Night Camp
When the wagon stops for the night, or for days (waiting out high water, wintering at a fort, sitting at a checkpoint while you're away), camp becomes a small keep-it-alive loop. Needs drain in real time. You give each person a chore, and the camp forecasts when each need runs out so you can plan when to check back in. It is never a trap: per the away-from-game rules, neglect can only worsen what's already wrong, and a guard dog prevents deaths while you're away.
Click the scene, then press A–G (the party keys) to cycle each person's chore and watch the forecast change. N folds the pad.
The loop
Eight needs
Fire, Food, Warmth, Oxen, Health, Repairs, Watch and Morale. Each drains at its own pace in real time, from hours (the fire) to weeks (food).
Chores are the controls
Each person takes one chore: Tend fire, Tend the sick, Repair, Hunt & forage, Graze oxen, Keep watch, or Rest. Roles matter: the Healer tends twice as well, the Teamster keeps oxen from straying, the Scout's watch sees further.
Forecast, not surprise
Every need shows when it will run low ("out in 5 h"), and the footer names the first trouble. That's the tamagotchi hook: you plan your next check-in, instead of being punished for missing one.
The world shows it
The fire shrinks with its fuel. Oxen drift away when no one grazes them. When the watch is thin, eyes glint at the edge of the firelight. With a guard dog, they don't.
Safe by design
No new deaths while you're away (rule D6). Only a condition already underway, like Tom's fever, can turn critical. A guard dog prevents even that. Running out costs time, comfort and supplies, never a surprise grave.
Coming back
The pad's "While you were away" page is an illustrated diary of what happened, written in the party's voice. Long camps (more than 24 real hours) add restlessness: morale sags until you move on or someone plays the fiddle.
Open questions
Pace of drain
Should the fire last about 6 real hours untended? That's one check-in per evening for a nightly player, and a solid sleep for everyone else.
Morale depth
Should morale be one meter or per person (the Phase 2 persistent-character traits)?
Notifications
Should we offer opt-in "first trouble" pings (browser notifications), or keep it strictly pull-only?