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Like the Lost Mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak has been lauded as one of the best introductory adventures in all ofDungeons & Dragonsfifth edition. This is in large part thanks to the job posting quest mechanism by which players choose their next adventure.
The adventure also features the titular villain in the form of a young white dragon named Cryovain, with whom it’s easy enough to harry players with as they level up, building enmity between your big bad and the player characters. However, like most published modules, you’re going to want to add a little bit of your own personal touch to get the most out of this campaign.
Synopsis
Like Lost Mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak takes place inthe small town of Phandalinlocated just north of the Sword Mountains in the Forgotten Realms setting. The adventure consists oftwo primary villains: a band of orcs who worship the evil storm god Talos and a young white dragon named Cryovain.
Dragon of Icespire Peak takes around 20 game sessions, each lasting about 3 hours to complete. Set a weekly, biweekly, or monthly schedule with your players after the first game session or your chances of seeing this campaign out to the end will be very low.
During the adventure, the players will unravel how these two villains are intertwined and, if they’re lucky, ultimately defeat them. As mentioned above, quests during the campaign are doled out viajob board postingsplaced in front of the townmaster’s hall. Thisallows the players the freedom to choose their next adventureassuming the DM (Dungeon Master) plans accordingly. They also are afforded the freedom toskip certain adventuresthat don’t sound appetizing which is an easy way togive newer players a sense of agency.
Dragon of Icespire Peak isa classic D&D adventure that delivers everything you would expectfrom the genre. It’s an especially good campaign fornew to intermediate playerswho are still finding their footing in the game and have yet to experience all of the classic tropes that D&D offers. It also only runs fromlevels one to six, so the mechanics won’t ever get too complicated.
While intended for newer players, Icespire Peak is also a perfectly serviceable adventure for veteran players who want to enjoy a classic fantasy story.
Necessary Materials
As with all D&D modules, you’re going to need theDungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, and Player’s Handbook to properly run this adventure.That being said, Dragon of Icespire Peak isone of the few adventures that features an alternative and cheaper optionfor gameplay.
Players who are unsure how much they want to invest in Dungeons & Dragons can instead opt to purchase theD&D Essentials Kit. This box set featureseverything you need for a DM to run a game for one to five players and comes at a very affordable price of $25.You’ll also need a set of dice ranging from a d4 to a d20 for each player,character sheets, and pens or pencils for players to take notes with.
While not necessary, snacks or other food and drink made available at the table is a surefire way to delight everyone present.
While you can certainly run the adventure with just the Essentials Kit,the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, and Player’s Handbook will greatly expound upon the character options available to your players as well as the knowledge needed to become a talented DM.Consequently, we strongly encourage you topurchase and use these books as soon as your players commit to the campaign.
Suggested Additions
As mentioned in the introduction, to get the most out of Dragon of Icespire Peak, you’re definitely going toneed to make some additions.First and foremost, you’ll want toadd some encounters with the young white dragon Cryovain.This way, the players get to meet the villain of the campaign face to face before facing him at the campaign’s climax.
The goal of these interactions should be tobuild enmity between the dragon and your players.Any good campaign villain has multiple reasons for the player characters to dislike them: bonus points if the reasons are personal.
The dragon mightdevour a friendly NPC that your player characters enjoy, demand that the party hand over a magic item or else be frozen solid, or even slay one of the party membersand take their body as a trophy.
Other things to consider includereplacing magic itemsin the game with ones more appropriate for your player characters, adding additional enemies from the Monster Manual to combat encounters to increase their difficulty, and putting sidequests in the campaignthat have to do with your player characters' backstories.
A character’s backstory might even tie into one of the main questlines if the DM works with a player to build their backstory. This is one of the easiest and most fluid ways to incorporate character backstories into prewritten modules.
Sequels
One thing unbeknownst to many players and DMs alike is thatDragon of Icespire Peak has three short sequels already writtenfor it. The modules in question are calledStorm Lord’s Wrath, Sleeping Dragon’s Wake, and Divine Contention.The reason many people don’t know about them is becausethey were only published online.You can find them ondndbeyond.
6 - 9
9 - 11
Divine Contention
11 - 13
These sequels see the player characterstravel to the nearby abandoned settlement of Leilonwhere the king of Neverwinter plans to renew the village into a new hub of coastal commerce. Unfortunately for the settlers of Leilon, danger lurks around every corner on this section of the Sword Coast astwo cults vie for control of the area.It’s the players' mission to discover the threat these forces pose, protect the town of Leilon, and, eventually, destroy the dangerous cults.
Alternatively, you could alwayscontinue a Dragon of Icespire Peak campaign in another of the modulespublished by Wizards of the Coast. You could place the player characters smack dab in the middle of theTomb of Annihilation or Descent into Avernuscampaigns. However, it would probably beeasiest to continue with Dungeon of the Mad Mageas this campaign naturally starts at level five anyway.
Lastly, there’s always the temptation tocontinue a campaign with your very ownhomebrew adventure.While this route will require more time and hard work from the DM than any other option, it can also be the most rewarding.
Beginner DMs should stay away from homebrewing their own adventures until they’ve completed a couple of campaigns. Prewritten adventures allow your games a structure that makes it much easier for you to focus on becoming a better DM.
