Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign that is intended to be easy to run with little prep, making it the ideal purchase for DMs on a tight schedule. There are some DMs who prefer to create their own homebrew settings, stat out their own enemies, and design their own dungeons, but this can be an incredibly time-consuming process.

There are a number of pre-written D&D campaigns that DMs can buy and run, such as Curse of Strahd. The current crop of D&D campaigns are excellent, but they still require a lot of preparation time on the part of the DM. It’s expected that the DM should read the entire campaign book before starting, which can be a tall ask, as some of them are over 150 pages. They don’t have to memorize every dungeon or stat block, but it’s expected that they know the general flow of the adventure and be ready to drop hints about the overall plot, especially if enterprising players manage to learn more than they should. D&D is already a tricky hobby to fit into an average schedule, as it requires making sure a group of busy people can be ready at once, but it’s even harder on the DM, as they need to prepare before each session.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

The most recent D&D campaign is Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, which involves adventures in the frozen north of the Forgotten Realms. During the original press event for the campaign, the developers revealed that Rime of the Frostmaiden was designed in such a way as to be segmented, making it easier for DMs to prepare before each session, which was a highly requested feature. Now that Rime of the Frostmaiden has been released, players can see this design work in action.

See also  Skyrim's Toughest Bosses (That Aren't Dragons)

Rime of the Frostmaiden Is Perfect For Quick Sessions

Rime of the Frostmaiden starts out in the Ten-Towns area of Icewind Dale, and the campaign is designed so that DMs only need to read a couple of pages before each session. The campaign starts out with quests in each of the Ten-Towns, allowing players to gain gear and levels, as well as a greater understanding of their characters, before leaving the relative safety of the civilization and heading out into the cold. The adventure moves on to quests further out in Icewind Dale, and each part is written to make it as easy as possible for DMs to digest all of the information in as short a time as possible. Rime of the Frostmaiden might lack the mega-dungeon of Tomb of Annihilation, but in terms of prep time, it can’t be beaten.

The short prep time of Rime of the Frostmaiden is also ideal for new DMs who are still learning the ropes and want to focus more on managing each session as they come. The segmented nature of the campaign means that each individual adventure is easy to take out and use in different settings or homebrew worlds, for those DMs who require one-off games to try and teach new players, or need an adventure when running games at conventions. DMs have a tough job when it comes to running a lengthy campaign, as the players only need to show up each week with their dice, while the DM has to prepare an entire world. Rime of the Frostmaiden makes this process as easy as possible, which is ideal for DMs with a limited amount of time to prepare for each game.

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is available now.

Why 90DF Icons Ariela & Biniyam Keep Getting Cast In The Franchise

About The Author


Scott Baird
(2543 Articles Published)

See also  Deathloop: How to Open The Fristad Bunker Intelligence Agency

Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

More From Scott Baird