I run my D&D campaign in my own homebrew world. Even so, I like to steal ideas from other places and incorporate them into my world. That includes other published campaign settings. In fact, I am a setting and map junkie. As such, I often buy setting supplements or products aimed at specific settings if I feel there might be ideas to mine. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited the release of Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale. Without further ado, let’s get to the review!

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What Is It?

Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale is a supplement that falls somewhere in between a monster manual and a campaign setting supplement. Wizards of the Coast is apparently in a phase in which they are experimenting with packaging methods and so this product is packaged unlike any other 4e offerings to date. The packaging is a thin cardstock sleeve that lifts off and reveals 8 sheets of thick cardstock monster tokens (bundled in 2 sets of 4 sheets each), a double-sided 21×30 poster map, a marketing flyer, and a 128 page softcover book.

Contents of the 128 page book:
Pages 1-2 contain the face-page and the credits.
Page 3 contains the Table of Contents, which lists the page and organization name of the 40 new groups/villains/creatures introduced in the book.
Pages 4-9 contain a short introduction and 4 pages of explanation detailing the various stat block terms and symbols found therein.
Pages 10-13 introduce the Nentir Vale and give short descriptions of the areas mentioned in the flavor text throughout the next section.
Pages 14-121 describe, detail, and give ample flavor text for each new group and organization, along with several pieces of art that depict many of the creatures introduced in the book.
Pages 122-126 contain an extensive glossary of the terminology used in the book.
Pages 126-127 contains a list of the 185 new creatures in the book organized by level.
Page 128 contains an ad for the Dungeons and Dragons Encounters Program.

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What I liked:

1) The write-ups for the monsters and organized groups in this supplement are very well done. Every single group gets a nice bit of background written about it, along with snippets of rumors and legends believed by the peoples of the Nentir Vale. Each one includes several pieces of information that could easily be reworked into meaningful adventure hooks for use in your game. This edition has come a long way since the initial Monster Manual released in 2008 – and this product really shows that in spades.

2) The tokens – I have to admit that I am a minis guy. I love my minis and, having over 1000 of them gives me enough variety to almost always come up with minis that match my encounters. But even so, I love the fact that tokens for each monster in the book are included in the set. I counted 268 tokens total, for 185 new creatures, meaning that there are several that come with more than one token when appropriate (e.g. lizardfolk and twig blights, both which are numerous). Just like the D&D Essentials Monster Vault and Essentials Dungeon Master’s Kit, each token has a healthy side and a bloodied side. One difference between these tokens and the tokens that came in the original monster vault is that these tokens are made with a matte finish. This matches the Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond box set, which also has matte finish tokens, but not the DM kit, which has shiny tokens like the MV.

3) The poster map – As I said before, I am a map junkie. I own multiple copies of every dungeon tile set, and I troll for maps anywhere I can find them. I consider it a huge bonus when I get a usable map with a product. This map features a boulder-strewn wilderness scene on 1/2 of one side and a cave complex on the other half; side 2 has a swamp scene with a building on one half and a street scene with the interior of one building shown on the other half.

4) This could probably fall into #1 above, but I feel it deserves its own entry. The history described by many of the entries in this book paints a fabulous picture of the area and provides some very interesting legends that the DM could mine for their game.

Example: One 4 paragraph history lesson about the River Rats of Fallcrest (page 94) tells so much about that area of town that it is more than a just lesson regarding the organization, but also doubles as a way to get an adventuring party involved, be it on the side of the merchants or the gang of miscreants known as the River Rats. This section expands greatly on a 1 paragraph description in the original Dungeon Master’s Guide, updates the stat block for the leader of the group, and then provides stats for the previously unknown members of the gang.

This is not an isolated example – several groups have write-ups that inspire a willing DM to flesh out a particular legend and use it to hook the players (and their PCs). Note that I picked an example in which some information (1 paragraph and a stat block) was already known from other products, but most of this book contains completely new material – in those cases just as much interesting background and legends are written.

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What I didn’t like:

1) The size of the book – I won’t lie – I like the digest format WotC used for the majority of the Essentials line. So stick to digest format! It would go well with the other essentials books on the shelf and would feel more a part of the modern 4e known as Essentials. I understand that we can store our tokens in the original monster vault box, but what are we to do with the book?

This sounds nit-picky even as I say it, but now I have 6 sizes of D&D printed product on my shelf: the original folio folder style adventures (e.g. H1: Keep on the Shadowfell through E3: Prince of Undeath), saddle stapled adventure/adventure site/race books (e.g. Dragonborn and Hammerfast), hardbound classic 4e books (e.g. Underdark and the DMG), digest sized Essentials books (e.g. Monster Vault, DM Kit Book, and Rules Compendium), the boxes used in the essentials products (e.g. Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The City) and now the softcover large format books (Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond and Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale. Not really a big deal, but I prefer the digest format – they look nice and the essentials digest books were generally of good binding quality – so why not stick with that?

2) Level range - I know that many people consider the Heroic Tier (levels 1-10) of 4e to be the sweet spot, and I agree to some extent. This product introduces 185 creatures to the reader, only 39 of which are higher than level 10. None are higher than level 20. Granted, the back of the book says that it provides challenges appropriate to the Heroic and Paragon Tiers of play, but still – when is WotC going to give us some Epic Tier support in their monster manual products?

Some would say that the PCs shouldn’t be hanging around the Nentir Vale by the time they are Epic Tier. Maybe so, but why not give them a reason to return to their roots then? What if they were born there and now a very big, very bad creature is trying to get at them and it is using their history as a weapon and threatening the place from which they hail? That is plausible and yet, not doable with the current product. I have come to the conclusion that the reason no one is playing Epic Tier is that there is no support for Epic Tier. i.e. it has become a self fulfilled prophecy, no one plays it due to no support, no support is offered because no one plays it – that vicious cycle has no end.

3) It is almost a campaign guide – Why is this bad? Because I want a campaign guide. I love campaign guides and this product really makes me want to see a Nentir Vale campaign guide (which WotC scratched from their product page, by the way). I like the idea of a campaign guide to describe the areas of interest in even more detail than offered in the DM Kit or other supplements. I want to read more about the history of the area, the groups that were defeated and the names of the heroes that defeated them. I want to know what the crests and symbols of the various political factions and villainous groups of the past 50 years in the Vale look like. I want more detailed NPCs and nobles, merchant houses, trade groups, mercenary bands, and farming communities. That is the stuff that makes the Nentir Vale work on a day to day basis, and I am interested in it. Would it be like reading a history book? It doesn’t have to be – it can be well written and fantastic. We have enough stat blocks for 4e, let’s have some fluff and history! This is the stuff that I want to read and that inspires me to new and different stories in my games. In 99% of cases, a stat block does not inspire me, but a well written bit of history often can.

4) Filled with adversaries – “Well, this is a monster book, what do you expect?” I suppose this could be lumped in with the above paragraph, but it is a bit different. The groups and creatures described in this product are all either villainous or, at best, neutral. When I look for inspiration I often look not just for villainous traits and unsavory enemies, I look also for groups that could become helpful allies to the PCs. I look for organizations that could form interesting ties with other groups, providing opportunities for the PCs to do more than hunt down evil and destroy it. To its credit, there are several neutral type groups in here that could be, with just a small bit of fiddling, useful to the PCs rather than all-out enemies. There are also a couple of interesting historical bits that could be exploited.

Example: The Treant civil war described on page 104. Imagine the party having to decide which side to take in that war. On the other hand, perhaps the party is hired (or is the only group strong enough) to broker a peace treaty before the next Treant war breaks out.

There are lots of pieces like this where a hook isn’t spelled out in detail or at all, but is merely hinted at. This creates much work for the DM, but could be very rewarding. Having more neutral and good organizations and groups described would help with this type of planning. Perhaps there is a group of wise wood elves that has maintained a relationship with two groups of Treants through the years and is respected by them – outlining that group might allow for a point of contact between the PCs and the Treants. The DM would have to do all the work in this case, since no group like that is described in the book.

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Verdict:

This is a good product that stays true to its name. It is more than a catalogue of threats, though, as it does go a long way to flesh out the Nentir Vale. It doesn’t go quite far enough for my tastes since I would like to see a complete campaign setting guidebook for the Vale, but still, it is a well produced product that does what it sets out to do. If you like monster manual type products and also like to hear the backstory and legends surrounding groups, then this book is for you.

Despite my complaints, I would call this one of the better D&D products released for the 4th edition.

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Afterthought regarding the D&D 4e line:

This product offers no clue to the direction the game is heading. So is this an essentials product or a classic 4e product? It doesn’t follow the digest size of the main essentials products, but is also not a hard-cover like the classic 4e monster manuals. Two quotes from the product:

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From the Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale Sleeve

For use with these Dungeons & Dragons ESSENTIALS products:
Rules Compendium
Dungeon Master’s Kit
Monster Vault

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From Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale page 4

This book is designed for use with the Dungeons & Dragons ESSENTIALS line of products. It follows the same format as the Monster Vault boxed set and assumes familiarity with the Nentir Vale region, as described in the Dungeon Master’s Kit boxed set. It also makes reference to the Rules Compendium game supplement, which gathers and codifies the complete 4th edition game rules.

You do not need any of the abovementioned resources to use Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale. The monsters and villains presented in this book are fully compatible with the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual core rulebooks. If the stat blocks format looks new to you, it’s because the format was updated in the Monster Manual 3 rulebook and used in all subsequent books. The updated format, explained on the following four pages, is designed to make it easier for Dungeon Masters to run monsters in combat.

So… it is in-between? Like I said, no clue to the direction of the system. Some may say that this doesn’t matter and doesn’t belong in a review of a single product. Perhaps they are right, which is why I put this at the end and not in the review proper. I still think it is worth mentioning, though, as thing of interest to anyone who plays the game. I like it when the releases for a system support and mesh well with other releases for a system. This is a great product, but one that gives me no idea where they are going next, with the system as a whole or with the Nentir Vale as a setting.

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Hope you have enjoyed this review!

Until next time, I wish you good gaming.