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Dungeon Crawl Classics #11
The Dragonfiend Pact
For 2nd Level Characters

Turn 36a

Overall score out of 10: 8.4
Play time: Approx 4 happy hours.

Review:

They bloody loved it, the session flew by and in the end they just wanted more of the same. There’s not a lot to say in this section of the review, it needs to be noted however that every bad guy, and trap, and encounter encouraged the players to try something, anything, everything- the scenario may be short but it’s expertly structured.

The overall scenario is easy to DM and excellent to play, partially perhaps because it is so short, and intense, the use of the Improved Reduce Person potions was just fantastic. Not since a scenario in one of the early issues of Imagine Magazine- “Down the Plughole”, or some such, someone put me right. They, and I, loved it- the final fight was just a winner.

Notes and Quotes:

Bec and the Water Snake- an excellent start reducing the Tank-fighter to a frightened wreck trying to escape the water, good use of the environment to get the players out of their comfort zone.

Newt versus the Advanced Medium Monstrous Trapdoor Spider, straightforward, and yet for almost no reward, and with surprise- the glint of gold luring the Rogue in. Excellent again.

The traps were all good, particularly as Newt found every one of them and then spectacularly failed to disarm two of them, and yet emerged unscathed.

A pack of Dwarven Zombies allowed Ala to shine, the jigsaw puzzle that when completed revealed the Dwarves Contract helped the players to discover a little of what lay ahead. Also typical when Miss P. stated- “Didn’t you say your landlord was called Malchor, well that’s an anagram of Chloram.” It took her less than five seconds to see the truth of it- which was a little disappointing at the time but proved less of a problem by the end.

The Dire Badger proved to be a good fight, it’s the fact that the creature was not dispatched in seconds, and managed to land some blows of its own, that, as opposed to the flailing tin can Kobolds in the last scenario.

And then into Tarn’s chamber, with a Rat Swarm to get through, which was excellent, from a story telling perspective, clearly the point-of-no-return. The fact that the Werebadger inflicted so much damage on them, and then got away only spurred them on.

The moment they worked out that they were going to get shrunk to fit the tunnels they were overjoyed, something new. It took us forty five minutes to get all the stats right on the character sheets but it was well worth it, the wait only made the players more excited at the prospect.

A bunch of rats were easily despatched- a false dawn as it proves.

And they’re into the Badger’s Lair, with Tarn the Werebadger in full affect, and once again the confrontation is momentous, players are spending a good ten seconds cupping and pre-rolling their dice, muttering encouraging words into the cave of their hands.

It’s important.

Then on to the River Crossing and the Cave Trout, as always it’s Ala that falls in, she’s not even got the worst Climb skill- and yet it’s always her, no problems here though- lulling the players into a false sense of security for the later crossing.

The Giant Worker Ants were quickly dealt with, as were the Fire Beetles, these encounters just helped to chip away at the player’s resources- keeping them on their toes.

The final chasm crossing with the Choker really put the wind up them, especially as it was Ala again- the fact that she lost her favourite sword, and Newt his crossbow also seemed to rile the party members. Whatever was at the end of the scenario was definitely for it.

Another cracker with Blackspine, the nasty Advanced Fiendish Pseudo-dragon Sorcerer 1, with limited resources the creature managed to trip them up, actually frazzle them a bit, and still escape in the end to fight again another day. The telepathy also made the encounter much more fun.

And then just a bunch of Skeletons and Malchor’s diary, but what’s this, a Drow and a Goblin, not at all what the players expected, and the fight was hard, particularly as Malchor (the Drow) got off a few spells, and a Curse, via his dagger onto Cas. At the end the players were giving the Drow, then Malchor, perhaps a little more respect than his AC and Hit Points perhaps justified; but that was down to the build up.

A lovely moment when Malchor caught Mr. R. (Cas) with another spell, Blindness and for a moment cas thought he’d failed his save, especially after Doom and Curse.

And then Newt’s Strength is reduced to “1” after he messes up opening the strongbox. They knew they’d been in a fight.

Overall it was easily the best Goodman Games Module we’ve played so far, although it’s only the third we’ve played- they really did enjoy the constant battle to get though the dungeon, a nice array of traps and tricks, a good selection of monsters, and the twist of being turned into Diddymen part the way through.

Bloody marvellous, more please.

Next Turn: Freddy and the…