Mertwig's Maze is a board game set in the Forgotten Realms setting. Play occurs in the Kingdom of Mertwig, a location invented for the game, in north Faerûn's Vast region.
But treasures (not to mention birthmarks) are not exactly easy to find. And after a would-be Royal Heir tracks them both down, he (or she) must present them to King Mertwig - and that requires braving the dangers of Mertwig's Maze!
The Mertwig's Maze game is a lighthearted fantasy boardgame from Tom Wham, designer of numerous games published in Dragon magazine, including the classic Snit Smashing and Snit's Revenge. In the Mertwig's Maze game, you are the would-be heir to Mertwig's throne! Can you complete your quest, get past the Mystic Musk Ox in Mertwig's Maze, and reach the finish before the other players? More importantly, can you claim the throne before Mertwig passes on and the kingdom falls into the clutches of evil?[1]Gameplay[]
Players venture into the wilderness, either randomly, towards one of the seven minor boards, or as directed by an event card, in search of the necessary items. Combat with monsters ensues from encounter cards drawn during these explorations. Players also have the option to attack one another in hopes of acquiring royal items from their adversaries. If a character is killed in combat, the player begins the next turn with a new character. Once a player has collected two royal items, they can proceed to the royal palace maze to confront the Mystic Musk-Ox. The player who defeats this final adversary wins the game.
Contents[]
- 1 large paper game map
- 8 smaller paper game maps
- 190 event cards
- 100 diecut, full-color counters
- 1 cardstock storage folder
- 1 rules booklet
History[]
Mertwig's Maze was designed by Tom Wham, with editing by Steve Winter, cover art and interior illustrations by Wham, gameboard art by David C. Sutherland III, and graphic coordination by Stephanie Tabat. It was published by TSR, Inc. in 1988,[2] though was originally fully-developed and play-tested by Wham for another game company,[3] Gary Gygax's start-up New Infinities Productions.[4] New Infinities folded before the game could be released and Wham eventually reached out to TSR through friends in the company,[3] managing to sell Jim Ward on it under the caveat that it be somehow tied to Dungeons & Dragons, leading to Mertwig's rework as a Forgotten Realms product.[4] Prior to his contract with New Infinities Productions, Tom Wham had designed an early iteration of the game while he was still an employee at TSR in 1983,[3][4][note 1] under the working title The Dungeon.[3]
Later in 1991, Tom Wham wrote an article titled "More To The Maze" for issue 57 of the Polyhedron Newszine. In this article he provided errata for Mertwig's Maze, a whole new encounter titled "The Tallest Tree In the Forest", and detailed the development history of the board game.[3]
The map excerpt from Tom Wham's website.
The "Tallest Tree In The Forest" expansion was later uploaded online by Tom Wham to his personal website, alongside a sketch someone at TSR did atop an excerpt of an official map of the Realms to illustrate for him where exactly the Kingdom of Mertwig was located in the Vast.[4][note 2]
Index[]
Characters[]
Creatures[]
Magic[]
Locations[]
Organizations[]
Miscellaneous[]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Neither the Polyhedron article nor Tom Wham's website state exactly the year of Mertwig's conception, though the latter mentions that it “...lived in a brown cardboard box for about 5 years before getting published”. From this the year 1983 can be extrapolated.
- ↑ Based on the art style of the map excerpt that was drawn upon and the use of "Ravensgate" instead of "Ravens Bluff", it would appear that the excerpt is of Dennis Kauth's poster map of the Realms from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set boxed set.
Gallery[]
Further Reading[]
- Jim Bambra (April 1989). “Role-playing Reviews”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Dragon #144 (TSR, Inc.), p. 45.
- Tom Wham (January 1991). “More to the Maze”. In Jean Rabe ed. Polyhedron #57 (TSR, Inc.), p. 28–29.
External Links[]
Mertwig's Maze article at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
References[]
- ↑ Tom Wham (1988). “Rulebook”. Mertwig's Maze (TSR, Inc.).
- ↑ Tom Wham (1988). “Rulebook”. Mertwig's Maze (TSR, Inc.), p. 1.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Tom Wham (January 1991). “More to the Maze”. In Jean Rabe ed. Polyhedron #57 (TSR, Inc.), p. 28–29.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Tom Wham on Mertwig's Maze. (01-25-2004). Retrieved on 02-23-2023.