D&D 5E Who got their Rime today?

[Parmandur]

Have they improved the opening sequencers? Or Does this one also have an absurd rationale for why low lv characters are acting irrationally/being sent to fix the problem?
For ex;
ToA - low lv pcs sent to jungle to halt the Death Curse.
Avernus- So you want my 3rd-5th lv pc to journey to Hell- to rescue a dude who should be replaceable.
SKT - so cloud giants have just bombed & raided this rown & now one is offering us a ride.....
DH - 1st we become tavern owners, then we're expected to investigate the death of a random gnome in the street.... ok.
Abyss - escaping the drow, fine. Running around HELPING the evil underdark cities....

So whats the opening hook here?

There are 12 possible opening quests, that are decidedly low level. The opening quest opens up into a sandbox that includes the other quests, and building regional renown. By the time the PCs are Tier 2, they are local heroes that people know, and the ramp up looks pretty slick, though things escalate quickly after Level 6 or so.

 

[Parmandur]

How's that Scroll of Tarrasque Summoning?

Surprisingly useful in context.

 

[Retreater]

Surprisingly useful in context.

I can't imagine having a Tarrasque to fight for you not being useful.

 

[Parmandur]

I can't imagine having a Tarrasque to fight for you not being useful.

Well, if you use it in the wrong time and place, the Sword Coast is boned per the Epilogue. Use it in the right place, the Sword Coast is fine and Auril is massively inconvenienced.

 

[Reynard]

I can't imagine having a Tarrasque to fight for you not being useful.

It does NOT fight for you. It just eats everything it can see.

 

[Todd Roybark]

I received my copy yesterday, but started with the appendices to start with.
Custom spells, some cool artifacts, and useful monsters, and probably the best NPC stats I've seen in a WotC module to date.

Also the module states there has not been a summer in Icewind Dale for two years...which is not the same as saying that there has been no sun for two years.

To counterbalance a previous post, I like how Auril is portrayed. Auril is a runaway god on the Material Plane, essentially just trying to setup a quiet little home, out in wilderness.
Being the goddess of winter's wrath, means not giving a about complicated motives.

 

[Burnside]

Also the module states there has not been a summer in Icewind Dale for two years...which is not the same as saying that there has been no sun for two years.

Four hours of twilight, 20 hours of darkness every day for two years. That’s what it says.

 

[Reynard]

Four hours of twilight, 20 hours of darkness every day for two years. That’s what it says.

Civilization is in the midst of collapse, and it will collapse within "a year or two" if the PCs don't save it. I don't understand what the issue is. The population is going through its stores, surviving mostly on knucklehead and using communal body heat to survive. Not to mention the occasional human sacrifice to Auril that may or may not net them some "goodwill" from the goddess.

ThatTen Towns isn't completely dead YET is not so unbelievable as to make the scenario unplayable IMO. It's desperate, but it is supposed to be.

 

[Burnside]

Civilization is in the midst of collapse, and it will collapse within "a year or two" if the PCs don't save it. I don't understand what the issue is. The population is going through its stores, surviving mostly on knucklehead and using communal body heat to survive. Not to mention the occasional human sacrifice to Auril that may or may not net them some "goodwill" from the goddess.

ThatTen Towns isn't completely dead YET is not so unbelievable as to make the scenario unplayable IMO. It's desperate, but it is supposed to be.

I didn't say it's unplayable. In fact, I said it's easily fixable by just shortening the amount of time it's been going on.

But if you think any civilization would still be this intact after two years on four daily hours of twilight and temps averaging 50 below - or that there would be any significant wildlife or plant life left alive (the adventure is full of animals) - I'm not sure what to tell you. I mean, you're completely wrong, but whatever. The place would be a desert of ice. It doesn't ruin the adventure (which seems to be overall a good one) because like I said, easy to change.

I really like the 5E hardcovers - all of them, even the dodgy ones like Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Horde of the Dragon Queen. But each of them, to varying degrees, has nonsensical flaws that are exactly that: flaws. The climate here is a flaw - they went too far. Auril is a bigger one - they didn't write her any goals.

I don't understand the compulsion some fans have to deny that any flaws in these adventures are there, and to defend them against the slightest criticism.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Under those conditions, life would not be possible. The ecology should have totally collapsed, the Ten Towns would have been starved out. What they are describing is basically Antartica, but somehow people and animals are still living there as if it's more like Alaska or Iceland or northern Canada. Someone should have considered this a little more. Even saying it's been winter for a year would be better. After two years of this, the situation would be WAY worse than what's depicted.

My copy is in theory at my FLGS, waiting for me to pick it up. One thing I don't like about working from home is not being within walking distance of it on my lunchbreaks. I could manage the trip in the car, but that's more hassle and rush than I want.