Hey! I've been reading RotFM non-stop like many of us have, and I think we all know it needs some reworking in its current state. I've read through it a few times and had many discussions about it with other DMs, and I think I came up with a rework that, well works xD These are just some thoughts I've had because I really believe in this module's ability to be truly great if done right. My way is assuredly not the only way, I've seen so many fantastic ideas on this subreddit and on discord. But I wanted to give some ideas and help people out as much as I could. :) If nothing else I hope this gives you some ideas and possibilities you can add to your game.

Here are some thoughts I have on the module as a whole:

I don't think I'm alone in struggling to see the connections and character/player motivations in this module form Ten-Towns to Auril and then to some ancient creepy city that they go to because a wizard asks them nicely - you know, after the main storyline and boss are resolved...smh lol

But! I do think there's is a TON of potential for RotFM to be a stellar campaign if it's reworked and changed slightly to make a much much more cohesive, logical, and creepy story. I've gathered my ideas and my proposal for a rework of the campaign that I think works rather nicely. And I've love to hear what you guys think! Here are the glaring flaws I've identified in this module that need to be addressed:

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Auril Needs to be an Active Villain

The depiction of Auril in her Snowy-Owl-Horned form is one of the most alluring and creepy images I've seen from the whole of the book (though there are many). I feel like it's a crime that Auril is really only encountered once throughout the entire story, only to be killed quickly and without any depth to speak of.

I want Auril in my game to play an active role in everything, to interact with the players, and to scare the hell out of them. Can you imagine the moment when the PC's are trudging through a blizzard at night and see two glowing yellow orbs in the darkness behind them, illuminating the curled horns and beak of an alien face unyielding and unaffected by the cold or the wind?

I want Auril to have more motivation and serve as an active villain in this campaign. So how do we do this? I think we need to define Auril's goals, and REASONS behind them.

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Auril's Perma-Night and the City Need a REAL and Logical Connection

I've thought a lot about this, and I think the reasoning for the players to go to the Netheril city is very, very weak. I think the bottleneck of Vellynne asking them to please help her go to the city is a really fragile and ineffective motivation. There are even arguments in the book that the DM can use for her to convince the party to help her. A cardinal DM rule to not break is to not rely on the party to make a specific decision in order for the rest of the story to happen. You never want to hedge your bets on one outcome - because if the party says no to Vellynne, which they have every right to, the story just stops - DO NOT WANT PLEASE.

We need a real connection between these two pretty different stories, and it has to propel the players and the characters to pursue them in a way that isn't forced and a way that doensn't make the DM have to rewrite 60 pages of story and plot to make something out of whole cloth.

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Here's my idea:

I'm deviating from the book in a big way here, and I think it will make for an infinitely better story and arc that connects all aspects of the book together without the DM needing to rewrite a novel to run.

Auril is a harsh and unfeeling minor deity who is spending a great deal of her power to create this perma-night over Icewind Dale. I want to give a significant and powerful reason why Auril would give so much of her power to doing this. In my game, Auril is in a very difficult position. She has seen through her visions beyond vision that under the glacier, in her domain, where the Netheril city rests, is a great power that is growing - something that could challenge her dominion over Icewind Dale. I think I'm going to use either the Tarrasque or the Mythallar for this, or even something else - something alien and even scarier - an alien army - the only necessity is it has to be threatening to a minor deity.

But not only has it been glowing brighter beneath the ice, she can tell that it was melting, that it had been for much time. It was the summer 2 years ago when she discovered it - some kind of strange magical radiation coming from the city that threatened to break the ice if it kept going as it was, and the sun was accelerating this beyond measure. She made a desperate attempt and decided to mask the sky, to mask the warmth of the sun on the glacier. And it worked, has been working. It still melts, time is fleeting, but has bought time enough to gather more information and more power from all of the tributes from Ten Towns.

Auril is cold and unfeeling, unsympathetic and ruthless, but she is also intelligent. Something that SHE is afraid of, the PC's should lose their minds in terror from. Auril will SHARPLY oppose the party in what they are trying to do - to stop her from shrouding Ten Towns. However, if the party shows themselves to be extremely powerful and knowledgeable about what is beneath the glacier, she might be willing to make a deal for them to destroy whatever is inside of it.

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And if not, as she falls to their hand:

"As the Frostmaiden lays on the ground before you, she whispers part of a sentence before fading from this life and back to Winters Hall. "You know not what you have done..."On the horizon a blinding red crackling energy erupts far beneath the deep blue glacier, arcing into the sky. As the snow seems to lessen, the clouds darken, the flurries of falling snow take on a greyish ashy colour."

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Whatever she was stopping from being released upon Icewind Dale now has an open cage door. The PC's should know VERY little about what is in there, only that a DEITY was scared of it. And then you can let the weirdness and lovecraftian "At the Mountains of Madness" ensue and terrify. Of course, this is also the place that the Arcane Brotherhood have been searching for, just as so many people have sought secrets better left unseen. By this time, the PC's would probably have allied with at least one of them. This will be a very fun and terrifying encounter when the wizard defies all logic and loyalty to the party for the seeking of terrible knowledge. I'm going to be throwing in a bunch of strange creatures that have been twisted by this magical radiation, and I cannot wait.

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In my game, Auril wants to:

• Maintain the integrity of the Glacier.
• Maintain absolute control of Icewind Dale and all who live there.
• Shroud Icewind Dale in permanent Twilight and Darkness.
• Stop all attempts to prevent her from continuing to shroud the region.
• Gather faith and power from the belief and zealousness of her followers

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Encounters with Auril

When players start slaying Awakened creatures, dodge the "Draw"s of names for sacrifices, and likely speak out against the sacrifices on a political scale, (I'm adding a ton about Bryn Shander and the western towns having a problem with the Eastern towns sacrificing people - in my Ten Towns, it's the smaller towns starting to sacrifice people, and it's a very recent occurrence out of desperation) Auril will take notice and try to scare the HELL out of the party and send creatures to outright kill them.

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Some ideas I have on Auril's tactics:

Visions in the Blizzard

I think we all need the scene where the PC's are trudging through snow in the dark and they hear a noise break through the wind whipping at them. An owl call that echoes. Glowing eyes in the dark coming towards them - the figure on the cover of the book using some kind of terrible force choke on the party, not saying anything. Just a horrifying encounter that the party can run from or whatever they want to do. Here you can REALLY highlight how little sympathy Auril has towards living things.

Snow Mounds

An idea stolen from Dwight in The Office - a large obelisk-like snow mound the party encounters. As they approach, a horrible behemoth of snow and ice erupts from it and attacks the party with terrifying power. Just jumpscare the party here lol make them think it's like a safe place to rest or something.

The next night, have the party see, on the horizon, dozens and dozens and DOZENS of these snow mounds to really invoke the terror of not knowing where one might come out.

Sudden Avalanche

This one is stolen straight from The Lord of the Rings. When Gandalf and the Fellowship are trudging through the mountains, Gandalf hears an echoing voice across the crags, the voice of Sarumon. As the party is somewhere where an avalanche could happen, have the creature with the highest perception hear a terrifying screech that sounds like a voice chanting or saying something creepy and unfeeling as they feel a rumble beneath them and above them. Maybe even make this avalanche scarier than the others somehow!

Nightmares

This one's pretty simple - give them nightmares of frostbite and being buried by snow (obviously ask your players about claustrophobia and frostbite and how ok they are with that first!)

Maybe they wake up in their room in the middle of the night and their room is ENTIRELY frozen solid, pitch dark - and the figure of the cloaked owl approaches them and they can't move magically. Maybe they don't know whether it was a dream or real.

Frostbitten Zombies

This is a cool one - have frostbitten zombies with blackened grey skin and missing fingers and stuff attack them when they feel they are safe - again ask your players how cool they are with frostbite stuff. You could even adjust their stats to do cold damage or have certain creepy powers.

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Some Misc. Thoughts:

Change the "Cold Open"

We all know this starter adventure is basically a premise and not much more. I'm changing it from being the first active quest to be the 2nd or 3rd development in the campaign. And the players aren't hunting Sephek, Sephek is hunting THEM after the party refuses to put their name on a "Draw" from the town they're in (let's be honest, no player is going to put their name on that list lol). So instead of being an adventure right out of the gate, this becomes a recurring paranoia and problem for the players AS they complete missions in Ten Towns.

The Arcane Brotherhood

All of these awesome characters will essentially stay the same - except that Vaelish Gant MUST be broken out of prison because hey, why would you not put a prison break adventure in here???

Ten Town's Council Meeting

This needs to happen in my game - meetings of the speakers in a local political grime of grudges and zhentarim and all of that. Plus, with the possibility of the party becoming a Speaker for Good Mead, this might be awesome. I'm going to have the meeting in Bryn Shander to address the small towns and Eashaven's new practice of sacrificing people to Auril - huge disagreements. (In my campaign, I'm having all the smaller towns be the ones sacrificing people - more desperate and more superstitious. I'm also making Easthaven led by an old man who is wildly paranoid and crazy and supports the humanoid sacrifices). I really want my players to have this investment into Ten Towns - this will make them care so much more when the dragon attacks.

Duergar Fortress

I saw someone suggest that the characters should go INTO the fortress and do some fighting and scouting before the dragon is released - maybe it's the PC's fault somehow, or a Duergar in desperation pulls the lever, or even the wrong lever lol - could be really fun!

Plunging into Frigid Water Needs to be Scarier

Here's a link to another post I made about how to make plunging into frigid water more terrifying!!! https://www.reddit.com/r/rimeofthefrostmaiden/comments/isqs9m/more_brutal_frigid_water/

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So yeah, these are most of my thoughts on the whole thing. This took forever but I'm happy if this helps anyone!! I think RotFM is a difficult adventure to run 100% by the book, and I wanted to share ideas and thoughts I had on it :) :) :)

Let me know what you guys think about this, and if you have any more ideas! I'm still brainstorming on Auril interactions with the party :D

Have Fun Scaring Your Players <3