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Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King $6.99
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Edward K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/16/2021 21:03:04

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!

Product- Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King System- DCC RPG Producer- Goodman Games Price- $6.00 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/129075/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-665-Doom-of-the-Savage-King?affiliate_id=658618 TL; DR- Appendix N shoot first ask questions never? 97%

Basics- Time to kill the unkillable! Doom of the Savage Kings starts out deep in the action as the players come upon a local lord tying a young woman to a pole to be eaten by a beast to sate its bloodlust. What happens next is completely up to the “heroes”! Save the girl? Serve the Lord? Either way there is an unkillable beast that needs slaying if the sacrifices are to stop.

Mechanics or Crunch-This is an early one for DCC RPG, and it shows a bit. The mechanics are fine, but sometimes the Judge may have to tone down the challenge for the players to survive. Especially mine, as my players never met a situation where certain death deterred them in the slightest! It works well for higher player counts, but lower ones will need a bit of adjusting. Doom of the Savage Kings mechanically is an early very deadly, very fun adventure. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff- This adventure is PURE Appendix N. Village sacrificing people to save the rest like “The Lottery” and an ancient tomb where weapons will slay not-Grendel? FANTASTIC! This adventure is gonzo fantasy that makes DCC DCC. 5/5

Execution- PDF? Yes. Hyperlinked? Yes, basically. This has what I need to run this adventure. Maps, quick rundown, and detailed enough encounters. It reads fast as my initial read through was five minutes before the game and my players had a blast completely abandoning the adventure’s basic path within five minutes. If you like the basic layout of DCC, then you will like this layout. Like always, Goodman Games DCC modules read like the old modules you used to get with some art in the middle, maps at the end, and a summary at the start. Since I’m living an era of gaming I wasn’t part when it came round the first time, it’s a blast to be part of it this time as the editing has massively improved the experience! 5/5

Summary- Doom of the Savage Kings is classic DCC RPG. It’s a bit harder than it needs to be so maybe some love from a Judge will save the PCs from their bad rolls if not their stupidity. The book itself is well laid out, and the plot is top notch. Players will have a blast saving a town, delving into old crypts, and killing the monster stalking the helpless in the fog. If you need your Boewulf fix but want to do it with some crazy DCCRPG rules, this is hands down a fantastic adventure to get into. 97%



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/02/2018 04:16:38

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module clocks in at 20 pages, 1 page front cover, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 15 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was sponsored by one of my patreons, to be undertaken at my leisure.

All right, this is a first level module for Dungeon Crawl Classics, and in case you’re not familiar with the system and the offerings by Goodman Games, it should be noted that level 1 is not the lowest level there is. It should also be noted that there are no less than three GORGEOUS b/w-maps, with artwork and everything, included in the deal. One map for the village of Hirot, one for the wilderness, and one for the dungeon. Now, I know that pretty much the whole series suffers from this, but I will still continue to complain about it: The maps, stunning though they are, are neither layered, nor are there player-friendly versions provided. While I can understand this somewhat for the dungeon, it’s somewhat annoying regarding the map of the village.

Anyways, this dungeon is not a cakewalk, and DCC is, aesthetics-wise, a pretty challenging game, so yeah – if you’re not up to your A-game as a player, your PC may well die. This is one important thing to note: This book emphasizes PLAYER-skill and agenda over PC-skill and agenda. If you get your character killed, it’ll very likely be because you screwed up as a player, not because of a dickish save-or-die. All deadly challenges within this module felt fair to me. Yes, even the at times very high DCs (for DCC): 23 could only be made by super high AGI chars with a natural 20. On the other hand, clever PLAYERS can prevent this DC from ever coming up, even when triggered. I really adore this design-sensibility.

Theme-wise, this module assumes a quasi-Norse, pulpy environment and should work without a snag in such a context. The other, super-obvious analogue, would be Beowulf. This is basically a dark fantasy-retelling of a variant of Beowulf and mirrors leitmotifs of sögur of the age, contrasting old paganism and fanatically upheld “new values.” In other fantastic contexts, you may need to do a bit of reskinning regarding titles etc., but don’t let that deter you. The pdf does offer quite a lot of read-aloud text for an adventure that champions an old-school aesthetic, and it is better off for it. Beyond this flavorful text, even the non-read-aloud text offers a fantastic atmosphere – the prose throughout this module is fantastic and frankly is beyond anything most longer modules manage to achieve.

All right, since this is an adventure review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

..

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All right, only judges around? Great! We join the heroes as they trod through the sodden, darksome moors surrounding Hirot; to be more precise, the heroes as they happen upon locals preparing to sacrifice a maiden! The local Jarl will not be happy if the PCs do intervene, and neither will the grim and frightened mob – but standing against the heroes is a bad idea, so chances are good that the PCs may prevent the sacrifice, which will be helpful, as we’re talking about the innkeeper’s daughter here…

Anyways, this encounter foreshadows a lot and sets the delightfully grim and shades of grey tone of the adventure. The lavishly-mapped village, ringed by palisades, is in the grip of fear. The so-called Hound of Hirot, a dread monster, is ravaging the town in predictable intervals, but it seems to be immortal. A d24 table of rumors accompanies the adventure and helps further enforce the atmosphere of xenophobia and fear.

Contrary to the beliefs fostered by the Jarl and his nasty advisor, the Hound can be hurt by mortal weapons – just not slain. Vanquishing it only draws out the inevitable, rage-fueled retributive rampage. There are mystic ways to bind and truly destroy the hound. You see, the module, in spite of its brevity, is actually surprisingly freeform: There are several ways to stop the dread Hound of Hirot…and the PCs better hurry, for there is a lottery going on…and the Jarl and his cronies rig the game to get rid of problematic beings….like the PCs. Oh, guess what? The dungeon? It’s optional. How’s that for guts? A module with this page-count, and it’s so freeform that you can skip the dungeon. And yes, it pulls this off.

The Hound must be bound to slay it: Supernatural power (Strength + good dice rolling) will do the trick; alternatively, the local mad crone offers to weave shackles from the hair of the dead – which can bind the Hound, but woe to the PCs that try to cheat her…she wants to marry one of them in exchange for the service, the whole subplot resonating with mythological tropes.

Speaking of which – there may be another way, and this one actually involves the dungeon: Namely the Wolf-spear of Ulfheonar, which lies in an ancient barrow-mound, where, among other riches and potential doom, a magical cave-bear’s hide may be found. This also is a great place to note the one thing that is most likely to kill off PCs – the mound contains a false tomb with an ingeniously-rigged trap that you can’t best by rolling, only by actual smarts. I loved this, and the b/w-artworks help maintain the atmosphere here. The tomb is also constructed in a way that made sense to me, which is another plus. The true tomb, undead and the means to access it are inspiring and clever (and neatly visualized on the excellent map)…but the module does not end there.

Exiting the mound, the PCs will be assaulted by the Jarl’s men, who seek to kill off these dangers to his power-base…and the PCs may well have to track the Hound of Hirot through the dangerous wilderness to its lair…where a blackened pool offers power, but also madness…and unwise PCs may actually become what they have fought so hard to slay…

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch on a formal and rules-language level. The layout adheres to a nice two-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes with amazing b/w-artworks and stellar cartography, though the lack of player-friendly maps is a pity and comfort detriment. The pdf comes with basic bookmarks for its sections. I can’t comment on the physical version, since I do not own it.

Harley Stroh’s tale here is fantastic. It feels like it was taken straight from the pages of pulp literature and hits the themes of pulpy dark fantasy perfectly. The prose is phenomenal and the module, as a whole, actually has some replay value for the judge. How good is this? Well, good enough to make it worth converting to other systems. If you’re already playing DCC, then this is glorious. Even if you aren’t, this is well worth getting for the amazing prose and dense, evocative atmosphere. This is a fantastic first adventure for the system and establishes a level of quality only rarely seen. Don’t be fooled by the brevity – this has a lot of amazing gaming waiting for you. In spite of the lack of player-friendly maps, my final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval. This is a truly fantastic yarn, a must-own for DCC-groups, and a great buy for other systems as well. Seriously, the atmosphere is phenomenal.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King
Publisher: Goodman Games
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/10/2016 10:38:45

This is a great beginner adventure to give new players a well-rounded experience of RPGs. There is a village to experience, NPCs to meet, a dungeon to explore, treasure to find, wilderness to wander, and a Big Bad Boss to defeat. I converted this for use with D&D 5E. I also ran it as a one-shot for a group of 11 PCs. Things only really got crowded in the dungeon and I just raised the HP of the monsters to last a little longer.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 04/28/2014 11:43:28

Demonstrating the trademark player-character 'funnel' of Dungeon Crawl Classics, this adventure is for 6-12 first-level characters, not all of whom will make it out alive. Hopefully a few will survive to tell the tale...

Set in and around the village of Hirot, the party will first gather information and rumours concerning a dire beast, the legendary Hound of Hirot, and be persuaded to deal with this menace. There are clues to gather as to various artefacts that might help, then off to actually find them (the dungeon crawl bit) and finally to the Sunken Fens to face off against the Hound. Ought to be simple, right?

The village is well-described, it's easy to get the flavour of the place and the people who dwell there. The rumours flying around are many and varied, and it is made clear which ones are true and which false (well, to the GM anyway, the party will have to draw their own conclusions!). Interestingly, from the outset the party needs to make moral choices as to their actions, embedding them into the ongoing events rather than leaving them as spectators. NPCs and encounter locations are provided in abundance: it's hard to realise that all this is packed into a mere 16 pages (yet it doesn't seem cluttered, cramped or overcrowded either).

Maps are plentiful as well: the village, the surrounding area and of course the integral dungeon crawl segment (couldn't be without that, what?). Everything you need to run the adventure - detailed locations, believeable NPCs and a few hideous monsters to bash - is provided. All in all, a good introduction to Dungeon Crawl Classics.

And this being a revision? I'm afraid I never saw the original version, so cannot comment on how it's been improved. Suffice to say, this rendition is excellent fun!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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