D&D 5E Is Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden the New D&D Adventure?

It looks likely that the upcoming D&D adventure is indeed an Icewind Dale based storyline called Rime of the Frostmaiden! I can't vouch for the veracity of this, but I was cc'd into a Tweet by Navy DM on Twitter who says they found it on Reddit.

Feel the cold touch of death in this adventure for the world's greatest role playing game.

UPDATE -- the awesome Geek Native ran the small cover screenshot through an image enhancing application, to create the larger image below.

There's a post here on Reddit which says "The DnD Beyond YouTube channel posted a trailer for a new book, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, then immediately deleted it." The post has been removed since. I found the above image posted by somebody called smightmight, who looks like they screen grabbed it from the video before it was removed.

The Frostmaiden is one of the names of Auril, an evil goddess in the Forgotten Realms. You can read more about her on the Forgotten Realms wiki.

Rime is ice which forms from water droplets on surfaces.

An Icewind Dale setting was the current favourite guess for the location of the new D&D adventure based on various hints from WotC, including this snowy owlbear t-shirt!

(thanks to Pixellance for pointing me at this!)

 

[pukunui]

Yeah, one thing I love/hate is how Thay and its Red Wizard seems more active in Western Fearun than in their own region. Why create such a cool faction and put then half a world away from the main adventure region?! Having them as big players in Neverwinter and the North since 4e is cool, but we do lack any information or adventure seed for their homeland! What if I want to take the fight to Szaaz Tam after defeating his expeditionary force in Chult!

Technically we’ve officially visited Thay twice already: The Rise of Tiamat includes a chapter that involves a diplomatic mission to Thay, and Tales from the Yawning Portal includes an updated version of Dead in Thay (which was originally a D&D Next playtest module).

 

[Reynard]

Not sure about that, but the program was started, every Guild Adept is hand-picked by WotC to write the complementary material and adventures to go with each hardcover adventure.

According to this launch announcement, Chris Lindsay was the "Guildmaster." It does not say anything specifically about editorial input other than "hand picking" the authors. It does seem to indicate the major reason for the existence of Guild Adepts is to directly support published storylines, although I do not know if that is still true or not. Even so, it definitely seems to be the replacement for community driven material that used to end up in the magazines.

 

[Parmandur]

According to this launch announcement, Chris Lindsay was the "Guildmaster." It does not say anything specifically about editorial input other than "hand picking" the authors. It does seem to indicate the major reason for the existence of Guild Adepts is to directly support published storylines, although I do not know if that is still true or not. Even so, it definitely seems to be the replacement for community driven material that used to end up in the magazines.

I'm pretty sure that Lysa Penrose handles this sort of thing now, starting as a content producer and now being the "DMsGuild Brand Manager" within WotC.

There is definitely organization and feedback involved, maybe one of the Adepts who posts here could clarify.

 

[darjr]

Do we know how involved the D&D team is in Guild Adept materials? Is there a Guild Adept editor on staff?

Yes?

 

[Zardnaar]

Cover looks badass,I'll wait for some reviews but adding it to interested pile.

Wonder if the monster on cover is a Wendigo.

 

[Reynard]

Yes?

I don't understand your response.

 

[Von Ether]

Maybe, but you can't tell which ones are good because there is no editorial oversight. Editing is highly underrated by both game creators and consumers, and is probably the second most important aspect of the industry (after actual game design).

Does anyone know of a website or blog that keeps track of DMsGuild adventures and/or reviews them.

Keyword Guild Adept, then set the filter to highest rated.

Dungeon Masters Guild - Guild Adept -

www.dmsguild.com

From what I understand, there is a WotC review on the bigger projects like Xanathar's Lost Notes, Encounters of Avrnus and the ALs. (Basically the stuff directly supporting WotC product releases.)

Regardless, the Adept stuff is still going to be better than average even if there are some missteps.

And perhaps the best way such products reach higher editorial standards is for said editors to step onto the field and make their DMs Guild product.

Or barring that, offer their editorial services for a piece of the royalties on a DMs Guild product. One of the going rates is 20% of the 50% creatives get from Guild PDF.

WotC/OBS take 50% (For the infrastructure and use total use of approved IP) and the creatives split the other 50% (building off of derivative content, editorial, layout and art.) And considering your average novelist get 15% (which they split with their agent), that's pretty good.

So the therefore mentioned 20% is 10%. The other creative(s) get the remaining 40%. Hence why a lot of community content is one or two people projects at most.

(LOL! At this point I need to either wrap this post up or make it longer an pitch it to Morrus as a ENWorld article.)

 

[jgsugden]

It's still a very nebulous term. Over the course of 30 years, I've seen it restricted to just the coastline between Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate, to it including everything north of Amn and west of Cormyr. The wiki is valiantly trying to define it, but you could pull up as many sources that contradict that definition as support it.

If the term is misused elsewhere, that does not impact the definition of it from the creators of it as cited.

 

[Demetrios1453]

If the term is misused elsewhere, that does not impact the definition of it from the creators of it as cited.

And if the term is misused by the creators themselves? Im talking about dozens of official TSR/WotC products over the decades with multiple definitions of the term.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Yes?

Like @Reynard , I don't understand this response. Are you saying that "Yes? There probably is a Guild Adept editor on staff..." Or "Yes? We do know how involved the D&D team is in Guild Adept materials (probably)..."