DCC: Dire Turkey

"This isn't a joke!" The farmer's face contorted as embarrassment, fear, and desperation flashed rapidly across it.

"Where did it come from?"

"A druid came through a couple of weeks ago. When he demanded I let him sleep in my barn I asked for something in return... he offered to bless my harvest feast bird... to make it the biggest bird the hamlet had ever seen and to make its flesh rich and wonderful." He paused. "In hindsight I should probably have just let him stay without bother."

"That would have been wiser." Rathgar sighed. "So where is this overgrown turkey?"

"Its been in the pumpkin field since yesterday." He said pointing off to the north. "Blake's boy went out to shoot it last evening. He only riled it up, and..." He gulped. "His body is still out in the field."

Dire Turkey: Init +2; Atk bite +9 melee (2d6) or claw +9 melee (2d6); AC17; HD 7d10; MV 30', fly 15'; Act 1d20; SV Fort+7, Ref +8, Will +0; AL N.

The dire turkey is a stupid and overly territorial bird. It's primary attack is pecking the target and flinging it into the air. On a successful attack that is 4+ over the target's AC, a medium sized opponent will be thrown in a random direction 1d12 feet and take an additional 1d6 damage. Small opponents will be thrown 3d6 feet and take an addition 2d4 damage.

A Dire Turkey may also perform a kick attack. Opponents hit with the feet must make a saving throw vs petrification or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. Opponents wearing a helm get a +2 to the saving throw.

Dire Turkey meat is highly prized and will fetch a good price if the market is available for it. A full grown dire turkey can easily fetch in excess of 75gp in a large village.

---

Image Source: Monster Turkey by Tenshi3D

Review: The Emerald Enchanter

There are times not to judge a book by it's cover.

THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE TIMES!

Doug Kovacs' cover gives you exactly what you're going to get in the adventure! Emerald Monsters, and Emerald Enchanter, and prisoners to rescue. And as exciting as that description is, it isn't even the half of it.

Spoilers Below!

This has to be one of my favorite adventures that I haven't run. Joseph Goodman really rolled a critical when he made his skill check for this adventure. In addition to the above mentioned items, there are a host of traps and tricks and other monsters for the players to encounter. My personal favorite has to be the tile golem, whose mechanics are delightfully inventive.

Then there's the consultitorium, where the spirits of 3 ancient wizards can be talked to and secrets revealed...

And then the Moon-Devil... beautifully illustrated by Peter Mullen. Any DM that doesn't share that image with their players is cheating them.

Honestly, by the time the players make it to the Emerald Enchanter himself, you'd think that all the fun tricks would have been used up, but you'd be wrong. It isn't just a final battle to the death, but one where the timing is critical if they want to save the prisoners!

And just when you thought it was all taken care of, Jobe Bittman brings you The Emerald Enchanter Strikes Back!

This follow up adventure is completely different in style from The Emerald Enchanter, as it isn't a dungeon (castle) based adventure, but one that spans a large hex map where the players have to chase down a massive golem, and get inside of it, and stop the Emerald Enchanter's path of destruction!

DCC: Chaos Rising

I'm pretty sure I got this as one of my kickstarter rewards for the DCC 4th Printing... but however this fell tome came to me, it's contains horrors in abundance. Even more than Goodman Games usually packs into one of their releases. In this case, they pulled it off by cramming 5 different adventures into 56 pages. Now, these aren't new adventures, so you've probably seen one or two before, but unless you're a compulsive collector of DCC material, you probably haven't seen them all!

Here's what's included, with a brief description of each.

Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box - Level 1
This adventure is much more of a resource management adventure than you usually get with DCC where much of the adventure is simply getting down to the bottom of a pit and back out again. And the resource? Your blood! What? Did you expect it to be something else? It's literally in the title of the adventure. Come on now.

The Imperishable Sorceress - Level 1
This is an adventure that you can either build up toward, or just drop into a campaign. Crazy old dead sorceress wants to live again in her construct body, but needs the PCs to make it happen. Will she fool them, or will they take her body and treasure?

Glipkerio’s Gambit - Level 2
An adventure in reverse, though the PCs probably aren't going to figure that out right away. It's an inventive way to pull time travel into the game, and also the battle tracker makes actually running it possible.

The Tower Out of Time - Level 2
Arrival of the dino-wizard from the past! Interesting traps and tricks, along with some potentially difficult battles. Love the Behind the Scenes notes in this one. With that was a standard inclusion.

The Jeweler That Dealt in Stardust - Level 3
Here's something you don't often see: heist adventures for D&D/DCC! Add in some fun extradimensional spider things and dangerous magic items, and this is a real winner of an adventure.

The Undulating Corruption - Level 5
Magic is wild, dangerous, and will eventually mess you up real good. But what if there was a way to fix it... what if that way was a A GIANT WORM that's going to eat a city?

The Infernal Crucible of Sezrekan the Mad - Level 5
You know what DCC does really well? It sets up a trap that unwarry PCs will gleefully jump right into. And this little 3 room dungeon is just that sort of trap.

What's Missing?
I wish there was a little discussion about why these 5 adventures in particular were chosen, and where they were all originally published. Aside from that, this is absolutely worth the price for all of the wonderful monsters, tricks, traps, and treasures that may... or may not be safe to claim.

Prince Chamring, Reanimator, Revisited

I ran FT0 Prince Chamring, Reanimator by Daniel Bishop twice in 2014, and hadn't given it too much thought since, as I got distracted by running D&D 5e both at home and at my FLGS. Wednesday, I found myself unexpectedly running it again.

Originally I'd planned on running a special Tales from the Floating vagabond Halloween adventure based somewhat loosely on Jason X (In Spaaaaace!!!!!) and had brought the book and my notebook to work to finish prep at lunch. I then forgot to bring it home with me.

Go me...

Since my options are a little limited based on what I've got on my shelf, I decided to run DCC instead. And as I was going for something Halloween appropriate, twisted fairy tales seemed a good way to go. So I grabbed it, some pregen zero level characters, and the quickstart rules, and headed off to game.



Without telling them what was up, I dropped the character sheets onto the table, and jumped right in. The bailiff had barely finished telling the characters what they'd been "volunteered" to do when the jester of the party started in. The bailiff motioned to the men at arms, and 2 crossbow bolts silenced the joker. "Anyone have anything else to say? No? Good. Get going."

Not even 2 minutes in, and the first character was down!

The party (all 27 of them, plus a cow and a lamb) took the wide passage to the castle. They came upon the large section of shattered wall, choked with bones and rose vines, and discovered the small crack in the adjacent tower, and also the trap door leading underground! Two dwarves jumped down the hole, ignoring the ladder. The second one fumbled his check, and landed on the first, killing him.

And then they split the party! Half explored below ground, discovering the ancient tomb. The other half visited Dr. Chapman's laboratory. As usual, I had a lot of fun playing Dr. Chapman, and at the end, when one character asked if there was anything Chapman needed, he gave that character a piece of blank paper that will become a scroll of Patron Bond (though he doesn't know it yet). Chapman gave his warnings, and his gifts, and sent the party on its way. One character tried to take the bottle with the imp. He ended up a mass of charred flesh. After that no one else tried to take anything.

In the tomb, the party encountered the hobyas, but only lost a single character in the encounter. They collected loot, and made their way to the chapel. A few offerings were made... And I just realized that I got distracted and forgot to to give out the blessings... ah well, next adventure.

The two halves of the party, met back up. The owner of the cow tried to bring it through the gap in the wall, which did not go well, either for the character or the cow. The party decided to head into the main section of the castle toward the tallest remaining tower. There they encountered the fairy princesses. One PC decided to head up the stairs while the rest of the group searched through the feast hall, rousing the dragon. The PC ran back down the steps, while the dragon leapt from the balcony down into the middle of the feast hall.

The fight was tough going, and several PCs dropped each round. Some ran. Sadly, bad initiative rolls meant that most of the PCs all got to go before the dragon pretty much every round.AC 19 is nothing to sneeze at, and for 0 level characters with crappy ability scores? Even harder. WHen one PC managed an 18, I let them know about burning luck. That was the final blow needed to kill the beast!

Deeper in the castle another PC died when they were playing around with the spinning wheel. The floorless room didn't slow them down for long, through when they asked the demon in the mirror how to get across, and he answered "You walk" they weren't amused.

No one tried to kiss Beauty, seeing what state she was in. They bundled her up, and brought her to the Prince. Remembering the words of Dr. Chapman, they just watched the bloody carnage, then looted the bodies before fleeing the undead horde.

Next week, we'll level up the surviving characters to level 1, then continue with our regularly scheduled 5e game. I think that the DCC game will get played at least semi-regularly going forward, because that was a lot of fun!

DCC Reviews

So after a bunch of reviews, you might be wondering why am I suddenly focused on reviewing DCC adventures? Especially since I'm running 5e and RC edition D&D, and haven't mentioned running any DCC...

In large part it's because I enjoy reading adventure modules. Even with 2 regular games, there's always more I want to run. Getting to read the adventures at least gives me a flavor for what might happen if I ran it. Interestingly, having 2 different groups that I'm running means that while reading it, there are 2 different ways I can easily see those groups tacking them.

I also like to mine the adventures for ideas. I'm not going to specifically point out which ideas I've stolen, or plan on stealing, since some of my players read my blog!



There's also the fact that I *have* the adventures on my shelf, and since my shelf is a bit thin since moving, I'm trying to give what's on the shelf some attention. Part of the same reason I pulled out Tales from the Floating Vagabond.

Looking through my shelf, these are the adventures that I've still to review:
Masks of Lankhmar
Through Ningauble's Cave
Chaos Rising
The One Who Watches from Below
Emirikol Was Framed
The 13th Skull
Sailors on the Starless Sea
DCC Free RPG Module 2012
DCC Free RPG Module 2014
DCC Free RPG Module 2016 (I have no idea where 13 or 15 are...)

Hope you're enjoying them!

DCC and the Problem of the Purple Prose

While I've generally heaped praise upon the DCC adventures, I do have some issues with them as a whole. Copy editing and layout aren't their strong suit. Also the language tends to be about as purple as the fiction that DCC seeks to emulate. While both a feature and a bug, it tends to suck up some space in the adventure that could otherwise be used for more game-able material.

My biggest complaint however is that information isn't always clearly provided in a clear user-friendly way, and they're written such that I wouldn't want to run any of them without having read the entire adventure cover to cover at least 3 times. Once to get a general idea of the adventure itself, once to make sure I understood everything, and once following the maps, rather than the room descriptions, since the map numbers don't always flow with the way adventurers seem most likely to encounter the adventure. Hell, even just reading them for review, I read them each at least 3 times.



While each adventure generally includes a small key showing what encounter is in each room, I want something a little more than that, but less than the paragraphs each room generally gets. Here's an example from The Croaking Fane. The encounter key is above, and this is what's in the actual adventure. Mind you, this whole page is just rooms 2-9 and 2-10.



And here's what I'd like to see, ideally tucked in with the maps, since I have to spend so much time flipping back and forth the way it's set up now.

Area 2-9 - Infectious Instructional. Prayer Room
Spear Trap in doorway. +3 melee, 1d6 dmg. DC10 find/disable traps or DC12 Int. Check
Cursed Silver Tablet - DC15 Will Save or Schaphigroadaz Spoilation. 150gp value
Area 2-10 - Toad Cavern with pond with island
Locked Bronze Doors: Key from 2-2, DC 10 Open Lock, DC17 Str Check
Corroded Iron Gate: 25hp
Giant Toads (30) attack in waves of 1d10 every 2 rounds
40pp Treasure
Loud croaking, humid, incomprehensible voice from 2-11

Then again, I've gotten very used to the Stonehell style dungeon key where 30+ rooms, the map, special notes, and area description are all given a mere 4 pages total. 2 for background and detailed notes, and 2 for the room descriptions and map. I guess while I enjoy the purple prose, it isn't super useful to me when actually trying to run/prep for a session.

As this is a recurring issue I have with all DCC modules, I wanted to give it a detailed focus once, rather than repeat it each review.

Croaking Fane

What is it? DCC Adventure #77 for 3rd level characters by Michael Curtis

Because the best place to read a DCC adventure is on the subway!

Spoilers Below!

In case you missed it from my review of Frozen In Time, Michael Curtis is pretty awesome, and I'm a fan. That said, this is another ribbiting adventure full of of ideas worth stealing, even if you aren't going to run it straight.

As you might guess from the title, this adventure focuses on a religious site of a toad god, though not, as you might guess, Bobugbubilz.... No, this is about its progenitor, Schaphigroadaz who was long ago overthrown by its spawn. But now, Schaphigroadaz is looking to make a comeback! Not that the adventurers know this. All they know is that suddenly their temple seems to be suddenly abandoned. That can only mean "ready to be looted" rather than "something terrible has/is about to happen" of course.

This is one adventure that really takes a central theme (frogs) and hops with it. You get frog-mummies, frog-gargoyles, frog-vampire bats, flesh eating tadpoles, flesh eating tadpole swarm, mutated frog cultists, and more all inside a giant frog temple. You'll never see a more toadaly themed adventure. Seriously, it's 100% kermited to it!!


While a lot of DCC adventures tend to have potentially significant impact on campaign worlds going forward, this one seems to spend a bit more time world building. Sure, most give some background before the adventure, but this one just seems to have a bit more, not just in the intro, but sprinkled throughout. And as this is just one temple, there's the possibility of there being many more fanes of Schaphigroadaz out there!

It is a relatively short adventure, at a mere 14 pages, and the entire upper level is one big room, but the contents make it worth it. Certainly the cost is worth it for the night of gaming it'll provide.

And while I haven't mentioned it in my other reviews, the art and the maps are all wonderfully evocative. It's a shame that the players don't get to enjoy the maps till after the adventure is over!

Frozen in Time

What is it? DCC Adventure #79 for 1st level characters by Michael Curtis



Spoilers Below!

So, I'm something of a Michael Curtis fan. He wrote Stonehell, which I've been running regularly for almost 2 years now. He wrote The Chained Coffin  which served as the backbone of my Weird New World campaign. Plus a whole bunch of other stuff, from system neutral books like The Dungeon Alphabet to 5e adventures. Plus in the times I've had occasion to game with and chat with him, he's been a friendly guy.

All that aside, this is a great low level adventure that packs all the weirdness that DCC has to offer into it. The dungeon is the lair of a (long dead) time traveler locked in a glacier. The glacier is retreating, and a falling ice sheet exposes an entrance to the complex. Within this futuristic dungeon among primitive barbarians are wonders and dangers the likes of which are rarely seen outside of DCC.

How many other D&D type games give you the chance to loot the Mona Lisa? Or fight a t-rex? Heck there's even a couple of interesting humaniods that could be replacement PCs, should members of the party not survive including an anthro-antis and a walrus-man!

If that doesn't strike your fancy, how about a teleporter that'll send the PCs... well... wherever you want to send them!

And then there's the fun moment when exploring all this that the power-core fails, and the PCs have to run for it. While not a 0-level funnel, this is probably the next best thing!

Review: Jewels of the Carnifex

What is it? DCC adventure #70 for 3rd level characters by Harley Stroh


Spoilers Below!


First thing's first, for those 40K fans out there, this is not the Carnifex being referenced, in spite of that awesomely weird thing on the cover.

In this case, Carnifex a cthonic goddess of assassins and torturers whose symbol is a 3 headed raven, and she's been imprisoned by some do-gooder paladin types. Unfortunately they're too pure(ish) for their own good, and can't destroy the jewels that hold her power. So their imprisonment isn't as complete as they want.

The adventure itself is a dungeon crawl through the 2 levels of the under temple of the Carnifex. The upper level is more traps and tricks, while the second level is where the party encounters the Swords of the Pious and the imprisoned goddess.

For what would otherwise be a relatively standard dungeon crawl, there are a few fun twists that make this a much more interesting adventure. Namely, there aren't a lot of good options, and the likelihood that the party manages to pick the least worst set of options is pretty slim. Do they try to work with the fanatic lawful (evil?) paladins, or do they try to release the goddess of assassins? Dare they keep the treasures they find?

In addition to the dungeon, there's an optional encounter with some descendants of the Paladins who still guard the old temple grounds, a rumors table (I always appreciate these), and a section on how to handle the PCs (potentially) acquiring some incredibly valuable treasure.

Unfortunately there wasn't an option given to have Canifex as a potential patron/god, or even suggestions for potential followups in spite of the suggestion that "The PCs are left with the sinister sense that they have not seen the last of the Carnifex". Seems like a missed opportunity.

All in all though, I really appreciate an adventure that lets you make difficult moral type choices, even if most players probably just try to kill everyone and keep all the stuff.

Review: Colossus, Arise!

What is it? DCC Adventure #76 for 8th level characters (double that for standard D&D) by Harley Stroh

Me, reading on the 2 train on the way home Monday night

Spoilers below!

So I haven't run very many high level adventures in general, and none for DCC, but holy hell, this adventure will kill you PCs if they don't play it smart. Basic set up is that a group of people from the 2nd age wants to kill off humans (3rd age) to usher in the 4th age, and they're using some pretty nasty magics to make it happen.

This is potentially a world altering adventure. Maybe even a world ending adventure if the PCs really elf it up. It would also work best if the Judge (DM) had this stewing in the background for a while, rather than just pulling it out to run on game night. The inclusion of a section on how to bring the PCs in given that they're pretty high level and probably have other things on their mind than traveling to a remote desert to kill some cultists. I mean, sure, end of the world sort of stuff, but PCs have probably already handled that once or twice already, right? By itself the section probably isn't enough to just plug into a long running game, but certainly is enough to get you thinking about how to do it.

The adventure is divided up into 3 main sections: the ruined desert city, the temple complex, and the big deadly fight at the end back in the city. While traveling to the city isn't necessarily part of the adventure, there is a 2 page spread of potential encounters along the way that can help set the stage for the adventure.

The ruined city itself is occupied by an army of small quasi-titans, and though the PCs are mighty in arms and magic, they'll need to not just try to plow through it with brute force. In keeping with the more old-school theater of the mind style gaming, there's no big keyed map of the city. The environs are abstracted and events, rather than locations are the rule. Given that the PCs shouldn't be scrounging for every lost copper piece, this makes a lot of sense, and I think would play out really well.

Once into the temple and its dungeon is then things get really interesting. There are a number of challenges where there are options to make things easier early on, but can have some consequences later. There is also a spot where PCs can literally walk themselves through death's door. What fights they get in, and who they choose to engage can also make some fights easier or harder, and open up some possibilities to get more info about what's to come. The fight with the Prophetess and her shield maidens specifically can go all sorts of different ways.

Given the nature of the events of this adventure, there's a neat additional mechanic to bring back the spirits of former PCs/Henchman to help out with warnings of imminent danger!

And then there's the final battle with the titular monster. No matter how mighty the PCs might be, a 300hp titan isn't just something you hack at. Thankfully the adventure provides some potential means of dealing with it. As befitting such an adventure, they all come with a (potentially) mighty cost.

Of course, the risks and rewards of saving the world or ushering in the end of the age of man aren't anything to sneer at either, should the PCs survive.

All in all an excellent offing that can absolutely destroy your campaign world. Use with caution!

Ill Met in Lankhmar

After picking up and reviewing Through Ningauble's Cave, the first DCC sourcebook for Lankhmar, I decided that I really needed to actually read some of Fritz Leiber's tales, and as I owned Ill Met in Lankhmar, I did. And it was good stuff!

Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar series established the sword-swinging, maiden-rescuing, chivalrous, high adventure that has been the mainstay of the fantasy genre ever since. White Wolf presents the entire seven-novelette Lankhmar series in four volumes.The two greatest heroes ever are back, proving why Fritz Leiber is a literary legend. Join Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser as they take you on unforgettable adventures. Includes Swords and Deviltry and Swords Against Death.

Now it's been over a year since I actually finished reading this volume, but what really sticks with me are the characters of Fafhrd, the Grey Mouser, and Lankhmar. All three are amazingly familiar to me, in large part because they are such archetypes that have been copied and tweaked over the decades since Leiber coined the term "Sword and Sorcery." Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are vibrant characters full of skill, luck, and flaws, and astonishingly human. They make stupid choices, keep secrets, and have each others' backs all while adventuring their was in and around Lankhmar itself.

And speaking of Lankhmar itself, what a city! Sprawling, congested, twisting streets barely concealing the crime and corruption that infests it. It's either insanely decadent and crushingly poor, depending on what section of the city you're in. The streets are evocatively (and usually aptly) named, and the locations are straight out of a D&D game. One story, The Bazaar of the Bizarre features a marketplace that feels like it was inspired by the poem Goblin Market and served as the template for the troll market in Hellboy 2!

At the same time, because this is one of the cornerstones of modern fantasy, it sometimes feels overly familiar. Yet reading the original prose is most definitely worth it. Of course what brings me back to it now is the fact that Goodman Games is running a kickstarter for the big release of the Lankhmar box set for DCC. Might be worth checking out if you're a fan of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser!

Nephropid-mail Bio-Armor

Feris tossed another stick into the gentle surf as he sat on the rock jetty.

"She's still at it?" Rathgar asked, walking up behind him. Out in the water Princess swam quickly toward the stick.

"Over an hour now. If I couldn't throw the stick all over, I'd never be able to keep this up. As it is my shoulder is getting sore.

"They don't spend a lot of time on that sort if thing in wizard school hua?"

"Wand practice was worse." Princess splashed out of the sea, water slowing off of her. The stick in her mouth failing to hide the grin on her face. She shook the water out of the little bit of fur that poked out from under the rust brown shell covering most of her body. The eye-stalks swiveled around, mostly seeming to focus on the gulls squawking above.

"She's going to be so hungry tonight."

"Hope Nimble got a deer or a goat or something."

Princess trotted up to Feris, and he took the stick. One of the claws snapped out, grabbing the stick before he could pull it away. "Every time..." The stick snapped in half and the half Feris wasn't holding fell to the rocks. He threw the remaining half out into the water, and Princess jumped in after it.


Lucy in her lobster costume. She loves this thing so much!

Nephropid-mail Bio-Armor
Alternately described as a parasite, symbiote, and (of course) creation of a mad wizard, these creatures attach themselves to a host, providing various benefits until it outgrows the host. If a suitable new host is available, the transition is painful, but usually not fatal to the old host. Otherwise, the creature will kill and consume the host before going off to find another.

Potential Powers:
AC as Chain or Banded mail
Increased Stamina (bonus to Con checks, saves vs poison)
Swim speed equal to normal movement
2 claw attacks (damage varies by size)

Potential Drawbacks:
Major Charisma penalty
Bulky
Difficult to get used to (combat penalty until proficient)
Will eventually kill you, or maybe just maim you.

---

This was a post I started writing back in August of 2011... Sometimes it takes me a while to get back to things.

New Monster: Puppymonkeybaby DCC

“A wizard did it.” Feris said shakily.

“Why do you always say that!?” Nimble snapped, throwing the half eaten biscuit at Feris. “Why is it always some damned wizard? What’s wrong with you? Is this world not frelling weird enough that you have to…” He looked at Feris, then down at his shaking hands. “It licked me… do you understand that? It crawled up into my lap, and it licked my face.”

Rathgar reached over and put his hand on Nimble’s shoulder. “Allianora said there didn’t seem to be any lasting effects…”

“I will never forget it. How’s that for lasting effects? And where is she anyway?”

"She went off to pray. She was in there with you. We all were."

"Until you ran, and left us alone with that thing..."

Puppymonkeybaby: Init +1; Atk flail +1 melee (1d4); AC 10; HD 1d6; MV 20'; Act 1d20; SP Trasnfix; SV Fort - 2, Ref -2, Will +5; AL C

These small abominations are chimeras created by mad wizards combining a puppy, a monkey, and a humanoid baby. Which parts end up where is variable, but the end result is something that will haunt the minds of all who encounter it till the end of their days. Because their creation disturbs even their creators, only one will ever be encountered at a time.

Upon viewing a Puppymonkeybaby all must make a Will save. Those failing the first become entranced, treating the chimera as a kindly companion, even as it leads them to danger and death. Those passing the first save must then make a Fort save, or flee in revulsion.

Puppymonkeybabies have a preternatural sense for magical and mechanical traps and will avoid triggering them all the while leading their victims into them. While they don't tend to collect treasure, the bodies of their victims are left undisturbed in whatever traps they died in.

Gingerbread Golem (small) for DCC

A warm breeze gently picked up, blowing toward the party creeping down the dungeon corridor. "Do you smell cinnamon?" Nimble asked over his shoulder.

Everyone paused and sniffed the air. "Yeah, I do" Allianora nodded.

"Makes me want some hot cider." Feris said with a smile.

"I'll make sure you get a mug when we get back." Rathgar clapped Feris on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's find that warlock and be on our way."

The dusty dry walls of the hall stretched on with doors to either side spaced out along it's length. After clearing and passing several without finding anything, Nimble grumbled "Where is he?"

From knee level a sweet voice called out "Closer than you know!" followed by Nimble howling in pain as a wooden roller slammed into his kneecap. The flat humanoid form stepped away from the wall and swung at him again, but Nimble jumped away.

"What in the nine hells?!" He asked, kicking at the brown thing.

Feris pointed at the figure, and it lifted inches off the ground. It swung the rolling pin again, turning to face the wall, and used the pin to push off right toward Nimble. The bludgeon continued to spin in the grip of the figure, aiming right at Nimble's gut.

"Got it" Rathgar called out, pulling the release on his crossbow. The bolt skewered the figure dead center, passing cleanly though. It cried out in pain, chunks of the thing's chest crumbled but continued to float with it.

Nimble, having recovered a measure of his sense, smashed it with the flat of his short sword's blade, breaking it into spinning chunks.  



Gingerbread Golem (small)
Init +2; Atk slam +2 melee (1d4); AC 12; HD 2d8; MV 30'; Act 1d20; SP Hide in Shadows +3; SV Fort - 2, Ref +2, Will +0; AL As Creator

These small constructs are of little danger by themselves, but tend to be created in batches of 2d6. They are obnoxiously cunning, and often speak in a manner similar to that of their creators. It is unclear if they themselves possess intelligence, or if it is merely a drop of the creator being mixed into the batch. They become stale after about a week, causing their action die to drop to a d16. After a second week, they crumble away.

Image Source: Reaper golem painted by Malzowowper

DCC Dire Turkey

"This isn't a joke!" The farmer's face contorted as embarrassment, fear, and desperation flashed rapidly across it.

"Where did it come from?"

"A druid came through a couple of weeks ago. When he demanded I let him sleep in my barn I asked for something in return... he offered to bless my harvest feast bird... to make it the biggest bird the hamlet had ever seen and to make its flesh rich and wonderful." He paused. "In hindsight I should probably have just let him stay without bother."

"That would have been wiser." Rathgar sighed. "So where is this overgrown turkey?"

"Its been in the pumpkin field since yesterday." He said pointing off to the north. "Blake's boy went out to shoot it last evening. He only riled it up, and..." He gulped. "His body is still out in the field."

Dire Turkey: Init +2; Atk bite +9 melee (2d6) or claw +9 melee (2d6); AC17; HD 7d10; MV 30', fly 15'; Act 1d20; SV Fort+7, Ref +8, Will +0; AL N.

The dire turkey is a stupid and overly territorial bird. It's primary attack is pecking the target and flinging it into the air. On a successful attack that is 4+ over the target's AC, a medium sized opponent will be thrown in a random direction 1d12 feet and take an additional 1d6 damage. Small opponents will be thrown 3d6 feet and take an addition 2d4 damage.

A Dire Turkey may also perform a kick attack. Opponents hit with the feet must make a saving throw vs petrification or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. Opponents wearing a helm get a +2 to the saving throw.

Dire Turkey meat is highly prized and will fetch a good price if the market is available for it. A full grown dire turkey can easily fetch in excess of 75gp in a large village.

---

Image Source: Monster Turkey by Tenshi3D

Review: The Old God's Return

The Old God's Returned is a little booklet that manages to pack a rather surprising amount of adventure into its 19 pages.

From the back cover:
A shivering plague.
Knives glinting in the moonlight.
A frigid mountain drifting in the sky.
These ominous events attend the return of an evil long forgotten by Man. On the night of the winter solstice, when the world is balanced on a knife’s edge in the battle between fire and ice, a slumbering deity awakes. Now, only those heroes chosen as the champions of the Lord of Flickering Flames can end this growing threat before it reclaims its former malevolence and reminds the world why the old forests are places to be feared…

The basic premise is the awakening of an old forgotten god has caused a plague to strike a village's children. The PCs are tasked to find out the cause of the plague and stop it. While not exactly an original premise, Michael Curtis makes it work by giving it the usual DCC-style twist by placing the adventure in a non-standard setting. I mean, how often do you come across frozen ziggurat encased in a flying iceberg?

Actually, given my readership, it's probably not all that rare...

Getting to the ziggurat isn't without challenge, but the real fun is within. And the final confrontation with the old god? A wonderful take on Krampus! And that isn't the end of the adventure either...

Aside from a flying iceberg, the adventure boasts 4 new monsters, an limited fire-based ability to help combat the blistering cold, and a nice tie-in to another DCC adventure. Also, while unlikely, there is the possibility that more chaotically inclined PC's might decide to turn the adventure on it's head. While not covered in the adventure, it wouldn't be too hard to see how that might go.

Overall I really like the adventure. I wish it wasn't priced the same as the standard DCC adventures, given that it's shorter in length (19 pages), and physically half the size of the usual 8.5 x 11. On the other hand, they really went for a higher quality paper for this adventure, though I'm not sure why. Personally I'd rather have seen the usual interior paper and a price closer to $6 or $7.

Review DCC's Lankhmar: Through Ningauble's Cave

So not too long ago, Dungeon Crawl Classics acquired the rights to Lankhmar. Now, I have to admit, I've not read a single page of Fritz Leiber. Not due to any lack of desire, but more just a simple case of I haven't gotten around to it yet. It's on my list, and somewhere upstairs I've got Ill Met in Lankhmar, but it just hasn't percolated up to the top yet.

In spite of this, I picked up Through Ningauble's Cave by Michael Curtis, mainly because I've been pleased with just about everything Michael Curtis has done up to this point... we'll see if that holds true once I get Stonehell 2 in my hands, but so far, he's a proven adventure author for me.

Unlike most releases this isn't an adventure. It's more a patron supplement and introduction to the setting of the world of Nehwon. The first 7 pages are devoted to introducing Ningauble, explaining how he makes use of those who call on him, and the cave itself as a setting, plus 2 pages of cavern geomorphs for DM's to use. The cavern system isn't just the locations, it's also the inhabitants. And while Ningauble itself is the primary inhabitant, he isn't alone. Numerous servants, other adventurers, and random travelers wander the dark and ever twisting passages.

After the cave, 6 pages focus on 5 different locations that the cave exits to on Nehwon itself. Each of these exit locations includes adventure ideas, and a sample encounter. Each of these places seem interesting enough for more than one adventure

Of note, the cave exists as a link between numerous worlds, not just Nehwon. This includes (as the DM wishes) Earth, The Purple Planet, The Shudder Mountains, and even post-apocalyptic worlds, and other strange locations. The Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha maybe? Or a Red and Pleasant Land? Or anywhere else that you want to toss the players.

Ningauble himself (itself?) as a Patron is described over the last 3 pages, including the expected Invoke Patron, Patron Taint, and Spellburn charts. As Ningauble is a gossip-monger, he is happy to be patron to those who will bring it new lore. It loves information, especially secrets, and will happily take any and every tidbit that visitors are willing to give him.

While not being familiar with the source material, I can much more easily see how Ningauble would make an excellent patron, if a somewhat demanding one for DCC characters.

As usual, the art is up to the usual excellent standards that DCC consistently sets. If you're a fan of Lankhmar, or need a new Patron for your players, this is definitely worth picking up. Ignoring the last 3 pages, it's pretty system neutral, and so could work for just about any fantasy RPG.

On the off chance that you're interested in DCC, but haven't gotten the rule book yet, Goodman Games is running a kickstarter for the 4th printing. $40 gets you a hardcover and PDF of the rulebook, plus a whole bunch of other stuff including 4 free adventures (which would cost you $40 by themselves).

Treasure Vaults of Zadabad Review

The Treasure Vaults of Zadabad is a level 1 hex crawl for DCC written by Carl Bussler and Eric Hoffman.

The tropical island of Kalmatta, and the lost city of Zadabad are full of the pulpy tropes you'd expect, from pirates to pigmy natives, giant beasts and ancient monsters, and for those willing to explore such an island, treasures to equal the challenges!

So what specifically do you get with this? About 40 pages detailing the island, it's various locations, inhabitants, monsters, and magic items. Many maps, a smattering of illustrations, and what could easily be weeks of play, if not longer. The random encounter charts are nicely divided up among the various terrain types, and the random treasure charts have a nifty feature where some treasures can only be encountered a limited number of times, and the chart has check boxes to help you keep track.

It's definitely NOT designed for a one off session, but that's a feature, not a bug.

Carl and Eric manage to avoid going over the top with the weird/fantastical elements that DCC so easily lends itself to, while managing to include just enough that you know this isn't your standard D&D setting. And the thinly veiled inspirations, once your players catch on, are so well executed that anyone who's willing to play DCC will appreciate it. I personally love the ax.

One of the things that really works for me is the fact that, as an island, you can drop it just about anywhere. For example, it wouldn't feel too out of place somewhere off the Razor Coast. Also, because it's low level DCC, it would be easy enough to drop into any other old school game, or even 5e if you felt like it.

Physically this is a really nice product. Heavy paper, with a thick cardstock cover and full sized 8.5"x11", so worth picking up the hard copy over the PDF.

If you're not convinced, you can always download Surviving Kalmatta – A Player’s Guide to The Treasure Vaults of Zadabad for a free taste of what the adventure has in store.

TridentCon 2015

Sorry for the dead air... I've been down with a horrid cold. Thankfully I'm feeling better, and just in time for TridentCon! Last year* it was held at a FLGS Card Board Gaming... This year it's being held at the Severna Park Community Center. There are 3 sessions of games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, and I'm signed up to play or run in all of them! And, if you're local and looking for something to do, I highly recommend coming by. And yes, there's a $20 entry fee, but it's for charity**. Besides lots of cool games, there's also going to be a lot of cool people attending.

And if you're curious what I'm playing/running here's my list:
Saturday
CC: Stonehell Dungeon - Playing
CC: Stonehell Dungeon - Playing***
DCC: Plundering the Purple Planet - Running

Sunday
DCC: Loathsome Prison Blues - Playing
DCC: Undercrypt of the Purple Planet - Running

I hope to see you there!

*which I apparently never wrote about. Bad me... It was a blast, and my first time getting to actually PLAY DCC!!
**Benefiting the Severna Park Community Center
***Yes, 2 sessions of dungeon crawling! What can I say, Michael Curtis' Stonehell is a favorite of mine, and with book 2 coming out at the end of the month... well....

Charm City Gameday: Loot

I haven't been buying very much gaming stuff recently, but two of my players were very kind at Christmas and got me a gift card to Games and Stuff, so while I was there for Charm City Gameday I took advantage of that gift card and picked up a few things.

First I grabbed some airbrush paint and thinner. I recently tried using my airbrush, without much success, and I think it's because the reaper paint is just too thick.

We'll see how that works out.

I also picked up some DCC stuff, both by Michael Curtis. I figure if I support his adventure writing he might, eventually, maybe, actually finish Stonehell 2.

I wonder if anyone else pesters him about it as much as I do...

And finally I managed to snag a copy of Slumbering Ursine Dunes from Erik Jensen. It's a slight cover misprint, but I'm looking forward to seeing what insanity Chris Kutalik manages to squeeze into 65 pages!