Now that I've gotten through all of the stuff in the Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden book, I figured that I would check out the first Adventurers League module linked the adventure: Ice Road Trackers by Shawn Merwin.
It contains four adventures for 1st and 2nd level characters. Each scenario is meant to take 1 hour to play through.
Talking Animals: The overarching story involves an awakened walrus named Mother Tusk is trying to protect a group of animals from an evil druid. She sends the group on 4 quests.
So, yeah, I mentioned in my review of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden that I'm not a big fan of all the talking animals. Ice Road Trackers is full of them.
I feel like if one animal talks, it's special. When a bunch of them talk, it's weird. Especially when the frost druids are awakening them for no special reason.
I actually think it would be really cool if there was an adventure that involved a kingdom or area that is affected by fey magic or something, so that all of the animals were awakened. That would probably lead to all sorts of awesome Secret of NIMH type things. But in Icewind Dale, it's pretty random.
Let's go through the different sections of this module.
Avalanche: We start off with the heroes actually trying to get in to Icewind Dale from the outside. It is blocked off by magical storms, yet the heroes are trying to pass through. They get into trouble and are saved by an awakened muskrat. This is just a quick set-up to get us to the four quests.
Unsure Footing: The adventurers are asked to go and rescue an awakened otter.
Right off the bat I can see the value in this adventure - we are given ways to handle environmental dangers of Icewind Dale. A lot of these things can be pulled out and used in Rime of the Frostmaiden when the group travels from one area to another.
This one has some ice slides, where each character needs to make an Acrobatics check when sliding down. There's a chart that shows the effects of various rolls, which I really like a lot. It's like a deluxe version of a skill check, which I think is really cool and something that should be done more.
This adventure uses magic items from Xanathar's Guide to Everything that I'd completely forgotten about! One such item is the boots of false tracks, which are boots that let you leave tracks like those of another kind of humanoid of your size. The entry in the appendix has the page number and everything! Very handy.
We also get rules for falling in freezing water, which will almost certainly come up in Rime of the Frostmaiden. This is part of a section where the group needs to get out of an icy area, and it is very well thought out.
Cold Welcome: The heroes must deal with some Reghed nomads.
As the party tracks the tribe, they'll need to brave a pair of traps. These are so handy. The second one is really good and could easily be repurposed as a hollowed log/bridge that's been worn down by the harsh weather.
The group will meet with the Wolf Tribe and have at least 3 ways to convince them to leave the awakened animals alone.
Here's a weird thing: "At the end of this episode, if the character has completed two episodes, they may choose to gain a level - or they can decline the level." I guess this is an Adventurer's League thing. I am amused at the idea of a player going, "Thank you, but I decline to gain a level at this time."
Chilled Drinks: A hot spring has frozen over.
There is a moment in this one that I really like where the group can use sleds to get somewhere faster. This adventure is full of fun rules which can be applied to any snowbound D&D scenario. I mean. I don't know about you, but I want to make an Athletics check to push my sled to the limit.
The group has the opportunity to rescue a guy from Dougan's Hole. His name: Judd Dougan. I find this very amusing. Maybe I missed it, but is that a thing? Does everyone from Dougan's Hole have the last name Dougan? I want to make an NPC named Dougan Dougan.
The heroes can clear up the hot spring situation. I really like the idea of adventurers finding a hidden hot spring in Icewind Dale, that's definitely something that should happen in a campaign. It just seems like fun.
Warm Bodies: There are terrifying noises coming from a cave. Guess who needs to check it out? YOU
This one is really good. It uses orc lore, which I'm interested in, and it has a pretty crazy encounter that could definitely get out of hand. This is definitely my favorite scenario out of the four.
Overall
I really like the 4th adventure, and this book is full of things you can pull out and use in any winter-themed adventure. If you're running rime of the Frostmaiden, this gives you quite a few great things to spice up the many trips through the snow.