Red Thrall is an adventure for level 1-5 characters, designed to be used in conjunction with Storm King’s Thunder. It provides additional adventure opportunities during the opening chapter, “A Great Upheaval”, and works best when integrated with that chapter, although the material could be adapted for use elsewhere without much trouble. One of the benefits of using this material is to provide additional XP – if you’re not using the milestone system, there isn’t enough XP in that section to get you to the appropriate level.

I found it a clever adventure. A monstrous, intelligent spider lurks in Ardeep Forest, and the players encounter its minions and plans as they try to save Nightstone. So, not only do the adventurers need to worry about the humanoids and giants, but also spiders and ettercaps!

The adventure takes place in four sections:

• On the way to Nightstone
• After Nightstone is protected from the orcs (but before the villagers are rescued)
• As the party escorts the villagers back from the Dripping Caves
• After the villagers are safe – the final encounter with the Big Bad!

Each encounter raises the adventurers’ awareness of the threat posed by the spiders and their master. It’s a nice logical progression, and shows thought as to how it works within the structure of SKT.

The adventure is heavy on combat and exploration elements and light on role-playing. I found it to be mostly well-written and evocative. The writing could be a little tighter; the text would be improved with less use of the word “will” and the removal of a few unnecessary clauses.

There are nice surprises in the adventure to entertain your players. I particularly like the captured hill giant that the party can befriend; that could lead to interesting play later in Storm King’s Thunder.

Unfortunately, the adventure provides no maps; you’ll have to draw your own.

Overall, this is an intelligent, enjoyable adventure which integrates into the initial play of Storm King’s Thunder well. Recommended!