❄️ Icewind Dale: The Hunger That Has a Name [D&D 2024 Rule]❄️

Creating your character

We will be using the 2024 D&D ruleset as our primary system. Legacy content from 2014 remains available as long as it has not yet been updated. Characters start at level 1 and will be created together during Session 0. If you prefer to prepare your character beforehand, feel free to do so. You may roll for stats using the methods outlined on the Discord server, or choose point buy or the standard array. All official books are permitted. Third-party or partnered content may be approved on a case-by-case basis. Characters built with the 2014 ruleset gain a bonus feat at level 1 from their background unless that background already provides a feat or extra spells. Along with your starting equipment, each character begins the campaign with one potion of healing. If you have any questions or need assistance, I’ll be available on Discord prior to the session.

Preparing for the session

Please have a working microphone, stable internet connection and head full of ideas. My favorite kind of player is a happy player. That is why the supply of water and a cup of your favorite tea and comfy place to play would be good preparation. Playing with camera on would be appreciated, but is not obligatory.

What Uriel brings to the table

➣ Forge/Foundry VTT with: - custom maps and tokens, - character sheets with pre-generated characters, - ambient music + sound effects ➣ Playing with the camera on helps everyone at the table feel each others emotion and feel the mood of the scene and also being scared by my unhuman facial expressions. ;) ➣ I use a good quality microphone to make sure that everyone would “enjoy” every single meeting with variety of next monsters, lunatics and abominations. ➣ About sticking to the rulebooks… I am a huge fan of my players’ characters and I like following their awesome and creative ways of dealing with the monstrosity of my worlds. As much as I love letting them shine and have their epic moments, I also admire bringing to them hard consequences of living in this particular universe full of cruel and horrible things.

Homebrew rules

Healing potions can be drunk or administered to another creature as a Magic action. Doing so restores the maximum amount of HP that potion can restore. (2024 specific) Rolling a Natural 1 on a d20 test restores a character’s Heroic Inspiration. If you already have Inspiration you may give it to a party member who doesn't, otherwise it is lost. Magical items can be attuned instantly. Breaking an attunement still requires a short rest.

How Uriel creates a safe table

A typical session begins with everyone gathering through D&D Beyond, Discord, and the Foundry VTT portal. Once the quiet crackle of Discord settles, we step together into the frozen dark. In this campaign, exploration and role-play matter just as much as combat, for every corner of Icewind Dale hides secrets buried in the snow — or things waiting beneath it. The tone is defined by isolation, cold, and creeping dread. Sometimes the tundra is hauntingly silent, sometimes violently hostile, sometimes unsettling in the way only endless night can be. Every place you visit is vividly realized: frostbitten settlements, wind-scoured plains, abandoned outposts, frozen caverns, and ancient ruins entombed in ice, all brought to life through maps, eerie visuals, and chilling narration. The Dale is not dead — it is enduring, watching, and whispering through the storm. NPCs you meet feel shaped by the cold: desperate, fractured, determined to survive. I portray them with distinct voices, accents, and mannerisms — and when the Frostmaiden’s influence touches a creature, I may use subtle voice distortion to reflect something… unnatural beneath the frost. Death is a real and immediate threat here. At early levels, the land itself can kill you — hypothermia, storms, hunger, isolation, and the horrors that stalk the tundra. I do not soften blows or bend the danger of the Dale. The dice fall where they fall. Some encounters will be simple; others will be overwhelming. Knowing when to stand your ground and when to retreat is not weakness — it is the reason your character lives long enough to matter. My goal is to make the cold feel sharp, the darkness vast, and the tension real — to let you almost feel the wind claw at your skin and hear the ice groan beneath your boots. This is a realm where courage matters, fear matters… and where Auril the Frostmaiden may know of you long before you learn how deep her winter truly goes. Before Session 0, I will ask each of you to send me a private message about any themes or content you find uncomfortable or wish to keep behind the curtain. These boundaries will be integrated into our BHS safety framework, and we will discuss them as a group without identifying who set which limit. You may update your boundaries at any time — your comfort and safety always come first, especially in a story built on isolation, fear, and the merciless cold.