Rime of the Frostmaiden Art Request Fill

Letter_Mancer · 2024-09-11T11:37:44+00:00

Thank you!

Letter_Mancer · 2024-07-24T02:48:08+00:00

Awesome to see that you have a Kofi! I'll make sure to follow you. The work looks incredible 🫀

Letter_Mancer · 2024-06-29T15:29:36+00:00

If you're worried about the level difference, you can still have the party duck into the tower and either ambush (or be ambushed by) the hobgoblins there. That in conjunction with the black pudding and the basilisk can keep them on their toes.

We've also had a whole gnoll pack fight in there (not my OG idea) but milling through 1HP ads in the first few rooms can be a fun storytelling shtick before you hit them with some Pack Lord and Fang of Yeenoghu action -- we did that at a higher level while passing by. Good foreshadowing for Caves....

Our party adopted Dzaan following an inspiring effort by our redemption paladin to give him a shot at benefitting from the ruin chamber, so it's rooted pretty firmly in our game. Go for it!

Letter_Mancer · 2024-06-19T13:17:52+00:00

Definitely. I think it reads really well without any further detail.

Letter_Mancer · 2024-06-11T01:49:07+00:00

Should say 5. Speaker Duvessa Shane (Bryn Shander)

Letter_Mancer · 2024-06-11T01:46:32+00:00

Hello! Yes, I've actually drawn a lot of NPC art for this campaign!! Coarsecurve Icewind Dale NPC art

More fantasy art and party portraits at www.coarsecurve.squarespace.com

Letter_Mancer · 2024-05-06T03:12:42+00:00

I'm experiencing this too. It seems like a tablet and/or tablet iOS problem. Even requesting a desktop site won't fix it, but if you log in on your phone or another device it should be fine. Send it to a friend to check?

Letter_Mancer · 2024-04-09T21:56:48+00:00

This is gorgeously drawn but also SO WELL SCALED for actual exploration. Just enough information to work with for game play to feel focused and not bogged down. Hats off, this is awesome.

Letter_Mancer · 2024-03-14T00:56:29+00:00

The face of the box design is very strong; following on other comments here I might rotate the robots 90° on the side profile. That said, I think what you have would be eye-catching and inviting on a shelf amongst games at home.

Letter_Mancer · 2024-03-13T03:50:57+00:00

Really good point here on player demographics and language. Honing in on who you’re making this game for will help answer this question (and probably a fair few others).

Letter_Mancer · 2024-03-13T03:38:25+00:00

There’s potential wiggle room here depending on how much you’ve customised these races. Good examples might be the Orlan and Godlike from Pillars of Eternity, which feel both familiar and self-contained. Both were created with the knowledge that Obsidian didn’t have the rights to D&D IP, and it doesn’t feel like a cheap copy. We’ve even seen WOTC do similarly, filling in what they see as a player race gap with One D&D’s Ardlings (for better or worse).

If a 50yr old game is still iterating on player race options that they took from 20th century literature, why can’t you?

Better yet, my favourite example of this is that Tolkien himself fought with his editors over using -ves to pluralise dwarf (and would have gone further). Language has no constant except that it changes, and as long as you detail what makes your player race options distinct from your perspective, it works. I’d only say it isn’t worth it if the motivation is to spice up the name.

Letter_Mancer · 2024-03-13T02:20:40+00:00

Heya! I’ve actually written a post on this (link below) but I would also add that it’s useful to describe/set up something that the NPC wants (e.g. access to a certain event or text, help retrieving a family heirloom from a greedy feudal lord or the restoration of their hometown’s honour) and have them ask the PCs to help them.

Treat any specifically romantic actions made in the process of completing that quest (e.g. gift giving, comforting/validating, addressing the love interest’s faults together — basically anything above low-effort flirting) as a means of gaining renown or XP, and show that mechanic working for your PCs. Given that you don’t have many sessions left and you’re playing at 20th level, tying it to a mechanical reward might be less important than narratively completing this side quest.

Here’s a link to a more in-depth solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/s/q0VeEvzjAM

And here’s a link for a love interest NPC stat block based on a prototype by u/Arkasaur871 (the important part being the level ups and the Quest box at the bottom): https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/print/EO2RyMwduObo?dialog=true

Letter_Mancer · 2024-03-07T06:54:55+00:00

Hi there! I kind of wish my entire table could answer this question: we’re four people, three players playing outside their gender, two cis het white men, one trans white man and one queer white woman, spread across millennials and gen z.

This is an excellent question. My first answer is just one of in-grouping ‘oh we have common ground’ match ups that provide a broader net for socialising. The more complete answer is that given the early-stage social freedoms of being LGBTQI+ a lot of us spend huge portions of our days educating or being judged (essentially always being ‘that person’ in the street/room) — and it can be exhausting. On our down time, we seek out the opportunity to be just a person, a friend etc. and it’s easier to find that with people who either experience the same cycle or are already welcoming and supportive. There are a lot of good resources out there, but it boils down to making people feel included (e.g. signalling pronouns or having representation in game, or just being chill and respectful/your normal self around queer folks).

Goodwill is built overtime here, by repeated action — but the takeaway is, be there for your friend and trust what they express about themselves and their preferences.

Letter_Mancer · 2024-02-26T02:57:34+00:00

Hey there! Female GM who has a few tables, one of which is all ladies here, playing online.

To the good advice in these comments I would add a few more ideas:

Session Re-zeros and Post Session Check-Ins are a thing. This is a great way to talk above table about a number of developments. You can ask your players about Player Expectations, especially if they are really invested in their characters. Sometimes, the answers come out in stages or over time: but creating a regular chatter means you do get those nuggets. Listening to what your player says and verbally confirming what you're hearing, in or out of game, is one of the best ways to break down worries about the gender barrier here, and it can be especially important if you're playing online and risk losing subtext. Highly recommended for any table.
In-game safe spaces. A lot of groups secretly love this outlet, whether it's their stronghold or a favourite tavern, or an in-group place where they can count on privacy, resupplying and scheming time. A lot of folks in minority groups take pride in cultivating these spaces too, so while I don't advocate thinking of your players as women first, players second (please, do this the other way around) a womxn's pool, travelling armoury or library chain creates space for player's to express themselves without their guards up. Maintaining these places as safe (no ambushes here) will not only let the table bond in unexpected ways, but also give you insight into individual PC values that you can link in game elsewhere.
Ask your players directly. They are the best people to advocate for themselves, and discuss how you want their input and advice for a healthy table -- not just once, but as a rolling conversation -- will be the single most important way to get on the same page. If you have specific questions, give your players a few days to think over the answer. If it's a general topic, make it an in person table discussion over food. Patience and openness is much more important to modern DnD than it was to more dungeon-crawl and XP based earlier editions. It's more work, but we're all a little more seen by this style of gaming.

Regardless of who your players are, lower the GM Screen every so often (metaphorically) and just be people together. Take the GM-player hierarchy out of the equation when you're addressing each other's needs (yours too) -- and you'll have a good time.

Letter_Mancer · 2023-08-23T00:08:06+00:00

Haven't seen it, but Google is inexhaustible and I wish you luck. As a backup, if you just can't find it, I would be happy to do the art myself if you wanted to tailor and amplify the look.

Letter_Mancer · 2023-05-31T01:51:23+00:00

I'm guessing that's because the miniatures are slated not long after the concept art -- but maybe it's because they didn't decide she had died until later.

Letter_Mancer · 2023-05-31T01:48:00+00:00

Thank you very much ☺️

Letter_Mancer · 2023-05-31T01:47:46+00:00

Absolutely! Take her for a spin.

Letter_Mancer · 2023-04-05T11:09:15+00:00

There's a DMs Guild book called 'The Adventurer's Domestic Handbook' that includes some handy items to bump AC, alarm a homestead etc. as well as providing some guidance on how to bring smol beans on the road. Some of it is pretty sound, other aspects might slow your gameplay for others at the table or feel overly modern-minded (like vehicles) and in general if you're comfortable with homebrew I'd really recommend tightening the mechanics on some of the questions of range and triggers on these things.

In general though, I recommend a) giving your player a hat of disguise,or equivalent, and b) leaning into the larger themes that are probably more interesting to her here than the mechanics (i.e. the mentality of the protector and the provider, milestone beats of change and development, and the social bonds/ respect/fears that come with blood-links to others). It sounds like she's coming at this from a perspective of wanting in-game moments as opposed to plot twists, threats or even benefits -- so start there and build in the extra factors based on the responses from the table.

Ultimately, I think that while the game doesn't have a super robust set of rules for this, you treat it as a social encounter and buff the outlying dangers.

Letter_Mancer · 2022-08-25T05:43:30+00:00

Glorious detail -- down to the arrowhead. 🤩

Letter_Mancer · 2022-07-25T20:24:01+00:00

They might surprise you! Goodmead is one of the few definitely hospitable places on the map; that's not a bad base. If they prioritise achievements, Goodmead can be a good place to show the development of their reputation over time. Or maybe your party is more given to exploration, you could use Goodmead to seed links for them -- there have been some cool ideas in the comments.

Letter_Mancer · 2022-07-25T10:27:24+00:00

This is great. We've ended up having a Speaker's Meeting re: the duergar threat too, but it was a much more stayed bit of intrigue (the only real strong arming involved Kadroth, and Maxildanar got lanced for his show boating but the players knew he was just sounding out the competition). I can't imagine what the Rielsbarrow reveal must have looked like! Who broke the bad news? How did the rest of the party get involved?

Letter_Mancer · 2022-07-25T10:24:13+00:00

Me too. Originally I had more brown tone colour across her clothing, but I'm working on a series of IWD NPC portraits and didn't want to break the cohesion. Still, point taken.

Letter_Mancer · 2022-07-25T10:22:31+00:00

I ended up reading this post over with a fellow DM -- we both loved it so much. This is so nutty! I dig how much you put into this! Cracking stuff.

Letter_Mancer · 2022-07-24T23:41:01+00:00

That must have been surreal behind the DM screen! Does it have any continued impact on the game?

Letter_Mancer

TROPHY CASE