Ruins of the Frog God (an homemade Demo for 0-level)

[Irishvince]

I will be running a bunch of demos of DCC Rpg for Free Rpg day. I know that there will be a free adventure and quickstart package but since it still not arrived at my FLGS, I decided to create a Sample 0-level/1-Level dungeon as a backup and if I have recurring players. I really loved the Patron section of the mainbook and inspiration hitted when I red about: Bobugbubilz. So here's the small premise of my dungeon:

For a couple weeks now, farm animals has been gone missing in the small town of Hommlet. In the morning the farmer wake up only to find a weird puddle of wet muck in the Pigs/Hens/Cows pen. People were growing weary that their was a mysterious livestock thief creeping around at night. That was until tonight, where the villagers were waken up by the desperate Screams of Rosy the young milkmaiden. Farmers and Shopkeepers got out of their houses only to see 8 Black humanoid creature running out of the village with 4 big human-sized squirmy bags. Grabbing pitchfork and torches, the Farmer quickly assembled an Angry mob and pursued the culprit into the forest...

The Players will create 3-5 0-level character which will be the angry mob. The dungeon will start once they reach the ruin of the old haunted (that's what people say) keep on the hill. As you will discover in the dungeon, the thieves are in fact Frogmen minions of Ebbonly Toadlicker an Acolyte of Bobugbubilz that was asked by is master to sacrifice 4 innocent kids in order to open a gate to Bobugbubilz planes and unleash forth a Frogapocalypse (well that's what he thinks he heard from the croaking whispers of the god.)

I need you feedback on this. Will you run this, did I miss something. I tried to stay true to the design theory of DCC Rpg.

P.s. The map is one of the wonderful maps from Dyson's website: http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/ I don't own any rights to it and it was used only because I'm a big fan of his work and because the layout inspired me.

You can find the file here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?ohulht8i6oxxfj4 (It's an open office document using the One-Page Dungeon Template)

[phg]

Very cool!

[GrayPumpkin]

Late in responding, but I like the set up. How did it go?

[Irishvince]

It went pretty well. we had 4 players and 4 surviving characters, so the funnel worked and was quite deadly (no encounter lasted more than 2-3 rounds). One character went to be named Strongarm Frogslayer and now brandish a Frogbane pitchfork. Since it was a 4 hours demo It felt kinda rush. The fact that there was a time constraint (rosy about to be sacrificed to the Frog God) didn't help. The problem with that is that the player felt they had to soldier on when they should have regrouped and go back to the village.

I would like if people would use it and give me feedback on it.

If you intend on using it, I would suggest you switch room Room 12 and 14 around. Making the Altar room closer to Ebonnly lab's for the big fight.

Give me some feedback on it.

[Raven_Crowking]

I don't think that having to soldier on is a problem, if having to soldier on makes sense within the context of the narrative.

Judge: "X will happen in Y time."
Player 1: "Really? I was hoping to go home and lick my wounds!"
Player 2: "And my gong farmer wanted to buy a slurpee!"



Of course, if they don't care that X happens, they can do whatever they like.

Running Sailors on the Starless Sea, for example, once the PCs have boarded the dragonship, there is no backing out. Once over the Misty Mountains, it is not so easy for Bilbo Baggins to merely return to Bag End.

Players may have become used to the "15-minute adventuring day", or a "three encounters then rest" mentality that is pervasive in some parts of the hobby. I, for one, am glad that this game doesn't pander to that, and I think you did right to have them soldier on or face the consequences of not soldiering on. Real tension in the game arises in the game when one has to choose between potential consequences, rather than simply play it safe.

[Irishvince]

I hear you Raven_Crowking. It just that it made me feel that DCC will shine even more in my soon to be played Megadungeon campaign (Some kind of wild mix of the Village of Hommlet, the Caves of Chaos, Cavern of Thracia, Rappan Athuk and either Barrowmaze,Stonehell or Dwimmermount once I get a hold of all of them). I guess it was just the feel of a «CON» game that threw me off. Two of the 4 players I had told me at the end that it not their style of play and the other 2 were going « High School girl crush» all over the game.

As an aside, I should have explained the Burning luck mechanism a little bit more, since one of the player that didn't like the game had a really creative approach but rolled like crap.


Also: the one-page dungeon style works like a charm with DCC and I realized it fits my DMing style perfectly.