# What are the best Goodman Dungeon Crawl Classics?



## Umbra2020 (Dec 19, 2008)

I haven't purchased any Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics but with the pdf sale and their impending disappearance I was wondering what are the best ones to buy?  I would be looking at up to 10th level adventures and probably buy about 8-10 pdfs.  Thanks for any recommendations.


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## dfan (Dec 20, 2008)

For pure bang-for-the-buck, you pretty much have to get The Adventure Begins (DCC 29) and The Adventure Continues (DCC 48), which have 15 and 20 mini-adventures respectively.


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## GAAAHHH (Dec 20, 2008)

DCC 1 Idylls of the Rat King (1-3) gets my vote for best.

Other good ones are:
DCC 44 Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar (1-3)
DCC 46 The Scaly God (4-6)
17 Legacy of the Savage Kings (4-6)
10 The Sunless Garden (6-8)
5 Aerie of the Crow God (7-9)
30 Vault of the Dragon Kings (10)
13 Crypt of the Devil Lich (15)

Honorable mention: #35A Halls of the Minotaur(from Gazeteer of the Known Realms boxed set) - for 0 level characters.  The only reason this isn't #2 on my list is it comes as part of a boxed set (which is totally worth buying, but the adventure is a very small part of it).

There are many others that are really good, but if I include them, it would hardly be a best of list anymore.


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## Noumenon (Dec 20, 2008)

Monte Cook's post alerted me that all these PDFs would be $5 until the 31st and then gone forever.  He also said, "This is what the World's Largest Dungeon should have been."  Do you agree?  And do you think it would be feasible to run an adventure that large out of a PDF?


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## Varianor Abroad (Dec 20, 2008)

Speaking of Monte Cook, he co-wrote #50, Vault of the Iron Overlord, with Soren Keis-Thustrup. An excellent adventure with a really neat rotating dungeon and a cool returning villain.


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## ShinHakkaider (Dec 21, 2008)

Noumenon said:


> Monte Cook's post alerted me that all these PDFs would be $5 until the 31st and then gone forever.  He also said, "This is what the World's Largest Dungeon should have been."  Do you agree?  And do you think it would be feasible to run an adventure that large out of a PDF?




I pretty much ONLY run adventures from PDF's now. If I cant get it as a PDF it's pretty much useless to me. 

I print out the portions of the adventure that I plan to run and mark up the print outs with notes or with whatever alterations that I need to make. I'm also not someone who gripes about the fact that I have to print something out. I take into account that when I spend money on printer toner that I'm actually buying toner so that I can, well, PRINT THINGS OUT. 

Also I find that it's easier for me to run an adventure with loose sheets than it is from a bound or spine stapled book. 

But hey, maybe that's just me.


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## Shroomy (Dec 21, 2008)

IMO, DCC 34 _Cage of Delirium_ and DCC 38 _Escape from the Forest of Lanterns_ are the best DCCs that I own.


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## S'mon (Dec 21, 2008)

I like The Mysterious Tower.  Very easy to plop into any campaign.


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## darjr (Dec 21, 2008)

ShinHakkaider said:


> Also I find that it's easier for me to run an adventure with loose sheets than it is from a bound or spine stapled book.




This. I started to run RPGA events and would print them out as little stapled booklets. Till I ran one off the cuff that was printed single sided. It made a huge difference. That flipping around in an adventure took up more time than I could afford, and I never realized it.

Sorry, but it is a bit on topic, I love this aspect about PDF adventures. So it is a plus for the DCC ones, or any you can get in this way.


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## freyar (Dec 21, 2008)

This isn't exactly about DCCs, but I was looking through some of the sale PDFs and noticed also the "Complete Guides" to various monsters and things.  How are those?  Any good, or is it better to spend the money on the adventures?


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## Remathilis (Dec 21, 2008)

Shroomy said:


> IMO, DCC 34 _Cage of Delirium_ and DCC 38 _Escape from the Forest of Lanterns_ are the best DCCs that I own.




I agree with this.


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## Ravellion (Dec 22, 2008)

Shroomy said:


> IMO, DCC 34 _Cage of Delirium_ and DCC 38 _Escape from the Forest of Lanterns_ are the best DCCs that I own.



Good enough to port to another edition or gamesystem?


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## Remathilis (Dec 22, 2008)

Ravellion said:


> Good enough to port to another edition or gamesystem?




Yes.

Cage of Delirium is a ghost story that is fairly combat lite, very moody, and full of interesting NPCs. Its set in a ruined sanitarium and works for fantasy, victorian, or modern horror. (Lvl 6-8)

Forest of Lanterns is a _Dungeonland_ style faerie tale. You're turned into a 8 year old kid trapped in a Hansel & Gretel style world of mischievous fey, wicked witches, and grubby trolls. It makes good use of the sizing and conversion rules in 3.5, but you could easily sub in appropriate monsters (since most are re-skins anyway). (Lvl 6-8) It has a gateway, so it can work in any setting. 

Having run the former and played the latter, I give them both high, high marks.


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## Psion (Dec 22, 2008)

dfan said:


> For pure bang-for-the-buck, you pretty much have to get The Adventure Begins (DCC 29) and The Adventure Continues (DCC 48), which have 15 and 20 mini-adventures respectively.




Absolutely. Add Castle Whiterock and the Gazetteer. Everything after that is just frosting on the cake.

Incidentally, this topic has done the rounds before. See here for more insight:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...ames-dungeon-crawl-classics-so-ones-best.html
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/246188-best-goodmans-dcc-series-3-x.html


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## Shroomy (Dec 22, 2008)

Remathilis said:


> Yes.
> 
> Cage of Delirium is a ghost story that is fairly combat lite, very moody, and full of interesting NPCs. Its set in a ruined sanitarium and works for fantasy, victorian, or modern horror. (Lvl 6-8)




To add to Remathilis's comments, when I was reading it, I thought that the adventure would be perfect for Ravenloft and Call of Cthulhu.


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## Noumenon (Dec 22, 2008)

Remathilis said:


> Cage of Delirium is a ghost story that is fairly combat lite, very moody, and full of interesting NPCs. Its set in a ruined sanitarium and works for fantasy, victorian, or modern horror. (Lvl 6-8)
> 
> Forest of Lanterns is a _Dungeonland_ style faerie tale. You're turned into a 8 year old kid trapped in a Hansel & Gretel style world of mischievous fey, wicked witches, and grubby trolls.




Wow, you can see the usefulness of reviews over recommendations here.  I would have bought them before, but now I don't think I have the skill to run them or the group to enjoy them.  Sorry that your recommendations had the opposite effect on me!


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## Noumenon (Dec 22, 2008)

I went back through the other two threads Psion linked to and added up the recommendations.  I am too tired to add this thread in.  

Keeping in mind that one person said "I would recommend #5 Aerie of the Crow God to a fan of DCCs. I wouldn't recommend DCCs at all to a gamer about whose taste I know nothing," here are the DCCs ranked by number of recommendations:

9: 
34 cage of delirium (haunted house)

7: 
5 aerie of the crow god
29 adventure begins (1st level adventures anthology) 

4:
crypt of the devil lich
50 vault of the iron overlord
adventure continues (anthology)
51 castle whiterock (huge megadungeon) (includes monte cook's recommendation)

3:
11 dragon fiend pact	
Anything by the author Harley Stroh

2:
legacy of the savage kings
, sunken ziggurat (unique monsters),
31 transmuter's last touch
talons of the horned king (scifi),
51.5 Sinister secret of whiterock
0 legends are made not born
15 lost tomb of the sphinx queen (boss battles)

1:
revenge of the rat king 
idylls of the rat king
vault of the dragon kings
palace in the wastes
chronicle of the fiend
halls of the minotaur
secret of smuggler's cove
16 curse of the emerald cobra
12 the blackguard's revenge
12.5 iron crypt of the heretics

0:
mysterious tower (puzzles) (one positive, one negative)

-1:
bloody jack's gold (one positive, two negative)
legend of the ripper (one negative)

One person suggested,



> I think the ideal 3.5 campaign would be:
> #28 Into the Wilds
> #3 The Mysterious Tower
> #7 The Secret of Smugglers Cove
> ...




and the adventures are sorted for party level here.


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## Pinotage (Dec 22, 2008)

Castle Whiterock is a must buy. It's one of my favorites, and probably one of the best. A huge mega dungeon that does not disappoint.


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## Pinotage (Dec 22, 2008)

Noumenon said:


> Monte Cook's post alerted me that all these PDFs would be $5 until the 31st and then gone forever.  He also said, "This is what the World's Largest Dungeon should have been."  Do you agree?  And do you think it would be feasible to run an adventure that large out of a PDF?




Yes and Yes. It's very well sectioned into different regions, making it really easy to find what you're looking for and keeping the rest to one side. And because it's pdf, you can just cut and paste and use what you need at any given time. Castle Whiterock is by far the best mega dungeon out there. IMO and all that, of course.


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## Jhaelen (Dec 22, 2008)

Noumenon said:


> I went back through the other two threads Psion linked to and added up the recommendations.



Thanks!


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## Noumenon (Dec 22, 2008)

Thanks for the positive feedback, here's the results including this thread so far.

11:
34 cage of delirium (haunted house)

8: 
29 adventure begins (1st level adventures anthology)
5 aerie of the crow god


5:
crypt of the devil lich
50 vault of the iron overlord
adventure continues (anthology)

4:
51 castle whiterock (huge megadungeon) (includes monte cook's recommendation)

3:
11 dragon fiend pact
Anything by the author Harley Stroh
17 legacy of the savage kings

2:
sunken ziggurat (unique monsters)
31 transmuter's last touch
talons of the horned king (scifi),
51.5 Sinister secret of whiterock
0 legends are made not born
15 lost tomb of the sphinx queen (boss battles)
idylls of the rat king
vault of the dragon kings
38 escape from the forest of lanterns

1:
revenge of the rat king
palace in the wastes
chronicle of the fiend
halls of the minotaur
secret of smuggler's cove
16 curse of the emerald cobra
12 the blackguard's revenge
12.5 iron crypt of the heretics
DCC 44 Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar (1-3)
DCC 46 The Scaly God (4-6)
10 The Sunless Garden (6-8)
mysterious tower (puzzles) (two positive, one negative)


-1:
bloody jack's gold (one positive, two negative)
legend of the ripper (one negative)


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## Ghostwind (Dec 25, 2008)

I just bought:

DCC #34 Cage of Delirium (have it in print but wanted it in pdf too)
DCC #20 Shadows in Freeport
DCC #51 Castle Whiterock (have it in print but wanted it in pdf too)
DCC #30 Vault of the Dragon Kings
DCC #35 Gazetteer of the Known Realms (have it in print but wanted it in pdf too)
DCC #21 Assault on Stormbringer Castle
DCC #22 The Stormbringer Juggernaut
DCC #29 The Adventure Begins
DCC #48 The Adventure Continues


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## Eridanis (Dec 31, 2008)

Bumping so I remember to buy some of these tonight!


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## Holy Bovine (Dec 31, 2008)

Ok - I've now got every single DCC adventure in pdf (me :heart: Xmas money!) so I have a specific question - are there any adventures that revolve around the PCs traveling?  My group is going on a 4 week overland journey to the Grand Bazaar delivering a McGuffin there.  I want to spice up the journey with some DCCs so I'm hoping you guys who have read tons of them can help me out!  I just need something that gives the PCs an incentive to investigate a given locale or track down a certain item/person etc.  Thanks in advance!


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## Olaf the Stout (Jan 1, 2009)

I didn't quite get them all but I did get about 30 or so of them (including Castle Whiterock and the Gazetteer of the Known Realms), plus all the PDF's in the XCrawl range.  They'll keep me busy for a very long time.

Olaf the Stout


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## Treebore (Jan 1, 2009)

My monthly check came in today, so what I don't have in print, I now have in PDF, or both.


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## Olaf the Stout (Jan 2, 2009)

Treebore said:


> My monthly check came in today, so what I don't have in print, I now have in PDF, or both.




I got the Gazetteer and "The Adventure Begins" in PDF, even though I already had them in print.  For an extra $7, I figured the extra utility was still more than worth it.

The Gazetteer sure did use up my downloads though.  That sucker came in at almost 400 meg!  Castle Whiterock was over 100 meg as well.  I still haven't downloaded about 30 of the DCC's I bought yet.

Olaf the Stout


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## Noumenon (Feb 26, 2009)

*Reviews of the Dungeon Crawl Classics*

For anyone who read this thread and bought some of Goodman  Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics in their $2 sale, I found a place to check out what was worth it.  demiurge1138 is reviewing all of the DCCs at RPG.net.  He hasn't finished them all yet, but he has done all the individual ones in compilations "The Adventure Begins" and "The Adventure Continues," which I bought based on the recommendations here.

They're not in order, so possibly the best way to check out the one you're considering is to alter this Google search.  

I found the thread by googling "Tower of the Black Pearl survive" when I read the adventure and couldn't imagine living through the 25 tiny vipers.  After reading demiurge's review, I switched to "Lair of the White Salamander" and had one of the best sessions I've ever run.  Definitely a good resource for warning you when modules just don't make sense ahead of time.


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## Filcher (Feb 26, 2009)

Man, I read that thread ad disagree with ... nearly everything written.


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## Filcher (Feb 26, 2009)

Noumenon said:


> I found the thread by googling "Tower of the Black Pearl survive" when I read the adventure and couldn't imagine living through the 25 tiny vipers..




I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to fight them. That's the point. Finding creative solutions to something that would otherwise kill you.


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## kitsune9 (Feb 26, 2009)

I played a few of them myself and enjoyed Lair of the Rat King, Aerie of the Crow God, one with a word Blackguard in the title, and Bloody Jack's Gold. There were a couple more too but I can't think of the titles.

The Blackguard and Bloody Jack's Gold were tough modules and BJG was really frustrating at times until you get to the end and then it has a really good conclusion. 

Can't say which one I enjoyed the most though.


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## demiurge1138 (Feb 26, 2009)

Filcher said:


> Man, I read that thread ad disagree with ... nearly everything written.




Hah! I was actually just about to promote my thread here, and I saw that the work's been done for me. Can't say I mind being disagreed with--if completely disregarding my recommendations gets you modules you enjoy playing, my work still paid off.


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## Filcher (Feb 27, 2009)

demiurge1138 said:


> Hah! I was actually just about to promote my thread here, and I saw that the work's been done for me. Can't say I mind being disagreed with--if completely disregarding my recommendations gets you modules you enjoy playing, my work still paid off.




Absolutely. Demi's opinions are just as valid, though our tastes differ. 

Thank goodness, too. World would be awfully boring if everyone thought like me.


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## roguerouge (Feb 27, 2009)

The Dragonfiend Pact (fun with reduce person)
Cages of Delirium (insane asylum that's creepy, has a great last fight, forces you to explore the whole thing, and the soundtrack's okay.)
Escape the Forest of Lanterns (possibly the craziest session you'll have)
The Adventure Continues (About a half dozen useable adventures)


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## CapnZapp (Nov 16, 2021)

I just found _Death Slaves of Eternity_ and can heartily recommend it!


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