D&D 5E A brief rant about Rime of the Frost Maiden, farming, logistics, and ecology

[jasper]

I read 5G and thought for a split second that people in Ten-Towns were blaming the weather on the new 5G network...

You know since my group has a phone message group to plan their take over of the gem mine. I going have to work that joke in some how.

 

[Remathilis]

I think that’s because they want it to double as an Icewind Dale campaign setting as well as an adventure, so they’ve written locations to be as generic as possible so people can use them in their own adventures with minimal effort if they want to.

It tracks with previous 5e adventures. They’re all meant to be pretty cut and paste.

This is the right answer. The adventure is trying to fill two different objectives at the same time: it wants to explain a region as normally as possible AND to have the region be in the grips of a supernatural catastrophe to suit the horror elements. Which is why the towns feel simultaneously normal (buzz in the tavern) and on the verge of collapse (human sacrifice). It's what creates the whiplash of "why now?" even if it otherwise makes sense (and the jury is out on that.)

It almost asks you to pick one: the longer winter would push society to the edge of collapse and heighten the desperation, while the shorter extension of winter allows society to have carried on mostly as normal, with the winter acting as a coming threat. What people are saying doesn't work is that much normality at the point collapse should have happened.

 

[robus]

But generally, when these sorts of things come up in novels or movies, the expected answer is "you are thinking too much about this, just focus on enjoying the story the author is telling". The problem with this as a DnD experience is that we are the authors, even as players. And this sense that we are incorrectly "thinking too deeply" about the setting, the goals, the motivations, and the consequences of the world... is a little jarring for me. We should encourage deeper thought, I would expect, not treat this the same way we treat more passive media.

This!

 

[robus]

What people are saying doesn't work is that much normality at the point collapse should be out have happened.

I was with until this? Not sure I follow?

 

[Remathilis]

Autocurrant errors. Should read "What people are saying doesn't work is that much normality at the point collapse should have happened."

 

[Ovinomancer]

A priest, a rabbit, and a minister walk into a bar.

The bartender says to the rabbit, "What's going on, here?"

The rabbit says, "No idea. I'm just here because of autocorrect."

 

[robus]

This is the right answer. The adventure is trying to fill two different objectives at the same time: it wants to explain a region as normally as possible AND to have the region be in the grips of a supernatural catastrophe to suit the horror elements. Which is why the towns feel simultaneously normal (buzz in the tavern) and on the verge of collapse (human sacrifice). It's what creates the whiplash of "why now?" even if it otherwise makes sense (and the jury is out on that.)

This is where I think WotC is missing an opportunity. Instead of mashing up the big plot with the gazetteer they should be thinking of the adventure in two parts (similar to what they did with SKT, but not as poorly executed).

IMHO, the book should be broken into two parts - Icewind Dale and Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Part 1: Icewind Dale - Levels 1-5. Normal world. Here the PCs get immersed in the setting - they meet the locals, have light adventures, resolve personal quests. (Not some fast paced adventure to get them to level 5 - but allow them to settle into the setting, make personal acquaintances, that can be threatened/killed off later...). Make it very much driven by what the PCs are interested in pursuing.

Part 2: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Levels 6 - 15 (or whatever). Adventure world. Here the DM narrates the how the world has changed winter has blighted the land and the PCs (along with the rest of population) have been struggling to survive and desperation has set in. Cue adventure hooks to get the main quest rolling.

I think WotC is doing themselves (and us as DMs) a disservice by trying to go big from the get-go with these adventures. By splitting it in two they give us the option to either revel in the setting (from levels 1-5 and get the use of the gazetteer) and then move onto the main adventure, or air drop our PCs in at the start of the main adventure.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

The Alexandrian's running Twitter comments on this adventure are a good read.

 

[robus]

The Alexandrian's running Twitter comments on this adventure are a good read.

Link, for us old farts?

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I live in Northern Ontario and we get -40 weather for stretches in the winter and a steady -20 to -30 Celsius(-4 to-22F) all winter... The people I play with actually know what it feels like to be out when it's that cold. We also know that -20 Celsius can be deadly cold if you're not prepared or out for too long.

I roll my eyes when I watch Game of Thrones and people are running around in the cold without mitts or hats for extended periods. "how does he not get frost bite on his ears?"
"How does one even hold a sword with bare hands, much less fight with one?"

So, some of these comments and suggested changes are valuable for me if/when I run this module. There's no way my players could 'suspend disbelief' if I told them it was a -50 blizzard, please make a dc 10 con check every hour. (This is probably an exaggeration since I haven't read the adventure, but you know what I mean.)