Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is an excellent adventure. The open ended nature of it not only encourages exploration but also rewards it with each new piece of the world that you get to experience. Whether it is getting an owlbear companion, spending time with a goliath tribe, uncovering benevolent elemental spirits, spying on druegar plotting in the shadows and many many more. The final few acts are a marvel to play through and I am looking forward to play this one again.

Rime of the Frostmaiden is a strong campaign with some rough edges, but the theme is strong, and its mood is maintained throughout. If you're a player, you can expect a horror-based campaign with plenty of open spaces, and exploration with a survival theme. Don't expect a rich campaign; you won't be getting a ton of loot, but if you like a game with lots of grit, this might be for you. If you're a DM, you will find many adventure locations to use, but there are three major story lines that may not seem like they hold together very well. Understnad that, and do some groundwork to thematically tied them together, and things will run a lot more smoothly.

A fridgid experience with some great action, and a very fun boss fight.

Rime of the Frostmaiden is an overall solid module. Given that it is meant to guide players from Levels 1-12, it has a real solid variety of quests in it that should provide something that each player at the table will enjoy.

You're on a site full of professional GMs--find someone who will make a bespoke, original campaign for you, not run one out of a box. ...that being said, if you *want* one run out-of-the-box, Rime of the Frostmaiden is one the best of them. Most published D&D campaigns are railroads: you move from place to place doing what the writers want you to do (rather than what *you* want to do) until you reach the predetermined conclusion. Rime, at least in its first half, lets you explore the ice-choked setting in the way you see fit, engaging with whatever interests you, building your own goals and connections. The adventure downshifts into a bog-standard dungeon crawl in it's second half, but maybe by then you care enough about the people of Icewind Dale that it doesn't feel totally arbitrary.

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is an adventure with a very interesting premise that, if well executed, delivers a constant feeling of claustrophobia, isolation, and struggle for survival. Unfortunately, the module itself is not well organized, and I would not advise it for beginner DMs who have not had experience running other modules. For this module to truly shine, it requires a very hands-on approach from the DM, which means a lot more prepping required and creative leeway, such as homebrew story-lines, NPCs, new story threads the players can pull from. All in all, I would say that this module is like an unpolished gem, that with some work and dedication can become something truly splendid.