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Creating a specific thread to discuss Thunderspire Labyrinth. Make sure to put anything spoilerish in the proper coverage.
My initial impression is much more positive than H1.
Positives:
Number one for me is the new monsters included: Duergar, Bronze Warder, Enigma of Vecna, Norker, and the Phalagar. They are pretty much in the awesome category both for history and the unique abilities each bring. I can already tell I’m going to have a ton of fun with these guys.
Most all of the material is for the DM. So from a DM perspective you’re getting more content for your dollar.
Player handout pictures – in color – for various locations. The artwork for these are very nice and it’s good to see player handouts back.
Vecna is back, baby! And this works great for me as I changed H1 to be Vecna driven, so it ties well together. If you are considering running H1/H2 consider changing H1 to be Vecna driven and then H2 ties in even better. I can write-up what I did for that if anyone is interested.
Expansive Underdark Labyrinth laid out. H1 was pretty closed – the Keep was it with a few sidetreks that were somewhat optional. H2 lays out a large area of Underdark fun-times and hooks for you to use.
Included: A very interesting underground city to use as a base with its own intrigue. Add onto that multiple underground lair’s to go explore and it doubles-triples the amount of usable adventure compared to H1.
Random Encounter Table: They actually present 10 interesting random encounters that are plausible in the environment. Some of which tie in with the hooks and could lead to "further adventures".
Negatives:
It’s still magazine paper. It still uses the backcover as part of the adventure text. This is still annoying to me. :-)
Yeah, the production quality is still a tad weak. The ink seems to be better though.
As for the mod itself - on my first quick read it seems a big step up from H1. Fortunately for those that don't want to buy H1 you can run H2 as a stand alone mod.
So I guess it gets a qualified thumbs up for now but it will take a closer reading to be sure.
I started the thread over at EN World, if anyone wants to read it, I did reveal a lot of details:
I'm not sure what is weirder ... Shroomy-Ape or Shroomy-Skull. The mind ponders ...
I'm not sure what is weirder ... Shroomy-Ape or Shroomy-Skull. The mind ponders ...I started the thread over at EN World, if anyone wants to read it, I did reveal a lot of details:
Clearly the weirdest would be a Shroomy ape skull.
Interested
Ok, here you go! Going to put the spoiler tag around it to protect those who might like to play at some point.
The characters are based in Fallcrest, straight of the the DMG. Reading through Fallcrest you can see that the trading houses have some amount of influence. This is continued in H2 as the Azaer's and Halfmoon's have outposts in the Seven Pillared underground hall.
So I used the hook that the trading houses and Lord of Fallcrest are concerned that reports from Winterhaven are not good and trade is being disrupted. It ended up that I had at least one character associated in some way with each major house's (Azaer's, Halfmoon, Naerumar, Lord Mayor, etc.) Each of them is asked to contribute one or more folk to go on a mission to check out the trouble to the west.
This will tie in well when we get to H2 because I can use the same association with the trade houses there.
H1 Changes:
Kalarel worships Vecna, but only his closest allies realize this. The portal can be to the Shadowfell, but the Far Realms works just as well (or better). I'm playing up a Mythos "feel" by references to ancient gods with no names "older than the gods you know, even", shadowy figures, "secrets not meant to be known". Everyone has some backstory or hidden secret that Vecna would love to know and leverage.
I changed the Kobolds and Goblins to worship Tiamet. They're being used by Kalarel. You can also tie this Tiamet connection back to Armos Kamroth in Fallcrest.
Winterhaven is a dour, sullen place. No one wants to talk. Think Lovecraft. People are having very disturbing dreams (lots of Far Realms/Mythos references - shadowy figures, people's faces oddly disfigured, strange tentacled gods). Everyone is on edge, but they don't know why. Caravans have been attacked, with all the people mysteriously gone. Farms have been abandoned (kidnapped) but assumed that they just moved away, etc.
I changed Douven Staul to be local to Winterhaven, with a wife and child in town in one of the tenements. Backhistory is that Kalarel and Agrid came to town, hired Douven (guide) to help with an archelogical expedition. Agrid, Douven, and the halfling occasionally come to town for supplies. Ninaran is in town and basically plays as written.
Secretly, Douven's son has been stricken with a strange disease that causes disfigurement. I.E. he's turning into a monster. His wife keeps him hidden away in the tenement and won't easily speak to strangers. Agrid uses this as leverage to continue to keep Douven in line. I used freeing Douven and curing the son as a Quest hook.
I changed the Dragon Burial site to instead be Keegan's Tomb. I moved rooms 5,6,7,8 out of the keep and to this location (thanks Sebastian!) Keegan was killed by his men and taken to this site away from the keep for burial. Agrid is seeking Keegan's weapon (Aecris) because of it's connection to the death's at the keep. His tomb is secret and guarded because of Aecris. It's now the McGuffin. Also, change Aecris to be whatever type of weapon that's usable by your players. In mine it's a Greataxe, for example. I then added a minor Quest for the players to redeem Aecris and recover Keegan's family heirlooms (room 15) back to this tomb to achieve his final rest.
The keep plays about as written. I cut rooms 5/6/7/8. I cut rooms 9/10/11 (booooring) and moved the stairs down to there.
The lower level I'm keeping basically the same. The Bloodreavers are involved because they've been trading slaves back and forth with Kalarel. Kalarel wants weak mind/bodies that are easily sacrificed and the Bloodreavers want strong backs. So Kalarel gets rid of troublesome folk and the Bloodreavers get rid of worthless stock.
The end game the players will discover the connection to Vecna and I'll include a hook/clue back to H2 since there is a Vecna tie-in there as well. Overall I hope to have Vecna folk behind the scenes pushing the buttons in many areas, even back at Fallcrest. Very old school.