Reading about people receiving their
Barrowmaze Indiegogo loots made me curious (jealous). So, I got the PDFs for
Barrowmaze I & II. I (for no particular reason I can recall atm) had been more or less ignoring Barrowmaze. Maybe cause my current campaign already has too many megadungeons. In retrospect that was bad choice. After partial read through I declare
Barrowmaze to be excellent.
Similar to
ASE (another semi-recent purchase) Barrowmaze is a refreshing take on the megadungeon. Something familiar wrapped up with originality. A small deviation, but enough to get me excited to run it. Instead of levels going down, Barrowmaze is series of barrow mounds (and underground "dungeons") going away from "starting point". Which, with minor flavor tweaks, fits into my campaigns history and geography. Coincidence or strength of dungeon's versatility. Also, same as ASE, Barrowmaze has strong theme (undead/tombs).
I mostly read the introduction and preperation materials. History, factions, special rules (for breaking open tombs, bricked up walls, digging), restocking, new treasures (death masks, scarabs), gimmicks (runic tablets), and the "plot". All very well written and imagined. A welcomed summary of "how is Barrowmaze interesting" and "what DM needs to know to run/wing this thing".
Author's please don't bury this critical info in the room descriptions.
That front matter sealed my opinion that Barrowmaze is excellent. Based on it's quality and interestingness I'm confident the body of room descriptions is sprinkled with drops of dungeon deliciousness. [Read more and in fact it is.]
Thanks for the encouraging first impressions report---it's good to hear that BarrowMaze is living up to the hype thus far, Norman. I haven't checked BarrowMaze out yet, and will add it to my wishlist.
ReplyDeleteAllan.
I'm loving it!! My eldest daughter had been nagging me for about a year for a chance to DM something... So I thought, why not? So I read around a bit and went and bought Barrowmaze. For numerous reasons really.
ReplyDelete1. She's into the zombie / vampire stuff at the moment (as are all 14 y/olds it seems).
2. She's a very attentive / bright student that doesn't miss details and I thought this might have just enough background / detail to intrigue her.
3. It's old school...which is ultimately for me.
4. It's old school...which allows her certain literary freedoms.
Anyway, my youngest and I are running a quartet of characters through there w/ numerous henchmen / followers and are having a hoot. It's suitably creepy enough to keep us on edge and has plenty of odd things to keep me (an old jaded hand) guessing.
Overall: I love it. And I'll freely support your last statement...BUY IT NOW.
Gee, thanks guys! I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteIf anybody posts session reports please be sure to ping me, I'd love to read them.
I got the PDF of I & II, but waiting to get my hands on the hardcover.
ReplyDelete