Rime of the Frostmaiden Session Zero and Campaign Outline

[@quintendelahaye3045]

This is truly amazing, and probably the most helpful way of letting us pick your brain. Thank you!

[@ndowroccus4168]

For years I’ve been doing a level 0 at session 0. Each character only fills out everything except their class (the players like it because of the HP boost). Just like townsfolk, but special...the players start with townsfolk hp+1. So player started with 5hp. They were all proficient in commoner weapons and arms, they only started with 15gp. They also rolled for backgrounds, which I still do today...background included things like bonuses and negatives and also I allowed players to refuse a background for 6gp, if out of gp they could use 1hp. These backgrounds would give the players things like family heirlooms (usually anything from common equipment, weapons or armor to +1/+1 weapon or armor, a low level magic item, or an amount of gold between 50gp-250gp). The players only got to choose their class once they reached level 1 (Lvl 1 xp @ 500xp). Of course they knew what they wanted to be, some didn’t and knew later when they began playing, which is why we started level 0. Just an fyi

[@Pixelkvist]

That's a really cool idea, actually!

[@bochosbrother]

This hits the spot! I live in the cold North of Sweden and have just started this campaign for 5 players. But the 10 towns and entire campaign book just felt overwhelming. We've gone all human party, Barbarian-Hexblade-Druid-Ranger-Cleric, started with them tromping through the snow under a full moon chased by werewolves into the Tavern of the Lost (Grim Hollow). Once they escape they will hop into Rime of the Frostmaiden, so I'll be following your progress for tips and advice. I got your book on audible as well, it's fantastic, had a much better session today because of it. Chose some good secrets ahead of time (hexblade's got a tadpole growing in his belly).

[@SlyFlourish]

Thank you so much! Glad you dig it!

[@martinmiller4181]

Hi. So glad I stumbled across this - I am running Icewind Dale as my first adventure and it's so useful to watch how you pull this together, and what resources you use, how you organise everything.

[@SlyFlourish]

Glad it was helpful!

[@NoFunAllowed]

Ive had a blast with Rime and I know you will too, especially showing off ways to prep for this massive campaign!

[@pb-bx1ll]

Thank you for all the great info and thank you for all the hard work you put into all the videos.

[@SlyFlourish]

Thank you for watching them!

[@dwalmsely]

Love it when you write out the note about no treasure, 'quit being so greedy'

[@Ironfranko]

My comment is going to be the silliest here, but.. I am amazed on how your players can build their characters, some background, and bonds in 3 hours (DDB helps surely), time that includes the rest of session 0 discussions and 1h of game O_O Kudos

[@SlyFlourish]

We did it in two!

[@grimbrent3476]

So happy to see you're prepping for this. I've been listening to a lot to the older shows as I only recently found the channel, I'm excited to see you prepping a book I only recently got myself!

[@SlyFlourish]

Thank you!

[@dallisjohnson662]

This is by far the best take on this book I've seen. Awesome, awesome example you are setting for the DMs watching you.

[@wunksta]

I understand wanting to have some variety in the party, but a party of all Goliath barbarians does sound fun lol

[@briancherry8088]

And it makes great thematic sense.... ESPECIALLY if they are from rival factions that will be met later.

[@youtigee]

Glad youve started this series Mike , I will be interested to see what direction you take it in

[@wacoglee]

Thank you so much for this. It is great to have these examples for viewing and reviewing

[@bassett_green]

Fantastic timing, my group just started RotF with session zero this week

[@SlyFlourish]

Awesome. We'll play it together!

[@alexbien8638]

Love your videos! Sent this to my DM! Session zero goes tonight!

[@ryanmatthews2068]

Just going to like this for future usage, thank you

[@SlyFlourish]

well, thanks for the like anyway!

[@chrishawkins313]

Hoping to run RotF for some friends in the near future, so I'm going to keep a close eye on this series for tips. I think rather than "Cult of ..." or "Children of ...", I'm going to use "Choir of Auriel" for something different. The cultists can chant creepy hymns as they oversee sacrifices, and I think evil bards are underused as villains. As a bonus, it plays off of Rime (rhyme) of the Frostmaiden.

[@SlyFlourish]

That certainly works!

[@stephensayers4998]

Been looking forward for this!!

[@PugsleyThePear]

I used to watch the Eberron prep videos, since I was running an Eberron campaign, but that campaign lost steam and we swapped to a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. Bit of a coincidence!

[@edwicks100]

WOW this is incredible so grateful

[@SlyFlourish]

Glad you dig it!

[@edwicks100]

@@SlyFlourish my players are the ones that unknownly dig it lol!

[@eGToastyRecording]

Good luck running this! Rime seems challenging but interesting. I'm not sure how a setting set entirely in an arctic biome (cold, monotone) would be fun but Rime seems really well reviewed.

[@SlyFlourish]

It’ll take some work but I think it’ll be a great time.

[@robmarsh2011]

Such a great and helpful video!

[@ggnorekthx]

I really love your DM prep series. Is it possible to share just one of the campaign guides as a Word doc for those of us with Office? Thanks so much!

[@isaacmccabe9099]

Big help, thanks!

[@bobywan1664]

Hi Sly Flourish. I really enjoy your work, very inspiring and useful. What is that tool at 29:33 ?

[@SlyFlourish]

That's just an HTML page I have with a bunch of links to tools I use a lot. It's nothing special. You can find it here: slyflourish.com/ddb.html

[@FlautistaGhost]

Love your videos Mike, keep up the good stuff! Btw what is this quick list you acess at 29:33? Seems really handy.

[@SlyFlourish]

Thank you! It's my own little page of links I set up: slyflourish.com/ddb.html

[@FlautistaGhost]

@@SlyFlourish Thanks!

[@kelly4187]

Thank you for this, and for all the other sessions i look forward to watching. I’ve gotta say, given that the players will be only needing a patron for the first few session, I don’t see why we give them the option. Surely it would be better to let it naturally happen as part of the story, or just select the one most sensible given the created characters and background?

[@fishdisco4391]

Hey I wondering If you could share the link you have for your random npc generator where you pulled Gyse name from

[@SlyFlourish]

Probably this one. slyflourish.com/random_name_generator.html

[@JoshV19]

Hey Sly! This is so flippen amazing! Can't thank you enough, prepping to run this with a bunch of friends soon! I did want to ask, you discuss it and break everything down in your vid, but in your notion file there is nothing when it comes to the Quest Outline section. Was this something you perhaps removed or did I just miss it. Thanks again!

[@romanhowell8121]

How did you make the One page Campaign Guide? What template? I would love to know how to do that for my games! Thanks!

[@SlyFlourish]

I made mine in Word

[@theweathereddragon1668]

Good Stuff!

[@SlyFlourish]

Thanks!

[@dougpridgen9682]

It seems that the plot is loosely based on the movie Dragonslayer. Good idea.

[@fishdisco4391]

Also as far as the Group patron goes lets say the party chose Hlin as their contact what exactly does that mean they report back to Hlin with all of their findings and they receive extra rewards from her?

[@michaelmartin5623]

Hi! Currently reading return of the Lazy Dungeon Master when I came across you You Tube channel. Once my group is finished our current campaign, I’m looking to run RotF next. Lucky I came across this video! Got some great tips and ideas. Wanted to ask what software you use to organize your notes? Looks like it’s a great tool.

[@angerskarin9222]

I run my own personal game and my players are lvl7 and they will soon find an artefact that will send them back in time to icewind dale making them lvl 1 and having them play through the whole thing to save icewind dale which was destroyed.

[@travisbarber1945]

What is the software that u use in ur videos I love it

[@SlyFlourish]

I use OBS for the overlays and Notion for my campaign software. Links are in the show notes.

[@soni2892]

Hey where is the session 0 notes , i dont see them in notion ty

[@SlyFlourish]

I added it to the Notion notebook. You can also find it here: slyflourish_content.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/frostmaiden_one_page_campaign_guide.pdf

[@briancherry8088]

Ok... Bryn Shander, I get that.... Where is the body story coming from? There were 2 starting quests in the book... but you seem to have skipped them. Sorry, but this is my first "prep" video. Thanks!

[@SlyFlourish]

The body was one of the victims of Sephek Kaltro which comes up later. I didn't run the other starter quest for this group. Kaltro is lethal to 1st level characters so I had a longer hunt for him.

[@grayseeroly]

Hi, I'm playing in RotFM campaign righty now, how spoilery is this going to be? I'm a forever DM getting to play so I don't want to ruin it.

[@SlyFlourish]

Very spoilery. Sorry!

[@grayseeroly]

@@SlyFlourish np, have fun and I'll catch up when I'm done!

[@arnodejonghe]

not a fan of the party being able to read all the secrets beforehand. Spoils part of the mystery and adventure a bit

[@SlyFlourish]

I don’t understand.