I really liked the thematic elements present in the writing, and the differentiation of characters being the dice in their pool versus the dice assigned to specific attributes. I think the text implies that you are almost always going to be in the dark or in the cold, and often in both, but a little more detail on challenges and setting would be welcome. For instance I'm not clear on whether "burning" passes the challenge, and there must be some limitations on the creation/movement of heat and light in the setting. I'm not sure if it's your intent, but I could envision this as a very tight pseudo-dungeon-crawler that players would have a ball with.