{{Short description|Tabletop role-playing game supplement}} {{Infobox book | name = The Shadowfell | image = File:The Shadowfell, Gloomwrought and Beyond.jpg | caption = Cover of the first edition | authors = Andy Clautice, Erik Scott de Bie, Matt Goetz | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = | subject = Role-playing games | genre = ''Dungeons & Dragons'' | publisher = Wizards of the Coast | pub_date = 2011 | media_type = Print (Trade hardcover) | pages = | isbn = 978-0-7869-5848-1 | congress = | oclc = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}
'''''The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond''''' is a supplement for the 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game.
==Contents== ''The Shadowfell'' contains the information a Dungeon Master needs to run adventures set in the plane known as the Shadowfell with details on locations such as the Darkreach Mountains, Dead Man's Cross and the House of Black Lanterns, Gloomwrought, Letherna, the Oblivion Bog, and Thyrin Gol.<ref name=":0" /> The boxed set edition included a 32-page encounter booklet, a 128-page booklet presenting the fully detailed city of Gloomwrought and the surrounding area, die-cut tokens, a foldout battle map, and one 30-card Despair Deck.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Morgan|first=Matt|date=May 4, 2011|title=Game Preview: Unboxing the Dungeons and Dragons Shadowfell Campaign|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2621517/game-preview-unboxing-the-dungeons-dragons-shadowfell-campaign/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708200958/http://www.mtv.com/news/2621517/game-preview-unboxing-the-dungeons-dragons-shadowfell-campaign/|archive-date=2020-07-08|access-date=2020-07-08|website=MTV News|language=en}}</ref>
==Publication history== ''The Shadowfell'' was written by Andy Clautice, Erik Scott de Bie and Matt Goetz. It was officially released in May 2011. The boxed set was the second supplement Wizards of the Coast published with the theme of shadows in 2011. It was preceded by ''Heroes of Shadow'' (2011) and followed by the 4th Edition Encounters event ''Dark Legacy of Evard'' (2011) and the Free RPG Day adventure ''Domain of Dread: Histaven'' (2011).<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=April 28, 2011|title='Dark Legacy of Evard'|url=https://icv2.com/articles/games/view/19939/dark-legacy-evard|access-date=2020-07-08|website=ICv2|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
The Despair Deck in the boxed set added an additional set of mechanics to the game where players would draw negative conditions, such as apathy, fear, and madness, that could be overcome when their characters achieved milestones that would then turn the negative condition into a beneficial condition. The deck conditions would be reset upon completing a long rest. "Chris Perkins requested a ''Shadowfell'' deck of cards, something to add a 'fun, random element' to the game. Greg Bisland came up with the Fear Deck, modeled after Ravenloft's Tarokka Deck, which first appearing in ''Forbidden Lore'' (1992). It eventually became ''Shadowfell's'' Despair Deck".<ref name=":0" />
A pdf version of the booklet was published on April 28, 2015.<ref name=":0" />
==Reception== John ONeill of ''Black Gate'' commented: "I have high hopes that this will usher in the return of the boxed adventure. But even if it doesn't, I'm very glad to have this one. My advice: grab it before it too becomes a collector's item."<ref>{{cite web|last=ONeill|first=John|date=October 10, 2011|title=New Treasures: Dungeons & Dragons The Shadowfell|url=https://www.blackgate.com/2011/10/10/new-treasures-dungeons-dragons-the-shadowfell/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108025330/https://www.blackgate.com/2011/10/10/new-treasures-dungeons-dragons-the-shadowfell/|archive-date=2011-11-08|access-date=|website=Black Gate}}</ref>
Shannon Appelcline, author of ''Designers & Dragons'', called the book "a nice complement to the earlier planar manuals: ''Manual of the Planes'' (2008), ''The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos'' (2009), and ''The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea'' (2010), leaving only a book on the Feywild to fill out the World Axis". Appelcline highlighted that "most fans felt the ''Shadowfell'' box was pretty flimsy, nothing like the sturdier Essentials boxes of 2010".<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Appelcline|first=Shannon|date=|title=The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond (4e) {{!}} Product History|url=http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148010/The-Shadowfell-Gloomwrought-and-Beyond-4e|access-date=|website=DriveThruRPG}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151104091114/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd_products_dndacc_338050000 Official product page] (archived by the Wayback Machine) ** [https://web.archive.org/web/20151104120040/http://archive.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drdd/20110511 The Despair Deck: Design & Development] by Greg Bilsland ** [https://web.archive.org/web/20151104142952/http://archive.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drdd/20110518 Factions & Characters: Design & Development] by Greg Bilsland ** [https://web.archive.org/web/20151104091120/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20110418 The Shadowfell: Shadowfell Excerpts]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond, The}} Category:Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks Category:Role-playing game supplements introduced in 2011