SPOILERS So bit late to this review. It's been three years since I ran this adventure, but boy was it good. I was able to drop it into my campaign and work it pretty seemlessly into the story. Party managed to sneak their way through the keep while encountering only ONE kobold (the outside guard) who they killed before he was able to alert anyone. The party also managed to find Flicktongue during all this and befriend her.

Escaping back out with the kid, they had their encounter with Zoreene which went amazing. They first tried intimidating her by saying there was A DRAGON IN THE KEEP coming for them and it so very almost worked. When combat started, the enemies being spread out, using cover, and attacking with ranged weapons had the party on the backfoot. Even with Flicktongue's help. As they started to get the upperhand and managed to kill Zoreene, the player who landed that blow was then crit and dropped to death saves. Which he then crit failed. Twice.

And as a cherry on top, I had the party play a one-shot as Kobolds from Firestone Keep. Flicktongue returned and got revenge for her people. These Kobolds escaped her wrath and were now looking for a new home.

TL;DR (SPOILER FREE) This is a really good adventure. While the party completed it encountering only one damn kobold, I found the tools brovided (especially the APL sidebars) incredibly useful. I also used this adventure as a base for a one-shot 2 years later.

This Is The 1st-level Dungeon Crawl You Are Looking For

Firestone Keep is an excellent example of the classic D&D 1st-level dungeon crawl. A simple quest, an interesting dungeon, fun encounters. Recommended.

The dungeon design is the highlight - the space more or less makes sense, with a reason for everything, logical connections, and no bizarre surprises. It's themed around a single enemy type but there's lots of space for some fun additional monsters. The layout is non-linear, with many intersection and reconnecting paths, and most crossroads offer sufficient information to make the choice of "left or right" a meaningful one. Encounters are well balanced, as is the module overall - it's intended for players to take only a single long rest as they race to beat the clock, and it'll definitely push players to their limits but it's very doable. (DMs should be ready to hand out an extra healing potion or two if players get particularly unlucky, though.)

It's not a deep roleplaying module, but there's at least a couple of good conversations to be had in the dungeon, and the potential for some moral choices. Plenty of traps, and a puzzle or two as well.

Assuming that you don't count "classic dungeon crawl" as an inherent negative, the weakest aspect of the module is that a clever and lucky party can technically complete the quest without seeing 80% of the map or fighting the dungeon boss. Small changes fix this - the GM I played with added a side-quest to find the missing tracker in the dungeon, and that was enough to prompt further exploration.

Finally, as a minor note, the gender balance of NPCs could use improving - my GM switched the child, the orc bodyguard, and the alchemist to women and it helped tremendously.

This has been a great adventure I have re-used with a couple different group. Made some tweaks to emphasize the Kobolds being in their lair... a couple of choke-points, new traps, and smoke-bombs + caltrops added some nail-biting from players!

I tweaked this module some to fit into my campaign for brand-new players. This was their second quest (6 players at 2nd level) and it's been over a year since its completion. I had to come leave a review today because one of my players told me that confronting Zorene and saving Willet is, still, the most memorable and exciting moment of the game to her.

A+ module for that alone. Thank you!

Great module. The party loved it. Completed in about 5 hours.

I ran this adventure as a one-shot for a new gaming group, and it was a perfect fit: An honest-to-goodness dungeon delve with a compelling backstory. It can easily be wrapped up in two sessions with no loose threads, or conversely, the DM should have no difficulty pulling some of those threads loose to tie into half a dozen other plot hooks if they'd like to turn this into a continuing campaign.

There's a great mix of combat encounters, traps, and situations that can be resolved creatively. Overall, it's a really enjoyable mix of the familiar and the surprising. New players and grognards alike should find plenty to enjoy in this introductory adventure!

Another awesome adventure!

I used this as a one-shot and the party had a blast playing it through.

We even had a first time player who enjoyed it as well.

Really fun! Can't wait to purchase another adventure.

This was the first time playing D&D for 3 of 4 of my players and my first time as DM. It was a fun adventure that was challenging but not too complicated. In retrospect, I should have used the 2nd APL settings to make it more exciting. I will chalk that up to my inexperience as DM. The players had little trouble with most of the encounters – although they completely bypassed what would have probably been the most difficult. I agree with another reviewer that a map of the area above the dungeon would have been helpful.

Thanks to the author(s) for a job well done!

Full disclosure: I playtested this before it was officially released. I have run the draft and the final version for my group of players and the review reflects the final edition of the adventure.

While Little Shrine of Horrors is still my favorite of M.T. Black's products, this one is a close second. It has a nice twist to its story, the dungeon itself sprawls out naturally and there are dangers at every corner. Players who love to roleplay and think out of the box can get a lot of this adventure and those who just love combat will also find that and more in here.

This is one of the best adventures available and one I constantly run whenever I've got new people coming in and trying D&D for the first time.

I have purchased this 5e adventure today, and based on looking through I agree it is a tough adventure. The layout of the book is very well done. Monsters are referred to by name, and you need to look up their stats in the Monster Manual. It was recently released.

I really like the story and I believe that players would enjoy it, finding it both challenging and intriguing.

There's one trap would kill any 1st level character that sets it off. Also some tough encounters that DMs should play carefully. I would suggest more warning or build up to the tougher encounters.

I would like to see a sketch map of the above ground areas of the adventure.

I DM'ed this adventure during one of my Saturday one shot games and it was a pleasure to run as a DM and the players loved it! It was very well written and flowed smoothly. By the end of the night the party was afraid to touch anything and was worried about traps at every corner. It took us just over 4 hours to play. Keep up the good work!

This dungeon crawl was a joy to read. Not only is it well-written, but the layout work, art, and map make it very easy on the eyes. One of my favorite M.T. Black adventures.