Comments on: D&D 4e book review: Thunderspire Labyrinth

By: D&D 4e book review – Keep On The Shadowfell – Dungeon Mastering – D&D blog, DM tips, Dungeons and Dragons Tools

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:54:05 +0000

[...] You can now read the review of Thunderspire Labyrinth, the next adventure in this [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:07:35 +0000

Just a quick update – the party played the finale with a conflicted Kalarel to perfection. They made it through the brutal fight with the Underpriest of Orcus, and then quickly rappelled down the chains and some ropes to the lower level of the temple. Despite numerous blasts from the wight and an evil mage I had added, the majority of the party refused to be split up and went after Kalarel. The 2 spellcasters (a warlock and a wizard) screened for the rest of the party, and dealt with the mage and the wight. All the while they kept up a parlay with Kalarel, initiated by the party’s Cleric of the Raven Queen. After Kalarel was bloodied and his allies dead, the parlay began in earnest.

The party really earned it, making numerous DC 20 and 25 diplomacy, religion, history, insight and bluff checks, and also roleplaying the interaction with Kalarel to the hilt. In the end they convinced Kalarel of the error of his ways, helped him to undo the damage he had done to the barriers keeping the Rift sealed, and then collapsed and sealed the tunnels under the keep as they exited.

Afterwards, Kalarel refused to return with the party to civilization, begged a few iron rations, and walked off along the old trade road to the north into the wilderness. Will the party ever see him again? Only time will tell…

By: Kane

Kane — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:30:11 +0000

We finished up Kots this past session with the return to a quiet Winterhaven. It seems the town has been struck by a raiding band of slavers and have taken some of the woman of the town, including a old pc that one of my players started out running as a second toon, but dropped after we had a new player join us. The Kalerel fight in the keep was one of the players favorites. I played up Kalerel as a single minded mad priest who would let nothing stand in the way of his plans. The fun with the skeletons and the wight added to the tactics I unleashed upon the group. I love having the undead come back to fight again! Kalerel fell to his “death” infront of the rift and was pulled into the beyond, I smell a recurring villan.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:30:00 +0000

I’ve been running KotS for the past 2 months in the “generic” D&D world included in the back of the DMG (Fallcrest and the surrounding area). I adapted some ideas from the optional encounter and Forgotten Realms-adaptation pdf’s available on the WotC website, which worked out well and added some complexity and intrigue to the plot around Winterhaven.

I also wasn’t too happy with the “no motivation, I’m just doing this because I’m evil” villain, so I adopted a standard movie trope of a good man gone bad to rescue some loved ones. In my version Kalarel is a former good cleric and has some loved ones trapped in the Shadowfell, and the Raven Queen won’t release them. Driven mad by grief, he makes a plan to bargain with Orcus (the RQ’s rival as I understand it). Cue spiral into madness. He discovers information about the sealed rift under the keep, forms a plan to win Orcus’ favor, and goes to work implementing that plan (i.e. opening the rift). Still pretty cliched, but I think it’s better than what’s in the module. Who knows? In the end he might realize what he’s done, and beg the party for forgiveness. Do they kill him anyway? Or do they let him redeem himself?

By: Nebulous

Nebulous — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:03:08 +0000

We’ve run 7 sessions through the Keep so far and both myself and the group has really enjoyed it. I’ve made some changes though, and really fleshed out the NPCs of Winterhaven into more interesting people. My group has also adapted Splug as a sort of slave/henchman.

I’m dropping hints now of Thunderspire and the Bloodreavers so that the transition to H2 will be smooth.

I don’t really have too many problems with Kalarel being so 1-dimensional, but i might incorporate a subplot that fleshes out his personality some. Why does he hate the denizens of Winterhaven so much? I don’t know.

I’ve also adapted the campaign to the 4e Forgotten Realms campaign, although it is a loose adaptation. Neither myself or the players are hardcore realms fans, and i’m the only one with real background knowledge.