Rime of the Frostmaiden Alternate Beginning

It needs to be said here – if you are a player in my game – STOP READING THIS POST!! All others, keep cold and carry on…

There has been a lot of talk about the beginning quests (the cold opens) and what their issues are, and, to be honest, I like them both and will be implementing both of them. I know my players will love the Chwinga hunt because they like cute animal spirit thingies, especially magical and elusive ones. I will present Sephek and his activities as a dangerous criminal/crime spree and they can keep an eye out for him as they travel from town to town. I know my players also like to be white hats and abolish evil things and they will see him and his goons/friends as evil, of course.

Some of the scuttlebutt around the internet has been about the difficulty of fighting Sephek at first level. I do not have an issue with this because I think these starting quests have a singular purpose – to get the PCs moving around the Ten Towns region and start to care about the residents of Ten Towns. They aren’t necessarily supposed to fight Sephek at level 1. They are supposed to interact enough with the residents of Ten Towns and do enough in the area that they care about what happens in and around each town and care about the people there… at least enough to defend it against the dragon in later chapters… or at least enough to feel the despair invoked when the dragon starts destroying the towns. So I am unconcerned with them running into Sephek at level 1.

However, I do think they might try to find him post-haste because they will want to smite the evil serial killer. However, I want them to experience the cold environment and how it affects travel before they get to town and/or start hunting a killer. And in full disclosure, I should tell you that my players are making all sorts of crazy character choices, so I need to see what they can do in a battle before I am able to accurately predict how tough or easy Sephek will be when they do eventually track him down.

So, I will be laying out the beginning of the adventure thusly…

Session 1: I will have my group start in media res on the road to Targos with a starving wolf pack (maybe 4 starving wolves) stalking and then attacking them. Defeating them will bring them to level 2. They will see how hard it is to fight even starving animals in deep snow on a less-well-maintained road than what they are used to experiencing elsewhere in the Forgotten Realms / Sword Coast. In all likelihood this will take a full session because they will also be having lots of roleplaying interactions with each other, getting their relationships established. As they get to the end of the session, they approach Targos.

As they approach Targos they will see the town guard pulling a man out of town through the southern gate. They strip him and tie him to a pole. It is the new moon and this is the sacrifice for Auril. Targos offers human sacrifice, and this man drew the short straw – his wife and children are crying and saying goodbye to him as the guards drag him to the pole. This will be the cliffhanger ending to session 1 and they will level up to level 2 before the start of session 2.

Session 2: Coming upon the sacrifice being set up, I am sure that the group will be surprised and/or appalled. Well, at least some of them will be… but a couple of them are Reghed Tribesmen who already know that some towns provide this sacrificial offering to Auril. Navigating this situation, no matter the outcome, will possibly get them to level 3. I suspect there to be drama and hand wringing and threats and negotiations and an escape plan and and and… my group loves that stuff and I am sure they will come up with a plan to help the man.

There is no perfect or expected way to approach this already set in my mind, so they will earn XP regardless of the outcome. So session 2 will consist of the group dealing with the sacrifice and figuring out what to do with the situation in Targos and then learning about and possibly starting on their next quest (depending on how long it takes them to resolve the issues with the sacrifice) but they probably won’t finish what ever quest they start in session 2.

Perhaps it is too quick to level up to 3rd at the end of session 2… I think I will wait until they resolve the sacrifice scene AND the next quest 100% to level them up to 3rd level. Whether that task is in Targos or not is dependent on what they decide to do about the sacrifice. They will eventually get to a place where they can have warmth, food, and drink. They will be able to speak with the locals and hear about Sephek and his murderous spree. They will, no doubt, try to find him.

In any case, as they move from Targos to the next location they will meet NOT Dannika Greysteel, but Vellynne Harpell, and she will tell them about the Chwingas. (credit where credit is due: this idea came from MisterWormwood) I know that, as written, Dannika is the quest giver there, but I want Vellynne to be in the picture much earlier than what’s in the book. This way it won’t be a “who the heck is this person” situation when they encounter her in chapters 4 & 5. This makes her a much more interesting NPC to deal with, and much less like a random NPC patron in chapter 4.

So that is the outline of the first 2 or 3 levels in the adventure. In Session 1 they will level up to lvl 2 after one major scene and a lot of RPing. In Session 2 they will level up to lvl 3 only after completing what amounts to 2 quests (sacrifice and the quest of Targos or whatever town they go to if the sacrifice scene causes them to leave Targos). This is more in line with what the book suggests, but not perfect. They might be getting to 3rd level too quickly, but I doubt it. I know they are going to go after some of the hard quests once they get invested in the welfare of the townsfolk.

What do you think?

We have a session 0 this week and the game officially starts two weeks later, but I think some of the first actions could happen in the session 0, so we’ll see.

UPDATE: We have now finished a session 0 and sessions 1 & 2 of my Rime campaign – I’ll fill you in on some houserules and changes in my next few posts. If you want to watch session 1 and 2, they can be found here: Endless Night RotF session 1 and Endless Night RotF session 2.

You can support my work by checking out my latest DMsGuild release – it’s called The Creed of Auril and contains information on the Church of Auril and descriptions of cult beliefs, behaviors, membership, and rationale. It also has 16 new spells, 2 new magic items, 6 new NPC/creature statblocks, and over 12 detailed ways to add cultists and cult activity to the area. The product is $4.99 on the DMs Guild and you can purchase it by clicking here: The Creed of Auril

You can also support me and my co-creators by purchasing Scientific Secrets of Icewind Dale – new and challenging creatures and lore for your arctic D&D game: Scientific Secrets of Icewind Dale on the DMsGuild

Until next time, I wish you good gaming!

 ~DMSamuel