Module review: "Against the Barrow King"

"Against the Barrow King": a review 

considering compatibility with D.R.E.A.D.

No news from this blog for a while, I know... The creative process is ongoing, though, and the break is partly because I'm working on around 8 articles at the same time (world geography, cosmology and gods, races & civilisations, rules for Alchemy and for "Gold as XP").
At the same time, I read a lot of modules, adventures and scenarios, in search for background inspiration and modules fitting the setting.
So, in the meantime, why not review the modules I read?
Since this project is still in its infancy, I tend to use any material I find, even if it's not D&D5. And why not starting with material I already possess (which is more often than not for D&D3)?
First review: "Against the Barrow King"

Backcover and cover of the original module in booster format, side by side

Spoilers:

You might get severely spoiled by this review. Consider yourself warned!

What is it and where do I find it?

"Against the Barrow King - Lvl 3-5 - by Steve Hough" is a module first published by AEG in 2000 for D&D3 in their "booster" format (narrow and cheap modules under 3$). It was reworked for D&D3.5 and integrated in the book "Adventure I".
Since I own Adventure I, this is the version I read and reviewed here.
The module is also to be found on drivethrurpg.com for less than a dollar, but I don't know in which version (but the preview lets me think it's the original module for D&D3.0, without the newer map, which is much nicer looking).
There are some other reviews of the module there, but (spoilers) I kind of disagree with them.
Adventure I, the collection of the first 24 modules, is also available there for less than 4 $ (and that's where the nicer map can be found)

Difficulty:

Apparently, the first version of the module was way too easy and was reworked to be tougher in Adventure I. Since I haven't (and won't) run the module, and would not do it in D&D3.5 anyway, I can't really comment on that.

Kind of Module:

Very classical and straightforward dungeon

Motivation for the PCs to resolve the module:

Classical to cliché: you enter the village, the elder explains the situation and asks you to resolve it for money.

Architecture:

The barrow king was brought to his final resting place in a burial mound, hence his name. This is not really relevant, since he lies in the only described mound of the 8, that are only present there for good mesure.
The inside architecture is sometimes described in read-aloud-texts, but are not really moving.
What about the other 7 mounds? Well, they not described, since their entrance is blocked... Why include them, then?

Twist:

The barrow king isn't the main threat (but his ghost is still an antagonist, for no logical reason - neither one to be an antagonist nor to coexist peacefully with the other living beings in the mound), but a cult from a slaughter god.
If you could call that a real twist, i'd say it's a pretty bad one.

Art:

The relative lack of art does not really deserve this module. The 4 artworks included (cover, 1 monster, 1 map, and 1 magical object only included in the original stand-alone version of the module) range from good (for the map of the collected version - Adventure I) to nice but slightly out of topic (is it supposed to be the barrow king on the cover?) to useable (map in the original stand-alone version) and inspiring but not showable (the monster depiction is somehow inspiring). A picture of a magical object was included in the original module, but was probably deemed not nice enough to make it in the collected version (and it's not good art, so it doesn't really matter if it is not included in Adventure I)
To be blunt, the art is not the strongest side of the module.

My 2 cents:

As you might probably have guessed bynow from my tone, I'm quite disappointed by the quality of this module. I would not run it without such a reworking, that it would only be a cannibalization of the few good ideas of the module repacked in a nearly unrecognizeable other module.
Why that you should ask?
Well, to be direct:

• the premise and introduction of the module are far too classical to be used unaltered (unless you have players coming for their first game evening - but then you have better module to introduce them to roleplaying games)
• The cult has an overall motivation, but no member of it, or any other enemy, has a described motivation of its own
• The module is build on a DMT-pattern (Door-Monster-Treasure). Some room are shortly described in an uninspired read-aloud-text, but no interaction between the rooms is described (apart from alarmed Orcs that were off duty, because of a creaking secret door), no alternatives to fight either.
• The twist is unimpressive
• There are ghouls in and around the mound that only attack if you wear the smell of a particuliar species of mushrooms that is present in one of the rooms of the dungeon - I would have found it much more interesting and logical the other way around (I suspect the author wanted the ghouls to only attack grave robbers with shrooms on their clothes, but there is no mention of this anywhere)
• No room for real interaction or role-play or other challenges than monsters - no trap, no enigma, no way to make a less-combattant PC shine [a rogue for example]. As-written, this is strictly a hack'n'slash module. And that's my main rejection point, to be honest

By Jupiter, nothing to save there?

To be fair, there are only a few nice/cool things in this module to recycle:

• The map is well drawn, clear and easy to read. Not sure I would picture a burial mound if I were to see it without prior knowledge, but it's not useless.
• The cult created Frankensteined-constructs from the bodies they village-naped - these are worth recycling in a setting where alchemy plays an important role
• As another reviewer on drivethru pointed out, the weapon of the cult leader/dungeon-end boss is nice and tainted. Add a way to relieve the weapon of its taint (through a quest of your own development) and it's really worth gaming with. You'd have to rework its mechanical side for 5E, but the basis is sound.
• As yet another reviewer on drivethru pointed out, one of the village-naped peasant was bit by a ghoul and transformed while imprisonned. Nice idea to surprise your PCs with a ghoul attack when they think they are freeing an ally.

Would the module fit easily in the setting of D.R.E.A.D.?

The "booster" modules were made to be easily inserted in any setting, so yes, it would actually be easy to rebrand it for D.R.E.A.D. (that's positive, right?) or any other rural setting, for that matter.
You would have to change the tutelary god of the cult to the Androctasiae (female spirits of manslaughter) and probably make the main oppponents females and at least half of the lower cultists, too.
The cursed weapon would need a lvl 10 Cleric to be created with the rules of D&D3, but it'd needed rework anyway, therefore i don't think that it violates the level-cap rule of the setting (and it might have been forged by the Androctasiae themselves anyway - maybe in collaboration with Volcan/Volcanus himself?)

How would you rate the module?

I'd give it two stars out of five.
The fact that I could read it through and found things I would re-use is definitively worth more than one star.

Would you recommend it?

No, not really. Unless you want to convert Diablo Players to tabletop, have all figurines at home, and want a very classical Hack'n'slash-only module.
It would probably make a fun one-evening module for Levi Kornelsen's "8-Bit Dungeon: An Adventure Game of Funny-Shaped Dice", if used parodically, though...

I will review Adventure I once I have reviewed each module it contains, but as a pdf with 24 modules for less than 4$, what could go wrong?

Disclaimer:

The drivethru-links included in this article might be affiliate-links