Icewind Dale: Legacy of the Crystal Shard 0 - Introduction

I have been preparing a second 4E heroic tier campaign based in Neverwinter but, aside from the opening adventure which I am really happy with, it just wasn't feeling like the sort of campaign I could use to introduce new players to tabletop RPGs, D&D4E, and the Realms.

One of the great things about a game set in Neverwinter is that the MMO that was released last year seems to be really well-supported and that means there are lots of screenshots and YouTube videos I can use to show the players what their characters are experiencing.

Old school DMs are probably wondering why I don't just describe things but, the simple fact is, I use English and that these prospective players' second language. If a picture is worth a thousand words normally, I think when you are cutting across language and cultural barriers then you can safely add one or more digits to that number.

However, something else occurred to me today: I bought The Crystal Shard as a graphic novel. 

But, before I talk about that, I thought I might address the question...

... Does the 4E Version of the Forgotten Realms Really Suck?

Mike Mearls recently announced in his patented damn-I-really-shouldn't-be-allow-to-make-public-statements-about-D&D-style that first came to our attention during the 5E playtest period (with Rodney Thompson riding to the rescue in almost every instance to actually explain what was really happening) that there were no plans for a 5E version of a campaign setting for the Forgotten Realms.

He then tried to clarify that statement by suggesting that the information might trickle out in other ways and also that maybe something might be coming but they all need a holiday first. Whatever the message was meant to be, it was garbled in a particularly Mearlsian way.

So, without a 5E version of the Realms beyond what is hinted at in the PHB and the adventures, what is a 5E DM who likes the Realms supposed to do? 

As someone who actively likes the 4E Realms I would suggest that the first question to ask is this: Does the 4E version of the Forgotten Realms really suck?

For Candlekeepers whose D&D-playing days are in the halcyon past, I can accept that it does. For RAS fans who think the Salvatorean vision of the Realms is pure and correct, I can accept that. But for DMs who are actually running games and want a familiar world to set those games in, I think the 4E version of FR is worth another look.

This probably deserves a post of its own but I just want to point to three games set in the 4E version of FR and posted on the RPG.net forums involving a mini-campaign set in Icewind Dale:

• Ice Station Zhentarim
• The Scrimshaw Redemption - DM's Thread
• The Scrimshaw Redemption - Player's Thread
• The Winter Soul Jar (this is incomplete but there are podcasts covering the remaining sessions of play)

I think reading those threads and looking at how the DM Acrozatarim mixed old and new Realmslore together should convince a lot of DMs that maybe the 4E version of FR is worth a second look.

Oh, and that's all a very long way of saying: this campaign is going to draw on a number of ideas that appear in Acrozatarim's games. And it's not plagiarism is you credit your source material. :)

The Crystal Shard

I have noted before on this blog and elsewhere that I am not a fan of R A Salvatore's books... except for The Crystal Shard.

There's a lot to love about The Crystal Shard, particularly the titular artefact itself. Crenshinibon itself is one of those artefacts that simply makes a DM's job easier. Forget how powerful it is: an artefact that drains power from the sun and creates a network of towers linked by portals is the sort of thing that inspires a campaign arc that almost writes itself. I must admit, running a campaign involving Crenshinibon - forget whether or not RAS's canon has destroyed it - remains on my gaming bucket list.

I must also admit, I like the basic set-up of Icewind Dale. It's remote. It's cold. It has an economy that largely makes sense. It's got a nice mix of normal creatures (crag cats, wolves), normal monsters (ogres, yeti), and plenty of room for dragons, remorhazes and similar magical beasts.


Sure, it has the horrible Salvatorean names but they are far less worse than those that appear in his later novels.

Legacy of the Crystal Shard

While I have no interest in 5E or the 5E Realms, per se, I am always interested in anything Realms-related that I can steal for my games. When WotC announced that The Sundering RSE was going to be played out in a series of five adventures (subsequently reduced to four), I was not confident that they were going to be anything but complete and utter duds.

WotC has rightly had a reputation for producing some of the worst adventures in the RPG world, in large part because 4E was launched with the edition-killing Keep on the Shadowfell and the even worse Pyramid of Shadow.

Further, the last time a major FR RSE was directly played out in the form of adventures was the Time of Troubles when the trilogy of Shadowdale, Tantras, and Waterdeep were published to show that PCs could play the part of bystanders and, um, enjoy it.

Fortunately, WotC did not screw the proverbial pooch with The Sundering adventures. In the first instance, you could almost say that they have nothing to do with The Sundering other than the logo appearing on their covers. Actually, that really is about it. 

Secondly, they're all quite good adventures but, IMO, Legacy of the Crystal Shard is the pick of the bunch.

My plan with this campaign is to use much of Legacy as the basic framework but also to include a few more direct nods to The Crystal Shard - primarily in the form of the presence of the balor Errtu - as well as chunks stolen from Acrozatarim's excellent session reports that I have linked to above. And then I plan to segue into the Demon Weave storyline from the Rise of the Underdark event. It just seems a shame to be so close to Menzoberranzan and then simply ignore the drow....

Some Background Thoughts

The Good Guys

Here Comes the Sun

I am thinking that the primary protagonist among the PCs is a cleric (or invoker) of Amaunator. While this idea is shamelessly inspired by a PC in Ice Station Zhentarim, it makes a lot of sense in the context of the campaign.

I had a lot of success a dozen or so years ago running a Netherese-era ruined monastery of Amaunator as a dungeon adventure in the mountains of the Silver Marches. It was one of the best dungeons I have ever run with a near-perfect mix of interaction, combat, and exploration and I still have my notes. It would work perfectly in Icewind Dale and I also love the basic idea of a cleric of the deity of the sun coming to a place that is so cold and trying to spread warmth.

Hopefully one of the players will jump at a chance to play such a character.

On the Run

Various source material makes reference to the fact that Icewind Dale is the sort of place that people who are running away from their past are likely to go: it's far enough away that their pasts are unlikely to catch up with them there.

And, as I am beginning the campaign in that wretched hive of scum and villainy called Luskan, I have a likely and logical origin point for such characters.

I have a few race and class combinations in mind already: half-orc slayer, changeling rogue, halfling thief, and even a pixie enchanter that is held prisoner in a cold iron birdcage by some crime lord who likes the light the tiny fey produces. (The pixie is also on the run from his royal obligations in the Feywild. It's a bit of an odd character idea for my games but it's the sort of thing that might appeal to my new players.)

The Bad Guys

In view of the banner I have created for this campaign, I am basically required to have this Chosen of Auril from Legacy of the Crystal Shard as a fairly important BBEG. And, to begin with at least, the Chosen of Auril has control, more or less, of the balor Errtu.

Beyond her, I definitely want to have orcs as the most common humanoid foe, as well as frost giants. One of the major set-piece adventures I want to run in this campaign is a 4E version of G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, probably as the capstone of the Heroic Tier. (I have noted elsewhere before on this blog that I reduce the levels of monsters in my 4E games to match their 1E hit dice. As a result, my frost giants are level 10 brutes so they are eminently suitable for an end of Heroic Tier adventure.)

And, finally, the drow are going to be involved.

A Very Rough Synopsis

Luskan

The Accursed Tower is one of my favourite 2E adventures for the clever way it turns a castle into a dungeon and also for the wilderness adventure - the journey between Luskan and Icewind Dale - that precedes the dungeon crawl (and see the next section for the wilderness adventure).

Rather than simply handwaving away the start of the journey in Luskan, I thought I would use the time the PCs spend in Luskan as an opportunity to run three or so encounters so that the players can learn how combat, skills, and other facets of the game work... and maybe to emphasis to some of the players why their characters who have Luskan in their background are so desperate to leave.

I suppose it's more typical to introduce new players to D&D with a dungeon but, frankly, I prefer non-dungeon adventures in the main. That said, Luskan includes a lot of ruins, old sewers, and decrepit cemeteries so there are still opportunities to put together some small dungeon-like adventures.

I imagine I will probably begin with a press gang encounter so that the PCs can fight a group that is fairly normal and I am not yet sure where to proceed from there. I will cover that in a later post.

Into the North

Starting in Luskan is really just an excuse to justify this next part of the campaign. I have already noted that this is inspired by the journey in the The Accursed Tower adventure and I suspect I will steal several of the encounters directly from there.

One of the other things I like about running this journey as an adventure is that it allows the players to experience the mechanical changes that go along with the increasingly colder weather which is going to be good experience for the balance of the campaign in Icewind Dale when the mechnical impact of weather is going to be an important part of the game.

I have also done a little bit of research about the locations en route. FR1 Waterdeep & The North reveals this about the Iceflow River:

This, chilling, fast-rushing river thunders down out of the icy interior of the northern arm of the Sword Coast. It is not navigable by any normal means. Its waters are just above freezing, and travel at terrifying speed down through a great ice gorge.

In spring and high summer, great slabs of ice break off the gorge walls and fall into the waters, shattering with the force of a triple-strength ice storm as they spray the vicinity with boulders of broken ice. These chunks of ice are then swept down the gorge and out to sea, to drift south amid the great icebergs from the Sea of Moving Ice.

Remorhaz are known to lair in the vicinity, and great horrors known as “ice spiders” or snow spiders have also been encountered here. Human prospectors who made it back found no rich ores in what they could reach of the walls, but there are persistent rumours of ancient ruins and buried riches in secret places in the gorge.

I really want to do this description justice and make sure that whatever happens during the course of crossing of the Iceflow River is a major set-piece battle ideally including combat on fast-moving floating slabs of ice.

Also, in the course of passing through the Spine of the World and entering Icewind Dale itself, I am thinking that an encounter with a level-appropriate white dragon would be ideal. Story-wise, this dragon will have been menacing trade and so, if the PCs turn up in Brym Shander with evidence of slaying the dragon, they may begin their time in Icewind Dale as heroes and celebrated dragon-slayers!
 

Into the Sandbox

I really want Icewind Dale itself to feel very much like a sandbox.

The basic plot will revolve around black ice (this is the magical residue of the collapsed towers created by Crenshinibon mixed with normal ice and forms a key part of the published Legacy of the Crystal Shard adventure) and how it can be used to power certain rituals.

My initial thoughts are that the Chosen of Auril is behind this but the ritual itself is being performed by the frost giants. Because of its connection to the Crystal Shard, black ice has a powerful effect on the balor Errtu and the Chosen of Auril (she has no name yet as I am still mulling over some backstory for her) has used black ice to fuel the summoning and binding of the balor.

She has forced the balor to unite bands of orc renegades from the Kingdom of Many-Arrows to gather black ice and generally make a nuisance of themselves across the Dale. They also deliver the black ice to the frost giants (probably on Reghed Glacier) where they perform a grand ritual to unleash a Fimbulwinter firstly across Icewind Dale and then across all of Faerûn.

Unfortunately for the Chosen of Auril, her bindings don't negate the control that Lolth has over the balor and Errtu has been corrupting the Fimbulwinter ritual so that it actually serves to help create the Demon Weave. And that becomes the logical segue into the presence of the drow and a possible Paragon Tier mini-campaign that concludes in Menzoberranzan.

TL;DR: Black ice is being used to fuel a ritual to create eternal winter. Uncover the plot. Stop the ritual. Slay the giants in the glacial rift. Defeat the Chosen of Auril. Oh no, what are the drow doing here?

Legacy of the Crystal Shard + G1-3 + D1-3 + Rise of the Underdark

A possible scene in one of the Ten-Towns?

In my previous post, I made a few half-arsed suggestions about how to expand Legacy of the Crystal Shard using Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff.

Unfortunately, any time I think about the classic Giants series - G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, G2 The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl and G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King - I naturally start thinking about how they then lead into the equally legendary drow series - D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth, D2 Shrine of the Kuo-toa and D3 Vault of the Drow - which then segues in my mind to the 4E attempt to capitalise on the drow, the various adventures, events and novels which became known as Rise of the Underdark.

The short version of Rise of the Underdark is this: Lolth sought to grab Mystra's power over magic by attempting to create a Demon Weave fuelled by artefacts, relics and the remains of primordials.

What if Legacy of the Crystal Shard was set during the time of the Rise of the Underdark events? And what if Lolth saw Auril as a deity who was vulnerable to the Queen of Spiders' attacks but who also represented a significant source of power (Auril is, more or less, an archfey - she's the Queen of Air and Darkness - as well as a deity according to some theories plus she has at least one primordial imprisoned in her divine realm: this is probably worth a separate post explaining this theory)? So, as Auril seeks to expand her power base through the events described in Legacy of the Crystal Shard, Lolth is hard on her heels seeking to thwart Auril's ambitions so that she can fulfil her own.

I rather like the idea that this leads to the giants being divided into two groups: hill giants and frost giants supporting Auril and fire giants supporting Lolth. That raises the possibility of the PCs being able to play the groups off against the other or turning them to the same side. (I also like the idea of bringing back Errtu the balor from the R A Salvatore novels as the leader of the fire giants... in part because it will upset the RAS purists who will say that Errtu is dead or something [I haven't kept up with the RAS novels so I really don't know].)

Ultimately, the adventures involving giants reveal the manipulation of the drow and that, in turn, leads to D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth where the PCs descend into the Underdark, D2 Shrine of the Kuo-toa where the PCs fight the mad fishfolk but possibly gain much needed lore from an aspect of Blibdoolpoolp (the kuo-toa deity) and finally concludes in D3 Vault of the Drow with Menzoberranzan replacing the Greyhawk city of Erelhei-Cinlu. And unlike the original Vault of the Drow the PCs have a clear objective: destroy the nascent Demon Weave. I imagine these adventures can also draw some inspiration from some of the adventures published for Rise of the Underdark, particularly War of Everlasting Darkness.

That's my short version of a further expansion to Legacy of the Crystal Shard that I think makes sense and also lets a DM run some of the classic D&D adventures. It's definitely something I want to do and it's on my gaming bucket list.

A Quick Note on Monster Levels

If you're a 4E DM and you're reading this, I suspect you are wondering how it it is possible to run a conversion of the Giants series after Legacy of the Crystal Shard. It's quite simple. One of the things I have done with 4E is to reduce the levels of monsters to match their 1E hit dice. That means my hill giants are level 8 brutes, frost giants are level 10 brutes and fire giants are level 11 soldiers. Even a balor is only a level 13 elite brute (I used the balor's 2E hit dice as its 1E hit dice made no sense [although if you read OD&D's Eldritch Wizardry it does make sense... and it's a reminder that the original Monster Manual was, in many ways, still an OD&D product rather than a 1E product, but I digress]).

If you do the same with the drow as well then what I have described here will probably take the PCs to around level 13-15. I think that's as far as any DM really wants to go with 4E (or 3.xE... or Pathfinder... or 2E... or 1E).

Legacy of the Crystal Shard + Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, or, The Liberation of Ten-Towns

More Ideas for Expanding Legacy of the Crystal Shard

This is the fourth post - and probably my final one - I have made with ideas on how to expand Legacy of the Crystal Shard using old/older AD&D adventures.

The simple fact is that Icewind Dale, including the Ten-Towns, is simply a wonderful area to run a sandbox-like campaign. Thanks to Mike Schley, WotC has even been able to include some evocative maps with Legacy: all a DM needs to do is find an app that lets him add a hex overlay and you have a perfect setting for a hexcrawl.

And Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff provides some interesting material to inspire a hexcrawl that also has some structure or plot....

Against the Giants...

The mountainous terrain around Icewind Dale suggests that giants are relatively common in the area. Hill giants in the foothills and lower-level mountains, frost giants around the frozen peaks and glaciers, and fire giants in any of the volcanic areas including, perhaps, Kelvin's Cairn. As such, a straight conversion of the three original adventures makes perfect thematic sense, although it would probably be better to reduce the level of the giants to their 1E hit dice so that they fit better with a campaign that begins with the adventures and events from Legacy of the Crystal Shard.

But what unites the giants as a single threat? Originally, they were pawns of the drow but Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff provides a different BBEG: angry cloud giants who threaten the other giants by using their cloud fortress to deliver the fantasy RPG equivalent of carpet-bombing against those giants who refuse to heed their demands.

In a previous post in this informal series, I suggested that Gruumsh-who-was-Talos wants the portfolio of storm back from Auril and he is acting through the giants, using the cloud giants as his primary proxies (I would also add a storm giant into the mix as the cloud giants' real leader), to thwart Auril's plans for Icewind Dale while simultaneously advancing his own interests through various heralds of his.

I also like how this background suggests that the 4E adventure Orcs of Stonefang Pass would be a perfect fit for this mini-campaign. By freeing the earth titan Stonefang, the followers of Gruumsh-who-was-Talos are providing a rallying point for the hill giants that Gruumsh wants to join his forces.

And perhaps the frost giants are actually opposed to Gruumsh-who-was-Talos and their loyalty is with Auril unless, of course, Gruumsh-who-was-Talos can offer them a suitable Stonefang-like primordial leader to command their loyalty. I wonder if there are any aspects of Cryonax conveniently imprisoned nearby...?

TL;DR: G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, G2 The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl and Hall of the Fire Giant King all seem to fit quite well into the terrain around Icewind Dale and there seem to be a few options for linking them together and into the Legacy of the Crystal Shard story.

... The Liberation of Geoff Ten-Towns

When Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff was published, I thought the expanded backstory involving the cloud giants plus the way the giants had completely taken over the entire nation of Geoff was a really clever and logical development of and from the original three adventures. My gaming bucket list includes running an adventure inspired by this set-up and Icewind Dale might be the perfect place to do it.

In the Liberation of Geoff section of the adventure, eleven towns - Gorna, Hocholve, The Lea, Midwood, Nurok Fort, Oytmeet, Pest's Crossing, Pregmere, Preston, Tika Town and West Town - are each described as having been taken over by giants and their allies such as orcs and this set-up seems to be a perfect fit for the Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale. What if, after the events of Legacy of the Crystal Shard, the PCs leave Icewind Dale for a time - perhaps they've gone to the Underdark or to Silverymoon or on a diplomatic mission to Many-Arrows - and when they return they find that Ten-Towns have been conquered by giants. Using the idea from this adventure, this then becomes about the liberation of Ten-Towns rather than the liberation of Geoff.

I haven't given any thought to which towns from Geoff correspond with which town from Ten-Towns but here's a summary of the giants that hold each of the Geoffite towns mentioned above:
Gorna: This city is now ruled by a fomorian named Hobb, an ogre chieftain Athans the Skullstomper (Athans being the name of a WotC editor: I hate this sort of Gygaxian silliness), and a band of ogres.

Hocholve: This town was conquered by hill giants and ogres but none remain due to a strange fungal disease that transformed its carriers into masses of fern-like vegetation.

Hornwood: The giants here are cyclopskin who are unaware that the town is also the demesne of wererats.

The Lea: A band of verbeeg rule this town and use hill giants and ogres as mercenaries.

Midwood: This town is ruled by a cloud giant named Seshey who protects the town from other giants in exchange for silver.

Oytmeet: This town is ruled by orcs supprted by ettins and cyclopes.

Pest's Crossing: This rather dangerous town is ruled by fire giants who are, in turn, served by ogres, trolls and hellhounds.

Pregmere: Ulfrun is the leader of the fire giants who rule this town who have hill giants as slaves that the fire giants treat more poorly than they treat their human slaves.

Preston: Bok the hill giant rules this town which contains a mixture of giants - hill, frost, fire, and even one cloud giant - who have one thing in common: they are considered incompetent and troublemakers.

Tika Town: Eshirg, a female mountain giant, rules Tika Town supported by gill giants and ogres.

West Town: This town is fairly anarchic with no clear leader. It is inhabited by a mixture of hill giants, ogres and trolls plus troll/giant and ogre/giant half-breeds.

This summary gives a brief idea of what each town contains but the real value in the published material lies in the ideas for the laws and functions of the individual towns, including such things as the punishments inflicted on those who attack the giants and/or their allies.

I don't think fire giants make sense in Ten-Towns because of the temperature but they can be easily replaced by frost giants. Cyclopes, cyclopskin, verbeeg and fomorians also don't make a lot of sense as they are, in 4E at least, creatures of the Feywild. Unless these ideas inspire an idea whereby it's the Prince of Frost clashing with Auril then it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to include fey creatures.

Anyway, this adventure does suggest some interesting ways to expand a campaign in Icewind Dale but does require a DM to do some work first.

Legacy of the Crystal Shard + B2 Keep on the Borderlands

I think most gamers of a certain vintage have a soft spot for B2 Keep on the Borderlands. (This is linked to DNDClassics.com.)

For many of us, it was the first adventure we bought, ran and/or played in and probably more than once. One of the things that stands out about it is that the basic set-up is surprisingly flexible and can be easily adjusted to serve whatever plot a DM might come up with.

Leaving aside the titular keep and its inhabitants - these aren't really relevant in terms of using this adventure as an expansion to Legacy of the Crystal Shard - and focussing on the Caves of Chaos, what we have is a location that, on the face of it, doesn't really make sense, but with a bit of backstory can actually work really well.

The basic conceit is this: the Caves of Chaos are a networks of "dungeons" inhabited by competing races or, in a few cases, competing tribes of the same race. Having these natural enemies so close together doesn't seem to make sense... until you realise that there is also a mysterious temple of Chaos hidden away deep in the network of caves.

That temple of Chaos and the power it represents was never explained away by the adventure's author and it's the nature of this temple that I want to expand upon in this post suggesting how the Caves of Chaos can be used to expand Legacy of the Crystal Shard.

For the sake of this post, I am simply going to assume that you want to use the Caves of Chaos more or less "as is" in or near Icewind Dale. However, as the DM you are wondering why these creatures that should be at odds seem to be able to dwell in close proximity to each other and my answer to that lies in the mysterious temple.

So here are my suggestions as to what this temple could be about.

Auril

In many ways, this is the easiest option as it immediately ties into the extant plot of Legacy.I can imagine Auril gathering outcasts of the various humanoids tribes to herself, promising to protect them from the cold and an unnatural winter that may be coming.

It would also be interesting to have the principal altar of the temple constructed out of black ice.

Bane

What if a Chosen of Bane has arisen from among the hobgoblins of the North? And what if he received a vision from the Black Lord bringing him to an ancient temple of Bane hidden deep in a network of caverns? What we would then have is something like the beginning of 3.5E's Red Hand of Doom where a great goblin horde prepared to descend on the Ten Towns. 

Yes, this would expand Legacy rather nicely into a mash-up of Legacy, Keep on the Borderlands and Red Hand of Doom.

Cyric

One of the changes to the deities instituted for 4E was that Cyric was imprisoned for his murder of Mystra etc.... Let's assume that his place of imprisonment is somewhere deep in the heart of the Elemental Chaos and/or the Abyss and close to the Shard of Evil. Let's further assume that this means that the key to his freedom is somehow unravelling the elements that are bound together to make the world of Toril.

This means at least two things:

1. We're looking at a similar backstory to how Tharizdun could released in 3E's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. 

2. Cyric's interests now coincide with those of the primordials who also want to undo the bound elements.

Auril's actions in Icewind Dale are slightly destabilising the balance between the elements. This is something that Cyric is able to sense and to tap into and so he has guided a Zhentarim strifeleader and a Zhentarim band of Cyricists to a mysterious stone altar in the Caves of Chaos. This altar is of some forgotten primordial and can act at the focus for elemental evil - yes, now I am introducing ideas from T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil - and sends out something of a siren call to those of an evil nature, hence the gathering of the humanoid tribes.

So the Dalesfolk are not only experiencing the bitter and perhaps unnatural winter thanks to Auril, but earth tremors are shaking the region causing near-tsunamis to form on Maer Dualdon, Lac Dinneshere and Redwaters. Even steam can be seen exiting new vents on the sides of Kelvin's Cairn.

And all of this is caused by rituals performed by the Cyricists, and these rituals require sacrifices. Zhent slavers are operating in Icewind Dale and the PCs are hired to end this threat ultimately bringing them to the Caves of Chaos and a confrontation in a mysterious ancient temple.

Gruumsh/Talos

With 4E it was revealed that Talos was actually an aspect of Gruumsh and so the two were merged into a single deity. One of the side-effects of that was that Talos's portfolio of storms seem to disappear before awkwardly appearing as one of Auril's domains.

What if Gruumsh-who-was-Talos wants the portfolio of storm back?

I rather like the idea of a clash between the followers of Auril and the followers of Gruumsh, conveniently depicted in this cover illustration from Dragon 429:

The R A Salvatore-authored article History Check: Dark Arrow Keep in Dragon 429 reveals, unsurprisingly, that there is a faction within the orcs of Many Arrows who do not want peace with their neighbours and the trappings of civilisation but instead want to return to the more traditional orc ways.

What if it is this faction that has found these Caves of Chaos and the mysterious ancient temple of Kozah, an earlier identity of Talos? They are here to clash with the forces of Auril... but they also have reverted to the normal orc ways of raiding and reaving and that's what brings them to the attention of the PCs.

I don't think that having the goblinoid races in the Caves of Chaos would make sense in this case but I could imagine ettins, ogres, ogrillons and trolls and perhaps a mysterious group of minotaur priests of Kozah (if I explore that idea further, I will end up involving the Caverns of Thracia as part of a grand mash-up).

What would be interesting would be having the PCs defeat or otherwise deal with these orcs and then have to ask King Obould for assistance with a frost giant threat - per the illustration above - simple because Ten Towns is not powerful enough to deal with the giants on their own. Perhaps Obould agrees because the PCs have brought the orc renegade mention in the Dragon article to Obould for justice and so earn his respect and a reward, which coincidentally helps to satisfy the war-like impulses of his people.

Hmmm, lots of potential here. It also makes me wonder who I could incorporate G1-3 Against the Giants or its 2E update Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff Icewind Dale....

Lolth

One last option.

The Rise of the Underdark/Demon Weave storyline that was played out through a few seasons of D&D Encounters could also be kicked off in Icewind Dale beginning with the Caves of Chaos.

In this case, the secret temple is a temple of Lolth and a drow priestess is gathering humanoids together to raid for slaves and also magic items, both to be sacrificed in Menzoberranzan for the creation of the Demon Weave.

This could even lead to an expanded version of the D&D Encounters season War of Everlasting Darkness which could also be mashed-up with D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth, D2 Shrine of the Kuo-toa and D3 Vault of the Drow (with Menzoberranzan otherwise replacing Erelhei-Cinlu). That might not work for a lot of 4E DMs because drow etc... are such high level, but it would be OK for me as I reduce everything to match hit dice or levels in 1E so that I can focus my games on the Heroic Tier (and maybe early Paragon Tier).

Legacy of the Crystal Shard + The Accursed Tower

For me, one of the signs of a good adventure is that it makes me think about how I could expand it and/or combine it with other adventures in my collection. Legacy of the Crystal Shard is definitely one of those adventures and it continues to grow on me.

Some rather good but largely forgotten adventures were published toward the end of 2E - The Shattered Circle by Bruce Cordell being my favourite - including The Accursed Tower (link to DNDClassics.com) by R A Salvatore and friends (for an explanation of the "and friends" I suggest following the link).

The adventure is in two parts with the first part being a wilderness journey from Luskan to Ten Towns and the second part being a site-based adventure exploring a ruined castle that sunk into the earth as a result of a fiendish summoning that went awry. Both parts are easily incorporated into an expanded version of Legacy of the Crystal Shard.

The Journey to Icewind Dale

Legacy begins with the assumption that the PCs are en route to Icewind Dale but it doesn't play out that journey. The Accursed Tower contains the necessary material to alowed that 21-day journey to be played out together with, more importantly, this very useful regional map:

Map: From Luskan to Icewind Dale

I think Legacy could work even better with this journey incorporated as an opening adventure, particularly if the DM wants to include some NPCs that the PCs can interact with on the way who later prove important to the journey. It also allows the DM to foreshadow later post-Legacy adventures in Icewind Dale such as my plan to include a schism within the orcs from Many Arrows that will later pose a threat to the Dale. An orc ambush en route can highlight that the supposedly peaceful and civilised orcs can still pose a threat, but more on that in another post (or just read the R A Salvatore-written article History Check: Dark Arrow Keep in Dragon 429 which is the inspiration for my ideas about orc troubles).

I think my favourite part of this journey would be when the PCs are crossing The Spine of the World (encounters 10-15 on the map above). I would definitely include some sort of skill challenge involving a blizzard, an avalanche and the possibility of getting lost, plus at least one nasty encounter involving a rock-throwing giant.

And, yes, I would throw level 1 PCs against a giant in 4E... but I would modify the giant to be a solo creature with the same XP value as it normally has a standard creature. IMC, I have further modified my giants so that their level is equal to their hit dice in 1E so my hill giants, for example, are merely level 8 brutes and my frost giants are level 10 brutes. A level 10 standard creature has the same XP value as a level 1 solo creature which means a single frost giant - a hermit or renegade from his tribe - can pose just the right threat to a level 1 group of PCs.

Further, assuming I did include such a frost giant encounter, I would probably make him an exile from his tribe because he (or she) is a follower of Auril rather than the primordial Thrym. If the PCs defeat this frost giant and then cleverly think to follow his tracks back to his lair, I would probably include clues and/or items helpful to the later adventure involving the Chosen of Auril.

Of course, no journey through mountainous terrain is complete without an attack by a flock of murderous perytons or, what would be more level-appropriate, a nasty pair of same.

The Sunken Castle

One thing that Legacy, as written, is missing is a simple site-based dungeon adventure. The sunken castle from The Accursed Tower provides that and is definitely worth including even if the journey from Luskan is not.

As written, the castle is the former abode of a renegade wizard of the Arcane Brotherhood of Luskan. That backstory could still stand but I would change the encounters - and the name of the wizard - to better suit my own game. The one thing I would not change are the maps which I find to be really good and easily adapted for my own use.

It would be nice to include some sort of information-based reward here that would help with the Legacy adventure proper. Perhaps the wizard who once dwelt here researched the nature of black ice and has written a helpful treatise? Or maybe there is a quasit trapped in a summoning circle that can be bargained with to provide information about the Crystal Shard and events of the past in exchange for its freedom?

Those "interesting bits" could be in the titular fallen tower, watched over by the undead form of the former wizard. The castle itself, though, could now be the demesne of a band of kobolds or goblins or, with a bit of imagination, something more interesting but still appropriate for low level adventurers.

What I do think is important though is having the option of a simple site-based adventure to round out Legacy. I think this second part of The Accursed Tower provides such an option.

Legacy of the Crystal Shard - not quite a review but close

Legacy of the Crystal Shard is the second adventure in The Sundering series of five adventures that probably, based on the relationship between the first and the second adventures, have no relationship with each other except that they are part of a series with an overarching name.

Yeah, I'm not sure how that works either.

The first adventure - Murder in Baldur's Gate - seemed to attract some good reviews but I found it to be not exactly my cup of tea. Legacy of the Crystal Shard, however, simply rocks.

Here's Mike Schley's art-like map of Icewind Dale as it appears on the DM's screen that comes with the adventure:

Obviously, WotC is putting a lot more effort into the maps for Next that they did with the world map that accompanied 4E's Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, but I digress....

Legacy of the Crystal Shard (unsurprisingly) builds on the events of the novel The Crystal Shard, the first R A Salvatore novel featuring the drow ranger Drizzt and, even if you are like me and NOT a fan of the other 20+ Drizzt novels, this one is still worth reading. Legacy is also designed, at least in part, by R A Salvatore and I am left with a feeling that he is clearly still a fan of his creation Icewind Dale.

This is a marvellous sandbox with a lot of potential for expansion, particularly if you grab Dragon 429 and use the History Check: Dark Arrow Keep article by R A Salvatore (that name again) to inspire a potential orc threat to Icewind Dale plus add the adventure King of the Wolves from Dungeon 220 as an expansion of the adventures that come with Legacy. That's definitely enough material to run a 4E campaign for the full Heroic Tier.

While I already have my own ideas for a winter-flavoured campaign, I am tempted to use Legacy of the Crystal Shard to introduce new players to the Realms, after first getting them to read The Crystal Shard for some background flavour. And with the 100+ year gap between the novel and the adventure/campaign, none of the plot will be spoiled by having the players read the novel. Frankly, this is where the 4E time jump really helps.

Many of the old locations from the novel are revisited in Legacy and even the white dragon Icingdeath makes a comeback of sorts. Yeah, this is probably too tempting not to run.... :)