DCC Campaign Diary: Sailors on the Starless Sea

[@williamcrowe2270]

I’m getting ready to run sailors for the first time, great timing on the part of the algorithm & great vid!

[@AaronthePedantic]

Awesome! I actually have another video I did a good while back that goes specifically running it for the first time if you’d be interested in seeing it. This one was more commentary on how it went recently

[@AaronthePedantic]

The aforementioned video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/goOapYtvl9mal68

[@dautbegovics]

Regarding the hidden tomb: the players can also walk up to it from the other side, in area 1-1 in the underground. The way the map is drawn is confusing: there is a break (looks like a lightning bolt) with the rest of the map in the opposite corner. However, it is labeled B-1, and the text gives instructions for when the PCs approach from 1-1.

[@JasonJohnsonInProgress]

Absolutely loved this! Fantastic insights, this was a big help. I’m pretty new to DCC but I’ve run SotSS 1x and Portal Under the Stars 2x for a few of my different gaming groups and they all loved it and so did I. So interesting how different each groups goes about things and what ends up transpiring. Looking forward to more of these! Thank you Aaron!

[@AaronthePedantic]

Absolutely my pleasure. I should have more coming. I’m running Tower of the Black Pearl on the 8th next month and that will include a recording and a campaign diary as well. I plan on peppering in modules into the campaign as we go along so that I get to try out different ones. 😁

[@JasonJohnsonInProgress]

@@AaronthePedantic that sounds awesome! I hadn’t come across ‘Tower of the Black Pearl’ but looked it up and see it’s an earlier Harley Stroh module and he seems to do a great job designing adventures. I’m working on running ‘Hole in the Sky’ next and it’s looking like it’ll be a riot. Also, forgot to mention this earlier but you have a fantastic gang of players here too who all did great job. A lot of fun to watch and follow along. Hope we get to see more of them again as well. Cheers!

[@ericgee]

Regarding the method of enforcing a singular character at any given time, I totally think this is totally the right thing to do in combat. I would emphasize more freeform play outside of combat. There are juicy roleplaying opportunities that pass characters by if they are still at the back of the queue. You want the blacksmith to be able to react to his 2 vine-enthralled sons. These games are lethal. It's entirely likely you reach the end of the funnel as a character dies and you're left with "Joe the farmer" and you never role-played him.

[@chimera7441]

Maybe I missed it, but did you draw maps for the combat scenes or was it all TotM?

[@ericgee]

Problem-solving encouraging players to find that hidden tomb: I expect that the most likely time that characters would find it is when entering the keep. At the beginning, I'd be tempted to not mention the other methods of access and to emphasize how much traffic and how terrible and huge the footprints are going in and out of the main gate. This might encourage players to investigate other entry points... and you might want to hold back that information until after they have delt with the vine monsters, so that it's fresh in their minds?

[@dautbegovics]

The players can also walk up to it from the other side, in area 1-1 in the underground. The way the map is drawn is confusing: there is a break (looks like a lightning bolt) with the rest of the map in the opposite corner. However, it is labeled B-1, and the text gives instructions for when the PCs approach from 1-1.

[@ericgee]

I wonder whether the maps you’re looking for typically aren’t being made for DCC modules, because it doesn’t work very well for the format, which is typically a pretty short and quick to run adventure. Either way, perhaps you’ve found a gap in the market. I’d support that Kickstarter.

[@AaronthePedantic]

This is fair. TSR was able to get in a pretty sizable module that provides sessions upon sessions of play in less than twenty pages, but they did it with tiny print and very little purple prose. I’m sure third party content covers this gap.