Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter is the first expansion pack for the role-playing game Icewind Dale. Like all expansion packs, it requires you to own the original title in order to play. Heart of Winter shares the same time frame with Icewind Dale--the year 1281, the Year of the Cold Soul--and its five new major areas are located just north of the original game's locale. Players can take their ninth level or above Icewind Dale characters to Heart of Winter via a small house in the great tree town of Kuldahar. Alternately, players who have beaten Icewind Dale can import living or deceased characters to Heart of Winter, as long as at least one character survived with the same ninth level or above restriction. Or players can simply generate a new party. Both Heart of Winter and Icewind Dale use AD&D Second Edition rules; however some of the special powers and abilities in the third edition are available in the expansion. For example, thieves have access to sneak attack and crippling strike abilities, and the new spell progression tables for rangers and paladins have been taken from the third edition rules. In addition to new areas, powers, and abilities, Heart of Winter features: new portraits, new character sound sets, new monsters, 50 new spells, 800 x 600 resolution, drop-away interface, gem bags, potion bags, scroll cases, hot keys that highlight normal doors and ground items, and the ability to buy multiple items from stores. The biggest change is the ability for all character classes to reach 30th level, and druids can advance higher still.