D&D 5E Running Rime of the Frost Maiden

[pukunui]

Here are the travel times tables from the Legacy of the Crystal Shard DM screen. How do they match up with what's in Rime of the Frostmaiden?

One thing you'll note is that this says "being mounted" can shorten the travel time by half, but this adventure came out during the D&D Next playtest. The final version of the 5e rules removed any speed bonuses for being mounted during overland travel.

On that note, I'll just point out that the rules for overland travel in the PHB specifically do mention that they take into account rests and the fact that you can't always travel at a constant, consistent speed. Sometimes you might be going faster and other times slower, so the overland travel speeds are the average speed.

It's also all meant to be fairly abstract, so you can't really translate a the miles per hour of overland travel directly to feet per round.

 

[Reynard]

One thing you'll note is that this says "being mounted" can shorten the travel time by half, but this adventure came out during the D&D Next playtest. The final version of the 5e rules removed any speed bonuses for being mounted during overland travel.

Aside: still a baffling decision.

 

[pukunui]

Aside: still a baffling decision.

Agreed, as it makes it so there's no reason to ride a horse or travel in a wagon when you can get there just as quickly by walking.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Also, were your lake district hikes across a frozen tundra beset by blizzards, wading through feet of snow in land cursed by an evil goddess?

I'm not a rugged adventurer.

Anyway, don't dis the Lake District, they may be dinky compared to other mountains but they can still challenge a city dweller.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Dogsleds always go twice as fast as the walking speed for any terrain, and not wearing snowshoes halves the speed.

I'm not sure about that, I reckon I could travel faster in the mountains without the dog sled.

Snowshoes wouldn't be very effective in the mountains either - better with crampons and ice axes.

And the means of transportation the book completely overlooks - skis!

Not only would skiing be faster, how cool is chasing a dragon on skis?!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Paul's modified speeds:

Plain
Dogsled, arctic adapted creature, skis (tool proficiency required): 2MPH
Snowshoes, skis (not proficient): 1MPH
Foot, no snowshoes: 1/2 MPH

Mountain
Downhill Skis (tool proficiency required): 4 MPH
Wildshape mountain goat: 2 MPH
Crampons and ice axes (Survival skill required): 1MPH
Crampons (no survival skill): 1/2 MPH
Other: 1/4 MPH

Blizzard: All speeds halved
New tool proficiency: Skis
New tool: Skis cost 20gp, weight 20lb
Ice axe: stats as hand axe, two required for full benefit.

 

[Weiley31]

What's better than chasing a Dragon on skis?

The Magitek Snowboards the PC Artificer made up for the party.

 

[jasper]

I've just reread chapter 4, and the "flight times" do not take into account how long the dragon spends attacking the town. Whilst it destroys Dougan's Hole in half an hour (it's pretty much toast, whatever), it spends a full eight hours attacking it's second target - Easthaven. That should give the PCs plenty of time to catch up.

I did the total the pcs will lose some towns. PM if you want the total of flight time and destruction times.

 

[Reynard]

I did the total the pcs will lose some towns. PM if you want the total of flight time and destruction times.

They should. Otherwise what's the point? It should be about choices informed by althea things that have happened up until that point. Is one PC's love interest in one town and another's rival in a different town?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They should. Otherwise what's the point? It should be about choices informed by althea things that have happened up until that point. Is one PC's love interest in one town and another's rival in a different town?

If you assume it will take about 8 hours to get back to the Ten Towns, then around one and a half towns will be destroyed the the players play well, which is about right From a storytelling perspective. They are heroes because they save most (around 85%) of the Ten Towns, but enough is destroyed to show how bad it could have been. No destruction at all would be too cheep.

If you use the longer travel times, then it is only possible to save one town no matter what the players do, making their choices meaningless.