Grom the Goblin Hero

In the caverns of the Bone Breaker tribe, they sing of the exploits of their great hero, Grom the Barbarian Slayer.

'Twas a pleasant and peaceful morning in the lair when he, the Barbarian arrived. Until that day, he was considered just an old wive's tale, used to scare the children. But lo, there he was in the flesh.

With nary of word of warning, he attacked, splitting the skull of the hobgoblin guard who first challenged him. He then slew a handful more. Only one of the unfortunate guards escaped!

The guard ran swiftly to the king and delivered the warning. The king replied, "Fear not, my friends and countrymen. He cannot surpass all of our defenses. Wait and see."

But the Barbarian made it past the mushrooms of death, whose poison spores could stop a troll in its tracks.

Next he dodged the falling rock trap, with only a minor wound.

Then he slaughtered the pack of guard rats. The goblinkin were worried, but the Goblin King assured them that all would be well.

Nevertheless, he turned to his captain and quietly commanded, "send more troops."

And thus, Grom's band received the call to defend the lair. Although we should note that at that time 'twas not strictly "his." Grom was not in command, but was still a lowly spear carrier.

The defenders set out and soon encountered the maddened Barbarian. They charged the foe, but his deadly sword cut them down left and right.

Soon, only Grom remained. He confessed that his knees shook and he thought of running. But something kept him there. Instead, he stabbed with his spear. It caught the Barbarian in the thigh. Blood began oozing from the wound.

The Barbarian cursed in his vile tongue and slashed down with his mighty sword. Grom caught the blow on his shield. The shield broke and he was nearly knocked to his knees. But once again he stabbed, this time piercing the Barbarian's arm. More blood splattered across the cavern.

The Barbarian was truly enraged now. He swung wildly, but Grom dodged. Finally, Grom struck again. This time, the spear point stabbed deep into the Barbarian's vitals. The monstrous barbarian crashed to the ground.

And that is how Grom became known as Barbarian Slayer.

Game Notes
Pardon the lengthy narrative, but I was inspired after my latest skirmish endeavor.

Sometimes, I am feeling a bit lazy (I don't want to pull out miniatures or map out a Four Against Darkness dungeon) but I still want to slay some monsters. I've played around with card-based dungeons before (such as these home brew rules and One Deck Dungeon). Recently I had some ideas for a new home brew set and decided to try them out. I used index cards to create encounters for an attack on a goblin cavern and then statted up a lone barbarian to challenge the dungeon (I've been reading Lin Carter's Thongor series and wanted to unleash a lone barbarian on the world).

Berp the Barbarian managed to survive the first few encounters but ran afoul of a goblin patrol. He killed 4 of the 5, but the last one proved to be a tough nut. I then decided to write the tale of the barbarian slayer.

What of the rules themselves? I think the concept bears further experimentation. Pulling cards to determine encounters and create the dungeon is an excellent mechanic. I need to work on the rules though. I was using a variant of the Age of Heroes skirmish rules. For a card-based dungeon crawl, there were not enough decision points (for example, there is no maneuvering). It basically was a dice fest. I am thinking of adding some D&D style feats, which will add some "resource" management decisions to the game.