It all begins in a tavern ...
In this case usually
The Brazen Strumpet, a large and welcoming establishment, framed in timbered beams of dark Oak and blizzard white plaster. Offering varied seasonal fayre from homebrew honeyed meads, flagons of frothy ales, rat-on-a-stick nibbles (marinades of barbecue sauce or mint optional or just dipped into the cheese fondue bucket), Yesterday's Stew or 'all in' celebratory Hog roasts.
A raised stage is home to resident bard,
Bublé who croons penned melodious tributes and waxes lyrical to laud brave adventurer's tales. Niches display the many trophies and momentoes of grave goods grabbed and trinket trove retrieved from the fabled Barrow Mounds. Invariably
Alastar, imbecile beggar-knight, brings his own forlorn testimony of shattered dreams and Barrowmaze banes, offering you his wit, wisdom and a view of his buttock tattooed map in exchange of an overflow of copper pieces into his tin cup. The coins rattling as loosely as his fragile sanity.
... and so it began ... three years ago, I started to furnish the background to the Barrowmaze campaign, an 'open world sandbox' adventure with its labyrinthine mega-dungeon as the overarching theme.
To date we have had sixty characters enrolled in the rogues gallery of foolhardy bravehearts. Currently we have thirty-one active Player characters spread across nine concurrent expeditions in urban, wilderness and dungeon settings.
As Scripture says,
"the Grave, the Barren Womb and a Man's eyes are never satisfied". As a father of seven I cannot speak to the second but certainly the latter's search for gold, glory, arcane enlightenment and divine favour has caused many an adventurer to purge himself of all life-blood and soul in the pursuit of wealth and prosperity. And
The Grave has an open throat to swallow the unwary, the heroic, the ill-fated and those unlucky few whose dice rolls just don't roll high enough! Too late to mourn the Cleric not tithing for a +1 blessing, the Rogue fumbling the trapped lock with rusty rather than artisan keys, dismissing the burden of spider silk bandages, unpaying mercenaries who lack the steadfast loyalty to fight to the last man, thereby turning tail and fleeing to leave other comrades to grim and certain fates.
As we move to our 3rd Anniversary
(and some bonus blessings from the campaign cake) let me give a big shout-out and
"Thank You" to all my great Players, without whom this game would be a bland, linear funnel.
My greatest joy to see Players customise their avatars from base fledgling beginners to veterans with unique storylines; having experiences heroic and tragic, learning new spells, crafts, traits; influencing the world around them. All under the watchful eye of new Gods and Old, demon entities and a few lurkers on the Unseen forum.
And those Gods, demons and lurkers in Moor and Maze are ever awakening to take more than just a passive interest in those who wander were angels fear to tread.
We have had some recent Player withdrawals and a spate of new interest; the campaign is geared towards assimilating new characters at any time meaning that if any new or veteran forum members are provoked into rolling those [4d6]'s and tempting their own journey into the Barrowmaze delves, we can accommodate those aspirations.
For those who have joined in this last year and to those who have ventured together from the very first tentative steps beyond. A
salute to you all.
I will randomise an anniversary trinket and gift each player at the end of the month.
). The throat of Sheol (the grave) will be sure to stay open and thirsty.
), traded with the Harpy, got shafted and frozen by impish gargoyles and have just seen the Daemon snatch a comrade off to the Abyss.