Dropping Below Zero

About the adventure

Accompanying a caravan through a wintery mountain pass on the way into the Icewind Dale, local heroes find that their travel is severely impeded by a gathering snowstorm. Hope of making it to the next waypoint is lost, but a small copse of fir might provide some shelter. With exhaustion becoming a real danger and the snowstorm strengthening to a full blizzard, the adventurers find themselves stranded. And as dusk begins to fall upon them, so does a sense of dread. Despite the dangers, one by one the caravan crew inexplicably start losing all sense of fear. The situation only grows more chilling as night sets in and watches are posted: Caravan members begin to go missing, leaving only the occasional frozen appendage behind to mark their passing. With warmth and resources waning, can these local heroes locate the real threat and protect both themselves, and the caravan, long enough to make it through the night? "Dropping Below Zero" is a 3 - 4 hour D&D adventure for APL 1 - 6 suitable for any wintery adventure, and ideal for situating as an entry point to the Icewind Dale campaign. Players will experience all that DnD 5e has to offer, including plenty of exploration, seeded social encounters with three robust NPCs, and a handful of battles set across four high-definition custom maps, and an encounter with a couple novel monster stat blocks. Dropping Below Zero is an Electrum best-seller on DMsGuild, and I have run this adventure over 10 times from playtesting through using it with my life home-game, kicking off our Icewind Dale campaign. You'll have all the benefits of a seamless adventure, with plenty of opportunities for character agency and decision-making, impacting the direction of the adventure.

Additional Details

How to prepare

Players should come prepared with a character, understand the basic mechanics of D&D 5e, and have already joined the Roll20 campaign space and generally be familiar with Roll20 and/or DnDBeyond to execute efficient play. That said, the GM is happy to provide some pointers or trouble-shoot within the first couple minutes as everyone is getting settled.

What I provide

All content will be provided through Roll20, including four custom, high-definition maps.

Gameplay details

The game will use DnD 5e, rules-as-written, for consistency. Across four different settings (battle maps), players will have plenty of opportunity for exploration, a handful of seeded social encounters with the three robust NPCs, and two to three different combat encounters. Characters level 1 - 6 are suitable, and as the game coalesces, we'll make sure it's a balanced party all within a level or two of each other. Combats and skill-challenge difficulties will be scaled, appropriately.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

(none)

How will character creation work

Players should come prepared with characters developed ahead of time, though modifications may take place in the first few minutes if any adjustments are needed. It's recommended that players utilize Roll20 or DnDBeyond (with Beyond20 extension) to facilitate efficient rolling and damage calculations. This will be benefit everyone in allowing a higher degree of engagement.

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.