If you have the PDF version of the Winter's Daughter adventure from DriveThruRPG, you might have noticed an update a while back with couple of changes:
- The interior art and layout are now in colour. (The original version of the adventure had a purely black & white interior.)
- The cover now features the Dolmenwood logo.
- Encounter area 2 has been altered.
Points 1 and 2 are simple enough, but people often ask about point 3 so I thought it would be worth writing a quick blog post about that change.
Encounter Area 2 — Original Version
Originally, the adventure had PCs arriving at a stone circle outside a burial mound (where the main "dungeon" part of the adventure is located) and finding a human sacrifice in progress.
Encounter Area 2 — Revised Version
In the revised version of the adventure, the stone circle is empty, save for a weird, twitching stag skeleton and some creepy iron owls clanking in the trees.
Why the Revision?
As you can see, this is a fairly major change to this introductory part of the adventure! We wouldn't normally make such a big change, but there were a couple of very good reasons for the change, based on feedback from many people who ran the adventure:
- The original area 2 (the Drune sacrifice) opens the adventure with a grisly and frightening scene. This is tonally completely at odds with the rest of the adventure, which is mysterious, wondrous, and whimsical. The revision of area 2 eliminates this tonal clash.
- The original area 2 (the Drune sacrifice) presents a strong moral dilemma that many PCs respond to by attacking the Drune in an attempt to rescue the sacrificial victim. (The twist, though, is that she's a willing sacrifice who doesn't want to be rescued.) The Drunes are powerful adversaries, making this a potentially deadly encounter for 1st level PCs! The revision of area 2 eliminates this potential TPK before PCs even get into the dungeon proper. This is especially important as Winter's Daughter is intended as an introductory adventure. A highly likely TPK in the first encounter is unsuitable for an intro adventure.
All in all, this revision greatly improves the adventure.
6 comments
Improved is a matter of opinion… I prefer the original as it does fit the rest of the module instead of leaving the players hanging on what happened. As far as too dangerous for an introductory module… what better way to teach old school gaming to new players than to make it clear that this is not a modern rpg that caters to keeping characters alive for the storyline
>I went to my account here where I originally purchased Winter’s Daughter, but couldn’t find a download link to get the updated PDF . . . is this revised version only available through DTRPG? Moreover, is there no way to download PDFs that I purchased here way back when?
Send an email to summon@necroticgnome.com and we’ll sort you out.
Hi Gavin,
I went to my account here where I originally purchased Winter’s Daughter, but couldn’t find a download link to get the updated PDF . . . is this revised version only available through DTRPG? Moreover, is there no way to download PDFs that I purchased here way back when?
>Hi Gavin, I re-downloaded the 5e version but there doesn’t seem to be a difference there. Will there be an update in that one as well made later on?
No the 5e version hasn’t been updated (with this change or with the colour art / layout). No current plans to update it, though it may be at some point.
Hi Gavin, I re-downloaded the 5e version but there doesn’t seem to be a difference there. Will there be an update in that one as well made later on?