Barrowmaze Complete: OSR DnD Megadungeon Review

Buy Barrowmaze with Labyrinth Lord stats: www.drivethrurp...
Buy Barrowmaze with DnD 5e stats: www.drivethrurp...
Note that I've recently heard that the 5e version (which I haven't read) has some issues that the LL version does not. Check its comments for details.
Buy the DM Screen inserts: www.drivethrurp...
Barrowmaze Complete is a classic fantasy DnD megadungeon by Greg Gillespie. It comes in two versions, one for Labyrinth Lord, and one for DnD 5e. If you enjoy my OSR reviews, please consider subscribing to the channel or joining me on Patreon!
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[@QuestingBeast]

Tap into the OSR with the Questing Beast newsletter: bit.ly/Glatisant Join the Questing Knights on Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon Download my RPGs and adventures: bit.ly/ItchStore My favorite OSR books: bit.ly/TopOSRBooks

[@aureliomanalo]

For a "Fog of War" effect you can always take silver or black paint and mix it with some dishsoap and paint over a map which will give it a scratch off lottery ticket veneer. That way you can expose a little bit of the map at a time and it is kinda interactive. Plus, scratching off all that stuff is pretty rewarding (which is why it's used in gambling) so you can guarantee the entirety of the map will be explored.

[@jacobhouck1182]

What kind of paper would you need to use?

[@michaelotero4394]

The paper has to be laminated or in a sheet protector. Paint the laminated map or sheet protector using equal parts Dawn dish soap to equal parts cheap, black acrylic paint from a hobby store or Walmart.

[@TheMagneticChicken]

You're killing me ludifex. Everytime I watch one of your reviews I wanna go out and buy whatever you are reviewing.

[@euansmith3699]

I guess that you could say that the Barrow Field is covered by an unnatural mist that limits vision to 50-100'. That could allow for a Hex Crawl on the small map.

[@mikegould6590]

Looks great! I think I may pick up the 5E version, as I already have a region where fields have many barrows dotting the landscape. Thanks Ben!!

[@JosephDCM]

Hey man, enjoying your reviews on the OSR stuff and in general. Glad to see that Grognards live on.

[@diaz5292]

I've had to resub to your channel about 6 times today, as KZbin keeps unsubbing me...lol...FYI. Who knows why, lol

[@iantaran2843]

Trying to run this with Blueholme The players seem to be really enjoying it, which is amazing since usually they complain alot about mega dungeons.

[@VermilionMage]

Man, why would clerics even need a nerf in an undead-themed dungeon? Allow a class to play to their niche. If you need to cut down their power every time they can actually use their powers to great effect, why choose to play a cleric at all? It's like Ravenloft- all the classes that are supposed to be good at fighting the undead are nerfed, and it's stupid. There is no class that is 100% useful in every situation. Most of the time, clerics don't even have a use for Turn Undead at all. When the opportunity comes along to use these cool powers, and the GM says "uh... actually no your powers are lessened because uh... evil magic?" it's just going to result in bad feelings. "Balance" is for videogames, not tabletops.

[@FridgeEating]

I had the same reaction, but I feel it's a bit different when it's an entire undead-themed campaign. Then it's their time to shine all the time, which takes away from other players. If it's just one dungeon in a larger campaign, I fully agree.

[@HeikkiHallamaa]

A review of the Stonehell Dungeon would be cool so you can have different kinds of mega dungeon books

[@QuestingBeast]

I definitely want to review Stonehell at some point.

[@mattprice516]

@@QuestingBeast I definitely want you to review Stonehell at some point as well!

[@natariu]

@@QuestingBeast I also would love to see you review stonehell 😊

[@imikorari]

I've been hoping you'd review this (and the next one!) I know Necrotic Gnome has posted previously about how to place Barrowmaze into Dolmenwood and what tweaks worked well in his game. Seemed very much up your alley.

[@zephphillips1025]

To make the hexcrawl work for players you could use the mapmaking tool for the video-game "Battle for Wesnoth" to recreate the map, then play it in the game as a single character without enemies but with the most extreme fog of war settings turned on.

[@docbrown7916]

Bit out of my $$ range but looks like a nice book based on the vid. I have some of the older classic D&D original books, def old school player wehn I did play, still good stuff for writing short stories.

[@jasonbovee7693]

I really love the illustrations in this book! A very nostalgic feel to the type of art represented...definitely high quality work all the way through! Subscribed!

[@OrderoftheAmberDie]

Came here looking for a potential new project, and was pleased to learn so much from the review. Thanks for the work! -GM, Order of the Amber Die

[@misomiso8228]

Yeah Barrowmaze is a great product.

[@thereluctanthireling]

Huge fan of Barrowmaze, it's a great mega dungeon. Looking forward to the review on Lost Caverns, been debating buying this one as well.

[@questwise4077]

This looks amazing! Do you know if the art and layout is the same for the 5e version? I only ask because I love the aesthetic, but it would be easier for me to integrate it to my current group of players.

[@QuestingBeast]

I haven't seen the 5e version so I can't really say.

[@MrYancakes]

lol the the map's edges directing you to other pages is... literally that's what roadmaps are. that's what roadmaps do.

[@100bullet95]

can you review : Frostbitten and Mutilated ? thanks

[@VorpalDerringer]

I just picked this up for $15 as part of a Humble Bundle, plus a bunch of other stuff. I just wish the pdf worked better on my phone!

[@MelonKnees]

Thank you for this comment! Snagging it myself! www.humblebundle.com/books/old-school-revival-dragons-dungeons-mazes

[@Mandroo]

I was looking at the book from last time you mentioned it. Now I feel I have to get it. It sounds like the answer to helping me get my West Marches game started.

[@paolomorresi3183]

Hi Ben, isn't the 5th edition Barrowmaze much less deadly than the original one? I'm asking that as a player of both the systems.

[@ChuckBarchuk]

These are fantastic Quest! At this point what would you recommend as a megadungeon or dungeon building resource for solo or small group OSR players?

[@dsaashley]

can you recommend a solo rpg mega dungeon….these look so good….

[@antariuk]

Thanks for the review! I've noticed Barrowmaze only in passing, never realized that it's a 'flat' megadungeon, very intriguing. From what's visible on the pages and what your're saying it sounds like the dungeon has a (classic) northern theme?

[@QuestingBeast]

It actually takes place mostly in a swamp, but I think it would be easy to put it anywhere you wanted.

[@pi4t651]

Owning copies of both and comparing them, I think Barrowmaze could work well inserted into Fever Swamp. Possibly in place of the Ur Corpse. There are already heavy undead themes in Fever Swamp, and a cursory glance at Barrowmaze suggests that the upper areas are surprisingly heavy on loot and magic items for first level content. Putting it in Fever Swamp would make them less accessible, particularly if you had some sort of restrictions on recovering spells and suchlike while travelling.

[@KahnShawnery]

Oy! That's an expensive book. I want it.... but.

[@felipegomesrosa]

Barrowmaze

[@QuestingBeast]

Has all the enemies being undead hurt the experience at all or made it repetitive?

[@felipegomesrosa]

Questing Beast the terror of my group is the swamp and merda

[@felipegomesrosa]

In portuguese Merda means shit...so I give her a shit spirit

[@Smittumi]

Any chance you'll stream it if you run it, or do a campaign report?

[@QuestingBeast]

A campaign report is a possibility, but I'm not going to stream it.

[@DankDungeons]

This looks amazing! There is SO MUCH great art in there! Do you think this would work for a west marches style game since it seems like the party can get back to town more easily after completing a section of dungeon?

[@QuestingBeast]

It's designed for exactly that sort of campaign. The 12 or so entrances mean that as you explore the maze, you'll find new paths back to the surface, which means you can start new raids further into the maze without have to start at the same place every time.

[@anlemeinthegame1637]

The Erol Otus cover art is amazing. Immediately recognizable and fantastic.

[@jeffreymoynagh5439]

Good review. I am reading and about to run this shortly so good to hear others ideas.

[@vnerd3026]

Crawling between this and the reprint of Maze of the Blue Medusa, PCs may forget how to walk. And a new megadungeon next week!

[@PeterKoperdan]

Alex Haggerty Has the maze been reprinted? Don’t see anything on the Satyr website..

[@GuerricSamplesGames]

Peter Koperdan I'm not sure how you missed it, but here: gum.co/motbm-2nd

[@PeterKoperdan]

Thanks a lot! I checked on the Satyr Press website satyr.press

[@sleadaddy]

That Helix looks like a band logo

[@ВячеславХоменко-ы9ц]

Thanks a lot!

[@saifernandez8622]

Awesome! You should check out stonehell dungeon, its amazing!

[@Dinuial]

Re the hex map. The barrows would turn the area into low rolling hills, one or two would be known barrows giving the players the idea that there may be more.

[@DocEonChannel]

I only know of one group that started this, and they said it got kind of samey after a while. A majority of rooms are bare of anything except maybe a few undead. Flipping through my copy, I think I see what they mean. I suppose that might be hard to avoid, given the concept. If I were to think of running it I would be honest with the players and say "OK, you have to really be onboard with fighting nothing but undead forever."

[@davidwinters7128]

It's a megadungeon. It has factions (plenty of non-undead ones) and a starting town with personalities (so-and-so wants to murder whatshisface, the blacksmith is suspicious of the barmaid, the barmaid is secretly a spy, etc.). Plus it's written for old school play. It's completely open-ended. Going through hacking at monsters is a *terrible* idea. And even when you are fighting undead, there's a ton of variety. Not just bog-standard skeletons and zombies, but weird variations like sapphire skeletons and juju zombies. If you read this book and saw it as "fighting nothing but undead forever", you should really try running it in a less combat-centric system. Those empty rooms are a blessing.

[@rhinoxrifter356]

Also "the dungeon is ever evolving." It is up to the DM to make it less samey. Factions are KEY! In mine, the froglings and tomb robbers are the main opponents.

[@antiantifa886]

Is that erol otus artwork? Love his art!

[@jh1859]

Omg, it's a coloring book! You frikkin' nailed it.

[@mcdo0gal1985]

Is this no longer available?

[@mythicmountainsrpg]

I’ve really enjoyed my time as a player in Barrowmaze. I’m really impressed with how easy it looks to apply to a table and put to work. The game loop of going back and forth from the town works well, and the town and NPCs have tons of details. You really could slow burn a mega dungeon campaign with this for a very long time I think. I hope I get to play in it more.

[@larsenex33]

This was an excellent review. I purchased both the Hard copy and the PDF. I intend on spending about a year or more simply converting it and building the tables for Pathdfinder 2E in Fantasy Grounds Unity (64bit). Unity can handle full map just fine and I can use a combo of masking and LOS to give it a nice 'scary feel' I am already building the random tables for the barrows but its a lot of work re configuring this stuff for Pf2. Your review was intstrumental as I had wanted a mega dungeon for P2 but my research and reviews led me (always) back to Barrowmaze.

[@clivecrous]

How compatible with Knave would the Labyrith Lord version be?

[@TheVexinator]

All in all, this is a good review. Adding a map for each individual room @11:40 would have made the book considerably larger and more expensive... and I suspect this added bulk would also make finding things more difficult. This criticism would be understandable if this (maps for individual rooms) were a normal industry convention but it's not - therefore criticizing this part, however mildly, is unfair.

[@QuestingBeast]

I disagree. Every book I've seen that's done this has made the adventure enormously easier to run. There are about 100 pages of room descriptions. A minimap on each 2 page spread would increase that page count by about 1/8, so you're only look at adding 15-20 more pages to the book.

[@TheVexinator]

Can you give an example of such a book? I have quite an extensive collection of modules and have never seen a published adventure which supplies both a large map and individual maps for rooms. They all do things similar to this book where small areas have a small map located near the description, but larger areas (like the greater barrowmaze) refer to you a large map which you are expected to tear out or print a copy of for reference while running the adventure.

[@James-mu3iw]

I believe Maze of the Blue Medusa has minimaps on almost every page.

[@QuestingBeast]

Blood in the Chocolate has minimaps for each room.

[@TheVexinator]

Hey! Thanks so much to both of you for the citations! I really appreciate the responses. I don't have either of these adventures (neither appeal to me) but I've now watched reviews of them both and understand why you would like to see more adventure modules being generous with their maps. That said, I'm not convinced either of these really contradict my point that this is not an industry standard. I just don't see the lack of any non-standard feature as something worthy of criticism. (Rather I'd praise adventures if they did do this properly.) Ultimately I understand that adding features like this (which would add additonal pages and design time) increases the end price... and price is something that's this review already addresses. It's odd to see one of your significant criticisms of Barrowmaze being the price, and then another complaint that they aren't adding in a well liked but uncommon (for now at least) feature which would add additional cost. Everyone's entitled to their opinion and my appreciation of your responses is sincere.