[Known Realms] Map of the Northlands for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Back in early 2018 I started working on a campaign for the Known Realms of Aereth, the campaign setting for the original 3E Dungeon Crawl Classics line. Being me, of course, the first thing I had to do was set up a Hexographer map of the Northlands; nine maps, each hex 25 miles across, covering pretty much the entire Northlands except for the northernmost wastelands and Punjar (which really is part of the Lostlands, anyway).

 

As is normal with my life, other things got in the way of completion, and I moved on to other campaigns. However, the maps have still been sitting there, not complete but mostly complete, and now and again I've been thinking of them and what I can do with them.

 

Would anyone be interested in seeing these maps completed? Along with a Wilderlands-style run-down of major cities, towns, castles, citadels, ruins, islands, and lairs? Each of the nine maps would be sold separately with a gazetteer (under license from Goodman Games, of course).

 

Below is a small, stitched-together version of the first draft of the nine maps. Each of the nine has since been worked over more, with more details and corrections between the stitching areas, so this is merely a rough draft.

 

Click here to get a larger version from of my Google Drive.

 

Let me know what you think...

Click to embiggen

[DCC] The Portal Under the Stars One-Shot

I missed Free RPG Day due to other commitments, but got to run a two-player Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel on Monday night. I ran the party through the classic The Portal Under the Stars adventure.

 

Spoilers ahead for that adventure...

Mortuorum Cibum

 

Player: Adam
Ryan the Fortune Teller
Paul the Cheesemaker (“Blessed are the Cheesemakers”)
Seth the Mummer
Zack the Smuggler

 

Player: Alex
Brian the Linkboy
Richard the Cultist
Harry the Gongfarmer
Thomas the Hunter

 

We used the Alternate Occupations supplement from IDD.

 

Modus Mortis

 

Ryan the Fortuneteller used his Tarot Deck to gain advice on how to proceed once they discovered the locked door in room 1. He rolled a Nat 20, so he got the advice to “Wait,” and so they did and entered the dungeon without incident.

 

Brian the Linkboy got a gut-shot with a spear in room #2.

 

Seth the Mummer got blasted by fire in room #3.

 

Richard the Cultist was crushed by a falling statue in room #3.

 

Ryan the Fortune Teller and Paul the Cheesemaker burned to death in the conflagration that followed the toppling of the statue in room #3.

 

Zack the Smuggler was bitten to death in room #4.

 

Harry and Thomas actually killed the beast in #4 and fled the dungeon with the demon horn and 4 XP each.

 

Though there was a solid death count, everyone had fun! I need to run DCC more often…

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Review

So at Gen Con I picked up a copy of the new, 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook.

I hadn't really followed much of the brouhaha over the new edition, nor had I play-tested it; while I had downloaded the free starter set information, I hadn't even read it yet. But, it was the new edition of D&D, so I had to give it a try. Heck, I even gave 4th Edition a try... howsoever brief. So why not, too, 5th Edition?

Here's the short of what I think: 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is a lovely home-brewed, house-ruled version of the Castles & Crusades system and the ideals of Labyrinth Lord with a dash of Dungeon Crawl Classics and HackMaster 4th Edition for flavor.

The long of it: Based on the PHB, this is probably a game I would play. Heck, if the MM and DMG live up to what I've seen in the PHB, I might even want to run a 5th Edition game. I would have never said that about 4th Edition, and after running a fair bit of 3rd Edition, I gave up on that, too.

But this game really tickles my fancy. And by my fancy, I mean my desire for a nice, simple system. And the new edition honestly delivers. It basically strips the d20 System down, much like Castles & Crusades does, and rebuilds the system using the ideals of the original and early editions... again, much like Castles & Crusades does. It makes certain different assumptions on making the numbers work, but it really feels like a Castles & Crusades variant.

So while I won't be changing my core, go-to game systems... Castles & Crusades and Labyrinth Lord... I will definitely be adding 5th Edition to my repertoire of playable games.

A few specific notes, good and bad, some to chew on, others just to remark upon:

I really, really, REALLY like the way they do spell memorization and spell slots. I'm going to have to steal that system for my house-rules for both C&C and LL.

The halfling art in the book is ridiculous... horrendous, even, in some spots. Otherwise, the art is quite nice. Very medievalesque, yet very inclusive and diverse. Really, better art than any they've had since 2nd Edition.

Oddly, there is no one place where the skills Open Locks and Find/Remove Traps are defined, systematically. You kind of have to piece together bits from the descriptions of Thieves Tools and Dexterity Ability Checks. Would have thought there would have been something definitive in the Rogue description, but no... I guess that is all for the DMG.

There are three Arcane spell-casters, the Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard, each doing magic slightly differently. I could see having maybe one, maybe two in a single campaign, but three... I dunno. Seems a bit heavy. And then, too, you have the Eldritch Knight and the Arcane Trickster Archetypes/Demi-classes (shadows of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea), so really there are five arcane spell-casting classes...

Grappling is nice and simple, as is Two Weapon Wielding. These I like.

Feats are optional, seriously optional, and I think work much better than they did in 3rd Edition. I also like the Backgrounds. One minor note, that I know is going to be a complaint from some players, is moving Charge from a combat option to a feat... I think that will be house-ruled in my games, considering how charge-happy my players are...

And then there is Healing. Using Hit Dice for Healing in Short Rests, recovering all HP and all HD during a Long Rest... that is likely to change. Maybe requiring a Full Day Rest to recover a used HD. Though really, you know, using the rules as written would just make the game go that much faster, with less down-time going back to town to rest and relax. We shall see...

Some of the spells are nerfed, others go way up in power. I think it balances out to make arcane spell-casters more useful in general, especially when combined with the new memorization and spell-slot system. I've usually given wizards a "mage-bolt" power as it was, so it fits in with my way of gaming pretty well.

Essentially, as I went through the book, my thoughts went more often to "ooh, I can use this/steal this" rather than "this makes no sense," as it did often when reading the 4th Edition books.

So the upshot is, 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is a game I would like to play... maybe even run. I can't really give it a better recommendation than that...