B5 Horror on the Hill - Finished!

After what feels like an inordinate amount of time, we finally finished Adventure B5: Horror on the Hill. We started this one back in the fall of 2024. My longtime gamer group is supposed to meet twice a month on Sunday nights, but most of the time we ended up meeting once a month. So, almost a year later, we finally finished.

I’m wondering if in the future we need to convert these guys to more of an open-table, West Marches style game and maybe open up the roster to more players. That way, whoever shows up to play can play and it’s more consistent. But that’s a thought for another day. I’m just glad we finished B5: Horror on the Hill – it’s a good one.

I had this module on my bucket list for a long time. It involves a small wilderness, a ruined monastery, a multi-level dungeon, and an innovative but controversial trap. The trap locks the players in levels two and three of the dungeons and forces them to keep going deeper to get out, culminating in a boss fight against a (young) red dragon.

After crossing this one off the “classic TSR bucket list”, it’s got me wondering if I should convert some AD&D modules to Shadowdark - like G1–3: Against the Giants or D1–3, the Drow modules. Those are also bucket list items I’ve never fully completed with a group. I don’t think they’d be too hard to convert. It does make me wish I had placed my campaign in Greyhawk instead of Karameikos.

The trap midway through the dungeon is interesting.  There’s no apparent way to get to level two (or even know the dungeon goes deeper) unless the players find the trap doors in the floor on the way to the hobgoblin king’s throne room.  The trap doesn’t trigger if the hobgoblin king is in his throne room, which is the case when the players pass over it the first time. But after they go in, defeat the hobgoblin king, and head back the same way, the trap springs.

Here’s my pro tip - and it was a little evil on my part - I had some hobgoblins peppering the party with arrows from the end of the hallway where the trap doors sit. My players are careful and I’m sure they would have searched the hallway, but they gave up on that plan and chased the hobgoblins instead, which led them forward to the throne room.  Our duty as a referee is to share information, including revealing the existence of the trap doors if the players search, but if they have a good reason to chase an enemy and skip the search… muhahaha.

In fact, it was entertaining trapping them on the middle level of the dungeon. (It felt almost like a James Raggi dungeon at that point). They tumbled down a giant chute in the darkness, lost their torch, and had limited food and water because they weren’t expecting to get dumped and trapped – it’s a great way to put pressure on the players.

When they fought the hobgoblin king and his bodyguards in the throne room, the hobgoblins failed a morale check and some of them fled. The king and one of his bodyguards fell down their own trap and ended up wandering the second level. The players eventually ran into them and formed an uneasy alliance! Together, they pushed through the second level and reached the third level.

The third level is a kobold lair, and the hobgoblin king and his bodyguard eventually died alongside the PCs in a cataclysmic fight against the kobolds over a lava chasm with rope bridges. It was all very epic.  Continuing forward, the players eventually encounter a young red dragon to escape the dungeon. I wonder if this adventure is where the kobold-dragon connection started (back in 1985) because it feels like that trope has stuck ever since – kobolds act as the outer defenses or back-door guards for the big bad dragon.

The climactic dragon fight had its quirks in Shadowdark. Since hit points are flat, the battle would be swingy. If the players missed too many saving throws (ability checks, in Shadowdark), it would easily be a TPK. On the other hand, if they made most of their checks, they would take no damage at all - unlike old-school D&D, where a successful save vs dragon breath still meant half damage, in Shadowdark a successful check completely negates the damage. Add in luck tokens, and the dragon’s breath weapon lost much of its teeth.

What happened was the dragon breathed fire for two rounds straight, but most of the players made their checks - or spent luck tokens. They killed the dragon in just two rounds. One PC had a dragon-slaying sword (+1, +3 versus dragons, the classic old-school style). Of course he rolled a critical, slashing the dragon’s neck. Their thief landed a triple backstab for about 40 points of damage. It was a little anticlimactic.

The players, of course, were jubilant. They were throwing gold and coins into the air. The dwarf fell backward into the pile, made snow angels, and pretended to swim the backstroke. Most of the group said it was one of their best gaming experiences in years, if not the past 10 to 15 years.

So, what’s next for them? They’ve earned fame and fortune. The captain of the fort sent them to the capital city of Karameikos, Specularum, with a letter of commendation and a request for an audience with the Duke. They’ll have to deal with the local thieves’ guild. The next adventure I have lined up is likely The Waking of Willoughby Hall. I expect one of the characters to be granted a small holdfast - including a mansion, which will be Willoughby Hall, and then offer some opportunities for other classic modules along the way.

We’ve been playing Shadowdark since last September, so next up will be our retrospective after using it for a year.  Back soon!