I've been loving the discussion on Summer in the recent Wildfires thread between players on how to improve the mechanic and season as a whole - but was wondering if anything could be done for dull ol' Autumn in the corner while we were at it.
Each season has something unique to it - undoubtedly including Summer, even though its challenge comes with little fun and reward for enduring it. But Autumn has just about nothing interesting nor of use. Obviously this is because a standard server and experience always starts by default with Autumn.
Some people might really like the simplicity! It's nice respite to do what you want unimpeded by seasonal phenomena at last. But after so long, aside from the appearance of Bearger from year 2 onwards, I feel like its position as the starting season shouldn't impede changes to give players a more engaging and challenging experience past the first year.
So nevertheless, here are some ideas I came up with:
On a weird start, I would add Leaf Piles that appear under birch trees in 1st Year Autumn and early on in the season for any preceding years. These leaf piles would give resources when searched, help ease that early-game resource grab, and just help to give Autumn something unique it would contribute to players.
This would also set up the challenge and (hopefully!) fun that comes with Year 2 onwards - as every Autumn after the first, heavy piles of leaves will start falling from the sky onto the ground. These hazards, called Leaf Stacks, will engulf the players' positions in large fields without / with little warning every few days, similar to Antlion sinkholes, and spawn naturally in Deciduous biomes, even mimicking the Oasis sandstorm to a smaller scale.
Leaf Stacks act as annoying hazards by slowing down the player and any mobs passing through them. They can only be cleared through the season ending, Bearger's slam attack, or any charge attacks, such as that of a Rook or Weremoose's. That last interaction is a safeguard in case players do not want to interact with the mechanic at all.
The design intention of the Leaf Stacks all in all, is the opposite of wildfires - to encourage players to leave their cushy bases and reexplore the world like their first Autumn, on a nomadic playstyle to dodge the Leaf Stacks spawning at their feet every few days... Buuut obviously as is, the Leaf Stack would only be an annoying gameplay mechanic that could be easily shrugged off, dealt with through the safeguard, or ignored altogether through loopholes such as the caves if players really hated engaging with it. Just like with wildfires.
That's why these Leaf Stacks would need to have one more vital function - something like serving as the spawning location of one end of a new seasonal enemy. Let's call it the Wholeworm.
And a new creature!
The Wholeworm appears every dark-Night, from a Leaf Stack closest to a player, and will always land its unique attack without missing.
It will suck the nearest player / mob in - and spit them out at an existing Wormhole in the world, leaving them a little sanity lower and potentially at the behest of Charlie if they were caught off guard.
After the initial strike, it will thankfully not perform that attack again if engaged in combat, using other attacks instead. However, if you simply kill the Wholeworm right there and then, a timer will start... and upon ending, the Wholeworm rejuvenates and retreats hastily into the leaves to harass you the next night, for it has an other end somewhere in the world which will keep its aggressive end emerging from the Leaf Stacks alive and well.
This motivates players to go on what will hopefully be a fun scavenger hunt across Autumn, as neither end will show up on the map - reexploring familiar lands for the Wholeworm's other end (disguised as a normal wormhole in the overworld), and cornering it into exactly the right spot... Once the other end has been tracked down by a separate group of players, players at both ends can now try to take on and kill the Wholeworm within its revival window.
Failure means the other end will move to another spot, allowing players to keep trying to move that end into a favorable position. But once successful, the Wholeworm will be successfully slaughtered - and both ends will become a permanent pair of Wormholes in the world for players to traverse.
(( Note that there could be an optional world setting for solo players, for the Wholeworm to become a Wormhole immediately upon one end's death to allow them to warp to its other end and kill it within the window to reap the rewards ))