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Base Like a Druid: Winter

Jess Miller-Camp (they/them), Ph.D.

Druid GM Designs

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Very Basic Environmental Science

  • Two parts

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    • Biotic
      • Living stuff

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    • Abiotic
      • Not living stuff

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What’s Winter?

  • Below or close to freezing

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  • Polar sites most of the year

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  • Temperature, light, & water are important

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What matters for basing?

  • Surface
    • Particle size
    • Loose or solid
    • Crystalline or not
    • Inclusions
    • Color
    • Fresh, melting, refreezing
    • Wear/deposition Pattern

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  • Groundcover
    • Amount
    • Arrangement
    • Density
    • Height
    • Color
    • Type
  • The elements
    • Wind and current
    • Water
    • Light
    • Temperature
    • Gravity
    • Salinity
    • Pressure

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  • Space-time
    • Time of day
    • Seasonality
    • Latitude
    • Altitude
    • Topography
    • History
  • Ecology
    • Food webs
    • Toxins, diseases, pollution
    • Life cycles
    • Waste
    • Hardiness

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  • Behavior
    • Affect on surface
    • Affect on vegetation
    • Predation/Foraging
    • Hibernation/�brumation/torpor

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Snow & Ice + Light

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Length of Freeze

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Dirt and Grime

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Search Terms for More Ideas (Abiotic)

  • Frazil ice
  • Grease ice
  • Nilas
  • Needle ice
  • Candle ice
  • Hair ice
  • Frost flower
  • Penitente
  • Sun cup
  • Nunatuk
  • Glaze ice

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  • Glacial landforms
  • Palsa
  • Frost weathering
  • Frost heaving
  • Cryoplanation
  • Solifluction
  • Ice jacking
  • Hoar frost
  • Rime ice
  • Nakaya Classification
  • Frost smoke

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  • Snow cornice
  • Snow crust
  • Sastrugi
  • Firn
  • Névé
  • Tundra
  • Taiga
  • Boreal forest
  • Permafrost
  • Thermokarst
  • Albedo

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Search Terms for More Ideas (biotic)

  • Lichen
  • Snow algae
  • Ice algae
  • Watermelon snow
  • Alpine cryptobiotic soil

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  • Cryophile/�Psychrophile
  • Chionophile
  • Cryobiology
  • Cold hardening
  • Duff

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  • Rookery
  • Ice crawlers
  • Hibernation/torpor/brumation
  • Winter coat
  • Caespitose
  • Krummholz

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Today’s Bases

Snowbank

  • Build snowbanks with spackle

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  • Paint any exposed base white

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  • Add any foliage desired

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  • Spray glue and sprinkle snow

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Note: Can swap the last two steps if you don’t want snow on top of the foliage.

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Ice Floes

  • Paint plastic sheet the color of your ice

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  • Paint base the color of your water. If desired, use multiple colors and brush/swirl in one direction to indicate flow.

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  • Cut plastic into pieces

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  • Add resin water, drop and arrange plastic