{"id":7763,"date":"2022-02-12T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T12:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7763"},"modified":"2022-01-31T13:47:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T18:47:24","slug":"the-thedron-barrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7763","title":{"rendered":"The Thedron Barrows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Tad Davis\nArs Phantasia Blog\nGeneric\/Universal\nLevel ... 4?<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Cresting the northern peaks of the Thildish Highlands is a series of Barrows, forever enshrouded in mist. Entombed within lie the remains of the Magearchs of Thedron, great sorcerers of a bygone age. For decades after its discovery the barrows served as one of Thild\u2019s hottest adventuring destinations. Songs are still sung of the riches of the mage lords. What\u2019s more, scholars and sages agree that Thedron was home to one of the great lost Demon-swords of old. Interest in the Barrows, however, declined sharply after surrounding townships were hit with a plague of ghoul fever that transformed the citizenry into undead cannibals. Of late the Barrows have become a place of interest for diabolists seeking to unearth forbidden knowledge, as well as a troupe of bandits hiding from the law. Yet the lure of untold wealth and relics continues to draw the occasional stalwart adventuring party to this hilltop necropolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This 32 page adventure features a two level \u201cbarrows\u201d dungeon full of undead with about a hundred and twenty rooms. It\u2019s trying to present an interesting, dynamic environment that is easy to use. It comes off as a slightly generic \u201cundead tomb\u201d adventure \u2026 with lower interactivity. Still, I get what they are going for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s say something not nice about this adventure! It FEELS like someones first attempt at writing an adventure. And I don\u2019t mean that from a \u201cthe first time I played D&D\u201d kind of viewpoint, but, rather, from a \u201cfirst time trying to write an adventure for someone else to use.\u201d There\u2019s an inkling of knowing what to do, but other areas in which things are just not considered. There are assumptions that are made, by a designer, that they don\u2019t even know they are making. You KNOW what x, y, and z means. It\u2019s implicit in your understanding. And, yet, passing this along to someone else, they get to figure out what you meant. Which, it turns out, is not so obvious. Ideally your editor points this out to you and\/or fixes it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve got a barrow complex here, a mini barrowmaze. A field full of barrows, a two level map with  a bunch of barrows, a bunch of sarcophagus in those barrows. A bunch of undead in those sarcophagus. Some cultists running around. Some bandits, a goblin tribe. And things assumed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The map, I guess, is a good starting point. There are just rooms hanging out on the map. A room surrounded  by rock with a door leading to rock. What\u2019s up with that? As near as I can tell these are meant to represent some of the barrows on the map that are \u201csmall\u201d barrows. IE: the barrowfield map show a number of barrows, one of which is numbered to represent the entrance to the greater dungeon, and, I guess, the other barrows might correspond to the entrances to these \u201cdisconnected\u201d rooms? So, you look at the barrowfield map and the partygoes in to one of these unnumbered barrows and then you flip to the dungeon level one page and try to match this up to the numbered room on level one. Or, you could just number the barrows in the field? Likewise the stairs. There are a decent number. Again, I think these are supposed to match up, vertically? Why not just number them or make a reference to where the come out at  And, the main entrance to the main barrow dungeon. I don\u2019t see a door? It\u2019s written as \u201cThe Great Barrow Interiour\u201d and that description makes it seem like it is the first room the party will encounter. But, there\u2019s no passage to the surface, or obvious doorway to the outside? And the \u201cwilderness\u201d key for the great barrow doesn\u2019t mention anything obvious, like, a hole in the ceiling or some such. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there\u2019s the vibe of the place. Dead. I don\u2019t know why but this has been grating on me for a few years now. Tomb dungeons just seem \u2026 boring? I get it, we\u2019re tomb raiders! Yeah! Exploring the crypts! But, it\u2019s got a lot of Stoic Dwarven Temple issues \u2026 that can just not be an inherently fun environment. Maybe I\u2019m wrong, I don\u2019t know. But, combined with a low treasure and low magic world \u2026 it feels a lot like real world barrow exploring .. if they were this large. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not impossible to create a dynamic and interactive environment in a tomb, but, the environment, I would argue, does not inherently lend itself to these situations. You get traps. You get frescoes. You get The Tomb of Horrors. You get caskets to open. It all feels very static. And, that\u2019s the way this adventure feels, in spite of the various factions running around inside of it. Because they don\u2019t FEEL like they are running around inside of it or that they are lending themselves to a dynamic environment. They feel staid. Ossified, maybe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The formatting here is explicitly influenced by Courtney and the generic to specific style. You get some italics up front (blech! No long sections of italics please! They are hard to read!) with a kind of general room description, and then bolded sections underneath describing the various things of interest that the party might then want to investigate. Great in principal; it\u2019s one of my favorite formats and it\u2019s also easy to describe and a n00b to get in to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So \u2026 should the trap come first? I mean, if there\u2019s a fresco on the wall, should the Frescoe come first or should the trap, thats mentioned in the fresco description, come first? You want the room format to continue the theme of delivering what the DM is likely to need first, first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Should things in descriptions ever say \u201cappears to be?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Should the entirety of the room description be \u201cA small alcover is hidden by a thin wall behind the idol?\u201d How about The Lich? Should the lich entry say something like \u201cit has the name of the lich on it.\u201d but never ever refer to the name of the lich? SHould the small idol not have a value but the jewels for its eyes have a monetary value? I mean, i think it\u2019s a VERY small idol, stealable? Or maybe it\u2019s not? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How about the monsters? Should they NOT appear in the room description? Should you just toss in \u201cCreature: 6 ghouls\u201d in to the DM section of the description? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s disconnected. Almost clinical in its coldness. There\u2019s no joy. It feels generic and\/or abstracted. Rocks are \u201clarge\u201d. The wilderness encounters, for two trolls that are a major menace, says only \u201cthe trolls dwell in a cave in the center of the grove. The wilderness map that is lettered one through five while the entries in the keyed section are A through E. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end result, from the adventure type, the descriptive type, the lack of dynamics coming through, is boring.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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119. The Open Grave<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The beginnings of a long fresco has been painted along the eastern wall. The floor is littered with bones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creatures <\/strong>\u2013 Shriven, Skeletal Champion<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fresco <\/strong>\u2013 a layer of background colors has been painted on the wall. The ghostly dark brown shadows of several human figures have been added, though not detailed. The fresco remains unfinished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gate Keys<\/strong> \u2013in addition to the treasure carried by each of the undead, two egg shaped pearlescent orbs are in the pockets of the shriven. One glows a faintly azure color and the other glows aureloin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What treasure the undead carry? What are they doing? Are they in the rubble? Standing in the middle of the room? I don\u2019t need to be spoon-fed, but, the vibe here is disconnected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is free at the designers Ars Phantasia blog. And, yes, I did upload a random Barrow photo for the cover …. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Thedron Barrows<\/a><\/blockquote>