My DCC Campaign Snippets

I’m running a new DCC campaign for my otherwise crunchy obsessed players (who love Pathfinder, 2d20 and similar systems). To my delight, DCC got its magic running and half of the group is in love with its simplicity and randomness – it’s hard to schedule “heavier” campaigns, so DCC has been a great change of pace to them (I have no idea why the other half of the table is still attending!).

I’m trying to keep the game light, so one player that can’t come this week can attend the next without problems. We’re playing late at night every 15 days and each session is about 2-3 hours most.

To properly “kickstart” the game and hook them in the DCC mood, I’m sending small snippets of setting through our Whatsapp gaming group at every few days.

The idea is to suggest a certain style and flavor, not really to detail a full setting.

As our first adventure, I used the Core Rulebook’s “The Portal Under the Stars”. Here are the short texts that I sent them a few days before the game (usually one or two snippets per day):

# 1 "The quiet village of Skaeth is known in the Duchy precisely because of its exceptional mediocrity – which can, perhaps, be attributed to the fact that Skaeth is the only known gerontocracy. The ruling Council of Elders makes sure that tradition and routine are the only gods in the Skaeth. Of course, all members of the Council are from outside the village. Some came from Oldgrind, others from Steps and – it’s whispered – some from the Sinking Port of Damus itself (after all, even the legendary Thieves' Guild needs a peaceful place to retire the greatest rogues of the North). Apart from that completely irrelevant fact, bucolic Skaeth is also known for two landmarks: the King's Eye ruins in the swamps and The Mountain (about which nothing must be said).

# 2 "Wizards are servants of Chaos, elven lovers, demon consorts and thieves who steal the Gods’ secrets (like that legendary devil, Ningauble.) All wizards are crazy – every single one of them! Take for example the infamous Emerald Sorcerer, who is reputed to abide in that loathsome House in the Old Road. You can identify a wizard by the third nipple they hide below their dirty cloaks (although some wizards have a tail instead of a third nipple). Know that wearing your clothes inside-out will protect you from a magician's cantraps. However, only iron truly works against sorcery. An iron stake driven through the left hand is the only method of permanently removing a wizard’s (or elf’s) magic. And finally, remember: always be educated to a magician and invite him in your house for tea or cake. If the invitation is accepted, he won’t be able to curse you. "

# 3 "The King’s Eye is a tall circle of menhirs, surrounded by swamps, in the hinterlands north of Skaeth. Local folklore tells that in the old days the Eye rested in the center of an island. The leprous-sages of Pyj teach that the menhir circle was built in the middle of the fabled Lake of Tears – but today the entire region is made of bogs and marshes. A few doomsayers believe that when the swamps finally drain into the Underworld, the stone seal of Eye will shatter, releasing the dead. However, the leprous-sages argue that circle got its names from the King of Elfland, that feared demon which is said to rule the Shores of Twilight, beyond the Dominion the Men. The Dwarf of Oldgrind spins a different tale: he calls the menhirs “Rhud'baruk” or “The Portal Under The Stars, saying that it belongs to the Swampfolk. Everyone in Skaeth and the Duchy knows the Swampfolk for their strange and alien ways (just look at their moss-colored skin, weird eyes and outlandish tongue!). Besides, Swampfolk are famous liars and fortune-tellers, with absurd anecdotes about a Dark Road and the Antipodean Lands (their homeland). Nobody in their right minds trust the Swampfolk. And few yet trust the Dwarf of Oldgrind, that ancient rascal.

# 4 "And finally we have The Mountain (about which nothing must be said). So, let’s not speak of it, or of its statues, nor of its tombs. And don’t even think about of the countless ravines, crevices and lone escarpments – all filled with graves."

Snippet #4 is an obvious hook for a certain adventure, which unfortunately the table has so far evaded.

I’ll translate the next snippets later. Hope you like them!