A Look at Admonition #4 in DCC RPG

What is "Admonition #4" in the DCC RPG? (page 314 in the PDF)

Fear no rule. I know you will homebrew this game: I trust it will remain recognizable but different from as I conceived it. Such is as it should be.

Just like OD&D and many of it's offspring, it is expected that the DCC RPG will be played in a manner that suits each individual group. Houseruling is to be expected.

I'm one mean houseruling mother f'er! I do it to every game I run. I can't help myself.

Last spring / summer's ACKS campaign? I houseruled the sucker. The ongoing AD&D / OSRIC game delving into Rappan Athuk? I houseruled the shit out of that.

I don't know how an experienced DM / Ref / Judge worth his salt doesn't tweak a given ruleset to suit his players. Mind you, houserules aren't there to make make the game easier for the players, they are there to make it a better play experience for all involved. Some may help them, some may hinder them but the play is the key.

I do, however, let my players know upfront the houserules that are in effect. No one likes the surprise houserule that screws over their plans. It's not fair to the players and itsnot fair to the campaign.

When you run a campaign, do you RAW (run as written) or do you houserule?

Received Two More Excellent Submissions for the "Unofficial OSR" Zine Today

I think I'll be printing out all of the current submissions this weekend just so I can physically hold them - and get an idea of how big the first issue of the Unofficial OSR zine is heading to be. We are getting submissions at a nice steady pace (two today) and they've all been "very good" or better. I'm humbled. I'll also be buying lots of beers it seems.

There is still nearly a month to submit (details on this post)- and we pay with "beer money" - no one is getting rich, but the least I can do is buy you a beer ;)

One thing the zine lacks is an actual header / title / whatever the f' you call the graphic that would be "Unofficial OSR". If you're good at that stuff, send your ideas to tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing. I'll pay more than a beer for the one we use. Heck, if we get a couple of decent submissions, I'll even put it up for a vote with prizes and shit.

In the meantime, a heartfelt thanks to all that have submitted or are thinking of doing so. It is your zine after all.

What is Your Favorite Non-D&D Old School RPG?

In my early days of roleplaying, I'd play just about anything. I did spend more time with two games than any other besides AD&D. Those games were MERP and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. So, if I were to ask the question based on what I played back in the day, those two would be my choices.

If you were to ask me today, based on what I find myself wanting to play, it would be Tunnels & Trolls - a game I refused to play back in the day.

Go figure ;)

So, which game or games would make your list?

Prepping For DCC and Beyond

So, I find myself prepping (reading an rereading rules and adventures) for my group's upcoming DCC RPG campaign. It's going to be a hell of a switch from the current AD&D / OSRIC venture into Rappan Athuk (and the previous ACKS campaign that saved us from a painful DnD Next playtest campaign).

As I dig deeper into DCC, I'm reminded that it is not nearly as complex as it appears at first glance. Sure, the book is friggin' huge, but that more due to the fact that every spell has it's own chart.

Here's a thought for a Kickstarter - laminated DCC RPG spell cards - one spell per sheet - it would be the ultimate DCC player material. Well, except for the fact that it would only really be useful for casters and Judges. Eh, good idea, no idea how to do it in a cost effective manner. Not sure how to do it on POD either.

Anyhow, I plan to kick things of with Sailors on the Starless Sea and then see where it leads. We have a group of 6 plus the GM, and over the summer we can probably hit at least 4+ for each session. One of my players actually has a DCC RPG adventure that he wrote and was published, so I'll need to be very well prepped to keep my GM cred at it's current level. ;)

Then when I get my Hardcover copy of The Razor Coast for Swords & Wizardy, I'll probably be itching to start a S&W campaign. So much gaming to want, so little time.

Sidetracked there for a bit.

I plan on using some variation of my proposed character stable idea. It still needs tweaking, so I shall tweak away. The idea of having an in game mechanic to swap out characters depending on player wants / party needs / PC death appeals to me. Playtesting it will see how it works in play as opposed to theory.

One idea I'm toying with is to give the players multiple rumors in between adventures about possible legends / locations / further adventure - not all would be level appropriate. Semi sandboxie if you will, as there is no detailed world to adventure in at the moment. Or I'll use one of the suggested Adventure Paths from the contest. I'll get feedback from my players to see how they want to run it, but I believe I have every published DCC RPG adventure (in PDF at least) so I have lots of options to choose from.

I do need to work up some random encounters / tables to possibly hit the party with before / after adventures as they travel - got to keep it real ;)

Mini Review -DCC # 67 - Sailors on the Starless Sea (DCC RPG Adventure Funnel)

I find it hard to believe I never reviewed Sailors on the Starless Sea - as apparently I did in May of 2012 - oops! heh

That being said, in the time since I've actually run some DCC RPG funnels (and 1st level adventures), so I'm going to take another stab at this from the POV of having actually run this stuff:

Sailors on the Starless Sea is probably the perfect "0-level Funnel" if you are looking to set the tone of your DCC RPG campaign at the Goodman Games default. Each of the publishers of DCC RPG adventures have a certain tone to their products, which is to be expected. Slightly dark, sometimes apparently hopeless and the odds are never in your favor, that is the tone of the Goodman Games adventures. (actually, I should do a post on the tone of the different adventure lines and how to tweak them to work together).

With the mindset of  "You turn to your companions and ready your meager weapons. The time for retribution has come" you know your PCs are going to be in the thick of it. Not because they are heroes, but because it needs to be done.

The use of the Beastmen in Sailors on the Starless Sea is pure DCC RPG. Strange and unknown (and no two looking exactly alike) it keeps the party from falling into the old OSR / OGL / Pathfinder routine of "seen this, done it before" and gaming the encounter with metagame information that works across editions. "No, you haven't seen this before." Actually, you probably won't see it again, as each DCC adventure from all of the publishers pretty much have monsters / adversaries unique to each adventure.

It's also a fine example of making loot unique, whether magic or non-magical. Sure, the DCC rulebook discusses this, but this adventure shows it in action.

It's also fucking lethal, as all good funnels should be and also supplies PC replacement opportunities if needed (as all funnels should).

I'll make sure to let +Harley Stroh know how it goes when I do.

Yep, I'll be running this soon ;)

From the blurb:

Since time immemorial you and your people have toiled in the shadow of the cyclopean ruins. Of mysterious origins and the source of many a superstition, they have always been considered a secret best left unknown by the folk of your hamlet.

But now something stirs beneath the crumbling blocks. Beastmen howl in the night and your fellow villagers are snatched from their beds. With no heroes to defend you, who will rise to stand against the encircling darkness? The secrets of Chaos are yours to unearth, but at what cost to sanity or soul?

An introductory adventure for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, Sailors on the Starless Sea pits a mob of 0-level adventurers against the legacy of the Chaos Lords and their corrupted hordes. Delving beneath the crumbling ruins, the characters discover ancient crypts, a starless sea, and an ancient ziggurat, where death and treasure await in equal measure!

Tavern Activity - Zine, Reviews and Assorted Plans for the Summer of 2013

As the recent heat wave in the North East reminded me, we are knee deep in summer. One always needs to make some summer plans.

The aim is to get the first issue of the Unofficial OSR zine out the first week of September. We have some excellent submissions this far (including a scenario for the original Chainmail rules) but there is always room for more. Remember, we pay in "beer money" ;)

I'd like to average a review a day, but now that I'm back from my week of vacation, it will probably slow to 3 or 4 a week if I'm lucky. I think Sailors of the Starless Sea will get reviewed tonight.

What I'd also like to do is a "DCC RPG Content Post" a day for the month of August (much like I did with Swords & Wizardry back in May) but getting the zine together may preclude me from hitting it daily. Maybe I'll aim for every other day. Crap, maybe I need to start working on that stuff now ;)

Oh, and tentative plans for a Swords & Wizardry Online Con / Gaming Event towards the end of September.

God bless my wife for being a good egg :)

Got Twelve Rats With My Reaper Bones, Still Looking For the Pile of Coppers

I finally got around to unpacking my Reaper Bones tonight. There literally is a crap-ton of minis.

I still need to cut apart the ones that are still one their sprue - bought the hobby knife last week while on vacation along with some brushes. I also need to glue together the bigger pieces.

Overall, I'm very happy. There are, however, a significant number of minis that are bent to the point they can't stand up. I've heard rumors of a 1 sec boiling water dip, bend into place and than ice water to lock, but I think I'll wait for others to work the kinks out of the process ;)

Some Thoughts on Kicking off the DCC RPG Campaign

(don't forget to enter the Summer 2013 DCC RPG Contest - Put Together a "DCC RPG Adventure Path" From Existing Published Adventures and you may win some awesome prize)

So, my group seems interested in playing some DCC later on this summer. Damn exciting.

I'm figuring we are looking at 5-6 players, so 3 0-Level characters a piece. I'm currently rereading Sailors on the Starless Sea, as I expect this will be the funnel we will use.

I'm going to go with 4d6 in order, keep the three highest dice. One stat swap (any two stats) or reroll of occupation (including a racial specific reroll for those that have their heart set on playing one of the demi-human races. I don't see the point of limiting the players choice too much).

They'll roll 4 characters and head forth with 3 (the last will be a replacement if needed).

Edit: Alternatively, they could roll 12 sets of scores in order and choose the 3 sets they want to use in the funnel (I'll see which method the players prefer)

I'm interested to see the entries for the DCC Adventure Path contest and how they suggest what order to run the adventures - I may just follow one of the paths set out ;)

Announcing the Summer 2013 DCC RPG Contest - Put Together a "DCC RPG Adventure Path" From Existing Published Adventures

Here's July's DCC RPG Contest:

Put together an "Adventure Path" using currently released adventures from Goodman Games and 3rd party DCC RPG publishers.

No need to buy anything or even read the DCC RPG rules (but you can read the DCC RPG Beta for flavor if needed). Read the hooks / blurbs / summaries on RPGNow / Goodman Games of the adventures (links to the publishers products are at the bottom of this post) and string 4 or more together in a "metaplot". You can mix and match publishers if you like. Actually, mixing and matching should be fun. Make it fun. Try to make sense (which means you will need to explain how one connects to the next - yes, make shit up ;)

The contest will be open for entries for 10 days - sometime on the evening of July 17, I'll close the contest to new entries. I will pick a top 5 list on July 18th. You enter by posting your adventure path (or link to it if you post it on your blog or website).

Blog readers will then vote on their favorite "DCC Adventure Path" (one random vote will get a $10 RPGNow GC from Tenkar's Tavern). Voting will close on the evening of July 25th, 2013. Votes will be cast as comments in the Voting Post.

Prizes:

The Top Pick gets print copies of In the Prison of the Squid Sorcerer (Mythic Bull Games), AL3 Through the Cotillion of Hours (Purple Duck Games), AN1 The Ruins of Ramat (Brave Halfling) and AN2 The Vile Worm (Brave Halfling)

The Runner Up gets print copies of AL3 Through the Cotillion of Hours (Purple Duck Games), AN1 The Ruins of Ramat (Brave Halfling) and AN2 The Vile Worm (Brave Halfling)

The Second Runner Up gets a PDF copy of In the Prison of the Squid Sorcerer (Mythic Bull Games)

There will be additional PDF prizes supplied by Purple Sorcerer (Lair of the Mist Men, Perils of the Sunken City, The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk and A Gathering of the Marked) and Purple Duck Games (The Falcate Idol and The Black Goat) to random participants.

Links to the publishers:

Goodman Games - Print / PDF

Purple Duck Games

Purple Sorcerer Games

Mythic Bull Games

Dragon Hoard's Publishing

Thick Skull Adventures

Brave Halfling 

Crawl!

(Prizes generously supplied by Purple Duck, Purple Sorcerer, Mythic Bull and myself)

Mini Review - Critters, Creatures & Denizens (DCC RPG "Monster Manual")

Somehow Critters, Creatures & Denizens slipped by my notice when it released back in March. I usually get a notice from RPGNow for new DCC RPG releases, but not this one.

Now, the DCC RPG is much like LotFP' Weird Fantasy, in that the assumption is that the big scary guys are unique, either by location (Flying Buggywuggies are only found in the Swamp of Armpit Pustules) or by solitary habits (The Ogre ate my momma! Which ogre? The Ogre silly!).

The approach taken by CC&D is twofold. New (or new twists on old) monsters for you to use as inspiration when designing you own adventures (including the odd patron) or for use when you need to drop something on the PCs unexpectedly.

The other thing CC&D gives you is a tool to make your own monsters. I will admit, this shit gets chart heavy and loses me with tables like the one below. The mutations table in the beginning is aces though.

KISS is usually my method. Still, there is more than enough inspiration from the stated out creatures to keep a DCC Judge in monsters for months. Just handwave most of the charts if you are like me. Unless of course, you are a chart monkey, in which case, you'll be in heaven ;)

Did I mention the boatload of +Scott Ackerman art? Holy shit, nearly worth the price of admission on it's own.

From the blurb:

A new book of monstrous surprises and new ideas for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roll Play Game. In its pages are:

-More than 120 Pre-generated DCC RPG compatible creature entries from the banal to the horrific with more than 400 variations for size and other subtypes.
-More than 7 templates that transform the stock creatures into zombies, skeletons, lycanthropes, and more…
-The guidelines and definitions needed to create your own creatures that will scale appropriately with the DCC RPG environment.
-Two tables with more than 30 mutations so you can create so many variations that your grand children will still be using this manual to create original combinations!

Optional rules for:

-Familiars, critters with class levels, and more…
-Overland and table top movement for those who love a safari…
-New sources for magic items…

Things you will not find in this work:

-Treasure tables. Most creatures don’t bother, and the ones who do are likely to be using what ever it is against the players. Besides, every Judge and Storyteller has their own ideas on appropriate treasure so why bother to codify things with tables?
-Threat ratings and encounter balancing architecture, because only you can know what your players can and cannot handle. Besides, the creatures of the wild don’t look for targets of equivalent strength. They hunt the weak, the sick, and the lame… aka: adventurers…

Mini Review - Beneath the Dome Part 1, Tombs of Green (C&C Serial Adventure)

Whenever I think of "serial publications" I remember TSR's horrible attempt to turn a single novel into multiple "novelettes". When I look at Beneath the Dome Part 1, Tombs of Green, I see another poor execution of the concept.

Why do I consider it a poor execution? I doubt there is enough in this first part to fill an evening of gaming or even most of an evening. There are 8 pages of "meat" in this offering - 6 for the adventure (8 rooms / encounter locations) 1 for the new creatures and 1 for new spells / map.

It feels incomplete, which is to be expected, as it is serialized. I'd expect the GM would run this when he has more of the product in hand, not just this small piece. Which is why the following piece of advice really struck me:

So, they should suddenly find them later on? I really hate when something is in an adventure but NOT in an adventure. Does this advice change with the release of the 2nd part of the series?

It's not a bad part of a dungeon, but it's expensive for the piece you get. $2.99 if you buy each part separately, or 10 bucks if your subscribe to all 4 parts at once.

From the blurb (the typos below belong to the Troll Lords):

Join James M. Ward in his latest foray into adventure gaming. Beneath the Dome is a serieal adventure. The first four episodes are laid out and being prepped for release.

The subsription includes four dungeon crawling adventures. They can be played separately or linked together for hours of game play.

Don't miss a book: SUBSCRIBE HERE (and save!)

“There is danger here. You should go back to your homes and guard your loved ones. I will try to keep death from your doors.”

Part 1: Tombs of Green launches the characters into the mountain deeps. Here they find the fallen have come back from the dead and seek companions on the lonley journey. Its a hard hitting, blood bathed, old school adventure, where luck and skill play equal parts.

Two new monsters, the andromodons and four new spells add to the night's fun as players push the envelope of adventure.

Thoughts on a "Character Stable or Tree" For the DCC RPG

So, we just finished the 2nd session of G1 run by +Joe D and it was a fucking blast. As we wrapped up for the night, we got to talking about the DCC RPG and the idea of playing a few sessions after we finish up with the current series.

Which got me brainstorming out loud with the group.

My previous thoughts on a higher level character funnel were addressing character replacement from a needlessly complicated direction.

Dark Sun, as originally presented in AD&D 2e, gave each player a "stable" of characters or a "character tree". When the active character leveled, the player could level another character in his stable and swap out characters between adventures. No inactive character could be raised in level higher than the active character. No trading between characters. Each player has four characters total at any one time - one activer and three in their "stable".

Doing a variation of this for the DCC RPG is pretty easy, especially as many groups default to some level or episodic play in their DCC campaigns. It allows replacement if the player's active character dies / goes missing for a year and a day / etc with a character the player has some investment in.

I would probably allow a player to form his character stable upon reaching 2nd level. Generate 3 sets of 4 0-level characters and choose one from each set to survive to level 1. The player will now have 1 2nd level and 3 1st level PCs.

Depending on the type of campaign, a player may choose to level two PCs in tandem and forget the other two for now, or the Judge may throw in some lower level adventure more appropriate to lower level characters in the stable as a change of pace and to allow the players to experiment with other classes.

I need to tweak this a bit, but I think it could fit in very well with the DCC RPG's theme and flavor.

Always open to ideas and thoughts on the matter...

Some Thoughts on The Tavern's Next DCC RPG Contest

I planned on announcing the next DCC RPG Contest / Giveaway tomorrow, but I need to see what I have to give away in print (from both the generosity of 3rd party publishers and some extra copies of Barve Halfling's Appendix N adventures I got during the Kickstarter) and see if I can get  some PDF copies to go along with the above. I was otherwise occupied on my vacation and failed  to do necessary "reaching out" ;)

Now, here's the theme of the contest I'm thinking off. I'm going to ask participants to put together their own "Adventure Path" using currently released adventures from Goodman Games and 3rd party publishers.

No need to buy anything or even read the DCC RPG rules (but you can read the DCC RPG Beta for flavor if needed). Read the hooks / blurbs / summaries on RPGNow of the adventures (I'll supply links to all that I know of) and string 4 or more together in a "metaplot". You can mix and match publishers if you like. Make it fun.

I'll pick 2 or 3 entrants to get print copies and I'll hopefully have some PDFs to go out to some random entrants.

This is NOT the contest announcement - that may take a few days yet. Consider this a head start to brainstorm for those that like such ;)

Reaper Bones in Hand - Holy Shit!

No pics yet, as I just came back from a few days in the Poconos and found my huge Reaper box when I returned this evening.

I was ready to bitch and complain that they left out the paints I ordered, but the 4 plain brown boxes held my 24 paints - sweet!

If I find the time I'll unpack everything and take some pics tomorrow. First step is to find some superglue so I can put together the gigantic minis that came with this. My wife already declared that I have enough minis to paint to last me for years and years, if not a lifetime. She is so right ;)

In the meantime - I have my 32 oz beer mug filled with Sam Adams Summer Ale - it's damn hot here in NYC!

Thoughts on a "Non-Zero Level Funnel" in DCC (and other Fantasy RPGs too)

One of the great things about the Zero Level Funnel adventures in the DCC RPG is that the act of winnowing down a players prospective PCs seems to invest the player in the survivors. It's something that at first glance I outright said I'd never run and in the end I think it is pure genius.

Last summer I ran Sailors on the Starless Sea as an ACKS adventure to weed out the losers of what were prospective PC henchmen. It worked exceedingly well.

In a game like DCC, with it's potentially high body count in each adventure, it got me thinking that a well written funnel for higher level PCs could be just as useful. Sure, it would play differently as the players would already have class abilities, but I think the idea is still valid.

Any thoughts on how one could make this work? ;)

Mini Review - A Gathering of the Marked (DCC RPG Adventure Funnel)

A Gathering of the Marked is Purple Sorcerer's latest release in it's line of DCC RPG adventures. If you aren't familiar with Purple Sorcerer's stuff, it's always high end with great production values and a little bit of whimsy to juxtapose the usual DCC RPG darkness.

This time around, +Jon Marr gives us a DCC 0 level funnel with ALL the trappings. I do mean ALL of the trappings. Paper minis (pages and pages), pregen characters, player visuals (perfect for use in Roll20 and other online VTTs) - lots of value for your gaming dollar.

What about the adventure itself? Like most of the Purple Sorcerer stuff, you're looking at at least 2 sessions of gameplay if not 3. My favorite scene is near the beginning - ask my players if I can spend a good part of the session talking like a pirate - then ask them if I even should ;)

As I said above, there is a share of dark and brooding, but the whimsical balances it out so well, it makes for a unique feel amongst the various DCC release lines.

There are some very unique magic items available for the players to discover. They are not overly powerful on the whole and add some excitement for the players when acquired.

How lethal is it? You can expect the party to get whittled down constantly, perhaps to the point they won't even realize their total loses. There are opportunities to replace lost party members and keep the funnel moving, but it is lethal.. It looks to be a lot of fun to run - or play in. Well done!

From the blurb:

Rich and poor, bond and free: every few months an unsuspecting few awake to find a ragged circle of midnight black scrawled on their foreheads; a dark summoning whispering on the edge of their consciousness. All who live in the shadow of the Great City know to ignore the call of the mark is to invite madness and a lingering and horrific death, so each will find his way to the sending stones, and the unspeakable peril that waits beyond.

Designed for 0-level adventurers, A Gathering of the Marked challenges a band of strangers to endure the mad games of a power who's motivations are as mysterious as its identity. Can the summoned survive to wrest control of their lives once more? Will they turn on those they struggle with, or band together to defeat a common enemy? Will they finally come face to face with the twisted power that has called them, and uncover its dark secrets? All will be revealed in A Gathering of the Marked!

Features of A Gathering of the Mark

-Horrifying fun compatible with the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG from Goodman Games (easily convertible to your favorite 'old school' system... and by easy, we mean easy easy!)
-Explore the cursed village of Haven's Fall, battling shambling horrors, freakishly nimble puppets, cow-devouring tentacles and more!
-Uncover the secrets of the Cult of Athax: foul minions of a Shadow Wizard with dark designs on not only the world, but you in particular!
-Packed with adventuring possibilities: twice the length of Perils of the Sunken City, with full color artwork throughout all 24 adventure pages + 24 additional appendix pages.
-Nearly 100 paper miniatures included for those who want to see the action unfold. (13 Free battlemaps available on the Purple Sorcerer Games website.)
-Virtually every image is included in easily printable format in the appendix making creating handouts a breeze!
-New: Comes with two streamlined tablet versions for both large and small tablets and mobile devices.

Mini Review - The Treacherous Cobtraps (DCC Adventure)

The Treacherous Cobtraps is a level 2 Appendix N Series DCC RPG adventure. The PDF version comes with both a DCC RPG stated adventure and a systemeless adventure for easy plugging into any other fantasy RPG.

So, what do you get for your $2.95?

A short adventure with nice atmosphere, but unless your party is a small one,  numbers alone will easily win the day. This is something you pull out when half the group can't make the session, because it will probably play out way too quickly and with little actual danger to the party with a full group.

It introduces two new magic items, one of which has further adventure potential.

The map is gorgeous. If there is one thing Brave Halfling is making a name for itself with is the maps accompanying the Appendix N series - they rival Goodman Games offerings at times, and that is a high target to match.

From the blurb:

The folk of the borderland shun the great strands of tamarack trees that lie at the southern edge of the stagnant marsh. Some tell of scuttling sounds and far-off cries that suddenly go silent. Others speak of ghostly-green, shifitng lights that bob and weave amongst the choked, tangled evergreens. Two nights ago in the halfling thorp of Brandy Hollow, a young shepherd boy and several sheep went missing. Leaders from Brandy Hollow approach the characters in desperation and offer them 100 gold coins each in exchange for cleasing the Taramack Weald of whatever evil must dwell therein.

Looking at the DCC RPG Review List - What's Been Covered, What Needs to Get Posted (with links even)

Lets see, what have we reviewed thus far during DCC RPG Week at The Tavern?

DCC # 69 - The Emerald Enchanter

DCC # 73 - Emirikol Was Framed!  - done!

DCC # 75 - The Sea Queen Escapes

DCC Free RPG Day 2012

A Gathering of the Marked (Purple Sorcerer) - done!

Tomb of Curses (Dragon Hoard) - done!

The Witch of Wydfield (Brave Halfling) - done!

The Treacherous Cobtraps (Brave Halfling) done!

and added these:

DCC # 76 - Colossus, Arise! - done!

The Falcate Idol - done!

The Black Goat - done!

Pulp Weird Encounters Issue #1 - Tomb of The Squonk & The Silent Army - done!

At least 5 reviews left with 2 1/2 days left of vacation. It might not be doable, but we'll come close to closing out this list ;)

Mini Review - Colossus, Arise! (DCC RPG Adventure)

Colossus, Arise! is an 8th level adventure for the DCC RPG. Let that sink in for a bit. 8th level. That's the approximate equivalent of 16th level in other OSR / OGL RPGs. And yes, it can easily bring your campaign to a crashing end, but at this point your campaign is at it's natural end or close to it - and oh my what an end it would be.

How dangerous is Colossus, Arise!? Here's how +Harley Stroh puts it:

I hope all of the PCs have henchmen, because the body count will be exceptionally high.

Actually, in the likely event that Colossus, Arise! causes the timely death of the PCs in your campaign, you probably ended things on such an epic level your players will be eager for next week's funnel. If you're going to kill the party, do it on a level where their failure destroys the world with them. In the unlikely even your players succeed, their triumph will be that much greater.

Who doesn't want to come face to face with a 300' undead titan? Alright, pretty much everybody - but if you can defeat it and save the world? Woot!

This is a bit of a thinking player's type of adventure, because when you think about it, the usual method of sword and spell is probably not the most effective manner to take down a 300' tall undead titan. I like  adventures that make you think. No worries, still plenty of other stuff to kill or be killed by.

Lots of handouts included in this one. Make copies and hand them out as souvenirs to the players that lose their PCs ;)

So, how long would it take to get the average group to level 8 playing DCC RPG once a month?

From the blurb:

Giants stalk the shifting sands as the lost city of Stylos awakens from its deathless slumber. The Fourth Age of Man is at hand! All that stands between the gigantic hordes of Stylos and their conquest of the world is your band of adventurers. Sinister traps, implacable foes, and the crushing tread of the dread Colossus all lurk within these pages, eager to test the courage and cunning of even the most accomplished adventurers.

LotFP's Better Than Any Man (Free RPG Day 2013) Available in PDF for PWYW

LotFP's amazing release for Free RPG Day 2013 Better Than Any Man is now available on RPGNow for the price of "Pay What You Want."

If you didn't get a copy of the print version last month, you owe it to yourself to get the PDF.

From the Blurb:

Better Than Any Man was LotFP's Free RPG Day 2013 release, and is presented here as a Pay What You Want item. If you want to pay $0.00 for it, no problem.

However, the layout for this PDF edition has been redone from scratch (the print version was 96 pages + cover) to take advantage of the electronic format. If you think this adds value (or if you think the adventure is just that cool to begin with), please do consider coming back and purchasing this PDF for as many dollars as you think it's worth.

Half of all income from PDF sales here go straight to the graphic designer who did all this work. The other half goes to the publisher/adventure author to invest in future releases.

A strong financial showing from this PDF will send the message that PDFs of this nature make a difference to you.

War is Hell

The Swedes are invading!
Sorcerers have taken Karlstadt with the aid of unearthly creatures!
In Würzburg, the Prince-Bishop schemes to retain control of his domain.

… and yet darker forces gather…

Thousands - perhaps tens of thousands - will die before the week is out. Can a group of luckless adventurers change the course of the events? Profit along the way? But what can they possibly do against those who consider themselves Better Than Any Man?

Better Than Any Man is a deluxe LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing adventure for character levels 1–4. Dungeoneering, wilderness adventuring, investigation, politics and negotiation, many new spells, magic items, and monsters—this one has it all!

LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing is the traditional horrific adventure RPG out of Finland that holds nothing back. It is part of the Old School Renaissance family of games, which makes this adventure broadly compatible with dozens of other old school systems.

If you can endure Better Than Any Man, look for other LotFP adventures and supplements right here on DriveThruRPG and RPGNow!