Looking Back at the Bride of Cyclops Con

After being a little slow on my AlbaCon write-ups, let me see if I can be less tardy with Bride of Cyclops Con. As with the previous convention, playing at home meant balancing the needs of my family with time to game, so I only ran 3 games on the weekend. If you compare that with my average of 6 games at Gary Con, you will see that I actually do try to achieve some sort of equilibrium. 

I cannot overstate how much I appreciate the opportunity to do these things. Not only do I appreciate the players and the organizers, but I appreciate my family for letting me take over the kitchen table for so much of the weekend!

It was wonderful to not only game, but to talk to so many other people in this pandemic year. I go to work, and I have to be physically present in my job. Compared to others, I have had it fairly easy. Nonetheless, 2020 has been a steady drain on energy, mood, and creativity - and everyone waiting for FT 3 knows that my creativity has been depressed for a few years now.

Spoilers follow.

The Tribe of Ogg and the Gift of Suss

Saturday morning started with a delve into prehistory, very much inspired by Manly Wade Wellman's Hok the Mighty and Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories of Pellucidar. The PCs were cavefolk of the Tribe of Ogg, who venture into the Dread Forest in search of what Suss, the Sun God, threw to the earth.

This funnel has some potentially deadly encounters, including an early encounter with 6 hyenadons. The PCs decided to camp out without a guard, leading to a nighttime surprise that, due mostly to poor rolls on my part, ended in a near-complete victory for the Stone Age humans!

They encountered the Father of Pigs, but missed the space princess and the Gnarl-Gnarl cookout. That last was probably a good thing. Still, they had enough encounters - and rolled well enough - that a majority of the PCs survived to reach level 1 within the Gift of Suss.

Despite a high survival rate (which would turn out to be par for the course this convention) the players had fun exploring the Solar Bequest, and as the ship began to go through its dimensional shifts, an actual encounter with Cthulhu was a definite high point. You would think the monstrous nature of that encounter would have blasted at least a few minds, but where I roll low, they rolled high.

As the dimensional shifts increased (with automatic damage accruing with each shift) you would think that the ranks would thin. Nope. And, while they did go to the same world twice, they didn't go to the same world a third time (and thus cause a massive explosion, which would have killed them all). 

The Tribe of Ogg and the Gift of Suss can be picked up for free on the Mystic Bull website, here. The authorized sequel, by none other than Bob Brinkman, appeared in a free Sanctum Secorum Episode Companion. 

Many thanks to Bjorn Nelson, Matt Thompson, Jack Derricourt, Jason Menard, and Jesse Withrow for making running the game a blast! You may have survived more than you should have, but it was entertaining to see how it all played out! This game ran a little over, and I am thankful that all of you were willing to stay to the end!

Danger in the Deep!

When I set up this adventure, I decided to give every player a backup PC because I expected several deaths. There was not a one...but not for lack of trying!

This scenario includes some really serious hazards related to three-dimensional spaces and running water. Even entering the caves can be hazardous unless you have more than 100' of rope. Our party used 150', and still had rope enough left to meet some of the other dangers to come.

The party's greatest peril occurred when they met the Spinwoman, who nearly slew the group's halfling. A lucky crit with a crossbow brought her down...but by that point it also meant 4d6 damage for the halfling and 3d6 for two other party members as they were no longer being pulled aloft. Thankfully, the party included a cleric.

Part of the fun of role-playing games is the role-playing, and the snailtaur potion masters were a big hit. Charm person proved a powerful tool, due to good rolls, dealing with two major encounters. The second usage - against a gigantic spellcasting slug - triggered a spell duel, but I rolled so poorly with my counter that the players barely noticed.

There are a lot of ways to die in this adventure. Several are natural hazards. You can end up in a swiftly flowing cavern stream and sailing off down a waterfall, for instance. The biggest treasure - which the PCs never encountered, requires swimming or cleverness to get it. There are plenty of chances to die in combat or to fall to your doom. The players avoided making any decision that would lower the boom - or rolled well enough to avoid the consequences when they did - that they all survived.

The paranoia, though, was palpable. This is DCC, and you are careful what you touch! 

Many thanks to Gray Freeman, Wes Baker, Michael McMurray, Cristopher Messemore, and Ryan Bishop (no relation). 

The Weird Worm-Ways of Saturn

On Sunday, I ran The Weird Worm-Ways of Saturn and The Vault of Ash back to back. This is actually both parts of a two-part adventure, which I ran as a single event. It was 5th level, so rather than go the route of the awesome Purple Sorcerer generators, I decided to allow the players to choose from among 10 fictional characters I had given DCC stats.

The party consisted of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, Conan the Cimmerian, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Severus Snape. We were expecting Tarzan of the Apes as well, but he was called to the lost city of Opar at the last minute. If you are curious about these characters or the others which were on offer, you can find them here. I claim no rights to the art or the characters; this is strictly personal use! The players did not get to see the write-ups before choosing.

I allotted six hours for the game. We ended up using just over 5 hours. With Captain Jack's compass, a willingness to risk the spires, and a dearth of random encounters, the PCs did very little actual exploration of Saturn. In truth, I sped up the magnetic flux a bit from how it is written, giving Bilbo the chance to encounter the ceiling when his mithral shirt was repulsed, and then encounter the floor a few rounds later. Bilbo broke both an arm and a leg.

The Vault of Zin is designed to eliminate PCs unlikely to restore the fallen sorcerer. There are rooms designed to specifically kill wizards and clerics, but the party contained no cleric and it was Captain Jack Sparrow who nearly killed himself in the wizard trap. There is also a room designed to slay those who are too clever - if it were not for a few lucky rolls, that room might have been the end of one or more PCs. It didn't help that I fumbled.

The party ended up taking the Red Metal Door to escape to Venus, and chose to avoid interacting with the idol, thus missing the three greatest dangers they could have faced. Even so, without a cleric, they were lucky to have the Hogwarts Potion Master in their ranks, because he had a few choice flasks at his disposal.

Many thanks to Paul Paul, Steven Danielson, Squin Squin, John Dow, and Tim White for joining me on this voyage!

As with many other Cons, I produced some virtual swag, which you can find here.

The DCC RPG community - online and off - are a fantastic bunch of folks!

AlbaCon Debriefing!

Most of the times, in years past, I have done my Con recaps as quickly as I was able. This year, I am doing more conventions (online), but I paradoxically have less time for writing due to work and family commitments. And when my time isn't being spent making sure that something else is taken care of, I find my creative energies banked (at best) or completely MIA.

AlbaCon took place on 3-4 October of this year, and was a great success. I ran three games on Scottish time (the first started at 5 am locally!) using a combination of Discord for video/voice and Roll20 as a whiteboard. In truth, I barely used Roll20 - I think twice in three games, and never more than once in a single game. 

Needless to say, Spoilers Sweetie.

Fire in the Mountain

If I had prepared better, I could have had urisk PCs for the players. As it was, a good time was had by all, but the cautious exploration of the adventure resulted in (1) far fewer deaths than normal, and (2) a lot of the actual temple complex missed. I did make sure that the PCs had a chance to encounter the spiral staircase and brass wheel (for those familiar with the adventure) because it is the crux of the adventure. The PCs came up with a great solution to the giant fiery snake!

Silent Nightfall

Singularly the best experience I've had with the Grallistrax Elders. (Those are the owls, O' my players!) The PCs did free the demon, but the Elf PC managed to not only survive, but to bring the whispering stone to Elfland. It took 200 years, but that Elf was the only surviving PC!

The Imperishable Sorceress

Possibly the most brutal outcome this adventure has ever seen (when I was running it, at least) even though only on PC died. 

Many thanks to all who played! These include Steve B, Richard W, James W, Sam P, Ryan M, Mark P, Mikalye, James Q, Tabarkus, Martin S, and Bruce L. Because I am an idiot and waited to record the names off Roll20/Discord, several people have been left out to my chagrin.

As is my custom, I produced virtual swag for the convention. Interested readers can find it here. If you want/need more Scotland in your game (and why wouldn't you?), this might also be of interest!  Actually, so might this!

AlbaCon produced a number of videos to go with the convention. You can find them here.

AlbaCon Dungeon Design Video

 

The Bride of Cyclops Con

Well, I've thrown my hat into the ring. I will be running two four-hour games and one six-hour game for Bride of Cyclops Con. Crom have mercy on my soul.

The Tribe of Ogg and the Gift of Suss is a funnel where the PCs are Old Stone Age cave men in a world reminiscent of the ERB Pellucidar stories, or the Manly Wade Wellman tales of Hok the Mighty. Players who play in this game are absolutely encouraged to also play in Danger in the Deep!, leveling their post-funnel cave folks to level 2. If you go this option, download the free Tribe of Ogg adventure here, but don't even open the file until you've had the chance to play it! The free download includes a new race-class, mercurial magic for cave dwellers, and information on the gods of prehistory.

Danger in the Deep! is a 2nd level adventure. You get to explore some caves, looking for a magic flower that can cure a deadly plague. Along the way, you may discover a connection between this adventure and Ogg.

The Weird Worm-Ways of Saturn is a six hour romp on the planet Saturn, using the Crawljammer rules. It covers both parts of the two-part Saturn adventure I wrote for Moon Dice Games, and that six hour slot is a hard limit - you might end up trapped on Saturn forever! Because the adventure is for 5th level characters, I have decided to forego the usual Purple Sorcerer route and lovingly handcraft the PCs. But if you have a survivor from a previous adventure that you want to level up for the game, I am willing to go along with that. Just be aware that this adventure is perilous....

Hope to see you at Bride of Cyclops Con!

If you have not done so already, don't forget to also check out AlbaCon!

D120 Treasures

I am working on trying to get myself writing again, so I threw this together and put it as only $2 on DriveThruRPG.

If you like it, let me know. If you hate it, let me know. If you want more D120 GM aids, let me know what you would like. Something like monsters or spel
ls are hard to do while remaining system-agnostic. 

But, basically, this is just to try to reprime the pumps and get me writing again.

AlbaCon!

As mentioned on Spellburn, AlbaCon charity focused RPG convention is taking place the 3rd and 4th of October.

At the moment, I am scheduled to run three games for the convention. Be aware that times are in the Western European Time Zone, as the virtual convention is hosted in Scotland.

I may also be involved in a seminar on creating RPG adventures - more on this as it unfolds.

The three events I will be running are:

Dungeon Crawl Classics – Fire in the Mountain
Saturday October 3rd at 10:00 - 14:00

Dungeon Crawl Classics – Silent Nightfall
Saturday October 3rd at 15:00 - 19:00

Dungeon Crawl Classics – The Imperishable Sorceress
Sunday October 4th at 15:00 - 19:00

Event booking opens 21 August 2020.

Raven Wolf

Based on an illustration by Carl McIntyre. Used with permission.

Raven Wolf: Init +2; Atk beak +5 melee (1d6+2) or claw +3 melee (1d4+2); AC 13; HD 3d8+3; MV 45'; Act 2d20; SP track, leap, pack tactics, resistant to cold; SV Fort +2, Ref +3; Will +0; AL N.

The Raven Wolves of the cold north are huge creatures, the size of a pony, which combine the features of a raven and a great black wolf. They are intelligent for animals, although not as intelligent as most humanoids, and can be domesticated to some degree. Even giant Raven Wolf handlers know that the creatures can turn on them if hungry, frightened, or bored.

A Raven Wolf is a keen tracker, able to follow most creatures with a 5 in 6 chance of success (which may be reduced by precautions taken, the passage of time, or weather that obliterates tracks and scent). They are able to use an Action Die to leap up to 40’ in any direction, gaining two claw attacks using 1d16 each, as though charging. Regardless of success, a Raven Wolf can still use its other Action Die to stab with its beak.

When working together, Raven  Wolves can forgo their individual attacks to confuse prey. For every Raven Wolf that threatens, but does not use its Action Dice, each other Raven Wolf in the pack gains a +1 bonus to AC for each Action Die not used (to a maximum of +6). This bonus lasts until the Raven Wolves’ next initiative.

Finally, dwelling in the cold boreal wastes, Raven Wolves gain a +1d bonus on the dice chain to any save made against cold-based effects, and reduce damage from cold by 2 points per die.

DCC Days Tales of Adventure

As I imagine anyone reading this blog knows, DCC Days Online Convention ran from Thursday, 11 June 2020 to Sunday, 14 June 2020. Having to work full time last week, and being ever-hopeful of being able to run games in meatspace, I signed up to run two games. Also, I'm running online games from my kitchen table, and there is a limit to how much forbearance I can ask my family for!

As might be obvious, there are going to be a few spoilers below.

On Friday I ran Goblins of the Faerie Wood for William Keller, Ken Kindler, Marlene Whitmer, and Kathy Heatherly. This is a funnel in which the PCs are playing goblins. It went pretty well, although after the goblin PCs beat up the hook-nosed gobbler and dealt with the greywhethers with minima losses, I was beginning to wonder if my jokes about "what could go wrong?" would turn out to be prophetic! Not to worry - when the goblins decided to gather reeds from the stream, things got deadly quickly. The giant spiders also took out their share of 0-levels.

The greywhethers are sheep which turn to stone by day (or if brought to 0 hp). They know the answers to many questions, but asking them a question makes you their lawful prey. Most of the time I run this adventure, this is the first "thinning the ranks" encounter. In this case, not so much. A couple of goblins did get eaten by the carnivorous immortal sheep, but the players actually came up with a clever solution to the problem the greywhethers pose. It is one I had not seen tried before, and had not considered when writing the adventure....so, kudos!

(Solving the adventure requires gaining information that the greywhethers can provide.)

Also unusually, after the PCs acquired a powerful magical item, they decided to keep their earlier bargain and trade it for a charm to cure a toothache their tribal king was suffering from. It is not unusual for goblins to decide to flee their king's territory at this point, and make a new life for themselves as adventurers!

Altogether, a very fun evening.

I had no games to run, and The Sword & Board is postponing DCC Day events until things become a tad bit safer here in Toronto, so I didn't get to run anything Saturday. This is completely cool, and I am thankful that the store wants to keep us safe, even though I am jonesing to run something in person. I did get a chance to drop into the Social Hour (with help getting the link from some very astute members of the DCC RPG Rocks! Facebook group).

On Sunday I ran The Falcate Idol for Paul Pipeline, Sam Nicholson, Em Hogard, Iain T, and Jeff Kuzniewski. Most of the characters were pregens creating using Purple Sorcerer...and quite coincidentally more than one had an extremely low stat or two.

We almost didn't have a cleric, and I was ready to supply each PC with a potion of greater healing that heals 4d4 damage. This is physical prop made by one of my regular players. There are 4d4 on a resin base inside the bottle; I got to "roll" it several times during the adventure....because the first real encounter made me retcon to allow the potions. There was, very nearly, a TPK in the second room (first real encounter). For those who know the adventure, the PCs went down through the trapdoor.

Despite having a chance to heal and get powered up, and despite an awesome animal summoning spell effect (the PCs booked past the 100 HD of eagles fighting a truly horrific spider-monster, and so missed when it was reduced to 0 hp and exploded into a cloud of spores). If this was being played in a regular campaign, the eagles who failed their saves would certainly come up again.

Several characters dropped several times. The battle to escape the temple's guardians was brutal, and without divine intervention a PC or two would have ended their days as temple guardians themselves. The cleric of Bobugbubilz wound up with the emerald from the idol's forehead, and all that entails.

It was a fun adventure, but it created enough dangling threads that I would really have loved to pull them and see where they went. The CE Series is really designed for campaign play. The Falcate Idol would be especially fun, I think, in the DCC Lankhmar setting....something I may have to run at some point.

Altogether, DCC Days was definitely fun, but it made me want to run games in realspace even more! I wonder....If I got four card tables and spaced them 6 feet apart in some outdoor location......?

EDIT: Forgot to mention the Virtual Swag!

Big Damn Heroes...

...Or, playing with 1-2 players

It happens sometimes that you only have one or two players available, and you want to run a Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign. This isn't as crazy as it sounds. Plenty of Appendix N fiction follows the exploits of a single adventurer, or a duo.

The judge who wishes to run games for only one or two players can use this simple hack. Others have suggested means to deal with the funnel - see various articles in The Gong Farmer's Almanac for ideas. Herein I am only looking at what happens when a character gains 10 XP and gets to choose a class.

Allow the character to select two classes, and get all the benefits of both (hit points, hit dice, save modifiers, etc.). The character is still considered to be level 1, although they might be a warrior/thief (Conan, Fafhrd), a warrior/cleric (effectively a paladin), a warrior/wizard, etc. The cleric/wizard combo in particular offers something much closer to many of the sorcerous beings found in early fantasy fiction.

Demi-humans must choose their race-class as one of the two classes. Humans cannot choose to become elves, dwarves, or halflings. In the case of Deed Dice, just bump the character's Deed Die +1d up the dice chain. Halfing thieves gain a +1 bonus per Luck Die, but only grant +2 when they spend Luck for others.

When the characters hit level 2 (at 50 XP), they can add one level of either of their existing classes. And so it goes, up to level 10.

What if a player wants to take the same class twice? I.e., start as a warrior/warrior? Treat as a level 2 warrior with 10 XP, who is considered level 1, and who gains level 3 at 50 XP. By the time you reach level 10, the character might have to add another class, but the odds of reaching such heights in the short term are extremely slim.

There you have it. Nothing else is required, save the native wits of the players themselves.

And, these characters can join larger groups by considering their actual hit dice rather than their levels - at least for a short time. If the group gets larger, just start using normal XP progression from their hit dice. Suddenly, that 2nd level wizard/thief/thief is considered a 3rd level character!

The funny thing is, this might allow PCs to represent Appendix N protagonists more closely than the core rules do. It makes the PCs stronger and more versatile as well, allowing them to insinuate themselves into places where angels fear to tread.