Barrow of the Forgotten King
- Thread starter MerricB
- Start date
Olaf the Stout
Hero
After reading people's posts about it I am less likely to buy it than I was previously.
Olaf the Stout
Olaf the Stout
Well, I think I'll make a start on my review...
Barrow of the Forgotten King
by Ed Stark
Barrow of the Forgotten King is a D&D adventure produced by Wizards of the Coast. It consists of a 64-page black & white booklet that describes the adventure, and a separate cardboard cover that has the dungeon's map on its interior. The adventure is for 2nd level characters, and should take a group of 4 to 6 PCs to either 4th or 5th level, depending on how successful they are at overcoming the challenges of the adventure, as the text says. It is also the first of three connected adventures; the other two, The Sinister Spire and Fortress of the Yuan-Ti, are due out later in 2007.
The adventure booklet is really in two parts. The first 19 pages describe the adventure and the connections between the encounters. The final 42 pages describe the encounter areas, in the new tactical encounter format. (Three more pages are given to title page, credits and one page of advertisements for other D&D products).
The most striking thing about the adventure is how linear it is - in general, the PCs will proceed from one encounter to the next as they delve deeper into the dungeon. There are few side encounters - mostly the dungeon is one long corridor with rooms placed along it. To compensate for this, Ed Stark has included a wide variety of encounters. Even if the majority are combat encounters - in truth, the meat and drink of most D&D play - the terrain and choice of monsters keep each distinct from the others.
The writing style occasionally moves to the inspired - I love how Ed describes the town of Kingsholm as having a pretentious name - but is mostly functional rather than brilliant. One thing the adventure does do well is in presenting all the information in a clear, straightforward manner.
The plot of the adventure revolves around a group of tomb-robbers that have invaded the barrow. Although mostly competent, some of the more chaotic have alerted the local townsfolk to their presence. This brings the townsfolk to the adventurers, and thus the adventurers to the barrow.
The adventure is written from the point of view of the PCs pursuing the tomb-robbers deeper and deeper into the tomb. If the PCs need to stop and rest, well, so do the tomb-robbers. It is not written as an event-based adventure, however. Any "progress" of the tomb-robbers is merely illusionary. It does, however, make things much easier for the writer and the DM.
One of the exceptional things about this adventure is how it makes use of skills, terrain, and the D&D rules for interaction. When the PCs come across a puzzle encounter, the adventure text allows them to gain clues through the use of Bardic Knowledge, Search and Knowledge checks, and these combine with the ingenuity of the players to solve the puzzle. Roleplaying encounters - of which there are several - give the actions of the monsters based on the results of the Diplomacy roll. Thus, its actions if Hostile, Friendly or otherwise. DMs who wish to role-play the encounter more (and put less emphasis on the dice) are also well-served by this approach, as they can use it to tailor their responses.
The adventure also makes good use of mysteries. Why are the tomb-robbers here? Who is the Forgotten King? As the adventure continues, the PCs gain the answers to these and other mysteries - and a few more are posed.
Despite all of this, I keep coming back to the linearity of the adventure. This is somewhat of a pity, because several of the encounters really thrill me. I'm so used to dungeon design where the PCs have more choices as to where to go... even if those choices are mostly illusionary in the end. Instead of having areas of great freedom that then constrict to one or more bottlenecks, it feels much like an ongoing bottleneck. I stress that this is not a playtest review, however, and my feeling might change based on actual play.
It should also be noted that this is the first adventure of three. When you come down to it, the reputation of the classic Against the Giants series is not based on The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief! I've always found that a fairly dull adventure, leading into adventures that are far more interesting. I would say that Barrow of the Forgotten King is already more interesting than Steading.
A few other matters of note:
The adventure has a legacy weapon - and gives all the rules for using it as well, and is thus not dependent on possession of the Weapons of Legacy supplement. As I like WoL, this pleases me.
The tactical encounter format uses a lot of space. The adventure only has 23 encounters! However, the benefits of the format are significant to providing ease of play. It is likely that the adventure will take 4-6 sessions to play; whether this is good value for your money is up to you. As I am a completionist, I rather like having the product, though I do want to run it and its sequels as well.
The monster statblocks use the new format, which I adore. Unfortunately, they don't give the source of the monster, requiring the DM to do some research if he wishes to know more about them, although such is not needed to run the encounters.
In conclusion, Barrow of the Forgotten King is a solid, if not great, adventure. When comparing it to other recent adventures, I would rank it below Red Hand of Doom, Sons of Gruumsh and Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, but above The Twilight Tomb and Scourge of the Howling Horde. I look forward to seeing what Ari Marmell and Bruce R. Cordell do in the following adventures.
Barrow of the Forgotten King
by Ed Stark
Barrow of the Forgotten King is a D&D adventure produced by Wizards of the Coast. It consists of a 64-page black & white booklet that describes the adventure, and a separate cardboard cover that has the dungeon's map on its interior. The adventure is for 2nd level characters, and should take a group of 4 to 6 PCs to either 4th or 5th level, depending on how successful they are at overcoming the challenges of the adventure, as the text says. It is also the first of three connected adventures; the other two, The Sinister Spire and Fortress of the Yuan-Ti, are due out later in 2007.
The adventure booklet is really in two parts. The first 19 pages describe the adventure and the connections between the encounters. The final 42 pages describe the encounter areas, in the new tactical encounter format. (Three more pages are given to title page, credits and one page of advertisements for other D&D products).
The most striking thing about the adventure is how linear it is - in general, the PCs will proceed from one encounter to the next as they delve deeper into the dungeon. There are few side encounters - mostly the dungeon is one long corridor with rooms placed along it. To compensate for this, Ed Stark has included a wide variety of encounters. Even if the majority are combat encounters - in truth, the meat and drink of most D&D play - the terrain and choice of monsters keep each distinct from the others.
The writing style occasionally moves to the inspired - I love how Ed describes the town of Kingsholm as having a pretentious name - but is mostly functional rather than brilliant. One thing the adventure does do well is in presenting all the information in a clear, straightforward manner.
The plot of the adventure revolves around a group of tomb-robbers that have invaded the barrow. Although mostly competent, some of the more chaotic have alerted the local townsfolk to their presence. This brings the townsfolk to the adventurers, and thus the adventurers to the barrow.
The adventure is written from the point of view of the PCs pursuing the tomb-robbers deeper and deeper into the tomb. If the PCs need to stop and rest, well, so do the tomb-robbers. It is not written as an event-based adventure, however. Any "progress" of the tomb-robbers is merely illusionary. It does, however, make things much easier for the writer and the DM.
One of the exceptional things about this adventure is how it makes use of skills, terrain, and the D&D rules for interaction. When the PCs come across a puzzle encounter, the adventure text allows them to gain clues through the use of Bardic Knowledge, Search and Knowledge checks, and these combine with the ingenuity of the players to solve the puzzle. Roleplaying encounters - of which there are several - give the actions of the monsters based on the results of the Diplomacy roll. Thus, its actions if Hostile, Friendly or otherwise. DMs who wish to role-play the encounter more (and put less emphasis on the dice) are also well-served by this approach, as they can use it to tailor their responses.
The adventure also makes good use of mysteries. Why are the tomb-robbers here? Who is the Forgotten King? As the adventure continues, the PCs gain the answers to these and other mysteries - and a few more are posed.
Despite all of this, I keep coming back to the linearity of the adventure. This is somewhat of a pity, because several of the encounters really thrill me. I'm so used to dungeon design where the PCs have more choices as to where to go... even if those choices are mostly illusionary in the end. Instead of having areas of great freedom that then constrict to one or more bottlenecks, it feels much like an ongoing bottleneck. I stress that this is not a playtest review, however, and my feeling might change based on actual play.
It should also be noted that this is the first adventure of three. When you come down to it, the reputation of the classic Against the Giants series is not based on The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief! I've always found that a fairly dull adventure, leading into adventures that are far more interesting. I would say that Barrow of the Forgotten King is already more interesting than Steading.
A few other matters of note:
The adventure has a legacy weapon - and gives all the rules for using it as well, and is thus not dependent on possession of the Weapons of Legacy supplement. As I like WoL, this pleases me.
The tactical encounter format uses a lot of space. The adventure only has 23 encounters! However, the benefits of the format are significant to providing ease of play. It is likely that the adventure will take 4-6 sessions to play; whether this is good value for your money is up to you. As I am a completionist, I rather like having the product, though I do want to run it and its sequels as well.
The monster statblocks use the new format, which I adore. Unfortunately, they don't give the source of the monster, requiring the DM to do some research if he wishes to know more about them, although such is not needed to run the encounters.
In conclusion, Barrow of the Forgotten King is a solid, if not great, adventure. When comparing it to other recent adventures, I would rank it below Red Hand of Doom, Sons of Gruumsh and Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, but above The Twilight Tomb and Scourge of the Howling Horde. I look forward to seeing what Ari Marmell and Bruce R. Cordell do in the following adventures.
bento
Explorer
I haven't quite made a final decision on this. At first I saw one thread where the OP mentioned somethings that piqued my curiousity. I really liked the new format that appeared in the Ravenloft book which this book also uses. This was shortly followed by the preview of the adventure on the WoTC site and I was jazzed enough to go out and get it.
But before I made that trip a second thread started and everyone was bashing it for one reason or another. One of the biggest complaints was a perception that it was overpriced, and several posters pointed to The Shattered Gates being a better adventure. So then I considered getting that instead.
Now I realize I don't have a group right now to run this for, so going out and buying it might be a waste of my money. My Dragon subscription started last month, so I think I'll just stick to that for now when I need to get an adventure fix. Well that and some of the WoTC adventure books coming out.
But before I made that trip a second thread started and everyone was bashing it for one reason or another. One of the biggest complaints was a perception that it was overpriced, and several posters pointed to The Shattered Gates being a better adventure. So then I considered getting that instead.
Now I realize I don't have a group right now to run this for, so going out and buying it might be a waste of my money. My Dragon subscription started last month, so I think I'll just stick to that for now when I need to get an adventure fix. Well that and some of the WoTC adventure books coming out.
Shadowslayer
Explorer
Own it, but haven't played through it yet. I like some of the encounters. I thought the big puzzle room was kinda goofy, but liked the way they listed the various checks PCs can make to get clues to the solution.
Having said that, I might just mine the module for encounters. Lots of neat "tomb" type rooms and tactical advice, but the "dungeon" is really just a chain of encounters where the players don't even have a "do we go left or right" question to answer. The only place you can vary that is in an area where they basically tell you to make it up yourself. And this I paid 22 bucks CDN for.
And the module did suffer from "bad photocopy-itis". Like Howling Horde, they used this ridiculous dark grey text over grey background format. (It was slightly easier to read than Howling Horde, but not much) Thats nuts whan you take into account that some of their nicer color modules, like SHattered Gates and Red Hand, are only about 10 dollars more, if even.
That's my 2 cents. I'll be able to tell you for real when and if I play it, but I'm gonna bet that after all is said and done, Howling Horde was actually the better of the two. (we had a lot of fun with that one just using it as written.)
Having said that, I might just mine the module for encounters. Lots of neat "tomb" type rooms and tactical advice, but the "dungeon" is really just a chain of encounters where the players don't even have a "do we go left or right" question to answer. The only place you can vary that is in an area where they basically tell you to make it up yourself. And this I paid 22 bucks CDN for.
And the module did suffer from "bad photocopy-itis". Like Howling Horde, they used this ridiculous dark grey text over grey background format. (It was slightly easier to read than Howling Horde, but not much) Thats nuts whan you take into account that some of their nicer color modules, like SHattered Gates and Red Hand, are only about 10 dollars more, if even.
That's my 2 cents. I'll be able to tell you for real when and if I play it, but I'm gonna bet that after all is said and done, Howling Horde was actually the better of the two. (we had a lot of fun with that one just using it as written.)
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
I've got it and will put it into play to give the encounter format a test drive.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=188955&p=3361870
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=188955&p=3361870
Mark CMG said:It's a fairly straightforward adventure with almost all of the work done. I might add a secret passage to bypass a room or two, and add another passage to bypass an area and make a section that is there secret, just to add some variety. Not difficult to do.
If I get ambitious, I might add an encounter or two on the extra passages I add, likely in the nature of some puzzles, tricks, or traps, since those are not as prevalent currently as combat encounters.
If anyone wanted blind alleys, alternate routes, or dead space, there's plenty of room on the map to add such and it would take all of ten minutes with a pen and little imagination. I'd probably been pissed off if WotC had taken one half a page to two pages in the adventure text to add that sort of thing.
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