D&D: Beadle & Grimm’s Rime Of The Frostmaiden Puts The Win In Winter
Beadle & Grimm’s sent us their Platinum Edition Icewind Dale box and it is the campaign in a box you’ve been waiting for.
The first real campaign of D&D I got into ruined me. Not the few slapdash random encounters against wolves or goblins, mind you, but the first real campaign I got into. This was back in the days of 3.5, and I had the fortune to play at a table with a long-running campaign that took place in a world full of detail and texture. I know because the DM took an interest not just in the gameplay and the story of the campaign, but also in the presentation of it.
When we found letters in the game, he’d pull out sheaves of paper that he’d hand-stained with tea and baked in the oven long enough for them to feel weathered. When we found a map, he’d slip us a scroll case–in reality just some leather wrapped around a small picture tube, but I didn’t know any better–with a hand-drawn map inside. At that point, the rest of the world melted away and I was drawn in immediately. Since then I’ve had plenty of fine experiences with campaigns that didn’t go all out with maps and minis, fancy accessories do not a good game make. But if you have a good DM, or a good campaign, having the right accessories can transform your tabletop experience.
So it is with Beadle & Grimm’s new Icewind Dale Platinum Edition box. It immediately takes me back to those early days of D&D, before I understood that Power Attack was the core part of a good Fighter build, or could tell you about feat trees. I say that not to dig on the rules, but to point out that this whole box is here to help you forget you’re playing a game. At least for a little while.
We want to live in liminal spaces, at least for a little while. We want to feel like we could step into another world. When we’re kids, it’s easy to do; you can invent whole worlds with just a few toys and a seemingly endless afternoon. At some point we start needing to give ourselves permission to return back to that creative space. And that’s what “immersion” is all about.
You might have had those transportive moments, where you kind of step outside yourself for a little while and really sink into that other world. Or perhaps you’ve had a moment where the mechanics of the game line up and they make everything feel seamless, just for a little while. Again, the whole point of a product like this is to help you forget you’re playing a game, at least for a while.
Inside the box you’ll find an array of aids and accessories. There are maps that capture the look and feel of Icewind Dale, every encounter in the game is recreated here, so if you’re running the game, you don’t really have to do any extra prep work to get the encounters ready. In fact, the game helps you–these full-color maps do a ton of imaginative work, beyond what a dull beige or forrest green battlemat with some wet-erase drawn on trees could do.
There’s a lot of thought put into the details of the map. And that kind of curated experience pays off in spades. You’re getting the feel of a cool livestreamed game, you’re getting the work of a hand-drawn map without having to have a GM who actually has time to sit down and bake sheets of paper in their oven for a few minutes each week.
To be fair, I don’t think any box, no matter how stuffed full of luxury accessories, is ever going to be able to compete with that kind of dedication. How could it? Beadle & Grimms isn’t setting out to replace the ingenuity of something like the Dungeon of Drezzar, with its intricate multi-layered style–but it’s here to help push your games of D&D higher. To make it easy to run a high-quality game. You get everything you need, maps, painted minis, like this Snowy Owlbear:
In fact you get 20 minis all in all:
Huge:
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Frost Giant Skeleton
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Frost Salamander
Large:
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Crag Cat
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Goliath Werebear
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Snowy Owlbear (don’t hug)
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Medium:
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Auril: The Cold Crone
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Auril: The Brittle Maiden
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Auril: Winter’s Womb
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Xardorak Sunblight
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Nass Lantomir
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Avarice
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Vellynne Harpell
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Tekeli-li
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Orog Ranger
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Goliath Barbarian
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Night Hag
Small:
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Chwingas with Icicle Staff
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Chwingas with Snowball
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Yeti Tyke
And each one is just as detailed as you hope. Every part of the box is here to bring this adventure to life. Which is why you won’t just find the unique minis, you’ll also find some incredible handouts, like letters and riddles and other things. They come wrapped in twine and they look like something straight out of Icewind Dale.
It’s all here to help heighten the experience of D&D at your tabletop. Little flourishes like that are inspiring. Of course, these days it’s harder to share that if you’re not all at the same table.
If I were playing this online, and my DM sent me a letter in real life, I’d probably lose it. In the best way–right now a lot of folks are looking for something real. And that’s what Beadle & Grimms delivers. Something inarguably real.
Just look at the jewelry that comes in the box. Imagine commemorating your experience with a little pin or a necklace that you found in the game. It’s all a part of this feeling of a “good game.” And while it’s not a universal translation, it helps solidify the idea for folks. If you can get your hands on one of these boxes, it’s absolutely worth it. Which creates an unusual position, reviewing a box that you can’t actually get. It’s sold out–at least for now. You can still get a Silver Edition box, which has many of the same things. But perhaps this review will help you not to sleep on the next one.
Once the BoLS office opens back up again, we’re all looking forward to diving into Rime of the Frostmaiden face to face.
Happy Adventuring!
