It’s not the first time, and certainly won’t be the last, that I’m beginning one of these articles unsure what there really is to say about the release I’m covering. The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond is both quite good at what it does and absolutely an inessential piece of planar lore. It was one of the better releases in all of Fourth Edition, and also one that very few bought, read, or remember the existence of. It even introduced new mechanics to the game, which of course even fewer ever used in their games. More than anything else, I just found myself feeling a bit depressed by the release, knowing full well that its 160 pages of quite good material never managed to capture my interest. It’s really more of a problem with me than with the actual content here, a problem I’m more than willing to admit.

I suppose we should start with what the heck this weird release is. Shadowfell is a boxed set, one of a surprisingly large line of these  releases that Wizards of the Coast decided to put out for reasons still unclear to me. Fourth Edition was by this point selling quite poorly, and boxed sets are premium items, so I suppose that maybe the idea was something along the lines of 1990s/Lorraine Williams-era D&D, in that the only way to make a profit is to really milk the diehard audience? But this is just speculation, and I have no actual information about what worked and didn’t work as far as sales were concerned in this edition. My guess is that the Essentials Series Starter Set (published in a red box emulating the old Basic D&D Rules that remains one of the most recognizable products in the history of the game) sold well and because of this other boxes were set into motion, but given the development time required for these things and the short lifespan ofthe edition it seems more likely that the company was just trying everything it could think of and seeing what stuck. In any case, six of the 10 Essentials releases were boxes, and even though no one I know bought them someone at Hasbro was really into the whole box aesthetic—Shadowfell wasn’t an Essentials release, but because of this format people considered it essentially part of this line nonetheless.

The contents of the box itself wasn’t particularly exciting, consisting of a 128-page “Campaign Book,” a 32-page “Encounter Book,” two cardstock token sheets with 82 total punch-out tokens, a map, and 30 cards. Splitting the books up like this is a typical choice for the edition, one that seems very dumb to me in practice but makes my job as a… critic? reviewer? blogger? blathering idiot who won’t shut up?… anyhow, it makes my job writing this up much easier as the actual relevant contents here consist only of the “Campaign Book,” the “Encounter Book” being exactly what it purports to be. Another site, Strange Assembly, describes its contents as:

The encounter book provides encounters that tie in with various plot hooks presented in the Campaign Guide. The encounters are spread out to tie into both Gloomwrought and most of the “beyond” locations described in the Guide. The encounters, like the NPCs/monsters in the Guide, are aimed at Paragon tier characters. The encounters include both combat and noncombat aspects, and include navigating the Oblivion Bog, arena combat, a fight against undead in a zone that pulses necrotic damage, a multi-stage investigation into a theft, a rooftop chase, searching for a relic in the Undercity, a fight in a collapsing tower, a “boss battle” in the magically enhanced throne room of a ruined death giant fortress, part of the trials required to seek the wisdom of the Raven Queen, and a half-dozen other combats.

Which sounds cool enough, but also means that the lore is almost entirely cordoned off in the “Campaign Book.” I can’t imagine adapting any of this encounter material for other systems is terribly difficult, but really the main question is simply, “why bother?”

The “Campaign Book” is the meat of the package, and in case you were thinking that this was a sort of counterpart to The Plane Above and The Plane Below, allow me to immediately disappoint you. Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond is a campaign setting in all but name—I don’t know what a “campaign book” actually is, now that I think about it—and it’s centered around that titular city Gloomwrought. If you want to set a game within this city, or even briefly visit it, then this is a great release for you. If, like me, you find the Shadowfell almost fascinatingly uninspiring and would never deign to bring a campaign there, then this isn’t going to dissuade you of that argument. It’s an excellent guide to this heretofore sketchily drawn city, but that’s really all it is. The many Domains of Dread receive a quick sidebar of explanation, and the Raven Queen’s lair doesn’t even receive that much. This isn’t a general purpose book on the Shadowfell, it’s a guide to setting a campaign around this one particular city, and even the locations outside of it are featured as essentially places for adventurers to visit in order to offer a little variety to an otherwise city-oriented campaign. 

The book’s first chapter, “The Shadowfell,” essentially adds nothing new to the game besides explaining the Despair Deck, which I’ll get to much later, so let’s move onto the main course, chapter 2: “City of Midnight.” The book’s longest chapter by far at 55 pages long, the chapter begins with an overall description of the city before diving into explanations of specific factions vying for power within it. That’s right, they’re referred to as factions, and this is no coincidence, as Gloomwrought has sometimes been referred to as “dark Sigil” or “goth Sigil.” Of course, every city has various power brokers, but the way allegiances have been forged between them seems intentionally reminiscent of the great planar metropolis. This becomes particularly clear when you learn about the keepers, a race vaguely reminiscent of the original AD&D Planescape keepers, though far less interesting in every regard. Keeper are ” a bizarre race of caretakers found throughout the city. Although the Keepers exhibit no discernible reason for their work, they are thought to be responsible for the upkeep and continued existence of the City of Midnight.” That’s right, keepers are now just reskinned dabuses, and though there are some small plots concerning ones who might have gone rogue (*cough* Fell *cough*), on the whole they’re just there for atmosphere and to remind us that the edition lacks creativity.

Gloomwrought’s six districts—because of course it’s six—are then detailed and made… actually pretty damn cool. The city’s history becomes clear from its geography, and even secrets about the keepers are eventually revealed. But I don’t see much point in detailing what’s included because that would end up largely reproducing the original book in a vastly inferior way. If a heavily political cityscape in the Shadowfell appeals to you then this is practically the platonic ideal of what you could hope for, with well-developed characters, fantastical locations, and a crazy number of fairly decent plot hooks. It’s not for me, but I can see the draw.

Now back to quoting at length from Strange Assembly again to summarize the next chapter:

Beyond the Walls (~35 pages) – The “Beyond” of “Gloomwrought and Beyond” covers five specific locations/areas in the Shadowfell – the Oblivion Bog, Thyrin Gol (an underground city inhabited by a tribe of shadar-kai and some Doomguard visiting from Planescape), Dead Man’s Cross and the House of Black Lanterns (a mystical crossroads that the souls of the dead pass through and that’s recommended as a “so you just showed up in the Shadowfell” location; plus a teleporting inn), the Darkreach Mountains (a ruined death giant fortress and some other points of interest), and Letherna (the realm of the Raven Queen, where souls are judged and sent on to other planes). 

That author rather liked Letherna, which I disagree with given that I largely hate everything having to do with the Raven Queen, but otherwise these are fine capsule summaries. The Oblivion Bog, which was not summarized, is pretty much what you’d expect from the name, and I guess might be fun to check out if your name is Hidetaka Miyazaki and you have a somewhat disturbing predilection for swamps. 

The book’s final chapter, “Dark Threats,” is just as good as the part about districts. It’s largely a collection of NPCs that players might come across in their campaign, with far longer descriptions than you usually find in D&D explaining their motivations, history, and plots. Some of these groups barely received mention earlier in the book but seem fun to use, and ultimately they’re complex and interesting enough to want to use in other cities, even Sigil proper in many cases. In all it’s a strong book filled with the type of details that were lacking in essentially the entirety of the rest of the edition. It’s the first time the Shadowfell has seemed like a livable location, and even manages the difficult task of being loaded with information without feeling completely overwhelming.

As for the supplementary material, I find the Despair Deck and its mechanics basic and uninspiring, but the tokens seem fine enough for what they are, and the large map is excellent. Fourth Edition really hated maps except for in combat, so seeing this beautiful work packed into the box was a joy, even if I wish it were more thoroughly labeled (I’m not sure which of the two cartographers credited, Jason A. Engle or Mike Schley, were in charge of this particular map). 

For all that I like the set almost in spite of myself, there are a couple big demerits. One is that it felt like the book Heroes of Shadow from one month earlier should’ve been part of this set (I’m not covering it because there’s no lore there, just dumb shadow-themed mechanics). The other is that for all the many encounter options and plot hooks, there’s not so much as a sample adventure here. There would be some meager support in the form of something we will be covering soon, the Encounters series “Dark Legacy of Evard” adventure, but that’s pretty damn obscure. Otherwise, the only real tie-ins for this product came from the Dungeon adventure we mentioned in our last article, the admittedly wonderful “Reign of Despair” by Andrew G. Schneider, and an article in Dungeon issue #190 (May 2011) called “Gloomwrought’s Movers and Shakers,” which is essentially an expansion of the final chapter of the “Campaign Setting.” Pretty much all of this supplementary material is good, it’s just that it’s paltry when considering this location as a longterm campaign setting. Ok I’ll admit it, Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond was a good release filled with the type of appealing details that make for great roleplaying, but it still made little lasting effect on the game, even for people who didn’t find everything related to this plane more-or-less super lame like I do. It’s still set on the Shadowfell, and the Shadowfell just really sucks.