Goodman Games

Hi guys,

I'm planning on running a one-shot adventure for a group of friends during our Gencon Stay one night, and I'm really considing a Dungeon Crawl Classic.

Which would you consider a GREAT one to play? Level isn't really an issue, they'll bring whatever level PC I tell them.

What are your true favorites?

THanks in advance!

Ed

For a one-nighter, I'd suggest nearly anything that strikes your fancy from The Adventure Begins. Short, sweet, high potential for violence....what more could you ask for?

Agreed 100%...DCC #29:The Adventure Begins is a great place to start. You might also want to consider DCC #0:Legends are Made, not Born...it's a lot of fun, is for 0-level characters, and is kinda short.

Again, if you're looking for one-night fun, you may want to consider the $2 modules...DCC #11: The Dragonfiend Pact and DCC #31: The Transmuter's Last Touch are both pretty cool.

All of the above are for fairly low level characters, which is the key to one-night games.
You may even want to prep two in case the body count gets higher than anticipated...ANY fight at low level is potentially deadly!

Finally, if you're up for something longer AND you've got a way to play music in-suite, I'd recommend the module up for Best Adventure this year: DCC #34: Cage of Delirium. I'm a huge fan of this one.
Playing in a strange hotel room with the included soundtrack (maybe by candlelight?) would have some to-die-for atmosphere.

Jengenritz wrote:Finally, if you're up for something longer AND you've got a way to play music in-suite, I'd recommend the module up for Best Adventure this year: DCC #34: Cage of Delirium. I'm a huge fan of this one.

I haven't had an opportunity to run or play in Cage, but from all appearances and other referee's descriptions, it rocks. So...yeah.

The DCC #29 mini-adventures are wonderful.

DCC #0 is a great choice too.

You may also want to concider DCC #17. Since you only have one night, change the intro to a simple "you have a map to the ancient tombs of the Savage Kings and that has led you to the edge of a swamp." Drop the Forge and the Maw. Make it a straight line from a killer dragon to a finale with the new incarnation of the Savage King. Let the magic flow!

JediOre wrote:Make it a straight line from a killer dragon to a finale with the new incarnation of the Savage King. Let the magic flow!

that adventure has one of the best finales ever. pcs wetting their pants all over themselves.

DCC2: Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho is my favorite, if only because it was the first DCC I bought. I also like the backstory behind the adventure.

Jonathan Moyer wrote:DCC2: Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho is my favorite, if only because it was the first DCC I bought. I also like the backstory behind the adventure.

Word, holmes. Very Lovecraftian.

(Or is that "Cthulhoid"--?)

Just reading it (and never having played) it seems like it'd take a while to complete, however. I s'pose you could chop out some of the encounters to streamline it.

I'm running Ragnar1965, Nightwing, and JediWife throught DCC #2 right now. It will need more than one night to complete. As to what to cut out of this eerie module? I'm not sure you should. Part of the fun of this one is the slow build up that ends in a very memoriable encounter. This one would not be my pick.

Ogrepuppy wrote:Just reading it (and never having played) it seems like it'd take a while to complete, however. I s'pose you could chop out some of the encounters to streamline it.

Ack, I neglected to read the part in the OP where it was only for one night! Yeah, DCC2 is great, but does take a while.

Chairman7w wrote:Hi guys,

I'm planning on running a one-shot adventure for a group of friends during our Gencon Stay one night, and I'm really considing a Dungeon Crawl Classic.

Which would you consider a GREAT one to play? Level isn't really an issue, they'll bring whatever level PC I tell them.

If you have a copy of 51.5 (the Free RPG Day module), I'd suggest that. Its a great read, and is short enough for a single night (I think). It is going to be the inaugural adventure in my very-soon-to-start C&C game.

SavageRobby wrote:

Chairman7w wrote:Hi guys,

I'm planning on running a one-shot adventure for a group of friends during our Gencon Stay one night, and I'm really considing a Dungeon Crawl Classic.

Which would you consider a GREAT one to play? Level isn't really an issue, they'll bring whatever level PC I tell them.

If you have a copy of 51.5 (the Free RPG Day module), I'd suggest that. Its a great read, and is short enough for a single night (I think). It is going to be the inaugural adventure in my very-soon-to-start C&C game.

Cool, are you going to start the PCs at 1st level? The module, "Sinister Secret of Whiterock" implies that you should maybe start it at 2nd or 3rd level.

I think it would be cool to start with DCC#2 then follow up with Sinister Secret of Whiterock...

My DCC collection is far from complete, but I generally look for DCCs that are conducive to one shots or a gaming weekend (outside of a regular campaign).

My absolute favorites are the tournament modules - Crypt of the Devil Lich, Vault of the Dragon Kings, and Palace of the Wastes. If you were planning several sessions, I'd recommend one of those....hands down, some of the best adventures out there. Even if you are just running one night of gaming, any of those would be fantastic (although, you won't get a climactic ending, since they all require at least three 4 hour sessions).

For a single 4 hour time slot, I'd actually recommend DCC#0 Legends Are Made, Not Born. If your group consists of power gamers, they may not enjoy it as much (since it involved zero level PCs). But, if you're group is fine with that, this adventure will work well for you. It's fun and includes pregens.

I'd also recommend Iron Crypt of the Heretics (#12.5). Harley writes great descriptive text, and the module has a tournament feel to it (plenty of riddles, puzzles, traps, and good combats). There are also Dunjinni maps available for this, and I'd highly recommend printing them. They're worth the effort (my group loved it). This can be completed in around 5 hours or so.

A couple people suggested #29...and I can't really comment on that, since I don't have that yet. I'll have to flip through that at GenCon though...

Rath wrote:

SavageRobby wrote:If you have a copy of 51.5 (the Free RPG Day module), I'd suggest that. Its a great read, and is short enough for a single night (I think). It is going to be the inaugural adventure in my very-soon-to-start C&C game.

Cool, are you going to start the PCs at 1st level? The module, "Sinister Secret of Whiterock" implies that you should maybe start it at 2nd or 3rd level.

I think it would be cool to start with DCC#2 then follow up with Sinister Secret of Whiterock...

At the moment I'm planning on starting them at around 2500-3000 XP, and see where that shakes out their PCs. Eyeballing it, low level C&C characters are a bit weaker than 3x characters, so it should be fine. I may just start them at 0 XP though - my thoughts on that change day to day.

I've actually got #35B queued up as the second adventure, and then I'm go to give them hooks to do TSR's U1 Secret of Saltmarsh and/or the Lost Vault as the next adventure (and if they go the U1 route, I may take them through U2 and U3 as well). I've also got Idylls of the Rat King, Into the Wilds, C3 Lost Island of Castanamir and N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile Gods queued up as possible early adventures as well (all taking place in the Wilderlands campaign setting).

SavageRobby wrote:I've also got Idylls of the Rat King, Into the Wilds

If you're needing 1 nighters, these two are absolutely off the list. Now, I know my group is a little slower than others, but my players took a few weeks for each. Idylls and Wilds do deserve to be savored rather than rushed through.

Heh. Multi-session is good for me. Its Chairman that needed the one-nighter. We kinda thread jacked the conversation.