Dungeon Crawl Classics #4: Bloody Jack's Gold

[Messageboard Golem]

Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics don't waste your time with long-winded speeches, weird campaign settings, or NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know are there somewhere.

In this all-new adventure, the characters acquire a treasure map showing the location of Bloody Jack's last haul, where hundreds of thousands of gold coins lie waiting to be taken. But Bloody Jack didn't leave his treasure unguarded -- and the best way to keep the undead legions well-stocked is to lure treasure-hunters to their death...

Dungeon Crawl Classics can be integrated easily with any fantasy setting. If you enjoy this adventure, you might also enjoy the rest of the Dungeon Crawl Classics series.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Bloody Jack’s Gold is the fourth in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line by Goodman Games. An adventure for 10th-12th level characters, the adventure tempts the characters with legends of the pirate Bloody Jack’s lost treasure, a classic lure, and brings them to an unmapped island to begin their quest.

The module has a smooth, yet sarcastic writing style to it. “Picture a bowlful of bubbling, boiling brownish snot, covered with glaring eyes and mouths filled with sharp teeth, all snapping at you, babbling insane nonsense and spitting acid in your face, while trying to eat you. Now make it the size of an SUV. There’s your gibbering mouther.”

In terms of capturing the first edition feel, it does a better job than many Necromancer Games products. For example, the cover is done by Erol Otus, a verteran of many a 1st edition cover product. The interior covers are used for maps. The maps are done in blue ink. The internal art is similar to first edition modules, which in my opinion, isn’t always a good thing.

At 32 pages for $10.99, the module suffers high price per page, but since it’s one of the few adventurers at that size, for this cost, is in the right range.

The adventure is pretty straightforward. This isn’t to say that there aren’t traps and challenging encounters, but it holds true to the classic feel in that there aren’t a lot of role playing opportunities presented in the book itself. The options to have the characters interact with other parts of the adventure, are hinted at, like meeting Bloody Jack himself, but not detailed out. It’s simply beyond the scope of the module. Bloody Jack and indeed, his crew may present some problems for some campaigns for one of his comrades was Coyopultec, a death priest of an Aztechish like god. The death priest is just a little angered at his betrayal and come back from the grave. Not to mention that when the priest came back, he did so at the behest of some fiendish lords of Hell and has brought a whole retinue of fiendish creatures with him.

There are also hints to a large empire, one that killed Bloody Jack without recovering the gold. These are minor details and since the main body of adventure itself takes place on an island, hardly an issue. As a matter of fact, since the whole thing takes place on an island, the GM could probably get rid of the whole Bloody Jack storyline and just use this as a high-level dungeon romp.

As it stands, this is a good rendition of a 1st level feel module in 3rd edition terms. It’s perfect for a pick up and play game or a convention. Long term or campaign use requires a bit more effort to customize the background and information. With settings like Freeport though, it shouldn’t be too hard to hint at the pirate that was Bloody Jack.

 

[GameWyrd]

In some ways Bloody Jack's Gold gets off to a false start. The front cover says, "Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs where there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level?"

Hmm. No. I didn't play D&D back then because that's exactly the sort of game I didn't like! How did the dragon get there? Why? I want to meet a NPC for a second time (as in, not having killed them the first time) and then, on the third meeting, discover he's been the villain all along! Or a powerful ally!

If it wasn't *meaningful* I didn't have much time for it. But I was young back then. I was a bit of an arse. Whereas I still prefer gaming which stimulates other parts of my brain than just the combat tactic zone (all gamers have a combat tactic zone in their brain) I can kick back and appreciate a good-for-a-laugh dungeon crawl. The original GameWyrd "harassed by oil beetles" banner was inspired by such a game.

Rather ironically Bloody Jack's Gold isn't a no brainer. It will make you consider options other than which arrow to use or spell to sling. There are some nice touches here and so if you're worried about spoilers then go visit a random roleplaying site instead and stop reading this.

Bloody Jack was a pirate. He captured a ship load of gold, hid it somewhere and then died. He often went raiding the ships of the mighty empire. What? No mighty naval empire in your game? In theory this shouldn't be a problem and in practise it isn't - but this Dungeon Crawl Classic (number ?#4, by the way) finds some time to offer help here. Suggestions as to who this empire might be in your game and the inspiration author, Joe Crow, had in mind when he put the backdrop plot together. Touches like this win me over. Yeah, I know, I'm cheap.

Dungeon Crawl Classics are a deliberate throwback to the "old days" of D&D in more than just flavour. The book has an appearance which reminds us original Dungeons and Dragon products. There's all that text on the covers. There's that yellow striped corner. The inside covers have blue ink maps. These aren't cartographical wonders. They're basic but functional and good enough. 32 pages and US$10.99.

So, by bloody hook or ship's crook, the players get involved in looking for the legendary treasure of Bloody Jack. The book picks up as they approach the island. You'll notice new monster entries for Barracuda and Moray Eel. It's not that easy though, players will face the Fiendish versions of these creatures, or Fiendish Dire creatures or even Fiendish Giant creatures. This is a tough adventure! You're looking at about four to six players of about 10th to 12th level each - the party total being at least 50. You'll want someone to deal with the traps or you're dead meat and a good cleric is extremely helpful.

There is a pile of gold. In fact there's so much gold that even the dungeon crawl classic is worried about it - DMs might restrict the amount of gold that characters take back because there's too much for the characters to carry. There's also a matter of ghosts. Bloody Jack killed a lot of people - including his own lieutenant - in order to keep the gold safe.

There are ghosts to deal with - this gives the adventure an extra dose of last ability. Haunted treasure can turn an adventure into a campaign (though that's neither required nor necessarily wanted). There are also the fiendish creatures. The connection, typically, come from "helpful" evil gods and demon lords. I imagine the conversation might have gone a bit like this, "Hi, I'm letting one of my pirates staying on this Plane as a ghost as he's going to cause all sorts of lovely trouble. Care to help?" - "Oh sure, we'll send up a horror or two and some assistance. We like trouble." Oohkay, so perhaps the conversation between the evil pirate god and the demon lords didn't quite go like that but that's effectively what happened.

There's a rather pesky imp to deal with and, for me, this imp makes the adventure. As the characters deal with awkward traps, find their way around a treasure hiding, specially constructed maze and fighting the good fight the little magic using imp is shadowing them invisibly. If a character gets in trouble and is alone - the imp will approach. The imp will approach and actually offer help. It's a imp - it works for hell, it's here to corrupt people - it doesn't help the stranded character for free. All the character has to do is sign an innocent looking letter. There's no immediate game effect (other than, of course, the imp saving the character) but I can quite imagine the horror that some players will experience if they have to make that choice. I can also imagine some players I know being quite blas頡bout it to - and as an evil GM I'd relish the chance to make something of the contract. Alternatively, the GM can decide that any agreement between the character and the imp is meaningless. This, I'm sure, is a handy observation to have in print for anyone with a religious objection to the idea.

In summary then, Bloody Jack's Gold is entertaining on many levels! Some gaming groups will appreciate the tight tactics required to win through, get the gold and get out with it again. Some gaming groups will appreciate the nautical aspect of the adventure - a rare thing to find in the pre-written adventure collection. Some gaming groups will be able to go with the haunted treasure problem and turn this adventure in to another one. Similarly, lots of fun and future adventures can be launched from whatever mischief the imp manages to achieve. I think the whispered offers from the imp itself, especially in moments of crisis, will be the highlight of the adventure.

* This Bloody Jack's Gold review was first published at GameWyrd.