[deleted]

[nikolokolus]

I think DCC RPG plays great as a picaresque mini-campaign -- disconnected, episodic adventures about murder-hobos for people with limited gaming time and/or a revolving cast of players. I love the game to bits, but over time I've discovered I tend to mine it for ideas more than I actually run it. People looking for an AD&D clone, or don't like (frequent) player character death should probably look elsewhere.

The DCC RPG adventures on the other hand, I've found easily plug into any campaign with few minor tweaks and do a great job of turning up the weird and fantastical to 11 and everybody should buy them and use them.

 

[Incantatar]

Better than WotC, but that's not saying much. They were still a rather mixed bag. They got the old-school trade dress perfectly, and the basic concepts were gold, but the contents often didn't live up to the example set by classic TSR and Judges Guild. Many suffered from excessive linearity and a heavy focus on setpiece combat encounters (as opposed to a more even mixture of combat, exploration and light social interaction, which is closer to the old-school spirit). Some adventures, notably by Harley Stroh, were getting better - but overall, Necromancer Games did a better job with their product line in the 3.x period. I am not that familiar with GG's DCC modules, though; they may have improved.

Ha! I read a lot of reviews of Bryce Lynch the last days and just realized you're posting here too. He has a lot of praise for you (critique too, hehe). For anyone even more oblivious than me check his work out https://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?key=contributor&value=Gabor+Lux
Really digging your and Bryce's standards for a good adventure. Do you have a list with your favorite modules or do you just use your own stuff? I had only a glimpse at your blog.

@topic
Definitely going to get the 4th printing. I can see this being a fun sidetrack romp. Purple Planet looks so Heavy Metal! Unfortunately DCC with all the fucking tables isn't a system I would GM for longer periods. The OSR showed me the divine way of rule simplicity after being a BTB 3.x/PF GM for over a decade.

I think DCC RPG plays great as a picaresque mini-campaign -- disconnected, episodic adventures about murder-hobos for people with limited gaming time and/or a revolving cast of players. I love the game to bits, but over time I've discovered I tend to mine it for ideas more than I actually run it. People looking for an AD&D clone, or don't like (frequent) player character death should probably look elsewhere.

The DCC RPG adventures on the other hand, I've found easily plug into any campaign with few minor tweaks and do a great job of turning up the weird and fantastical to 11 and everybody should buy them and use them.

How do you handle the frequently used Luck stat?

 

[nikolokolus]

Luck is great. Most people hoard their points like gold however and really only burn it in one-shots. The real key is to be very stingy handing out replacement luck as a GM.

Enterprising players with halflings and thieves will be creative with their luck and synergize with other players. But in the end critical hits, bad rolls and corruption will do their attrition voodoo and keep things from getting too easy.

Don't be afraid to let players push their luck and use all of the tools in the toolbox -- memorable deaths are half the fun.

 

[Incantatar]

Luck is great. Most people hoard their points like gold however and really only burn it in one-shots. The real key is to be very stingy handing out replacement luck as a GM.

Enterprising players with halflings and thieves will be creative with their luck and synergize with other players. But in the end critical hits, bad rolls and corruption will do their attrition voodoo and keep things from getting too easy.

Don't be afraid to let players push their luck and use all of the tools in the toolbox -- memorable deaths are half the fun.

I meant how do you handle it in the system you use which isn't DCC. Since you made the impression you use the modules in another system. You probably added the Luck stat, right? Certainly not a big deal, roll 3d6 there is your Luck. Thing is I don't particular like Luck in other systems. For the one shot on Halloween I'm planning I'll just let them roll it I think.

 

[Melan]

Ha! I read a lot of reviews of Bryce Lynch the last days and just realized you're posting here too. He has a lot of praise for you (critique too, hehe). For anyone even more oblivious than me check his work out https://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?key=contributor&value=Gabor+Lux
Really digging your and Bryce's standards for a good adventure. Do you have a list with your favorite modules or do you just use your own stuff? I had only a glimpse at your blog.

Thanks! :D There is actually a longer (although still incomplete) bibliography here.

I mostly use my own stuff, and stick to utility products, but have some favourites. From the classics, I'd particularly recommend:

• Night of the Walking Wet (a.k.a. Realm of the Slime God; Paul Jaquays): early OD&D adventure published in a fanzine (and available here in two pieces). Complex, well-designed dungeon ruled by a super-intelligent space blob and its charmed followers. A lot of fun craziness.
• Caverns of Thracia (Paul Jaquays): the gold standard by which complex dungeons are measured. It is very 3d, and offers a lot of opportunities for exploration, temporary alliances with dungeon denizens, some serious "whoa" moments, etc. There is an expanded d20 version that's easier to understand than the original, and has a better explained background.
• Dark Tower (Paul Jaquays): yes, he was that good. This is a high-level Conan-style death fest centred around the cataclysmic conflict of an evil snake cult and the forces of good.
• The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (Harold Johnson & Jeff R. Leason): unique premise (you have to get out of the dungeon), creative set-piece encounters, a ton of flavour combined with inventive challenges.
• Palace of the Sliver Princess (Jean Wells): The retracted edition with the supposedly 'risque' content, available online. This is a rather odd beginners' module that has an interesting forlorn feeling.
• Tegel Manor (Bob Bledsaw): classic, massive haunted house adventure populated by an insane family (most of whom are undead) and ghostly stuff. A bit sparse, and needs additional work, but the basics are very good.
• The Secret of Bone Hill (Len Lakofka): an original sandbox scenario - maybe a bit generic, but there is a lot of potential for open-ended adventuring.

And from the newer old-school adventures:

• The Tomb of Abysthor (Bill Webb & Clark Peterson): underground cavern complex with multiple rival factions, tombs, good and evil temples, and frogmen. One of the best dungeons out there, recently republished as The Stoneheart Valley.
• Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom (Matthew J. Finch): smaller lair dungeon revolving around the exploits of an evil spell-casting mushroom. No kidding. Bizarre and imaginative.
• The Vault of Larin Karr (W.D.B. Kenower): a bit generic fantasy, but this module is an entire, self-contained mini-setting where everything is connected to everything, there are multiple layers of mysteries to find and explore, and several ways to accomplish things.
• The Black Monastery (Mark R. Shipley & Scott Stabbert): some guy's 1980s AD&D module, republished and expanded. It is a whole lot of crazy teenage dungeoneering stuff. :D
• Aerie of the Crow God (Andrew Hind): one of the better DCC modules; a mountain-dungeon with evil bird-men and highly fantastic adventures.
• Anomalous Subsurface Environment (Patrick Wetmore): science-fantasy setting and mega-dungeon. Imaginative, although not yet fully published.
• The Darkness Beneath (various): collaborative megadungeon serialised in Fight On! magazine. Not all of this is golden, but it is mostly on the good side with occasional standouts. All of the levels could be full adventures.
• Tomb of the Bull King (Carlos de la Cruz Morales): Greek-style megadungeon based on the map of the Minoan palace of Knossos. Rival factions, magical enigmas; may need a little more weirdness than it has, but otherwise very nice.
• The Witch Mounds (Keith Sloan): smallish tomb-crawl in a set of burial mound. Very AD&D, maybe a bit too combat-heavy.
• Peaks and Valleys: Among the Dwarves (Olivier O’Brien): a mountainous mini-setting populated by rival dwarf clans and peppered with several mini-dungeons. This is a great exploration-oriented module.

I am sure there are some which are slipping my mind, but there were a few years when I wasn't really paying much attention, and missed some good stuff, including the more recent DCC modules (which are apparently much improved).

Bryce has the good taste and experience to filter through all the adventures coming out, and identify the good ones.

 

[Incantatar]

Fantastic! Will have a look at all of them.

 

[nikolokolus]

I meant how do you handle it in the system you use which isn't DCC. Since you made the impression you use the modules in another system. You probably added the Luck stat, right? Certainly not a big deal, roll 3d6 there is your Luck. Thing is I don't particular like Luck in other systems. For the one shot on Halloween I'm planning I'll just let them roll it I think.

No. I don't port the luck stat over to other games. I usually just borrow the non-crunch bits or adapt them to the system I'm running.

 

[Melan]

Did they provide details on how they intend to tackle the City of Lankhmar? TSR's 1st edition Lankhmar book was all right, and of course there is City State of the Invincible Overlord, the gold standard of D&D city supplements (basically a Lankhmar pastiche), but I may be interested in a new treatment if it looks promising enough.

 

[nikolokolus]

I thought the biggest weakness of the TSR version of Lankhmar and Newhon is that it modeled Lieber's stories pretty poorly. There's so many built-in assumptions with AD&D, that it was always kind of a trying to fit a square peg into a round hole (with respect to the mechanics). The best part was undoubtedly the great fold-out city maps that came with some of the adventures, the City Book and the boxed set (I still own everything TSR ever made for Lankhmar).

I'm curious to see how Michael Curtis pulls off capturing the spirit of the books with DCC; it's not the first system that springs to mind for Newhon (Mongoose's Runequest based Lankhmar supplements did a very nice job with the mechanics, but produced almost no adventures).