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Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin (Compiled 2nd Printing) $29.99
Average Rating:4.4 / 5
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin (Compiled 2nd Printing)
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin (Compiled 2nd Printing)
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Lon T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/08/2022 20:41:30

Could've used more time with an editor. Seems to have been put together by the simple expedient of placing the previous books one after the other. Consequently it jumps around horribly - similar information is often in completely different chapters. The map of the region, for example, is on page 61 - waaay after the setting introduction and 'places of interest' at the very beginning of the book. Throughout the text are also instructions like "see DCC #83 The Chained Coffin" - pointers that obviously made sense when these were separate books but come across as sloppy in this compiled edition. Needed tightening, page reshuffling and a light rewrite.
The Chained Coffin adventure itself is unfortunately not as sinister as the awesome cover art hints at. The much vaunted puzzle wheel is also a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps I've somehow missed it, but aside from a single location where the solution is completely given away (provided an incredibly unlikely circumstance is met), there are no clues or foreshadowing of the puzzle in the rest of the adventure at all. After stating that the characters may recognize just one of the many symbols, it then goes on to say "This puzzle requires player knowledge (or blind luck) and not dice rolls to solve". What player knowledge? Given that the price of a wrong guess is fairly punishing, how in the heck are the players supposed to solve this? Back-of-a-napkin math gives a blind luck success chance of about 1 in 3,400. Should frustration take hold - and it will - the adventure notes that players can just bash the door down. Probably by using the GM's head. As a final note, one of the encounters in the adventure instructs the GM to firstly "show the players handout B" - a picture of a horrific monster. And then read the encounter intro - an encounter with a horrific monster trying to trick the party by pretending to be human... facepalm
All in all, I very much enjoyed the Shudder Mountain background info. However, for a $30 pdf I would expect a great deal more.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin (Compiled 2nd Printing)
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Chris B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2021 20:46:24

As a big fan of Goodman Games DCC I found the lack of a setting to be a strength and weakness. It allowed the Judges to construct their own worlds based on what they wanted. Sometimes it is just nice to have a setting laid out for the players to explore. Finally Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin came out and has become one of my favorite settings, the Shudder Mountains. Following the footsteps of famed Appendix N author Manly Wade Wellman, Michael Curtis has made a land to be loved and feared. Unlike most fantasy settings the Shudder Mountains are distinctly American, and not rooted to a Eurocentric fantasy. This wonderful book goes from level-0 funnel all the way to level-5 (in DnD terms that is about level 1 - 10). I have been able to use other DCC modules to add to the setting with great effect. If lack of a fleshed out setting has been holding you back from playing DCC The Chained Coffin will not disappoint.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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