Wizards has posted a lengthy preview of several upcoming 4th edition products.  There’s tons of information about several topics making this a worthwhile read.

Up first is more information on the first adventure, Keep of the Shadowfell, including a couple of the actual maps, a painting, and text from the module.


Approaching the Keep

The road to Shadowfell Keep is arduous. Since the keep’s destruction, few travelers use the road and no one bothers to maintain the path. The road is overgrown with grass, ferns, and small trees. The keep isn’t in any better shape. Evidence of its destruction can be seen as you approach the derelict ruins. Read or paraphrase the following when the adventurers come within sight of the ruined keep:

Ahead, the narrow track widens into a clearing. Great piles of shattered stone blocks and scorched timbers dominate the clearing, sprawling out from its center to the edge of the woods. No plants grow among the ruins or within the clearing. The ground is bare dirt, and although the forest has begun to reclaim the path leading here, it has not intruded into the ruins of Shadowfell Keep.

Yet clearly someone has tampered with the ruins. In the center of the debris, stone blocks and timbers have been gathered into a pile. Someone has cleared a path through the rubble and pulled aside the wreckage to reveal a stone staircase. The staircase descends into darkness.

The Real Story
The legends of the Keep on the Shadowfell are known to only a handful of sages and scholars in this age of darkness. The truth is more tragic . . .

Up next are two of the Warlords at-will abilities, Commander’s Strike and Wolf Pack Tactics.

Commander’s Strike
Warlord Attack 1
With a shout, you command an ally to attack.
At-WillMartial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: An ally of your choice makes a melee basic attack against the target
Hit: Ally’s basic attack damage + your Intelligence modifier.

Wolf Pack Tactics
Warlord Attack 1
Step by step, you and your friends surround the enemy.
At-WillMartial,Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Special: Before you attack, you let one ally adjacent to either you or the target shift 1 square as a free action.
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Increase damage to 2[W] + Strength modifier at 21st level.

The article also showcases some actual text from the Dungeon Master’s Guide regarding traps:

Trap or Hazard?

What’s the difference between a trap and a hazard? Traps are constructed with the intent to damage, harry, or impede intruders. Hazards are natural or supernatural in origin, but typically lack the malicious intent of a trap. Though both feature similar risks, a pit covered with a goblin-constructed false floor is a trap, while a deep chasm between two sections of a troglodyte cave constitutes a hazard.

Three specific traps are fully listed as well: Whirling Blades, Flame Jet, and Soul Gem.

A preview of the Monster Manual is also included, with some interesting design details.

For 4th Edition, we decided to pack as many examples or variations on a monster as possible into each entry. We don’t give you a 1st-level warrior in the drow entry, but an arachnomancer, a blademaster, a priest, and that typical warrior. Hopefully, that lets you spend time creating your drow NPCs and villains. The Monster Manual thus covers the basic “job functions” of the drow.

In addition, the full Orc entry from the Monster Manual is available as a PDF, previewed below.

They go on to announce the upcoming preview schedule:

  • Mon 05/12: Epic Destinies (PH), Giants (MM)
  • Wed 05/14: Economy (DMG), Archons (MM)
  • Fri 05/16: Magic Items (DMG), Quests (DMG)
  • Mon 05/19: Minions (MM)
  • Wed 05/21: Undead (MM)
  • Fri 05/23: Magic Weapons (PH), Swarms (MM)
  • Mon 05/26: Fallcrest (DMG)
  • Wed 05/28: Rituals (PH)
  • Fri 05/30: Humans as Monsters (MM)
  • Mon 06/02: Alignment (PH)

Finally, we get a brief glimpse of the second adventure, Thunderspire Labyrinth:

Beneath the stormy peak of Thunderspire Mountain lies the labyrinth, an ancient, ruined minotaur city. For over two decades, an order of wizards called the Mages of Saruun has governed the labyrinth’s upper levels, creating a safe haven called the Seven-Pillared Hall where surface-dwellers and underground denizens can meet to trade. Humans, halflings, dwarves, duergar, goblins, orcs, troglodytes, and others come to the hall to barter under the watchful eyes of the Mages of Saruun and their towering minotaur constructs.

The mages have one rule in the Seven-Pillared Hall: Maintain the peace. Visitors who leave the safety of the hall and venture into the labyrinth go at their own risk, for in the darkness of the labyrinth dwell foul creatures, eager for the chance to capture or kill foolhardy explorers.