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Icewind Dale: Tome of Adventures | A Rime of the Frostmaiden Supplement $9.95
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Icewind Dale: Tome of Adventures | A Rime of the Frostmaiden Supplement
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Icewind Dale: Tome of Adventures | A Rime of the Frostmaiden Supplement
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Curse o. S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/16/2020 16:18:51

Icewind Dale Tome of Adventures by Christian Eichhorn (@SquirrelGolem)

QUESTS FOR RIME OF THE FROSTMAIDEN AND BEYOND

A collection of adventures that can be played as one shots and sidequests or as an eight-part adventure path, as well as acting as a guidebook for Icewind Dale? You really couldn’t ask for more as an addition to a Rime of the Frost Maiden campaign or any fun in the chilly northern dales.

Introduction

Opening with a quote from a retired adventurer reminiscing about the “days when everything was new and exciting”, It’s clear Eichorn has a passion for adventures and “the bonds [we] formed lasted for a lifetime; some long, others all too short.” These eight adventures, one for each level for one to eight that could be played a s a campaign or separately, are the kind your characters will remember fondly as they form and/ or cement the bonds with the rest of your party.

“Hereafter, you will find adventures that can fill an evening with laughter or righteous anger. Or, better yet, adventures that inspire you to expand on them to fashion small campaign arcs.”

Each quest comes with a supporting NPC included in the level balancing for groups of five players, though advice is given on balancing for smaller or larger groups, essentially counting a quest as above or below the stated level in relation to the party size the party size. There is “an intentional escalation in scope and exceptionality” to the adventures, so it is recommended running them in the order presented, as an adventure path or as separate quests to augment your games and Rime of the Frost Maiden campaign.

A Quest Overview table handily shows the level order of the adventures for referencing, as the adventures are presented in alphabetical order in the contents.

Each quest is laid out with an easy to follow, prep, reference formula: Background, NPC Sidebar with introduction, statistics reference and amendments, appearance, personality, motivation, mannerism and quote with beautiful Ducere (https://www.deviantart.com/ducere) artwork of the NPC for a number of adventures, Initiation, Rumors, Encounter, and Travel, followed by Features, additional information, including tables, sidebars, statblocks and stylish, old skool maps where appropriate in the body of the area layout text. What that translates to is each adventure is laid out in a manner that makes it easy for the DM, giving them what they need with a helpful uniformity, as well as plethora of ways into the adventures to fit any game and/ or situation.

Auril’s Sinew

Content Warning: Suicide-attacking Goblins – Catapult and Worn Explosives

A goblin death cult led by an " awakened otyugh named The Many Tongued God” has taken up residence in the eponymous “ancient bridge fighting a losing battle against time” slaughtered a party of dwarven warriors from Mithril Hall who came to restore it on their way to reclaim Morbar, a lost dwarven hold that lays beyond. The younger brother of the expedition leader, Jainhar Tarsmolger, a cantankerous berserker looking for adventurers to help him have his revenge. The party may come across Jainhar through, rumours, in a tavern or an incredibly sad and well-crafted encounter with the dwarf venting his emotions and drowning his sorrows on the road described beautifully, “Tears stream down Jainhar’s face, which is covered in a thick layer of frozen, salty water.”

Confronting the death cult goblins is an interesting affair with them being armed to the pointy teeth with alchemist’s fire and vests full of alcohol, as well as a catapult to fire said goblins at the adventurers. On top of this the goblins make use of their defensive positions, utilising arrow slits and the like, so the party must breach their bastion to confront “The Many Tongued God, the goblins’ lord and devourer” whose only goal is to “eat the characters, bones and all.” Always classy, the awakened otyugh “taunts the characters using its telepathy” during the fight, as well as some amusing and unpleasant lair actions.

Eichorn notes, “There is no need to succeed on the first try. The characters can return later to give it another try.” This could be with surviving members coming back with more reinforcements or a new party avenging the old one.

A Sidebar provides the history of the Morbar and its sad tale of the once sprawling hold now only a graveyard and somewhere a map would must certainly say – Here Be Monsters!

This unlocks the follow-up quest "Strike the Earth".

Crab Collective

A cast of giant crabs came upon the body of an ulitharid, the ultimate and even more terrifying flavour of mind flayer. This singular meal awakened these curious crustaceans and transformed them into a nuisance having “sank boats, abducted fishers, and made a mockery of civilization” like bad folx from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Just in case you’re wondering there is a sentient, but hypothesised not sapient crab, a mutated true crab called The Crab who occasionally hitches a ride on Michelangelo's surfboard. Unlike cowabunga attitude of The Crab, these giant crabs like the evil Shredder attack and are cutting Ten Towns no slack. So far, they have already taken out a party of would-be heroes, which Eichorn describes with glorious relish: “Far from achieving their dreams, the giant crabs cut the adventurers’ limbs from their bodies and slurped their brains.”

“The future is dire, lest we fight and eat to evolve ourselves.”

You can really tell Eichorn was having a lot of fun with this one and it translates into an adventure that will be a lot of fun to run and play. Gather the rumours of brazen brachyura, team up with the sole survivor, "still covered in the guts and blood of her friends who giant crabs ripped apart like leaves”, and take the fight to these bad crab-apples in their lair adorned with frescos of their violence towards humanoids. Also, the crabs have a giant statue of a crab like that evokes the opening of Terminator 2, but with a giant crab crushing human skulls...it’s a crab...and the crabs are essentially a coven and can make the statue attack as a lair action! Oh, and unless all the eggs are destroyed, they will grow up to plot their revenge, which is a wonderful seed to sit on until the players least expect CRABBY VENGEANCE!

Glorious, unadulterated ridiculousness. You love to see it!

Sidebars give a lot more detail on northern crabs and The Three Lakes.

Hunting Grounds

Content Warning: ‘Racial’ Prejudice towards orcs

A village of orcs find themselves set upon by a “mythical beast known as Muugin the Devil Spider”, leaving them no recourse to start raiding caravans for needed supplies. Kork, the son of the chief, is on a mission of damage control, before “self-righteous adventurers seeking to put the settlement to torch without a second thought.” To that end, unfortunately Kork trusts the wrong people and gets quite literally stabbed in the back making for quite the opening encounter.

If the party heed Kork’s words and come to the village’s aid then they must venture into the delightfully inviting, webby caves of Muugin, described as their being a “howling wind [blowing] through the cave” and a wonderful aroma that “smells moldy and of secretions.” Mmm, secretions. On the brightside, there are the grizzly pinatas everyone loves in a table of random cocooned bodies with various accoutrements to rob the corpses of – I was going to say procure, but let’s be honest about grave/ cocoon-robbing. This process might explode in the adventurer’s faces as the hatchery holds thousands of tiny spiders ready to burst out in swarms!

The Devil Spider themself, “Muugin doesn’t bear the nom de guerre Devil Spider for nothing. It is a monstrous type of cambion with the statistics of a phase spider” with a number of adjustments to make it half phase spide—half cambion. Love the use of nom de guerre and this freaky amalgamation whose lair crosses into the ethereal plane, which will attempt the classic villainous, threatening parlay. Most likely the party are going to want to annihilate the atypical arachnid, making a friend for life: “After reforming in the Nine Hells, Muugin returns to ally with a strong enemy of the characters to exact revenge and gorge itself on their meat.”

An interesting sidebar speaks to the diversity of orcs and their attitudes, also on display in the adventure itself, positing the “bad reputation” orcs have stems from fact the only orcs most other humanoids encounter are the raiders and ravagers, while the “peaceful tribes remain where they are, occupied with fighting nature, dragons, and each other.” It’s definitely an improvement on the base Forgotten Realms lore, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to be less problematic.

Last Rest Inn

The last Rest Inn magical establishment that appears for those in need, such as being lost in a storm or taking a tumble into a ravine. In many ways it’s like a solid mirage and a welcome respite from almost certain frozen death on the unforgiving mountains and dales...until it was taken over by new management, an Oni with the wonderful name, Slurper, and his gang of doppelgangers (his doppelgang?). A travelling mage called Traveller wants more than anything to visit the inn and invites the adventurers, which can only be achieved by encountering mortal danger and hoping the inn appears with respite. Mechanically, the Last Rest inn can only be reached with four levels of exhaustion, which makes this adventure particularly great to use with other adventures and encounters if you want to populate the journey or even have this in your back pocket to spring on your players when they hit that dangerous fourth level of exhaustion.

Finding the inn is just the beginning of the adventure as the rightful manager is being held prisoner. Thankfully the inn removes that pesky exhaustion! There’s a table of rooms available, two tables of patrons with their backstory and if they are in the doppelgang or not, and hotel loot. The goblin cook called Cook will try a slip the party a warning in their food, which should begin the investigating and accusations. Not to mention the doppelganger attacks in the nigh – worse room service ever!

Nothing is what it seems and there is some of the most twisted and clever uses of illusion magic and shapechanging, including multiple false managers, the doppelgang, an umberhulk armchair called Burrowking and one of the most ridiculous, awesome and ridiculously awesome use of a mind flayer and polymorph! The proprietor needs saving and you’re their oni hope!

Ends with a fascinating sidebar on extraplanar inns.

Moon Shade Mead

Help an excitable, young halfling win their local Fermentation Festival by helping her acquire fabled magical berries from her grandfather’s recipes explore necromantically tainted caves that were once a pilgrimage sight of Chauntea and aid the ancient caretaker (now just a skull and arms) to vanquish the evil and cleanse the taint. Traverse dank caves, slay a malodorous monster in the form of zombie ogre with some nasty spells up its manky sleeves and get the sweet, sweet berries, a cut of the winnings and a special brew of your own for your troubles.

Good clean fun with seeds for further adventures with the departed druid still not being departed-ed, even after being ground into bonemeal (at their request) and the master on the slain monster being suggested. This adventure also comes with a recipe for creating your own mead!

Strike the Earth

Content Warning: Slavery, Reference to Tongues being Removed

This adventure follows the events of Auril’s Sinew

Dwarves from Mithril Hall recruit the adventurers to establish a beachhead in the port of Morbar, the lost dwarven hold lost to time and a variety of monsters who have moved into the echoing halls. The chilly corridors have been made toasty by the yuan-ti and magma snakes who have made them their home. The yaun-ti have a large group of svirfneblin slaves overseen by duregar and hemmed in by the molten pools of the magma snakes.

Yuan-ti purebloods will attempt to lure the party deeper into their domain posing as Way of the Molten Soul monks in their temple, ambushing them with the other yuan-ti and abomination who wields a nicely flavoured sword. The lies continue as the duregar will also play themselves off as captives to save themselves, and if all else fails they are the only ones capable of getting the magma snakes to close their lethal puddle outside where the deep gnomes are kept.

This adventure sets up the possibility for all manner of adventures restoring and exploring Morbar with any surviving dwarves, possibly serving as a base or at least friendly fire to find between the deep seas of snow and freezing darkness of Icewind Dale.

A sidebar describes magma worms and their journey from the frozen underground of the north to becoming azer mounts on the Elemental Plane of Fire. Tower of Lead

A member of Waterdeep’s Order of Most Prudent and Diligent Archeologists seeks the former home of a Warlock who tried to turn Icewind Dale from the frozen wastes into lush farmland, which does not appear to have been successful. Whether through appointment and interview, with some questions some players may struggle with or rescuing from mutants, Leszira Wyn, needs adventurers to keep them safe while exploring the inexplicable tower whose tip peeks out the top of a glacier.

This is a fascinating with mutated creatures and mythal miasmas, both of which are presented with random tables, including deer that fire eldritch blasts from their mouths and areas causing anything from hallucinations to disease and damages. Exploring the floors turns up all manner of treasures and oddities, all turned to lead from the same magic that effects the rest of the tower, the corpse of the previous owner. A variety of living spells, including one of the dead Warlock’s fingers, now a living finger of death, and the mythal miasmas pose dangers to be overcome before the leaden treasures can be retrieved.

The potential ramifications of this adventure are tremendous, from getting on the bad side of the Order of Most Prudent and Diligent Archeologists, but some serious magic items, albeit currently made of lead, or a humungous pension paid by the same said organisation if the party play ball, all the way to actually being able to finish the ritual the Warlock began, overtime changing Icewind Dale forever! “Ringing in a golden age for the North. However, according to the rule of equivalent exchange, this miracle might spell disaster elsewhere.”

The statblocks for the living spells are included, along with a sidebar on mythal theory.

Well of Spirits

The final adventure of this collection is a doozy! A priest of Auril, the wicked goddess of winter, has collected the malcontents of the Reghed tribes into a new Tribe of the Yeti under the guise of a follower of Temps, the honourable lord of battles. This new tribe’s elite warriors consist of wild berserkers clothed in yeti skins that kill indiscriminately, collecting the souls of the fallen for their leader, which are collected in the Well of Spirits, a profane site at the centre of the clan’s camp. Using the power of the collected souls, the priest would cast a mythal turning all southlanders into ice.

A former member of the tribe who saw through the ruse was cursed to bring pain to those he looked up (dealing cold damage mechanically). Coming upon rumours of wild yetis and/ or a sombre meeting with this outcast, the adventurers are called to rid the north of this blighted falsehood. Taking the fight to the Tribe of the Yeti is no mean feat with them being prepared to defend their homes with an organised counterattack, as well as the priest working their frigid magic to turn innocents into rampaging yetis in a last stand.

What role will the fate of the Tribe of the Yeti and Well of Souls play in further adventures and are there more sites of power such as this among the frozen wastes?

Pages of tables of northern names for many of the core D&D races are also provided.

This is a fantastic collection of adventures that also acts as a whirlwind tour of Icewind Dale with heaps of information on the area, locations and wildlife. These adventures are a lot of fun and cover a great span of subjects and levels, as well as planting numerous seeds for further adventures and containing a recipe for mead. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving!

A collection of adventures that can be played as one shots and sidequests or as an eight-part adventure path, as well as acting as a guidebook for Icewind Dale? You really couldn’t ask for more as an addition to a Rime of the Frost Maiden campaign or any fun in the chilly northern dales.

I must compliment the stylish cover evoking the limited covers of the official WOTC D&D books by Hydro74.

Credits

Author, Layout & Cartography: Christian Eichhorn

Editor: John Parker

Character Art: Ducere (https://www.deviantart.com/ducere)

My Affiliate Link: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/328509/Icewind-Dale-Tome-of-Adventures--A-Rime-of-the-Frostmaiden-Supplemen?affiliate_id=1507682



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
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