D&D General We need a kill Bargle adventure path

[Shades of Eternity]

a buddy of mine made of list of Bargle appearances for inspiration.
Red Box (Mentzer basic set)
Blue Box (Mentzer expert set)
X10 Red Arrow Black Shield
GAZ1 Grand Duchy of Karameikos
GAZ4 Kingdom of Ierendi
AC11 Book of Wondrous Inventions
GAZ8 Five Shires
Dungeon issue 13 - he is a suspect in a criminal action
GAZ11 Republic of Darokin
Dragon issue 178
Excalibur V2i1 - bargle hires some PCs
Poor Wizards Almanac vol 1-3 & Joshuan's Almanac
Karameikos 2e boxed set
Dragon issue 206
Dragon issue 215
Dungeon 144
Dungeon 150
Kill Bargle - 2 page dice game
Shrine of St. Aleena
Assault on Mistamere (web published sequel to the red box adventure)

***********************
did we miss any?

 

[Kurotowa]

I don't know that Bargle or anyone mostly known to fans in their 50s or older is a good centerpiece for a campaign necessarily. Using him in a cameo role, like the action figure characters were used in Witchlight, makes more sense to me.

Seriously. I'm 45 years old, I got in when AD&D 2e was brand new and still have my box full of Complete Handbooks, I've been around longer than the people that started with 3e and am practically a dinosaur to the people that started with 5e. And even I only know of Bargle by repute. I certainly don't have any emotional connection to him.

Look, they're filling the books with callbacks to D&D's history. They're hitting on the 80s cartoon to the point that I question if it's a good idea, and I watched it when it was first broadcast. But going back to Bargle... maybe a quick namecheck or a minor reference, sure. But a whole adventure? That's probably a bit much.

 

[Tonguez]

I'd love there to be an expanded Black Eagle/Iron Ring Adventure path to show how an NPC can be integrated into a setting (Black Eagle Barony) and of course that expands out to the whole Grand Duchy of Karameikos.

As for Bargle with Castle Mistamere and Kill Bargle theres already an Adventure path, especially if you tried to fetch a high level cleric to revive Aleena. Nights Dark Terror is a great module that could be revived and its possible that Bargle has a connection to the cult in the Caves of Chaos thus linking in Keep on the Borderlands too.

 

[Dioltach]

In the interests of female empowerment, I think there should be an adventure path to go back in time and prevent Bargle from killing Aleena, so she can kill him.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Bonus points, have you run the red box adventure path and how did it go? What were your changes you did as the scaffolding got knocked away?

I just checked all 3 basic sets, there isn't a scaffolding in any of the intro adventures or play samples. Is this something from the 5e "Red Box" starter set? My experience would be with the Mentzer basic box that introduced Bargle.

The first D&D I played was a mashup of B, BX, AD&D, and possibly some oD&D supplements donated by someone's parents. The first D&D material I actually owned was a first-printing Mentzer basic set, with the "choose your own" intro adventure featuring Aleena and Bargle. Aleena (really the Elmore image of her), along with Eilonwy from The Chronicles of Prydain, was one of the first fictional-character-crushes I developed. I went through that little adventure at least a half-dozen times trying to 1) save her (you can't), or 2) kill Bargle. I succeeded at the later, and was super-pissed when he showed up again in the Expert Set*.
*by the time I next saw him I'd learned about re-occurring villains and things authors do to make you hate their villain, etc.,

Seriously. I'm 45 years old, I got in when AD&D 2e was brand new and still have my box full of Complete Handbooks, I've been around longer than the people that started with 3e and am practically a dinosaur to the people that started with 5e. And even I only know of Bargle by repute. I certainly don't have any emotional connection to him.

Look, they're filling the books with callbacks to D&D's history. They're hitting on the 80s cartoon to the point that I question if it's a good idea, and I watched it when it was first broadcast. But going back to Bargle... maybe a quick namecheck or a minor reference, sure. But a whole adventure? That's probably a bit much.

I shared the above to point out that I hate Bargle. I also like hating Bargle -- he's an effective villain for me. Even with all that, I agree with you and don't suggest the Bargle we have* is really a great opponent for anyone who wasn't introduced to him age 8-12. He's a stock villain with a goofy name, generic motivation and personality**, and his defining reason to despise him is so, it is a recognized trope. He's a generic bad guy, and on some level deliberately so.
*as opposed to something the OP can create out of whole cloth, which can be anything.
**in later appearances, where he has any of either at all.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The chance to defeat Bargle would be great!
Of course, encountering Gutboy Barrelhouse in the same adventure, would be even better.

I repurposed that as the name of a corrupt constable in my campaign. One of the all-time great RPG names.

 

[Baron Opal II]

a buddy of mine made of list of Bargle appearances for inspiration.

Wow, that many? I'm surprised. Who did he kill? Was that Aleena or Morgan?

 

[hopeless]

There was a filled-out version of that introductory adventure in the last (print) issue of Dungeon magazine that I once ran.

That said, I think a truly fleshed-out version would make a better starter set than a full-length AP. And I would buy it in a heartbeat to inflict on a new generation of gamers.

I think I still have that!

 

[Theory of Games]

There was?

Which issue of Dungeon is that. Digital or in print?

Issue 150 I think.

 

[CleverNickName]

Kill Bargle, you say?