Product Description: H1 Keep on the Shadowfell Heroic Adventure Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Role Playing Game RPG by Wizards of the Coast
The town of Winterhaven stands watch over a ruined keep that was once a bastion of good in the realm. This keep overlooks the Shadow Rift, a dark scar in the world that was once a gateway to the Shadowfell but has been dormant for many years. Now, an evil cleric of Orcus, Demon Lord of the Undead, seeks to re-open the gate, and the only thing standing in his way is a small yet determined band of heroes.
Keep on the Shadowfell is an exciting Dungeons & Dragons adventure designed for characters of levels 1 - 3. It includes three double-sided poster maps suitable for use with D&D Miniatures.
H1 Keep on the Shadowfell is the first adventure in a three-part series that continues with H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth and H3 Pyramid of Shadows. It can also be played as a stand-alone adventure.
no list of the required miniatures ^ I sure do hate how the 4e rules REQUIRE you to play with miniatures, but they don't bother to list in any of their modules all the ones you're going to need.
Great Intro to 4.0 ^ I have read some of the other reviews and I just have to say they nit pick about all the small stuff. The content is there for a great first time adventure. The books and modules will not play the game for you. They are simply tools that are to be used to make the game fun. My group used this module as our first 4.0 experience and had a blast. I was a first time 4.0 DM and I love the new system and I love this module.
Not worth it anymore ^ As with anything anyone else has added, What I can add is, that this is no longer worth purchasing. WOTC has it currently posted on thier website. A little lower quality if you print it yourself, however, the price is far better.
Not great, but it could be a lot worse too. ^ As an introduction to 4th Edition D&D, you could do a lot worse than Keep on the Shadowfell. With pregenerated characters and quick start rules, even people unfamiliar with D&D can probably get to the gaming fairly quickly. This is not a review of D&D4e, so I won't get into the relative merits and detriments of those rules. I will say that even people who have never roleplayed before will find things easy to pick up with this set. It's relatively straight forward and does not contain a great deal of complexity, either in the adventure or the rules provided.
For more experienced players, the very straight forward and uncomplicated nature of Keep on the Shadowfell works against it. Veteran players will probably want more choices, more roleplaying opportunities, and more chance to do something besides combat. Without the D&D4e core rulebooks, the character options are quite limited as well. A good GM can do a fair bit to expand on the adventure and flesh out what is there, but as written it's not the most creative or exciting adventure I've ever seen. Even so, a good group and GM can use this adventure as a jumping off point for better and more interesting things.
Good, cheap introduction to D&D for players and DMs ^ As a newbie Dungeon Master, I purchased this module to teach some players who had never picked up a D20. It's got a good learning curve on it--it starts out with a simple Kobold ambush by the road and slowly grades up to a confrontation with the Big Bad at the bottom of the cursed temple with the fate of the land at stake. Good, classic fun for low-level players.
The module includes almost everything you'll need to run the game. You won't need the Dungeon Master's Guide or the Monster Manual, although the former could be useful (I mainly use the tables that show me how to adjust encounters to a specified difficulty). The official DM screen is useful and high-quality. Unless you want to stick with the pre-generated characters which are included, you'll still want at least one Player's Handbook. I also recommend downloading the automated character sheet spreadsheet from dnd4.com and making power cards for your characters--these can be made from index cards, but there are a number of good generators linked from ENWorld and other places. You should also pick up some miniatures, which can be obtained in gaming stores or here on Amazon.
Since April 2009, this module can be downloaded for free from Wizards.com, but that does not include the mini-Dungeon Master's Guide, the pregenerated characters, or (more importantly) the play-on maps for the outdoor encounters. The downloadable version has, however, been clarified and revised in some places; if you purchase this module, I recommend downloading the free copy and taping the handful of pages which have been revised into the module booklet. (I say "booklet" because a proper book would have binding, whereas the module is stapled together.)
Since the module has been released for free, the only real reason to fork over money for it at this point is for the maps, or if you want an all-in-one game pack and do not plan to spend any more money on D&D ever. (Even then, you're still going to want some miniatures.) If you plan to move on from this to further adventures after you're done, buy yourself a Chessex battlemat and marker instead and draw the outdoor encounters yourself. Go download Keep on the Shadowfell from Wizards.com and enjoy your introduction to D&D!
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