Harley is back today with another DCC #100 Design Diary, discussing some of the unique mechanics of this landmark adventure. To read more of Harley’s diaries and see video discussion of The Music of the Spheres is Chaos, see our complete DCC #100 article list.
Design Diary: Objet d’ Adventure
By Harley Stroh
As an objet d’art (hat tip to Gygaxian treasure tables!), DCC#100 The Music of the Spheres is Chaos is beautiful, but first and foremost it was always an adventure that was meant to be played – Coke spills and Dorito stains be damned. Through every pass, the end goal was always to create dynamic adventure that was easy to run. Entire passages and mechanics were cut, and encounters re-written or deleted altogether, always to make the adventure that was simple for judges yet still challenging for the players.
It parallels DCC’s Rule of Gonzo: Judges don’t need to bring the crazy; that’s what players are for. In terms of design, a good adventure needs to provide the judge with a stable foundation for the game, because players are sure to make things complicated.
The evolution of the map wheels is a good example. Three wheels, atop a fourth, each transforming the map as they go. Early designs had the four spheres spinning independently of one another; the Sphere of Water might be turned towards the Alembic while the Sphere of Earth was turned out. (For the briefest of foolish moments, I even considered them all advancing in quarter turns.)
It’s easy to see how this could get away from the judge at the table. Were judges expected to simultaneously keep track of each sphere, with each turn of the Alembic Key? I’m lucky when I don’t screw up the initiative count. And there was nothing about independent rotation that made the game better for the judges and the players. It was work for the judge, with no reward on the player side.
In the end, tying each sphere to the others, so that they all turned in time, allowed for maps that were dynamic in play, but simple to judge. If one sphere was spun to face out, they all faced out, and if one was spun to face in, they were all facing in.
Another example is the Star Rot. With each turn of the alembic, the frothing chaos-sludge is slowly distilled until reaching its final form: a titanic, four-headed, elemental dragon served by a legion of soul-draining spawn.
Tracking the changes, and the threats they present would require a judge to constantly flip back and forth between references in the book. But we are were able to create a separate booklet dedicated to solely to tracking the different forms of the Star-Rot and its chaos-spawn.
There are more aides and refinements – the Bookmark of Four Parts, the revisions to the Theophagic zodiac – but you get the idea. The scope of the adventure and what it offers players is as grand and awful and daunting as the night sky, but each individual facet has been designed and distilled to be manageable on its own.
Though maybe keep your drinks away from Doug’s maps.
Dungeon Crawl Classics #100: The Music of the Spheres is Chaos
The boxed set is bursting with the puzzles, foes, and magic only found in a DCC RPG adventure.
Inside you will find the God Eaters’ grand alchymical experiment, with its spinning alembic and rotating elemental spheres. This takes the form of a large game board, approximately 17″ x 22″, with four separate spinning maps that attach to the board.
An adventure booklet of 112 pages provides hitherto unknown monsters, perils, and traps. These lurk in the forgotten corridors, certain to bring a quick end to overconfident explorers.
Players will have the opportunity to study and manipulate the fabled Alembic Key, a relic rife with Theophagic sigils and zodiac signs. But beware, foolhardy reavers! Rotating the key spins the dungeon, transforming the PCs and altering reality itself! Left in the hands of a fidgety player, it could easily spell the end of the multiverse. This physical prop is composed of two spinning dials and is used by players during the adventure.
And as befitting DCC #100, the adventure is replete with player handouts in the form of a 28-page booklet containing over 40 illustrations of the Alembic, its elemental spheres, and the terrors lurking within the dark halls, as well as the infamous Sheaves of Chaos.
Finally, any adventure is only as good as the judge running it. Music of the Spheres is Chaos was designed with the judge in mind. The boxed set includes the Bookmark of 4 Parts – a tool for referencing the PCs’ own changes.
This Boxed Set includes:
- Adventure Booklet (112 pages)
- Player Handout Booklet (28 pages and more than 40 illustrations)
- Large 17″ x 22″ Gameboard and four separate Spinning Maps
- Double-sided bookmark of 4 Parts (to track changes imposed by the Spinning Map)
- Alembic Key prop (used by players to spin the dungeon!)
- 3 Sheaves of Chaos handouts
