D&D 5E Rime of the Frostmaiden Post-Mortem (Spoilers)

[Paul Farquhar]

I conflated the Macreadus character with the chwinga druid character, and had that character hire the party to find a chwinga because chwinga magic was necessary to create the summer star, which could potentially end Auril's Winter.

I did something similar, giving the chwinga quest to Mishann (Bryn Shander cleric), who the party had to visit in order to reverse being aged by a ghost. The relationship between her, Copper and Macreadus was... complicated.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Again, to reiterate, if you are a writer and you put in human sacrifice taking place in a starting village, being condoned and implemented by the good-aligned officials of the town, you had better be prepared to address it IN DEPTH in your adventure. Other than the endless winter that's unstoppable by 1st level characters (and isn't really addressed until midway through the adventure), it's the most concerning issue in the Ten Towns.
You're going to go looking for a phantom deer while towns are sacrificing people? You're going to go collecting nature spirits, while the towns are sacrificing people? You're going to go after stolen iron, while the towns are sacrificing people?

And this is you imposing your own values, which clearly are different to the author's values. Nothing wrong with that, I have the same thing with Dragonlance. I presented the sacrifices as just something that was happening, and my players accepted it (along with townsfolk warming their hands on burning wizards). People don't all have the same values and priorities.

The shock horror you clearly feel at the suggestion of human sacrifice isn't a reaction shared by everyone.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Conveying that to the players can be awkward though. They can very easily assume it's a matter closer to home - like, "We need to get the Speakers to stop doing this evil thing". It can potentially be hard to convey in-game that the characters are barking up the wrong tree. I can easily see inexperienced DMs having to say, "Uh, folks, the adventure really doesn't anticipate you trying to convince the Speakers to stop the sacrifices and, um, I'm not sure who is even in charge of them or how they work or whose idea they were. So please stop trying to do that."

I think this is very much YMMV situation. In this particular case, the people who are involved in the sacrifices aren’t automatically hostile to the PCs and are present to give their reasons. I could see a DM that has trouble understanding the justification also having trouble explaining it, but at the end of the day, the problem is that there isn’t a whole lot the PCs can DO about it, short of killing a bunch of desperate people.

Not being able to solve every adventure hook immediately isn’t really a bug in my book.

 

[Burnside]

I think this is very much YMMV situation. In this particular case, the people who are involved in the sacrifices aren’t automatically hostile to the PCs and are present to give their reasons. I could see a DM that has trouble understanding the justification also having trouble explaining it, but at the end of the day, the problem is that there isn’t a whole lot the PCs can DO about it, short of killing a bunch of desperate people.

Not being able to solve every adventure hook immediately isn’t really a bug in my book.

But even, like, "Specifically whose idea was this"? I feel like this is just a basic piece factual information the adventure could have easily supplied that would go a long way towards throwing the DM a bone here.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But even, like, "Specifically whose idea was this"? I feel like this is just a basic piece factual piece of information the adventure could have easily supplied that would go a long way towards throwing the DM a bone here.

This is a world where gods are not only objectively real, but can and do walk into your living room with a list of demands. It's fairly obvious where the idea came from.

If you need any more hints there is a divine servant hunting down and killing cheats.

 

[Retreater]

The shock horror you clearly feel at the suggestion of human sacrifice isn't a reaction shared by everyone.

I mean, is it illogical to find random human sacrifice an abhorrent idea that should be stopped by heroic characters?
We're talking ritualistic murder.
How in the world is this acceptable among the posters on here?

 

[Irlo]

I mean, is it illogical to find random human sacrifice an abhorrent idea that should be stopped by heroic characters?
We're talking ritualistic murder.
How in the world is this acceptable among the posters on here?

Ritualistic murder, coerced by an evil ice god who has the entire region trapped in an unending wintery night, performed by a dwindling, starving populace, devoid of hope, knowing that, if it is not done, everyone they know and love dies.

No poster here finds it acceptable. But it makes sense in the fiction.

 

[billd91]

I mean, is it illogical to find random human sacrifice an abhorrent idea that should be stopped by heroic characters?
We're talking ritualistic murder.
How in the world is this acceptable among the posters on here?

Stopping it? Sure.
But the question is finding out why it's happening and getting at the root cause rather than going apeshit on the desperate people who are forced into such desperate measures.

 

[Retreater]

Ritualistic murder, coerced by an evil ice god who has the entire region trapped in an unending wintery night, performed by a dwindling, starving populace, devoid of hope, knowing that, if it is not done, everyone they know and love dies.

No poster here finds it acceptable. But it makes sense in the fiction.

The terrible thing about it is that Auril is not coercing anybody - not according to the adventure that I can find anyway. It's not said that her agents (or she herself) is requesting it. It's just happening, apparently for no reason. It isn't proven to be effective. It's completely random. It is even rumored to be rigged.
This is an evil institution.

 

[Irlo]

Party huddles together. "Yeah, this guy is clearly insane or evil. Either way he needs to be disposed from power immediately!"
KILL THE MAYOR!!!!

That could lead to a great interaction with the mayor. The PCs confront the mayor, preparing for execution, and the mayor accepts their judgement but pleads for them to wait until the new moon, so that his life can at least be spent to stay the goddesses’ cold wrath for another month.