Winter’s Bite – a D&D Noir Adventure is, as the title would imply, a one-shot mystery adventure for a 5th-level party by Mitchell DeFauw.

Story

Set in the city of Mirabar in the north of the Forgotten Realms, the players take the roles of private investigators. During a cold and snowy morning, they are approached by a tiefling named Welcome, asking their help in finding her friend – who disappeared a week ago.

When the characters begin their investigation however, they immediately find out there’s something much more dangerous going on, as they are involved with a cult named the Frozen Fangs; who seek to enact a ritual that would likely destroy the whole city. In the same vein, perhaps there’s more to Welcome as well, who is certainly hiding some pretty big secrets. It turns out, she’s a succubus who serves an archdevil; why is she helping the players then? Well, the cult serves a different archdevil, so this is a bit of a proxy war.

Overall, the adventure is pretty short – a couple of encounters and some conversations with Welcome and a couple of others, but it will still be enough to keep you occupied.

Art, Layout & Others

Besides the front cover, there’s a couple of other illustrations and 2 battle maps. There’s plenty of boxed text for the GM to read to set the tone, as well as details on how each conversation can go, and responses to some common questions the party may ask. In addition, there’s extra info on how to handle the situation of the party discovers Welcome’s true nature early. There’s some plot hooks to get the party started, or, at least, give them a bit more connection to the city of Mirabar, as the adventure assumes they are already established as private investigators there; there’s also some ideas on how to continue the one-shot further.

I can also see where the noir part of the title comes in; it may not be 1920s black and white New York, but a beautiful woman entering a private investigator’s office and lying to them, leading to a fight in the frozen streets is pretty noir.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Winter’s Bite is a fun little one-shot that will keep your players occupied for a cold winter’s afternoon.

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