Dungeon Crawl Classics #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea by Harley Stroh is a role playing game supplement published by Goodman Games for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is an adventure for 0-level characters, or what is called a “funnel,” and was the first one, and first adventure, published for DCC.
The supplement is available as a 28-page PDF for $6.99 from DriveThruRPG and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one page is the front matter, around a third of a page is the Open Game License and one page is the ad.
One page, which would be inside the front cover, is player handouts for a couple of locations.
The Introduction explains that the adventures have no complex motivations and that this adventure is for 10-15 0-level characters, 7 or 8 of whom are actually expected to survive. It gives a brief overview of the adventure.
Background explains that chaos had champions called chaos lords and, of two brothers, one was killed when their keep was stormed by law and the other asked the gods of Chaos to let him reborn to lay waste to his foes again. That is what the characters are supposed to stop.
Rumors & Superstitions has a d10 table of rumours. There is an encounter table which lists each area, the type of encounter – combat, trap or hazard – and what is encountered. Player Start is some text to read to the players. The adventure itself has the characters getting into the ruined keep then making their way beneath it to stop the chaos lord from being reborn. There are maps of the two locations, above and below ground.
The Summoning Pits (Area H) is a location that wasn’t in the original adventure that adds a new area. This has a fairly powerful, albeit dangerous, sword, and has its own map.
Sailors Retrospective is an interview with the author in which he talks about the adventure, and the ways in which it doesn’t really work as a funnel; it’s too long and has too much treasure. Admittedly, this was the first funnel, so there wasn’t much to compare with. There are illustrations showing the influences of TSR, Inc adventures.
Dungeon Crawl Classics #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea in Review
The PDF is decently bookmarked with major and many minor sections linked, although one bookmark was noticed to be faulty. Navigation is decent. The text follows a two-column black and white format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of black and white illustrations, together with the full-page maps. Presentation is decent.
This is a deadly adventure, but it’s supposed to be. In DCC, 0-level characters are just starting out and determining what they are going to be; funnels are intended to kill half of these off, sometimes more. Should a player run out of characters prior to the end of the adventure, there is a location where they can potentially restock. There are a lot of different things to deal with, including one combat encounter that, in the author’s words, is actually a trap; the monster should be avoided as much as possible. The adventure is what it intends to be, an old-fashioned dungeon crawl, but one with a lot of content in it. There is really a surprising amount of content to the adventure, and that doesn’t even consider the bonus dungeon. Dungeon Crawl Classics #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea is an interesting starter adventure for DCC and it can be found by clicking here.
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