Tuesday 20 March 2018

The Quarrymen

The Quarrymen is an adventure by Duncan McPhedran, with art by Duncan McPhedran and Stanley Anderson (cover). Cartography is by Dyson Logos. The publisher is The Zorathan City State Press.

A level (or level range) for this adventure is not provided, and Dungeon Crawl Classics is not overly concerned with balance, but I would peg this as perhaps suitable for 3rd level characters. Your mileage may vary.

The writing is very old-school, with read-aloud text in italics, stats in bold, and important sentences underlined for quick scanning. Judges are forewarned that this scheme is not followed with 100% fidelity, but it works well enough to help guide you through the adventure. Read-aloud text may be broken up within a given paragraph. In essence, this is similar to having read The Keep on the Borderlands back in the day, and marking up Gary Gygax's writing for easier scanning during play.

The monsters are also old-school, so that even where they are renamed to prevent infringing IP, you have no problem discerning what they are. There is, nonetheless, plenty of DCC-style action, even if you can identify what you are facing. And by then, it might be too late anyway....

Although this adventure has been around for some time (it hit RPG Now on May 16, 2016) and is a Pay What You Want title, I haven't uncovered much discussion of it online, so I am loathe to offer spoilers. Suffice it to say that there is an excellent use of magic items, which will offer much amusement to the judge and much consternation to the players, and that long-time gamers will likely prefer flight to fight once they discern the true nature of "the Creature".

(The magic items also echo the romances and les chansons de geste of the medieval jongleurs to good effect.)

For years there have been legends of a lost ancient complex hidden deep within the town quarry, and it seems that the local quarrymen have now stumbled upon an entrance to it. Long thought lost to the ages, little about it is known for sure, although rumours are now flying through the town.

Sixty-six quarrymen took the opportunity to enter the complex opening and take a look around, but they have all since disappeared.

Get It Here!


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