DND 5e *ICEWIND DALE: Rime of the Frost Maiden* pre-game interest thread (March 2023) *POLL CLOSED*

So then an illiterate Barbarian Druid multiclass with some wild beast companion?

Oh I know, what’s the largest playable race or something with a drake mount.

LOL :rofl:

That’s a good strategy. You will be this DM’s favorite! :smiley:

Ahhh the “joys” of being a DM…y’all are killin’ me already and I haven’t even started the game up yet! :rofl:

One thing everyone should keep in mind at the time I made this decision and thread, I was not considering all the drama surrounding Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast and this whole OGL 1.1 stuff. So far game is still planned for early March and all, but we will have to see how the whole OGL thing plays out because right now it sounds like Hasbro and WotC are heading in the greedy a$$hole direction.

yep, my son just asked me to run a 1 shot for him and some people, and I was trying to decide between PF2 and DND5e. While 5e is technically still on the table, since i have mostly physical books, I did just cancel my D&D Beyond subscription specifically because how they are handling the OGL currently.

@everyone Actually before I completely commit to Candlekeep there are some options for campaigns to play. So far I have been able to finish the Icewind Dale and Descent Into Avernus campaigns so there are options to run other things if there is interest in running something other than Candlekeep. I’ll be adding a poll to guage interest in the different campaigns I can do.

UPDATE Poll added to intro post

I looked for a spoiler free synopsis of each to help make up my mind;

Descent is more of a “your end goal is this, and here is the route to get there” and according to the article i read the goal is presented pretty early"

Rime is much more open choose your route within the area of the Dale until everything culminates in something.

Candlekeep, is a bunch of one shots, I don’t know how it is laid out but it will take some time, and creativity to link everything together somehow.

I voted, but i could honestly go for either of the two full campaigns. I suspect Candlekeep is better used as a filler :smiley:

I voted, but I am up for anything. I would even be interested in Pathfinder although I have never played it before.

I am good with Icewind dale or candlekeep. I don’t want to go to hell. fYI, I’m thinking of playing a healing class. I’m looking at a Circle of Stars healing Druid. I would like to get an idea of times. DnD games can go long and I am an early riser so midnight is off the table for me. Ideally 6-10 pm eastern would be great. I might be able to go to 11 on a Saturday but nothing later than that. I don’t want to waste everyone’s time or get all excited and then find I am not able to play. I think this will be totally awesome. Thank you.

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So… earlier I said I was interested in playing a rogue.

BUT! That was before I knew the Shadar-kai existed. If we play something other than the Avernus campaign I would like to play as a Shadar-Kai Shadow Sorcerer.

UPDATE

Changed the title of the thread to reflect the fact that based on interest it looks like I will be running Icewind Dale and Avernus before Cnadlekeep.

So having played Avernus and Icewind Dale to completion (well technically to completion with Icewind Dale) and also currently in the midst of a Candlekeep campaign so my thoughts on the three:

Icewind Dale- Rime of the Frostmaiden
So this one is pretty “open-worldish”, you are given a pretty clear goal fairly early in the game but accomplishing the goal is very vague and requires a lot of searching and exploration. Lots and lots of travel in this one. It has some survival elements to it and I’ll be on your butts about rations and water supply and things like that. Also, the big thing to consider for this adventure that a lot of it takes place completely in the dark. The Frostmaiden’s Rime has blanketed the lands of Icewind Dale in permanent darkness.

Baldur’s Gate - Descent Into Avernus
Yeah, you don’t actually spend much time in Baldur’s Gate in this one. You soon end up in hell with a clear goal, but again like Icewind Dale you’re gonna have to do a lot of exploring, searching and investigating. it has a real Mad Max/Fallout wasteland apocalypse feel to it. Good/neutral aligned characters will be tested to the extent of their alignment perhaps to the point of experiencing an alignment change. You interact with an assortment of, ummm, interesting characters in this campaign. There’s also this whole vehicle thing that factors heavily into it as well. I remember this adventure fondly because my cleric almost (unintentionally) burnt down an entire enemy hideout in Baldur’s Gate before we even went to hell.

Candlekeep Mysteries
This adventure is definitely more episodic/chained one shots in feeling and setup. I am currently in a group playing and we are a little over halfway through I think. While this adventure is more linear in nature it is kinda open to creating an ongoing narrative of sorts. Also, this is the kind of adventure where I would allow people to switch characters if they so chose without their current character dying. And plenty of mystery involved in figuring out each adventure.

There’s some food for thought regarding each adventure.

Looking at session zero early March and campaign start mid March.

As I know nothing about any of them, I voted only based on what the internet said was 'the best". I am up to play whatever the GM wants to run.

Similar to what @Schplam said above, I voted based on what sounded “the best” but any of the three I’m sure will be great. I’m pretty sure I can adapt the character I have in my head to any of the three adventures.

Forum name : Yamakawa
Days/times available/interested : any day after 5pm
TTRPG experience summary : New to playing D&D

UPDATE

Given the current state of things with DnD and the whole OGL debacle I need to update my plans a bit. I have used Roll20 with DnD Beyond integration a lot in the past both for playing games and DMing games and now I am looking to move away from DnD Beyond because I have lost all interest in supporting WotC anymore. I am still going to be running a couple games for you guys and we’re gonna have a big session zero in March to sort out the two groups looking at two groups of at least 5. Since all the interest in campaign choice is looking at Avernus or Icewind Dale it is now a choice between the hot campaign or the cold campaign and that’s being literal not figurative. I’m either going to see if I can manage to setup a working game in Foundry, or if that fails I will invest in the resources necessary to run the whole thing in Roll20. The games may start a bit later than March, depending on which route I go and how much manual work will be involved. I’m still going to be running two groups for Icewind Dale or Avernus, and we will be starting late spring early summer once this whole OGL thing rolls over and we start seeing what the fallout is like from VTT’s and other RPG groups/organizations.

I will be posting a poll for holding a session zero for everyone to sort out groups, best days/times and try and coordinate with everyone. If we can’t get everyone together for a session zero we will sort out groups in the thread here and then schedule separate session zeros for each group. Once we do session zero I will have a better idea of who wants to play what so I can make sure and have the resources needed for races/classes and so forth. I will put up a poll for session zero early next week.

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After messing around some with Foundry trying to set up a custom game, I am now looking at just amassing the resources needed to play in Roll20 completely without any outside resources. Just not enough stuff in Foundry for 5e for me to put it together in Foundry reliably without a lot of manual/hands on setup. Got me the PHB, Tasha’s and Xanathar so far; looking at picking up the DMG, Monsters of the Multiverse and either Icewind Dale or Avernus books and then good to go. I’ll get the last three books I need in the next month or so and then still looking good for a session zero in March and then starting late March early April.

From the looks of it I will be running Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden as that is the most popular choice from the voting results so far.

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Depending on the day the sessions will run from 6-10pm est or 7-11pm est.

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In that case I can only play Saturday, as I am PST…on the off chance I get employment again. :slight_smile:

I got the Rime of the Frrostmaiden module for Roll20, so we are that much closer to game start. In fact, looking like we will have session zero in March and start by late March. I’ll be planning session zero for early February after I do a good read through of the whole book and I’ve got my head wrapped around DMing a fairly open world adventure.

In session zero we will go over everybody’s character ideas and set to creating the characters in Roll20. If anyone has any character ideas already feel free to make them up in D&D Beyond, but note that ultimately we will be making the characters in Rolls20 and using them there. Session zero will also cover some of my homebrew rule changes and set the tone for the adventure.

Soon, you will know the meaning of cold and dark!

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@Findywen @Schplam @lalanehla @ocelot @Greylin-Reshanis @Spoon @fenwald @jpmo @Yamakawa

I have 10 names, 10 players, enough for two groups. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is the 5e adventure the groups will be playing. Options for days/times for sessions are Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday evenings starting at 6 or 7pm est. If you have not posted your days/times available please update your interest posts here with days/times available from the options previously listed. I would like to have the two groups sorted out before I hold session zeros for each group. Looking at session zero early February and starting the games ealry/mid-March.