Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King

[Black Knight]

Wow! What a stunning cover! What a cool concept! I know I'm old and I love the old adventures like Keep on the Borderlands and Temple of the Frog God, and this entire concept of 'ol fashioned dungeon crawls brings me back to those early gaming days. You all remember them, when the maps were hand drawn, the writers were total unknowns, the dice needed to be colored in, and boxed sets included a crayon!

That's why I jumped on the chance to be one of the writers for this series of adventures. Good solid whomp'em stomp'em action! For those of you who haven't read the blurb yet, here it is:


[quote]
Remember the golden days of role playing, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Well, those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics feature bloody combat, intriguing dungeons, and no NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know must be there somewhere.

In Idylls of the Rat King, goblin bandits are once again attacking the silver caravans, killing innocent miners and stealing cargo. The goblins have taken up residence in an abandoned mine northwest of Silverton. Someone must get rid of them. But this is no ordinary abandoned mine. It was deliberately barricaded generations ago when the Gannu family, founders of Silverton, discovered an unspeakable evil on its lowest levels. And these are no ordinary goblins, for the curse of the Gannu family courses through their veins...

Dungeon Crawl Classics can be inserted easily into any fantasy setting.
[/quote]

So game masters of the world, look at your players and say, "it's time for me to get medievil on your candy ass!"

[email]goldsmith@stny.rr.com[/email]
Freelance Writer/Game Designer
[url=http://jpquinn.mortality.net/]My Website, Hosted by Mortality![/url]

[goodmangames]

I just confirmed with the printer that we can print the maps on the inside covers in that same blue color that the old 80s modules used. And the interior art is all in the style of the 80's greats -- Bill Willingham, Jeff Dee, and Erol Otus. Check out the update:

http://www.goodman-games.com/5000preview.php

[Mike_Ferguson]

Judging from the overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic reaction to Dungeon Crawl Classics at Ubercon, I think we may have a hit here ....

[Guest]

It looks good, but $11 for a 32 page module is really steep. This will have to recieve some REALLY good reviews before I consider buying it.

[Black Knight]

I just want to go on record saying the following (in response to a customer comment from UberCon):


[quote]
From Micheal Ferguson about UberCon:

[i]... I spent ten minutes arguing with a customer who was busy swearing to me that he had owned the *original* "Idylls of the Rat King" back in 1984. Honest.[/i]
[/quote]

In no way has DCC#1: Idylls of the Rat King ever appeared before. It may remind you of those classic modules from a by-gone year, but people... [b][i]the DCC line of modules are not reprints of classic modules[/b][/i]. But I'll take the compliment

Jeffrey Quinn
Freelance Writer/Game Designer
http://jpquinn.mortality.net/

[Mike_Ferguson]

[quote]
but people... [b][i]the DCC line of modules are not reprints of classic modules[/b][/i]. But I'll take the compliment
[/quote]

And it *should* be taken as a compliment, methinks. The customer who insisted that he'd owned the "original" eventually realized his mistake and said as much. The situation was more humorous than anything else.

The actual module, though, does such a good job of evoking the feel of the original 1st edition modules, though, that I think it's a comment to be expected.

Kudos to the writer, artists, and designer for opening a doorway back to the good ol' days of gaming ... an [b]original[/b] doorway, [b]not[/b] one lined with 1st edition reprints.

[goodmangames]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Anonymous[/i]
It looks good, but $11 for a 32 page module is really steep. This will have to recieve some REALLY good reviews before I consider buying it. [/quote]

That $11 will keep you busy for quite a few gaming sessions. As for the really good reviews, how's this?

[url=http://www.gameplaynews.com/reviews.php?article_id=548]http://www.gameplaynews.com/reviews.php?article_id=548[/url]

[Black Knight]

Great review!!! It's nice to see some of us "old fogies" are still out there and playing.

[iceberg]

It looks good, but $11 for a 32 page module is really steep. This will have to recieve some REALLY good reviews before I consider buying it.

After having ran one of these most excellent Adventures, I don't object in any way to the LOW LOW price of $11. I have 1-3 and #4 has been ordered through my local gaming store. I will be waiting in line for #5, it's wonderful to see a company supporting older gamers like me.

[JediOre]

This adventure is excellent. We went through it last weekend (Friday-Saturday Game Fest). Truely "old-school."

Spoilers ahead --



The gnome & his zombie allies almost did us in!

I have a question concerning the final battle with the vampire. By the time we found the bottle, I'd figured it was a vampire. My idea to defeat the monster is as follows, do you think it would have worked? (for the record we didn't use my idea, we went with a slug-out in which my paladin got smacked around badly and killed although no one else faired much better!)

I figured we could fill the room with the casks of lamp oil and as much flamable material as we could get in the room. Break open the tops of all the casks and cover everything in oil. From the doorway I'd have had our two archers fire flaming arrows at the bottle. Then we would have closed the door (I didn't know it would close itself) and traced the door jamb with holy water & had garlic from the village on hand at the door as well. It seems to me the vampire would have succumbed to the blaze and unable to escape. What say you guys?

[goodmangames]

I figured we could fill the room with the casks of lamp oil and as much flamable material as we could get in the room. Break open the tops of all the casks and cover everything in oil. From the doorway I'd have had our two archers fire flaming arrows at the bottle. Then we would have closed the door (I didn't know it would close itself) and traced the door jamb with holy water & had garlic from the village on hand at the door as well. It seems to me the vampire would have succumbed to the blaze and unable to escape. What say you guys?

Man, I hate it when players figure out ways to finish off a great encounter with minimal effort! One of the groups playtesting the Gen Con tournament adventure managed to clear out an entire room with one very clever move... which I can't reveal here, but remind me after the con tournament and I'll post it. (And by the way, we've changed the room so that move won't work anymore.

As for your idea above, if my players tried it... hmm... If the vampire had a chance to reform, I'd give her a Will save of some kind to try to resist the garlic in order to escape the burning room. After all, being burned to death is a strong motivator to overcome the smell of garlic. But if she failed the Will save, then she'd be toast!