Legacy of the Crystal Shard - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 pukunui Jul 27, 2014 1:46:10	Hi guys, I only just got a copy of Legacy of the Crystal Shard. I mainly got it for the campaign guide, as I was thinking Icewind Dale would make for an easy setting for a winter campaign. The adventure itself is pretty sweet, though, so I'm thinking I might try running it with the updated 5e rules. The plot (not to mention some of the monsters) seems a little too "big" for 1st level PCs, so I'm thinking I might start them out at 3rd level. Since I'll have to update the monster stats anyway, it'll be no big deal to increase the power of the main bad guys and maybe add some more of the low-level thugs and zombies and such. It also looks like I'll need to draw up a calendar or timeline to keep track of everything that's going on during the adventure. Aside from those things, is there anything I should watch out for? Any glaring inconsistencies or plot holes? The only potential issue I noticed on my initial read-through is that the adventure appears to assume that the players know how to find the Ice Witch's tower in the Sea of Moving Ice. Was there some clue I missed that pinpoints its location (maybe in the campaign guide)? Thanks in advance! Cheers, Jonathan
#2 pukunui Jul 27, 2014 4:06:39	Is there any way to get the Launch Day material? I'd love to get my hands on the battle map and the NPC cards if possible.
#3 DemoMonkey Jul 27, 2014 9:02:05	"Is there any way to get the Launch Day material? I'd love to get my hands on the battle map and the NPC cards if possible." E-bay.
#4 THEMNGMNT Jul 27, 2014 10:10:50	Jonathan, all I have to say is that I was really impressed when I read through this adventure. If you play it, please post recaps of your sessions.
#5 DM_HEEGZ Jul 27, 2014 15:17:21	I also bought this adventure and Murder in Baldur's Gate to include in my campaign. If you are not going to start at level 1 in Icewind Dale, you could try starting them off in Neverwinter, Luskan, or Mirabar and have them level up to 3 via urban adventures and wilderness random encounters on their journey to Icewind Dale. Use some hook from your PC's backgrounds to come up with their reason to travel north.
#6 pukunui Jul 27, 2014 15:35:40	DemoMonkey wrote:
#7 pukunui Jul 27, 2014 16:30:05	I've noticed one mistake in the campaign guide. The map of Bryn Shander indicates that there is a memorial to the south of the Southwest Gate. The description of the memorial, however, is listed in a sidebar for notable landmarks around Easthaven. Whoops!
#8 pukunui Jul 27, 2014 22:24:17	Some further questions now that I've finished reading both the adventure and the campaign guide: If I wanted to slow down the rate at which things happen, what are some sidequest type things I could insert to flesh things out more? Since the adventure is so big in scope (save a region from not one but three dire threats!), if the group wanted to continue adventuring in Icewind Dale, what would they do next? How does one follow up on something like that? I feel like the only things I could come up with would feel rather mundane in comparison. I can't keep having major threats to the dale either, as that would get tiresome and repetitive. I wish I could expand the adventure out so that it covered a greater range of levels but that would be a lot of work. Anyone got any thoughts?
#9 DM_HEEGZ Jul 28, 2014 13:04:12	Lots of goblinoid tribes, orcs, and giants in the mountains. The barbarian tribes could go on the offensive (again). Chosen of an evil god could threaten the town. Cult of the Dragon activity in the area. Dragon attacks on the increase. Dwarf tribe being threatened from below, say the underdark, maybe duergar or drow or illithid. Then there could be intrigues politically within the Ten Towns. Or perhaps more distant intrigues involvling Luskan and/or the Arcane Brotherhood. That's all I got for my current campaign planning. I'll probably have some more later, though I am not going to have my PCs stick around in this locale for a terribly long amount of time. We got the Realms to visit.
#10 pukunui Jul 28, 2014 19:35:25	Thanks for the suggestions!
#11 THEMNGMNT Jul 28, 2014 22:41:08	Rather than create new content, I would suggest expanding on existing content. For example, take Akar Kessell. He sets all sorts of evil events in motion. But then he flees to the lair of the Frostmaiden and waits to be killed by the players. Lame. I'd have him flee elsewhere and continue his schemes. Perhaps even rebuild the Crystal Shard. Similarly, whether or not Vaelish Gant is defeated, the Arcane Brotherhood is now a player in the affairs of the Ten Towns. Run with that. Expand the dwarven mines. Et cetera. Finally, if you don't want to kick the plot in motion until the players are level three, then use the first two levels to establish the locale. You could, in fact, use the opening goblin ambush of Lost Mine of Phandelver but set it in the North/South Pass. The PCs then have to track and rescue the merchant that hired them to escort his valuables from Neverwinter to the Ten Towns. Or whatever.
#12 pukunui Jul 29, 2014 18:55:46	Yeah, I thought it was a bit odd that Kessell ends up just hanging around in Hedrun's tower at the end. Having him escape to cause further trouble later is a good idea. Starting off at 1st level and doing a couple of encounters before arriving in Ten Towns is a good idea too, especially since the first two levels are only meant to take a session or two each. I actually had the idea of working in one of my playtest scenarios, which involved the PCs waking up in a snowy mountain pass with orcs and wolves scavenging amidst the burning wreckage of a crashed airship. My players loved the mystery of it (I described all the PCs as suffering from short-term memory loss; they knew who they were, but they didn't remember being on an airship or the airship crashing, so they had to figure out how they'd gotten into their current predicament while at the same time survive the orcs and wolves). I wouldn't be able to use that again if I were to run this adventure for my regular group, but I could potentially do that for another group ~ they could be on an airship that's traveling to Icewind Dale (for some reason) and because of the early winter, it gets caught in an unexpected storm and crashes in the mountains.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

pukunui

Jul 27, 2014 1:46:10

Hi guys,

I only just got a copy of Legacy of the Crystal Shard. I mainly got it for the campaign guide, as I was thinking Icewind Dale would make for an easy setting for a winter campaign. The adventure itself is pretty sweet, though, so I'm thinking I might try running it with the updated 5e rules.

The plot (not to mention some of the monsters) seems a little too "big" for 1st level PCs, so I'm thinking I might start them out at 3rd level. Since I'll have to update the monster stats anyway, it'll be no big deal to increase the power of the main bad guys and maybe add some more of the low-level thugs and zombies and such.

It also looks like I'll need to draw up a calendar or timeline to keep track of everything that's going on during the adventure.

Aside from those things, is there anything I should watch out for? Any glaring inconsistencies or plot holes? The only potential issue I noticed on my initial read-through is that the adventure appears to assume that the players know how to find the Ice Witch's tower in the Sea of Moving Ice. Was there some clue I missed that pinpoints its location (maybe in the campaign guide)?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Jonathan

pukunui

Jul 27, 2014 4:06:39

Is there any way to get the Launch Day material? I'd love to get my hands on the battle map and the NPC cards if possible.

DemoMonkey

Jul 27, 2014 9:02:05

"Is there any way to get the Launch Day material? I'd love to get my hands on the battle map and the NPC cards if possible."

E-bay.

THEMNGMNT

Jul 27, 2014 10:10:50

Jonathan, all I have to say is that I was really impressed when I read through this adventure. If you play it, please post recaps of your sessions.

DM_HEEGZ

Jul 27, 2014 15:17:21

I also bought this adventure and Murder in Baldur's Gate to include in my campaign. If you are not going to start at level 1 in Icewind Dale, you could try starting them off in Neverwinter, Luskan, or Mirabar and have them level up to 3 via urban adventures and wilderness random encounters on their journey to Icewind Dale. Use some hook from your PC's backgrounds to come up with their reason to travel north.

pukunui

Jul 27, 2014 15:35:40

DemoMonkey wrote:

pukunui

Jul 27, 2014 16:30:05

I've noticed one mistake in the campaign guide. The map of Bryn Shander indicates that there is a memorial to the south of the Southwest Gate. The description of the memorial, however, is listed in a sidebar for notable landmarks around Easthaven. Whoops!

pukunui

Jul 27, 2014 22:24:17

Some further questions now that I've finished reading both the adventure and the campaign guide:

If I wanted to slow down the rate at which things happen, what are some sidequest type things I could insert to flesh things out more?
Since the adventure is so big in scope (save a region from not one but three dire threats!), if the group wanted to continue adventuring in Icewind Dale, what would they do next? How does one follow up on something like that? I feel like the only things I could come up with would feel rather mundane in comparison. I can't keep having major threats to the dale either, as that would get tiresome and repetitive. I wish I could expand the adventure out so that it covered a greater range of levels but that would be a lot of work.

Anyone got any thoughts?

DM_HEEGZ

Jul 28, 2014 13:04:12

Lots of goblinoid tribes, orcs, and giants in the mountains. The barbarian tribes could go on the offensive (again). Chosen of an evil god could threaten the town. Cult of the Dragon activity in the area. Dragon attacks on the increase. Dwarf tribe being threatened from below, say the underdark, maybe duergar or drow or illithid. Then there could be intrigues politically within the Ten Towns. Or perhaps more distant intrigues involvling Luskan and/or the Arcane Brotherhood. That's all I got for my current campaign planning. I'll probably have some more later, though I am not going to have my PCs stick around in this locale for a terribly long amount of time. We got the Realms to visit.

#10

pukunui

Jul 28, 2014 19:35:25

Thanks for the suggestions!

#11

THEMNGMNT

Jul 28, 2014 22:41:08

Rather than create new content, I would suggest expanding on existing content. For example, take Akar Kessell. He sets all sorts of evil events in motion. But then he flees to the lair of the Frostmaiden and waits to be killed by the players. Lame. I'd have him flee elsewhere and continue his schemes. Perhaps even rebuild the Crystal Shard. Similarly, whether or not Vaelish Gant is defeated, the Arcane Brotherhood is now a player in the affairs of the Ten Towns. Run with that. Expand the dwarven mines. Et cetera. Finally, if you don't want to kick the plot in motion until the players are level three, then use the first two levels to establish the locale. You could, in fact, use the opening goblin ambush of Lost Mine of Phandelver but set it in the North/South Pass. The PCs then have to track and rescue the merchant that hired them to escort his valuables from Neverwinter to the Ten Towns. Or whatever.

#12

pukunui

Jul 29, 2014 18:55:46

Yeah, I thought it was a bit odd that Kessell ends up just hanging around in Hedrun's tower at the end. Having him escape to cause further trouble later is a good idea.

Starting off at 1st level and doing a couple of encounters before arriving in Ten Towns is a good idea too, especially since the first two levels are only meant to take a session or two each. I actually had the idea of working in one of my playtest scenarios, which involved the PCs waking up in a snowy mountain pass with orcs and wolves scavenging amidst the burning wreckage of a crashed airship. My players loved the mystery of it (I described all the PCs as suffering from short-term memory loss; they knew who they were, but they didn't remember being on an airship or the airship crashing, so they had to figure out how they'd gotten into their current predicament while at the same time survive the orcs and wolves).

I wouldn't be able to use that again if I were to run this adventure for my regular group, but I could potentially do that for another group ~ they could be on an airship that's traveling to Icewind Dale (for some reason) and because of the early winter, it gets caught in an unexpected storm and crashes in the mountains.