My Stewpot of Chaos

[jtsavage]

My daughter and her boyfriend wanted to play D&D and asked me to run something for them, so I took the opportunity to finally run a DCC campaign on the weekend of the game's 40th anniverary. I had a variety of setting elements and modules that I had planned to run "some day" and threw them all together over the course of a week. It's a rush job so maybe you folks can give me some ideas on how to develop it.

Possible spoilers for: Isle of the Unknown, Tower of the Stargazer, Village of Hommlet, People of the Pit.

The PCs started at 1st level, so no funnel. We have an elf, a nature cleric and a thief, and one more player might join the game.

The Isle of the Unknown is actually R'lyeh: The Early Days. Nyarlathotep is advisor to the king (ala Sauron on Numenor) and has convinced him to outlaw all religions but that of the One True God (guess who), whom he will try to summon into the world.

Calcidius, the old wizard from Tower of the Stargazer, had two artifacts that worked in conjunction with his telescope: the star crystal in the module, which beams the viewer to an alien world, and a missing crystal that opens a portal for the aliens, including Cthulhu, to beam to earth. Nyarlathotep is scouring the island for this crystal, which was stolen by the wizard's apprentice.

This apprentice is actually the party's elderly mentor and secretly a wizard himself. Now the apprentice is senile and remembers little except that the tower contains knowledge and treasure, and that Calcidius is probably dead by now (he's actually trapped in his own tower).

His patron, and the patron of Calcidius, is Ptah-Ungurath from the patron supplement Angels, Daemons and Beings In Between. He is described as "the Opener of the Way beyond space and time, where the titanic temples of tenebrous gods hold sway with strange piping and slow dances like the plod of time itself. Beyond even these, Ptah-Ungurath knows the way to the end of all things, the stinking graveyard of the universe, where worlds lie like putrid corpses and cities are no more than malodorous pustules on their decaying masses." Sounds like a perfect herald for Cthulhu.

The Village of Hommlet is the village near the pit from People of the Pit and the 10 year sacrifice will be due soon. The party mentor is having nightmares (patron taint) in which the robed pit people try to come and take him away. They appear as the party is attending the mentor's sick bed and are substantial enough to attack the party. Mentor sends them on a quest to the tower to keep them safe (ha!)

When they return I'll throw them into the events of People of the Pit, but I figure the tentacle creature is some Mythos being somehow beamed here by Calcidius.

That's the setup. Whether or not Cthulhu is summoned, and then whether or not he is imprisoned on the island, which is then sunk beneath the waves, is up to the party.

[Gansk]

I like it! Do you have Carcosa in case the party beams themselves to the alien world?

[jtsavage]

I like it! Do you have Carcosa in case the party beams themselves to the alien world?

Not yet but I'll probably pick it up. I really like what I've seen and heard about Lamentations of the Flame Princess products.

[cjoepar]

Sounds like you have done a great job of weaving the background story together for these modules. It all fits together quite nicely.

...
The PCs started at 1st level, so no funnel. We have an elf, a nature cleric and a thief, and one more player might join the game.
...

Next time try a funnel first. I think you and your players will be glad you did. But wow, only three characters. That seems like a huge challenge to me unless you are fudging the dice a little to keep them alive. Is that the case? I'm just interested in hearing about how you are keeping the encounters challenging but avoiding multiple tpk's, as I have enough trouble with parties of 4 or 5 characters, let alone 3!

[jtsavage]

Sounds like you have done a great job of weaving the background story together for these modules. It all fits together quite nicely.

Thanks!

...
The PCs started at 1st level, so no funnel. We have an elf, a nature cleric and a thief, and one more player might join the game.
...

Next time try a funnel first. I think you and your players will be glad you did. But wow, only three characters. That seems like a huge challenge to me unless you are fudging the dice a little to keep them alive. Is that the case? I'm just interested in hearing about how you are keeping the encounters challenging but avoiding multiple tpk's, as I have enough trouble with parties of 4 or 5 characters, let alone 3!

I actually ran the family through two funnels about a year or so ago. Three of them, each with 4 PCs, in both Sailors and Savage Kings. TPK each time, though to be fair 12 PCs is too low for Savage Kings and middle of the pack for Sailors. Also, I rolled insanely well each time and they did not. I figured I'd try it with 1st level PCs and if they still can't stay alive I'll run another funnel. I love this system enough to keep trying.

Right now I'm running them through Tower of the Stargazer which is heavy on traps/puzzles and light on combat. Once they get back to town with some coin I'll let them get a small army of hirelings.

[Skars]

I ran a similar campaign path and enjoyed placing pembrooktonshire on the Isle. The waystation was great for developing the network of tunnels beneath the surface and using the statues was perfect for identifying the "stations" from the surface. I plan to use Carcosa when level 3 and higher characters die and go to...Carcosa