Should I buy H1 Keep on the Shadowfell?

[trollwad]

Keep on the Shadowfell is very expensive for my new downwardly revised (due to three small kids) gaming budget, thus I want help assessing whether I'll like it before I commit to $30. I am asking you, if you've seen the module, to make an educated guess based on what I tell you about my gaming preferences. Please explain why you think I'll like it or not.

I like "old school" gygaxian (e.g. Hommlet, Tomb of Horrors, Drow Series), old UK (e.g. Saltmarsh series) modules. I also like Wolfgang Bauer (Kingdom of the Ghouls, Empire of the Ghouls). I have love/hate feelings towards Monte Cook, Mearls and Nick Logue. All three of these guys are as prolific as fire hoses (and all seem like very nice human beings). I stand in awe of their creativity. I love to mine their stuff for selective creative ideas and I'll definately buy Logue's new Razor Coast book (I think I'll love this as I did the Savage Tide adventure path from Paizo).

On the other hand, I have my doubts about the style of these new writers. For example, Logue at times is in danger of being the Howard Stern of RPG writers. Shock (or shlock) for the sake of shock; where its very commonness causes it to loose its power to send chills up your spine. Monte and Mearls seem to veer into video game or superheros territory with a lot of their writing. Its hard to imagine how anyone ever dies with all of the Monte/Mearls powers. The threat of actually dying seems so remote in their work compared to Saltmarsh, Vault of the Drow, or the Tomb of Horrors. Also, all three have serious logorhea compared to Gygax or the UK writers or Wolfgang. Wolfgang gave you an entire underdark campaign in Ghouls in about 35 pages. Gygax gave you Steading of the Hill Giant Chief in about ten pages.

One other plus is that I like some of Bruce Cordell's modules a lot (Return to Tomb of Horrors is good and Firestorm Peak is a classic). I also am a huge fan of illustration booklets

On the con side, I loathe the Shattered Keep of Slaughtergarde, to which I hear Keep on the Shadowfell compared to. I love the room with the Blind Troll but other than that, Slaughtergarde seemed limp and lifeless. There is no ACTION there. Unlike Hommlet or even the flawed KOTB where there is a sense of motion and change and events clearly occur if the PCs do x or y or time passes. Every room has a monster. The monsters are bland and are only meant to be killed quickly. The setting seems difficult to expand and there are no real memorable villains or magic items. There are no clever allusions or extensions of past d&d lore (no easter eggs).

Your verdict?

 

[Asmor]

It honestly sounds to me like 4th edition might not be your thing, if lethality is so important to you. It seems like it's pretty difficult to die, what with the inflated HP totals at level 1, the lower cap to dying, the prevalence of healing, and the fact that any healing always puts you up to at least 1 hp no matter how negative you were.

 

[Storminator]

I think you would be disappointed. I have it, I like it, and I'll run it, but it is very much an introductory module. It shows off some of the 4e features, and it definitely has a couple eye opening (ruleswise, if you're in a 3e mindset) scenes, but it's not particularly deep.

I think an old hand like yourself would be able to make an adventure every bit as satisfying, and reasonably quickly, once you have the 4e books.

In my case I was willing to splurge, but if money is at all a question, save yours.

FTR, I am a huge, huge 4e supporter. I look forward to the day I never play 3.x again. But you could spend your money better.

PS

 

[Stoat]

I'd generally agree with Storminator. I've got KoTS, I've read about a third of it. I like what I see, but I see isn't Hommlet or Saltmarsh.

KoTS so far looks a little like Keep on the Borderlands. The overriding "plot" is basically the same. Shadowfell seems to have a more active villain than Borderlands, and a good DM could probably add the "motion and change" that you describe. That said, Winterhaven (the home base in KotS) is less fleshed out than the old Keep, and Shadowfell lacks some of the wilderness encounters that made the Borderlands interesting. (I'm thinking here about the Hermit).

If you plan to run 4E and have the cash, get Shadowfell. It's pretty and will become one of those adventures that everybody looks back on and talks about. (If only because it was the first 4E adventure).

If you don't plan on switching or don't have the cash, pass.

 

[Ipissimus]

Having read it now, I think I can say that lethality isn't a problem. The BBEG alone is... hard (almost 200hp!).

If I had to liken KotS to another product, I'd say take the Moathouse bit from Temple of Elemental Evil and you've got an idea of the size of the thing, only you don't get the detail that was put into Hommlet, the village is tiny and the majority of the non-monster NPCs only get a paragraph or two.

It seems a little light on to me. It's not a Dungeon quality adventure but I think they wanted something simple to introduce the new game and get back to the pure dungeon crawl roots of the game. Definitely a good module to inflict on newbies and to get a grasp of the new rules.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Note that you can get it for under $20 via Amazon, if that makes a difference.