Fantasy RPG modules for 1st/2nd Edition Advanced D&D (AD&D), B/X-BECMI D&D, Pathfinder, OSRIC, DCC, Swords & Wizardry, & OSR systems.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dgg-03/cloud-and-stone-a-dungeon-delve-adventure-duo

Thanks in no small part to the wonderful DCC RPG community, my first published adventure, The Hive Under Eisenstead, had a fully funded Kickstarter and is now live on DriveThruRPG!

Crawl through the ruins of an underground fortress ruled by a Psychic Wasp Queen who inhabits the corpse of dragon and commands his army of former thralls. Avoid (or make a deal with) the hoard of monsters that have been infected by the mind-control fungus. Sneak past the nigh-indestructible Blind Golem, and watch out for the rogue illusions. Make a blood pact with an elemental, if you dare (it's not really an elemental).

Key details:

• Designed for characters of 2nd to 4th level.
• Emphasis on interactivity, problem solving, and faction play.
• 84 keyed locations across four areas. 
• Four new monsters and several riffs on classic foes.
• Two rival adventuring parties.
• Several unique magic items and two new Magma Sorcery spells in DCC compatible formats.
• Five adventure hooks to tie player characters to NPCs immediately.
• 14 handouts, both digital and printer-friendly. 
• Player-ready maps and digital tokens for a virtual tabletop. 

It has been surreal seeing this come to life, thank you everyone here who participated in making it happen!

I'm following the Goodman Games 25th Anniversary Celebration on BackerKit. I am loving this homage and throwback to the early days of GG. I have many happy memories of the Dungeon Crawl Classics 3e adventures from the early 2000s.

One of my favourites from back in the day was DCC 24: Legend of the Ripper by Andrew Hind, with front cover art by Jeff Dee. It was one of the first adventures in an urban setting, featuring the streets around Miller's Court (where Mary Kelly, Jack the Ripper's final victim lived and died), the Ten Bells (an actual pub in Spitalfields that still exists today) and the sewers (with all their Victorian associations). I have always been fascinated by the mythology surrounding Jack the Ripper and I found the adventure very evocative.

So much so that I asked permission (graciously granted by Joseph Goodman) to write an extended mix of the adventure, fleshing out the few alleys of Legend into the complete city district of Spittle-Fields and a full urban horror investigation.

As this year is the 20th anniversary of Legend, I felt I had to do it justice by inviting Jeff Dee back to do a brand new cover. Jeff is famous for his TSR-era covers including Village of Hommlet, Tomb of Horrors, Slave Pits of the Undercity and Isle of Dread. He also did a number of early Dungeon Crawl Classics covers: The Volcano Caves (DCC 19), Talons of the Horned King (DCC 36), Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar (DCC 44), Saga of the Rat King and of course Legend of the Ripper. He also did some interior art for the DCC RPG Core Rulebook.

I interviewed Jeff about his memories of his work for Goodman Games back in 2024 (when I launched the Kickstarter for Return of the Ripper):

https://youtu.be/twSuFtrWIzo?si=YxU3g29J3WSuSlM7&t=132

The inside front cover of Legend was a fantastic illustration of these three miscreants by Stefan Poag:

I felt it was my duty to pay tribute, so I asked Stefan if he could create a new piece featuring the same three characters. Here they are, descending into the sewers, where the corrupted naïad Peg Powler lurks beneath the fœtid waters:

Jason Edwards, who did the back cover art for Legend, did an amazing job on the cartography for Return:

I set out to update and expand a beloved adventure from the Goodman Games classic era and I hope fans will find it a worthy homage. I hope Return of the Ripper can occupy its own little niche as part of the 25th Anniversary Celebrations.

On the fence about going to DungeonCon next year and with badges officially on sale I figure I need to make a decision. Anybody been before and if so what are your thoughts?

Like the post i made yesterday. I have brewed a swashbuckler (pirate themed) class for DCC. I have not done any balancing, but hey what is DCC without something being a little unbalanced.. Anyways here is the class sheet. (Oh yeah im also in the process of making a pirate inspired DCC if you are interested:))

Hit Points: Swashbucklers use a d10 to determine hit points at each level.

Crit Die: Swashbuckler start with d10

Fumble Die: Swashbuckler start with d12

Action Die: Swashbucklers use their action die on attack rolls, and all class related abilities and skills unless otherwise noted.

Rush Die: Swashbuckler start with d3

Luck: Swashbucklers add their current luck modifier to any taunt rolls

Moral compass: Swashbuckler are a fiddly type, taking bribes one day, but choosing saving others over money another. They sway from side to side of the moral compass. Swashbucklers all start drifting and typically stay there the rest of their lives.

Signature Weapons: Swashbucklers prefer bladed weapons over anything else. Swords, rapiers, cutlasses, sabers, knives, daggers and such. They love a good scrappin’ and will usually only resort to firearms as a backup.  

Starting Treasure: Swashbucklers start with 1d12 Gp.

Class Abilities:

Riposte:

Swashbucklers are quick on their feet and even quicker with their hands. Some abilities grant the swashbuckler the opportunity to gain a riposte. A riposte is a free, immediate attack, rolled as a regular attack plus the swashbuckler’s rush die. A riposte is made outside the initiative order, and it does not use the swashbuckler’s action. Roll the rush die once, it is then added to the attack roll, and if the riposte hits, the swashbuckler regains hit points equal to that roll, up to their maximum. Bonuses granted by the ability that triggered the riposte (such as Taunt) stack with the Rush Die. If a single attack would trigger more than one riposte, only one is made.

Taunt:

Swashbucklers are all cocky of sorts and natural slick talkers. They love to showboat and express how much better they are than their opponent. Swashbucklers can taunt a number of targets equal to CL or lower by insulting their mother, sister, clothing or simply inviting an enemy in for a challenge. Taunted targets swing wildly against the swashbuckler which may result in them opening up for a counterattack.

To taunt targets, the swashbuckler must first take an action where they make a taunt roll (1d20+ personality modifier+ CL) and jot down the result. Then targets each make a will save to resist the taunt where the DC is equal to the taunt roll. Then compare the enemy will save with the table below.

Critical Success: If the enemy rolls a natural 20 on their will save, they successfully ignore the temptation to attack but are still annoyed and get -1 to their next attack or spell check.

Success: If the enemy beats or matches the taunt roll with their will save, they successfully resist the temptation but are bewildered at the comment and lose focus, causing them to get -1d on their next attack or spell check.

Failure: If the enemy’s will save is lower than the taunt roll, they become enraged at the swashbuckler and must use their next action to swing wildly against the swashbuckler with -2d to hit. If the enemy misses, the swashbuckler immediately ripostes with a +2d to hit against the target.

Critical Failure: If the enemy rolls a natural 1 on their will save, they are dumbfounded and on their next action they must rush the swashbuckler, attacking with -3d to hit and if they miss, the swashbuckler immediately ripostes with a +2d+CL to hit and +1d+CL to damage against the target.

Note:  If an enemy must attack the swashbuckler but is out of reach, they must move as fast as they can towards the swashbuckler instead. And unless otherwise noted, a swashbuckler can taunt any creature as their trash talking abilities transcend even language.

Panache:

Swashbucklers aren’t just fighters, they are also performers at heart. Every daring dodge, carefully placed step and witty remark stokes their passion and confidence. Panache, or style points, are swagger made tangible. Something that builds the longer a swashbuckler plays on the edge and something they can cash in to create some of the most spectacular moments.

Panache is a pool of points that the swashbuckler earns during an encounter and may be spent on additional bonuses (All panache fades after an encounter ends). Swashbucklers gain a 1d3+CL amount of panache at the start of any combat encounter. Swashbucklers gain 1 panache by:

-          doing something extraordinarily risky, flashy or remarkable (At the judge’s discretion).

-          successfully landing a riposte.

-          rolling a critical hit.

-          using the ability saving the best for last.

-          Etc.

Panache may be spent in a manner of different ways and requires no action to spend. Swashbucklers are encouraged to flavor their panache and describe what sort of move they are doing, it makes it more fun for everyone at the table. Panache must be declared before a roll, not after unless otherwise noted. Panache can be spent on a 1:1 basis for the following:

-          Flourish: +1 modifier to any of their own rolls.

-          Sidestep: +1 to AC to any one attack targeting the swashbuckler. AC is only upped for the specific attack.

-          Graceful dash: +10’ move speed for 1 round.

-          Crowd pleaser: +1 to the number of enemies being able to be targeted for the next taunt ability use.

Swashbucklers also have access to flashier moves, but they take more panache, each move from the following list may be declared after a roll. 5 points of panache also may be spent on the following:

-          Well placed hit: Roll on the critical hit chart after an attack lands, even though the attack was not a critical hit. (Panache is not gained from this critical hit).

-          Slippery bastard: Halving any damage roll targeting the swashbuckler after damage is rolled (rounded down).

-          Let’s try that again: Reroll any die after the swashbuckler rolled and keep the new result.

-          Cheat death: Once per encounter, go to 1 hp after being reduced to 0 hp.

-          Dazzling feint: Automatically hit a missed attack, but it cannot be a critical hit.  

-          Turning the tide: Gain a riposte after an enemy lands a melee attack against the swashbuckler (this riposte does not grant panache).

Saving the best for last

Swashbucklers love a flashy entrance, but running up the stairs to swing from a rope into the middle of combat or gliding down a sail using a knife takes time. Once per combat, after initiative is rolled but before combat starts, a swashbuckler may use saving the best for last giving the enemies more time to attack. The swashbuckler may move down the initiative order past up to CL enemies, gaining 1 Panache per enemy passed. Allies passed grant no Panache and don’t count toward this limit. The swashbuckler keeps this position for the rest of the encounter.

Stances

Swashbucklers are experts at provocation and love to talk the talk and usually have the martial prowess to also walk the walk. Despite their cocky nature, they actually study in their free time and train in different fighting styles. A swashbuckler can enter different stances depending on what the situation needs, and changing a stance may be done for free once per round. Only one stance may be held at a time. Being in any stance other than En Garde costs a cumulative 1 panache per round a stance is held (the first round of a stance costs 1 panache, second costs 2, third cost 3 etc.) and the cumulative count is reset every time stance is changed to En Garde. A swashbuckler may only be in one stance at a time

En Garde: En Garde is the regular and default stance. En Garde does not cost any panache and resets the cumulative panache count. A swashbuckler does not gain any bonuses while in En Garde but does not suffer any downsides either. It is a well-balanced fighting stance for both offense and defense.

Parade: A swashbuckler may ready themselves for incoming attacks by holding their weapon low, inviting challenge. After a melee attack targeting the swashbuckler misses, the swashbuckler may parade by making a reflex save where the DC is equal to the enemy attack roll. Passing the DC means the swashbuckler ripostes, gaining a free immediate attack against the enemy that missed. Failing the DC means both that the parade stance was broken and that the swashbuckler accidentally threw themselves into the enemy attack, causing the missed enemy attack to hit.

Passata-Sotto: The swashbuckler readies themselves for incoming attacks. After an enemy rolls to hit the swashbuckler but before damage is dealt, the swashbuckler may try a dramatic, evasive maneuver where they drop their torso completely to the floor under an enemy's swing while extending their blade forward into a low lunge. The swashbuckler makes a reflex save where the DC is equal to the enemy attack roll. Passing the DC means the swashbuckler evaded the attack and ripostes, gaining a free immediate attack against the enemy that missed. Failing the DC means that the swashbuckler accidentally threw themselves hard against the enemy attack breaking the Passata-Sotto stance and the enemy attack hits and also rolls on the critical hit chart.

Stoccata: The swashbuckler abandons any defense, focusing only on offense by holding the tip of their weapon towards the enemy in an ominous, intimidating way. While in stoccata stance any melee attack, including ripostes, is made with a +1d to hit and +CL to damage. The tradeoff is that the swashbuckler suffers a -2 to AC. Additionally if the swashbuckler misses an attack, it gives the targeted enemy an opportunity to attack the swashbuckler. The enemy must first pass a reflex save DC equal to the swashbucklers missed attack. If the DC is passed, the enemy may make a free immediate attack roll outside initiative order and if the attack hits the swashbuckler, the stoccata stance is broken.

Im currently making a homebrew swashbuckler class and am having a bit of trouble designing the taunt ability. Currently the flavor text is this "Swashbucklers are all cocky of sorts and natural slick talkers. They love to showboat and express how much better they are than their opponent. Swashbucklers can taunt a CL amount of target by insulting their mother, sister or simply inviting an enemy in for a challenge. Taunted targets swing wildly against the swashbuckler which may result in them opening up for a counterattack." but it is functionality i am struggling with. Currently i have two ideas. Either "To taunt targets, the swashbuckler must first make a taunt roll (act die+ personality modifier+ CL+ luck) and jot down the result. Then targets each make a will save to resist the taunt by rolling a will save where the DC is equal to the taunt roll." and then make like crit succes, succes, fail, crit fail results but it feels a bit flat and static. the other idea is swashbuckler makes a contested personality roll vs target and then have two charts to see how enemy and swashbuckler attack is affected (like the picture) but it feels maybe a bit heavy and overengineered. Do you have any ideas to fix any of the ideas or an idea of your own? any constructve critism is encouraged to either the core concept of the ability or any of the ideas:)

Hi - I’m running Bride of the Black Manse in a couple of weeks and I want to make the bell ringing interludes as dramatic as possible. I was thinking of getting a physical bell - I’ve seen one on Amazon that’s a bit Gothic looking - but it might be a bit too ‘jangly’ and not have the right sound. Any suggestions? I’m open to samples/Spotify recommendations if anyone has any. Thanks!

3 wizard-type characters all have access to Find Familiar. The players asked if they can do a combined casting. I'm thinking through how that would shake out if I allow it.

If appropriate hoops are quested through and the ritual succeeds, what should result? Three independent familiars, three linked in some way, a single familiar bonded to the primary caster, or a single familiar bonded to all 3 of these jokers?

Wisdom of the crowd?

I have both the DCC and the MCC core rules. I know that the DCC book has a bunch of the tables at the end but the MCC book does not. I was going to print some out to put in my GM screen that I already have. Is this ok and if so would the charts at the end of the DCC book work for MCC as well? (fumble and crit tables for instance)

While I'm fulfilling one crowdfund, it's time to prepare for another. Introducing Machinae - a tome about magical constructs in DCC, Launching October 27th:
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/ed-stanek/machinae-constructs-in-dcc/

I really would like to run DCC in my own campaign world. Anyone have any experience with this? I’m thinking sandbox type. Could be a hexcrawl or pointcrawl. Or does anyone have a campaign world they really like to run for this game?

Found another contradiction in DCC again. Who would have guessed?

Results 26-29 and 30-31 of the Fire Resistance spell states that within a distance "All heat or fire damage is suppressed". The distance for 26-29 is 20' and the distance for 30-31 is 30'. However the main effect after this statement in both results says it only effects the caster and allies within 10'. Otherwise the only other difference between the spells is that the main effect for 26-29 collectively reduces 30 fire damage within the 10' per round where as the 30-31 collectively reduces 40 fire damage within the 10' per round.

Is this a typo? Should that 10' be the 20' or 30' previously stated in the results?

Check out this wild map I drew for Seekers Ov the Other Worlds! It was such a huge piece. I really am proud of it. I hope you enjoy climbing this sword as much as I enjoyed drawing it!

This is mostly some pondering, as I've ran a good amount of DCC, but campaigns usually fall apart for a multitude of reasons and my subpar GMing was a reason for a lot of these campaigns falling apart, but learning from one's mistakes is how one improves, so I've been thinking about how I would run DCC better if I ever decided to run it again.

Upon pondering, I've come to a bit of a question. Would choosing the patron for the party make things better? Let me explain why I think this might be the case.

A major issue that players have had in my games is feeling too restrictive. For a lot of people, DCC emulates styles of fantasy that aren't popular these days, so the game trying to emulate tropes of appendix N doesn't translate well for most players these days. The idea of a wizard being bound to a patron doesn't fit in with what most people these days expect from a wizard.

After I explain the idea that wizards can and should be bound to a patron, they get the hang of it soon enough, but something interesting ends up happening. Players get really into the choice of their patron and end up theming their character around their patron. If a player chooses Bobugbubilz as their patron, then they'll naturally end up theming their character around this whole swamp aesthetic.

This can be fun, but what I have observed is that players end up being limited by the strict options of which patrons you can have, as well as how out-of-your-control the patron system is. You might want to play as a Three Fates wizard, but then you don't get the Patron Bond spell, which you need to make this concept work, then if you want the cool Three Fates spells, you have to get lucky and hope to get those upon leveling.

You might say that a player would be foolish to come up with a character concept around a patron, when that's not what the old-school vibe is all about and I might agree but this is just how most players internalize the aesthetic of wizards in DCC. They see them as basically being warlocks from 5e, but if you try to play them like that, it just ends up feeling very finnicky. The text of the game tell you "wizards are basically different clerics" while the randomize elements of the game are fighting you, telling you "no, you don't come in with a character concept. You might not ever even get Patron Bond"

This is all to identify the problem I've noticed. With this, here's how I aim to fix this problem.

Choose the patron for the party and build the basic concept of the campaign around this patron. The patron isn't like a deity for the wizard(s) of the party to confer with, they're an ally to the entire party, to be to the player characters what Gandalf is to Bilbo Baggins. This makes the bond between clerics and their deity different from wizards and their patrons. A wizard's patron is the being whom the entire party does quests for sometimes, they just so happen to offer some arcane aid.

What this also does is de-emphasize the patron to wizards. It lets players see wizards as endless potential, rather than being different clerics who are devout to their patrons. I don't like to be the GM who removes options from players, but I weirdly think most players would gain more from this being removed. It makes the relationship between the wizard and the patron much clearer, specifically in the sense that their patron doesn't define them as a wizard.

I'm curious what you all think about this. I can understand if this isn't an issue ya'll have at your tables. This is just something I've noticed running this game for lots of different groups and noticing similar issues. What I'm trying to do is find ways to run OSR games in ways that feel less restrictive to modern players, sorta meeting them halfway.

I am going to be starting up a big hex crawl campaign when my 5e one finishes (in the style of the multi party shared world games of AD&D) and am doing a bit of system shopping. DCC caught my eye because of its colourful tables and spellcasting but the gonzo and sword and sorcery stuff is not quite what I’m looking for.

As such, I was hoping to get a feel for how well DCC would work for a more traditional fantasy campaign and especially these three points:

- How necessary are character funnels and can they be safely removed?

- How much of the game is lost if you’re running a more trad fantasy setting without too much sci fi and pulpy elements?

- How well does the system handle more social adventures and non-combat/non-dungeon crawling activities?

- How easy is it to convert modules from ad&d, Od&d and OSR systems?

- Lastly, would it be worth all the hassle or would it be best to stick to 2e AD&D?

Hey,
Novice judge here reading about the creation of magic scrolls, and I'm curious about everyone's interpretation of the text.

1. Page 354 and 373 says clerics and wizards can both use Write Magic, but the spell doesn't appear on the cleric list. Is this a typo? Or am I reading it incorrectly?

2. Write Magic allows for multiple spells to be written to a single scroll("the caster can transcribe one level 5 spell or six spells of levels 1, 2, 3, or 4. Additionally the caster can transcribe the scroll..."). When the scroll is read, are these spells occurring simultaneously(with separate spell checks or a single check?)? Or is it giving the scroll "charges" that can be used once per spell?

3. How are your players using this spell at the table? Wizards writing scrolls for clerics and elves to use? Spellburning to allow for non-magic classes to cast high-level spells?

Thanks!

There are a few spells like this that omit info. Charm person has for every spell check result the effect stating the target cannot self harm except for 32+. Is 32+ supposed to be interpreted as you now dominate the people rather than charm? Or is the self harm aspect supposed to be implied and just left out to save room?

And we come to an end....or at least a few of them do :p

If you have followed the previous 2 episodes that's the funnel finale for you

https://youtu.be/pThPyaWkMrs

It seems to me like most people run the funnel and then they stop playing DCC. I've been playing a DCC campaign now for a couple of months with my friends. Where they're just getting to first level now. Who else here has some long running campaigns going? What's your experience like?

A couple weeks ago I made a post about hacking DCC and Marvel FASERIP, and got some great feedback, thanks so much to everyone who responded! I'm coming back with a new question for you all.

How important do you think alignment (Law, Neutrality, Chaos) is for a superhero game set in modern times? I feel as though its a mechanic that is very versatile for DCC, but not sure if it is still plausible in a modern game. It seems much more rooted in Appendix N style Sword & Sorcery stories, but I'm not opposed to including it in my super-hero game, just looking for some thoughts

Hey, if i cast transfer vitality i loose stats. Can i restore them with restore vitality?