At some point, it has become very difficult
to write these things. Not because there
are not enough cool products for the DCC RPG – there are plenty of those!
– but because I have become involved in some capacity with so many of the
publishers. This makes it very difficult
indeed to ensure objectivity, or even the appearance thereof.
You can take that all with a grain of salt,
though, because I am talking about what I like, what I don’t like, and what I
think works or does not. There's a lot of subjectivity involved in blogging anyway.
The wizards in Appendix N are a varied lot, and there is seldom any explanation
given for the strangeness of their appearances or ways. The Emerald Enchanter, by Joseph
Goodman, is the first DCC module to feature a wizard not as one of several
NPCs, but as a primary antagonist.
There
are also some innovative monsters, which demonstrate how creatures in Dungeon
Crawl Classics don’t necessarily follow the normal rules. Players who are expecting to merely slog through the encounters using sword and spell to defeat everything that comes their way are going to be re-educated in the way DCC works – something that more DCC adventures (including my own!) should be using.
The titular Emerald Enchanter supplies a
complex set-piece climax that might include a full-on spell duel, making this
the first DCC product geared toward doing so.
Finally, a close reading of the text
indicates what the Emerald Enchanter’s patron has done for him, and should
suggest how a patron relationship might benefit the PCs as well. In DCC, “NPCs are different”, and the judge
can and should consider the NPC’s relationship with any patron in a “mechanics agnostic”
mode while writing. The Emerald Enchanter
certainly shows this, and makes good use of the DCC rules framework and
philosophy.
I have yet to run this one, but it reads as
a solid adventure that should be fun to run/play through, and I look forward to eventually folding it into my own campaign.
.JPG)
