Domain of Dread: Monadhan, The Traitor's Hold
From Dragon Magazine #378Author: Daniel Marthaler
Illustrators: Chad King
Cartographer: Sean Macdonald
Type: Article
Format: .pdf
Release date: 2009
Summary of content:
Article detailing the Shadowfell Domain of Monadhan, and its darklord, Arantor, the undead dragon.
Reviews:
brothersale
OK, another domain that has its origin point in newly written 4e material, that of the Dragonborn and their Empire of Arkhosta, so be forewarned, for those that have not followed the 4e it does contain hints of that background, but not as heavily as Sunderheart did.
So first we have the history of the domain and the darklord, Arantor, drum-roll please, a Silver Dracolich. Now this surprisingly is not a bad thing, as his background is well thought out and he himself has relatively little interest or impact on the domain apart from the occasion rage-based attack on the only settlement of the domain.
Now, the domain itself is well thought-out with the personalities of the inhabitants meshing with the darklord to a tee. This coupled with the map and indicated areas really fills the domain out, as both are well detailed and informative to DMs wanting to run a game in this domain.
Only a couple of flaws stop this domain from being perfect (and it does seem like the editors are finally finding their feet with domains of dread and not making a complete hash of it.) The first is that all the inhabitants are non-native traitors from other worlds. Now I have no problems with some of the inhabitants being from other worlds but at some point they would start to put down roots and start families becoming true inhabitants and natives. And the second is that Kas the Betrayer uses this land as a base of operations. This just sticks in my craw due to the fact that Kas has been a darklord and evidence supports the fact that if a former darklord enters the mists or a domain with no lord then they are re-snared and become a darklord once more, its why Duke Gundar and Nathan Timothy have not left the Core, they can feel the pull, and don’t want to be trapped again.
4.5 blood drops out of 5
Overall, a vast improvement on the other domains. Only the two little flaws mentioned stop it from getting top marks and they are easy fixes.
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