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jasonsweeten's review against another edition
4.0
Does a lot of things right. Easy to pick up hours before a game, rarely sets up the DM for failure, varied encounters. Sometimes the story feels like two very different ideas crammed together, but the world is well established. Worth running!
bengriffin's review against another edition
I'm far from an expert as I only got into D&D properly this year but this is the book I've enjoyed the most and the only one I've read cover to cover. Art direction-wise it's phenomenal both in its consistency, colour schemes and evocation of the hostile snowy setting. I'm so excited to use a lot of the stuff in here and there's a good cross section of various types of horror in here too, as well as some excellent character secrets to incorporate. That said, it definitely doesn't seem suitable as a first campaign if you're running it straight from the book as you'd have to make a lot of tweaks to keep people alive, or run it as a high risk game with lots of backup characters/helpers. The back half of the campaign seemed less interesting to me too, unless you can maneauver all your pieces into an epic crescendo, so that may require some work, but overall it's been incredibly useful for getting the imagination going. And it's pretty hard to argue with something that reveres The Thing and contains Snowy Owlbears, Baby Yetis, and 3 Kobolds in a trenchcoat really.
caecilius's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I had a blast running this for a party of five friends over 3 years. The book provides an excellent base on which to build a fully fleshed out adventure. I sometimes found it a little light on details, but that gave me a chance to try my hand at creating maps, encounters and magical items to help fill in the gaps. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it in the end.
rustyletters's review
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
dpmcalister's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
There is the core of a good campaign here but it needs work. I would recommend picking up the Complete DM's Bundle by Eventyr on the DM's Guild to read alongside the campaign as it has many great ideas.
drew1013's review against another edition
5.0
UPDATE AFTER RUNNING THE MODULE IS BELOW THE REVIEW
Rime of the Frostmaiden sets out to create a modern horror module for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, and it does so with style and unmistakable passion for its influences. With inspiration stemming from John Carpenter’s The Thing, H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, and Ridley Scott’s Alien (among others), it succeeds at blending shades of dread, horror, isolation, and paranoia with good old-fashioned DND adventure. The result is a dark mix of fun for horror buffs and classic adventure fans alike.
From a DM’s perspective, the book is a polished, well-organized toy box of exciting things to pick and choose from. Adventure hooks, side quests, player secrets and more, all come in various flavors of horror and adventure. It’s also got a sense of humor, which crops up from time to time to give the story some welcome levity. This is a book that had me brainstorming fun ways to use its content, rather than wondering how I would make it work.
Some new things in the book that I like:
- The “player secret” mechanic is a welcome addition. This is something DMs usually have to home brew to get players invested in a new adventure setting. Having the options pre-made and tailored to the story, plus suggestions on how to use those secrets later on, is just good design. I hope this continues with further modules
- Lots of new monsters. The bestiary section of the book contains dozens of new monsters to spring on veteran DND players. Let’s be honest: there’s nothing better than facing something brand new and terrifying
- A handful of magic items and spells are also new, but didn’t wow me as much. Most of the magic items seemed made to help players survive the terrain, and the 3 new spells were level 1, 7, and 9, so only one will be available for the majority of the adventure. There are a couple of scrolls I won’t spoil that are amazing over-the-top items, though
Without getting into spoilers, I’ll say that I also appreciate the sort of “epilogue” options, which tee up a continued adventure should your group choose to keep going.
A few months ago when I learned what this book was going to be (horror in the tundra inspired by some of my favorite movies & stories), I was definitely excited. I’m happy to say the book lives up to the hype and then some, harkening back to the stylized horror and epic scale of Curse of Strahd (which makes sense, thanks to Chris Perkins’ writing on both). I can’t wait to visit the frozen wastes of Icewind Dale and see what’s trapped in the ice...
****UPDATE AFTER RUNNING THE MODULE FOR 6+ MONTHS****
Full disclosure, my group (which finished Descent into Avernus) ran out of steam on this one and we did not get past the first Icewind Dale section of the adventure. Here’s why:
After running this module, I would have to amend my review to 3 stars at most. There is a major problem with the module that, if run as written in the book, causes problems from the first session and can ruin momentum and motivation right away.
Part of the setup for RotF is that the towns are practicing human sacrifice to appease the Frostmaiden. There’s no info on why they do this other than superstition, so right away when the characters are supposed to work with the town officials and townsfolk, the party distrusts and actually antagonizes them.
The town officials and townsfolk are the key to many quests, but right off the bat, the party is not motivated to help anyone. This means you’ll need to quickly backpedal and/or homebrew a cult or something that’s forcing the townsfolk to perform human sacrifices.
Also, the Frostmaiden isn’t part of the immediate action for a VERY long time in the book. Essentially, she is not present or a threat until the late game. If you want to keep her relevant, make a cult serving her that is forcing the human sacrifices.
From the format of the book, it seems like RotF would be better for higher level players, and the campaign should start after all the running around Icewind Dale, maybe in the Sunblight chapter.
In order to keep things interesting, I had to do a lot of homebrew and alterations. It got to be too much work for me, and the group was already kind of down on the adventure anyway.
Rime of the Frostmaiden sets out to create a modern horror module for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, and it does so with style and unmistakable passion for its influences. With inspiration stemming from John Carpenter’s The Thing, H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, and Ridley Scott’s Alien (among others), it succeeds at blending shades of dread, horror, isolation, and paranoia with good old-fashioned DND adventure. The result is a dark mix of fun for horror buffs and classic adventure fans alike.
From a DM’s perspective, the book is a polished, well-organized toy box of exciting things to pick and choose from. Adventure hooks, side quests, player secrets and more, all come in various flavors of horror and adventure. It’s also got a sense of humor, which crops up from time to time to give the story some welcome levity. This is a book that had me brainstorming fun ways to use its content, rather than wondering how I would make it work.
Some new things in the book that I like:
- The “player secret” mechanic is a welcome addition. This is something DMs usually have to home brew to get players invested in a new adventure setting. Having the options pre-made and tailored to the story, plus suggestions on how to use those secrets later on, is just good design. I hope this continues with further modules
- Lots of new monsters. The bestiary section of the book contains dozens of new monsters to spring on veteran DND players. Let’s be honest: there’s nothing better than facing something brand new and terrifying
- A handful of magic items and spells are also new, but didn’t wow me as much. Most of the magic items seemed made to help players survive the terrain, and the 3 new spells were level 1, 7, and 9, so only one will be available for the majority of the adventure. There are a couple of scrolls I won’t spoil that are amazing over-the-top items, though
Without getting into spoilers, I’ll say that I also appreciate the sort of “epilogue” options, which tee up a continued adventure should your group choose to keep going.
A few months ago when I learned what this book was going to be (horror in the tundra inspired by some of my favorite movies & stories), I was definitely excited. I’m happy to say the book lives up to the hype and then some, harkening back to the stylized horror and epic scale of Curse of Strahd (which makes sense, thanks to Chris Perkins’ writing on both). I can’t wait to visit the frozen wastes of Icewind Dale and see what’s trapped in the ice...
****UPDATE AFTER RUNNING THE MODULE FOR 6+ MONTHS****
Full disclosure, my group (which finished Descent into Avernus) ran out of steam on this one and we did not get past the first Icewind Dale section of the adventure. Here’s why:
After running this module, I would have to amend my review to 3 stars at most. There is a major problem with the module that, if run as written in the book, causes problems from the first session and can ruin momentum and motivation right away.
Part of the setup for RotF is that the towns are practicing human sacrifice to appease the Frostmaiden. There’s no info on why they do this other than superstition, so right away when the characters are supposed to work with the town officials and townsfolk, the party distrusts and actually antagonizes them.
The town officials and townsfolk are the key to many quests, but right off the bat, the party is not motivated to help anyone. This means you’ll need to quickly backpedal and/or homebrew a cult or something that’s forcing the townsfolk to perform human sacrifices.
Also, the Frostmaiden isn’t part of the immediate action for a VERY long time in the book. Essentially, she is not present or a threat until the late game. If you want to keep her relevant, make a cult serving her that is forcing the human sacrifices.
From the format of the book, it seems like RotF would be better for higher level players, and the campaign should start after all the running around Icewind Dale, maybe in the Sunblight chapter.
In order to keep things interesting, I had to do a lot of homebrew and alterations. It got to be too much work for me, and the group was already kind of down on the adventure anyway.
nacirema's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
cslwoodward's review
4.0
Having read every page in this book and not just flicked through looking at the pretty pictures, I have a fairly good idea of how everything fits together. While there's a lot that is fantastic in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, there are a few central plot points that leave me scratching my head. They work, they're just unexpected from what I presumed the adventure would pertain to.
Let's break this up in two sections, one for players and one for DMs. If you plan on playing, just read the first section (don't worry, I'll let you know when I'm changing). If you don't mind spoilers or are planning on running the game, go ahead and read both sections. First up is for players:
Playing through this, the opening chapters provide a LOT of leeway to go nuts and have a bunch of freedom and fun while completing the quests and learning everything that Icewind Dale has to offer. Learning about NPCs and how they progress through the story is brilliant. With a few options to take out of the book for character creation, this adventure allows you to work with your DM to create a backstory that suits the setting as either an inspiration to get you started or something to tie your already planned chronicle of what they did before winding up here. The best part is that a lot of what's given is also included in the adventure's narrative, providing a personal stake in the happenings of Icewind Dale with some cases either being able to provide the party with an advantage, by means of lore or something else. This adventure also allows a collection of races, which are commonly considered unplayable due to sunlight sensitivity, to be played without hinderance because of the sun being blocked out by Icewind Dale's everlasting winter.
While your playgroup will likely have humourous scenarios throughout the course of this adventure, it is largely inclusive of horror moments. As Perkins writes, a large part of the adventure is isolation. Being trapped in an inescapable tundra filled with blizzards and monsters that lurk within the aforementioned obscuring ice storms, you won't know what's behind you until it's too late. I had a lot of Curse of Strahd vibes while reading this so if you're familiar with the gothic and vampiric nature of Ravenloft, you'll have an idea of what to be prepared for.
Time for the DMs (read as "It's time for spoilers!"):
There is so much you can use in the opening few chapters. Perkins has delivered a gold mine of quests, NPCs, inspiration and maps for you to use in whatever game you want - even one not centred in Icewind Dale. It gives both you and the players so much freedom that you can pretty much run these short quests that set the tone of the campaign and allows players to interact with each other and the scenarios they find themselves in.
Once they've done a few quests within the towns, the players find themselves in the surrounding wilderness to find more secrets hidden within the snow covered land. Perkins provides a brilliant table for you to use for wilderness encounters that makes complete sense - because he includes a weather table that scales with the likelihood a monster would appear in such conditions. The thought that went into helping the person running this adventure is so wonderful to stumble upon and smile at.
Even in chapter 4 when a dragon construct is rampaging the towns that the players have to stop, the adventure provides what happens if the characters aren't present in a town to stop the destruction - involving casualties, town damage and the general response of the town and whether or not they fight back. However, I found that after felling the dragon the story took a turn I didn't expect. The players then go to Auril's abode and - whether they defeat her there or not - find themselves needing to go to a place not foreshadowed to have much to do with their current objective. With that said, the course players get set on in the second half of the book would likely be the best moments for horror to truly take them by the throat and it works, it just feels like two seperate adventures stitched together.
Once all is said and done, the adventure provides an epilogue section to help DMs guide the players and characters out of the story rather than just ending like it did in Baldur's Gate: Decent into Avernus. The appendices following are great and while magic items are limited in this book the creatures section makes up for it, providing another CR8 creature for characters to polymorph into along with some ingenious creations that further cements my love for ideas that Perkins conjures up in his wild imagination. New spells are also included but unless you ignore what the adventure presents, players won't be able to access them til late game and considering this is written for levels 1-10, the level 1, 7 and 9 spells will only have one third available for use and be pretty useless compared to what they could otherwise cast at that point anyway.
As a whole, I'm really looking forward to running this adventure and seeing how it plays out rather than just reading it. It's a little like reading the dictionary start to finish and then writing something using all the cool words you've used. I really enjoyed reading this. There are things included to make you smile as you're going through it, finding Easter eggs left referencing books, films and older adventures. I enjoyed all the quests Perkins included and how they involve in the wider narrative, I just hope I do the transition between the first and second half of the book justice.
Also Goliaths now have cold resistance when picking it as a race from this book, so that's pretty neat.
Let's break this up in two sections, one for players and one for DMs. If you plan on playing, just read the first section (don't worry, I'll let you know when I'm changing). If you don't mind spoilers or are planning on running the game, go ahead and read both sections. First up is for players:
Playing through this, the opening chapters provide a LOT of leeway to go nuts and have a bunch of freedom and fun while completing the quests and learning everything that Icewind Dale has to offer. Learning about NPCs and how they progress through the story is brilliant. With a few options to take out of the book for character creation, this adventure allows you to work with your DM to create a backstory that suits the setting as either an inspiration to get you started or something to tie your already planned chronicle of what they did before winding up here. The best part is that a lot of what's given is also included in the adventure's narrative, providing a personal stake in the happenings of Icewind Dale with some cases either being able to provide the party with an advantage, by means of lore or something else. This adventure also allows a collection of races, which are commonly considered unplayable due to sunlight sensitivity, to be played without hinderance because of the sun being blocked out by Icewind Dale's everlasting winter.
While your playgroup will likely have humourous scenarios throughout the course of this adventure, it is largely inclusive of horror moments. As Perkins writes, a large part of the adventure is isolation. Being trapped in an inescapable tundra filled with blizzards and monsters that lurk within the aforementioned obscuring ice storms, you won't know what's behind you until it's too late. I had a lot of Curse of Strahd vibes while reading this so if you're familiar with the gothic and vampiric nature of Ravenloft, you'll have an idea of what to be prepared for.
Time for the DMs (read as "It's time for spoilers!"):
There is so much you can use in the opening few chapters. Perkins has delivered a gold mine of quests, NPCs, inspiration and maps for you to use in whatever game you want - even one not centred in Icewind Dale. It gives both you and the players so much freedom that you can pretty much run these short quests that set the tone of the campaign and allows players to interact with each other and the scenarios they find themselves in.
Once they've done a few quests within the towns, the players find themselves in the surrounding wilderness to find more secrets hidden within the snow covered land. Perkins provides a brilliant table for you to use for wilderness encounters that makes complete sense - because he includes a weather table that scales with the likelihood a monster would appear in such conditions. The thought that went into helping the person running this adventure is so wonderful to stumble upon and smile at.
Even in chapter 4 when a dragon construct is rampaging the towns that the players have to stop, the adventure provides what happens if the characters aren't present in a town to stop the destruction - involving casualties, town damage and the general response of the town and whether or not they fight back. However, I found that after felling the dragon the story took a turn I didn't expect. The players then go to Auril's abode and - whether they defeat her there or not - find themselves needing to go to a place not foreshadowed to have much to do with their current objective. With that said, the course players get set on in the second half of the book would likely be the best moments for horror to truly take them by the throat and it works, it just feels like two seperate adventures stitched together.
Once all is said and done, the adventure provides an epilogue section to help DMs guide the players and characters out of the story rather than just ending like it did in Baldur's Gate: Decent into Avernus. The appendices following are great and while magic items are limited in this book the creatures section makes up for it, providing another CR8 creature for characters to polymorph into along with some ingenious creations that further cements my love for ideas that Perkins conjures up in his wild imagination. New spells are also included but unless you ignore what the adventure presents, players won't be able to access them til late game and considering this is written for levels 1-10, the level 1, 7 and 9 spells will only have one third available for use and be pretty useless compared to what they could otherwise cast at that point anyway.
As a whole, I'm really looking forward to running this adventure and seeing how it plays out rather than just reading it. It's a little like reading the dictionary start to finish and then writing something using all the cool words you've used. I really enjoyed reading this. There are things included to make you smile as you're going through it, finding Easter eggs left referencing books, films and older adventures. I enjoyed all the quests Perkins included and how they involve in the wider narrative, I just hope I do the transition between the first and second half of the book justice.
Also Goliaths now have cold resistance when picking it as a race from this book, so that's pretty neat.
raechel's review
4.0
I feel a little weird rating this book, but it's also 300+ pages and I read through all of it to prep for my campaign. So it's going to count on my reading list, lol.
This is a pretty solid adventure that goes from 1-12, but it does need some adjustment. There's a helpful NPC that the players have no reason to trust... and a dragon encounter that feels really hopeless. Also some of the player secrets have a pretty lame resolution to them, which I will have to change.
However, this has some good bones to it and I like the setting. Looking forward to running it!
This is a pretty solid adventure that goes from 1-12, but it does need some adjustment. There's a helpful NPC that the players have no reason to trust... and a dragon encounter that feels really hopeless. Also some of the player secrets have a pretty lame resolution to them, which I will have to change.
However, this has some good bones to it and I like the setting. Looking forward to running it!
brillig's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
As a campaign setting it's fine, but I'd recommend GMs read through and make their own calls on what they want to include. The last two chapters are probably not necessary. The gnome ceremorphs are adorable - quite a difference from the tone of the rest of the book.