Last night the D&D Live 2020 Roll With Advantage event kicked off. Unlike previous D&D Live events this years is a virtual event (we all know why).

These high profile events are used to announce and launch the new big module for the year. And like previous years (well last year for sure) there was a leak before hand. This time it was at the hands of WotC themselves when they mistakenly put a video live for a fraction of a second on YouTube. But that was long enough for some-one to get a screen grab and spread it around the internet.

What this all means is that the “big announcement” they make just confirms what everyone already knew.

This years big module that we will be getting from mid September is called Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden sees WotC revisiting the horror genre, but setting it in the icy wastes of Icewind Dale. When I heard this I instantly thought The Thing, 30 Days of Night. During the big reveal they mentioned there are around 40 stat blocks in this module, the most they have included in a module, They also mentioned that the module has been designed similar in approach to the Essentials Kit adventure. Which means you can dive in and out of the module and drop individual adventures into your own campaign, or run it as a normal campaign.

I’m pretty excited by this module. The horror genre is something I want to get to the table either in my campaign or running something like this or the Alien RPG.

Naturally there is the usual 3rd party tie in from Beadle and Grimm.

This box of props and handouts etc tied to the module is $499. A tad expensive for the majority of players and DMs. But still if this is something you can afford I’m pretty sure it’ll enhance the gaming experience.

There is also by now the standard and not surprising at all matching dice set.

I like these sets, but it’s getting a bit boring now. I think it’s about time WotC decided to be a bit more creative on the official accessories.

Plus there is the usual Wizkids minis support for the module. Which I find it hard to get excited about because they availability I found isn’t great, especially in the UK. Plus they are random packs, so you are not guaranteed to get what you want. A total turn off. Although the 2D standees and village paper craft stuff they briefly mentioned did sound interesting. Well the standees, I’m not sure about paper craft stuff.

Another big thing they were showing off was the footage and game play from the upcoming Baldur’s Gate 3, which was co-hosted/partnered by IGN.

WotC also announced a D&D cookbook.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the live demonstrations of a couple of the recipes. When they did the cocktail that seemed like jumping the shark for me. Cocktails in a medieval/fantasy setting doesn’t seem too authentic to me. And that was the kind of angle they were pushing. The Elven bread recipe that they demonstrated and put the page up on their website annoyed me. Well the recipe did. It measured stuff in cups. No weights. The melted butter measurement was given as half a stick of butter or half a cup. It’s obvious this is a US only type recipe book. But the recipes should have measurements in cups (for the yanks) and weight, ie 400g/2 cups (I’m not sure that’s right, it’s for illustration not use). The volume measurement is not very accurate and inconsistent. From my favourite cookbook Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, he wrote ,”A cup of flour can weigh anywhere between 4 and 6 ounces. This means that if you are making a recipe calling for 4 cups of flour, you might wind up with a pound of flour in your bowl or you might end up with 1 ½ pounds.” as an example of why he uses weight and not volume measurements. In the UK our butter is not sold as sticks and don’t equate to US equivalents. So the recipe is not very considerate towards an international audience. Bad call WotC in your new age of inclusivity not considering international customers.

Apart from the module, I found the whole online event and announcements underwhelming. A bit of a damp squib. I’m sure that many found the Baldur’s Gate 3 stuff exciting. But not something I’m not interested in as it won’t be on anything I own.