Barrowmaze II

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• Interesting perspective. One, of course, that I disagree with. There are a number of themes specifically pulled from I into II. Barrowmaze I was the model for II so I'm a bit surprised you liked one but not the other. They were created using the same methods. I think the art is certainly worthy of some discussion. The factions are fleshed out and more prominent and they aren't undead focused. I do appreciate the review, however.

• No worries :)

• I liked this one, too, although I haven't actually seen it in play. The fleshed-out factions were a great plus for me; otherwise, yeah, it's very similar to BM1.

• Has anyone.out there played or run this through and want to bs about it? Maybe on Google + ?

• I am thinking about using barrowmaze complete ( 1 and 2 together). But only using the map and key from barrowmaze 1 (with the exception of an added room for the tablet and big bad).
  The additional barrows will be added to the surface and the factions added to the random encounter table.
  Anybody done this? What problems will I run into?

• You could do that but why would you? Barrowmaze is honestly a better dungeon in its entirety. The second part adds a larger, more nonlinear map and, above all, several factions. And you really want those. Speaking from experience, Barrowmaze can get a bit bland until you encounter those factions and start playing with their intrigue, enmity etc.

  Just putting the factions in random enounter tables doesn't cut it. They need to have a base so you can visit them, talk to them, sneak into their bases to rob them, assault their HQ, spy on them (they generally hate each other but don't know where the other factions are located) etc. You can't do that without the map.

  • Why do you want to skip the second part of the map? Bigger is better in this case. Unless you want to "complete" the thing, which I would advise against (it will get boring eventually).

  • Bryce says part two is worse though? He even said part 1 feels complete. Why do you feel different ?

    • Bryce has the second part as “no regrets”, which is still good. I do think the larger version of Barrowmaze has some weaker bits. Too many crypts and undead may get repetitive. There are some more linear parts in the second map (basically, series of “challenge” rooms) but the factions really add so much. Plus your players can choose where to go and what to do, which gets better on a larger map with more exits.
      ,

    • The real issue with the bigger version of Barrowmaze is that it may get too unwieldy. Too big to comprehend, and lacking in overviews. Also maybe too big to actually play through. If you want a shorter, more focused experience, the first part could be ok.

      In any case, a tip: i don’t think you can read all of it in advance but do try to read at least the parts with bolded text. It’s a good way to see the important rooms and skim the rest.

      • Maybe give the factions a home base in some of 1s empty rooms? What other keyed rooms are a must to move in?

• (Replying to Anonymous above - need to post a separate thread, the comment plugin is bonkers and gets broken when it gets too small)

  You won't fit them into empty rooms, the HQs are larger complexes. But you know what? If you have the whole Barrowmaze, who don't you just take the big map and "delete" the parts that you don't want? They can actualy be easily disconnected (they are basically cells connected only in few places).
  The HQs of two of the factions (mongrelmen and necromancer) actually directly adjoin the Barrowmaze I map so you could perhaps take just these and ignore the rest of the BMII map. And you'd have at least some faction play in BMI without the added baggade of the three times bigger map.

  • I really like this idea, thank you

    • You seem to know a lot about this module! Do you happen to know the room numbers you mentioned above?

      Any other rooms that are needed for environmental or story reasons? One that stuck out to me was the room with the big bad and the tablet