with it. For these characters it feels like the world is their oyster, and everything is booming positively around them. These are stories of positivity, hope and the chance to make a lasting difference in the world. 

Summer stories in Spring setting

The character has matured in a world that is growing and developing. Their chances to exploit opportunities are generally gone, but now the opportunities are starting the manifest in the world. Since the cycle of a character's life usually goes faster than the cycles of the setting, they may have had their spring while the setting was also experiencing it's spring, they might be helping a new generation follow them in their footsteps along the paths of power they themselves followed. However, they may have had their spring in a winter age, in which case they'll be watching a new generation come through exploiting the new opportunities that they broke open for the world. In either case, such characters will probably be acting as mentors to the new generation.   

Autumn stories in a Spring setting

The character has passed their prime in a world that is growing and developing. Those who have reached their autumn phase probably grew in a winter world, they've worked hard to get where they are and have probably been instrumental in the development of the worl and it's newly blossoming spring age. There are generally two different paths that such a character might take in the spring setting; they could be mentors, or they could be jaded villains. Either way, they want to make their mark on the world one last time. Are they a "Professor Xavier" teaching a new generation of heroes, or a "Magneto" who isn't happy with the way the new spring is heading and wants to reshape progress in an entirely new direction?   

Winter stories in a Spring setting 

The character is stagnant in a world that is growing and developing. Perhaps the last phase of this character's life was as an autumn, or even a summer, in a winter world. It is probably their actions that have brought about a new spring, or maybe they saw the actions of others renewing the cycle. It's important to think abut how they react to the new age. Is it something that brings them hope, or is it something that is pushing the world in a direction they don't like. In this new world are they ready to step forward from the shadows as an agent of conservatism, and trying to pull the world back to the winter of the former age, will they follow the zeitgeist and regain energy to invigorate themselves with it's power, or will the be a voice of wisdom from the past bringing knowledge from the past to ground the progress of the future. Their story has wound down, but they can still be of use to those who continue moving forward.  

Summer

Summer stories in a Summer setting

The character has matured in a world that has also matured. Let's go back to the Boomers, they've achieved maturity in a world of their own making. They've seen the opportunities of the world and have them to gain a level of comfort and contentment. They don't necessarily see the struggles of the younger generations coming up behind them. Some characters of this type might release a level of their power, passing the opportunities to the next group of characters who are ready to take on the world. 

Autumn stories in a Summer setting 

The character has passed their prime in a world that has matured. These are the stories that foreshadow the falling of a setting, the character has probably grown and matured in a summer setting, and they've struggled against the establishment to get to where they have. They might be happy to have made some headway, or establish some level of stability, or they might be jaded that they'd been denied the opportunities to go further. The autumn story sees the cracks in the facade of the summer strength, they are probably a Cassandra whom nobody listens to, or a curmudgeon who is preparing for the fall or even leading a cult to bring about it's downfall.   

Winter stories in a Summer setting

The character is stagnant in a world that has matured. The character stands opposite the flow of the world, they may have been a part of the spring that established the current setting, perhaps growing through their own spring, summer, and autumn over the course of the settings development into its new golden age. The question is whether the setting is what they hoped it would be, or whether it has become something they can't control, and can't accept. It is time for these characters to move on, and hopefully in their former summer and autumn phases they established an appropriate legacy that can be used to watch the changes of the world as they continue to unfold. Such characters still have wisdom to impart, but generally serve as passive observers of the world. 

Spring stories in a Summer setting

The character is growing and developing in a world that has matured. Since I'm Gen-X, I'm going to go with Gen-Xers (and Millennials) growing up in the aftermath of the Baby Boom. It's harder to get a foothold in a society where the rigidity of power has started to consolidate. The Boomers are saying that it's easy to gather wealth and power, because for them it was... but there is only a finite amount of power to go around, and the mature Boomers have grabbed it and won't let go. The Gen-Xers (and Millennials) see this and complain about it, but there aren't enough of them to be heard, and none of those in power want to listen because they had it easy. It's only those with a bit of existing wealth or societal privilege that can hope to exploit the advantages left. Those without the tools to secure those advantages will still grow, but will probably do so in ways that are more jaded and cynical.     

Autumn

Autumn stories in an Autumn setting 

The character has passed their prime in a world that has also passed its prime. The questions here ask whether the character has seen their spring and summer during a single summer phase of the setting. Were they linked to the power structure of the summer, and were they brought down when the setting fell? Were they instrumental to the fall, and now that they've brought about the decay of the world is their job over? The characters involved in these stories are probably building a legacy to survive the winter that is coming...they know full well that they probably won't survive the winter but they want people to remember them into a new age.   

Winter stories in an Autumn setting

The character is stagnant in a world that has passed its prime. They have fallen faster than the setting around them has, and now they just watch as the world crumbles and they have lost the energy to do anything about it. Such a character may have one final chance to make a difference, but they know that they'll sacrifice themselves in the attempt.

Spring stories in an Autumn setting

The character is growing and developing in a world that has passed its prime. If we're following the idea of generations for our spring stories, the Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha might be the characters growing up in a world that has passed its prime. The opportunities of the world are gone, and many of the former opportunities are not only unavailable because they're been claimed, but have actually started degrading altogether. The opportunities haven't stagnated, they're corrupting and dying away. Even those with the means are finding it harder to capitalise on the opportunities presented. The voices of dissent from this group are getting louder and more frequent, the characters are still maturing, but in ways uncontrolled by the previous generations because the paths they used to grow are no longer available, and may even be seen as shams and lies.      

Summer stories in an Autumn setting

The character has matured in a world that has passed its prime. They might have had their spring stories during the summer, but might have gone through their entire cycle of spring and summer during the fall of the setting. At this stage they probably have a basic sense of stability and power as the world around them is crumbling. Such characters will be building a bulwark against the outside world with the hope they they'll be able to weather the ongoing winter, and perhaps survive through to a new spring. There isn't a lot of hope, and the power has been gathered for these purposes, so now it's just a case of making sure the energies are directed appropriately before everything collapses.

Winter

Winter stories in a Winter setting

The character is stagnant in a world that is also stagnant. This story is slow and reflective, and really echoes the Polaris RPG mentioned earlier, the winter story is slow, in a setting that is slow, so it tends to be very introspective and character building. Nothing much is actively happening, so the characters have to reflect on the times when things were happening. They don't have the motivation to move onward and push things to a new cycle, otherwise they'd be spring stories in the winter setting. This is the stillness between adventures. 

Spring stories in a Winter setting

The character is growing and developing in a world that is stagnant. If the current political cycle continues, it is expected that some kind of revolution will come to the western world. Future generations may be forced to grow up in a time of warfare, civil unrest, authoritarian totalitarianism, or less likely a post apocalyptic wasteland...but one way or the other, they'll need to make their own opportunities to break open the stagnant power structures of the past if they want to grow in positive ways, or if they want to set the stage for a new spring. These are stories where the characters have to make their own hope.   

Summer stories in a Winter setting

The character has matured in a world that is stagnant. This is perhaps one of the saddest of the story possibilities. The character has probably grown and had their spring in a time of autumn or winter when all of the worlds opportunities are either fading away, or have died. Now they find themselves at the height of their power with nothing to do with it. Either they can accept the decline into the winter around them, or they can use what little power they have managed to accumulate, and make a better world for the people around them.  There are little resources available for them to call on, so they have to do a lot of the heavy lifting for themselves, or summon echoes of the past that might still linger in the world to push the cycle through to a new spring. It won't be easy,  

Autumn stories in a Winter setting 

The character has passed their prime in a world that is stagnant. This is probably the most appropriate place to end a campaign, or perhaps a book book-end to frame the narrative by. The character have lived their life in an autumn setting that is winding down at the end of it's age, the world has tipped over the winter and the opportunities for progress have seized up. The character probably didn't get the chance to make a major difference in the world as they look back on their legacy now. The world was dying despite their best hopes and now it's time to make one final push for a legacy before everything fades away to oblivion... or perhaps establish some hope with some positive memories of the past that will inspire a new generation to bring forth a new spring age into the world. Autumn implies there is still some energy to push forward even if it is fighting against the energies of oblivion and degradation... so hopefully that energy will be enough to give a final push in the right direction to get things moving again.     

There's no reason these are the only options for seasonal stories to mix and match. The options presented are just some of my first ideas, and designed to be a prompt for anyone who might be looking for different stories to tell. If you have other ideas, please let me know... that way I won't keep thinking that it's bots and AI scraper drones reading my words here.