Ice Road Trackers is the first of the adventures for Season 10 of the D&D Adventurers League. Designed by Shawn Merwin, it consists of four one-hour adventures for level one or two characters. It occurs during the events of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden, but, as with most of the DDAL adventures, runs separately from the hardcover adventure.

This adventure introduces characters to the setting and themes of the season. It assumes the adventurers are travelling into the wintry environs of Icewind Dale from the southern lands. However, the paths are blocked, and an avalanche cuts off their retreat. Mother Tusk, an awakened walrus, saves the characters and sets them four tasks to complete before she guides them on a safe passage to the Ten Towns.

The tasks are as follows:

• Rescue an awakened otter from his pursuers (Unsure Footing),
• Persuade a band on nomads not to hunt Mother Tusk’s children (Cold Welcome),
• Recover a hot spring from the gnolls who corrupted it (Chilled Drinks), and
• Investigate an orcish burial site and return the dead to their rest (Warm Bodies).

These adventures provide an excellent range of experiences. It is possible to complete the second mission without fighting, but most of the scenarios include combat. I like seeing the non-combat opportunities – this adventure leans heavily on what is occasionally called the exploration tier.

It is noteworthy that each mission allows a long rest at its conclusion. I can say from my experience running it that the challenges do require such frequent rests. (I am undecided on whether it is good to inform your players of that before they start, although I am leaning towards the affirmative—saving abilities when not necessary and ending a mission with some unused can hurt the experience).

Here are a few notes on the individual scenarios.

In Unsure Footing, the characters can gain several levels of exhaustion – particularly on their return after completing the central part of the mission. If this is the first mission they finish, this could be devastating. If it is the last, it is likely irrelevant. The scenario handles the tracking and rescue of the otter nicely, but whenever exhaustion comes into play, I become concerned. The characters can try to get warm, but I didn’t find it easy to run despite the adventure detailing several options for their actions. The players were unsure what to do. “We are wet, and we need to get dry” is a solid challenge, but it did not play well when I ran it.

Cold Welcome includes several traps and a Chwinga. (I would have dearly loved a description of what this one looks like). My players loved these encounters. (Especially the ones not caught by a trap). The negotiation section proved very challenging – the players were at a loss about what to do. Their instructions were “convince them to leave us in peace”, and none of my players was good at role-playing. So, the negotiation went like this: “We need you to leave the animals in peace!” “Why would we do that?” “Um…” The adventure very cleverly gives you several options as to how the characters can resolve the situation, but getting past the initial stages of the negotiation proved harder than expected.

Chilled Drinks provides the scenario that veers the most into horror, as gnoll pierce an unfortunate fisher with shards of chardalyn – a material of corruption –and see what effect the substance has on him. It is a combat-heavy scenario, with the potential for two or three short combats. There is an odd bit of formatting where “Rescuing Judd” appears in the section following where he appears. (I suspect “The Spring” should be in a smaller font). It is straightforward to run.

Warm Bodies also provides the opportunity to run a horror scenario. The characters discover a trapped explorer menaced by lots and lots of orc zombies – the type of zombies that keep spawning until the characters stop them. This situation allows an exciting battle to run where the characters need to hold off the zombies while also replacing warding stones. There are elements of a puzzle here (can the players match the wards to the correct holes?), but I do not feel it overwhelms the battle.

Each mission hints at a ferocious monster living in the area, but it only appears in later adventures in the season. I wish the text explained this fact.

While I do not consider Ice Road Trackers flawless, it is still an impressive set of scenarios. These are challenging situations, well-presented, and I suspect they need a moderate level of player skill to negotiate them well. Highly recommended!