The players in my current Majestic Wilderlands campaign are currently going through the Barrowmaze. I re-skinned it slightly as a Viridian (demonic race) First Empire ruin.

Quote from: Gwarh;9969191) Is there any guideline (I must have missed if there is) as to what levels roughly the PC's should be in particular parts of the mega-dungeon? I know that's more 5E thinking than Old-School, but at the same time it isn't. [/INDENT

] No but some areas are rougher than others.

Quote from: Gwarh;996919I realize it's a sandbox and just the players go where they wish and run from anything to powerful for them, but still it would be nice to have a rough guideline.

Starting at Room 1 and toward the south and southeast is low level. If they proceed east from #1 and turn to the north they will get their ass handed to them at low level. The eastern section of Complete is tougher than the western section. However given the multiple entrances a total TPK is possible from the onset.

A cleric heavy party will have an easier time of it because in OD&D there is no limit on the number of time Turn Undead can be used. Except while the Pit of Chaos is active each successive attempt is at a cumulative -1 until they left the barrow ground for 24 hours. Then it resets.

Quote from: Gwarh;9969192) Has anyone read/played through it, and if so what was your experience. Did you enjoy it? Hate it? Tinker With it? etc etc.

It is the best of the published Megadungeons I have run to date just edging out Tegal Manor. If you like gonzo Tegal is slightly better. I recommend printing out the initial pages of general notes and the two pages of consolidated charts from the end of the module. Also due to it one level layout the players are unlikely to grasp just how big it is at first. It has distinct sections with a few exits so it possible to explore an area completely with only one or two corridors left that look just some short cleanup.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;996940What exactly makes it special? Is it just a big swampy dungeon?

It feels like a place that could exist in a fantasy setting and not like a place generated randomly by a mad wizard. However there are enough exception that it not monotonous. The downside is that it can be a grind if the party insist on cleaning out each and every room first. My group started this and then found some clues about the larger nature of the place and had a lot more fun focusing on that. Now they have dealt with the Pit of Chaos, they going back and cleaning out everything. They use the wealth they found at first to hire a small army of hirelings to handle the searching.

Quote from: Gwarh;996954Absolutely that is re: the surface burial mounds, looting as many as you can before heading down into the dungeon proper, as that probably will give the players a level or three of experience, (level-ups) before descending towards their deaths.

Unless they stumble on one of the entrances to the higher level sections.

I've read some criticism of Barrowmaze as suffering from the giant rats and copper coins syndrome, ie. too generic and vanilla enemies. That has prevented me from checking it out, any truth to that criticism? Is it full of standard issue goblins, orcs and bugbears? Is the treasure generic coins and +1 swords?

Quote from: Voros;997218I've read some criticism of Barrowmaze as suffering from the giant rats and copper coins syndrome, ie. too generic and vanilla enemies. That has prevented me from checking it out, any truth to that criticism? Is it full of standard issue goblins, orcs and bugbears? Is the treasure generic coins and +1 swords?

No. That's like the opposite of Barrowmaze. A dope told you that stuff.

Describe to me how it is not that then. Is the treasure unique and the magic items inventive? What are the enemies like?

I ran Barrowmaze. It has a good combination of conventional dungeoneering and some twists; of standard treasure/monsters and some unusual stuff.

My players enjoyed it for the most part, but there were some moments in their very complete exploration of the dungeon where they felt it was a little tedious.

We've played some of it. It is well done no doubt but to play in nothing but Barrowmaze (which can easily be done over a full length campaign) would be tendious to say the least.

Quote from: Voros;997220Describe to me how it is not that then. Is the treasure unique and the magic items inventive? What are the enemies like?

It's primary motif is that of a catacomb with undead. There are thousands of burial alcoves throughout the dungeon all of which can be searched and yield at least a small amount of treasure. But since a room can easily have dozens of these and a character can only search 10 per turn it can be viewed as tedious and monotonous. And the place is huge beyond belief and all presented as a single underground level.

However most of the crypts and rooms have something unique about them. Plus the dungeon has a sense of place that is plausible for the PCs to reason out. Then there are the truly unique areas like the Pit of Chaos as well as the factions livings in the dungeon.

Cool thanks all. I do like the theme of an entire dungeon of undead particularly if there is a hierarchy with more intelligent undead plotting, etc.

I've only run the original Barrowmaze (and only read the second installment). We really liked it, even if most of the inhabitants are hostile by default.
I had to add a couple new passages, though, because there are too many dead ends, in my opinion.

Quote from: YnasMidgard;998461I've only run the original Barrowmaze (and only read the second installment). We really liked it, even if most of the inhabitants are hostile by default.
I had to add a couple new passages, though, because there are too many dead ends, in my opinion.

Yeah, dead ends are pointless.

Quote from: RPGPundit;999058Yeah, dead ends are pointless.

And redundancy is redundant?

Quote from: RPGPundit;999058Yeah, dead ends are pointless.

How can you have something hidden in a back corner if there are not "back corners"?
A dead end also has the advantage of reducing the number of directions an attacker can come from.
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As a player I would suspect that every deadend has a hidden door or trap.