D&D 5E Previews of Rime of the Frostmaiden

IGN has posted a preview of Rime of the Frostmaiden, including some preview pages (I've put one below). They will also be posting more previews tomorrow!

Exclusive: Get An Early Look Inside D&D's Rime of the Frostmaiden - IGN

We've got an exclusive early look at pages from D&D's newest adventure, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.

www.ign.com

 

[Parmandur]

As long as they don't give us Anauroch as a stand-in for Athas ... (like how they gave us Ravnica instead of Sigil).

Not sure why people see Ravnica and Sigil as being in competition somehow. They are not megacities, but they are very different. Sigil is a Planar crossroads, whereas Ravnica is not (anymore than Waterdeep, at any rate). The factions are nothing alike. The nature of the urban environment is totally different.

 

[pukunui]

IIRC, and I'm fairly certain, Perkins actually called out the megaliths in Curse of Strahd as being an Easter Egg reference to Jeremy Crawford's home campaign (where Perkins is a player), because in Crawford's personal homebrew campaign world the original homeworld of Barovia and Strahd is the one his players adventure in. Of course, that opens up the possibility that Vecna and the Weavers are also be an extended nod to Crawford's homebrew, which is classic D&D designer shenanigans frankly.

Yeah, I remembered there being talk from the designers about those megaliths at the time of Curse of Strahd's release, but I couldn't remember if it had to do with Jeremy's home game or if it was a reference to the repeated obelisk motif. Maybe it was both. It's possible it's all connected somehow!

Not sure why people see Ravnica and Sigil as being in competition somehow. They are not megacities, but they are very different. Sigil is a Planar crossroads, whereas Ravnica is not (anymore than Waterdeep, at any rate). The factions are nothing alike. The nature of the urban environment is totally different.

I think it's mostly just the "megacity with factions" element, plus the fact that lots of people were hoping for a Sigil / Planescape book, and they feel that the existence of Ravnica covering the "megacity with factions" theme means we won't get a product dedicated to Sigil specifically since WotC has said they want each setting to have its own niche.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I remembered there being talk from the designers about those megaliths at the time of Curse of Strahd's release, but I couldn't remember if it had to do with Jeremy's home game or if it was a reference to the repeated obelisk motif. Maybe it was both. It's possible it's all connected somehow!

I think it's mostly just the "megacity with factions" element, plus the fact that lots of people were hoping for a Sigil / Planescape book, and they feel that the existence of Ravnica covering the "megacity with factions" theme means we won't get a product dedicated to Sigil specifically since WotC has said they want each setting to have its own niche.

Sigil's niche is "City of Gates," an interdimensional crossroads where Devils and Modrons negotiate in seedy back alleys. Ravnica was studiously non-Planar in nature, curiously so given the Magic story in general. Eberron heavily focused on Sharon, which is also a steampunkish megacity with factions.

I love the idea of a timey-wimey Anauroch desert AP, I hope they explore these wild themes more.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Well I WAS gonna use Kobold's Press Empire of Ghouls as the actual Anauroch: Empire of Shade...

Could you elaborate? I don't see any similarities at all.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

CoS and GoS aren't set in the Forgotten Realms, so I might not expect them to have obelisks. However, there is a connection to Vecna mentioned in RotFM.

I think there is one, not in the Essentials Kit itself, but in one of the downloadable modules that come with it. I can't remember which one though.

 

[pukunui]

CoS and GoS aren't set in the Forgotten Realms, so I might not expect them to have obelisks.

No, but I feel like CoS is around when they first started talking about obelisks, and that at least some of the megaliths in that adventure are meant to be related to all the others. But I could be misremembering and it may just have been talk of the megaliths relating to Jeremy's home campaign, as was mentioned above.

 

[Bitbrain]

As long as they don't give us Anauroch as a stand-in for Athas ... (like how they gave us Ravnica instead of Sigil).

Given how they are using adventures to detail specific areas of Faerun, I doubt they will do that.

Honestly, an adventure involving time travel and a magic-blighted desert sounds really easy to convert into Dark Sun, if you ask me.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wow, that would be!

Maybe they are setting up for a future Anauroch adventure, half in the present and half in the past in Netheril, via one of these obelisks...

There is a lack of high level adventure paths. Connecting the obelisks, Time Travel and the fall of Netheril would be suitably epic for a high tier adventure - WotC's own Avengers!

 

[Weiley31]

Could you elaborate? I don't see any similarities at all.

Considering all my 5E games are set in FR, unless otherwise noted, I'm turning said Empire of Ghouls into/related to the Netheril

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ok, no matter what the obelisks actually do, I really really like the sheer Idea of a super plot arching over muttiple adventure books. And I really love that it was noticed by the players before the big reveal.