The Music of the Spheres is Chaos: DCC DnD Adventure Review

Подписаться 87 тыс.

Просмотров 12 тыс.

50% 1

Check out Dimday Red on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
Get The Music of the Spheres is Chaos in print: amzn.to/3uAxJZd
Get it in PDF: bit.ly/MusicChaosPDF
NEED MORE QUESTING BEAST?
Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon
Old-School DnD newsletter: bit.ly/TheGlatisant
Amazon recomendations: amzn.to/30kfamM
Merch: bit.ly/QBMerch
QUESTING BEAST GAMES
All my RPG rules and adventures: bit.ly/ItchStore
Maze Rats (worldbuilding toolkit): bit.ly/MazeRats
Knave (classless OSR-compatible rules): bit.ly/KnaveRPG
The Waking of Willowby Hall (print): bit.ly/WillowbyPrint
The Waking of Willowby Hall (PDF): bit.ly/WillowbyDTRPG
The Alchemist's Repose: bit.ly/AlchemistsRepose
Jim Henson's Labyrinth (print): bit.ly/LabyrinthRPG
Jim Henson's Labyrinth (PDF): bit.ly/LabyrinthDTRPG
Forbidden Lands: The Spire of Quetzel (print): bit.ly/SpireofQuetzelPrint
Forbidden Lands: The Spire of Quetzel (PDF): bit.ly/SpireofQuetzelPDF
Knock! Magazine #1 (print): bit.ly/Knock1Print
Knock! Magazine #1 (PDF): bit.ly/Knock1PDF
NEW TO OLD-SCHOOL DND?
What is the Old-School Renaissance? bit.ly/WhatistheOSR
A Beginner's Guide to OSR Rulesets: bit.ly/OSRRulesets
How to run Old-School games: bit.ly/QBAdvice
A summary of the OSR playstyle: bit.ly/PrincipApoc
Essential OSR articles to read: bit.ly/BestOSRPosts
My favorite OSR blogs: bit.ly/TopOSRBlogs
VIDEO PLAYLISTS
Advice: bit.ly/QBAdvice
OSR Book Reviews: bit.ly/QBReviews
The Questing Beast Awards: bit.ly/QBAwards
Ask Dungeon Masters: bit.ly/AskDungeonMasters
Mapmaking Tutorials: bit.ly/QBMapmakingTutorials
Crafting: bit.ly/QBCrafting
WANT TO SEND A REVIEW COPY OR ADVERTISE ON THE CHANNEL?
questingblog.com/contact/
QUESTING KNIGHT PATRONS!
Allen Opperman, Angel of the Dawn, Austin Weatherby, Craig Chouraki-Lewin, Dwayne Boothe, Dwiz, fikle, Isometric Borderlands, James Endres, Jose Trujillo, Kevin Harris, Klozee, Kurtis Bright, LeMorteGames, Lucre, Paulie, Ricardo Sedan, RollStats, Shell Moniz, Tim Imbach
This channel makes use of affiliate links, which help support the Questing Beast channel at no cost to you.

Игры

Опубликовано:

16 июн 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 93

@QuestingBeast 4 месяца назад

Check out Dimday Red on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dimdayred/dimday-red-ttrpg-nodus-02?ref=bcwpki Get The Music of the Spheres is Chaos in print: amzn.to/3uAxJZd Get it in PDF: bit.ly/MusicChaosPDF

@optionsgoat9432 4 месяца назад

There should be a little packet with metal bits to hold the wheels.

@Lakoda26 4 месяца назад

Yes, there are screws that are supposed to be included. Contact GG, they will get them to you.

@cronopi 4 месяца назад

For me it's not about the content, I do love the quality of the writing. It's about the formatting and overall presentation that makes DCC extra work in order to bring it successfully to the table. I love their adventures but I always have to do extra prep underlining the text, taking extra notes, adding maginalia, adding stickers to the pages as markers, etc. Some sort of in between solution would be great, like adding bullet points at the end of every room summing up what's relevant for gameplay.

@sumdude4281 4 месяца назад

Yes. Preach! The DCC PHB is brutal to read. Walls of text. I love their adventures but I am with you.

@cronopi 4 месяца назад

@@sumdude4281 I won't say brutal, just less accessible than other OSR or modern games with a more approachable formatting. Love their stuff, though. Cheers!

@sumdude4281 4 месяца назад

@@cronopi I love their stuff too but the formatting...

@iantaran2843 4 месяца назад

DCC is my recent obsession. That Purple Planet Adventure Tome on Backerkit is consuming my mind entirely.

@DaveThaumavore 4 месяца назад

Thank you for reviewing this module thoroughly and properly.

@Lakoda26 4 месяца назад

Just finished running this over the weekend. Total time was about 22 hours for our group of 4 PCs.

@gangamel5979 4 месяца назад

How'd they like it?

@Lakoda26 4 месяца назад

@@gangamel5979 Used it to wrap up a 2 year long DCC campaign played mostly weekly. Everyone loved it.

@jamesharrison142 4 месяца назад

Awesome! Did you give them the map?

@Lakoda26 4 месяца назад

@@jamesharrison142 it was on the table in front of everyone - worked just fine

@swirvinbirds1971 3 месяца назад

@@Lakoda26It's the only way I see that map working. No way could a mapper map that contraption without being totally lost and taking up way too much game time trying to figure it out.

@Lakoda26 4 месяца назад

I have run this with it out in front of the players. It worked fine. Knowing how it spins does not mean the players know the cost of spinning it or how it will react (at least not at first). My players never fully decoded the behavior from watching me.

@Conan_Burns 4 месяца назад

If I'm provided with beautiful maps, i just show my players now..why f about ? life's too short

@euansmith3699 4 месяца назад

Indeed, simply saying that the roiling chaos allows the adventurers to comprehend the general form of the dungeon, but not all of the details.

@thunder.perfectmind 4 месяца назад

Knock! had this great piece on just giving out all possible information to the players (but don't remember which issue). The random encounter table? Yeah, locals ought to tell you to beware of roving orcs and the rare dragon. The monster stats? You know it's an ogre in chainmail, and if it is some unique monster then like traps its special abilities should be telegraphed beforehand so the players can figure out a way to deal with it.

@NemoOhd20 16 дней назад

It is a game of make believe after.

@alicepow260 4 месяца назад

Honestly i would enjoy if they kept the walls of text and added bullets as a summary

@joebeet2696 4 месяца назад

I don't think hiding the map is the way to go with this one.

@thegameoverclub 4 месяца назад

Finally some DCC!! Very glad you did this review and I hope to see more reviews from Goodman Games on this channel.

@benjaminalexander7028 8 дней назад

Personally, I like the walls of text. It actually makes reading the adventure fun for me like reading an old pulp mag’ instead of feeling like I’m reading an instruction manual. I also find that making my own reference sheets for adventures helps me understand what’s going on better than running a hyper-formatted, control panel OSR adventure. I definitely understand why people disagree though, and I’m clearly in the minority here. To each their own!

@epone3488 4 месяца назад

@Ben; you can just pick up some Paper Brass Fasteners /Brass Brads put the wings through the map so the dome is on top and tada!

@alexrusso401 4 месяца назад

I LOVE the DCC modules for their art and purple prose but they can be a bear to run sometimes.

@Semiotichazey 4 месяца назад

I agree with the verbosity complaint. I haven't run this particular adventure, but I have run other Harley Stroh adventures. He's big into having dungeons with their own special dynamics, and he can write long descriptions. Worse yet, details can be scattered throughout the adventure, and worst of all, despite the verbosity, they are sometimes vague on important points. I can accept leaving out some details and expecting the DM to fill some of them in. But not when you have so much raw text. The issue is that Stroh is very creative and creates fantastic scenarios, but I think he's a little undisciplined as an author, and DCC isn't providing much editorial oversight. Still, I love that he always swings for the fences. I'm a huge fan of the guy's works. But the problems with running them can emerge when you sit down and try to create some condensed notes before the first session.

@PetesDracolich 4 месяца назад

BEN'S BACK!!!!! YES!!!!

@witchesbruise8792 4 месяца назад

I've noticed a lot of pre-defined checks or saving throws in DCC adventures too. It doesn't feel like the authors wanted to leave room for the players to be creative. The approach always seems straight forward to figure out but only solved with a die roll. This really reminds me of 3rd edition and later design. I love the creativity and the vibe and art of DCC, but the adventure structure doesn't embrace the creativity and "player skill" features that I love in other OSR content.

@thunder.perfectmind 4 месяца назад

I agree, there's an odd mismatch between a lot of the mechanics of DCC (every spell being custom etc) and their approach to actually playing the game.

@Minodrec 4 месяца назад

You are supposed to be creative to avoid rolling saving throws. Usually players learn during the funnel around their second character death. It's part of the fun to.get out of a truly deadly dungeon. The series was criticized for having to.many low level and funnel adventure. Their is actually few dungoen to crawl (and no crawling procedure in main DCC btw). I suggest ppl to try the one who watches from below before DCC 100. You can chain saylor of the starless sea then chanterd in the dark and follow.with the one who watched from below. That's the "main" DCC campaign of you need one. DCC 100 is more like their tournament modules (hence closer to.tomb of horror) likes greatest thieves in Lankhmar. Dont start with on of those box.

@Minodrec 4 месяца назад

Btw in a tournament module you have to give the DC of saving throws. It's to.ensure the difficulty is the same for every group attempting the dungeon.

@thunder.perfectmind 4 месяца назад

@@Minodrec I completely agree with that's how the game should be played. However, I'd still argue that DCC modules don't telegraph their traps properly, that it's a lot of "touch x/enter room y and you have to save". Will the PCs learn from this? Sure, but that lesson will be "don't touch anything", whereas I think a dungeon should always have something to tinker with - and encourage tinkering. The rotating dungeon is in fact a great example! Giving both benefits and drawbacks, and clearly telegraphed as ominous.

@Minodrec 3 месяца назад

@@thunder.perfectmind DCC #100 is a level 5 (ie 11 in B/X) it's aimed at experienced players with experienced PC. On GENCON 2017 one of the group actually reached the earth of Thakulon. It's was a timed event with strict guidelines for Judges. Truly it's a shame he started with a high level adventure instead of a beginner friendly module like sailor on the starless sea. The first trap at the geate house has proper red earing. I ran the adventure numerous times and it never felt unfair to my players.

@irongolem123 4 месяца назад

I completely agree with your assessment of the "wall of text" syndrome. That's a problem I've had with reading DCC adventures before. Prepping for a TTRPG session is hard work. Published adventures should negate most of it. Having to read all that text, and hunt for relevant information at the table, is enough of a hassle that it's hardly saving me any work at all. That was my biggest problem with everything official D&D was putting out for years, and it's what I think the OSR and other indie publications have been doing right.

@euansmith3699 4 месяца назад

Bullet Points; first, last and always 👍

@Minodrec 4 месяца назад

DCC maps aren't supposed to be hidden from players. They are cryptic representation of the content and it's not bad to give some clue for ppl who takes times to immerse in the drawing.

@mus0u 4 месяца назад

i agree that DCC's module presentation is often too verbose, although i also understand they're trying to evoke gygaxian language. the focus on explicitly enumerating consequences sometimes feels like a style of design that's meant more for tournament play than for home games... but there is a certain charm in that style of play too. DCC isn't my favorite OSR game, but it's fun when i want something more combat oriented than my usual fare.

@Jaharadrim Месяц назад

This is sooooo coool.... ;) Guess I have to make new Xmas wishes. ;)

@connorkennedy1794 4 месяца назад

I love DCC and their adventures. They have such wildly interesting ideas and gamable content. I would love to see you review and critique more adventures. Perhaps a ttrpg editing workshop stream.

@sumdude4281 4 месяца назад

I really like DCC but the formatting is BRUTAL.

@patgauvingeek 4 месяца назад

You can buy some parisian attachments but other comments suggest it should come with the book...

@pandemic-mi8ib 4 месяца назад

I agree with how some of the traps are presented. I'd like to hear how you would do them differently. I am early in a DCC campaign and I can sense that my players aren't going to like that type of thing, but I'm not sure how best to change it.

@corbinh3052 4 месяца назад

Personally, I would add more hints about what will happen so that players can anticipate the trap. For example, the big boulder that falls into the pit could be telegraphed by a ramp leading down from the other direction, scuff marks on the ground, and crushed bodies at the bottom. Then add some options for things players can attempt beforehand and once in the pit, maybe there are deep pockets on the ground a player could hide in when the boulder comes...but then they need to find a way to escape from under the boulder. The goal is to open the possibility of informed choices that can meaningfully change the outcome, if the players are clever.

@igotsmeakabob 4 месяца назад

Do more DCC reviews!

@fufu1405 4 месяца назад

Always wanted to get into DCC, but the walls of text remind me of modern DnD books, which are just horrible layed out walls of text. This doesn't look easy to run.

@delvinginthedepths9042 4 месяца назад

That looks insanely cool but maybe a little challenging to run.

@user-qs8kh5dn5w 4 месяца назад

this looks AMAZING!

@davidnacin7777 4 месяца назад

I think the extra text is a good thing. It's good that Stroh included different difficulty ratings depending on what the players choose to do, and the extra descriptions bring lots of flavor to DCC modules. This should all be encouraged, not criticized.

@QuestingBeast 4 месяца назад

I can definitely see the extra descriptions adding flavor, and they are often fun to read, but when I'm actually running an adventure and the PCs burst into a room I need to know *right now* what they see. That's often deeply buried and scattered through multiple columns or pages of text. I don't find listing DCs for everything to be helpful because adjudicating DCs is a basic skill of DMing, and there are thousands of things PCs might do in each room for which the DCs aren't listed.

@davidnacin7777 4 месяца назад

@@QuestingBeast The standard DCC adventure style is different from the typical 5E style, but also very different than the OSR minimalist style. It sounds like Stroh here still writes similarly to Sailors on the Starless Sea, which is DCC's most famous adventure. It is true that DCC adventures are not meant to be run without reading them carefully first. I do hope you review more DCC modules, but also keep in mind that the style they're aiming for is going to be different than of other adventures.

@benjaminalexander7028 8 дней назад

@@QuestingBeastfully agree with your point about including DC’s-it’s not a good use of space. Additionally, I love reading the verbose descriptions and find it fun to tease out the details and make notes about them, and the included suggestions for DC kind of take me out of the moment when reading through the module.

@nope7832 4 месяца назад

while the wall of text is indeed scary, I think it's pretty presumptuous to use osr-style writing as a standard for all rules light ttrpg content. I really dislike the pretention that most ose/osr writers bring to the community. Even though the short descriptions and pulp writing is indeed fun and purposeful for quickplay, it is not the end all be all of the medium and certainly shouldn't be viewed as a progression from lore and writing heavy books

@KarolMarcjan 4 месяца назад

It's OK to have preferences. It's OK for reviewers to complain about what they perceive as problems. A completely objective description is no review, and less useful as a review - with the reviewers POV clearly identifiable you know if you vibe with their reviews, and if you do - the review tells you if you'll vibe with the subject better.

@Lakoda26 4 месяца назад

that was the point I stopped watching - DCC can totally benefit from some of that but the lack of fluff is why that style is so dry and things like DCC exist in the first place.

@nope7832 4 месяца назад

@@KarolMarcjan i have no problems with opinions, i was sharing mine about the review itself

@BrentARJ 4 месяца назад

I agree, in the sense that I would never want the entire hobby to go in the direction of brief bullet points and no flavor text at all. And DCC should never change. I don't think it would quite be DCC without the 2-column walls of text. That said, for me personally, I would love to see more products that fall somewhere in between. I want lore and flavor text there for me to draw from as inspiration, but I also want the parts of the book I'm going to use at the table to be laid out clearly, so that I'm not hunting for information. I haven't run it, but I think Stonehell is a good balance.

@nope7832 4 месяца назад

@@BrentARJ on this channel Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier seems like a thing that fits your description. Looks pretty awesome. And personally I have the Oz 5e book and it's sensational as far as promtps, rumors and information goes.

@artnickles5095 3 месяца назад

When did lots of text become bad? I do understand concise information but surely the more you have to work with as a game master you can parse out what is best for you. I'm *very* against reducing the body of work of an adventure writer.

@QuestingBeast 3 месяца назад

It's bad if you can't find the info you need when you need it.

@artnickles5095 3 месяца назад

I guess I'm just used to writing in my modules. Highlighting or what have you. I'm not being critical just talking. @@QuestingBeast

@benjaminalexander7028 8 дней назад

I guess it’s undesirable if you want to pick up the book and just run it without reading it first, but I don’t find that very enjoyable personally. At that point, I’d just improvise the session. I agree with you-I like reading a bunch of info about a location or character and then making notes about it. I enjoy the prep of running a module, but that’s not in vogue at the moment.

@goblinwizard735 4 месяца назад

Paper brads?

@Semiotichazey 4 месяца назад

I couldn't disagree more about putting the name of a location on the map. It's a lot easier to look up a short key than find each location name is (presumably) alphabetical order. The numbers can be ordered based on where they are located on the map, and so more parallel with the order they will be encountered, and long location names can take up a lot of space. There's a reason that pretty much every adventure in the last 50 years has done it this way.

@QuestingBeast 4 месяца назад

The best way is to label with room names, along with the page number. So you immediately know what the room is and what page it's on. Numbering the rooms "sequentially" quickly becomes impossible when you have an interconnected dungeon.

@Minodrec 3 месяца назад

@@QuestingBeast Nah definetly just a preference and it wouldn't work with Doug Kovac's map.

@misomiso8228 4 месяца назад

This dungeon would be a great example of something to play online - having the VTT have the Dungeon all automated for turning round etc would make it a lot easier to run.

@PeterEsquire 4 месяца назад

Totally disagree, the physical aspect is the best part of this

@csudab 4 месяца назад

Buy some split-pins?

@HereComeMrCee-Jay 4 месяца назад

Keep in mind that, by DCC standards, this is a high level adventure. Characters should be quite strong and players experienced. Stroh is among the best of the best in my opinion. Disappointed at the walls of text and poor formatting in this adventure. Thanks for the review.

@Bluecho4 4 месяца назад

Even if you wanted to include information on possible things that might happen and the DCs for it, you could do better than a wall of text. This is where something like a table for player actions and the relevant DCs would work very well. It would at least make the sections more readable.

@vandenburg123 4 месяца назад

Echoes my main criticism of dcc modles, walls of text 🤮

@Minodrec 3 месяца назад

At least those "walls" of text countains enough informations to properly describe a room and setting a tone. It's not a crime to use more than a 100 words to describe a scene. Bullet points are not the definitive best way of writting a desription. OSE house style enable busy DM to run their game directly from the book. But as a player it really starts to feel like a succession of blank room with a puzzle inside after only a few adventure.

@vandenburg123 3 месяца назад

@ec - surely not a crime, more of an anachronism at this point. - Didn't want to down play the quality of writing in DCC moduls, they are good. - However the formatting makes it some what arcane and inprenitrable to me.

@ronturner3598 4 месяца назад

Modern style railroads GMs. Walls of text require work which become custom flavour. imho.

@Lakoda26 4 месяца назад

I like the ease but hate the dryness of the modern style. I think there is a balance that could be reached.

@ronturner3598 4 месяца назад

dense module tomes and lite portfolio versions of each product? @@Lakoda26

@petegiant 4 месяца назад

What do you mean by railroad? Not sure if that's the right word?

@ronturner3598 4 месяца назад

i guess adding is as realistic as subtracting for the creative gm.. there might be a better word. @@petegiant

@petegiant 4 месяца назад

@@ronturner3598 Ah I see.

@ernesto906 4 месяца назад

The modern OSR style of writing adventures should be the standard, I'm preparing a Warhammer Fantasy adventure and OMG the amount of unnecessary information is demoralizing.

@Minodrec 3 месяца назад

What you call unnecessary information is someone else flavour. The most famous WFRP are famous for their flavour more than their ease of use. But no one thougt you should be able to run an adventure straight from the book. That's a modern concept. The main focus of an adventure should be gameable material. Presentation comes next. DCC modules are packed with orginial gameable materials.

@thunder.perfectmind 4 месяца назад

I completely agree with your critique of the layout, map readability and the constant "save or die" approach to traps DCC has. All these issues were evident already in the introduction funnel and honestly it turned me and my group off what in many other ways is an interesting take on OSR. We found it simply a hassle to run their pre-gens and just used the books as inspiration. The problem with these issues is that it's not at all evident for new players this might be a problem, back when I first started playing pathfinder in high school we just accepted traps were "save or die" (so we never used them). We presumed running an adventure would entail sitting down and writing out every possible course of action in a scene or room, and had no example of it being otherwise, so DM'ing was associated with tons of preparation and very mixed feelings. I really hope that these problems being laid out so clearly on your channel, rather than sparse forum posts, manages to reach the people working at Goodman Games.

@darthaelris2059 4 месяца назад

So.... a Rush Reference. Cool

@Minodrec 3 месяца назад

Anounced on Feb 3, 2022... "Rushed" I mean you are free to not like the game and/or the house style. But the handouts alone would takes weeks to properly plan and produce. You don't perceive value in what's offered. Mainly because you don't feel like reading a 122 pages high level module for a game you never tried... That's perfectly understandable.

@darthaelris2059 3 месяца назад

@@Minodrec you're adorable

@AtillaBuyukurvay 3 месяца назад

@@darthaelris2059I believe he works for the company or otherwise related. Maybe even an alt account for the designer himself.

@darthaelris2059 3 месяца назад

@@AtillaBuyukurvay I believe he misunderstood what I was speaking about in the first place. I was referring to the band Rush. The Music of the Spheres portion of it is part of a rush song though The Music of the Spheres has been a long standing phrase. So clearly the intent here was not to disparage but the praise a rush reference as I am a massive fan of that band

@benjaminalexander7028 8 дней назад

Check out The Sorcerer’s Tower of Sanguine Slant. Loaded up with Rush references.