[IW] Sleepout and XC-Skiing

[sir_pudding]

I can't seem to find anything that specifically says that there were Smilodon north of Nebraska during the Pleistocene. Nothing that says there weren't either. There were absolutely some in Nebraska however.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Akicita

They might be able to work out some sort of snowshoes, but even that would require that the container be a lot more than bare bones.

Snow shoes are a good idea, assuming they are able to cut them out, but only once they reach soft snow. On a mountain glacier, what you want is crampons, and makeshift flat snowshoes, not provided with "teeth" to bite the ice, are a lethal threat. Of course, you could build a makeshift version of modern snowshoes which often combine a few crampon-like "teeth".

I'd say a roll against Survival (Mountain, Arctic) to assess all of that, and another one, IQ-based, to design and build the things.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Alternate Ice Age North Dakota. So probably mountains.

Thanks.

My advice is to treat the whole thing generaously and cinematically. Sleepover is really only part of Infinity Patrol agent's claim to Total Badass status.

If you play out the thing realisitically with all the Gurps rules at your disposal, everybody dies, every time (exceptt eh vampire and maybe the robot). Crossing 100 miles in extreme artic conditions on foot requires a lot more than the clothes you can put on in 5 minutes and the stuff you can fit in your pockets.

I think it could be treated in a generous way, but not necessarily in an over-the-top cinematic way.

Let's assume the guys can build snowshoes. Those are not as hard as building skis or sail rigging, and don't require a skill for using them. Let's assume they build a version with crampon-like spikes.

Let's further assume the slowest has Move 4. That would be a basic 40 miles per day. With a successful Hiking roll, even at default, that would be 48.

Now, p. B351, which I'm reading for all of the above too, has rules about using skis on snow, but not for snowshoes. Let's say that while skis let yo treat all terrain as Average, snowshoes will let these guys, on this Very Bad terrain, treat it as Bad. That's 24 miles per day.

Taking into account that building a snow trench each evening will take at least an hour (making a Survival roll to find a good place for it), that's probably down to 20 miles.

So it could be done in five days, assuming they spend the remainder of the first night building the snowshoes.

That also assumes they don't need to hunt or forage for food... which would mean their pockets are very deep indeed.

Some side hunting would not only be realistically necessary once they run out of their high-tech, small-volume, high-calories bars. It would also be some fun for the players, as opposed to the grinding march.

The day they hunt, kill, and prepare the food they will effectively not move towards the base. So let's say it's six days. Allowing for minor accidents and a decreased speed towards the end of the trek, a week.

This is generous, but it doesn't stretch credibility, I think. Of course credibility is a matter of personal preferences.

[Akicita]

Originally Posted by Michele

Snow shoes are a good idea, assuming they are able to cut them out, but only once they reach soft snow. On a mountain glacier, what you want is crampons, and makeshift flat snowshoes, not provided with "teeth" to bite the ice, are a lethal threat. Of course, you could build a makeshift version of modern snowshoes which often combine a few crampon-like "teeth".

Excellent point. My own snowshoes have such teeth. I was taking the feature for granted, and shouldn't have.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I can't seem to find anything that specifically says that there were Smilodon north of Nebraska during the Pleistocene. Nothing that says there weren't either. There were absolutely some in Nebraska however.

The mother lode of sabretooth fossils is the La Brea tar pits in Los Angelus. So that puts they range fairly far south too.

The thing about bare glacial ice is that there's no plant matter to eat there. So the megafauna that sabretooths presumably fed on wouldn't spend much time there. Even polar bears on ice are only passing through on their way to seal-hunting territory.

So if the sabretooths are BS the whole cross-country marching in South Dakota, in December, in an Ice Age might well be BS too. It doesn't actually make much sense. Relatively few Infinity missions will involve arctic survival.

The Academy seems to spend much more time on immersive learning of foreign languages and sociology than survival. Then there's the training in archaic weapons too. People are much more dangerous than sabretooths.

So maybe the while Ice Age thing is a cover story. The sort of thing Infinty agents tell to the gung ho types in Ranger Force Tau (who probably couldn't be trusted to walk down the street in Johnson's Rome without getting their purses cut).

Even if the Academy is in a deserted line, California where you'd have easy access to mountains, forests, deserts and ocean would make more sense even for just the survival training.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Akicita

Complete agreement. They might be able to work out some sort of snowshoes, but even that would require that the container be a lot more than bare bones.

Why wouldn't they simply have been issued snowshoes?

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The thing about bare glacial ice is that there's no plant matter to eat there. So the megafauna that sabretooths presumably fed on wouldn't spend much time there. Even polar bears on ice are only passing through on their way to seal-hunting territory.

Depending on when in the Wisconsin Glaciation we are talking about either the western half or nearly all of the state is not glaciated. Since the Academy is very specifically on the "shores of Lake Agassiz" it pretty much has to be after the glaciers retreated forming the lake in the first place.

[LordMoose]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Why wouldn't they simply have been issued snowshoes?

No reason other than I forgot to ;)

And none of them reminded me that they had them and would be bringing them ;)