Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden Dice & Miscellany was released on the 29th of September  2020.

Disclaimer: I previously reviewed Laeral Silverhand’s Explorer’s Kit. I consider it a good dice set by Wizards of the Coast and I will be using it here and there to compare various points in this review.

There’s also a video version of the review!

Overview

The dice set follows the same content pattern as the two previous dice sets, Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus Dice & Miscellany and Laeral Silverhand’s Explorer’s Kit. So what we get in this kit are a set of eleven dice, a felt inlined box that can work as two dice trays, twenty double-sided cards that feature descriptions of characters and creatures one might encounter in Icewind Dale, and a map of Icewind Dale and Ten-Towns. The MSRP of the product is $29.99. The price has increased by about $5 compared to the previous set. 

The Dice

The dice set consists of two d20s, one d12, two d10s (one of them is a percentile), one d8, four d6s, and one d4. Looking at the dice, you will see the main two colors are a blueish-green and a deep blue. However, depending on the light of the room, more colors can be seen, mainly a light purple. There’s a shining element in them as well, which is blue-based. The numbers have been painted with a silver color. And that covers the colors of the dice. Based only on that, I can say the dice are really beautiful.

However, there are a couple of notes I want to make. The first one is that the d20s this time are regularly sized. That’s not necessarily a negative; it greatly depends on whether or not you like rolling bigger dice and, possibly, what the focus of your dice collection is.

The second one is that the dice are semi-transparent. They’re either more transparent than Laeral Silverhand’s dice, or the coloring makes them seem like that. But what comes out of that is that the bubbles inside the dice are visible, and there are a lot of them. If you’re just collecting dice this won’t be an issue. If you don’t care about how fair your dice rolls are, then it’s not an issue either. But if you can hear a tiny voice coming from the back of your mind saying dice with bubbles aren’t fair, then it could be an issue for you.

The Cards

There are 20 cards in this kit, without counting the introductory card. Their dimensions are 13.3cm x 13.3cm (or 5.2” x 5.2”).

The descriptions this time come from the perspective of Drizzt Do’Urden, who lived part of his life in Icewind Dale. I like the choice of the character and have liked the previous ones as well. It’s nice going through them for inspiration.

The cards can’t really be put into categories. Most of them are about creatures of the Dale who are dangerous. These are the dragon Arveiaturace (actually a sad story), Auril the Frostmaiden, awakened beasts, black ice berserkers, coldlight walkers, frost giants, frost giant skeletons, ice trolls, remorhaz (a personal favorite of mine), snow owlbears, Tekeli-li the gnoll vampire, verbeeg, and yetis.

Some of the cards give an idea of the life in Icewind Dale and non-hostile (at least not on sight) creatures you can meet there. The cards related to this are Chwingas (cute elemental spirits) Oyaminartok the goliath werebear (probably my favorite card), Reghed nomads, Ten-Towners, Icewind Kobolds (with their art depicting three Kobolds in a trenchcoat, because why not?), and O’ Bitey (my second favorite card).

I have some negative points to make for the cards. The first thing I noticed was that the paper used felt a bit less sturdy in my hand than in the previous dice set. If it’s not just an error that happened to a few dice sets, including mine, then I’m not very happy about it. The cards in Laeral Silverhand’s Explorer’s Kit were sturdier and the difference shows.

Moreover, the cards do not have any art on the side with the insights, making them feel emptier.

The Map

Of course, we also get a double-sided map. Its dimensions are 39.9cm x 26.6xm (also known as 15.6” x 10.4”) and, this time, it features a general map of Icewind Dale on one side and maps of Ten-Towns on the other. 

First of all, the maps are very beautiful. Mike Schley is an amazing artist. The Icewind Dale map covers a huge area, though it doesn’t feature a lot of annotations. The lack of annotations is due to the nature of the map. The Dale is a huge area filled with ice and snow and holds many secrets that aren’t marked on maps.

However, the size of the paper isn’t doing the maps any favors, especially the ones of Ten-Towns. Having ten maps in a relatively small area makes them lose their value and practicality.

The Dice Trays

The boxes that can be used as dice sets are good looking. One has the D&D ampersand on its back, while the other one has the symbol of Auril the Frostmaiden. The blue colors match the dice and the flavor of the adventure. The material used is the same as in previous sets. One thing I haven’t mentioned is that you should make sure you store the boxes properly because dust can get on the felt lining and can be very visible. 

Final Words

Rime of the Frostmaiden Dice & Miscellany disappointed me a bit. I think there was a small dip in the quality of some of the components. Combined with the price raise made me feel a bit weird about it. These dice sets aren’t necessary in order to play but they shouldn’t be considered premium items either.

If you’re interested in getting one of the Wizards of the Coast dice sets, you should check out the other options first, like Laeral Silverhand’s Explorer’s Kit, unless you either want this set specifically for the dice or you are collecting the dice sets.

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I cannot recommend this bundle enough!

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