Essentials Kit is obviously a really popular D&D product. Just based on the impression when I take a peek at the stats of this site, it’s become the first topic regularly more popular than Curse of Strahd, which was essentially the reason why I started typing up my campaigns.
This entry is supposed to help out with DMing, or sorting out, the adventure inside the Essentials Kit – Dragon of Icespire Peak. It might even inspire you, there are even ideas how to connect/combine it with Lost Mine of Phandelver at the end. I won’t tell you there are spoilers inside, because every group and every DM make the adventure their own, so even if you know what awaits you it’s a completely new experience for you.
Essentials Kit
In the box you get two books – the rulebook and the adventure book (with a bunch of useful additional materials I won’t be discussing much here). The rulebook gives you everything you need to know how to play the game and create characters. The whole rulebook is still available FOR FREE on the official Wizards D&D site as part of their Stay at Home Play at Home initiative and archive from 2020.
If you’re playing this as a campaign, make sure everyone in your group has a pdf copy for their own perusal. I know you don’t have to read any of it to play D&D, but reading this booklet cover to cover should be useful for anyone’s development as a player.
Setting up a Campaign
Just three things: create characters, introduce Phandalin, start adventuring.
Don’t forget to roll on the Where’s the White Dragon table. You should be doing that “each time the characters arrive at a location tagged on the map of the Sword Coast or prepare to leave that location.” If you’re not ready for the dragon, you can maybe ignore the first couple of rolls, until you get some playing practice, or make it a sighting from afar. But do roll, just to get into the habit of it. Encountering the dragon should be fun, but also scary for any party of fourth level or lower. You can make those rolls for the dragon public and make your players roll the die or remind you to do it.
Dragon of Icespire Peak
This adventure is of an episodic kind. Surrounding the town of Phandalin is a bunch of locations tied to quests which are posted on a board in town. This is a device to keep your play casual – you can separate it into a quest of the week style show. On the one hand this is what makes it really cool, but on the other there is a certain lack of a clear narrative. Yes the dragon pushed out the orcs from the mountains, yes some orcs found a new purpose in the woods serving the god of violent destruction.
It’s a sandbox, but it doesn’t have a firm core at its center. Modular elements are the best thing here. Encounters that give you how many enemies there are depending on the number of PCs (and sidekicks) in the group should become a bit more standard in adventure writing. But I get it, it’s a mathematical drag to calculate it all for any adventure, especially your own.
Foreshadowing? Maybe you want to play with some elements earlier to be able to connect them later. But to do that you’d better read the whole adventure in advance and make some notes.
Half-Orcs. Introduce your party to a half-orc NPC quite soon. Have them feel the call of the wild Neverwinter Wood early on, and disappear later. Were they taken by the Anchorites, Gorthok and other orcs? If characters come to the NPC’s aid, it’s up to you whether the character has embraced the evil teachings of Talos or is fighting it still. So you can basically turn an NPC into an unexpected villain later in the adventure, and have your party fight this villain or save this lost soul. Check out the Anchorite names in the Circle of Thunder location/quest.
A Rival Adventuring Group. Falling out with Harbin Wester is easy as he is an NPC with an annoying adversarial personality. So the town speaker might put out a call for dragon slayers. That’s when you have the chance to introduce the Stone-Cold Reavers early (see the sidebar in Icespire Hold, also note that one of them is named separately outside this text for a total of five). Have the speaker publicly laud the Reavers’ ambitious approach. Or have the characters cross paths with them, as the Reavers need to find out where the dragon’s lair is and the characters might know.
If you’re a more experienced DM or already have the Monster Manual, consider changing up the members’ stats. In the adventure they are all veterans, but you can make them use other NPC stats of similar challenge ratings instead, like spy, berserker, priest etc. They are also all human, so you can also mix up that part a bit.
Orcs. Your group might be more inclined to try to parley with the orcs, or take some prisoner to interrogate them. Be aware of that option, and flesh out some orcs with descriptions and names in advance to be ready.
This approach would be closer to my heart. Because as a DM, I tend to work in longer narrative arcs, and, depending on the campaigns, I prepare more of the story which I populate with locations from the adventure. Remember that it’s your game, and you and your group can do anything.
Locations
The locations in the adventure are mostly all presented in two- or four-page chunks. Each page is pretty much packed. However, this doesn’t leave much space for anything more, making them a bit modest for the sake of brevity. Some of the great maps you see inside the book feel underutilized in that way. On the other hand, you can basically play most of the locations right out of the book at the table.
Travel. Unlike most other sandboxes, this adventure ignores the potential dangers and difficulties of travel. There are no paragraphs devoted to travel, and no random encounter tables. This feels a bit weird, but again, it keeps the focus on the locations and quests.
Starting Quests
The first level characters get offered three quests: Dwarven Excavation (two pages), Gnomengarde (four pages), and Umbrage Hill (one page). How do you choose quests? You either let the players choose, or gently choose for them since it’s the beginning. My suggestions here depend on what you want to do. Do you want a full session adventure? If yes, then choose Gnomengarde. Do you want to start playing immediately after you’ve created characters but don’t have a lot of time left? Then choose Umbrage Hill. Both scenarios offer a potential for more role playing than combat.
Gnomengarde. A full village of gnomes! Because of that it kinda suffers from NPC-clutter. There is a bunch of NPCs and all are gnomes. And because of the layout, your players will definitely meet more than a few. Luckily for the DM, all are given names and what they are doing.
This gives you the opportunity for some silly role playing. I usually have most gnomes speak fast. Go along with a slightly annoying accent to play-up their gnomish recluse nature.
Don’t forget the wild magic effects in the caves! Since there probably won’t be many spell slots used, consider using it even for cantrips for an annoying amount of wild magic fun, or maybe not since there are only four options on the table. But there is a wild magic table in the Player’s Handbook, so you can use that.
I don’t think the information is laid out properly here, because you have to flip back and forth between room descriptions and information from the introduction to this location, so maybe prepare it more clearly for yourself. The info about the kings, other important gnomes, what happened, who died and who did what. Sometimes that helps.
The party is alone in solving this mystery, but you can help them out with wands of poking. If the fight is going badly, the gnomes can also help out – the gnome recluse stat block is one of the coolest low challenge rating NPC stats not just in this adventure.
Umbrage Hill. This one-page quest is pretty straightforward. The only choice seems to be combat or no combat? It’s easy to scare away the manticore here by hurting it. But it’s also, if some unlucky rolls are involved, easy to perish; so a light warning: this quest might prove a tough nut to crack for first level characters. Remember that manticores are pretty intelligent, and that they can speak.
Additionally, you are asked to consider a follow-up with two manticores later in the campaign, and my suggestion is the Shrine of Savras. That depends on your style, and what kind of campaign you’re playing, and whether your players are visiting Adabra at Umbrage Hill for potions or not.
Dwarven Excavation. The reason I don’t suggest this for the first quest is the twist ending when the party gets cornered by some orcs, which are a potentially deadly encounter for any first level party. An orc crit with a solid damage roll can easily cause instant death, so be wary. But hey, adventuring is about survival and dangers.
This is one of my favorite locations here, and you can see that I played it with my regular group, as well as the former beginners’ group that made it halfway through this adventure. It’s a cool map, has a cool background story, nice NPCs with a cool reward. The only thing lacking, but only maybe, are some more diverse enemies. But with ochre jellies and orcs, it already offers more than many other quests in this adventure.
Follow-Up Quests
When your characters reach 3rd level three more quests are added to the quest board in Phandalin. These are Butterskull Ranch (two pages), Loggers’ Camp (two pages), and Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine (two pages). Since all are two-page quests it shouldn’t matter which one your group picks; however, the Mountain’s Toe quest puts a group without magic weapons and magical firepower at a significant disadvantage, since the lycanthropes in that quest have damage immunity. So, that quest might be considered a 4th level quest in my book.
Butterskull Ranch. This gorgeous location is beset by orcs and lacks a bit of guidance for any DM. Prepare a distinct orc or two to be the leaders of the group (and maybe even max out their hp if your players tend to aim for the leaders). Come up with what the orcs might be doing at the moment when the party arrives. Chasing pigs or cows through the corn fields? Making a bonfire with stuff from the house? Preparing to torture Alfonse in the cellar? Singing drunk? (Apply disadvantage to the orcs’ rolls if they are drunk!)
Consider utilizing the whole ranch and the locations on it, not only the farmhouse like it says. Does someone in the party understand Orcish? Let them eavesdrop on a conversation about the orcs’ prisoner. Also, some orcs could be taken prisoner and interrogated about their raiding and stuff. Make sure you know what the orcs know about their former Icespire Peak lair, or where they plan to take refuge – the Neverwinter Wood.
See what happened in my campaign here!
Loggers’ Camp. This is one of the quests where I feel like some random encounters and travel through the wilderness as a part of the adventure is missing. Because of the type of the monsters, their fixed number in this location (unlike everywhere else), and combined with their potential for surprise, the encounter has a chance to turn deadly for a third level party. So just a warning, be careful.
Same post as above, but different paragraphs.
Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine. At the same time I love this location, but I despise it a bit as well. The whole adventure doesn’t offer much gold in rewards, neither does it offer many magic or silvered weapons. So your party might arrive here woefully unprepared. However, the wererats aren’t necessarily aggressive, and there are other entrances into the mine. The problem, they are still evil bullies and basically won’t budge from their position.
As a solution to the problem, the wererats offer to move if the characters clear their former lair. This opens the Shrine of Savras location and quest which is only mentioned in the Phandalin Tales table. But what happens if the characters return? And what does Don Jon Raskin, the NPC the party was hired to escort to the mine, actually want? And importantly, what about the miners? Some of these quests lack proper conclusions, or follow-up ideas. A nice paragraph or two what happens afterwards depending on the monsters and NPCs killed or encountered. Similar conclusions are nicely presented in Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden, so I know it can be done.
Follow-Up Quests 2
Additional three quests open up as the characters progress to 4th level: Axeholm (four pages), Dragon Barrow (two pages), and Woodland Manse (four pages).
Axeholm. A dwarven fortress in the mountains. 30 keyed rooms! Some of them toilets! With a total of just four different enemies. For the gorgeous map, this whole thing is a bit meh. The characters are tasked to clear it out, so it could have been a proper dungeon crawl.
Why did I mention that it has 30 rooms? Because, for example, the last dungeon from Lost Mines of Phandelver is just 20 rooms, but it’s so much more exciting. (However, that one is written out on 10 pages!) I haven’t played this one, so I don’t know the flow.
Some cool treasures await, but will your party find them? You can always add some other stuff from the book. Expand the excitement!
- An anchorite with some orcs, or just orcs? Nah, skip that one. Can’t have orcs everywhere.
- A carrion crawler (or two) lair?
- Bandits in search of treasure, who got trapped inside by the other monsters and are hiding or waiting it out? (Use the commoner stat block, but max out the hit points and give them different weapons and an additional +2 to attack and damage. Add a notorious bandit leader, a veteran?)
- Giant rats? More wererats?
- A mimic?
- A group of rock gnome recluses instead of bandits?
This is just what’s at your disposal in the adventure book.
Also important: Remember this map! You can always repurpose it for your own campaigns and adventures. Populate it with different monsters, and a different narrative.
Dragon Barrow. Another one of my favorites! This is a tight-packed small dungeon with a cool story, some traps, a potentially deadly encounter, and a cool reward. It’s definitely not a walk in the park, and it should be served for your fifth level characters, those nearly ready to take on the dragon to avoid any unhappy accidents – I’m always wary around invisible stalkers, since my players tend to ignore the very serious peril they present, so better safe than sorry.
The centaur Xanth can point them towards the Circle of Thunder. And they can all go to Falcon’s Hunting Lodge together maybe? And once there, Falcon cans ask them to do the Woodland Manse quest, too.
Woodland Manse. Another one of those I never got to play, and another 5e Gulthias tree! The structure here ties it to Falcon’s Hunting Lodge which basically becomes a base in Neverwinter Wood, and there is orc/anchorite reprisal against the Lodge after the party explores the manse, so the structure is more like a proper adventure. We’re close to the season finale; there are some two-part episodes.
I think you can easily make your party turn tail from the manse, as more and more enemies converge on them. The manse is really nice. Picturesque, dilapidated, with a bunch of possible entry points, and loads of rewards if your players are thorough.
Icespire Hold and Other Quests and Locations
Some locations are not directly connected to any quests on the Phandalin board. These are Shrine of Savras (two pages), Tower of Storms (three pages), Falcon’s Hunting Lodge (two pages), Circle of Thunder (two pages), and the final location, the dragon’s lair of Icespire Hold (four pages).
Shrine of Savras. Two ways lead to exploring this location. The wererats of Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine ask the party to clear their former lair of orc who evicted them, or a rumor in Phandalin which is for greedier characters or those in need of more gold.
The ruined shrine is beset by orcs in a similar manner to Butterskull Ranch, albeit it’s a much stronger force. It should be a challenge for your players, but it’s just orcs and ogres. A potential experience of a massive fight; however, it’s one of six fights/locations in this adventure which pits you against a bunch of orcs. So, you know, it might be getting a little repetitive.
The whole map is basic, which isn’t a bad thing. The interior of the shrine is a bit empty, but you can find some nice treasure, and have a vision. So that part is cool at least.
Some suggestions from the monster listings in the book:
- A lair of carrion crawlers?
- A nest of giant spiders?
- That manticore if it survived? Or two manticores like the adventure suggests?
- Some people that got buried there and turned into ghouls?
- Harpies?
- Some of those monsters in combination with orcs and ogres?
Sounds a bit better, depending on your characters’ level, but in any case be careful not to overwhelm your party.
Tower of Storms. YES! Probably my favorite location. It’s got the best NPC (the talking crab), action, exploration, an arcane mystery, great rewards, and you can put it in any campaign anywhere on any coast. It’s discoverable only from the Phandalin Tales table, but you will definitely want to use it. And any way you approach it can be a hook for the adventure: a sea elf friend, lost cargo or ship, evil influence taking over the lighthouse.
The tower of storms introduces the anchorites, it gives you a micro-quest within the location for the crab and the banshee. It rewards exploring as well, as all five shipwrecks have great potential for treasure. You can even go for more rewards and consider giving your players one weapon off the crab and another if they dive through the wrecks? But that might depend on the size of your group probably.
The thing I complained about is that I am not a fan of the harpy fight. The harpies’ Luring Song is overly complicated and has such a long description with a low save DC. With some bad rolls from your part it could turn deadly, but it will probably just confuse everyone for a couple of rounds before the fight turns in the party’s favor.
The atmosphere here is also very special. Storm, rain, dark clouds, thunder, lightning, and, don’t forget, the thumping heart and its light! The view from the top of the lighthouse, the choppy sea, the sharks and the wrecks, too.
Falcon’s Hunting Lodge. This is another one of those maps and locations that can be dropped anywhere in your campaign, or used for anything with a little NPC switcheroo and adaptation. Falcon is the coolest NPC you can drop on your party. Just look at how sexy he is!
When it comes to it, make the fight for the Lodge memorable. I exchanged a lot of the orcs for some beefed up orcs from Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Make the orcs climb the roofs or try to set fire to the buildings?
Circle of Thunder. One of the two boss fights in the adventure, the climax of the orcs and half-orcs story. If your party is 6th level then the encounter on the way to the stone circle might be pretty easy. It’s just another one of those orc encounters.
The circle fight might be epic, but I adapted it heavily. This is where the foreshadowing of some half-orc NPC might pay out. Have they turned into an anchorite? Are they struggling with it and there is still time to save them? It worked well for my party. I even added a Gulthias tree here, but there’s no need for that if you’re playing through this whole adventure.
Make it dramatic! Let Gorthok show up at the most opportune moment for the boar, make it take a turn immediately, in that annoying fashion like villains often do in video games. If the party is sixth level, they can take almost everything you throw at them.
Icespire Hold. Hello, awesome fortress map! This is where the party faces off with the dragon, and the Stone-Cold Reavers. And nothing else, unfortunately.
It’s here that the adventure suggests that a bunch of orcs attack Phandalin, but your answer should be “No, thank you!” It is giving you ideas how to find the dragon’s lair, but I think your players should have been focused on that earlier. Or you should have dropped hints during the adventure. It’s pretty easy to connect the orc raids and migration to the dragon’s influence.
The dragon shouldn’t be a problem for even a 5th level party. It can probably rough up any party badly, but the only proper danger comes from its breath weapon.
The biggest surprise here comes at the lack of even a small dragon’s hoard. There is basically zero treasure. Was it a ploy for you to easily wrap up your campaign? The Stone-Cold Reavers are basically here to plunder the fortress and the dragon’s treasure, imagine how pissed they are. There is even a crypt level, and there is no treasure there either. Pssshhh!
But if you see this map. It is an awesome map! It’s just waiting to be repurposed in your campaign for basically anything else.
- A fortress in a mountain pass? Fallen many years ago, it hides a dark secret.
- Dwarves and humans are retaking it and rebuilding it, but something goes wrong.
- A warlord is spreading chaos from this fortress. An undead warlord?
- Orcs, like in this adventure, populate it. Or an army of goblinoids, led by some other monster.
- A host from Hells or the Abyss?
It can serve any purpose you come up with. And it’s cool, and dangerous to infiltrate and explore. Can your party find that macguffin that your campaign revolves around in the crypts, while avoiding all the other monsters inside? Can they close that portal that opened in the hold and is threatening the whole region?
Mixing It Up with Lost Mine of Phandelver
The Starter Set also has a great adventure set in Phandalin. It seems like a good idea to mix them up if you like playing more during your levels and slowly building more of your campaign. I guess you’d have to be a more experienced DM here, to be able to scale some of the Phandelver stuff when needed. But as long as it is levels 1-4, that should be a pretty simple job.The expanded threat here are the goblinoids, and the Redbrands in Phandalin, along with the whole plot about the mine. What you get here is an improved Phandalin with more depth and more NPCs.
Consider a campaign flow like this:
To start off, the party takes on a quest or two from Harbin Wester. But after they return to town, when they are second level, they get bullied by the redbrands. They can then explore Tresendar Manor and rid Phandalin of those crooks, while finding some clues pointing to some larger conspiracy at hand.
Now third level, the party is approached by the other two Rockseeker sisters/brothers or some other NPC from town about a missing shipment of goods and Gundren. Or maybe they just accidentally run into the beginning of the Lost Mine adventure while travelling to some other quest location, and are intrigued to investigate. This Cragmaw Hideout dungeon should probably be buffed up a bit. Worgs instead of wolves? More bugbears? An ogre or two? Goblin bosses?
They can immediately continue the chase after Gundren to Cragmaw castle from there.
And then it’s up to you to combine the other quests from both adventures, and you can base it all on what your players are interested in the most. You don’t have to use all of the quest and materials. Pick the best, or the most interesting. And you can have a triple climax, with the lost mine dungeon, the circle of thunder and the dragon in the mountains.
You can easily, with some effort, extend the levels of the campaign up to, let’s say, seventh or eighth level, by tweaking some of the challenges. Now I want to play a campaign like that.
fey ancestry 