Keep on the Shadowfell
Wizards of the Coast recently re-released Keep on the Shadowfell as a free download on their website (PDF) to introduce players to Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. It includes the Quick Start Rules, which has an abridged summary of the various actions one can take in the game, as well as sample characters new players can play immediately, and the adventure itself, which pits players against the villain Kalarel. Keep on the Shadowfell attempts to be an introductory adventure for new players and DMs, showcasing a lot of the new rules while still being accessible and not overbearing. Most of the adventure is centered on the action and combat but there are also scenes where other aspects of the game come into play, such as skill challenges.
I ran the adventure when it was originally released last year and it was a functional introduction to D&D 4e. A good chunk of the focus was on combat and the quest was a fairly straightforward game to run, but it served its role in explaining what was a new game. This re-release doesn’t significantly change the adventure, although there are improvements – some subtle, some not – which make Keep on the Shadowfell worth a second look. Still, despite the additions, there are still some errors in the document, and it’s too bad that they didn’t include the tile maps as a download to accompany the PDF.
I’d like to divide the review into two sections: the adventure Keep on the Shadowfell itself, and the modifications made to the game. Let me first talk about the former. The adventure isn’t the best, but it’s decent. It starts out with a lively combat scene and progresses through the tropes of what you’d consider your typical D&D game: a small town in danger, a cast of characters the PCs can interact with, and a dungeon to explore. On one hand, it can be run like a video game where the players kill every monster they see, and for the most part that’s the assumption of this adventure. Still, there are ample opportunities for roleplaying in select areas of the dungeons, as well as token opportunities to showcase the other features of the latest edition such as skill challenges and encounters with traps.
DMs looking for an organic way of introducing the PCs to each other are out of luck. What I always hoped to see in a 1st-level adventure is how the characters meet, but that’s not the case here as it’s assumed that everyone knows each other. Players looking for diplomatic methods of resolving conflicts also have little room to maneuver here, as this is mostly a combat-driven game. Still, the game is neatly divided into three areas: the town where most of the dialogue and investigation takes place, various wilderness areas which are self-contained combat encounters, and the keep itself, a dungeon complex enough for heroic-tier characters.
While the game might appear static, there are various notes in the adventure nudging DMs to improvise. It might get repetitive but the adventure encourages and gives tips to the DM on how to reconcile the scripted linearity and players veering off in their own unexpected direction. There are also clear high points in the game, with truly challenging “boss” battles and experiences which players will speak of in the future.
On the part of the Quick Start Rules, there’s a lot more detail presented, which can be intimidating, abridged as it is. However, there are pages one can just print out and stick to as a guide, such as the Conditions page that details all the status effects one will encounter. The sample characters are a Godsend as it summarizes everything in two pages – although the details of some of a class’s abilities are lost for the sake of brevity (the effects of the Fighter’s Combat Superiority isn’t mentioned, for example).
If you’ve read Keep on the Shadowfell before, there are some revisions. On the negative side, the tiles that originally came with the adventure weren’t included, and the PDF also lacks bookmarks. Thankfully, those are the only criticisms against this re-release. The rest are modifications to enhance the game. For example, in the Quick Start Rules, the new errata’d DCs for skills are included, and the information in the sample characters is much clearer. For example, in the old version, an attack might list the bonus as +6 vs. AC, while in the new one, it lists it as 1d20 + 6 vs. AC – still the same terminology, but it presents the material in a clearer format for new players. Omissions in the original are also now included, such as the Half-Elf’s racial power.
With regards to the adventure, aside from the included errata, some encounters are either more fleshed out or altered to make more sense in terms of the story. An example of the former is the encounter with Sir Keegan. In the original, it was a rough outline of a skill challenge and Sir Keegan’s stat block didn’t really conform to the current game’s standards. In the current version, the skill challenge is more explicit as each relevant skill is listed with a target DC. Sir Keegan’s stat block has also changed, getting an upgrade and correcting some of the terminology. Unfortunately, it also here where it’s apparent that the revision didn’t correct everything, as the number of successes needed to complete this encounter is contradictory (there are two numbers given in different parts of the page). An example of an alteration for the sake of story is the Burial Site encounter, where a halfling is replaced with an apparition of Kalarel – a modification that makes much more sense in terms of story and foreshadowing.
Overall Keep on the Shadowfell is a competent adventure to introduce new players to D&D, and you can’t beat the price – it’s free! One year after the debut of Fourth Edition, an introductory adventure like this is still relevant and with the additions made to it, has much more depth than the original.