Session Report – The Pumpkin Lord of Lankshorn

Here’s a write-up for my latest Halloween game, an altered version of the Pumpkin Lord adventure from Scribe of Orcus #1. This was actually the second time I ran this adventure – you can check out my previous session report and compare it to this newer one.

What sinister force was behind the meteor crash outside of Lankshorn and the overnight appearance of the mysterious dome of impenetrable mesh of vine, leaf, and pumpkin? A band of brave adventurers entered the green doorway to investigate – and many pumpkin-related shenanigans ensued…

hr-drips-flip

Continue reading

Posted in Campaign Setting, DolmenBarrow, Game Sessions | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Pumpkin Lord of Lankshorn

I’ve decided to run a Halloween-themed one-shot entitled the Pumpkin Lord of Lankshorn. Set in the Dolmenwood, it will use my house-ruled Labyrinth Lord system and may feature the survivors from the Barrowmaze campaign. I’ll post a session report after we play.

Here’s the introductory blurb:

The chill of fall was in the air the night that a fiery ball fell from the sky near Lankshorn. There were few witnesses to this event, but by late morning all of the residents of the village had learned of the occurrence and many had looked for where this meteor from the heavens had fallen.

The great pumpkin field a mile south of Lankshorn, owned by one Merle Branbrook, became the object of much speculation when it was discovered to be the crash site. In the center of the field was a large, charred pit too hot for anyone to approach. There was an ominous cloud over the field that gave the uneasy feeling that the crater stood for something sinister. All through the day the crater smoked, and old Merle scratched his head at the loss of over half of his pumpkin patch. If the residents of Lankshorn were apprehensive about the crater, they were downright fearful the morning of the following day.

At dawn, Merle made his rounds to feed the livestock. When he went out to the pumpkin field, he discovered an immense, tangled vine dome that had sprung up in the night! The pumpkin vines at the periphery of the crater had grown to great proportions, and twisted into an impenetrable mesh of vine, leaf, and pumpkin. They had completely encompassed the smoking pit discovered the day before. That is, except for one small opening, about the size of a doorway, on the south-east side of the green dome.

For days the cursed place drew much fearful curiosity, until a band of brave adventures happened by, and decided to enter the green doorway…

hr-drips-flip

Posted in Campaign Setting, DolmenBarrow, Game Sessions | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Thoughts on Barrowmaze (Part 3)

This is my third (and final) post about Barrowmaze in my recent DolmenBarrow campaign. You should probably start by reading my first and second posts on this subject.

Before I begin, I’d just like to say that this Barrowmaze campaign was closest I’ve come to running a “canonical” dungeon in D&D. For that alone it deserves great praise. I’d like to thank Greg Gillespie again for publishing this adventure and making it awesome.

Today I’m covering escalation of wandering monsters, setpiece encounters vs. Quantum Ogres, and thoughts on material from other modules.


Continue reading

Posted in Campaign Setting, DolmenBarrow, Game Sessions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thoughts on Barrowmaze (Part 2)

Last week I posted some of my thoughts on Barrowmaze, and it turns out that I still have a ton of notes jotted down about the game.

Today I’ll write about some of the ways in which I customized Barrowmaze for my own purposes, how I maintained the pace to ensure closure to the adventure, and some more thoughts about maps.

(By the way, the image at right is by Von Allen and is entitled “fleeing from Barrowmaze”. I put a printout of it on my referee screen to remind the players that not every encounter can be defeated.)


Continue reading

Posted in Campaign Setting, DolmenBarrow, Game Sessions | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Thoughts on Barrowmaze (Part 1)

Last month I wrapped up my DolmenBarrow campaign (see the adventure log). With the PDF for Greg Gillespie’s Caverns of Archaia being released today I’m finally posting some thoughts on Barrowmaze. I’ve had these in draft for a couple months, but now seems like an ideal time to publish them…


Continue reading

Posted in Campaign Setting, DolmenBarrow, Game Sessions | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments