Dungeon Crawl Classics #76: Colossus, Arise! 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 level 8 characters.
The supplement is available as a 32-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $6.99. It 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, half a page is the Open Game License and one page is an ad.
The Introduction explains that there is a lost temple-city in the sands, home to the final Atlantean tribes or Ur-Lirea, and that it has recently stirred. This adventure is said to take characters back to the start of their careers, where life and death hangs on clever decisions and throws of the die.
The Curse of Cadixtat explains that the adventure draws on many genuine occult sources.
Adventure Background gives details on the Four Ages of Man. The current is the Third Age and with each Age Man has diminished. The Fourth Age may be nigh. Which would be bad.
Judge’s Note explains that several areas are a dire challenge and that the adventure itself, which could result in a 300′ tall undead chaos titan rampaging across the landscape, has the potential to reshape entire campaign worlds.
Adventure Hooks explains that 8th level characters – and that is extremely high for DCC – are without peer and may rule their own lands. There are several hooks to get them involved.
Player Start explains that the adventure is nominally set in the Ghetrian Desert to the south and east of Punjar.
Level One: The Temple-City of Stylos has an encounter table for the ruins, followed by detailed locations. One of which is a large camp of dangerous individuals, and an outright attack on this camp is described as being an excellent excuse to roll up new 0-level characters.
Level Two: In the House of Cadixtat is where the titan was buried, and if anything is even more dangerous than the previous area.
Conclusion has the aforesaid undead chaos titan awakening – well, sort of; it lacks a head to awake – and going on a rampage. Killing it in normal combat isn’t going to happen, but there are ways of accomplishing this.
Appendix A: New Magic Items has some new, powerful and often dangerous to use items, some of which can also help defeat the titan.
Appendix B: Desert Encounters explains that there is little in the desert to challenge characters that wouldn’t involve an entire adventure, but a d7 table is provided to help establish the backstory.
Dungeon Crawl Classics #76: Colossus, Arise! in Review
The PDF is bookmarked but only the major sections are linked. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a two-column black and white format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a lot of custom black and white illustrations, up to full page in size and including handouts and maps. Presentation is very good.
Level 8 is very high for DCC characters, though it might not seem that way to those more familiar with other systems, and characters of this level are likely both powerful and influential. And this adventure is utterly lethal, even to such characters. There are many, many ways characters can die if they mess with the wrong things, annoy the wrong being or simply wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like beneath the foot of a 300′ tall titan.
Players with characters of this level might be a little overconfident in their abilities. Such overconfidence will be punished. This isn’t a grim and gritty adventure, though; it seems to hail more back to the sword & sorcery roots of the early games. Dungeon Crawl Classics #76: Colossus, Arise! is a different and interesting adventure and it can be found by clicking here.
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