I'm a fairly new DM (1 1/2 years of a weekly 5E game). I had to put a bit of effort into enticing my players to try a new system and then more time into making the intro/hook here appeal to them. This may just be a difference in style from what they are used to.
The maps were easy to follow with limited information provided about each room and bolded text that could be read aloud or paraphrased to players. This is in keeping with the style of Shadowdark from what I know so far but for a new-to-this-system DM I felt I needed a bit more help. I lost the tone at several points using the flavor text. Usually I telegraph to my players a bit strongly on hidden rooms and traps as my players are cautious by nature and I didn't want them burning through all their torches searching but with several rooms they became fixated on the fact that there was nothing to do/find and wouldn't move on.
I'm not sure how long an adventure like this would typically take a group and the example play time wasn't listed anywhere. We played for a few hours but didn't finish. I don't think I understand the pacing of this adventure within this new system so I didn't feel I had the right feeling of pressure keeping players striving forward and we didn't have enough to interact with ... I think this might have been me not feeling comfortable in the new system. My group didn't like the kobolds and bandits and I couldn't really provide a strong reason for their presence. If I were to run this again I would change those out for something closer to the other monsters in other parts of this adventure to run it as more of a horror.
I fully admit that much of my difficulty with this was due to my lack of knowledge/skill in running Shadowdark rules as I only had the free quickstart guide. I think if you know more about it you will have a good time with this adventure. I will keep it in my pocket and maybe when I get the full rulebook I will be a better DM for this.
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