D&D 5E Running Rime of the Frost Maiden

[Reynard]

Absolutely!

Curse of Strahd, Out of the Abyss and Tomb of Annihilation let players go anywhere they like. I’m pretty much any order.

Too much freedom without any structure can be a problem for some groups, though. Option paralysis and endless debates are real things that happen at the table. I don't mind a "directed" campaign with story beats and railroady elements. I like to think of those sorts of campaigns as river rafting: the beginning and end are defined, but a whole lot can happen that is at turns terrifying and awe inspiring and even relaxing on the way, and how much fin you have depends as much as the folks you have in the boat with you as anything else.

 

[MarkB]

Too much freedom without any structure can be a problem for some groups, though. Option paralysis and endless debates are real things that happen at the table. I don't mind a "directed" campaign with story beats and railroady elements. I like to think of those sorts of campaigns as river rafting: the beginning and end are defined, but a whole lot can happen that is at turns terrifying and awe inspiring and even relaxing on the way, and how much fin you have depends as much as the folks you have in the boat with you as anything else.

Out of the Abyss handled that pretty well through the NPCs that could accompany the party. Any of them that survive the initial escape each have their own preferred destinations, so the campaign can be guided through the medium of which of them the players grow to like and trust.

From the IGN preview, it looks like this adventure may be handling it through the PCs' beckgrounds and secrets, along with the directions that their initial quests take them.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Looking forward to getting my copy in a couple weeks. Not sure if I'll run this adventure in its entirety, but I'll definitely be able to loot it for material, regardless.

 

[MarkB]

Looks like my Roll20 prep work so far hasn't been in vain - I've uploaded maps of the region, and each of the Ten Towns. I'll have to double check once the book's out that none of the major details have changed.

 

[Reynard]

Looks like my Roll20 prep work so far hasn't been in vain - I've uploaded maps of the region, and each of the Ten Towns. I'll have to double check once the book's out that none of the major details have changed.

I use Fantasy grounds, but do you have a good source for maps of each of the Ten Towns?

 

[TheSword]

Please lord. Let the maps in this Campaign be VTT quality. I’m heartily sick of paying £40 for a roll 20 module for Dragon Heist or Avernus only to have to wait and pay more to source colour maps.

Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation etc are so far ahead it’s not even funny.

[Edit
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

Their colour maps in Sleeping Dragons Wake are pretty damn fine!

 

[Reynard]

Please lord. Let the maps in this Campaign be VTT quality. I’m heartily sick of paying £40 for a roll 20 module for Dragon Heist or Avernus only to have to wait and pay more to source colour maps.

Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation etc are so far ahead it’s not even funny.

I don't mind the Dyson Logos maps because they are clean and not memory hogs. I have used some fan made and DMs Guild maps that aren't great. But I wish the VTT packages had maps for all the things you need maps for.

 

[MarkB]

I use Fantasy grounds, but do you have a good source for maps of each of the Ten Towns?

I literally just did a Google Image search for "icewind dale ten towns map", but here are links to the ones I used.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/e/ec/Ten_towns_map-5e.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/2000?cb=20190418221145

https://pro2-bar-s3-cdn-cf3.myportfolio.com/b6995f0dd8973d41d32271aa7bc4c60a/415d9c02886ee6212b043e21_rw_1200.jpg?h=194659561077ba8556c3f186038f8fef

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/e8/a9/31e8a98f2d08282bffa2d5233602dec5.jpg

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/4/4b/Bryn-Shander.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140209232624

 

[TheSword]

I don't mind the Dyson Logos maps because they are clean and not memory hogs. I have used some fan made and DMs Guild maps that aren't great. But I wish the VTT packages had maps for all the things you need maps for.

As a DM I like them, as a DM on VTT I just expect more. I find copying the full colour high res maps into paint 3D then reducing the resolution by a third then loading them back in helps a lot with memory. I just love colour maps. Maybe Tomb of Annihilation ruined me. A whole book of original gorgeous Mike Schley maps

... the maps that is, I’ve never met Mike so can’t say if he’s gorgeous or not!

 

[MarkB]

Please lord. Let the maps in this Campaign be VTT quality. I’m heartily sick of paying £40 for a roll 20 module for Dragon Heist or Avernus only to have to wait and pay more to source colour maps.

Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation etc are so far ahead it’s not even funny.

[Edit
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

Their colour maps in Sleeping Dragons Wake are pretty damn fine!

I'm a little torn at the moment - currently I've got the campaign pre-ordered on D&D Beyond, because I buy most D&D books that way, and I find it much easier to read content there, but I'm wondering if it'll save me a whole lot of importing work to just buy it through Roll20 instead. As this is the first major D&D campaign I'll be running through Roll20, I don't really have much sense of the scale of the task as yet.