Barrow of the Forgotten King- NOW WITH PLAYTEST

[DM_Jeff]

Well, here I am tonight reading more of this (I'd say I need to get a hobby, but, luckily this is my hobby) and I'm liking it even more. Additional notes:

* It's not an introductory module, it assumes D&D experience.
* There are alternate hooks, most notably some PC has an interest in the compelling backstory/mystery of the ancient kingly statue up in the hills nearby.
* There are more rolepalying encounters in the dungeon than I thought, mostly because many of the encounters can speak languages and have intelligence.
* It's PCs vs. a rival (albiet mysterious and mostly unknown) group, and I love those kind of plots.
* There are some very neat and original riddles/puzzles in here.
* The NPCs of the town are quite cool.
* The details of the rooms are right-on. If you have investigative players and those who relish detail, they will be in for a treat.

-DM Jeff

 

[Zaukrie]

I bought this today, based on this thread. Skimmed it all, read some. This is a great adventure. Lots of interesting encounters, good variety of monsters and challenges - I'll be running this.

The room descriptions are funny, they are overall very detailed, but in at least 2 rooms I had to look at the maps several times to figure out what they were trying to tell me. I like the encounter system, but I'd like it more if the room description in the RP part was with the tactical part in all cases.

I'd recommend this for sure.

 

[Wraith Form]

. . . . . now I just need to find 20 bucks. I wonder whats between the couch cusions???

That's the second part of the dungeon.

 

[Wraith Form]

keeping in mind im poor and whatever modules i do pick up I have to use reguardless of whther they are bad or not.

Honestly, Barrow didn't strike me as being all that original or unique. A pretty standard dungeon crawl--not bad, mind you...but nothing special. In fact, I kinda wonder if I bought the same adventure as DMJeff. I don't regret buying it, but...it just didn't blow wind up my skirt.

If your money is that tight, I'd put your $20 on the next three or four issues of Dungeon Magazine. You'll not only get a minimum of 3 adventures per (3 adventures x 3 issues = 9 adventures), you'll also likely get something with a bit more originality.

 

[DM_Jeff]

Honestly, Barrow didn't strike me as being all that original or unique. I kinda wonder if I bought the same adventure as DMJeff. I don't regret buying it, but...it just didn't blow wind up my skirt.

Oh certainly there's been better, and no it's not a must-have, I was just touting some of the improvements, in my opinion, WotC made: the better use of shading, the various use of new monsters instead of same old-same old, and the writing wasn't in a 'talking down' to the reader bit, it talked right to ya.

With that said, "Dungeon Magazine is the best value in gaming today". I don't see that changing anytime soon.

It's from my opinion that the details, dungeon roleplaying opportunities and the history & backstory is something that would easily blow wind up my PLAYERS skirts, and as a DM, that's what I'm on the lookout for. YPMV (your players may vary).

-DM Jeff

 

[Zaukrie]

I agree with DM Jeff - this is a high quality product that anyone that runs pre-made adventures would enjoy running and playing. It doesn't have that one "wow, how did they think of that" moment, but it has no weaknesses (though I'm sure someone will point out numerous flaws in the stat blocks in a review at some point) some interesting encounters, and is well written.

Dungeon should be a better value, you get three adventures, 3 or 4 articles...but Dungeon can't put this much into any one adventure (at least not in 1 magazine). Now if WotC would just produce the tactical maps on line in 1 inch scale, everything would be golden.

 

[Shroomy]

I bought the adventure last night and read through about half of it. I'm very pleased with my purchase; the adventure is definitely on par with WoTC other 32-page releases. There is a surprising amount of detail incorporated into the adventure, especially in the tactical sections, even with the full stat blocks, maps, and terrain descriptions. I really like the inclusion of non-core material, and I was quite tickled to see a monster from Dragon 347 appear in one of the encounters. I have two complaints/observations about the adventure (and the tactical encounter format in general):

1. My first complaint is that the dungeon is too linear. There is basically only one path and the PCs go from room to room to room.

2. I wish WoTC would include the supplement name in the stat block when they reference non-core monsters. They did it for the non-core character class, so why can't they do it for the monsters? My memory is not that good...

 

[dcas]

It sounds like an interesting module (the title is very evocative), but 64 pages for 25 encounter areas seems like an awful lot.

 

[Zaukrie]

I wish WoTC would include the supplement name in the stat block when they reference non-core monsters

Agreed. I have no idea where some of these monsters come from.

 

[DM_Jeff]

Agreed. I have no idea where some of these monsters come from.

Yeah, forgot to point that out. Luckily I have MM4 and was able to look up those baboon-goblin things (they are great, glad I gave them an extra look).

And if I hadn't, by some amazing chance, used a fossergrim (sp) in my elf campaign 2 years back I would never have known what it was or where it came from. References would have been a big help. Still, all the stats you need are in the module, but knowing where to go in my library for the full effect would have been cool.

Glad to see others are liking this too.

-DM Jeff