Customer Reviews

Thunderspire Labyrinth (Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure H2)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Wizards adventure team had me worried with Keep on the Shadowfell. The poor quality material, recycled maps, multiple discrepencies between module rules and the core books, and overall poor production value had me concerned about the future of the adventure path. Thunderspire Labyrinth goes a long way to ease those fears.

First thing I noticed was the booklet material. MUCH nicer than the KotS booklets. The pages feel firm, and both the cover and interior pages are much more resistant to smudging and ink transfer. This was a huge problem for me with KotS, and I'm glad to see it corrected.

The map was both exciting and dissapointing. On one hand, it is a very nice map with multiple important areas from the adventure on it. On the other, it is only one double-sided map. KotS boasted 3 double sided full color poster maps, impressive even if they were mostly reprints of D&D miniature's maps with new markings.

The booklets are nicely organized. Book One contains the adventure hooks, first encounter, new monsters, important NPCs, a bird's-eye map of the area the adventure takes place, and a map with call-outs of the adventure's 'town'. It's nice to see these laid out all in their own section, as it makes the module much more useful for folks who just want the locations for inspiration. Book One also contains a random encounter table for overland travel, something sorely missed from the first adventure. Most eye-catching is the final 5 pages, which contain artwork of the area arrayed in an easy to cut out or photocopy section. This adds a great layer to the read-aloud text in the booklet, as you can hand your players a picture showing some of the most important locations in detail. There is also a section giving some direction in expanding the area around the Labyrinth, giving short descriptions of areas not directly covered by this adventure.

Booklet two is somewhat less impressive. Right off the bat, I noticed that it suffers from the same problem as the KotS adventure booklet: there is no back cover. The rear of the booklet is dedicated to details of the final encounter. The adventure's conclusion and aftermath is handled on the same page, in a single 7-line paragraph. While this is sufficient for the module, some might wish for more.

The bulk of Booklet Two is given over to details on the encounters in the adventure. Each area is presented much as it was in KotS: an overview, with full map and description of general features, followed by individual encounters. The overall maps have clearly marked features detailing encounters, and you could easily copy them and chop it up to hand to the players as they explore. The maps in general feel as if they were designed with a maximum of utility in mind: 10 foot wide halls are the norm, and everything looks as if it would be easy to recreate with a drawn playmat or with Dungeon Tiles.

The encounter entries are fairly standard. If you enjoyed the layout in KotS, you'll like these. They have been polished, brought to a higher standard of conformity. Seperated into sections for Setup, Roleplaying, monster stat blocks, Tactics, Features of the Area (including treasure), and Conclusion for lingering details that need handling, the encounters seem made to run smoothly out of the box. I anticipate very little advance prep-work needed for these encounters.

Overall, the adventure seems well written. I'll know more after we've been through it, but I'm looking forward to running it at this time. There is still room for improvement. In my opinion, the lack of a back cover, inclusion of only a single map, and heavy focus on combat encounters drop this product to 4 stars.

Thunderspire Labyrinth is an epic adventure taking place in the deep mazes and caves below Thunderspire mountain. In other words this is an underdark type adventure and has many creatures such as duergar that you would find in the underdark. It is heavy on combat for the most part, but I feel this will be a major criticism of all 4e dnd modules. It seems like the way they are releasing their products is put just enough roleplaying material in there and give the players a series of encounters (some aren't combat) the dm uses to level them up or advance the story. If you look at most modules released by wizards of the coast they are also combat heavy with minor roleplaying stuff in there. This one does a better job of giving out the roleplaying info for the 7 pillared hall than H1 did for Winterhaven and there is more of it. In fact nearly the whole first booklet describes the hall and its citizens and gives a basic overview of the adventure. I can see tons of roleplaying possibilities with each of the citizens but they don't map all of these out. In other words a beginning dm may run the 7 pillared hall as a bland excursion in a bland city and bypass most of the roleplaying fluff. This is sad since the roleplaying info here is pretty good and each of the npcs motivations would make for good roleplaying encounters. This is a problem with wizards modules in general dating all the way back to 3rd edition. I don't see why this surprises everyone. However, that being said there are some really cool skill challenges as well. There is even a simple find the items to open the door puzzle as well.

The paper quality is much better than H1. Just compare the two. No ink smudging but as another reviewer said there is still no back to the 2nd adventure booklet. I have no clue what Wotc's reasoning is behind this. It doesn't make sense why they didn't add a back to the actual adventure, but I guess they have some kind of reasoning. There is only one map and I don't see the reason for the folder setup if you are only going to have only one map. Red Hand of Doom worked great as a book that the map could be removed from. There are some handouts but these have to be torn out of the adventure booklet or photocopied to be used. The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde had similar handouts but they weren't in the adventure books and were separate which makes much more sense.

SPOILERS Below

The overall adventure is actually quite good in my opinion. It far surpasses the bland storyline in H1. It deals with goblins,duergar, gnolls and even vecna (really cool skill challenge with this one). It gives numerous roleplaying opportunities if the dm uses them. The npcs are really fleshed out. I have always been a fan of mazes and underdark type campaigns and this one is actually pretty decent. Despite it's flaws I would recommend it to anyone who has played through H1 or just skipped H1 for that matter but wants to give a premade campaign in 4th a shot.

END SPOILERS

The main issue I had with it was the fact it could have been a whole lot better had they just packaged it with the handouts separate and added more maps as well as mapped out a few more roleplaying encounters. The campaign is pretty long but one would expect it to be when taking pcs from levels 3-6 which roughly equates to about 30 encounters plus roleplaying fluff. It should keep a gaming group busy for a while. I was pretty satisfied with the overall package and actually feel that it was well worth the price. However, this good campaign could have been great if only Wotc had put a little more effort in it.

It came in a very timely manner, well packaged and the booklets are of much better quality than the last published adventure, H1: Keep on the Shadowfell, of which the booklet for that adventure had some printing issues in that the ink rubbed off on whoever was reading it mid-session.

This adventure is really an overall improvement over Keep on the Shadowfell in every aspect. You're able to improvise all parts of the story rather than being stuck with the encounters that are written. And there are more NPC character personalities described than H1: KotS, so out-of-combat situations are more interesting. It's a great buy if you're looking for an adventure with intrigue and depth, without having to spend the time writing it out yourself.

This really is the kind of adventure you can wrap a whole campaign around. In fact, for the past month I have been! It's the best of 4th edition D&D. Gone is the quaint little thatch roof village surrounded by farmland. Gone. This is the Seven Pillared Hall, a trade city built in the ruins of an ancient minotaur city, ruled by the ironfisted peacekeepers the Ordinators Arcanis, deep underneath a mountain and lit with magical green flame. Duergar, drow, halflings and dwarves meet and trade beneath it's vaulted stone roof.

It's populated with a wonderful mix of nonplayer characters, a guilt ridden man cursed with lycanthropy, an exiled drow curio shop dealer, the big ogre bully tasked with keeping the peace, the grim righteous dragonborn who finds herself being bent down the path of warlockery by the corrupting enticements of her imp mentor. Just great stuff!

The adventure is broken into three open-ended objectives, tracking down some slaves captured and taken for trade in the hall. Liberating them leads you between the various parts of the Labyrinth beneath the mountain, taking on various of the Hall's factions, and then to unravelling a conspiracy which threatens the entire Nentir Vale.

But beyond the adventure, there's lists of places to explore, detailed just enough to let you spin your own adventures through the many cool places they hint at, and a list of encounters with a rogues gallery of specific enemies that can become an even bigger part of the storyline--like the creepy deathlock wight Az-Al-Bani.

Just great stuff. I highly recommend it. It'll give you a wonderful place you can keep gaming in for months, even after the adventure is done.

The other posters explained this in detail but I wanted to add a few items. H2 still comes in the folder form, probably printed before complaints about the first one arose. Compared to H1 this one has less maps, less role playing and less reason to participate (in my opinion).

The quality of the products is comparable. The paper is similar in quality as H1.

In the adventure book 1 there are some neat pictures of the rooms to help descriptions, some DM's will like this, I thought of it as filler. Book 1 also introduced some new monsters, which were valuable. 31 pages.

The second book is basically a series of combat encounters, maybe 2 skill challenges and a lot of trap-like challenges for the PC's. 64 pages vs 80 for H1: KotS. Your group may differ, but usually after the Pc's get caught in one trap the game slows to a crawl and becomes a tedious series of perception tests and thievery skill checks.

Pros: easy to run, many types of combat/trap encounters, new monsters
Cons: more work for the DM to include role playing opportunities, skill challenges, cost.

Even at the pre-order price, I feel I paid too much for so little material. The numerous H1 maps (while pre-released elsewhere) were helpful and useful outside of the module. The SINGLE double sided map in H2 is not really useful outside of the H2 adventure which is basically a dungeon crawl with lots of traps.

If you're looking for a great adventure for a good price, check out Red Hand of Doom. It would be worth the effort to take the time to modify the monsters in RHoD to 4th ed. and play it that way. The $25 list price for a module that is half of H1 is not worth it.

I have been waiting for 4e D&D for a year. I was at the Con last year when they made the official announcement for 4e (and the demise of Living Greyhawk campaign). At first I was upset that my books were no longer valid for RPGA campaigns but I got over it soon enough. I still didn't want to spend another $100 on books. But after following the development and teh changes they proposed I was admittedly curious. I bought the books, and pl;ayed a few games. That changed my mind. The game is streamlined and fast moving. The DM's job is easier, even designing a campaign of your own is streamlined.

As far as this product is concerned. I have to say it is a well written adventure with plot twists and surprises for every D&D fan. The encounters are easy to follow. the NPC's are easily identifiable and easy to run. The story makes sense in the context of the gameworld. I give this adventure a thumbs up!

An excellent adventure. Nice writting and and interesting history, first...shadowfell, and now...underdark?
I would have like this adventure more, if it had a better relationship with H1.

I normally don't write reviews, but I think this adventure has been unfairly characterized as a "hack and slash" scenario with no opportunity for role-playing. Nothing could be further from the truth. There's a wonderful cast of characters in the hall, which provide ample opportunities for strategic role playing. Reviewer RobertBlank put it nicely - "It's populated with a wonderful mix of nonplayer characters - a guilt ridden man cursed with lycanthropy, an exiled drow curio shop dealer, the big ogre bully tasked with keeping the peace, and the grim righteous dragonborn who finds herself being bent down the path of warlockery by the corrupting enticements of her imp mentor." In addition to these, we have the Ordinator Arcanis. Mysteriously dressed in black robes and a gold mask, he acts as the judge, jury, and executioner of the hall.

So why would people characterize this as a hack and slash adventure? The reason, in my estimation, is that, as written, role-playing is not essential. Indeed, as written, PCs could complete major objectives of the module without spending any time in the hall. For example, in the first encounter the PCs rescue a halfling who is able to show PCs exactly where they need to go. My remedy - simply drop the first encounter, as well as all clues that make things too easy and obvious. My players must do some investigation in the hall, and find some people in the know, before establishing a clear destination.

In sum, a DM who is willing to lift his little finger can make this a role-playing extravaganza.

My group completed this adventure this weekend, so I thought I'd offer some rear-view-mirror reflections: If you (the DM) use discretion and trim away the fat, this might be one of the funnest adventurers your group will ever experience. If, on the other hand, you play this mod exactly as written, it might turn into a tedious "dungeon crawl." This adventure, like most published Wizards adventures, has way too many battle encounters.

Here's how I handled it - We had just one consolodated battle encounter in The Chamber of Eyes, and two battle encounters in The Horned Hold. (My PCs were able to purchase a map of a secret passage that lead them to the heart of the hold, allowing them to bypass most of the fortified areas.) I also deleted the first three encounters from The Well of Demons. (As a side-note, I think it's a good idea to have "The Restless Dead" as the first encounter of this chapter.) Finally, I deleted the entire Tower of Mysteries chapter. Other reviewers have suggested doing the same. The link between the The Well of Demons and The Tower of Mysteries is tenuous and contrived, and anything after the spectacular conclusion to The Well of Demons will be anti-climatic. (My group will eventually address The Tower of Mysteries, but it will be an independent, unrelated adventure; the material will not be wasted.) Finally, the modual suggests wandering monster encounters when the PCs take an extended rest in The Well of Demons. I ignored this suggestion. Instead, my PCs were aware (through divine intervention) that any extended rest came with a 33% chance that one of the captives that they're trying to save would be sacrificed. This approach emphasized urgency without introducing superfluous battles. Ultimately, my group was able to rescue two of the four captives. (You need at least four captives if you go this route.)

My group had a fantastic time with this adventure, and some of these moments will linger in our memories for years. My players loved the Hall of the Crimson Whip and the Hall of Howling Pillars. The trapping mirrors in the Hall of Enforced Introspection need to be adjusted. Otherwise you're sure to wind up with a TPK. (You can find lots of helpful online suggestions here with a quick search.) In the Proving Grounds the dragon tossed our assasin into the 100' pit with his luring glare. (10d10 damage; that's gotta hurt!) And in The Inner Sanctum the main villan, Maldrick Scarmaker, suffered a horrible and spectacular death when our controller slid him adjacent to one of the cauldrons, where emerging tentacles wrapped about him and pulled him into the boiling goo. Really, if you don't have fun in The Well of Demons, you should probably just give up gaming altogether.

Module is pretty excellent. But not for beginner GMs. Module is written with just enough personality so that the GM and players have a good feel for the mountain and its inhabitants. There are great leads throughout the module that can lead to a lot of other self-written adventures and this is just to include the mountain. Below it you can lead the players to the Underdark and that's a whole other campaign. But overall I though this was excellent and can be scaled easily as players get stronger. So great for a hub of operations for the players-you could easily build a mini-campaign to a large campaign with this place as the players' HQ.

The adventure itself is pretty good. Ran players through most of it (I skipped the first part where they raid a gnoll hideout-this is extraneous, it's just to give players more XP without good storyline written in) and they enjoyed it overall. Challenging also. I just want to re-emphasize that to fully appreciate this module, you have to be an experienced GM who runs their own written adventures as the norm.

I ran this adventure for my group of six regular players as I was swamped with work. To me, the $25 would have been a lot better spent elsewhere.

I felt this module was very heavy on tricks and traps, something my group generally dislikes. It grinds play to halt for perception and thievery checks.

Good:
- Some pre-generated maps - not as many as I had hoped for or ones that will be useable in many other campaigns, but it did have them
- Some nice pictures that added to the atmosphere
- Interesting city for neutral to evil characters. Unfortunately, my party was filled with mostly good characters.
- Potential for an epic story

Bad:
- Traps. Traps. And more Traps. These got so tedious for me as the DM and for the players that I encouraged my players to think a way around them so I could move the adventure along. Not something I would pay for
- No role playing. I bought the module because I didn't have time to write up an adventure. As this is an RP game, I would have liked to see more RP. I agree with other posters that there is the potential with all of the back story given, I had just hoped it would have been built in by WOTC.
- Poorly arranged book. Thought an hour or so a week would be enough prep time with a pre-packaged module. I was wrong. Had I more than an hour or so a week, I would not have needed a pre-packaged module.
- The story line has a lot of promise, IF you have the time to put into it. I did not, which is why I purchased a module.