[KotS] Winterhaven player handouts?

[Whimsical]

So, I'm going to start running this adventure and I'm checking to see if there are any handy DM resources out there to help enhance this adventure. Specifically, I'm looking for a "player's guide" to the town of Winterhaven that I can hand out which lists all of the common knowledge available for the town.

I have already printed out the following helpful extras:

• H1 Keep on the Shadowfell Skill Challenge by Bill Slavicsek which adds a skill challenge to the final encounter of the adventure.
• Fiery Dragon's counter pack.
• Wizards' Keep on the Shadowfell FAQ and errata.

 

[fba827]

Some helpful items.

Winterhaven Map
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/preview_h1_1.jpg
BUT you will need to type up your own map legend

Surroundings of Winterhaven
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/preview_h1_2.jpg
BUT you won't want to show this to players until they have at least figured out that they want to go to some of those locations (because spoiler locations are listed directly on the map), perhaps after they go to the kobolds lair and other spots but before they go to the keep, you can show it to them when they ask 'how do they get to the keey'

 

[Willaward]

Hey, thanks for these, really helpful. It's a shame they didn't give out the maps for most of the dungeon. Honestly the forest ambush is a lot less important to me .

Ah, this great, thanks again.

 

[Nebulous]

Hey, thanks for these, really helpful. It's a shame they didn't give out the maps for most of the dungeon. Honestly the forest ambush is a lot less important to me .

No kidding. It's been a pain in the butt recreating all of those. They should really make them downloadable through the DDI.

 

[Khime]

Hey, thanks for these, really helpful. It's a shame they didn't give out the maps for most of the dungeon. Honestly the forest ambush is a lot less important to me .

I think that for a pre-printed map of the dungeon to be useful, they couldn't print them up in the same way as the large overland maps, i.e. big chunks of dungeon on each map. They would need to have individual maps for each room and probably also for corridors, to allow for an easier 'gradual reveal' of the areas as well as allowing you to re-use the map pieces in your own adventures.

Since WotC already sells such items in their Dungeon Tiles line, that's probably why they didn't include it in the module.

 

[Shadewyn]

My suggestion for you is to look beyond just the H1 module.

Nentire Vale is where all the H1 to H3 activity is, so roll to the back of the DMG, bust out the sample town and start them off there. Using that town as your starting point you have branching adventure paths such as Kobold Hall and "hooks to WinterHaven in distress".

Then Winterhaven's story arc takes you back through the central town into the Thunderspire area for H2.

From H2 you go back through the central town area to the Pyramid of Shadows in H3.

So, in the start of my game I gave each player a handout with a color map of Nentir Vale, and the starting city along with thier generic history (spice it up with you campaigns flavor). Now as they draw to a close in H2 and we look forward to H3 they look more closely at the maps given to them when they were but mere 1st levelers and see a story arc evolving.

Oh and on story arc ... flip through the titles of the next 3 paragon paths and the epics and their blurbs. It is not particularly hard to tell a story of the struggle between the Raven queen and her enemies raging across the vale from;

Portal to Shadowfell control in H1 against Orcus

Involvement of Vecna in supporting weaking Raven Queen in H2

Retrival of key villian from prison to support evil factions bid against her throne in H3

By the time you get to the first or second epic module I think they even describe it as open war between Orcus and Raven Queen.

 

[fba827]

Here are a couple more maps that may or may not be useful ...

Map of Entire Vale
http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=34861&d=1213275430

Map of Fallscrest
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/excerpt_4E_fallcrest1.jpg

Info on Fallscrest (though I believe taken as an excerpt from the DMG)
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ex/20080526a
Maybe cut and paste the salient points (such as the block in the middle detailing the available temples and inns, as well as a little of the background if the PCs are from there or been there long enough to pick up general knowledge as background) for a handout

 

[Whimsical]

Thanks, everyone. These links are helpful and I will be using them.

But, I'm surprised that there isn't a Wiki or download site somewhere on the internets where KotS DMs can share their adventure enhancements, aids, and handouts for other DMs of this adventure series.

 

[Whimsical]

I still need this info. Bump.

 

[legiondevil]

On a similar note, has anyone compiled the errate that Wizards has acknowledged, but not put into the errata sheet? Such as the Hobgoblin's flail damage (1d10+4 instead of 2d6+4), difficulties for skill challenges, and such?