D&D 5E Running Rime of the Frost Maiden

[Azzy]

Because it's bothering me ...

Thanks for this info. I'm glad it's going to be a while before I run this adventure (I'm in the middle of running an LMoP/DoIP/Neverwinter campaign and I'm slotted to run an Eberrron campaign after that, with hopefully someone else running something in between), so it'll be nice to see the actual experiences of others before I run it.

 

[TheSword]

A question I'd ask: Who did the Ten Towns worship before Auril made her demands/presence known? Why haven't any of those gods intervened?

There's a good chance a PC will be a cleric of a deity, and will want to know this.

Auril has given almost all her attention to the ten towns. The other gods can only give a sliver of their attention without ignoring/letting down other areas of the realms.

It’s the basic premise that an attacker can target a specific area while a defender has to spread themselves thin.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A question I'd ask: Who did the Ten Towns worship before Auril made her demands/presence known? Why haven't any of those gods intervened?

There's a good chance a PC will be a cleric of a deity, and will want to know this.

This is actually mentioned on a D&DByond article. Gather Your Party for a Quest to Icewind Dale

Lathander is the obvious choice, as the god of dawn, Auril stopping dawn happening could be seen as a personal affront. Also, there is a chance he makes a personal appearance in Chapter 2.

Amunator seems like a good choice for a more mysterious cleric.

A left-field choice would be Silvanus. As the god of natural balance, anything that upsets the rhythm of nature would offend him.

If you are using the Icewind Dale CRPG as source material (which is set hundreds of years earlier) then there is a temple of Tempus in Easthaven, Walkeen in Lonelywood, and the mountain village of Kuldahar (which would be a S from Wymdoom Crag, E from Skytower Shelter) is a Sivanus sacred site, but also had a temple to Ilmater.

The Valley dwarves would follow the usual dwarven pantheon.

 

[Anthony Winter]

Hi All, I am focusing on areas for the group where I have made specific deviations from the book as written for consideration.
We just played session 4 and did the Bryn Shander quest, and general introduction to ten towns and icewind dale life.
points of differentiation:

• I replaced the veteran bounty hunter in bryn shander as the Harper agent contact to tie the justification for his engageing the party to a PC secret.
• A pc has the slaad host secret and doesnt know it. the slug is more active at night when the PC is imobile so I have described two players so far noting an 'egg' on the forehead , and on a separate instance forearm, of the infected player. They havent mentioned it yet.
• I had the party enter town on a new moon when a sacrifice was in flight to push the grim situation tentowners are in.

youtube of the session here: podcast here: S02E04 - Rime of the Frost Maiden - Thieving Goblins

 

[Khelon Testudo]

I'm not sure I'd give someone the slaad host secret without the player's buy-in. When it comes up, they may be ok with it... or they may not.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Because it's bothering me ...

This is from Legacy of the Crystal Shard (which is set in 1485 DR, during the Sundering, and is a 4e/5e transitional adventure):

House of the Triad: "Bryn Shander's largest place of worship, and the only one that truly deserves to be called a temple ... When it was first built, it honored the three gods known as the Triad: Tyr, the god of justice; Torm, the god of duty and loyalty; and Ilmater, the god of endurance in the face of suffering. Tyr is said to be dead, though he still has a handful of followers in town, and the holy days most commonly celebrated in the temple are those of Ilmater. The promise of divine aid for those who endure suffering appeals to the people of Ten-Towns."

Shrine of Amaunator: "... a modest gathering place for worshipers of the god of the sun. Considering that the sun vanishes for two months at a time every winter, it's a wonder that Amaunator has any worshipers at all in Icewind Dale. The priest who established the shrine, a retired adventuring cleric from Cormyr named Mithann ... speaks a powerful message of hope and rebirth. She calls Amaunator by old names - the Morninglord and the Glory of Dawn - that evoke a different image from that of the stern, rigid sun god who is worshiped farther south."

[As an aside, it specifically states that Mithann was a former adventuring companion of the famous paladin Isteval, who calls Daggerford home and was one of the big names in the Sundering series, making appearances in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, Scourge of the Sword Coast, and The Rise of Tiamat, among other things.]



This is from Storm King's Thunder, which takes place sometime after 1489 DR:

House of the Triad: "Bryn Shander's largest place of worship, the only one that truly deserves to be called a temple ... It honors the three gods known as the Triad: Tyr, the god of justice; Torm, the god of courage and self-sacrifice; and Ilmater, the god of endurance in the face of suffering. The temple is attended and maintained by visiting priests and acolytes from Neverwinter and Waterdeep, who usually stay no more than two years ... At present, the temple is home to a priest of Torm from Neverwinter named Dellvon Ludwig and his faithful friend, Sirac of Suzail."

Mithann and her shrine to Amaunator don't get a mention.



Finally, this is from Rime of the Frostmaiden, which is set in between the above two adventures in the timeline:

House of the Morninglord: "... this modest converted house serves as a gathering place for worshipers of Amaunator, a god of the sun known to take both male and female forms. A retired adventurer named Mishann runs the shrine and aspires to see the sun regain its rightful place in the sky over Icewind Dale. She calls Amaunator 'the Morninglord', a name that southerners use to describe Lathander, a god of the dawn and rebirth. Mishann views Lathander as a usurper of Amaunator's light and doesn't like it when people confuse the two deities."

The House of the Triad doesn't get a mention, although, because it appears in adventures set both before and after Rime, it surely must exist. (To be fair, the entry for each of the Ten-Towns in Rime is noticeably shorter what they get in the Legacy of the Crystal Shard Campaign Guide.)

It may be that the House of the Triad is not operational during this period because there is no cleric of those deities available to run it - the entire population of the Ten "Towns" would barely qualify as a small town. The building is mothballed, looked after by a cantankerous old caretaker who is actually a 90 year old paladin.

Later, the House of the Morninglord may be closed because Mithann has died or moved elsewhere.

As for the druidic circle, there are plenty of druids of Auril around. It may be that Auril has converted, killed or driven into hiding the druids of Silvanus. Auril's druids do not revere trees, so they wouldn't use a grove for their meetings.

 

[Flamestrike]

A PC has the slaad host secret and doesnt know it.

And if the thing kills him?

I wouldnt be impressed with that at all.

That kind of thing really needs a buy in from the player.

 

[pukunui]

It may be that the House of the Triad is not operational during this period because there is no cleric of those deities available to run it - the entire population of the Ten "Towns" would barely qualify as a small town. The building is mothballed, looked after by a cantankerous old caretaker who is actually a 90 year old paladin.

Later, the House of the Morninglord may be closed because Mithann has died or moved elsewhere.

As for the druidic circle, there are plenty of druids of Auril around. It may be that Auril has converted, killed or driven into hiding the druids of Silvanus. Auril's druids do not revere trees, so they wouldn't use a grove for their meetings.

Still would’ve been nice to have that acknowledged in the text.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Still would’ve been nice to have that acknowledged in the text.

Can't include every bit of lore ever written about a location. Everything you need to run the adventure is there. If you happen to have content from other sources you can incorporate it as you wish. I will probably incorporate stuff from the CRPG, but ignore stuff from "Legacy" as I feel is somewhat inconsistent. I know at least one of my players is a fan of The Crystal Shard novel, so the most important thing is consistency with that.

 

[Scott Christian]

Still would’ve been nice to have that acknowledged in the text.

There always needs to be some leg work on the DM's part. This is minor leg work. And if there was no forum, you'd probably still figure it out.

I get it, it seems important information was left out. But, in the bigger picture, it is supplemental information at best. I mean these towns are sacrificing to Auril to end winter. It is the primary thought in their life.