Ring Side Report-A review of Legacy of the Crystal Shard

[biotech66]

Originally posted on www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!

Product: Legacy of the Crystal Shard
Producer: Wizards of the Coast
Price: ~$30
TL;DR-Great Season, but consider your group. 83.3%

Basics-Its the second book in the Sundering encounters series, and this one takes place in the frozen north of Icewind Dale. The players arrive in town just as an attack of Yetis takes place. After saving the town the heroes must root out the various problems in town with the biggest problem being the worst winter the dale is seen in a long time? Can they save Icewind dale from the cold?

Theme: I have really been impressed with the latest DnD encounter manuals. One book is pretty much dedicated to theme. Here are the peoples and places the players (alliteration!) will see. Having one book dedicated to this really helps me get the world across to my players. The book is full of tons of small details that will really help. Its worth it! 4/5

Mechanics/Story: Here is where things get a little "dangerous." I love this story compared to the other one. The heroes here get to be heroes! However, the heroes can't completely save the day. I'm tipping my hand as a DM, but the Sundering encounter season is set up so Wizards has something to say about what happened here. Something big occurs, the PCs fix most of it, but some evil will remain that the PCs can't fix, at least right now. If you're group or you hates this, then this might not be for you. However, I love what I've seen and what I've read. Also, see the summary for a few running concerns. 4/5

Layout/construction: Honestly, I love the latest projects from Wizards. The paperback books are pretty decent quality. They tear kind of easily, but for the page count it's a good deal. Also, the package comes with a nice DM screen. The screen is encounters specific and full of stuff you need for the game. You get over 100 pages of stuff to read, but the layout is well done and a pleasure to read. I never felt like it was hard to get through. A fantastic job. 4.5/5

Summary and thoughts: I really like this product. This is a great product that is full of information on the frozen north and a great story. Keep in mind, you or your group will fail at least in part. If you can get past that, you will have a great time. Also, as a tip: you might want to tell your players to agree on a course of action. In the last session, it was pretty fair game for the PCs to just go in any direction. This session, for the players to get the most out of the random encounters and distances between towns, you want to only have one group of PCs running around the realms. 83.3%

 

[Alphastream]

I agree with the points you make. A number of people have felt the paper is too thin, but I'm okay with it and I see the overall value as high. Arguably, these adventures are a far higher value for a DM than the old TSR/WotC approach of publishing a big hardback book or boxed set and a separate adventure. The information here is much more attuned to what a DM needs to breathe life into the adventure (vs just being reference material for idea generation).

It is also worth mentioning that this product does a really great job of speaking to the past history of the Realms and to the shared history many gamers have. The events speak to the Drizzt novels, to the Icewind Dale video games, and more. Many gamers will rekindle some memories playing this adventure and it may be a more personal and rewarding experience because of that. It also continues DnD's excellent branding of late - they are showing how D&D over the years has touched us in many ways and through different forms (novel, RPG, video game, board game, etc.).