While these are solid adventures, both The Undulating Corruption and The Jeweler That Dealt in Stardust (the one my group enjoyed) has been reprinted in the DCC #89 Chaos Rising collection of older adventures. I'd recommend buying that!

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This collection of modules clocks in at 20 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page introduction/SRD, 2 pages mystery map contest (here, you could finish a map and write an adventure to win money), 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 14 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This booklet contains 2 adventures: Michael Curtis provides “The undulating Corruption” for level 5 characters, while the second module, “The Jeweler that dealt in Stardust” is penned by Harley Stroh and intended for level 3 characters. Both of the adventures sport a handy encounter table that lists the respective encounter type. The second page provides a fantastic b/w-handout that depicts the adventure location of the second adventure. The cartography also deserves mentioning: The first module gets a top-down map, while the second sports a gorgeous, isometric b/w-map…though I do wish it came with a player-friendly version…or in pdf-format, at least as a layered image, so I can turn off the room numbers, cut it up and hand it out. It still kinda works for that purpose, but, at least to me, the lack of a player-friendly map is a downside.

This review was requested and sponsored by one of my patreons. The review is based exclusively on the pdf-version, since I do not own the print version.

All righty, as always, this is an adventure review – as such, the following text will dive into heavy SPOILER territory. Players wishing to play these modules should jump ahead to the conclusion.

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All right, only judges around? Great!

So, “The Undulating Corruption” is pretty much a straightforward sidetrek, one that should sport a wizard PC currently suffering from a corruption, for that is the primary angle: Hidden away in hilly terrain, there is the Crucible of the Worm – a shrine that ostensibly can cure corruptions! But as the PCs approach the crucible’s location, a massive explosion shakes the earth…well, turns out that, for once, other adventurers and not the PCs have screwed up, big time. Provided the PCs manage to defeat the self-reproducing black sludges there, they can find the sad and doomed survivor of the adventuring group – the poor sod is beyond saving, but he can fill in the blanks: The crucible contained an entity of chaos, the Night Worm consumes corrupted wizards and excretes them, free of the taint – but the entity is free, hungry and potentially very dangerous.

A trail of black slime slows magical pursuit (unless you want to hasten the game), and thus, the PCs are on the trail of a massive, very dangerous entity: In order to catch up with the Night Worm, the PCs will have to cross a river without falling prey to corrupted catfish; soon thereafter, the PCs may recruit a cleric, who can provide help or even accompany them…and pretty soon thereafter, the PCs catch up with the massive entity and its corruptive beasts. The final adventure locale is intriguing: Within the insides of the massive worm, the PCs find an extradimensional place; there, the worm’s digestive system, the degenaphages, may attack…but they also provide the means for being cured: Spellcasters can attach an umbilical cord; if they are lucky (and feed the entities with spell-energy, enhancing the chances) they can shed a corruption…get out…and stop the worm before it carves a trail of destruction through the lands. Very unique sidequest!

The second adventure, “The Jeweler that dealt in Stardust” is basically a heist: Boss Ogo, one of Punjar’s notorious fences, hasn’t been seen in a month. His place seems rife for the picking, right? Well, unbeknown to the PCs, Ogo has been touched by Ygiiz, the Spider-Mother, via a crystal. He has managed t lure agents of the dread thing from the vast beyond. Meanwhile, his second in command and the gang members are loyally guarding his house – which is, as noted before, represented in a phenomenal b/w-artwork/handout. Unless the PCs are VERY careful, the guarding rogues will call for backup, following the PCs…which may well result in nasty consequences.

Speaking of smart approaches: If the PCs act in a clever manner, they may well enter the house via a less conspicuous manner – and find the hanging, webbed and bandaged bodies that act as anchors to the carnivorous spiders conjured forth. Eliminating these ritualistically prepared bodies (and yes, PCs can find that out!) immediately makes the module much easier…but also announces the presence of the PCs. Then again, that would be a pity – the magical spiders have actually multi-stage attack routines, which is pretty fun! Assuming the PCs manage to pass the strange spider-things, Ogo’s traps and provided they aren’t slain by their own shadow (which may be animated by a deadly candle), they will have a chance to stop Ogo…and potentially have their mind sundered by the crystal themselves. On the plus side, the PCs can find the eponymous stardust – its use may not be evident at first, but it can provide a one-time luck increase…oh, and yeah, it can be used to create more of those mind-shattering crystals…but who’d want that? Anyways, at the very latest once the PCs escape Ogo’s home, they’ll still have to contend with the ambush of aforementioned ruffians. Yeah, the module is potentially pretty difficult, unless the players act smart…which is just how I like it.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no issues in formal criteria or rules-integrity. Layout adheres to a nice 2-column b/w-standard and the b/w-artworks and maps by Doug Kovacs are phenomenal. The absence of player-friendly versions for the maps in particular is a pity here. The pdf comes with basic bookmarks.

Michael Curtis and Harley Stroh deliver two amazing little adventures here. The two modules ooze sword and sorcery flavor. The modules are dangerous and unique in concept, and while the first one is more of a sidetrek than anything, it gels well with the “Quest for it”-aesthetic of DCC. Both modules can imho be used in other rule-sets with relative ease; the crunchy bits don’t dive into the depths of the rules per se; they don’t have to. In short: This is a great offering and one that made me curse under my breath that I didn’t manage to get it in print. That being said, for the pdf version in particular, player-friendly map versions would have been greatly appreciated. Apart from this, I can’t really find serious flaws within the modules; they hit their intended tone pitch-perfect. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded up due to in dubio pro reo and the amazing, little heist that btw. makes for a fine convention-style game in length and density.

Endzeitgeist out.

Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/07/27/tabletop-review-dungeon-crawl-classics-free-rpg-day-2012/

I love the concept of Free RPG Day. It sprang from Free Comic Book Day and gives newcomers or those on a limited budget a chance to taste what tabletop gaming has to offer. Unlike Free Comic Book Day however, I’ve never personally picked anything up on Free RPG Day, mainly because I get so many free review copies sent to me that it feels a bit dirty taking more stuff for free. Instead I’d rather see those copies go to a younger gamer just getting into the hobby or someone who loves a system but can’t afford to buy a lot. The one thing I really wanted from this year was the Dungeon Crawl Classics offering, as it was two full adventures! Goodman Games always tends to be up there with Wizards of the Coast and Paizo in terms of the most impressive freebies, which is all the more notable as Goodman Games is a fraction of the size of either big company.

I will admit I was pleased to see a free review copy head my way a month after Free RPG Day, as I love the Dungeon Crawl Classics system. However, I was a bit shocked and dismayed to see Goodman Games is charging five bucks for what was originally free. That’s kind of a disservice to gamers who didn’t get out to Free RPG Day or worse, didn’t have a retailer anywhere near them that was participating. EVERYTHING else for Free RPG Day that is now available as a PDF online is still free, from Catalyst Game Labs’ Shadowrun Quick Start Rules to Eden Studios Conspiracy X Introductory Kit. Why Goodman Games is SELLING this is not only beyond me, but it also comes off more than a little slimy. I took Chaosium to task for doing the same thing with their Call of Cthulhu Quick Start Rules back in April (which also came with a full length adventure BTW), and Chaosium came right out, admitted they were wrong, apologized over at DriveThruRPG.com and made it free to everyone. Goodman Games really should follow suit and unfortunately until the price tag on this changes, I have to strongly recommend that NO ONE buy this because of the message that sends.

The good news is however, that in terms of actual quality, the two adventures in this Free RPG Day release are top notch and in fact the first one in the offering is my favorite adventure for the system so far! “The Undulating Corruption” is an adventure for four Level 5 characters. This is one of the higher level adventurers out there and if you’re a DCC fan, you know that reaching Level 5 is a pretty impressive feat. It’s great to see an adventure already made for characters that manage to survive long enough to hit this point. What makes the adventure even better is that it revolves around the ability to remove corruption from your characters! Corruption is a DCC aspect of magic where PCs will slowly be mentally and/or physically altered by their use of arcane forces. For those that haven’t played Dungeon Crawl Classics think of it as akin to a failed Ravenloft Powers Check or a large failed sanity roll in Call of Cthulhu. The fact that characters can be completely cleansed of their Corruption by going through this adventure makes it one that nearly all DCC players will want to experience once they are high enough to play this. That the adventure is exceptionally well done and a lot of fun to play makes it all the sweeter.

The crux of “The Undulating Corruption” is that an extra-planar creature known as the Night Worm has broken free from its ancient prison. This monstrosity, which feeds on the taint of corruption is not a benevolent creature on the side of good. Rather it is a purely chaotic creature that just happens to have a positive side effect…if you let it swallow you whole and defecate you out. PCs will have to track down the Night Worm and stop its trail of slime, devastation and horrible mutations as its very blood and ichor spawn horrible Corruption Beasts. Can the heroes slay the Night Worm, or is the possibility of magic free corruption too great a temptation that they will try to capture or subdue this ancient horror? There are many ways that this adventure can go, although the text does push the DM to try and have PCs kill the Night Worm. It’s a fairly straight forward linear adventure and one that features little to no dungeon crawling at all. It’s a nice change of pace from the average DCC adventure which tend to be, “Here’s a dungeon. Now go stab things.” Those are always fun for what they are, but a cross country-race against time to stop a rampaging abomination really stands out all the more against the bulk of DCC releases.

“The Jeweler That Dealt in Stardust” is the name of other adventure in this collection. It’s for Level 3 characters, but the amount of PCs needed is not listed. The adventure does suggest that at least one (with a preference towards ALL) of the PCs is a thief. The adventure is a heist, pure and simple, and this is another great idea that really stands out from the pack of hack and slash adventures out there. Pure heist adventures are so rare for a fantasy game, left more to systems like Shadowrun. Of course, like any good heist story, this one goes off the rails pretty quickly, leaving PCs to deal with one unexpected twist after another. In the case of this adventure, Boss Ogo, a premier fencer has not been seen in a month and people are assuming the worst has finally befallen him. As a fence, Ogo was privy to a lot of expensive and/or rare items and there’s no doubt that his home is not only full of these valuables, but is also ripe for the picking…once you get past a litany of deathtraps, that is. Can the PCs get in and out without any real issues, thus making a name for themselves amongst the thieves of the world? There’s a potential fortune to be had after all…

The truth of the adventure is that Boss Ogo is still alive and continues to dwell within his manor. It’s just that he has become the servant to a creature from beyond the stars known as the Spider-Mother, Ygiiz, and plans to open an inter-dimensional portal for Ygiiz and her children to come through and ravage our world. So maybe being dead would have been better for everyone else. To top it off, Ogo’s old crew has reorganized without him and are watching over the manor, making sure no one defiles it. So players will have to sneak past this guild of thieves, enter the manor, dealt with what awaits inside and stop Ogo and Ygiiz’s machinations. That’s a little bit more than a simple grab and go treasure hunt, eh?

“The Jeweler That Dealt In Stardust” is a fun little adventure that combines the usual hack and slash with an Ocean’s Eleven style twist. There’s not a lot of combat but when there is, it’s fairly intense. Like a good horror movie, this adventure throws one last combat situation at the PCs after the think everything is done and over with…which will most likely to lead several players saying adieu to their character as they are butchered horribly. It sounds mean, but Dungeon Crawl Classics is anything but kind to PCs.

Overall, this really was the best offering from Free RPG Day 2012 and it shows just why Dungeon Crawl Classics is as popular as it is in just its first full year of existence. Still, it feels more than a little slimy to charge five dollars for an electronic version of something that was given away for free, especially when all the other Free RPG 2012 offerings are out there, costing gamers nothing. If Goodman Games corrects this, then this is a must have for ANY gamer as it will surely suck you into the Dungeon Crawl Classics system. At five dollars though, you’re still getting two of the best adventures I’ve seen for the systems so far, but it’s hard to recommend something of even this quality knowing that it shouldn’t have a price tag at all.

Unlike many offerings for Free RPG Day, this isn't a 'starter pack' in the conventional sense of introducing a ruleset in sufficient detail to play a short adventure with the characters provided. Instead, herein are a couple of adventures at different levels - a level 3 heist and a level 5 expedition - but it is assumed that you have access to the rules and have some characters already.

First is the level 5 expedition The Undulating Corruption by Michael Curtis. It's based around the premise that ALL wizards, be they good or evil, acquire the taint of Corruption by the mere fact that they use magic, and that should a mechanism be found to remove said Corruption without harming the wizard, it would certainly be worth seeking out... however it might actually work. Both the party and a bunch of tomb-raiders have got wind of this, and so the race is on to discover and harness such a potent resource for anyone who uses magic seriously.

Brief notes are given on how to get the party involved and where to put the adventure site, but it's loose enough to fit pretty much wherever in your campaign world you want to put it. Needless to say, just getting there involves a few challenges, all mapped out and with sufficient detail for them to be run with ease... although it's clear something is going on and characters will likely not wish to linger overmuch. Some innovative monsters bar their way, however, and the chance to gain a few clues about their goal, and then the chase is on!

Eventually, the characters will have a chance to deal with any Corruption that they have, but the price is high... and given the circumstances, it's a one-off deal. Overall, this is a splendid romp that captures the essence of what Dungeon Crawl Classics is attempting to achieve on your tabletop, an adventure well worth tucking away until your characters reach the dizzying heights of 5th Level.

Inserted between this adventure and the second one is a map-based competition: you have until October 2012 to come up with an adventure built around this map with the winner getting to write Goodman Games's contribution to Free RPG Day 2013! I feel some ideas coming on already...

Next, from the pen of Harley Stroh comes a 3-rd level adventure The Jeweller Who Dealt in Stardust. Set in Punjar, a city well-known to DCC affectionadoes and notorious for its ethically-challenged inhabitants, it's basically a heist. A leading fence has gone missing, so someone's got to break into his place and find out what's happened to him... Whilst thief skills are essential, it is likely that swords and spells will also come in handy.

This is a fine adventure redolent of some of the burglarious escapades Conan gets up to in the novels, with plenty of scope for sneaking around, dealing with unspeakable horrors and perhaps even pocketing some loot. Right now I wish I hadn't read it because I would have loved to play a character in it! Guess I'll have to run it, instead, at least I shall have an excellent map and some quite innovative surprises to throw at my players!

This work is an exemplar of the sort of adventures to run with this ruleset, truly catching the flavour of the game and promising a couple of sessions of epic fun for players and game master alike!

A key element of player experience in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is a sense of wonderment. Your job as judge is to convey “the sense of the unknown” that was so easy to achieve when we were children who did not know all the rules. -- DCC RPG Core rules

If, by "a sense of wonderment", you mean "OH SHI*", yes, DCC adventures have a sense of wonderment. If D&D adventures are a series of stat blocks and treasure tables, DCC adventures are a case of "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't". Assuming, of course, your players will last long enough to find that method. Spoilers ahead.

The first adventure, "The Undulating Corruption", is a 5th-level quest for a corrupted wizard and his party. DCC has a wonderful mechanic that the more a wizard casts spells, the more likely he'll suffer a corruption. In this adventure, your players have found out about a shrine that can cure corruption. Except that it isn't really a shrine. And it escaped.

The second adventure, "The Jeweler that Dealt in Stardust", is a 3rd-level heist of a fence who seems to have disappeared a month ago. Seems, of course, is the operative word. More accurately, it seems that Boss Ogo stumbled upon a particularly enchanted jewel, and has made contact with a Lolth or Lovecraftian mythos-inspired spider god, whose spiders have leaked into our own plane. It doesn't help that Ogo himself has a well-trapped location, or mundane opponents, such as the surviving gang members, still watch over his shop.

At about six pages each, both adventures are short, but that doesn't mean they're easy. They should be adaptable to other game systems. The second adventure will also be useful to understand what a thieves guild would look like. Also included is a $1000 design contest, with an October 2012 deadline.

My only hesitation in recommending these adventures is that, as of this writing, DCC seems to be releasing adventures starting at 0th level and is up to 1st, if you ignore the short 5th level adventure in the core book. Those who wish to create their own sense of, ahem, wonderment, adventures already have the adventures in the DCC core rules as models. The others who rely up on prewritten adventures may wish to wait until Goodman Games releases a 3rd level adventure to have something to compare these adventures against.