2008-06-26 Do not judge this book, or 4th edition in general, by first impressions

Physical Aspects:

When you extract H1 from its wrapping, you get a card folder containing a thick book, 3 double-sided poster-sized miniature scale maps and a thin book. The books are a little flimsy, not having card covers, and in my copy the ink tends to smudge a bit. This is not true of all copies of H1, apparently, and may be down to a particular print run. The maps are a bit lower in quality than some I've seen, but that's not a major complaint. Also, you should know that some of them duplicate maps that have appeared in previous products.

The thick book contains several pages of fast-play rules, but mostly the adventure itself. Encounters are laid out very well in a format which means you never have to turn the page during combat. This is a great advance in DMing from the days where stats were at the back of the book and you had to continually flip pages!

The thin book contains some fast-play rules aimed at the players and some pregenerated characters.

First impressions, then, are: why have they wasted a fair bit of space on rules when there was only a couple of weeks between publishing this and the rule books? I will never look at the thin book again. Also, why are the pregenerated characters in a book at all, rather than on individual sheets? I don't fancy cutting up my book. This could have been thought through better.

First impressions, however, are a little deceptive, and once you're past these things it starts to get a lot better.

There is a lot of play potential in this book. My group has played it now for three weeks and we've only just got to the main section. My estimate would be that there's something like thirty hours play here. It's heavily combat-oriented and could have highlighted D&D 4th edition's non-combat stuff a little more, but that's understandable considering its introductory nature. It does at least have some sort of developing plot! The encounters are mostly very varied and interesting, making good use of environment. For example, there's one room where the adventurers will need to be moving up and down ladders and crossing planks during the fight.

It's when you start playing that you realise how good 4th edition is. It plays absolutely wonderfully. To some extent, then, this is a review of 4th edition as much as Keep on the Shadowfell. But the adventure is written to take advantage of the new rules, and it does so very well. Simply put: this is really, really fun! Last Tuesday my group ran through one of the early encounters. It took two and a half hours, but during that time everyone was engaged with the play and everyone had a blast.

On that encounter, one thing to be aware of is that although it looks like in 4th edition adventurers are going to have an easier time, there is still a risk of a party wipeout. Players who play as individuals rather than as a team are going to find it very difficult. 4th edition strongly encourages team play.

I compare H1 with the Sunless Citadel, the first 3rd edition adventure from Wizards. H1 is in my opinion considerably superior. It contains more role-playing elements; it contains more variation and interest in encounters; it contains a much more engaging story; it's much easier to run, and most importantly, it's more fun.

To summarise: physically, it could have been a little better and I think Wizards should note some of the comments that have been made. Including the fast-play rules was plain daft. However, the adventure itself, and 4th edition, are great fun, and I would not hesitate to recommend this product.