Harkenhold

An Epic Adventure Board Game for 1-4 Heroes.

The Fall of Harkenhold | Heroes & Vile Beasts

Delve Deeper into the Hold

Included on this page:

Teasers for Acts IV-XIII.
Dwarven Honor.
1,860,480 Insulting Dwarven Battle Cries!
A few words on the most important design decision in Harkenhold.

Teasers for Acts IV-XIII

Act IV. The Hall of Horophus

Memories from childhood may help you retake the Hall of Horophus. Tyvala, the Dwarven Sneakthief, recalls a curious detail about these engraved pillars…

Act V. Battle for the Forge

The Furnace Golem was invented by the Dwarven forgemaster Horophus Harnhelm. And they’ve provided centuries of loyal service to the steelsmiths of your clan.

Act VI. Revenants

In the conclave caverns beyond the Great Forge, the smell of rot and a familiar, high-pitched cackle can mean only one thing: A horde of stinking Rot Goblins. But perhaps someone you know has managed to survive amidst the filth?

Act VII. An Iron Crown and Gold

A row of smudge fires burn before the locked doors of the Throne Room, defiling the Ancestor’s Antechamber. From within, you hear Dwarves screaming, and the guttural laughter of Swamp Ogres.

Act VIII. The Pool of Herapha

Rumors persist that Val-Moroth’s forces flooded the Pool of Herapha to gain access to the Upper Halls. Dwarves detest swimming, but it falls upon you to find out.

Act IX. An Act of Sabotage

Act X. The Iron Doors

Act XI. Blood in the Mines

Act XII. The Black Flail

Act XIII. Return to the Mead Hall

Plus: Up to 5 Surprise Side-Quests!

You can never be sure which NPC or vile Beast holds the keys to Harkenhold. Your perilous journey will twist and turn.

Dwarven Honor in Harkenhold

“Honor is the gift Dwarves give themselves.”

–Khomar Bullfist, Smasher of Ranks

Dwarves greatly value honor, and Dwarven society is rich with opportunities to acquire and lose it. Some NPCs in Harkenhold will not interact with, grant quests to, or sell their wares to PCs whose Honor is low. Similarly, some areas in Harkenhold have an Honor score required for entry. Maintaining high Honor allows your PC entrée into the depths of Harkenhold, as well as access to the best weapons, equipment, spells, and armor.

Once during each new Encounter, PCs have the opportunity to earn one Honor point for heroic, inspirational, or entertaining play. For example, if Ragvold the Blood Cleric shouts a Dwarven battle cry during combat, such as,

“Yaaar! I shall bludgeon thee, thou Elven-eared gnatcatcher, with my great-grand-uncle’s forge hammer!”

he earns an Honor point. In general, heroic actions, humor in the face of grim odds, and inspirational play earn Honor. If your playgroup is shouting, laughing, or pounding the table, it’s a good bet someone should earn an Honor point. Honor points are not overly difficult to come by–if you play your PC as a courageous, ribald, grumpy, brazen, or curmudgeonly Dwarf, Honor will not be a problem.

In addition, all PCs earn an Honor point when they successfully complete an Encounter, and all PCs lose an Honor point when they fail an Encounter.

Dwarves celebrate and admire:

Loud proclamations of opinion or intent, in a rich Dwarven accent.
Brash courage in the face of danger.
Slaying an enemy with a two-handed weapon in epic fashion.
Slaying an enemy with fire magic in epic fashion.

Dwarves detest and abhor:

Cowardice.
Inaction.
Quiet acceptance of failure.

Insulting Dwarven Battle Cries!

In Harkenhold, you don’t just say, “I hit the monster with my weapon.” Instead, belt out your battle cry in a r-r-r-rich Dwarven accent!

Example: “Yaaar! I shall bludgeon thee, thou Elven-eared gnatcatcher, with me great-grand-uncle’s forge hammer!”

Template: “_______! I shall _______ thee, thou _______ _______, with _______!”

Humiliate and disgrace your foes with this d100-rollable chart. Quickly generate 1,860,480 honorable Dwarven battle cries.

Note: Want to punch up your battle cry? Roll for multiple adjectives.

Show the Insulting Dwarven Battle Cries Chart.

A few words on maximum challenge, narrative arc, and the single most important design decision in Harkenhold.

Whether you’re a soloist dungeoneer looking for an immersive and strategic adventure, or a full playgroup craving evenings of raucous fun, the Harkenhold campaign is always played with four heroic characters.

If you’re a soloist, don’t fret. While commanding four heroes may feel complex at first, you will soon grow to love it. The Harkenhold system is intuitive. It’s especially easy to master if you have experience with adventure board games, roleplaying games, or round-based RPG video games. And if you don’t, no worries! We do. The Harkenhold team has decades of experience with all of the above, and we’ll walk you through it. You’re in good hands.

And if you’re a playgroup of two, three, or four, get ready for a roaring, snorting, lavish Dwarven tale. We specifically designed Harkenhold for four heroic characters so that we could add maximum depth to each Act.

When designing encounters, be they combats, strategic puzzles, or NPC interactions, it’s a huge advantage to understand the strengths and talents of the party. Because we knew from the outset that parties in Harkenhold would always have access to a Sneakthief, a Hedge Wizard, a Berzerker, and a Blood Cleric, we designed from the perspective of maximum challenge, rather than from the perspective of maximum flexibility.

This is a subtle but important point. Designing from the perspective of maximum flexibility dilutes everything. It dilutes combat. It dilutes monsters. It dilutes the narrative arc and the overall experience. Sure, there are work-arounds. You can add a few Swamp Ogres here, or dial down the power level of the Furnace Golems there. But this is just playing with numbers. As a designer, if you’re not sure that the party will be able to handle traps, for example, this waters down both the concept and the delivery of traps within the game. If the party might not have access to area-of-effect spells during a play session, the underlying strategic design of the entire combat must take this into account. These choices wind up affecting narrative. What was once sharp becomes stale.

We didn’t want to wash out our story or make compromises in our design. In Harkenhold, all of the encounters are plot-connected. Many of the combats are perilously difficult. You’ll have to think strategically and use all your party’s resources to triumph. And if at first you don’t succeed, well…you know what they say.

Join the Clan

Everyone who signs up for the newsletter receives a Launch Day reminder, to claim their Kickstarter Day 1 only discount on Harkenhold.

And if you’d like to become a Harkenhold beta tester, we’ll send you PDFs of Acts I-III of the Harkenhold Campaign, to play in their entirety. Begin the perilous quest to reclaim your ancestral home, right now.

Act I: Escape from Grumwol Tower.
Act II: Explore the Dwarven shanty town of Ricketon.
Act III: Make your way up the Great Stair.

Play Acts I-III and give us your feedback–we use your input to make Harkenhold better. Beta testers receive special recognition and a special reward when we bring Harkenhold to Kickstarter.