Dungeon Crawl Classics and the Curse of the Death Spiral

Dungeon Crawl Classics is a fantastic game. I love everything about it. It's rules are simple and very evocative. The funnel creates immediately playable characters with personalities and histories, all springing from a one-word occupation. The classes are distinct and each one gets something special.

DCC is great for short-term games where you aren't too attached to the character. Death is cheap, plentiful, and sudden in this game. My players agreed that DCC is the most fun they've had playing dungeon crawls (hence the name).

However, the DCC rules made it difficult to invest in characters for long-term campaign play. A number of factors play into this. The first is the cheapness of the value of life in the game. The second is the lack of player choice in character design and destiny. Finally, and most importantly, the luck rules and the rules regarding permanent injury as a result of critical hits and near-death experiences create a slow spiral of debilitation that make a character harder and harder to play over time.

Life is Cheap
First, death is cheap, sudden, and plentiful. The design of the game encourages a high death rate. You are not encouraged to grow attached to your character. They are going to die, it's just a matter of when. DCC is set up for troupe-style play where everyone is controlling 2-4 characters because there's going to be a lot of attrition.

DCC does mitigate this a bit by allowing characters a kind of death save. It's called "rolling the body over". If a character is reduced to zero hit points, they can make a Luck check. If they succeed, they are still alive with 1 HP, -4 to all actions for the rest of the day, and a permanent -1 penalty to either Strength, Agility, or Stamina. Yowch!

First, the "Death Save" itself is nebulously defined. Some Judges interpret this as being "roll d20 under current Luck stat".

Proposed Rule: Change Death Save to DC 10
My suggestion is to treat it like a saving throw. Roll a d20 plus your Luck modifier vs. a difficulty of 10. You can spend Luck points on this roll in order to survive. If you succeed, you survive. If you fail, you're permanently dead.

Proposed Rule: Alternate Permanent Injury
I have also created a table to serve as an alternative to the permanent -1 penalty. My Near-Death Experience rules do have some permanent effects, but most of the effects are temporary until the lost Hit Points are healed, and there are even a few beneficial results.

Proposed Rule: Change Luck to multiple d20 rolls
This proposed house rule takes a lot of the danger out of the death save. Currently, you can spend points from your Luck score to modify the results of your death save. Each point spent adds +1 to the roll. This can result in a hefty expenditure of Luck if you like your character and really want them to survive. An alternative would be to allow each point of Luck spent to allow a separate d20 roll. You then take the new result, for better or worse. If you don't like that result, keep spending and keep rolling.

Thieves, however, roll 1d6 for each Luck point spent. The result is how many d20s they roll. They can then choose the best roll.

Lack of player choice in character design and destiny
Players don't get a lot of choices regarding the destiny of their characters. You create ~4 characters per player for the funnel. Each character is completely random. 3d6 for each stat, in order, no stat placement. There is absolutely no player choice here. The savvy player, however, can try to be selective over who survives the funnel. If you like a certain character, protect them and keep them safe during the funnel and hopefully that's the character that will survive.

If that character survives, you get your next choice - you select a class. And that's pretty much it. Magic users get random spells. Clerics get random or assigned spells. You can't get better stats. You can't specialize in a certain type of fighting.

Magic users, however, do get to choose new spells later, sort of. They have to hunt them down and quest for them. Also, magic users get to choose a magic specialty.

Proposed Rule: Allow Stat Increases at Certain Levels
A generous Judge might allow his players to develop their character's stats. I suggest +1 to a characteristic every other level, to a maximum of 18.

Proposed Rule: Allow Magic Users and Clerics to Select Spells
Instead of randomly rolling or assigning spells, allow magic users and clerics to select their spells. Alternatively, allow them to select one spell then roll randomly or assign the rest. Then, as they advance in level, allow magic users to choose spells to learn from a wizard's guild and clerics to learn new prayers from a higher level cleric at a temple. You still need to quest to find the appropriate guild or temple, it's just a little more known where these resources might be. Perhaps via legend, word of mouth, or reputation.

The Death Spiral
The unfortunate truth is that DCC sets characters up to eventually die. Adventuring is a dangerous life. The longer a character stays alive, the greater the cumulative effects of past injuries have on their survival. Every time a character survives death, they suffer a permanent -1 to a physical stat. Some critical hits have permanent effects. Most poisons and venoms have permanent effects. Characters will need to spend Luck to make good things happen, or sometimes just to survive, but Luck recovers very slowly.  The longer the cleric lives, the more Deity Disapproval they're likely to encounter. The longer the wizard lives, the more Corruption they're likely to accumulate.

This ongoing accumulation of deleterious effects, negative modifiers, and permanent injuries create diminishing returns for the player character. Although they get better as they level, they get worse as they survive.

These effects are mitigated if the party cleric is able to heal some permanent injuries or poisons. Also, the character can knowingly quest for healing items, but this itself leads to more injury and negative modifiers.

These negative effects are fun for a dungeon run but really hamper attempts to tell long-term campaign stories with long-running characters. A character that manages to survive to 3rd or 4th level may, by that time, be considering retirement.

Proposed Rule: More Luck Points
One potential solution for the campaign-minded Judge is to award more Luck Points. The guidelines detailed in this blog are an excellent starting point, except that I wouldn't require the player to roll for the chance of receiving a reward, I would just award the points. Giving the player characters more Luck Points will enhance their survival chances, especially if you combine the award with the modified use of Luck mentioned above.

Proposed Rule: Injury from Surviving Death are Temporary
An alternative to my proposed injury table above would be to simply make the permanent -1 to Strength, Agility, or Stamina roll into a temporary modifier. Perhaps for a week or a number of days.

Alternatively, change it from a -1 to rolls to a -1 to the stat. This lessens the impact to player characters.

Randomness of Spell Casting
One of the most frustrating aspects to my players was the spell casting rules. Wizards and clerics must roll stat + level + 1d20 vs. a chart for each spell. For wizards, 1-5 meant the spell is lost, 6-12 meant the spell failed but wasn't lost, and 12 or 13+ was a success, with greater effects for a higher roll. For clerics, a 1-11 or 12 was a failure and increased your fumble range by +1. A 12 or 13+ was a success, with greater effects for a higher roll. Corruption results in permanent mutations while divine disfavor could result in penalties both temporary and permanent.

The randomness of these results make spell casting highly unpredictable. As a result, tactically-minded players find it very difficult to create strategies for defeating opponents. Players of magic-using characters try to help only to fail miserably, increasing their frustration and lessening their enjoyment of the game.

The rules for Spell Burn offset the chance of failure, somewhat. A wizard can burn a temporary point of Strength, Agility, or Stamina for a +1 to the spell casting roll. These lost points return at a rate of 1 point per game day. Even with this mechanism, my players were loathe to spend these points.

The threat of corruption and the overall chance of failure while casting spells caused my players to dismiss spell casters (wizards and elves) as undesirable character classes. They wanted to avoid magic like the plague! Likewise, the chance of failure for cleric spells led to one my players calling it "Fail until you Fumble".

Proposed Rule: Multiple d20s from Spell Burn
An alternative rule that allows for much more predictable spell casting would be to allow wizard and elf characters an extra d20 roll for each characteristic point spent. You take the next roll, regardless of what it is. This would cut down on the number of points you have to spend for effective Spell Burn and could also result in completely different spell results, turning a failure into a critical success!

Analysis
Some purist DCC Judges will balk at my proposed rules as coddling the players. DCC should be a hard game with easy death. Spells should be random and unreliable. Life is short and the stakes are high. Magic comes from chaos and should be unpredictable.

I would say to them that this attitude is great for fun short term dungeon crawling but is anathema to long term character development and campaign play. A short life span makes it difficult to enjoy the creation and development of character personalities with history and investment. Unpredictable results make it frustrating for players of wizards and elves and make it difficult for tactically-minded players to plan to win.

These rules aren't for everyone. Really, I created them specifically for my group of players who enjoy long-term character stories and strong tactical play.

We recently stopped playing DCC as a result of the frustrations I have outlined above. Frankly, my players were past the point of house rules and band-aids. Hopefully, we will one day give DCC another try. If we do, I will implement most of the changes I have described above. After that, I'll be better able to describe the effect these changes have on the game in real terms.

"From Wince We Came" Chapter 14 of the Xanthus River Campaign

First, an announcement.

For the past few weeks, I have sensed some discontent among my players regarding the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules. Yesterday, Bill announced that he was going to sit out the rest of the campaign because he was not having fun with the current rules. So when everyone arrived tonight I had a referendum on DCC.

The group indicated that the DCC rules were great for short-term games, a few dangerous dungeon crawls (hence the name, I suppose) but it wasn't being conducive to long-term campaign play and character building. They felt the player character rules didn't provide enough player control over the character's design or destiny and that rules led to gloriously short character lifespans that, although fun in the short run, were detracting from the type of long-term story-building the players were looking for.

On top of that, the players found the random nature of the spell-casting system infuriating and discouraging.

I was a little disappointed but not at all surprised. I like the DCC rules but I was seeing the same problems creeping in.

So we discussed alternatives. I briefly considered some retro-clones such as Legend of the Flame Princess or Swords and Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord. I also weighed them against plain old D&D Rules Compendium and AD&D. I wanted something old-school and nostalgic. For the BRIEFEST of moments we entertained the idea of trying Pathfinder or even returning to 4E.

In the end, I decided on AD&D for no other reason than everyone has the books (not everyone has D&D and none of my players have even heard of the word "retro-clone") and everyone wanted race separated from class.

With that choice, everyone became excited and reinvigorated. Lucinda practically squealed with nostalgic delight. We set about converting the DCC characters over to AD&D.

The conversion was pretty simple.
Strength = Strength
Agility = Dexterity
Stamina = Constitution
Intelligence = Intelligence
However, I allowed players to choose if Personality = Charisma or Wisdom.
Luck, therefore, became whichever they didn't choose.

Level = Level.

I calculated the percentage of experience points to the next level in DCC and applied that percentage to the next level in AD&D and gave each player character that many XP.

Everyone re-rolled their Hit Points.

After that, it was determine your AD&D abilities, saving throws, etc.

One slight change I made (the first of many house-rules, I am sure) was ascending to-hit bonus and ascending AC. It's just so much EASIER and I don't understand why Gygax didn't write it that way to begin with!

Level	Cleric, Druid	Fighter, Paladin, Ranger	Magic User, Illusionist	Thief, Assassin
0	-1	-1	-1	-1
1	+0	+0	-1	-1
2	+0	+0	-1	-1
3	+0	+2	-1	-1
4	+2	+2	-1	-1
5	+2	+4	-1	+1
6	+2	+4	+1	+1
7	+4	+6	+1	+1
8	+4	+6	+1	+1
9	+4	+8	+1	+4
10	+6	+8	+1	+4

Monster HD = To-Hit Bonus
Monster AC = 20-Original AC

When we were done converting characters, we had:

• Valerius (Level 3 Paladin)
• Absalom (Level 2 Cleric of Justica)
• Babu (Level 2 Thief)
• Jalani (Level 1 Cleric of Amun-Tor)
• Knott (Level 1 Fighter)

We picked up where we left off last week. The party had killed Explictica Defilus, God-Queen of Serpents and Avatar of Set, once and for all and emerged from the hidden underground temple.

It was around noon. It had been raining hard for nearly twelve hours. The town was wet and muddy. Shafts of sunlight supported the ceiling of clouds like luminous columns. Survivors began to tentatively emerge from their hiding places from the previous night's massacre. Blood was everywhere. Windows were smashed, buildings burned, doors hanging loose int heir frames, animals slaughtered, wet clothing lay in the mud. 

The false archon had fled the city during the chaos. The magistrate was murdered. Most of the town guard had collapsed into masses of writhing snakes, the vile magic that created them having been extinguished. 

One of the remaining guards called out from the gate house, "The Archon approaches!"

Soon, another guard called out, "No, there's the Archon!" 

Two identical archons were approaching the city simultaneously. A group of villagers gathered. Valerius ordered both archons held. Both archons claimed primacy. Both declared the other the impostor. Valerius had each archon recite the phrase, "Ka nama kaa lajerama". One archon complied. The other archon protested his innocence and refused to comply. 

The guards looked to Absalom. The magistrate was dead. The priest of Justica was dead. Absalom was the ranking member of the order of Justica and thus had the legal authority to make a ruling. Absalom ruled in favor of the archon that complied. The archon, thusly empowered, passed judgement on the impostor and called upon Absalom to declare the punishment. The crowd called for blood! They wanted to burn the impostor. Absalom looked to Valerius. Valerius reminded Absalom of the atrocities committed and suggested that Justica's will called for a swift death. Absalom agreed and sentenced the impostor to death by beheading, to be immediately carried out by Valerius.

The impostor was dragged screaming and struggling to the raised platform in the center of the town square. A chopping block and wicker basket was produced. Valerius carried out the judgement. The impostor's head rolled into the basket, the head of a large boa constrictor! The body that remained was thick, ropy, sinuous, like a snake, with clawed limbs. 

Afterwards, the archon proclaimed his thanks to Valerius and offered to elevate Valerius to the rank of armiger. As an armiger, Valerius would become a nobleman. He could require others address him as "Sir Valerius". He would be granted land and provided with the income generated by that land. He would be allowed to create a heraldric coat of arms to be kept at Wince and passed on to his offspring. In exchange, he would be expected to come to the defense of Wince when summoned and would be expected to join the archon at court on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Valerius agreed and was immediately elevated during an impromptu ceremony in front of the entire village. He was granted the land farmed by Dunth, currently owned by Patrician Umok. Dunth would continue to be the steward of the land. 

In addition, the surviving acolytes of the pantheon urged Absalom to become the new priest of Justica or to take them as his students. Absalom declined both and noted that ten-year-old Helise had been chosen by Justica. He anointed her as the new priestess of the temple. The teenage acolytes bristled at the idea of serving a ten-year-old girl, but Helise quickly too control and established discipline under her holy authority.

With that, the party spent the day helping the town recover and re-build and slept soundly through the night. The next day, they arranged passage on one of the river boats going up-river. 

When the river boat approached the confluence of the Atrous and the Xanthus, a pirate long-boat blocked their way. The party formulated a plan. Absalom cast bless upon his comrades as they hid themselves under the deck planks of the river boat and allowed the pirates to come along-side. As soon as the pirates boarded the river boat, the party leaped out of hiding, taking the pirates by surprise.

Avast ye, scallywags!

A brief battle ensued. The party quickly killed the pirate captain and overwhelmed the crew. The remaining four pirates surrendered. 

The prisoners were lashed to their oars and forced to follow the river boat. The pirates were an uncooperative crew, however, and made the journey slow-going. The river boat had to slow itself in order to not leave the captured long-boat behind. The poor progress caused the two boats to dock at the pitiful town of Dribble.

Dribble was a depressing run down village with a few hundred inhabitants. Its dock was old and in poor repair. The inhabitants were dour and unpleasant. The archon's keep sat menacingly atop a cliff overlooking the town. The lone inn in town served pasty gruel and bland watery beer made with dirty river wash and some meat that everyone hoped was least fox or wolf. When the innkeeper, an abrasive ugly troll of a man with hairy warts on his face, told everyone that "...if the archon invites you to dinner, you better accept it.", everyone decided to spend an uncomfortable night on the boats. 

That night, before dawn, a drunken patron of the inn stumbled to the dock and shouted belligerent insults at the party and the crew before urinating at them and defecating on the dock in their direction. Knott but a warning arrow into the dock and the drunkard crawled away, slipping in the mud several times.

The next day, the party made it to the base of the Argent Falls. They transferred from the boats to the funicular and eventually arrived in Swallow. 

Knott immediately trotted off to find a whore-house.

Babu and Jalani explored the city.

Absalom and Sir Valerius delivered their prisoners to the temple of Justica. They accepted the bounty offered for pirates but immediately donated it to the temple. 

Sir Valerius then began interviewing young warrior-trainees at the temple, looking for a potential squire.

Afterwards, while shopping, Absalom ran into Kedrith, the merchant that hired them in Duirndown two months ago. After exchanging pleasantries and catching up, Kedrith related to Absalom that Duirndown has gone downhill fast. A pall has fallen over the village. No food is growing. Stores are wilting. The people are starving. They have no energy, no will to live. Kedrith said he could feel some supernatural force draining the strength from him, so he left as soon as he arrived.

TO BE CONTINUED

Post-Game Analysis

The players were already having more fun with the AD&D rules. Other than increasing AC and to-hit bonuses, and maybe a few other house rules, I'm going to try to run it RAW. 

Morale took me a minute to figure out. But once I grokked it, it was simple. 

We're going to use one-minute rounds, segments, weapon speed, morale, the whole thing. I may or may not use variable attack bonuses vs. different types of armor. That one makes me cringe a little. 

In this regard, OSRIC is a great help. It recapitulates the AD&D rules into an easier-to-read and understand document. It does a much better job plainly describing the AD&D rules without having to jump around between different books. 

Hopefully Bill will come back next week. I think an Elf Fighter will suit his play style much better. 

What Does Not Kill Me...

Near-Death Experience Rules for DCC

Whenever a character is reduced to zero hit points and does not receive immediate healing, the character has a chance to survive. At any time during or immediately after the end the combat (up to one hour), another player character can check on the body. The player of the deceased may attempt a Luck check (1d20 + current Luck modifier) vs. a difficulty of 10 (difficulty could be variable and set by the Judge depending on the circumstances of death, challenge level of the campaign, and bloodthirstiness of the Judge). Luck points can (and probably should) be spent on this roll. A success indicates survival. A failure indicates permanent death, curable by nothing short of a resurrection spell, wish, etc.

 The surviving character has 1 hit point and will suffer -4 to all actions for one hour following the encounter. The player of a surviving character must also roll on the following table to determine what other temporary or permanent effects may result.

% roll      Result

01-14         Coma (unconscious until Hit Points restored to full)

15-19      Multiple injuries (+1d3 additional injuries)

20-22         Chest Wound (-1d6 Stamina until Hit Points restored to full)

23-25         Leg Wound (roll 1d6 for severity and 1d6 for location)

Severity

1              severed or crushed (half movement rate, permanent)

2-5          broken (half movement rate until Hit Points restored to full)

6              injured (-5’ movement rate until Hit Points restored to full)

Location

1-2          Thigh

3              Knee

4              Shin

5              Ankle

6              Foot

26-28         Arm Wound (roll 1d6 for severity and 1d6 for location)

Severity

1              severed or crushed (-1d6 Strength permanent)

2-5          broken (-1d6 Strength until Hit Points restored to full)

6              injured (-1 Strength until Hit Points restored to full)

Location

1-2          Shoulder

3              Upper Arm

4              Elbow

5              Forearm

6              Wrist

29-31         Hand Injury (-1d6 Strength until Hit Points restored to full)

32-33         Fingers injured (roll 1d6 for severity)

Severity

1              1d4 fingers severed or crushed (-1 Agility per finger permanent)

2-5          1d4 fingers broken (-1 Agility per finger until Hit Points restored to full)

6              sprained or injured (-1 Agility until Hit Points restored to full)

34-36         Brain Injury (-1d6 Personality until Hit Points restored to full)

37-39         Concussion (-1d6 Intelligence until Hit Points restored to full)

40-42         Blinded in one eye (roll 1d6 for severity)

Severity

1              burst or gouged (-1d6 Agility permanent)

2-5          severe injury (-1d6 Agility until Hit Points restored to full

6              minor injury (-1 Agility until Hit Points restored to full)

43-44         Nervous Condition (-1d6 initiative until Hit Points restored to full)

45-47         Paralyzed (conscious but can take no physical actions until Hit Points restored to full)

48-50         Painful wound (may only take 1 action/round until Hit Points restored to full)

51-75         Superficial Scar (roll 1d4 for length in inches, roll 1d6 for scar location)

76-78         Loss of Confidence (-1 to attack opponent that wounded you, permanent)

79-81         Vow of Vengeance (+1 to attack opponent that wounded you, permanent)

82-84         Lesson Learned (+1 Experience Point)

85-87         A Close Call (+1 Luck)

88-90         Battle Hardened (+1 permanent Stamina)

91-93         Horrible Scar (-1d6 Personality until Hit Points restored to full, -1 permanent Personality, roll 1d6 for length in inches and 1d6 for scar location)

94-96         Impressive Scar (+1d6 Personality until Hit Points restored to full, +1 permanent Personality ,roll 1d10 for length in inches and 1d6 for scar location)

97-00         Miraculous Survival (+1 Experience Point, +1 Luck)

Scar Location

1              Head or face

2              Arm or hands

3 -5         Torso

6              Legs or feet

"You Wince Some; You Lose Some" Chapter 13 of the Xanthus River Campaign

Our party consists of:

Valerius (Level 2 Warrior)
Absalom (Level 2 Cleric of Justica)
Gwen (Level 2 Elf)
Babu (Level 2 Thief)
Jalani (Level 1 Cleric of Amun-Tor)
Knott (Level 1 Warrior)
Helise (Level 1 Cleric of Justica)

Burk (Level 1 Thief)
Hadrud (Archon of Wince)

After escaping from their imprisonment in the swampy dungeon of the serpent cult, and killing Explictica Defilus, AGAIN, the party returned to the village of Wince, this time with Archon Hadrus. However, weary of their ongoing battle with the agents of the serpent cult, they sought shelter in one of the several farmstead compounds within sight of the walls of Wince. 

The first few farms refused to answer. Eventually, they were welcomed by a farmer named Dunth and his wife Luretia. Dunth allowed them to stay for the night and share a common peasant meal of barley gruel and beer. The party was welcome to sleep in the barn with the animals on one condition: No matter what you hear or see, do NOT go into the root cellar! When asked why, he simply replied, "It is a private matter!"

Late at night, of course loud noises came from the root cellar. Thumpings and bumpings as if something or someone was trying to escape. Remarkably, the party kept their word and did not go near the cellar door. Suddenly, the door burst into splinters. Into the courtyard emerged a frenzied-looking girl in her teens with wild hair, pallid skin, and frightening eyes. She cast about wildly for an exit. Valerius caught her while Absalom went to fetch farmer Dunth. Jalani woke the others. Farmer Dunth was soon out of the house with a lanthorn and pitchfork.

Dunth explained that this was his daughter, Fransca, and that she had recently come under the sway of the vile serpent cult. For the past few weeks, she had left the farm to join the cult in town. He followed her one night into the village temple, but lost her after that, finding nothing but an empty temple within. He said that the cult had changed her, that she had become rebellious, wild, and preternaturally strong. 

Fransca thrashed about in an attempt to break free, "Let me go! Infidels! My mistress calls to me! My brothers and my sisters need me! I must go to them!"

A freak magical storm was brewing over the village. Clouds swirled and eerie green lightning flashed, some striking the temple. Something was obviously going on.

The party decided to tie to a post and keep watch over her, with Dunth's permission. They thought about interrupting whatever was happening in the village, but Fransca cried, "No! No! Leave them be!" After soe debate, they decided to wait until morning. Fransca, hearing this, shouted excitedly, "Yes! YES! Good! Sleep well! My mistress returns! When next you face her, she will be MORE POWERFUL than you can possibly imagine! Ha ha ha ha!" At that point, the party decided to put a gag on her.

The dawn brought a pouring rain. The party had a breakfast of porridge, curds, and milk with the farmer and formulated a plan. They would go through the gate and head straight to the temple and kill anyone that tried to stop them. 

Valerius took the farmer aside. He told the farmer he would like to pay him for his assistance. The farmer requested a paltry sum of 1 silver per person. Valerius paid the man 500 gold coin! Dunth was dumbfounded and confused. 500 gold coins was more money than the farmer would see for a hundred harvests! Valerius assured him of the gift, admonishing him to keep it hidden and secret and to not spend it all at once. 

Leaving for the village, Valerius asked Dunth if they could borrow a wagon, an animal, and some cloaks. Dunth said that all he had was a rouncey merychippus and a cart, but that the party was welcome to take them and keep them! Heck, you could take the daughter, if you wished! The party, silencing Knott, politely declined but took the merychippus and the cart. 

The party, clad in simple homespun hooded ponchos and carrying a bundle in the back of a cart, approached the village gate. The gate was mysteriously closed and no other farmers were seeking entry. At the gate, they called out. A strange voice answered, "The village is shut! Go away! You are not wanted here!"

While Absalom and Valerius distracted the gate guards, Babu and Burk slipped away from the group and scaled the wall beside the gatehouse. They slipped down and Babu activated his short sword, Scute, creating an impenetrable zone of darkness. Babu easily killed the two guards behind the gate, then climbed the ladder and slew the other two guards upstairs as they fumbled about looking for the alarm gong. When the darkness ended, Burk opened the gate and let the others in. 

The party made a dash down the town's main street. The town seemed deserted. Several of the entrance doors of the village shops were torn off their hinges and windows were smashed. Streaks of blood ran out of the entrances and across the covered boardwalks in front of shops. An alarm gong soon sounded from one of the other guard towers. The party turned right and made for the temple. Archers atop the gatehouse of the archon's keep began firing arrows, inuring a few of the slower members of the party. 

Once inside, the party made for the rear of the temple. They checked on the priests' quarters. Three of the four were scenes of violence and bloodshed, but no bodies were to be seen. They went downstairs to where the acolytes lived. The library was burned, the holy relics were desecrated. The acolytes' quarters held evidence of a struggle and bloodshed. The door to the senior acolytes' room was battered but secure, and braced from behind. Absalom called out and was answered by the young acolyte that summoned him in the middle of the night. The acolytes removed their barricades and opened their door. There were four survivors. 

Continuing their search, the party found a scene of charnel hell in the kitchen and dining halls. Several of the bodies of the villagers and acolytes had been prepared and eaten, their carcasses left on the tables, entrails spread across the room, bodies hanging from meat hooks, and other gruesome horrors!

So far, there was no trace of the cult. However, the party followed a trail of bloody footprints on the floor to a secret door hidden in the store-room. Stairs led down.

The party rushed headlong towards righteous vengeance, bursting through the door at the bottom of the stairs! They made short work of the four cultists standing guard at the entrance of the narthex.

A Traffic Jam of PCs!

They opened the door to the right to reveal four ophidian ghouls and four ophidian zombies, the corpses of the dead animated by muscles comprised of living serpents, feasting on the body of an acolyte! The squamous undead left their gruesome meal and rushed the doorway. Valerius, Knott, and Jalani held them at bay, killing each one at a time as they tried to exit.

A blurry shot of Serpent-Ghouls and Serpent-Zombies

When there were but a few left, they pushed into the room so that the remaining creatures could be surrounded and killed. 

Searching the room revealing nothing but a coat-room and simple storage. 

Across the hall, the party found a prison with four cells containing villagers and acolytes. When told of the atrocities committed in the village, one of the prisoners called out "By the Gods! I may be to blame!"

When asked for details, he revealed himself as Karzun, a sage and expert in ancient cultures. He had come to Wince searching for ruins of the ancient empire of Nagina Samrajya. Nagina Samrajya was the empire of the serpent ones, who ruled the earth millions of years ere the rise of man. He found the buried ruins of a city in the swamps a day's journey southwest of town. He even found what he believed to be the buried remains of the god-king and god-queen of Nagina Samrajya. Unfortunately, he was betrayed by the men he hired for the excavation. They stole the remains roughly six weeks ago. Later, he was captured by agents of a sinister serpent cult! They were led by at least two surviving members of the ancient serpent race. Apparently, the serpent race can cast illusions and can make themselves appear human, even specific humans! However, they have a weakness, because of the shape of their mouths, they are unable to pronounce the phrase, "Ka nama kaa lajerama", by this you can know who is human and who is ophidian.

The party asked Karzun about Babu's sword. Karzun said the sword was named "Scute" and was an ancient weapon of Nagina Samrajya. He said that Scute was the only weapon that could permanently kill Explictica Defilus.

The party release the prisoners but admonish them to stay back and be safe. They continue on and find a large room, the chamber of the serpent cult!

Explictica Defilus... AGAIN!!

 

The God-Queen of Serpents on her Throne

The room was large, nearly seventy feet per side with a twenty foot ceiling. A narthex on the west wall gave the room two entrances. A large raised platform dominated the east wall which was dominated by a large frieze and symbol of Set, God of Serpents. Lounging atop the dais was Eplictica Defilus, the undying God-Queen of the ancient Serpent Race, flanked by two priests wearing green robes: the priest of Justica known as Wethis and the elusive priest from the excavated dungeon whose name was Garliss. In the room were six snake-human hybrids, each armed with two scimitars, and two human acolytes of Set. A mysterious pit sank into the floor in front of the platform.

The party advances... cautiously with eyes closed.

The party split up, with Valerius, Gwen, and Jilani taking the left flank and Absalom, Knott, Babu, and ten-year-old Helise, truly a brave little princess, taking the right flank. Burk stayed behind in the narthex with the acolytes.  Gwen, Babu, and Helise, being ranged fighters, stayed back, avoiding the hypnotizing gaze of the naga queen. The rest blindly rushed forward, literally, their eyes squeezed shut against the effects of the charm. Gwen summoned a magic eagle which flew up and harassed Explictica for much of the fight before being bitten and dying from venom.

The battle bogged down at the stairs leading up to the dais. Valerius was caught in a magical web spell cast by the naga but managed to pull himself free. Shortly thereafter, Valerius, Absalom, and Knott were all three paralyzed by the effects of a dark incantation from Wethis. Unable to move or attack and only partially able to defend themselves, the charge was stopped.

Jilani rushed to the aid of Valerius but was of little help. Helise moved out from behind cover to likewise aid her allies, but in her haste did not close her eyes and was charmed by the queen of serpents. Explictica teased Helise, taunting her with descriptions of the torment of her people, forcing her to look into the well. The pit was clogged with the dying victims of the serpent cult's atrocities. Villagers were flung, living, into the deep pit. Their bones broken. There the poor wretches were left to die, heaped on top of one another like living garbage. Their pitiful moans and feeble cries for help  could not be drowned out by the din of battle that filled the room.

Knott fell to Garliss. Wethis, confident that the north flank was secure, moved over to the south flank and began to slowly choke the life out of Absalom, taunting him and declaring Justica a dead goddess and that all justice was false. Valerius had lost all faith and was ready to declare defeat. The battle seemed lost.

Babu activated the darkness of Scute and rushed forward to Absalom's aid, only to be covered in another web spell. The darkness was apparently ineffective against the dark-vision of the Naga Queen and her minions. However, Babu made it to the steps of the platform and Wethis, confused by the darkness, was killed by Babu and Scute. Babu, however, was cut down on the steps by a snake-human hybrid.

However, killing Wethis ended the paralysis. Valerius and Absalom broke free. Absalom rushed the north steps of the platform, followed closely behind by Jalani and now Burk. Jalani uttered a prayer and paralyzed Explictica Defilus. At the top of the platform, Valerius drew Duirn's Dwarven Dagger and began stabbing the naga in the head. Burk was charmed by the Naga and began attacking Valerius. Valerius was finally able to blind the Naga. Jalani crawled over the twisting coils of the blind Explictica to reach the other side of the platform, where she grabbed Scute. With a final blow from Valerius and Jalani, Explictica Defilus was killed.

Explictica Defilus' corpse slid off the platform and into the pit, where it exploded into a geyser of glowing blood like liquid sparks that rained from the ceiling of the chamber.

The god-queen of serpents was dead!

Meanwhile, during the confusion of the final moments, Garliss, who had been constrained by webs and ignored, managed to transform himself into snakes and slither away, again.

TO BE CONTINUED!

 Post-Game Analysis
My original plan was to use the teenage girl to provide the party with some intelligence on the cult, and bait to get them to destroy the cult once and for all. You see, Explictica Defilus had to be resurrected by Garliss each time she was killed, each time requiring a human sacrifice. The party had a small window to destroy the cult while Explictica was still "dead". Had they taken the bait, the assault on the temple would have been quick and easy. Two priests and a few acolyte guards.

Unfortunately, the party didn't take the bait and played it safe so I amped up the planned encounter as well as the consequences of their inaction. Explictica was returned, and this time more powerful than before, with a bigger hit die and +1 to her spell check. Emboldened, the cult then went on a rampage throughout the town, killing and pillaging most of the villagers. Garliss reanimated many of the corpses of the villagers into snake zombies to guard the walls.

The fight itself was very touch and go for the party. Paralyzing Valerius, Knott, and Absalom was almost a game-ender. I rolled REALLY well! Fortunately, paralysis is very loosely defined in the DCC rules. I gave the PCs the same benefit I gave the monsters when they were paralyzed by Absalom or Jalani: they could not move or act, but they still got their AC, minus their Agility bonus. In retrospect, I should have treated their Agility as 0 (-3).  Anyway, the paralysis was very demoralizing for the players and I had to encourage them to keep going.

Later, I looked up how paralysis worked in 3rd edition, and had I used THOSE rules, it would have been game over for the party. My paralysis is more forgiving, but I apply the same rules to the monsters, so there.

Gwen was a non-participant in the fight. She's still at -5 to all actions after losing Cake, and as a result Gwen's player was disengaged. I gave him Helise to play, but that was a mistake since no one wanted to endanger the ten-year-old orphan princess, despite her now being a first-level Cleric.

Finally, Scute's darkness ability is over-powered. The ability is poorly defined in the DCC rulebook, saying only that the wielder can create 20' of darkness at will. Can the wielder see in the darkness? Do creatures with darkvision see through the darkness? We decided that Babu could see fine in the darkness and that creatures with dark-vision could see fine. However, I am reconsidering changing that so that Babu can't see in the darkness but neither can darkvision.

Finally, the players are very concerned with the death spiral of taking on a permanent -1 penalty each time they are rolled over from death. We are having fun with these characters and the death-spiral mechanic is not fun.

I'm all about my players having fun. So I'm replacing that mechanic (we kept forgetting about it anyway, so it's never been implemented) with a permanent disfiguring scar table. Each time you survive a mortal wound, you receive a gruesome scar.

Finally, my players are worried about getting Luck back. As a result, I will be implementing the Luck guidelines from Kill it with Fire. However, I will be using the guidelines to make flat awards of 1-5 Luck per session, rather than forcing them to roll for them.

Does that make me a more forgiving GM? Yes. I'm not quite as harsh on the PCs as DCC suggests. We are telling a fantastic story, having fun, and enjoying our characters. If I need to increase the survival rate a little bit so that the players are having more fun, then I'll do it. If they're not having fun, I'll stop.

Game Design Round Table interview with Ryan Dancey

I want to draw attention to this podcast: The Game Design Roundtable Podcast

I listened to episode 73 last night, which was an interview with Ryan Dancey, creator of Legend of the Five Rings, the Open Game License, EVE Online, and is now working on a Pathfinder MMO.

It's a fascinating interview about the business side of the gaming industry. In it, Dancey recounts the business case behind the Open Game License and how the Pathfinder brand came to out-sell the D&D brand 2-to-1.

"Death is a Dish Best Served Cold!" Chapter 12 of the Xanthus River Campaign

Our party consists of:

Valerius (Level 2 Warrior)
Absalom (Level 2 Cleric)
Gwen (Level 2 Elf)
Sausage (Level 1 Dwarf)
Babu (Level 1 Thief)
Jilani (Level 1 Cleric)
Knott (Level 1 Warrior)
Wheezy (Level 1 Halfling)

The party had been invited to attend a luncheon party to be held in their honor at the keep of the Archon of Wince. Archon Hadrus gave a toast to their wealth. Almost immediately afterwards, Sausage, Absalom, and Wheezy keeled over unconscious, the rest staggered disoriented, all except Valerius who abstained.

We are betrayed! To arms!

The Archon's personal guard were immediately called in to surround the party. Those still awake drew arms and prepared to defend themselves. Tapestries behind the Archon were pulled aside, revealing the shadowy presence and hissing voice of the Queen of Serpents and Avatar of Set, "Foolish humans! No mortal blade can kill Explictica Defilus!"

"Foolish humans! No mortal blade can kill Explictica Defilus!"

A battle ensued. Many of the Archon's guards were killed, revealing them to be nothing more than empty husks with muscles made of serpents! Gwen and Valerius were both charmed by the naga. Jilani prayed to her god Amun-Ra and Sausage was miraculously cured of the poison that afflicted him, only to be taken down with everyone else by a fiery explosion belched forth by the evil naga. The entire party fell to the fire ball, killing Sausage, Wheezy, and Cake instantly.

BOOM!

Darkness.

Eventually, the surviving members of the party awoke in cages located in a muddy subterranean chamber supported by crude timbers. Everyone was wounded, burned, and tired. Valerius, still charmed, stood guard at the doorway. 

"Where are we?"

Absalom and Jilani tried to distract Valerius while Gwen called upon the strength and assistance of the King of Elfland. Valerius was undeterred and rushed to strike Gwen with the butt of his blade. In doing so, Gwen discharged her sleep spell, sending Valerius into unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Knott was able to force his cage open, retrieve the keys from Valerius, kick Valerius in the face, and free the surviving members of the party. In addition, other cells were occupied by some captured merchants, Helise, the ten-year-old sister of the Archon, and Archon Hadrus himself, emaciated, tortured, and wearing nothing but a loincloth. All were freed. Prayers were made and everyone was miraculously healed of their injuries. When Valerius was revived, he was free of the charm and ready to slay the naga.

When Gwen was revived, she was overcome with the loss of her familiar, Cake. Distraught with mourning, she descended into depression and madness. She was designated to watch over Helise. For the rest of the night, Gwen stroked Helise's hair and held her protectively, calling her "Cake". 

Leaving the prison cells, Valerius scouted ahead. The corridor beyond the only exit led to another corridor to the left and a door to the right. Valerius opened the door and saw a gaunt hideous figure of death standing near a pillar. Having roused it from its slumber, Valerius closed the door and admonished everyone to not open it.

Heading left, the found a laboratory filled with alchemical apparatuses, books written in an ancient unknown script, several cages filled with venomous snakes, and the flayed and disemboweled corpse of Sausage.

While Absalom gave last rites to Sausage the party located a locked wardrobe filled with their equipment. Suitably re-equipped, the party exited the room through the opposite door. A short corridor and doorway opened into an altar room. There they found a bald ashen-faced priest wearing black robes conducting a vile ceremony with the corpse of Wheezy, the same priest that conducted the human sacrifice in the root cellar weeks ago, the very ceremony that returned Explictica Defilus to the living world!

The altar was a stone sacrificial table on a raised dais. Before the table was a plinth with a jade statue of the naga. The priest was accompanied by a hunched bestial figure of deathly pallor. Four robed acolytes chanted dark hymns in the corners of the rooms. 

As soon as Valerius entered, the priest challenged, "Valerius! You were told to guard the prisoners! Why do you disturb the sacred rite of feasting?" 

Valerius replied that needed the assistance of the priest. The priest's eyes narrowed as he examined the stout defender of justice, then shouted, "The fool has broken his enchantment! Vile perfidy! Kill them!" and battle was enjoined!

"Vile perfidy!"

Valerius rushed into the room. The priest pulled the green statue and retreated behind the safety of his bestial companion. Valerius soon found that his sword stabbed and cut the creature but the cuts drew no blood and caused no pain. The acolytes blocked the entrance. While Valerius fought against the supernatural foe on the dais and one of the acolytes, the others battled against the three remaining acolytes to gain entry into the room.  Gwen held Helise to the rear, protecting her, whispering, "No, Cake, this is not your fight!" Despite this, Helise took a sling and let fly several bullets into the acolytes.

"I could use a cleric right about now!"

The wall opened up behind the priest. The priest fled with the wall closing behind him. Eventually, the acolytes blocking the entrance were killed allowing the party entrance. The supernatural foe was surrounded by the survivors of the captured merchant caravan. Many of the brave prisoners were killed by the hideous beast before Absalom was able to cow the creature before the holy power of Justica! Babu killed the beast as it clawed the corner of the room in fear.

The remaining acolyte gave himself up, throwing his scimitar onto the floor and bowing in acquiescence. While the rest of the party tended to wounds and explored the wall for the secret door, the acolyte tried to quietly crawl away. Knott walked over to the wretched fool, filled with wide-eyed vengeance. The acolyte begged for mercy but was executed in righteous fury by the deadly might of Knott's pitiless battle-axe.

Babu eventually pulled the jade statue and opened the secret door. A short passage led to another, poorly disguised, secret door. Beyond lay the cave of the naga!

They were on the muddy bank where the naga had stored her treasure. They found the priest on his knees in the mud, begging his mistress for forgiveness. He stood and made ready as the party rushed into the flooded cavernous chamber, charging the priest and the naga.

Charge! Charge now!

 Battle was joined! The naga charmed Valerius and ordered him away. Babu and one of the survivors of the merchant caravan took on the priest whiel the rest fought against the naga. The naga, blinded and paralyzed, ordered Valerius to fight in her defense. Valerius rushed forth and killed Knott with a single blow. Valerius was then paralyzed by Jilani. 

The priest began muttering an evil prayer,sting still and taking the blows that rained down upon him. The final blow that would have killed the priest instead transformed him into a mass of wriggling snakes, escaping in all directions!

Soon afterwards, a killing blow was struck the naga, causing the creature to explode in a fiery flash, knocking everyone into the mud. A vile hissing voice echoed against the walls of the cavern, "Foolish humans! No mortal blade can slay EXPLICTICA DEFILUS! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!" The echoing laughter faded into the darkness. 

The party regrouped. Valerius was no longer under the charm. They retrieved the boat from the opposite side of the lake and began their journey out of the caves. 

On their way out, on the first level of the dungeon, a boa constrictor fell onto Valerius. Entangled, Valerius felt the life being crushed out of him. He stabbed with his dagger until the serpent was dead. The rest of the journey back to Wince was uneventful.

Upon their return, the swollen sun fell behind the horizon to the west. While in sight of the village, not trusting their chances at an inn, the party decided to seek rest at one of the many farming compounds found outside the village walls. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Dinner Party of DOOM!

Dear Adventurers

 

You are cordially invited to join the honorable Archon of Wince for a dinner party to be held to celebrate your impending DOOM!

 

Location: the dining hall in the keep of the Archon in Wince.

Time: Noontime.

 

 

You are expected to wear attire appropriate for your demise. Please bring no weapons and wear no armor.

 

Respectfully,

Alatrus Blo-Keg

Castellan of Wince