Goodman Games

We are in the middle of our current campaign, and I need to start the initial planning for the next. With many level 1-20, and 1-mid teens, campaigns to choose from in my library, I am looking for help on deciding what to run next.

I like to give my players at least some choice in the campaign, and also clues on what would be a good party mix. Therefore I am trying to develop a paragraph or so on each of the campaigns and what would be a good party mix for six PCs.

Without giving away the story line, does someone have such a paragraph and what classes might be best for Castle Whiterock (DCC #51)?

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As some background: The previous campaign was "Shackled City Adventure Path". The current is running thru many of the GameMastery modules, with a Dungeon magazine adventure thrown in to fill in level "gaps".

Here are the PCs for the previous and current campaign. As you can see they tend to follow a pattern.

PCs for Shackled City:
Fighter (archer)
Fighter/Beserker (Dwarven *tank*)
Cleric (undead killer)
Rogue
Wizard/Cleric/Mystic Thurge
Monk

PCs for current:
Fighter (archer)
Ranger/Barbarian/Fighter (dual longsword wielding death machine)
Cleric
Rogue
Wizard(evoker)
Animal Friend (Druid w/o wildshape, but lots of animals) (diplomat)

-- david
Papa-DRB

Papa-DRB...I somehow missed this post entirely...

Without giving away the story line, does someone have such a paragraph and what classes might be best for Castle Whiterock (DCC #51)?

CW is very much a "food groups" dungeon...I'll give you more than a paragraph, though...

Rogues: there are lots of traps and even more secret doors, so rogues are must-have. Some of the hidden areas really require arcane skill to access rather than a rogue's tech. There are a fair number of undead, constructs, and other non-sneak-attack-able foes, but on the other hand one of the hidden levels is all-rogue, all the time.

Clerics: Undead are sprinkled about, and healing is always a must, so cleric is a no-brainer, particularly a good cleric because of some things around the middle of the dungeon. Also, don't expect to summon good-aligned outsiders to your cause...it don't work in CW.

Bards: A bardic knowledge-like ability (or spells that do the same) will probably be invaluable because CW is a living history...knowing what has gone before might help you make better decisions. For a dungeon crawl, there are more than a few situations when Diplomacy could potentially come into play.

Sorcerers and Wizards: We seeded the entire dungeon with spellbooks, so wizards have got plenty of opportunity to learn new spells. Utility spells will go a long way in CW, so I'd choose wizard over sorcerer. As above, good-aligned outsiders don't answer your calls in CW...see if you can figure out why.

Monks and Rangers: tracking is less-important, but ranged combat across open areas comes up more than you might think. I would be hard-pressed to think of an appropriate favored enemy, though...there's plenty of everything in this adventure. Monks will find their skill set put to the test again and again, but there's no immediate must-have situation where you need a monk.

Druids: ah, my least-favorite class...nonetheless there's an entire level where druid-ery reigns.

Barbarians, Paladins, and Fighters: paladins get some love in the middle of the module if you find it, so there's that...and there's plenty oh-yes plenty of evil to kill, so definitely take one or two of these guys...just remember that the sword is not always the best answer to a situation

Hope this helps...

Castle Whiterock is a classic dungeon crawl, and the core races and classes in D&D are founded on this concept. Thus any of the core classes should see a good workout throughout the course of the module.

From your list, the only one I'd be a little concerned about is the animal friend. While druids can be VERY powerful if played right, The druid might have a tough time getting his animals down into the dungeon, unless they're all hawks or something. As a DM, I'd probably require you to push to get them to fight some creatures (e.g., stinky trogs), and other creatures (e.g., certain undead) they won't go near, no matter what. But if they can take this in stride, and overcome the logistics of getting the animals in there, the druid should be okay, especially on that druid-friendly sublevel and in the great cavern.

Papa-DRB, maybe this logo could help convince your players to consider going to Castle Whiterock?



(Yes, Jengenritz, I recently came across this again from our original DCC #51 design discussions. It just needed to be seen.)

Sweet! I've still got my copy in my Cool Stuff folder.