Thunderspire Labyrinth: The Horned Hold Map, Take 2

Here is yet another updated map of the Horned Hold, for my two-thirds complete 5th Edition Thunderspire Labyrinth conversion, courtesy of Victor.

D&D Next: The Horned Hold Map

And here is the final map for the Horned Hold, from my D&D Next conversion of Thunderspire Labyrinth.

D&D Next: Thunderspire Labyrinth, Part 2

I have updated my D&D Next conversion of H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth. It now runs up to the end of the Horned Hold (map here). I am not sure if there were magic items before, but there are now. The duergar race and racial class is still in, but I did pull monsters that were introduced in the latest playtest packet (like the giant spider and wolf).

As before post any mistakes and suggestions in the comments, as this is mostly a one-man operation and I am sure there are a lot. I am working on some more D&D Next stuff, as well as compiling/adding to A Sundered World (both for 4th Edition, Next, and Dungeon World), and reviewing some submissions for the Dungeon World fanzine, Grim Portents, so while I promise that I will read them, I cannot promise to respond to them.

Thanks to those that have been waiting patiently for an update. I plan on finishing it up and moving on to Pyramid of Shadows, though given that Next only has 20 levels am not sure how I could possibly do all of the adventures…maybe it can be consolidated? At any rate, hopefully you have fun with it.

Thunderspire Labyrinth: The Horned Hold Rough

Sorry that this has taken so long, but between the latest D&D Next packet, 13th Age, Dungeon World, and a very recent Numenera playtest I have been pretty swamped with reading. That and I consider myself to be very bad at mapping. I tend to fret a lot on layout, always wondering if the denizens would really put what room where. I think this is like, the sixth sheet of graph paper I have gone through (after hours of poring over other maps).

D&D Next: Thunderspire Labyrinth, Part 1

Here is the first part of my Thunderspire Labyrinth conversion for D&D Next. It took awhile, but I wanted to wait for the next playtest update, take some time to read through it, and try make sure that things were more accurate, and see what kind of rules and content additions we would get (I am pretty happy with how close my iterations of spiders, lizard, and troglodytes were with the “official” stats).

Unfortunately, the removal of the sorcerer and warlock meant that I stopped working on my demon origin and infernal pact (Baphomet), though the duergar race and racial levels are still in (and I am working on a demon-binder arcane tradition). Victor (aka The Planeswalker) has not finished the final draft of the Seven-Pillared Hall, but most of the locations I mention are in the middle. It is not terribly important, anyway.

Anyway, let me know what you think. I changed a lot of the plot, hopefully for the better. If you notice any mistakes or have any criticisms, feel free to comment on it.

Thunderspire Labyrinth: Seven-Pillared Hall Rough

Here is my take on the Seven-Pillared Hall from H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth. As with H1: Keep on the Shadowfell, I am redoing almost all of this adventure for a D&D Next conversion.

Thunderspire Labyrinth: Chamber of Eyes

Victor and I rebuilt the Chamber of Eyes from H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth. All in all, I think he helped me convey the tone really well.

It is not a happy place.

I did this once before, largely using the original map. I figured I would try and think what an actual temple dedicated to Torog might look like. There are rooms for torturing and/or binding victims–as well as alcoves to chaining up the survivors until they die–pits for sacrificing some, and a big stone table for eating the rest.

D&D Next: Duergar Race

Note: Sorry if this has been cropping up a lot. I have had a very difficult time getting this article mostly formatted.

Since I completed my conversion of Keep on the Shadowfell, I have been working on Thunderspire Labyrinth. It has gone somewhat smoothly considering that I was about halfway done recreating it for 4th Edition. Really the hard part is going through those notes and restructuring encounters to better fit 5th Edition’s model (which is similar to 3rd Edition’s, so it is more like getting back on a bicycle).

A big theme in Thunderspire Labyrinth, besides minotaurs (well…not so much in the original version) are duergar. 4th Edition duergar are, well, kind of silly. During my remake I provided some traits that swapped out their beard quills for more infernal traits. Classic duergar lacked either of these things, instead being able to turn invisible and increase their size. So as a nod to previous editions–and a kind of sneak peak at the conversion–here are duergar as a dwarf subrace:

Ability Score Adjustment: Your starting Constitution score increases by 1.
Spell Resistance: You gain advantage on saving throws made against spells.

Simple, kind of close, but lacks their supernatural powers (and one immunity). Given that this is about as much as one could expect from a 5th Edition race, and that I guess feats are going another direction, I decided to use another mechanic I recall from 3rd Edition: racial levels. You can opt to pick up a level of duergar instead of another class at level 2 and up. Each time you do, you get the following:

Racial Features
A duergar gains the following racial features.
Hit Dice: 1d10 per duergar level
Hit Points: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per duergar level gained.

DUERGAR
Level	Weapon Attack	Power Points	Racial Features
1	+0	1	Chameleon
2	+0	2	Immunity to Paralysis
3	+1	2	Expansion

Level 1: You gain the chameleon power.
Level 2: You are immune to the paralysis condition.
Level 3: You gain the expansion power.

Chameleon 
1st-level psychometabolism

Your skin changes appearance to blend in with your surroundings.
Effect: For 1 minute you have advantage on checks made to hide.

Expansion
2nd-level psychometabolism

Your body grows to the size of an ogre.
Effect: For 1 minute your size increases to Large, your reach increases by 5 ft., you gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, and you have advantage on Strength checks.

NOTE: Power points refresh after a long rest (like a sorcerer’s Willpower). Each power costs one power point per level.

I went with psionics because A) I really like psionics, and B) this way they can synch with other psionic classes (so long as they use power points, I guess). I figure that deep underground with all those mind flayers that it makes sense to a point, but if you do not like it you can just change them into 1/day powers. The upside is that you can opt to snag all of the duergar’s racial abilities at the cost of another class, the downside is that the race is best suited for melee classes (though I could see rogues going in for a stealth boost).

What do you think? Do you like the racial class and psionics model of 3rd Edition? Do you prefer the infernal origin of 4th Edition?

Thunderspire Labyrinth, Episode 3

Cast

• Amne (female dragonborn)
• Kariok
• Riven
• Shen
• Stirling

After resting the characters learned that the Bloodreavers competed against the duergar at the Grimmerzhul Trading Post for the slave trade. They made a deal with the duergar to help “take care” of the Bloodreavers while Riven–who was watching the prisoner–ended up dealing with some Bloodreavers who noticed that he was guarding one of their wagons with their members. They gave them some money while trying to cart the cart off after some heated exchange and met up with Amne, a dragonborn ranger whose sister was taken by the Bloodreavers.

Thanks to the duergar’s map they were able to find the Chamber of Eyes with no difficulty, and after killing the guards realized that the slavers were being run by a beholder. They made a deal with the Bloodreavers to take care of the beholder in exchange for Amne’s sister and to stop preying on Winterhaven’s villagers. The killed the beholder and made it back to the Hall with the Bloodreaver’s word and Amne’s sister in tow. The session ended with them running into a robed figure in a gold mask flanked by a pair of bronze minotaur golems.

Next Episode: The Mage’s Request


DM Notes
This was a short session that marked the introduction of a new player, unfortunately via Skype since the player giving the ride didn’t make it. Despite the slow pace things went unexpected as the characters decided to deal with the Bloodreavers to help them with their beholder problem instead of just slaughtering them all. True to their unaligned nature, they were content to make a verbal agreement with the Bloodreavers and just walk away with one slave. In addition to adding the beholder I also had the hobgoblins mention that the duergar had captured one of the mages, and were planning on forming an alliance with the Bloodreavers to help take the Hall.

Rebuilding Thunderspire Labyrinth: Demonic Minotaurs

Continuing with the whole “minotaurs can eat hearts and gain strength” theme, I wrote up a couple other minotaurs to include in the Well of Demons bit near the end of Thunderspire Labyrinth; respectively they are the results of eating the heart of a vrock or canoloth.

Thinking of making a soldier variant of the demonlasher that uses the tongue seize power to drag marked enemies back or trip them if they violate the mark.