Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below by Jobe Bittman 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 1 characters.
The supplement is available as a 36-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $6.99 but 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, two are ads and about a third of a page is the Open Game License.
The Introduction explains that the adventure is intended for 6-8 characters and needs to have a well-rounded set of abilities. A sidebar states that this adventure won the Mystery Map Adventure Design Competition for the map in the Free RPG Day 2012 module
The History states that there were elder gods before the present gods and that one of these is Shigazilnizthrub.
Adventure Background has some hooks available for the characters, and a reference to Punjar. The Judge’s Notes explain that the most important part of the adventure is the Curse of the Emerald Eye; characters affected fall into slumber whilst their eyes travel away from their bodies. Removing and running the curse is covered. Having at least one character affected is important to the adventure, and the players of affected characters can only communicate with their eyes.
Next is a random encounters table.
Adventure Start has the characters arrive at its location. The temple has four different areas and can not be described as being anything less than deadly, though characters may also come away with rather a lot of treasure.
The Aftermath wraps things up and a sidebar explains how the end boss’s power was changed during playtesting and gives the result of one party’s final encounter. There are two pages of handouts and a bonus encounter.
Shigazilnizthrub gives the details of this deity as a patron.
Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, given its length and number of sections, really could have used them. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a two-column black and white format and appeared to be nearly free of errors. There are a number of black and white illustrations, as well as the maps, all of which appear to be custom. Presentation is very good.
This is a pretty lethal adventure, so much so that it would probably be possible to send higher level characters through it without too much alteration. Characters might be advised to take hirelings, as a source of replacement characters and cannon fodder. The possible downsides are the potential treasure characters could walk away with and that the curse should, though not totally necessary, affect at least one character or parts of the adventure will be more difficult, or not be seen. The addition of a new patron is a nice bonus. Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below is a dangerous adventure for 1st level characters and it can be found by clicking here.
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