Thoughts on Thunderspire - 1st Session

I read Thunderspire a couple of times through when I first got it a while back, and then again through the first third of the adventure just before running it. I didn’t pay too much attention to the stat blocks, as the 4e monsters can run themselves pretty easily. I did not notice that the spread of monsters had changed. Unlike Keep on the Shadowfell, Thunderspire seems to be populated entirely by normal monsters. Through the Chamber of Eyes there wasn’t a single minion or elite. It made for an interesting variation on fights, but both my players and I missed the dynamics of the other style. There were occasions where 4-6 minions would have worked better, or where an action point could have pushed a fight in an interesting direction.

Additionally I found that the layout of the Chamber of Eyes didn’t really provide interesting fight locations. The Chamber itself didn’t come into play until after everything was cleaned out, and the Duergar chamber where most of the fight took place ended up being too cramped for the number of combatants.

I also wish I’d have realized that Myrhdraak had followed up his H1 conversion with the H2 and H3 conversions before starting Thunderspire. Luckily it isn’t too late! I’m going to need to tweak things a bit as unfortunately I opted not to have Kalarel’s Rod of Ruin be a magical item for the players. Having now read through the update, there is a lot to take in and to change from the original H2. As with his H1 conversion I highly recommend getting the H2 conversion. He really manages to tie the series together!

Play-wise I thought it went pretty well. I had a lot of fun playing up some of the characters they encountered in the Seven Pillared Hall, and I plan on doing more of that next time we get together. I’m also going to hold back on the pacing, and try to breathe a little more life into the Labyrinth and its inhabitants.