A video guide for the quest "The White Moose" in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. ------------ Follow Me On ------------ Twitch: / steelysam Twitter: / steelysam Discord: / discord
Agreed! These are a great resource!! By far the best breakdown of Icewind Dale that I've seen. Super helpful to get insights and reflections from an experienced dm. your suggestions are super helpful and really thought provoking, you get right to the point without wasting a lot of time, and your presentation is clear and easy to follow. Your videos should be the standard of DM tips for specific adventures. Thanks so much man.
I have so little time since the world reopened, and I’m DMing three games a week still. These listening to these videos while working really allowed me to put all these pieces together and be able to run this game with really maximized prep time. You’re awesome!
Can I just say, these have been so helpful! I definitely took the prosthetic arm idea for my streamed game. One of my players is playing an Artificer, so giving him a prosthetic after the brazier puzzle just makes him cooler.
I'm actually planning for the mummy to just give up his hand to said player. Maybe give it a small power with it or have the mummy follow that player indefinitely.
Absolutely great run-through sir. Unsolicited idea, the white moose and Ravisin used the scrying mirror to spy upon the party as they hunted. The white moose then did hit and run tactics leaving the party finally to the tomb. Completely change the puzzle to a modified one from Tasha's. Ravisin was an info dump but did not fight my 2nd level party.
I had Nimsy Huddle mention that she has sent multiple hunters to find the moose with none returning so far.. then the party finds a body of a previously sent unsuccessful hunter of the white moose laying by or in the elven tomb. (This is hopefully for the hand riddle) Whether he died from the moose or died of cold exposure is up to the DM. If the party is first level you can have moose already wounded slightly by the previous hunter and that also helps explain why the moose might attack immediately despite being awakened. I also added an NPC that both helps in the moose fight but also attempts to steal the moose head while the party rests so he can take the reward for himself.. they find his body on the way back to town attacked by the banshee. Which will help expend its wail ability if need be.
Party has a druid so they can come back and further explore! They took care of the moose as their second mission but left the doors unbothered (and brazier not fully lit) so there's always next time!
These videos are awesome, I love all the thoughts and details that you give to spicing up the story. I'm learning a lot just by listenting to how you altered the stories and built out your quests. Keep up the good work!
I just had a great idea! I originally planned to mix Ravicin with Yselm Bloodfang and created Cate Frostfang. She took Yselm’s role of leading then betraying the party and Ravicin’s role of a frost Druid serving Auril. But now I’m thinking of this… What if the Banshee was Ravicin’s sister, like you said, and Cate’s lover. That gives both of them a more human motivation than just “I believe in the peace and tranquility, the perfect preservation, of Auril’s Rime.” And while yes, my party already questioned Cate‘s motives after beating and capturing her, this adds a deeper motive (and a motive that she’d have been more reluctant to share with enemies). Maybe Auril has promised to restore the Banshee to proper life, but only after Ten Towns has been wiped out and any danger to the winter has been removed.
So glad I found your video! Thank you so much for walking through the adventure, and for your great improvements to the encounters. Can't wait to run it with your suggestions! Subscribed.
As far as Change Shape goes, I would play it out as if she is using Wildshape because... it's basically Wildshape. I also plan to have an optional pacifist route for the encounter because one of my regular players is an animal lover and I have a strong feeling she would be sympathetic to the druid and awaken animals.
There is no way my party will sacrifice their hand. I don't know what kind of good people you play with, but I am definitely going to run them through this quest and I will leave an update with their solution.
Well my group did go through this area, and one of them have their hand, but not willingly. The tinkerer in the group made him a new hand. That I get to make malfunction from time to time. So wins all around.
On the way to the Elven Tomb as they were tracking, they encountered a crazed man that was hysteric. This man insisted that they turn around & not to come any further & was crazed to the point of violence to keep them from advancing further. They attempted to knock him out but rolled much too good & ended up killing him (the party felt bad about it). When solving the puzzle at the brazier, they realized they needed a hand (one of the characters almost accidentally sacrificed his own), they remembered the crazed man. The party went back to check him to find that the man had, in fact, perished. They used this man’s hand to use as the sacrifice to solve the puzzle.
I'm running this as my first DM ever. My group is only 2nd level but after hearing the random rumors are deciding to head to Lonelywood. I'm so glad I watched this vid. I think what I will do is have them encounter the Banshee after hearing its scream and hopefully the crew will think of the body of the hunter when it comes to sacrificing a hand. But I will also probably hedge my bets with the prosthetic hand. None of my party are Druids either, so I was thinking that maybe the hunter will have a scroll of moonbeam.
I felt the same way when I read the process for tracking the moose, so I came to see what you thought...yeah, the scene really has potential to drag on.
The banshee has bow attacks at up to 600 feet range, but she only has 60 feet darkvision, so she has to get close to fire on the party. But she can fly, so she can hover 60 feet above them, or step through a rock formation. I would avoid immediate confrontation. Maybe the party finds an area of dead animals, an effect of the lamentations of the banshee? Also, you can tie all the (un)dead elves together. An old elven kingdom, and three elves, two of which are interred in the tomb, and one banshee in the forest, unable to approach the tomb because of the abjuration magic. What did she do that she is unable to approach the tomb, and find peace?
The party is level 3 and they have heard this rumor but haven't acted on it yet. I think they three of them are very capable so If they roll the banshee I'm going to have them encounter the hunters running from the banshees. One of the hunters was killed(giving them a fresh hand if they put it together) and then the banshee flies in on them.
I'm about to run this. I intend to do a skill challenge for tracking the White Moose. For each failure, they run into something, and after three successes they find the tomb. I also made Sephek from Cold-Hearted Killer possessed by Ravisin's dead twin sister.
I recently ran this encounter... thankfully my players were already lvl 3 by the time they reached this one and I did the following with the puzzle: Since my players rescued Garret (Targos quest) at Kelvin's Cairn they decide to go straight to lonely wood so that they don't travel a long distance to where they were because they were afraid of getting lost in a blizzard. So they told me they would go through the forest if ti meant the winds and snow would be cut by the trees. So they ran into this halflings which taunted them that he will find the white moose and earn the price (they've already heard rumours about the moose terrorising the area) and the players saw that they would find it first, so after searching for moose tracks for 3 hours they hear wailing sounds and find the halflings dead. The banshee had killed him and the players beat the banshee that didn't had its daily wail action. So when the puzzle at the elven tomb showed them a hand they cut off the dead halfling's hand
Running RotFM for my 3rd time, I think lonely wood is my favorite of the 10 towns. I do add your home brew along with my own. I do not roll on the random encounters I just base it on a survival (tracking) skill roll.
Lol I didn't let him talk 😅 just mummy sounds. For the white moose I had it so if they found the tracks and led them to the white moose instead of rolling the D6.
When I ran this quest, my party was able to unlock the door where Ravisin was and she almost killed them (they didn't want to take any long rests up to that point, even after the banshee and the moose). Bleeding out on the floor, the rogue called out to Saynar to help. Saynar said "It will be done." and proceeded to crit Ravisin and finished her off from pretty much half-health. My party loves Saynar.
Uh, prosthetic thing is cute but couldn't you have put a severed hand lodged in the awakened moose horns? he is killing people, and would be very creepy, I swear I read that somewhere in the book too...
The loot lacking is intentional and supports the themes of survival, desolation and insufficient resources. Most RU-vidrs are taking the campaign away from it's intent with homebrew content, which is fine, you play the way you want. If any content creator is looking for an original idea, post something that further supports the themes of the campaign as written. More horrific, harsher survival, further desolation and greater taxation on limited resources. Bah, who am I kidding, today's D&D players aren't looking for a challenge, forget that, GREAT JOB SAM!
The themes are isolation, paranoia, and secrets. I haven't seen anything in the book or an official statement about desolation or insufficient resources. As far as having a challenge, your 3rd level party will know challenge when the 8th level druid shows up with 3 ice storms at the ready.
I like how you are doing this from a nerative standpoint. lots of people I talk to about my DM ideas think about it from a player standpoint and it's kind of annoying. i keep getting heat for the ideas I come up with. but I love your take on the whole elven tomb
I think the prostetic hand is so unecessary. Just make it so the Banshee killed a hunter, they find the corpse, they can go back and get it's hand. If a party member tried to shove their hand there I'd ask for an Intelligence check, and if it's above 10 I'd just make them remember they found a body back there. People are stupid man, sacrificing your own hand, wtf.
