A few clues suggest that the setting of the next Dungeons & Dragons adventure is the iconic Icewind Dale, home to Drizz’t Do’Urden and his companions. Earlier this week, Dungeons & Dragons announced that they would reveal new details about their next adventure at D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage, a three-day streaming event featuring celebrities like David Harbour, Brandon Routh, and Karen Gillan. The announcement of D&D Live 2020 featured little information about the next adventure, but the few clues we have points to an icy locale.
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D&D released two subtle clues about the next adventure during their announcements this week. The first was a new piece of key art showing a handful of adventurers standing outside some sort of narrow cave during a snowstorm, while the other was a Custom Ink charity t-shirt depicting a Snowy Owlbear named Bella. Previous Custom Ink shirts have featured upcoming characters in D&D adventures, such as Lulu the Lollyphant, so it seems likely that Bella will appear in this year’s adventure.
Given that Dungeons & Dragons has set all of their adventures (save for Curse of Strahd) in the Forgotten Realms, it’s a pretty reasonable assumption that this next adventure will take place there too. And one notable icy locale in the Forgotten Realms is Icewind Dale, home of the famed ranger Driz’zt Do’Urden and his companions. Outside of Storm King’s Thunder, which uses Bryn Shander as one of three potential sites for a giant attack and the wider north as a backdrop for the adventure, we haven’t had a Fifth Edition adventure set in Icewind Dale, the site of some of the Forgotten Realm’s most memorable stories.
There’s one other reason why we could be going to Icewind Dale this fall. Later this year, Tuque Games will release a new Dark Alliance game starring Driz’zt that will be set in Icewind Dale. While we shouldn’t expect a full crossover between the upcoming game and the new adventure, it wouldn’t surprise us if Dungeons & Dragons does some cross-branding similar to last year’s Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus…which only featured a brief sojourn into Baldur’s Gate before descending into the Nine Hells.
After two years of adventures set in cities, hellscapes, and mega-dungeons, it may be time for a return to the untamed wilderness. And while many fans would prefer an adventure away from the Sword Coast, Icewind Dale at least offers a different change of pace from places like Waterdeep or Baldur’s Gate.
We’ll get more details about the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons adventure next month.
