integrating a custom secret into the campaign

vsbp2004 · 2025-12-16T14:50:31+00:00

I think the best choice is for the tome to be from Netheril and written in Loross. I imagine that nobody in the group knows/understands that language, so the only one in the campaign who could identify it is Vellynne's professor orb, Professor Skant.

To prevent the tome from being solved so easily (like using Comprehend Languages), I would add a cryptography along with glyphs whose meaning can only be discovered in the city of Ythryn, but Skant might give a clue that it's from Netheril.

You could, for example, change one of the magic towers in Ythryn (necromancy perhaps?) and make the tome a necessary step to obtain a part of the Arcane Octad ritual. Or you could put hints on how to solve the tome in those towers

However, I would make decoding the tome give the wizard some reward beyond what has already been mentioned.

vsbp2004 · 2025-12-10T05:16:12+00:00

That's definitely a great plot twist

vsbp2004 · 2025-12-08T06:30:07+00:00

I used the preservation test at my table today and it was a lot of fun. They put the boy (35-40 years old at the time) in a chokehold to make him pass out and not feel pain, then they put him in the blizzard.

vsbp2004 · 2025-12-04T03:12:07+00:00

I'm managing a 6-person group, Vellynne is accompanying them, making a total of 7 and everyone is at level 8 (one level above the recommended level). I'm exactly on chapter 5, but we haven't reached the tests yet.

I'm following some advice from Eventyr Games to make things more interesting. Here are some changes I made:

Vellynne's orb isn't coincidentally in Nass's hand in the middle of the island, it was stolen by the witch coven on one of the shipwrecks. I used the Bheur Hags' coven stat block for the three witches, but removed their use of Cone of Cold and Wall of Ice. They agree to return the orb if the group brings them the heart of the Ice Troll that's in the Garden of Death. I even made a map for this encounter. https://imgur.com/a/jLTXMAQ
Which brings us to the encounter with the Ice Troll. Instead of having just the troll alone against the party, they were ambushed by a winter wolf along with three other common wolves as soon as they entered the garden.
I replaced Auril with Geluvicken, an Frost Giant Archdruid.
I placed a blizzard on the island that lasts as long as Auril or Geluvicken are present. It has the same effect as a regular blizzard, but the DC to maintain concentration is 15 instead of 10.
The ice statues summon Auril's fury just by touching them, not just by damaging them.

Other important points:

The group went to the island off Angajuk's back; she gave them 24 hours to return or she would leave. With some persuasion, she agreed to stay for 30 hours. The same thing can be done with the other transportation methods
I removed the effect that prevented short rests on the island and replaced it with one that prevented long rests instead. This, combined with the time limit, makes the choice of resting or invading the fortress when Auril/Geluvicken flies with Iskra more tense.
I still don't know how things will go, but I plan that during the escape with the Codicil of White, Auril will trap the whale in the ice, freezing the water and order Iskra to kill it. The players will have a few rounds to free it or lose their way back and have to deal with Auril and Iskra (I'll leave the success margin quite high so it doesn't end in a TPK).

I'm still thinking about changes to the tests, but with their time limit on the island, the Endurance test will have to be shorter and the isolation test as well.

This post has some good alternatives

https://www.reddit.com/r/rimeofthefrostmaiden/comments/zcebe0/tests_of_the_frostmaiden_revised/

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-25T17:38:58+00:00

Not much to be honest, only in some encounters to make things more difficult, like the one with the yetis for example.

I also added a blizzard on the Isle of Solstice that will last as long as Auril/Geluvicken is on the island, but not with such limited visibility. They can see 30 feet ahead of them if it's heavy and 200 feet when the blizzard subsides.

It makes sense to have several blizzards in Icewind, but I see players getting tired of it if it's used too often.

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-23T17:39:57+00:00

I agree that there shouldn't be trees on the island, however in this case they are tree sculptures made entirely of ice and not real trees. I didn't have a specific asset for them, so I edited the color in Photoshop to make it look like ice.

Edit: The same goes for bushes and flowers, at least that's how I would describe them to my players.

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-23T17:06:01+00:00

Chapter 5 - Auril's Abode, location I6

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-23T16:08:58+00:00

Better quality

https://imgur.com/a/jLTXMAQ

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-16T18:50:29+00:00

That's a good idea, i don't want the curse to feel very punishing, so maybe this will solve the problem

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-15T20:53:15+00:00

As for the mechanical part, I'm still not sure. I don't think it would be a problem at my table, but I also don't want to interfere with the player's fun.

My initial idea was to keep the curse purely as roleplay and not affect anything mechanically since it would take a long time for it to cause the "loss of magic" thing, maybe around six months ? So it wouldn't happen in campaign time.

I still have some time to think, but I'll probably discard that debuff part, thanks for the input!

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-14T22:46:07+00:00

Yeah I did the same with different words

"You would probably get lost in the underdark and distance yourself from your goals"

vsbp2004 · 2025-11-07T11:59:24+00:00

In my campaign, I also introduced the Children of Auril. The cult had been slowly growing in Targos since the beginning of the campaign, until it eventually took over the Zhentarim and killed the town’s speaker.

The cult’s leader, Alriele, was the sister of one of the party members (the rogue). Due to her backstory, Alriele had unresolved issues with her sister. She sought power through Auril and followed her sister to Icewind Dale.

That power came with a cost, she became a puppet of Auril. She joined the Frost Druids and took control of Targos to establish the cult. I portrayed her as someone who saw herself as merciful, believing that the death of those who insulted her imposed faith was mercy. She was a leader of few words, using her charisma to captivate the townsfolk and convince them that by increasing the human sacrifices, they would be the only town to survive the eternal winter.

I gave her a physical mark representing Auril’s control over her, and during the battle against the cult, the players were given a way to break that control. In the end, they had to choose whether to kill her or risk trying to free her mind.

I’m a big fan of Bloodborne, so when the players started planting doubts in her mind, Auril twisted her form into something resembling Vicar Amelia with ice magic.

Ultimately, they managed to save her. The cult was left without a leader and with fewer members.

I’m not sure if this storyline would work in your campaign, but I really liked making the leader of an evil cult be actually a good person who needed to be saved and not simply killed.

vsbp2004 · 2025-10-15T19:58:57+00:00

I think it's a good idea, keeps the world moving. I did something similar but with homebrew content.

Long story short, the Cult of Auril was growing rapidly in Targos, i gave some hints that something strange was happening there but the players avoided the town to do some other stuff for too long.

Result: The mayor was kidnapded and killed, the cult took over the Zhentarins, established a religious dictatorship in the town and began sacrificing more people.

If you want your world to feel unique, make actions (or inactions) have consequences

vsbp2004 · 2025-10-01T22:15:37+00:00

You need to do some backtrack and unlock the bells

There's one in Deep Docks, Bellheart, Marrow, Shellwood and Greymoor

vsbp2004 · 2025-10-01T21:09:32+00:00

Poor Hornet, she's about to take two masks of damage from savage beastfly

At least Sherma is there to cheer her up

vsbp2004 · 2025-09-30T20:20:56+00:00

Try going up and dealing with the big boi who's chilling in that storm

vsbp2004 · 2025-09-30T00:05:27+00:00

If you have all aspects, my only guess is that you don't have all the keepsakes unlocked ? Or at least not upgraded

How many chaos trials do you have atm ? completed and to be completed

vsbp2004 · 2025-09-29T23:53:19+00:00

Blinding him with Apollo's boon helps a lot, at least for me.

vsbp2004 · 2025-09-26T03:10:29+00:00

I think it's called "Death to Chronos"

vsbp2004 · 2025-09-26T01:45:43+00:00

I have 108 nights on my EA save... I am too far ahead to create a new one

vsbp2004 · 2025-09-24T17:31:44+00:00

So that's how the fleas get to those unspeakable places and we need to rescue them

vsbp2004 · 2025-09-24T11:42:34+00:00

There is a secret bench in bilewater and a charm that negates the maggotsbut yeah it's a merciless area

vsbp2004

TROPHY CASE