Friday Review: Barrowmaze

Three+ years ago I did a review on a newly released OSR mega-dungeon called, Barrowmaze by +Greg Gillespie .  I'd bought the PDF and did a review of it then.  I really dug the it.  Still do.  Recently I had a transaction with +Harald Wagener and he generously threw in a print copy of the original Barrowmaze.

My apologies to +Stefan Poag for blinding his beautiful cover with the flash.  I was thumbing through it again and found myself wanting to integrate into something I was running.  The whole mega-dungeon is basically a tomb and my favorite monsters/adventures to run involve undead.  A few years ago I ran it with two different groups.  While I did keep it intact, I ran it as a 'thing that was out there'.  Not the entirety of a campaign, but a significant landmark within the campaign.

My memory is not the greatest, but for me, it was the first OSR mega-dungeon I remember or at least the one the kindle my liking of mega-dungeons all together.  Greg developed a few interesting sub-games such as bashing in walls and looting burial coves.  A sledge hammer will fast become your friend.  Both these are time sinks, each time you do either you may cause that evil bastard behind the screen to roll another random encounter to gobble you up.

Here's how I used Barrowmaze.  In both instances Barrowmaze was well known and a hotspot for adventurers, and not just the party.  I played it like a boom town during the gold rush.  Secondary business sprung up around the known entrances.  Business folks knew adventurers were going to need things such as sledge hammers and healing potions, weapons and armor repair, booze, women, and some good old fashion religion.  And you could get it all outside and in the a few of the rooms inside Burrowmaze.  You just had to pay for it.  Basically I multiplied the standard price by ten.  Had one party become enterprising and they bought extra sledge hammers to sell to another set of adventurers within the crypts. 

I also did not play it as a mega-dungeon, but I let the mythology of the place speak of its size.  Usually the players would enter and explore a dozen or so rooms before exiting.  With so many undead around it was nearly impossible for the party to recover.  I used Barrowmaze to plant certain things to recover.  Maybe a magic item, or family heirloom or maybe Timmy fell down the Barrowmaze well and needed saving.

Barrowmaze was a place to get a lot of loot quick...or die quick.  Both happened.  Either way it provided a great setting to use.  I've always been a big fan of Barrowmaze.  The only fault I see in it is it needs a separate map booklet.   To solve that issue I was able to print the maps from the PDF and I taped them together.  I then used colored pencils (I know your shocked to hear I use those)  to assist me with keeping track of their trek.

Greg now sells Barrowmaze Complete over at RPGNow.  This includes the original Barrowmaze and the second Barrowmaze.  I can't comment of this book, but I have both the first and second Barrowmaze so I know the content is great.

And that is my Friday Feature this week.  I hope to be back next week and do a little something on a little something call a zine I recently received.  Time to sign off.  It's Friday.  And remember, the best thing about a cell phone is you can order your pizza to be delivered ahead of time so when you get home your pizza guy will be there already so no waiting. 

A Cross Section of a Big Dungeon

I forget why I drew this.  One of the blogs had a contest of drawing a cross section of a mega-dungeon.  I went into Paint and slapped this one together in about 15 minutes.  I found it again and considering using it for something.  I think there is some usable stuff there.  Oh wait, I think it may have been what it would look like it there was a city built upon the ruins of an older city.  I think.

Charnel is the name of the city above and it is slowly sinking into the ground.  Once it become too dangerous they rebuild a top the old layer.

Still feeling horrible, but off to work I go.  No rest for the wicked or those of us who have no chance of having a stay at home job making big dungeons for a living. 

Valentine's Day Present

So Whisk asked me what I wanted to Valentine's Day.  Normally we don't pay attention to it, but this year we've come to even the goofy holidays with a new attitude and decided to enjoy them.  Our new attitude these days is, "You only get a certain number of these so you might as well enjoy the ones you can".  So that's what we're doing. 

Our gifts are not going to be surprises, but rather I pick out some I want, she picks what she wants.  She wants baking stuff.  I want gaming stuff.  Shocking, I know.

So here's what I selected.

Castle of the Mad Archmage by +Joseph Bloch.  Ordered it this morning.  While it is shipping media mail I probably won't exactly get it by next Friday, but maybe.  Now with this ginormus adventure you'll need to get the Map Book and the Illustration Book.  There has been some minor bitching about there being three books, only minor, but those that have complained about it apparently haven't run an adventure, especially a large one, where the maps and illustrations are in the same book.  Too much flipping around.  I think it was very smart of Joe to separate it into different books for easy reference.  The cost of all three plus shipping was $39.34.  To me that's good value for your money.  And, you get all the PDFs included.

Time for work.  I have a yellow card in my PO Box and I've heard rumbling that Tavern Cards are beginning to appear.  I'm hoping I have my six decks waiting for me.

Thoughts on How to Keep a Mega-Dungeon Interesting

This is not Monteport.  If this had been the actual map of Monteport instructions would have followed.

+Ken Harrison wrote a great post about Creating Meaningful Choices.  The post was written in response to the mega-dungeon campaign, Monteport, he runs on Monday Night.  I've had a great time playing in his dungeon crawl, but it took some minor adjustments in my gamer-state-of-mind.

First off, I've never playing in a dungeon campaign.  The majority of my gaming experience is urban campaigns with the occasional dungeon in between.  There is a lot of role-playing and figuring out where you belong in the current power structure and plotting how to arrange that structure to suit your needs.  In a mega-dungeon you are in survival mode all the time.  And you know where you are in the power structure of the dungeon all the time, the bottom.  Shops and taverns and streets are gone.  In mega-dungeons it's the next door to open.  The next sound to follow.  The next mystery to solve.  There is no break from the exploration in a mega-dungeon so it better be interesting or it can become tiresome quickly.

Ken has managed to keep things interesting by develop a series of cultures and ecologies within his massive maze.  The party has made a morale decision on who are the good and bad guys.  It wasn't too hard of a choice since the bad guys grow people and eat them.  Each game night I manage to slip in one poorly executed Charles Heston imitation.

Then there is the history of the dungeon.  Layers of it.  This is the stuff he's added that keeps me intrigued.  There are long forgotten people or things that populated this space when it was born.  They left behind scraps and bits of themselves.  These things are so alien to us that it will take more exploration to start understanding them.  We were introduced to a entirely new cosmological point of view.  How can you not get excited about something like that?

The mechanics are routine.  Find a door.  Check for traps (maybe).  Open door.  Fight or friend if someone is on the other side.  Loot room.  Find another door.  Repeat.

That's the skeleton of a mega-dungeon repeated a hundred times.  It's important to make the exploration interesting beyond the collection of treasure or soon your players will be watching reruns of Fraiser instead of showing up for game night. I think it's vital to have small quests within the massive setting.  Mini conclusions along the way.  Little rewards for continuing to go deeper.  Like I've stated before, exploring, killing and looting is fun, but without a purpose the game will loose its focus and fun.

Tomorrow I plan on writing up a few tips on exploring a mega-dungeon from the view point of my character, Adzeer Maitu, Monster Hunter of the 1st Circle.

Getting Lost

Another successful dungeon crawl session last night.  A few more trinkets in our pockets and a few more gold bars to weigh down our cave goats.  We are going farther into the mega-dungeon than ever before.  Last night something happened that can be a killer in a mega-dungeon, we got lost.  After a dead body and peeing experiment into a glowing green ring, we all stepped into the one-way teleporter (we did not know it was one way at the time) and now in a section of the dungeon we've never been. 

Although I don't think we are too far off.  Many of the same creatures and same mushroom crops are in the area.  The mega-dungeon has an functioning ecology system we are only beginning to understand.  But there are sections dedicated to certain races.  I was pleased not to be teleported over a 100' pit. 

Along the way we are finding bits and pieces of a larger culture/belief system in the elements.  Everything seems to be tinged with evil.  Also along the way we are finding evidence of a older culture, possibly the creators of the dungeon who have a mysterious way of scribing their magical language.  After talking to one mage, he gave us more information about that ancient race, but still most of the things we come across, we are guessing as to their purpose. 

Each session we get a little peek.  Sometimes we understand more, sometime less.  But getting lost helps because now we can't just back out of the dungeon when things go wrong.  Now we need to understanding the dungeon.  To learn its laws.  Learn its ecology.  And once we do that we can force it to give up its secrets.