Adventure! What kind will you run for DCC?

[nanstreet]

I won't be getting to Game Day, so I'll miss out on the 0-level and 5th-level free adventures. I'll need to come up with my own thing to run. But even for you guys getting to Game Day and taking home the intro adventures, what are you planning to run next, after the surviving 0-level characters finish their first quest? Do you have a home-brew campaign waiting? Or a stack of modules you are waiting to adapt? What are you hoping the campaign's atmosphere will be like? Or are you just planning on one shots?

[Ravenheart87]

I'm planning to run a few adventures in my homebrewed Elder World. It's a forgotten age on Earth sometimes during the Pleistocene (or early Holocene). Atlantis and the ancestors of ancient civilizations are not yet fallen, the ley lines are working, the demihuman races exist, monstrous races aren't extinct, gods are real, and Earth is connected with many alien worlds via portals - most notably are Carcosa, the civilized Mars and the fifth planet, which was later destroyed, giving birth to the astroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The "Appendix O" should include lots of Lovecraft, Howard, C. A. Smith, de Camp's Tritonian Ring and Lost Continents, the music of Bal-Sagoth and Slough Feg, and a few video games, most notbaly Quake I, Might & Magic series, Wizardry series, Ultima series.

[geordie racer]

I won't be getting to Game Day, so I'll miss out on the 0-level and 5th-level free adventures.

Looks like you might not miss out altogether:

Pardon me, Mr. Goodman, but will you be releasing the Free RPG day item as a pdf download sometime after Free RPG day for those of us who unfortunately don't have participating stores within a reasonable driving distance?

Yes -- tentative plan is to offer some of the leftover print copies for sale online, as well as offer the PDF download a couple days after the event.

[GnomeBoy]

Not knowing what opportunities to run DCC RPG there will be this Summer, I'm only planning a short adventure or two, probably not connected to each other.

But I'm planning to run something of a mix of swords and sorcery and post-apocalypse Earth with a heavy Lovecraftian element, since I've never played or seen a true merger of Mythos-type story telling and a D&D-type setting... Plus, I've got to test-run these Sanity rules I thought up, don't I?

[finarvyn]

I think that the old TSR "monochrome" modules would be great for DCC. I know that Appendix N was about novels, but if there was a similar appendix for modules those would be on the list!

B1 - In Search of the Unknown
C1 - Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
G1 - Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
G2 - Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl
G3 - Hall of the Fire Giant King
D1 - Descent into the Depths
D2 - Shrine of the Kuo-Toa
D3 - Vault of the Drow
S1 - Tomb of Horrors
S2 - White Plume Mountain
T1 - Village of Hommlet

Probably the G-series. That's one of my favorites!

Or, I might go with a Lankhmar campaign of some kind. That's on my brain at the moment....

[rabindranath72]

Hyborian Age all the way!

[SniperTodd]

I've got a home-brewed campaign setting that's in the early stages of development - We play Pathfinder system in my own world, "The Crescent" I plan to keep this world and start new characters in it.

Classic fantasy earth but it has three moons. It's cool.

[finarvyn]

Hyborian Age all the way!

A pretty good choice as well!

I know that there are a whole bunch of Appendix N books out there, but Conan and Lankhmar always had the right "feel" for the literature. (Tolkien does as well, but it's a totally different feel.)

I'd love a blend of the savage aspect of Hyboria and the decadent city adventures of Lankhmar.

[rabindranath72]

Hyborian Age all the way!

A pretty good choice as well!

I know that there are a whole bunch of Appendix N books out there, but Conan and Lankhmar always had the right "feel" for the literature. (Tolkien does as well, but it's a totally different feel.)

I'd love a blend of the savage aspect of Hyboria and the decadent city adventures of Lankhmar.

You can simply start off in Zamora, perhaps the City of Thieves. It cannot get more decadent than that!
I hope the rules for spellcasters will make it easy to convey the feel of Hyborian Age sorcery.

[geordie racer]

Lankhmar, Zamora...

Now if there was a DCC version of Crime Pays...

[nanstreet]

gordie racer, thanks for the info. I didn't realize that the adventures would also be released in PDF (with a week's delay). I'm especially looking forward to the 0-level, because I have no idea what I want to run. I also really want to get see with a short free sample how Goodman Games adventure modules are, because I wouldn't mind putting a few more old-style modules on my shelf and want to see if they will likely suit my style before spending the money (no nearby game store for me).

a forgotten age on Earth sometimes during the Pleistocene (or early Holocene). Atlantis and the ancestors of ancient civilizations are not yet fallen, the ley lines are working, the demihuman races exist, monstrous races aren't extinct, gods are real, and Earth is connected with many alien worlds via portals - most notably are Carcosa, the civilized Mars and the fifth planet, which was later destroyed, giving birth to the astroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

a mix of swords and sorcery and post-apocalypse Earth with a heavy Lovecraftian element

Probably the G-series. That's one of my favorites!

Or, I might go with a Lankhmar campaign of some kind.

Hyborian Age all the way!

I've got a home-brewed campaign setting that's in the early stages of development - We play Pathfinder system in my own world, "The Crescent" I plan to keep this world and start new characters in it.

Classic fantasy earth but it has three moons. It's cool.

I'd love a blend of the savage aspect of Hyboria and the decadent city adventures of Lankhmar.

Sounds like a bunch of great ideas. I'll probably be running one shots, but I still want to set it somewhere with a frontier-like atmosphere, so that it feels like the unknown is really truly only a stones-throw from the edge of town. A lot of the D&D I've played in recent years has had a lot of high-powered empires and politics, and I want to go the opposite route with governments small and on rocky ground, and civilizations more beseiged, and the things of myth are truly mysterious and fantastic.

But, like finarvyn, I'd also love to try DCC with the giant series. I think everyone I know has been through it at least once (me, like five times, but I've never DMed it). It would be great fun to adapt it and see how the old classic modules play out in DCC.

[geordie racer]

after a bit of thinking what I'd like to try running could be summarized as the concept:

Wacky Races written by Jack Vance

One of the AD&D modules I had most fun with was Catapult Run where PCs took part in a race across a continent - a D&D version of Around the World in 80 days. I'd like to try something similar - not a hex-crawl but a hex-dash through a strange locales with weird encounters.

[Aplus]

I will be adapting Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom for DCC RPG and running it at Lake Geneva Games on Free RPG Day.

For my home game, we will probably start out a new mini-campaign at level 0. It will likely be set somewhere in Paizo's Golarion setting, since it's pretty much a kitchen sink setting and has everything I could ever want. The city of Kaer Maga seems particularly appropriate for the DCC RPG.

[GnomeBoy]

That sounds like fun -- but count me out when the Laugh-A-Lympics start...

[jmucchiello]

A friend and I always wanted to make an adventure/module called The Dwarven Olympics.

You climb down a pit and crawl into a large, round room lit via magic. Several humanoid of various races enter the room from another entry and quickly station themselves around the room with their backs firmly against the walls. A loud voice intones, "Welcome to the backstabbing preliminary. Good luck contestants." Suddenly, the light go out.

[finarvyn]

I'm especially looking forward to the 0-level, because I have no idea what I want to run.

Especially with Joseph's "character funnel" concept of character creation. It's an awesme starting point, but it requires a decent supply of 0-level adventure choices so that each time you won't start new characters with the same-old-same-old. Hopefully we'll get more of these!

[Andron]

I'm hoping I can easily convert the Sinister Secret of Whiterock and Castle Whiterock for play.

[finarvyn]

I'm hoping I can easily convert the Sinister Secret of Whiterock and Castle Whiterock for play.

Fundamentally, this shouldn't be a big problem, except that you're talking about a huge quantity of material in Castle Whiterock.

* Stats = similar enough for easy conversion
* Classes = mostly similar, but many wacky 3E options won't exist in DCC
* Races = mostly similar, but a few wacky 3E options won't exist in DCC
* Levels and hit points = similar enough for easy conversion
* Combat options = similar enough; add crits and fumbles and tweak feats
* Spells = very different, so substitute new for old
* Monsters = similar enough to "fake it"

Overall I think it'll be easy enough to use older modules with the DCC RPG rules. You'll probably have to do some on-the-fly stuff, and the magic system has enough differences that you may have some issues there, but overall I think DCC will be similar enough so as to not be a huge issue.

[moes1980]

This is an easy one for me, I will be converting one of my favroite moduals from DnD basic, escap from Zanzer's Dungeon! I have converted this adventure to 3.x, dnd 4th ed, 4th ed hackmaster, and hackmaster basic, so my players know it is a tradition for me to ring in a new game system with this adventure. The 0 level pcs start out as slaves in a mage's salt mines where he works his slaves until they die. A crusty and mean jerk named axil is their cell mate and for a while bullies the pcs, but then later comes up with a plan to jail break out of the place and offers to let the pcs in on the gig. So, even though he gets on their bad side, they end up working together to get out of the place. Most of the guards are goblins, and a kobold tribe also lives in a nearby section of the tunnels but genearlly leaves Zanzer alone since he is a powerful (3rd level) mage. The pcs battle with goblin guards, have to sneak past ogre slave drivers by disgising themselves as shackled prisoners and hiding their weapons, and make a tough choice regarding weather or not to fight the ogres in order to free a bunch of dwarven slaves. They have chanch to find Zanzer's treasure hord but have a problem of sneaking it all out of the mines (its something like 5 duffle bag sized sacks filled with gold, but it is more dangerious to take than it first appears), and the mage Zanzer shows up from time to time to throw spells at the party before escaping thorugh secret passages. The fact that its a maze of mines with slaves working in them means there is plenty of oppertunity to find more player characters if some of them die.

After that, they will be level one, and than ill probably send them off to white rock to grind untill they reach level two or three. Than, as an interlude, ill run "quest for the silver sword," another one of my favorites from DnD basic about a land cursed with perpetual winter, and the pcs have to explore strange lights spotted at an abandonded keep in search for clues about waht might be going on. Then after that, I will probably have the pcs be contacted by some people who heard of their heroic deeds and so ask them to help recover a powerful scrying device called the Eye of Traldar from an evil war lord who wants to use it to aid in attacking a peacful kingdom (another DnD basic adventure that I only ever got to run as a 4th ed dnd conversion that tpked they party early on). In this adventure they will have to infiltrate the war lords castle which is gurded with orcs by being sneaky, find the eye, and escape before a small army of orcs and goblinoids come crashing down on them. It is a bit of a mission impossible type of adventure and it sounds like a blast.

After that, they should be about level 3 or 4, and than I don't know where I will send them, maybe back to castle white rock. Also, I will check out the published moduals and see if I can work them into some kind of plot linking these adventures.

[finarvyn]

This is an easy one for me, I will be converting one of my favroite moduals from DnD basic, escape from Zanzer's Dungeon!

Eh? I don't think I know that one. Who made it, or where can I find it?

The 0 level pcs start out as slaves in a mage's salt mines where he works his slaves until they die. A crusty and mean jerk named axil is their cell mate and for a while bullies the pcs, but then later comes up with a plan to jail break out of the place and offers to let the pcs in on the gig. So, even though he gets on their bad side, they end up working together to get out of the place. Most of the guards are goblins, and a kobold tribe also lives in a nearby section of the tunnels but genearlly leaves Zanzer alone since he is a powerful (3rd level) mage. The pcs battle with goblin guards, have to sneak past ogre slave drivers by disgising themselves as shackled prisoners and hiding their weapons, and make a tough choice regarding weather or not to fight the ogres in order to free a bunch of dwarven slaves. They have chanch to find Zanzer's treasure hord but have a problem of sneaking it all out of the mines (its something like 5 duffle bag sized sacks filled with gold, but it is more dangerious to take than it first appears), and the mage Zanzer shows up from time to time to throw spells at the party before escaping thorugh secret passages. The fact that its a maze of mines with slaves working in them means there is plenty of oppertunity to find more player characters if some of them die.

This does sound like a fun starter adventure. I'm intriqued.

[mshensley]

This is an easy one for me, I will be converting one of my favroite moduals from DnD basic, escape from Zanzer's Dungeon!

Eh? I don't think I know that one. Who made it, or where can I find it?

It came in the big black box version of basic D&D from the 90's. This one-



This set had a really nice and innovative way to teach the rules. The rules were on cards that led you step by step through the system. The adventure was part of the learning.

[finarvyn]

Drat. I missed that set because I was still playing OD&D and AD&D and didn't keep up with the newer editions of D&D. Guess I'll have to haunt e-bay for it.

[GnomeBoy]

*unknowingly bids against finarvyn*

[finarvyn]

*unknowingly bids against finarvyn*

Gnomeboy, I've just figured out your alignment. I'm not sure why it wasn't obvious before....

[Aplus]

I think I'm going to have another look at James Raggi's "The Grinding Gear" as well. It may be a good fit for grinding up some 0-level guys.