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Message: <blockquote data-quote="demiurge1138" data-source="post: 4696620" data-attributes="member: 7451">DCC #44: Dreaming Caverns of the DuergarAn adventure for 1st-3rd level characters.The PCs are travelling through the Underdark towards the dwarf-hold of Ul Yazhmotk when a nasty earthquake results in a cave in. Trapped on either side, the only way to go is through a passage opened in the rumble. This isn’t a pleasant short-cut, though—if it was, there wouldn’t be an adventure. These caverns are inhabited by a tenuous alliance between duergar and derro, with the unified mission of destroying Ul Yazhmotk. They’re led by cultists of the ascended dragon-god Xhitigal and the descendant of one of his greatest worshipers, the half-dragon Ithamos Cyvorak. Unfortunately for the duergar, Cyvorak is a charlatan with the intent of stealing his ancestor’s treasures and looting the dwarf city during the raid, making off with the treasure before the cultists figure it out. The duergar were conducting large-scale tunneling operations, but they’ve been postponed by the cave-ins blocking their tunnels and isolating a large amount of their force.The PCs, in addition to fighting duergar and derro, will pass through a sunless garden tended by vegepygmies and perhaps find the great treasure of the original Cyvorak. And, hopefully, they’ll be able to find their way out of the caverns and to their original destination.What I liked: Oh, the maps! This is what a dungeon should look like! Multiple routes, branching passageways and plenty of options for player choice are all on display here. I’m also quite fond of the old friends making an appearance here. The Tome of Horrors is again drawn on as a monster resource, and players of Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar will be treated to vegepygmies, a yellow musk creeper and an executioner’s hood.The enemy NPCs also have a lot of personality. The derro are all suitably crazy, leaving scribbled notes, singing madly, and spending the time by shooting at each other with poisoned crossbow bolts. There’s an encounter with a fast-talking garrulous xorn, a sarcastic drow prisoner, and Ithamos Cyvorak is vastly overconfident in his martial abilities (being half dragon will do that to you).There are also a few shout-outs to other Dungeon Crawl Classics modules, which I really appreciated. The cave-in is caused by the activity at the newly active Mount Rolnith (Volcano Caves reference!), and the vault of C’bogyg Cyvorak was looted by adventurers seeking money to fund their expedition to exterminate the wicked Srihoz.What I disliked: The listed tactics of the majority of the combatants are not very good. It’s mentioned in a sidebar that the duergar will usually enlarge before entering melee (and we’re given a statblock for an enlarged duergar warrior, which I appreciate), but they’re never listed as doing so in the text. They never use invisibility either, even when setting ambushes, and the derro never use any of their myriad spell-like abilities. The clerics are just treated like fighters, charging into melee without casting any spells, and their listed spells are all pretty terrible besides (you’d think that if they were to charge into melee, they’d at least cast buffs on themselves first). There’s an encounter that highly amused me, where the vegepygmies stab at people who’ve fallen into a twenty foot deep pit… with ten foot long spears. Perhaps these are rare mold men with extens-o-matic arms?The vegepygmies also mystify and frustrate me. Why do they tolerate the presence of warlike duergar? Why do individual encounters vacillate between them being skittish and avoiding confrontation and them being violent warriors? Do they tend the yellow musk creeper, or avoid it? And why, to change the subject a bit, are all of the Hide and Move Silently checks in the adventure not actually opposed checks? Why are they made at flat DCs?Was it worth the $2? I really wanted to like Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar, but in the end, I’m forced to admit my ambivalence towards it. If you’re looking for real First Edition Feel, you’ll find it here, but the tactics on display are bad enough that you’ll probably want to rewrite most of them.</blockquote>

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