Dungeon Crawl Classics # 45: "Malice of the Medusa" (Part 1)

In order to introduce a couple of The Wife's friends to fantasy RPGs, I offered to run a module in Goodman Games' "Dungeon Crawl Classics" series. The modules promise to be traditional hack-n'-slash focussed adventures, and I chose # 45, Malice of the Medusa, because the desert theme seemed somewhat interesting. The premise is that a remote desert city named Khemair has been subject to strange curses and murders, and that the residents suspect a snake-like demoness is responsible.

The advantage of the module was that little or no prep time would be required on my part as I would basically run it straight out of the book for better or for ill. Last night was the first session in this adventure for level 1 characters, and we had five PCs: a human barbarian; a human wizard; a half-orc ranger; an elven fighter; and a gnome bard.

The module started well enough. After a long-winded introduction, a nobleman who has hired the party to help rid a remote desert city of evil bursts into flame and is suddenly reanimated as a skeleton. The PCs handily destroyed it and several evil cultists, and then quickly found the module's introductory dungeon--a three-room affair with two traps (classics: poison needle on doorknob and tripwire crossbow) and one combat (mongooses! or should I say mongeese?).

The last room here provided a map to a location in the desert where the module really gets going, but that'll have to wait until we resume play because the PCs spent most of the rest of the four-hour session buying supplies and equipment in preparation for the two-day trek into the desert. This process included a long and funny (in retrospect) discussion about how much water was in a barrel, and if they bought a barrel, how much would it cost and who could carry it, and perhaps a camel could carry it, but they didn't have money to buy a camel, so how about buying a sled to put the barrel on, but if they buy a sled who is going to drag it, and if they drag it what if they have to run and leave it behind? Etc. Some of the fault here is mine as I had naively assumed they would just stock up on waterskins and I hadn't really prepped anything regarding supply costs while simultaneously sticking close to by-the-book encumbrance and sustenance requirements; part of the fault is the module's, as it has the PCs start in a desert city but provides absolutely no information about what this city is like, what supplies are available, how much things cost, etc. Surprisingly, the module also doesn't provide helpful information on why the PCs are undertaking the quest--not even whether or how much of a reward they should be offered. I've never directed games purely by the seat of my pants before, so it's been a good learning experience in how much improv to expect using a module.

So all-in-all an okay start to an adventure that I think will be a lot more fun in the next session.

UPDATE: After running the second session, I noticed there's an appendix in the back of the book that provides a little info on the city of Khemair. It's only a page and a half long, but it does detail an inn and a couple of NPCs to flesh out the city a little.