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!)

 

[darjr]

You can get Legacy of the Crystal Shard on the DMsGuild

I wish I had run this and gotten a copy of the physical release.

Legacy of the Crystal Shard (Next) - Wizards of the Coast | D&D 5th Edition | Dungeon Masters Guild

Legacy of the Crystal Shard (Next) - An Adventure for 1st level characters by R.A Salvatore, James Wyatt, Jeffrey Ludwig Forgotten Realms - the Sundering T

www.dmsguild.com

That’s my affiliate link FYI

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I own the physical copy and it's a nice package.

 

[Zarithar]

Nice - I'd love to see Icewind Dale fleshed out for 5e. Hopefully there will be some reference to The Companions of the Hall, The Crystal Shard, etc.

 

[Hurin70]

In addition to all the other suggestions on this thread, you might want to check the Adventurer's League (AL) modules. They vary widely in quality, but that was true of the individual adventures published in previous editions too. And there are some real gems among them. Several are currently being offered for free, so you've got nothing to lose by giving them a look:

Downloadable Adventures & Resources | Dungeons & Dragons

Get started with downloadable PDF adventures and resources from the lastest edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

dnd.wizards.com

Dungeon Masters Guild - D&D Adventurers League -


Virtually every issue of Dragon+ has a free adventure for download from the DM's Guild. It's basically just WotC putting their official stamp of approval on something submitted to them, just as they would have done in the days of Dungeon magazine. The only difference is that the adventure doesn't have the WotC logo on it.

Thanks for the help, and those are good suggestions.

If I could clarify what I mean though: Most official D&D modules used to be what I'll call 'intermediate-length adventures' (more than 1 level/night's adventuring, but not a full campaign). Keep on the Borderlands was for levels 1-3. One of my favorites was Master of the Desert Nomads, for level 6-9. This trend seemed to continue right up to 4th edition, whose Keep on the Shadowfell was for level 1-3. Now to be sure, these old modules could be part of a series that provided a full adventure path, as we tend to call it nowadays, but they could also be played as one-offs, or slotted into existing campaigns without too much difficulty.

I don't see much of that from WotC today. In terms of official adventures for 5e, I only see long campaigns (seemingly influenced by Pathfinder Adventure Paths?), such as Descent into Avernus, or short Advernturer's League adventures, which seem designed for conventions or a single session, even if they can be strung together (please correct me if I am wrong).

What we seem to be lacking is the good old intermediate-length adventure module. One that lasts 3 or 4 levels, and can be easily slotted in as a part or sidequest of an existing campaign.

I used to love those. 4e had a ton of them, some of which were well done (say what you want about 4e as a system), and many of the ones from earlier editions had uniquely tight, well constructed plots that simply can't be done as well if they are strung out to full-campaign length (they would end up like the last few seasons of a TV show that has gone on too long). For this reason, many of the old intermediate adventures are amongst the most beloved of all time, and remain models for adventure writing to this day. They also filled a niche for a medium-sized detour in an existing campaign, or a building block of a longer campaign.

I miss that.

 

[Parmandur]

You can get Legacy if the Crystal Shard on the DMsGuild

I wish I had run this and gotten a copy of the physical release.

Legacy of the Crystal Shard (Next) - Wizards of the Coast | D&D 5th Edition | Dungeon Masters Guild

Legacy of the Crystal Shard (Next) - An Adventure for 1st level characters by R.A Salvatore, James Wyatt, Jeffrey Ludwig Forgotten Realms - the Sundering T

www.dmsguild.com

That’s my affiliate link FYI

I saw this in a shrink wrapped copy in my FLGS a few years back: kind of regret not picking it up.

 

[Parmandur]

Thanks for the help, and those are good suggestions.

If I could clarify what I mean though: Most official D&D modules used to be what I'll call 'intermediate-length adventures' (more than 1 level/night's adventuring, but not a full campaign). Keep on the Borderlands was for levels 1-3. One of my favorites was Master of the Desert Nomads, for level 6-9. This trend seemed to continue right up to 4th edition, whose Keep on the Shadowfell was for level 1-3. Now to be sure, these old modules could be part of a series that provided a full adventure path, as we tend to call it nowadays, but they could also be played as one-offs, or slotted into existing campaigns without too much difficulty.

I don't see much of that from WotC today. In terms of official adventures for 5e, I only see long campaigns (seemingly influenced by Pathfinder Adventure Paths?), such as Descent into Avernus, or short Advernturer's League adventures, which seem designed for conventions or a single session, even if they can be strung together (please correct me if I am wrong).

What we seem to be lacking is the good old intermediate-length adventure module. One that lasts 3 or 4 levels, and can be easily slotted in as a part or sidequest of an existing campaign.

I used to love those. 4e had a ton of them, some of which were well done (say what you want about 4e as a system), and many of the ones from earlier editions had uniquely tight, well constructed plots that simply can't be done as well if they are strung out to full-campaign length (they would end up like the last few seasons of a TV show that has gone on too long). For this reason, many of the old intermediate adventures are amongst the most beloved of all time, and remain models for adventure writing to this day. They also filled a niche for a medium-sized detour in an existing campaign, or a building block of a longer campaign.

I miss that.

They exist as chapters in the long Adventure books.

Seriously, take the individual chapters of any one of these books, and that is what you get.

 

[delericho]

I'm cautiously optimistic for this one (if true) - I've been looking to run an ice-themed campaign ever since the 3e book "Frostburn" hit, and I happen to be in the market for a new campaign book.

But I do have two fairly strong deal-breakers, and I fear it may run into one or both: it needs to start at 1st level (and needs to really start at 1st level, without 'bootstrap' material like in SKT or CoS), and when the PCs finally do reach the big bad, the adventure needs to not 'cheat' to let the PCs tackle a tougher foe than their level 'should' allow (like the weakened Tiamat in RoT, the battle royale in OotA, etc.)

So I'm very much in the "wait and see" camp.

Indeed, Lost Mines of Phandelver is really the only 5e adventure ready to be run with few preparation, I would also love seeing more adventures like it

Yeah, LMoP was great. The only bad thing about it is the way it puts so many other adventures into the shade.

 

[Hurin70]

They exist as chapters in the long Adventure books.

Seriously, take the individual chapters of any one of these books, and that is what you get.

It's not nearly as good or easy though. I could cut the four guardian keeps from Princes of the Apocalypse and put them into my campaign, but I have to figure out what is motivating my players to clear them out; what they get at the end of it all; how I am supposed to cut out the allusions to greater threats; figure out why my players are in the sumber hills to begin with; etc.

That's nowhere near getting something like Master of the Desert Nomads.

 

[Reynard]

They exist as chapters in the long Adventure books.

Seriously, take the individual chapters of any one of these books, and that is what you get.

That might be true for length but many of those "adventures" make no sense at all decontextualized from the overall adventure.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Or... you could just wait for spoilers here on EnWorld.

You know, I could do that, but I'm not going to.