DCC Open 2020 Return to the Starless Sea Tournament Results
At Bride of Cyclops Con 2020, Goodman Games ran the DCC team tournament, The Return to the Starless Sea. This year’s tournament features a new adventure, and a new format – the team funnel tournament – where five player teams consisted of multiple 0-level PCs controlled by each player. Over the course of two fantastic virtual days and as many hard-fought rounds, hundreds of gongfarmers fell to the deadly traps, chaotic combat, and multiple paths that made up this year’s adventure, and a number of teams were wiped out in TPKs before the Peon Knights emerged as the champions.
We now present the official tournament stats, including all the judges, rooms and authors that contributed to this year’s amazing event.
Round 1 Results
Unlike previous years, this year’s adventure was designed such that teams in each flight during Round 1 had a slightly different path through the adventure to reach the center of the restored chaos keep. There are up to five alternative paths that can be taken, making it less likely that teams in Round 1 would experience the same content. Each path includes a different unique encounter in area 1-3, and teams could even choose to ignore the ghostly apparitions guiding them towards the most direct path to the center of the keep to wander off and encounter alternative areas – most likely to their own peril!
Each path into the keep is roughly mathematically equivalent and therefore fair in a tournament environment. Even so, at Bride of Cyclops Con, teams were competing only with other teams in the same flight for the top spot(s) to guarantee advancement, ensuring that results were not being compared across flight. Below are the final Round 1 results broken out by team by flight.
Round 1, Flight 1 Results (Route A)
| Place | Team | Flight Score | Players | Judge |
| 1 (Advancing Team) | Impending Doom | 84 | Frank Alonso John Dow Sam Kiner Gary McBride Jason Stierle | Marc Bruner |
| 2 (1st Alternate) | Virtually Heroes | 54* | Brett Gibson Matthew Wayne House Squin Squin Jose Viegas Chris Zank | Tim Deschene |
| 3 | Zeros 2 Heroes | 41 | Jon Wilson Paul Paul Dan Alban Jeff F Mark Brooks | Mike Bolam |
| 4 | leastmen | 3* | Michael Markey John Gard Joseph Moore Silas Moore David Zelasco | Haley Skach |
| 5 | Oh God, 2 | 1 | Joe Batka James Batka Jason Cefaratti Jonathan Beach Matthew Batka | Jim Skach |
* Games that had at least one TPK
Round 1, Flight 2 Results (Route C)
| Place | Team | Flight Score | Players | Judge |
| 1 (Advancing Team) | Gong in 60 Seconds | 91 | Eric Betts Michael Anderson Tim White Ian Burgess Lion Godchaux | Eric Daum |
| 2 (Advancing Team) | Surfers in the Dark | 78 | Jason Mulvey Nick McKinnon Paul Romer Ross Grinvalds | Mike Bolam |
| 3 (Advancing Team) | Aquabats | 62* | Sean Smith Joe Cirillo Bobby Roelofs Caleb Wynn Tim Hitchcock | Tim Deschene |
| 4 (3rd Alternate) | Oops All Beastmen | 61 | Ryan Bishop James Garbarino David Holmes Ryan Brewton Michael Nusbaum | Harley Stroh |
| 5 | Haley’s Comets | 60 | Trevor Russ Stefan Ristic Svebor Midzic Terry Zimmerman Mihailo Tešić | Haley Skach |
| 6 | Zig and the Rots | 44 | Christian Ovsenik Douglas Walls Jack Derricourt Cory Welch Stephanie Ovsenik | James Pozenel |
| 7 | Fumble Dies | 35 | Aaron Kreader Marie Schorn Mike Dawson Joe Colistro Geoff Knox | Clay Liford |
| 8 | Djinn Lords Chosen Cacafuegos | 31 | Stefan Surratt Matt Robertson Keith Haddad Cyrus Sohrab Nafici | Jim Skach |
| 9 | The Warriors on the Edge of Time | 26 | Jim May Paul Capito Dillon Morton Zach Batalden Chuck Franco | Marc Bruner |
* Games that had at least one TPK
Round 1, Flight 3 Results (Route D)*
| Place | Team | Round Score | Players | Judge |
| 1 (Advancing Team) | The Dump Stats | 99 | J. M. Stephanie Bair Larry Green Jeff Bair Dan Cook | Mike Bolam |
| 2 (Advancing Team) | Peon Knights | 98 | Steven Danielson Andy Chandler Landon Kanillopoolos Steve Dodge Travis Michael Rapp | Tim Deschene |
| 3 (2nd Alternate) | Chaotic Chuckwagons | 97 | Chris Sabatino David LaMacchia Derek Schubert David Baity Jeff Scifert | Terry Olson |
| 4 | The High Five | 94 | Tim Spahr Matt Carroll Jonathan Wignall Alan Fishman Chris Thomas | James Pozenel |
| 5 | Village Idiots | 83 | Chase Reinhart Jason Kehoe Matt Sauers Jordan McCarrel Matt Free | Stefan Flickinger |
| 6 | Lords of Sarcasm | 52 | Curtis Green Jason Riddell Yorkus Rex Noah Colbaugh Drinkee Crow | Haley Skach |
| 7 | The Vine Horror Conservationists | 25 | Jen Brinkman Jason Sullivan Gary Soldati | Jim Skach |
* Flight 3 featured not one, but four teams that managed to finish the entire round, an amazing close finish! Final rankings were ultimately decided by the amount of time remaining when the team finished the round, with The Dump Stats and Peon Knights finishing with 27 and 14 minutes remaining, respectively.
Round 2 Results*
| Place | Team | Round Score | Players | Judge |
| 1 | Peon Knights | 89 | Steven Danielson Andy Chandler Landon Kanillopoolos Steve Dodge Travis Michael Rapp | Eric Daum |
| 2 | The Dump Stats | 65 | J. M. Stephanie Bair Larry Green Jeff Bair Dan Cook | Marc Bruner |
| 3 | Impending Doom | 30** | Frank Alonso John Dow Sam Kiner Gary McBride Jason Stierle | Tim Deschene |
| 4 | Gong in 60 Seconds | 3** | Eric Betts Michael Anderson Tim White Ian Burgess Lion Godchaux | Jim Skach |
| 5 | Surfers in the Dark | -6** | Jason Mulvey Nick McKinnon Paul Romer Ross Grinvalds | Haley Skach |
| 6 | Aquabats | -13** | Sean Smith Joe Cirillo Bobby Roelofs Caleb Wynn Tim Hitchcock | Mike Bolam |
* While no team managed to finish Round 2, both the Peon Knights and The Dump Stats managed to make it all the way to the final encounter while avoiding a TPK!
** Games that ended in a TPK.
Deadliest Round
| Round | Ratio of Fatalities to Total Number of Players | Total PC Fatalities* | Total PCs |
| 2 | 1.9:1 | 56 | 29 |
| 1 | 1.3:1 | 938 | 746 |
* “Total PC Fatalities” includes both the total number of times a PC reached 0 hp and the number of PCs that bled out. For 0-level PCs, a death is counted as both reaching 0 hp and bleeding out to allow for direct comparison to previous tournaments.
TPKs by Round and Judge
| Round | TPKs | Teams | TPK % | Top TPK Judges |
| 1 | 6 | 21 | 29% | Haley Skach (4) |
| 2 | 4 | 6 | 67% | Tie – Mike Bolam, Tim Deschene, Jim Skach, and Haley Skach (1) |
Deadliest Round
| Round | Ratio of Fatalities to Total Number of Players | Total PC Fatalities | Total PCs |
| 2 | 1.9:1 | 56 | 29 |
| 1 | 1.3:1 | 938 | 746 |
Deadliest Rooms by Round
| Round | Room | Author | % of Total PC Fatalities in Round |
| 1 | Area 1-1 – Through the Breach! | Terry Olson | 30% |
| 2 | Area 2-11 – Finale at the Ziggurat | Terry Olson | 46% |
Deadliest Judges
| Judge | Ratio of Fatalities to Total Number of Players | Total PC Fatalities | Total PCs |
| Harley Stroh | 1.7:1 | 54 | 32 |
| Jim Skach | 1.4:1 | 148 | 104 |
| Haley Skach | 1.4:1 | 162 | 116 |
| Eric Daum | 1.4:1 | 54 | 40 |
| Tim Deschene | 1.3:1 | 163 | 123 |
| Mike Bolam | 1.2:1 | 137 | 115 |
| Marc Bruner | 1.2:1 | 85 | 72 |
| James Pozenel* | 1.1:1 | 86 | 79 |
| Stefan Flickinger* | 1.1:1 | 42 | 39 |
| Terry Olson | 1.0:1 | 24 | 23 |
| Clay Liford* | 1.0:1 | 32 | 32 |
* New tournament judges this year.
Deadliest Tournament Modules
Updated for DCC Open 2020 – the Count Dante Tournament Rating System! Because tournament modules are played at conventions over a large sample of tables and judges, we are able to quantify their danger level. Based on this quantification we have a rating system to use as a guide when selecting your next adventure to run.
Here are the ratings for this year’s tournament Return to the Starless Sea, along with our previous tournament adventures, and The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying (2017), Riders of the Phlogiston (2018), and The Greatest Thieves in Lankhmar (2019). Future tournament modules will also use this rating system once they are put through their paces at large gaming events!
| Adventure | Count Dante Dungeon Rating* | Ratio of Killed PCs | Total PCs Killed | Total PCs, Including Rounds 2 and 3 |
| Return to the Starless Sea – Bride of Cyclops Con 2020 | IV | 0.63:1 | 492 | 775 |
| Riders of the Phlogiston – Gen Con 2018 | IV | 0.62:1 | 83 | 134 |
| The Greatest Thieves in Lankhmar – Gen Con 2019 and DCC Days Online 2020 | III | 0.54:1 | 100 | 184 |
| The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying – Gen Con 2017 | II | 0.35:1 | 23 | 65 |
*Based on the ratio of killed PCs (eliminated) for every PC that entered the dungeon across all rounds:
Type I – 0.0 to 0.2:1
Type II – 0.2 to 0.4:1
Type III – 0.4 to 0.6:1
Type IV – 0.6 to 0.8:1
Type V – 0.8 to 0.99:1
Type VI – 1:1, or 100% lethal!
Funnel Stats (New for 2020!)
Deadliest Flight
| Flight | Path | Total 0-levels Killed | Teams | Average PCs Slain Per Team |
| 1 | A | 145 | 5 | 29 |
| 2 | C | 204 | 9 | 22.7 |
| 3 | D | 120 | 7 | 17.1 |
Deadliest Flight-Specific Encounter
| Flight | Encounter | Total 0-levels Killed | Teams | Average PCs Slain Per Team |
| 1 | 1-3A – Penned In | 39 | 5 | 7.8 |
| 2 | 1-3C – Gallery of Death | 39 | 9 | 4.3 |
| 3 | 1-3D – The Armory | 11 | 7 | 1.6 |
Most Luck Burned
| Flight | Path | Total Luck Burned | Teams | Average Luck Burned Per Team |
| 1 | A | 392 | 5 | 78.4 |
| 2 | C | 571 | 9 | 63.4 |
| 3 | D | 370 | 7 | 52.9 |
Teams that Replenished the Most 0-Levels:
- Virtually Heroes (30)
- Zig and the Rots (27)
- Zero 2 Heroes (25)
Teams that Rescued the Most PCs:
- Aquabats (4)
- Haley’s Comets (3)
- Tie – The Dump Stats (2)
- Tie – Peon Knights (2)
- Tie – Oops All Beastmen (2)
- Tie – Djinn Lords Chosen Cacafuegos (2)
- Tie – Chaotic Chuckwagons (2)
- Tie – The Vine Horror Conservationists (2)
Teams that Burned the Most Luck:
- Tie – Impending Doom (114)
- Tie – Djinn Lords Chosen Cacafuegos (114)
- Tie – Surfers in the Dark (110)
- Tie – The Warriors on the Edge of Time (110)
Complete Stats by Room
Round 1
| Room | Author | PC Fatalities | % of Total PC Fatalities in Round |
| 1-1 – Through the Breach! | Terry Olson | 282 | 30% |
| 1-2 – Foreshadowing the Chaos Lord | Marc Bruner | 186 | 20% |
| 1-W – Wandering in the Corridors | Terry Olson | 6 | 1% |
| 1-3A – Penned In | Marc Bruner | 78 | 8% |
| 1-3C – Gallery of Death | Marzio Muscedere | 78 | 8% |
| 1-3D – The Armory | Tim Deschene | 22 | 2% |
| 1-4 – The Vine Wall | Terry Olson | 140 | 15% |
| 1-5 – The Chaos Crater | Thorin Thompson | 88 | 9% |
| 1-6 – The Ziggurat | Terry Olson | 58 | 6% |
Round 2
| Room | Author | PC Fatalities | % of Total PC Fatalities in Round |
| 2-1 – Van vs. Dragon Dogfight | Terry Olson | 0 | 0% |
| 2-2 – Race to the Tunnel! | Terry Olson | 0 | 0% |
| 2-3 – An Open Door | Terry Olson | 0 | 0% |
| 2-4a – To the left | Terry Olson | 0 | 0% |
| 2-4b – To the right | Terry Olson | 0 | 0% |
| 2-5 – Elzemon’s Menagerie | Tim Deschene | 8 | 14% |
| 2-6 – Intersection | Terry Olson | 0 | 0% |
| 2-7 – Of Beast and Man | Marzio Muscedere | 0 | 0% |
| 2-8 – Intersection and a Possible Ambush | Terry Olson | 6 | 11% |
| 2-9 – Grotto of the Star Champion | Marc Bruner | 0 | 0%* |
| 2-10 – Pathways of the Leviathan | Marc Bruner | 16 | 29% |
| 2-11 – Finale at the Ziggurat | Terry Olson | 26 | 46% |
* Rooms that no teams reached during the tournament at Bride of Cyclops Con 2020
All-Time Stats for Judges
| Judge | Tournament Games Judged | Ratio of Fatalities to Total Number of Players | Total PC Fatalities | Total PCs | Years Active |
| Tim Deschene | 16 | 1.2 | 224 | 183 | 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Mike Bolam | 14 | 1.3 | 207 | 165 | 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Marc Bruner | 14 | 1.2 | 159 | 128 | 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Terry Olson | 8 | 1.8 | 108 | 59 | 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Harley Stroh | 7 | 1.6 | 98 | 60 | 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Eric Daum | 7 | 1.1 | 72 | 66 | 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Haley Skach | 7 | 1.3 | 170 | 129 | 2019, 2020 |
| Jim Skach | 7 | 1.4 | 170 | 119 | 2019, 2020 |
| Jeff Goad | 6 | 2.1 | 67 | 32 | 2018, 2019 |
| Aaron Koelman | 5 | 1.5 | 36 | 24 | 2018, 2019 |
| Rick Hull | 4 | 0.9 | 18 | 20 | 2017, 2018 |
| David Baity | 3 | 1.7 | 24 | 14 | 2017 |
| James Walls | 2 | 1.9 | 17 | 9 | 2019 |
| James Pozenel | 2 | 1.1 | 86 | 79 | 2020 |
| Stefan Flickinger | 1 | 1.1 | 42 | 39 | 2020 |
| Clay Liford | 1 | 1.0 | 32 | 32 | 2020 |
| Jonathon Perkel | 0 | Mathematically undefined! | 0 | 0 | 2018 |
