D&D 5E Running Rime of the Frost Maiden

[pukunui]

More than a fair thought.

Thanks. That said, I do own a copy of Legacy of the Crystal Shard, and I think the two books complement each other nicely. For instance, the LotCS Campaign Guide contains the barest hint of an adventure seed relating to the Termalaine gem mine, while Rime actually includes a fleshed out encounter complete with a map!


I am still thinking that I will run LotCS as a prologue, then run Rime with a separate group of PCs. That way, appearances by NPCs like Vaelish Gant (aka 'Prisoner 237') will have more context.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The "Prisoner 237" episode is actually deadly dull as written. I wouldn't bother to run it unless the players where already familiar with Vaelish Gant, and even then I think it needs livening up a bit.

 

[DaveDash]

I am a couple of sessions in now. I decided to run Cold Hearted Killer.

As predicted by many, my group didn't actually go deal with Cold Hearted Killer straight away. I started them in Easthaven and did the Séance in order to give them some hooks to work with, they then learnt about the killer, and then I gave them the Toil quest for Easthaven.

They decided that Toil and Trouble was the most urgent. They played this quest smart and didn't have too many issues for a level 1 group. Although a newbie group could easily TPK here, they didn't. The dire wolf, hag, and will-o-wisp was pretty easily dealt with. They avoided the frost giant skeleton. They did set off the water weird and struggled with it a bit at level 1, but overcame it in the end.

After completing the quest I gave them some opportunities to find out what the assistant at the Town Hall was up to (Prudence), and they managed to figure her out and prevent the Zhent's from stealing the cauldron. Capturing Prudence also gave me an opportunity to tell them about Revels End. However PC's being PC's they completely ignored the Lady on the Lakes warning about the Duergar.

All in all I think with a little bit of DM guidance and having a group that has some sense about them, it's very easy to avoid many of the pitfalls that people have been worried about with starting this adventure. So far it has been really fun.

 

[Eltab]

I am still thinking that I will run LotCS as a prologue, then run Rime with a separate group of PCs. That way, appearances by NPCs like Vaelish Gant (aka 'Prisoner 237') will have more context.

If you have one or more of the same players from your previous LotCS campaign, they might meet Donkey also (but I'm not sure how to hint / foreshadow so they recognize him).

Alternately, when the going gets tough, it seems that multiple pack beasts from the Ten Towns have somehow learned the Way of the Cloven Hoof.

 

[pukunui]

@Eltab: I’d forgotten about Donkey! Given the number of awakened animals in Rime, I could have Donkey make a cameo appearance!

 

[jasper]

HAVE YOU PLAYERS TAKE NOTES. This is a must. So far my group has done Cold-Hearted Killer, Toll and trouble, and Mountain Climb. During Mountain Climb there are two references to other quests. My group is kind of ticked off due to the Adventure League rules. So they are renting out the Cauldron of Trouble monthly to towns.
Oh due take note of population decreases from the players activities. This will help later in the book. So far due to the players Ten Towns population has decrease by 17 people.

 

[uzirath]

They decided that Toil and Trouble was the most urgent.

This is one of my favorite quests from Chapter 1. It has a nice mix of challenges and the potential for some interesting roleplaying with Maud. It's fun to hear how it went for your group!

<PEEVE>
The Cauldron of Plenty exemplifies something that drives me bonkers about D&D writers. Its dimensions (four-foot diameter!) should hold at least 150 gallons. I get it that the writers aren't mathematicians, but this fails the sniff test for anybody who has a good sense of volume. It's trivial to run the numbers through any of a zillion utilities available on the internet. Why not get it right? Even 100 gallons would be ok. Or shrink it down a bit to make it hold what you want.
</PEEVE>

 

[jasper]

The inside diameter is 3.5 feet. 30 gallons equal 6980 Cubic inches. Equal 4..04 Cubic feet. @uzirath sounds right. I guest the magic stuff takes up a lot of volume.

 

[MarkB]

<PEEVE>
The Cauldron of Plenty exemplifies something that drives me bonkers about D&D writers. Its dimensions (four-foot diameter!) should hold at least 150 gallons. I get it that the writers aren't mathematicians, but this fails the sniff test for anybody who has a good sense of volume. It's trivial to run the numbers through any of a zillion utilities available on the internet. Why not get it right? Even 100 gallons would be ok. Or shrink it down a bit to make it hold what you want.
</PEEVE>

Probably a matter of one editor saying "Hmm, that's not bulky enough, we should make it larger and more awkward", and another editor saying "That feeds too many people, we should reduce the number of servings." Too many cooks spoils the broth.

 

[uzirath]

Too many cooks spoils the broth.

Now there's an interesting wrinkle on the Cauldron... if more than 2 people add ingredients, instead of nutritious stew, it produces rancid slop!