Where i share my experiences with DCC (as a noob)

[Mannahnin]

One of the players went to visit family in the Philippines for the last several weeks and has missed the adventure so far. He'll be returning to a nearly new group next week.

We had a TPK in an online OD&D game I was playing in a year or so back. On the third or fourth level of the Castle Greyhawk dungeons we randomly ran into a Necromancer (10th level M-U) who got us with a Lightning Bolt (as we were charging down a hall toward him) before anyone could hit him with a missile weapon and disrupt the spell. Lost a whole party, some of us as high as 5th level. It was an open table, though, and the guys who missed that session felt quite lucky for it!

 

[not-so-newguy]

We had a TPK in an online OD&D game I was playing in a year or so back. On the third or fourth level of the Castle Greyhawk dungeons we randomly ran into a Necromancer (10th level M-U) who got us with a Lightning Bolt (as we were charging down a hall toward him) before anyone could hit him with a missile weapon and disrupt the spell. Lost a whole party, some of us as high as 5th level. It was an open table, though, and the guys who missed that session felt quite lucky for it!

Getting caught in a hallway vs lightning bolt is never good lol

At least in this case we have two survivors for continuity. The returning party will have former slaves of the cult, which adds something. There are 5 players running 2 characters each.

 

[not-so-newguy]

The group officially hates my pink D20. I feel it's sort of a campaign milestone when players designate a specific DM's die for fear & loathing.

View attachment 286492


Session Recap
There And Back Again And There Again

Spoiler

[The Dazagr Ami region is a conglomerate of villages south west of Iruk. This region includes Huary Village. The Pit is near Huary.]


Encounter 1
Back in Iruk
1xp

Eni the Cleric and Termis the Warrior returned to the large city of Iruk along with the freed prisoners of Palimdybis (Lester the Cleric, T. Wiggums the Dwarf, Todd Sweeney the Thief, Mizz Cleo the Wizard, Wiblo the Halfling, and Iris the Thief). The group met up with Orn the Warrior who previously was visiting with family. Orn also brought along his friend Iron the Warrior.

The party stocked up on arms, armor, and equipment. The nefarious Cult of Palimdybis was the main topic of discussion in the city of Iruk. Some merchants were starting to refuse travel to the Dazagr Ami area in fear of being kidnapped by Grey Robes. Apparently, word of the party's exploits preceded their return. Despite the party being nearly wiped out, the survivors and new members of the party had gained some reknown. Eni and Termis being the most recognized.

An offer:
Bezad Abboud found the party at the Hairy Locust. The party was enjoying this respite with a hookah and Mutaz's potent hot brews. Bezad's second cousin's wife's niece was kidnapped by Grey Robes. Upon her return, he offered that estate near Thaduk village that the party had cleared out a couple of months ago. The manor still needed extensive repairs; but the party members could potentially stop sleeping in cheap inns, abandoned buildings, their mom's basement, etc.

It took the party 5 days to return there again and thus Eni had fulfilled his promise to return to Huary within 2 weeks. The mayor gifted a potion of healing (1d6 hp) to the party.


Encounter 2
Revisiting the 1st Level
1xp

The party was soon traveling along the stairway carved along the interior of the Pit. They came across the first stone door along the stairway and opened it. It was a small shrine and behind the alter was a formerly concealed portal with the door ajar. The party recalled that Foddir the Elf (RIP) had used the passageways. They also recalled the traps he triggered and coming out a bloody mess while sneaking down those passageways. So they moved on.

Next they came upon a cave opening and recalled that this was cavern of Basilisks that should now be dead. They explored the cavern again and found an exit where the cavern narrowed to a corridor of shaped stone. They came upon the giant Tentacle Elevator. Mizz Cleo used the Control Tentacle scroll. The tentacle moved the party down a shaft. It's worth noting that the shaft's interior wall had many different dark passages. The party arrived at the slave pit mill stone area.


Encounter 3
Revisiting the Scene of the Crime
3xp

Lester, T Wiggums, Mizz Cleo, Todd, Wiblo, and Iris all had flashbacks as the tentacle lowered to the Giant Mill Stone level where they were all formerly chained as slaves about two weeks ago. The traumatic experience may have scarred them, but it's also why most of them jumped to first level. The Mill Stone lay dormant as there was no team of slaves pushing the contraption to make it go. The familiar sound of red robes giving muffled instruction to grey robes could be heard to the north.

The gang decided to pull the same star wars shenanigans as before, except they were all grey robes and no yellow robes this time. They decided to lead with two warriors, who are not skilled in disguise, instead of using the two highly skilled thieves. This gave them a 1 in 10 chance to pull off the disguise from roughly 30 feet away. They failed. Roll for initiative!

Eni invoked the wrath of Cthulhu on the red robes and one of them fled back into the cavern, then Iron skewered another red robe with a javelin. Iris chased down the fleeing red robe hoping for a good back stab opportunity. Mizz Cleo melted some grey robes with an acidic cloud in an explosion of ass. (They rolled a 3 on manifestation for Choking Cloud and we have regressed to 12 year olds.) Iron was surprised by the octo-mass popping out of a Grey Robes chest. It dropped him on a crit. He was healed by the potion from Eni.

Iris tracked down the red robe only to stumble upon toan. A ten foot tall, many tentacled beast with a beak. The party mopped up the last of the cultists and the toan.

[Not a Toan, but the closest pic I could find]




Encounter 4
Things go sideways ¯\(ツ)/¯
1xp

The party hopped on the Tentacle Elevator again and lowered down to the next level. The Tentacle stopped at a lit corridor. The party followed it single file. They came upon a four-way intersection and decided to continue straight. The passage narrowed a bit and became a little confining. T Wiggums was nicked by a swinging blade trap. They eventually came upon a shrine. They crawled out of statue of Palimdybis in order to enter. On the other side of the room was an engraved altar and on that alter were four buttons.

T Wiggums, who led the party, pressed a random button before anyone else could react. Iron and Mizz Cleo, who closely followed behind, were lucky enough to note exactly which button he pressed.

Mizz Cleo and Todd Sweeney pressed the same button as T Wiggums. They both disappeared. Iron decided to lie. He told Lester a different button. So Lester pressed it and disappeared. Iron followed Lester in pressing the same button as him

Iris, Wiblo, Eni, Termis, and Orn stayed behind.


Encounter 5
Teleported to the Toan
2xp T Wiggums, Mizz Cleo, Todd Sweeney only

T Wiggums, Mizz Cleo, and Todd Sweeney transported to the same room within seconds of each other. They came upon a toan that was about to feed a human female who was chained to a wall. The party defeated the toan. The human turned out to be Wuzra the Ropemaker. This was the potential acolyte of Ildavir mentioned in the "Palimdybis Strikes Back!" recap. [She's now Alex's character since Lester is dead. She'll stay 0 level and will level-up after the adventure. She can choose any of the 4 classes]


Encounter 6
Teleported to the Yellow Robe
0xp

Lester transported to a different room. Iron transported there 30 seconds later. Stuff happened and they're dead now.


Total Experience Points after this session...
Wiggums/Cleo/Todd 7xp
Iris/Wiblo/Orn 5xp
Eni/Termis 98xp

 

[not-so-newguy]

I compiled the obituaries of PCs in this campaign, not including the Funnel. The list might not be complete. We've played 12-15 sessions (approx 3.5 hours per session).
Despite their frustrations, the players say they prefer this style of play. I have checked in with them numerous times on this. i've even offered some house rules. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised since all of them (except one) have only played 5e.


Death Count: 12 14

Feb 27, Welcome to the Crypt
1 Steve the Thief. Sucked down a hole while swimming underwater and the rushing water dumped him into a pit with heated copper coils. He was boiled to death. The Jar of Steve is named after him.

March 7, Like Banging your head against a Bronze Door
2 Baltor the unlucky Warrior. A pair of statue constructs with halberds focused fire on the un-luckiest character.

March 20, The Australia of Dungeons
3 Dwimble the Wizard. Opened an ancient jar which contained hundreds of mechanical scarab beetles which consumed him. There was nothing left.

April 4, Iruk Potpourri
4 Franken Beans the Thief. Hit three times with poisoned hand crossbow bolts. He was leading the charge through the front door.

May 22, Palimdybis Strikes Back!
5 Foddir the Elf
6 Don Keykong the Warrior
7 Kane the Cleric
8 Dwight the Wizard
All died in defeating the Yellow Robe and his twelve cohorts. Eight slaves were freed. These four PCs are buried in a graveyard in Huary.

June 5, There and Back Again ...and There Again
9 Lester the Cleric. Duped into teleporting to the wrong room by Iron the Warrior. He faced a Yellow Robe by himself and was killed
10 Iron the Warrior. 30 seconds later, Iron pressed the same button. He teleported to the same room as Lester. By this time Lester had just been killed. The Yellow robe then killed Iron the Warrior.

June 13, No More Tentacles
11 Iris the Thief. Died in final battle against the Cult of Palimdybis. Beaten to death by Pit People.
12 Todd Sweeney the Thief. Died in final battle against Cult of Palimdybis. Stabbed to death by Yellow Robe.

Edit
June 25, Tomb of the serpent kings
13. T Wiggums the Dwarf. Consumed by Black Pudding. We'll never know what the T stood for.
14. Monty the Familiar. Sprung a lightning trap. Fried the little guy.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Recap: No More Tentacles

Spoiler

The Gang Causes an Ecological Catastrophe



Of Eggs and Buttons
3xp

The gang was split up into two groups, but eventually found each other. This level was dedicated to caring for Toan eggs. The gang explored most of the level being sure to destroy every egg that they came across. After that they returned to the Tentacle Elevator and went down to the 4th floor.

The Boss Level
3xp

As the gang exited the elevator, they could hear chanting and wailing. They could also feel and hear a deep rumbling. Up ahead was a plaeau. There were some crude huts made of a simple frame and canvas walls in this area. Apparently there was some ritual sacrifice about to take place with the usual suspects (Robed Cultists and a Toan) plus some new antagonists: some weird Morlock type creatures and (presumably) the leader of the Palimdybis Cult, a Blue Robe.

The gang crept to where the cavern met the plateau and decided to do some exploring. They found a cavern leading to the right and crept into it. They soon found themselves in a small cavern room. Most of the room was covered in fine gray gravel, while on the opposite side was a rocky ledge with some bones, debris, and weaponry. Being cautious, Wiblo tossed a rock onto the floor and it eventually submerged into the floor as if the gravel was quicksand. Iris the Thief then climbed the rocky walls and eventually made it to the rocky ledge and returned with the equipment.

The gang found a masterwork short sword, two masterwork long swords, and a Magical +1 Maul.



The Final Battle
4xp

Armed with their shiny new weapons, the gang decided to ambush the ceremony. The two Thieves, Iris and Todd, snuck into a hut close to the cultists. Using some Bull Wasp poison and a blow gun, Iris struck the Blue Robe leader which disrupted the sacrifice and sent the enemy into a state of confusion as they scrambled to find the culprit. Eni paralyzed the Blue Robe, who was about to summon three large tentacles. A bunch of stuff happened.

Eventually, Termis knocked Blue Robe off the plateau and the lady being sacrificed was saved who turned out to be Bezad Abboud's second cousin's wife's niece. Unfortunately, other prisoners could not be save and some adventurers were lost. Upon striking down the Blue Robe, Palimdybis destroyed the pit's walls and the Cult's dungeon structure with its mighty tentacles (60 feet in diameter). The gang was forced to take refuge in a small cave while this was happening.

Several hours later, the party finished climbing out of the pit. They had decimated the Cult of Palimdybis and the sprawling temple structure was destroyed.

Experience Points after this sessikn
(Bonus 10 xp for completing the adventure was added)
Eni and Termis 118 (3rd Level)
Orn 80 (2nd Level)
Mizz Cleo and Wiblo 27 (1st Level)
Wiggums 17 (1st Level)

 

[not-so-newguy]

Next Session

• Reward: The Abboud Estate in Thaduk. A large home with 2 levels, a basement, and a surrounding wall. Renovations will cost 2,000gp.
• Bonus Reward: A stuffed Bugbear set in a fearsome pose provided by the family's taxidermist
• Eni meets with Cutty the Chronicler. (Cutty was the guy who asked Eni to stop the cult).
• Decide on your next adventure!
• I will provide Character sheets and we'll fill them out next chance we get.

New Characters

Spoiler

 

[overgeeked]

Despite their frustrations, the players say they prefer this style of play. I have checked in with them numerous times on this. i've even offered some house rules. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised since all of them (except one) have only played 5e.

In my experience players quickly tire of easy wins and feeling like the game is heavily weighted in their favor. Even if they wouldn't like full old-school or OSR-style play, a lot of players want something more challenging than 5E.

Glad you and your group are having fun with DCC RPG.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Made a magic item to plop down into a goat themed dungeon; Tomb of the Serpent Goat Kings. I'm trying to tie this adventure to the funnel adventure Portal Under the Stars, which featured a Goat-person NPC at the end.

RING OF THE MOUNTAIN GOAT
Spell burn 1 point on first use required
Gives wearer +3 to climb checks.
A roll of 1 on a climb check while wearing the ring causes corruption

ROLL 1d6
1 Grow a single goat horn (Max 2)
2 Lower leg turns into a goat leg with hoof (Max 2. Odd gait. Movement reduced 5 feet. Climb +1. does not stack.)
3 Speech is interrupted with a goat's "baa" (Max 3. At 3, Only "baa.")

If a 1 is rolled after completely maxed, then character turns into a mountain goat on a quest for alpine vegetation and a mate. Roll up a new character.

 

[overgeeked]

Made a magic item to plop down into a goat themed dungeon; Tomb of the Serpent Goat Kings. I'm trying to tie this adventure to the funnel adventure Portal Under the Stars, which featured a Goat-person NPC at the end.

RING OF THE MOUNTAIN GOAT
Spell burn 1 point on first use required
Gives wearer +3 to climb checks.
A roll of 1 on a climb check while wearing the ring causes corruption

ROLL 1d6
1 Grow a single goat horn (Max 2)
2 Lower leg turns into a goat leg with hoof (Max 2. Odd gait. Movement reduced 5 feet. Climb +1. does not stack.)
3 Speech is interrupted with a goat's "baa" (Max 3. At 3, Only "baa.")

If a 1 is rolled after completely maxed, then character turns into a mountain goat on a quest for alpine vegetation and a mate. Roll up a new character.

That’s awesome.

You could also have 2 be a random limb turns into a goat leg (max 4). They’d be hoping for a leg.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Rewrote it with your suggestion. Looking for a 6th option.
The ring also has the added power to burn a point of Luck in order to Reroll the check

RING OF THE MOUNTAIN GOAT
Spell burn 1 point on first use required
Gives wearer +3 to climb checks.
Option to Burn a point of Luck and Reroll climb check

A roll of 1 on a climb check while wearing the ring cause corruption
ROLL 1d6
1 Grow goat horns (Max 1)
2 Eyes turn into Goats eyes. (Max 1)
3 forearm & hand turn into goat leg and hoof (Max 2. Roll d6. 1-3 Off hand. 4-6 Main Hand)
4 Lower leg turns into a goat leg with hoof (Max 2. Odd gait. Movement reduced 5 feet. Climb +1. does not stack.)
5 Speech is interrupted with a goat's "baa" (Max 3. At 3, Only "baa.")
6 Tobacco-like addiction to chewing twigs and tree bark. (Max 1)

If a 1 is rolled after completely maxed, then character turns into a mountain goat on a quest for alpine vegetation and a mate. Roll up a new character.