Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden review

 

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden review.

    Chris Perkins loves the Thing. That has been said by the man himself but even if he hadn't this book gives it away. A clear influence in this Adventure's design and story, it runs through the heart of this wintery horror story that puts the adventuring party in the center of the snowy domain of Icewind Dale. Icewind Dale is a familiar setting, it has featured in many of the Drizzt novels and has been utilised in the past by video games and other adventures alike. This wintry northland sits north of the Spine of the World mountains and houses the famous Ten towns. As an avid reader of the books by R.A. Salvatore, this is a familiar and comforting place to be in but it seems things have changed with the arrival of the Goddess Auril. The Frostmaiden has cast a spell over these lands and hidden the sun from view, a supernatural state that means that winter never leaves and the snow never melts, a pall of darkness stretching out for miles in all directions. Auril has come to this place to hide from the world and she is intent on ensuring that Icewind Dale remains hidden regardless of the needs of those that call this place home. Like all of their releases, this one has the adventure laid out in summary form at the beginning with details of what is occurring within the Dale. It is clear that something needs to be done if the people of the Dale and the Ten Towns are to survive, fell forces are beginning to take advantage of this endless gloom and this opens up avenues for any party of adventurers to take.

    Here we move on and look through the dangers of this icy environment and some character ideas and options. I liked the idea of the secrets section but this is hardly an extensive part of the book. We continue on to the first part of the adventure as we begin to explore the Ten Towns and adventure hooks that each of these towns can open up to our adventurers. This is an extensive section with notable NPCs noted for use and how the townsfolk are reacting to the Everlasting Rime. This entire chapter gives a variety of adventure hooks that the DM can utilise or adapt to their own version of the adventure, the ideas here are plentiful. The book continued onwards, expanding into Icewind Dale itself, and continues to add a number of possible directions for the party to take and options for the DM on how to reach the next part of the book. The adventure within can lead to interactions with the Duergar and the fell plans their leader has for the folk of Ten Towns. The adventure builds as the party are tasked with defeating this threat and then moving on to dealing Auril herself and the spell she has cast upon the Dale. More interestingly, at least in my mind, is the continuation leading to the ancient Netherese flying city that has remained hidden beneath the ice of the tale for centuries. Here is the most obvious nod to the Thing and it works well as the adventurers are placed within an environment that has been shaped by utter isolation, along with the threats inherent to the city itself. It would spoil the adventure to go into too much detail but I found the overriding story interesting with plenty of space to customise it to the DM's liking. 

    Like any adventure, we have the monster section, some interesting additions for winter environments being a fairly obvious choice here. I have to admit being something of a fan of the new Squidling variant that the adventure brings into play. Further, on from this, we have the mandatory magic items, none too wild or unique this time but fairly standard to the story. Some integral to the story as is often the case with these tomes. All in all, it is more of what we have come to expect from Wizards of the Coast.

    I enjoyed the setup of this adventure. I liked the isolation and harsh environment that will punish the adventuring party if they aren't careful. I'm always a fan of greater exploration of one of my favourite areas of the Forgotten Realms, and this region has been of import since Drizzt's earliest adventures. I would recommend that any fan of the 'Forgotten Realms' give this book a look, especially if you're a fan of horror as this game has some great elements peppered throughout. 

    I'd give this tome a 4 out 5 and recommend any DM give this one a look. Hopefully, you can utilise it to add new and interesting elements to your own campaign. Let me know in the comments what you think of this book, if you've used it in your campaign and if disagree with my little summary.

A review of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

 

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

    Ravenloft. The domains of Dread. Count Strahd von Zarovich. These names are known well in the arena of Dungeons and Dragons. The Curse of Strahd, in my opinion, is one of the best campaign settings out there. It has the right amount of tension built into the story, where the player/characters are never far from a visit from the ruler of Barovia. Wizards made the decision to expand upon the lore of the domains of Dread, to enrich the knowledge of the many DM's and players out there that love horror in all its varied forms. Ravenloft has a rich history with the original Vampire Strahd as he appeared in the Ravenloft novels, novels that included the likes of Lord Soth from the Dragonlance books. Wizards have taken this premise and run with it, creating a new Realm for DM's and players to explore. 

    Within these pages, you will find new options for new lineages, new takes on supernatural beginnings that allow the creation of the Dhampir, the Hexblood, and the Reborn. For the uninitiated, that means creating a half-vampire, a witch of sorts, and your own version of the Frankenstein monster. There have been changes here from the initial UA versions that D&D put out but they remain, at their core, much as they were. Beyond these, there are the new sub-classes, the Undead Warlock, and the Bard's College of Spirits. Here we come to one of the most interesting parts of this section, The Dark Gifts. The Dark powers that linger in the mists between each domain can bestow gifts upon those that roam the lands but they do not come without potential 'consequences'. These 'gifts' can add a new and interesting element to your games but they can easily complicate your player's lives, something that often occurs in Ravenloft. Again there are slight variations from the UA but they remain interesting new sub-classes to try out. There is one new background, the Investigator, and some new options to the backgrounds that may prove interesting to players looking for a change. All of this is merely the prologue to, what I feel, are the best parts of this tome.

    Creating the Domains of Dread. Here there are the details needed to create your own domain of dread for your players and it all begins with your Darklord. Provided within are a number of options to customize them to your liking, the level of detail interesting given what you may have in mind for your games.  Beyond this you begin the creation of the domain itself, again there are options provided to make this easy for you. As a continuation, we enter the particular genres of horror within the tome. This will give you ideas on what kind of horror you want in your games, tailoring it again to your own tastes. My personal choice has to run to Fantasy horror or cosmic horror but there are some great options beyond these traditional choices that I would recommend considering. Beyond this lays the section on the existing domains of Dread, many described in great detail and giving you insight into many particular genres of horror. It is clear by how much detail has been put into these that their creators clearly love the respective genres. As well as the domains there is a section here on characters that can be found roaming the mists, some good, some bad, but all of them of interest. It is a good section to learn more about the titular Van Richten and the newly named Ez D'Avenir, along with a few others that have popped up in other books. 

    The next section delves into running your horror game, advice given on how to let your games unfold, and approaching those that may have specific triggers when involved in such games. This section includes an inbuilt adventure called the House of Lament that you can run through as a test run or even a prologue to your own adventures. After this, we move onto the monsters and one of the most interesting ideas I've heard of. The bagman. Talk about the creep factor, would not want to wake up to that in-game or out of it. 

This is easily one of my favourite new books for 5E. It has some great new options and opens up Ravenloft in interesting ways. If you want to discover more you can easily check out the videos on youtube by D&D beyond or Todd Kendrick. They both cover the book wonderfully. I personally recommend Kendrick's interviews with Amanda Hamon, her love of the book and the genres comes shining through wonderfully. 

Hope you gamers and horror buffs give this tome a look.

    

A Review of the Cthulhu Mythos for 5E

 Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for 5E review

    As something of an RPG fan and a massive fan of cosmic horror I found myself purchasing this book out of curiosity alone. It was a great investment, at least in my humble opinion. Sitting at 426 pages, this is a hefty tome that adds new elements to the realms of 5E. Within you will find all you need to bring the elements of cosmic horror to your D&D game, with their own rule systems to add with those new elements. The book adds four new races for you to play with and whilst all of them are interesting with a number of sub-races available to play with, I found myself most interested in the Dreamlands Cat. The idea behind the feline character is awesome, with the ability to change from an everyday kitty to the intelligent aspect of the Dreamlands cat. There are a number of subclasses that allow you to tweak the cat to your own liking but even the basic premise is interesting and unusual enough that I think many would thoroughly enjoy the option to roleplay in such an unusual fashion. The Gnorri, Ghoul, and Zoog are all interesting in their own right with a variety of ways they could be roleplayed in your games, bringing new dynamics to the typical parties. There are a number of new spells provided specifically to the influence of the Elder horrors that this book contains and alludes to. The book of course introduces new magic items and Artifacts that are tied directly to the realm of cosmic horror, adding yet another layer to how to proceed and develop your own adventures.

The book contains much more with rules describing how to handle insanity and dread in your games, giving you that real feel of the true horror of dealing with entities beyond the remit of fantasy alone. These entities are meant to instill fear, loathing, and disgust in equal measure. There are details on how to include cults directly linked to the Elder horrors featured in the book and hints on how that could impact your games. The details on the 26 Elder Gods and Outer gods are expansive, detailing the ways in which they impact the world as they come into contact with it. The artwork and details here are quite something, I would recommend the book on these alone. The likes of the Great Cthulhu and Azathoth are in here amongst several others that I had not heard of previously. Beyond this there the rules and details of the great races and Mythos monsters that any DM would be bringing to their games.  It would be a crime not to state how brilliant the artwork proves throughout the book, those featured within both awe-inspiring and disturbing in equal measure. Unlike some other rule books, the PDF came free with this edition which highlighted how much the creators cared about the content and not the profit line. 

For me, this book is a brilliant tool for any that are looking to add eldritch horror to their fantasy games, giving you countless options and a great deal of inspiration. I would highly recommend this to any DM just for the ideas alone.

Rating is 5 out of 5 for me.

Hope you enjoy it.

For fans of 5E and RPGs in general let me know your take on this expansive rulebook and how you would integrate it into your own games. Always happy to hear about any other rulebooks to look out for and enjoy.