Mystery ttrpg are hell for GM, not so in DCC

Mystery TTRPGs are hell for GM, not so in DCC.

 I believe it.  We got a game going super fast with DCC, which allowed the kid to DM/GM/Judge super quick.  

More tidbits - players can be creative. Don’t need to find perfect setup and execution (which probably becomes rote in 5e dnd). The randomness keeps things fresh and players gotta react and go w/ the flow. 

Randomness as in:

• Luck rolls
• Random tables for lots of things, spells, etc. 
• Min-max is not really a thing if you do 0-level funnel. 

A lot of DM/Judge types say the tables help very much with less memorization/less rules for Judge to deal with in DCC. 

Reference for some smart analysis and this general idea of easy on The DM, see “tales & tactics e20 - dungeon crawl classics” on yt, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQs8riB2_Ss I think halfway through that yt, they talk about this topic. 

DCC - new unique monsters made by legit folks

101 Unique Monsters made by: https://appendixm.blogspot.com/

Ravencrowking's actual monsters linked: https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2015/04/locating-monsters-in-this-blog.html

RCK's ad&d monsters converted: https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2025/05/lets-convert-monster-manual-chimera.html

This fellow explains well how you make unique stats for creative monsters in DCC: https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2018/12/making-monsters-for-dungeon-crawl.html

Patrons and other cool stuff by RCK on his other blog: https://dcctreasures.blogspot.com/

And wow, RavenCrowKing has some well written ideas that I tend to agree with a lot: https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2013/06/conversions-to-dcc.html

Quoting, and note "Appendix N" refers to the 1e AD&D DMGuide's Appendix N:

(2) Watch Tropes:  The "weird fantasy" mindset of Appendix N literature, and hence DCC, is very different from the "Mos Eisley Cantina" mindset of WotC D&D and Pathfinder.  You will run into ideas in 3.x and later modules, such as armies of dwarven cavalry, elf paladins, gnome clerics, etc., that simply do not fit with DCC (unless you decide that they do, of course).  You might need to get imaginative with these, and think about what Appendix N authors would have done instead.  In general, you will find far, far fewer of these problems with TSR D&D modules, and the earlier ones cleave closest to the source.

The dwarven cavalry, therefore, may become barbarian tribes, the gnome cleric might become a unique monster or a human, etc.

DCC (and probably AD&D) how to read the monster statblock

My main beef is...what is the Act part of the statblock? Trying to figure it out... most or all of them are some version of d20. Weaker things are 1d20, pretty strong things are 2d20, and I've seen 3d20 at a glance. 

ANSWER: 

Act 1d20: this is the die rolled for the monster's attack roll. From Reddit, thanks dude going by Stupid_Guitar: reddit . And a blog. 

INTERESTING LONG ANSWER via that blog:

Act: Here we get into some of the niftiest ways to play with DCC monster design.  They don’t apply to every monster, but when they do, they are useful. The basics for Action Dice are 1d20, with a critical hit occurring on a natural 20.

Multiple Dice: If you have more than one attack method, you can use multiple Action Dice to ensure that weaker attacks also get used. Action Dice can be used for movement as well, so a creature which is designed to move-attack-move could have two Action Dice. The description should tell the judge what behavior is expected.

Larger Dice: If you want a creature to get criticals a lot more often, consider using d24 Action Dice, with criticals occurring on a 20-24. This is how giants work. Even with a low (or non-existent) bonus to attack rolls, the creature can be horrendously effective.

Smaller Action Dice: A Halfling using two weapons gets a critical hit on a natural 16. That is not a normal thing. By dropping a creature’s Action Dice to 1d16 or lower, you can prevent it from gaining critical hits at all. This allows a cool synergy with attack bonuses – a creature with Act 1d16 but an attack bonus of +8 is going to hit almost every time, but it is never going to do more than its normal damage because of a lucky swing. This is a good option for small creatures where, in general, critical hits are unlikely to happen.

Synergy With Attacks: By shifting the Action Die up or down, one can alter the attack bonus to make hits more or less likely to succeed. What this really does is adjust the chance of a critical hit….from very likely to impossible, as you see fit.

Synergy With Spells: As with dragons, you can have an additional Action Die that can only be used for spells. This allows you to determine how likely the spell is to go off, and how powerful it will be when it does. Casting bonus is also important, obviously, but even with a high bonus, the chance of a natural “1” becomes increasingly greater the smaller the Action Die. You can have a creature which casts 1^st level spells, for instance, using 1d3 with a +9 bonus. The spell goes off, weakly,  1/3^rd of the time, is lost 1/3^rd of the time, and has serious potential problems 1/3^rd of the time.

Synergy With Hit Dice: Remember that type of Hit Dice determines what size of die is rolled when a critical hit occurs, while size of Action Die determines how likely a critical hit is to occur. If you want a monster that has horrendous criticals, consider “HD 10d3; hp 15” as a real possibility. That same monster is just harder to defeat with color spray if it has 1d16 for Action Dice, and is extremely likely to cause a critical hit if it has 1d24.

Let's look at these two ants and examples, and the Soldier should be stronger than the Worker:

• Ant, giant (worker): Init +0; Atk bite +2 melee (1d4+1); AC 16; HD 1d8+2; MV 50’ or climb 50’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +5, Ref +1,-WilL-3; AL L.

• Ant, giant (soldier): Init +2; Atk bite +6 melee (3d4+3); AC 18; HD 3d8+6; MV 50’ or climb 50’; Act 1d20; SP 20% have poisoned stinger (+6 melee, dmg poison: DC 16 Fort save or 2d4 Stamina); SV Fort +7, Ref +3, Will -3; AL L.

Another example:

• Elemental, Air: Init +8; Atk slam +8 melee (2d6) or hurled object +8 missile fire (1d6, range 100’); AC 16; HD 8d8, 12d8, or 16d8; MV 50’ (flight); Act 1d20 (or more); SP cyclone, pick up opponent, elemental traits; SV Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +6; ALN.

Another example:

• Giant, hill (12’ tall, 1,200 Ibs.): Init -2; Atk club +15 melee (2d8+8) or hurled stone +6 missile fire (1d8+6, range 100’); AC 16; HD 8d10; MV 30’; Act 1d24; SP infravision, crit on 20-24; SV Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +6; AL C.

Each thing spelled out below:

• Init is Initiative. 
• Atk is Attack (I personally write Att a lot). 
• AC is the ascending AC, higher is better (not ad&d style). 
• HD is HitDice. Looks like in DCC the dice size is indicated (in AD&D it was always a d6). But the HD number indicates certain things, but in general it's a power level to keep an eye on. 
• MV is MoVement... so MV 50' means it can normally move 50 feet on it's turn. That's fast, a human is 30 feet. 
• Act 1d20 -- Action Die. This is the die/dice used during the attack roll. So is 2d20 mean it attacks twice. How do you represent different types of die for the 2nd and 3rd attack... not seeing that yet... OK kinda saw something w/ different dice under the super details of dragons maybe not sure.
• SP is SPecial ability or SPecial something. For the soldier it is stinging. 
• SV is their SaVe (saving throw) modifiers for Fort, Reflex and Will. 
• AL is ALignment, which is either Lawful (think good), Neutral, or Chaotic (bad, but necessarily bad or what is the deal with elves being mostly Chaotic in this game? I guess they are more the random and potentially against-mankind type elves of old legends, not  your friendly LOTR elves). Here's out that Raven blog describes it: AL: Weird Lovecraftian monsters, and things that disrupt the natural order are typically Chaotic. Things that are well organized tend to be Lawful. If you can’t decide, the odds are that it can’t either – Neutral is your friend.

DCC Our Campaign Results So far - The Kid as DM/Judge

Playing Doom of the Savage Kings.  Cool, has a Beowulf vibe, and we just watched "The 13th Warrior" which is one of the coolest Beowulf inspired movies. 

In reverse order:

Finished Module Doom of the Savage Kings:

Jailed the Jarl.

Found the Hound, slayed (Maximum power Magic Missle did 64 damage, muhahaha! Spellburnt my guy to stats of 1, lol). 

Option we did: My wizard guy had to get a DC 20 xyz roll to steal a piece of power from the black pool of the hound after killing him. Boom, I rolled a nat 20, so now spellchecks are always 1 point higher forever!

Went back. Wedded the witch... surprise, she doesn't wed you, but good (weird) things happen. She turns young and beautiful. Her devil(?)ish true husband appears and stays with her. She gives you a parting gift. 

Lotsa fun, very scary but nobody died. Spellburning magic missile is totally game breaking in a fun way. The kid did a great job getting the module points across. He was quick to want to switch to his DnD boss he had been making for like 2 weeks, so we did that the next day (Yesterday Sunday June 1st, 2025) and he did a heck of a job making a tough battle/boss with lotsa helpers. 

Last night, Sunday

Had a random encounter I think, with Swamp(Fen/Moore?) Jackals. 1HD and 1d4 dmg. Maybe 6 or 7 total. One targeted the grey wizard (Jarnen), but missed attack. Jarnen swung his sword and hit, dropped it to 1 HP, ... let's kill this thing before next round! I think 4 other characters attacked it before it finally went down. 

The 1st Warrior, the one that got no less than 2 super warrior magic items (super spear, super shield) in the first dungeon, smartly targeted a SwampJackal that hadn't activated yet and took him out.

I got like 3 or 4 or maybe 5 crits yesterday, was a lot. 

Had the reskinned as giant Venus Flytrap/Shambling Mound type thing that I summoned (we used statblock of the devil-frog from the other BOBUGBUBILZ (Beelzebub-ish-named, heh, BobugBubbles, ok ok) Patron Pg. 322, since we're using Yddgrrl the World Root as my dude's patron, went with plant/nature themed... OOPS, I thought Yddgrrl did not have fleshed out results but it does, so we might continue using some custom stuff, but on pg. 354 it does have results from the Invoke Patron call thingie). 

***And I think we screwed up. I mean, I got like an 18 on my roll, plus ton of spellburn to get the 23(?) to get the super good call patron (this is the thing the youtube guy did, the devil-frog, then they enlarged it, and it bypassed/beat the entire adventure so...)... so I kinda think we were supposed to nuke the rest of the area using this big monster. Instead it got to kill a single SwampJackal, so ... yeah, that's not the result I was looking for. I was gonna use it the rest of the day and go wreck everything instead of go to sleep. Need to talk to the kid.

(((note, now looking at actual Yddgrrl results, I might want to totally reskin it to be the like demon toad stuff anyway, more exciting. I dunno let's see.))). Still gotta find the Actual Patron Spells you can use twice per day, that can't be lost, via the Patron (those 4 invoke patron slots and 2 can be spells after doing the super spellburn of 30 points to get max roll month long resty rest Patron Bond super buff stuff). 

BTW about Yddgrrl, Pg. 354, but also see these fans/blogger guys: 

• https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-secret-shore-joshs/a/yddgrrl-the-world-root-article
• https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-secret-shore-joshs
• https://dcctreasures.blogspot.com/2018/06/secret-santicore-2015.html

About Bobugbubilz Pg. 322, Invoke Patron, roll 20-23: 

Bobugbubilz sends a devil frog (see stats on page 402). It arrives in 1d4 rounds. It obeys the caster’s commands until Bobugbubilz needs it elsewhere (caster must make DC 20 spell check every hour or it departs; or judge’s discretion). The devil frog is large enough to be ridden as a mount.

Yesterday during the day, Sunday: 

We fought a bunch of bandits. This is when I summoned the giant venus flytrap shambling mound thing, but it took 1d4 (rolled 4, thx) rounds to show up, so did nothing for the fight. 

The 2 owls helped a little bit, took an arrow for the team to spot the bad guys. Did 1 HP of damage a couple of times. 

Tried to sneak around back with Halfling, no go. :(

Lots of failed magic. 

When we took down the leader (I think it was a big crit by 1st warrior i had), the rest ran. Killed half of them. Got some horses. The two new warriors on my team, borrowed from the village, recognized the bad guys. They were working for The Jarl (or whatever he is called, the leader of town that wanted to sacrifice the girl on day 1). WTH man, backstabbing us or what?!

Over a couple of days, got the super ~Ulfhoermer~ spear and shield, which are both anti-hound-monster. 

SATURDAY I think it was, 

Day 1. The intro was really good, the raven-haired lady and all that. 

Went to the dungeon. We fought 3 ghouls with undead snakes in torso. Super hard, 3HD. Don't know how I didn't lose characters (my original 5 char.s at level 1 have HP something like 3HP, 3HP, 3HP, 4HP, 9HP). 

Necrophages, Harry Potter, Jack Vance, DCC… how related?

Dying Earth is a setting (originally Jack Vance books) for DCC. Dungeon Crawl Classics takes a lot of inspiration from the fictional reading list "Appendix N" from the AD&D 1e Dungeon Masters Guide. 

I noticed "Necrophages" exist in the Jack Vance books.  That translates to DeathEaters, like the badguys in Harry Potter.  

Jack Vancian magic is what D&D uses… the memorization per night/day. But DCC is the opposite, where you don’t memorize spells. 

And Thundarr is very much like the Vance Dying Earth I think, with the future Earth destroyed, science only partially exists as a branch of sorcery in a way. Mutants all over. 

Here's a wikipedia quote on Dying Earth: 

"Magic in the Dying Earth is performed by memorizing syllables, and the human brain can only accommodate a certain number at once. When a spell is used, the syllables vanish from the caster's mind. Creatures called sandestins can be summoned and used to perform more complex actions, but are considered dangerous to rely upon. Magic has loose links to the science of old, and advanced mathematics is treated like arcane lore."

Here's a quote from the Necrophages entry on the fandom site, it sounds pretty darn close to the idea in Harry Potter about memories from a liquid in a bowl:

One secret that Krann taught her was the process whereby the minds of others might be distilled into liquor. Drinking the broth allowed the user to taste the thoughts of the victim and savor their ideas and memories.

Heck, this continued quote from Necrophages even sounds like that movie Strange Days. Was it influenced by this book, it sure is similar?:

[Regarding the minds->liquor] Slowly it became clear that imbibers of this foul brew lost their sense of connection to the world about them. Food lost flavor, colors appeared drab and lifeless and any simple delight in living was lost. Eventually it seemed to the user that they were only truly vital when regularly drinking the slick black distillate.

And let's not miss this picture from DCC's Dying Earth... man it looks just like that early blighted area Caelid in Elden Ring (the game):

Is this released around 2023, 2024? So maybe it wanted to look like Elden Ring??

Caelid area in Elden Ring, year 2022. 

DCC, Warrior, Halfling, Thief - Mostly Dead - Easy Notes to Remember

 Has some of the best summary notes to remember for DCC:

https://tinytable3.com/2017/05/01/dcc-part-2-combat-crits-funnels-and-fumbles/

Like, The Warrior deed die is d3 at level 1, d4 at level 2, d5 at level 3, etc. 

Thief and Elf get possible one hit kills if roll super high on a thingie. Quote:

The Elf and Thief both get a shot at an instakill if they roll a 23+, but thieves do it more often — and with style — because they can burn luck to improve clutch rolls on a regular basis.

Quote:

Dead and Mostly Dead

An attacker or monster “dies” when they reach 0 hit points. 0-level characters are dead forever when they have no hit points remaining. 1st-level characters might recover if they are healed on the round they fall to 0 hp’s or the round immediately after. This window increases by one round per character level. Those rescued from death’s door in this way are generally out of the fight for a bit and suffer permanent loss of 1 stamina and a terrible scar.

Additionally, if a party survives an encounter where an ally “died,” a friend can “turn the body over” and make a luck check. If she succeeds, the dead ally was not dead at all but knocked out or incapacitated in some way. These characters also suffer permanent random ability loss and are groggy for the next hour or so.

DCC Spellburn + Invoke/ Patron Bond, wow

 So Patron Bond... you want the roll of 32. How to get it? Well it takes a week to cast it anyway, so why not take off a month and spellburn the heck out of it to make sure you get a 32. My guy could easily get a plus 30 [oops not including luck u can only spellburn Agility, Stamina, and Dexterity], so plus 28 is very doable... just roll a nat 2 + char.level 1 + Int +1 modifier + spellburn 28 => 32. (Does luck modifier matter here?) And 32 is the highest you can get. Now you get to invoke patron 4 times a day, and optionally cast 2 special patron spells in place of two of those invocations.  Says u can never lose those 2 patron spells, But i know some patrons hurt u pretty bad. 

***So, there is another book that was out 3 years ago according to the Jorphdan yt guy who has great info on DCC. It is the... 

DCC Annual 1. It has the extra Patron spells listed (that you needed a 30 or 32 to use or whatever), that's the only way to get 'em. Here's a copy, the one with the funny white striped pants on the dude with the handlebars (No idea on that art):

https://rpgcity.net/products/gmg5071city

BTW, in the main first book, it even says the Clerics can heal your Spellburn (but if they overdo it, their deity will get mad). 

BTW, Yddgrrl The World Root... this guy expanded on some stuff. Maybe some is good for us, dunno. Does it fit with Yddgrrl's original theme from the official book "Yddgrrl asks little of his followers save that they meditate on the serenity of the green and defend the forests against all enemies, especially its greatest foes: fire and the axe." Might have some ideas though. See fan's expanded info:  https://santicore.blogspot.com/2016/11/dcc-rpg-yddgrrls-patron-spells.html

DCC Modules - Quick Reference

Note: there is an Encounter Table at the beginning of every module. It'll tell you how many (T)raps, (C)ombat, (P)uzzle encounters exist. It's surprising how few combats DCC has compared to how I run D&D 5e or 3.53. Still super fun, just you get through stuff QUICK. 

Update: Journey to the Center of Aereth, #91… it’s an Underdark lvl 4 style one by Stroh. 

Update: People of the Pit is more Robert E. Howard style than later ones thatre more gonzo. See yt “1shot adventures”. 

Update on other modules for DCC, I'm just going to make quick notes on as I run across them. One thing I need to avoid are any "Laser Modules" as I call them... scifi stuff that I can't mix with our usual gaming: 

• 67 Sailors on the Starless Sea - lvl 0 - we played, we love. Can't recommend enough. Right at the end, haven't done optional newer Summoning Pits (Vine Pits) side quest, but we will. 
• 66.5 Doom of the Savage Kings - lvl 1 - we played, we love. Super cool first time experience playing DCC. The Kid DM'd it (Judge), and did great. It could have had more NPC interactions, but we avoided half of them, fine by me, it was the perfect mix. 
• 69 The Emerald Enchanter - there is a yt real life play of it, I skimmed through, definitely need to watch the whole thing (if I run it, b/c spoilers ofcourse).
• DCC - Free RPG Day 2016 / The Madhouse Meet /  The Museum at the End of Time- has a nice looking Lankhmar module (Madhouse~'), and a laser scifi module (Museum~').
• Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box - lvl 1 adv - Comat Encounters x 6 (half optional). A wizard vs. his enemy wizard. A couple of the wordings at the start might sound a little goofy like "Nekron the Grotesque", but then again it could totally work. Probably fun.
• 81 The One Who Watches from Below - But maybe it is NOT a laser module -> has laser harpies. Seems that the name is laser harpies, but the description is not "laser" precisely, it reads as extra eye on chest shoots out a beam of red searing light. Is this their way to ease me into this stuff, I dunno, but no lasers or pistols in my regular games, thx bro. So far, this one it seems like you can adjust that one monster and be fine. Well hang on, it has a double-cockatrice and deformed halfling-hybrids also, which is maybe too weird. Hmm. Still possible. I'm trying. 
• Glipkerio's Gambit (Chaos Rising)- lvl 2 - Six combats, 2 traps. Glip is a reckless wizard that is playing with fire. An inverted plot. 
  
• chatgpt says: It combines time-traveling wizardry, divine intervention, and chaotic magic in a tightly-paced, linear module ideal for convention play or single-session campaigns.
• The Imperishable Sorceress (in the Chaos Rising Book I have) - lvl 1- Oh, this smacks of Elden Ring's weird Centipede-ish people! Check this out:  The ancient Builders, highly intelligent creatures crossed between centipedes and sea scorpions, learned many secrets of magic and science. Was afraid the science part makes this another laser adventure, but a quick look seems to point to a non-scifi type. 
  
• 
  
  
  
  
• The Tower out of Time (Chaos Rising) - lvl 2 - OK, they've got me grinning. Quote:  This realm was the dominion of the serpent-men, who lorded over the primitive denizens of that ancient epoch. At the height of E’shernulus’ grandeur, there arose the wizard, S’lissakk, a sorcerer of great renown.... so S'lissakk, as in Sleestak?  https://landofthelost.fandom.com/wiki/Sleestak
• Hangon, there's a crashed ship? Dang it, lasers lasers lasers all the way. 
• After years of experimentation, with both magic and engineering, S’lissakk succeeded in building a void-craft capable of transcending the chains of gravity to explore the outer dark.
  
• The Jeweler that Dealt in Stardust (Chaos rising) - lvl 3 - a heist. Similar to the Tower of the Elephant Conan one, and a Lankhmar one, they say. 
  
• Thieves, city, sewers, etc. Might be an OK change of pace maybe. As long as feels like Conan.
• The Undulating Corruption (Chaos Rising)- lvl 5- by Curtis - Four straight combats. At least one party member should be a wizard suffering from corruption. The adventure is intended to be played in a single session. The adventure can be located in any hilly area off the beaten path but should be close to a major town or city.
  
• There they discovered the Night Worm, a gargantuan, ebony creature resembling a hybrid of monstrous grub and flatworm. The beast seemed to be restrained by stone pylons carved with strange symbols.
  
• The Infernal crucible of Sezrekan the Mad - lvl 5 - by Stroh - super mega short, but interesting I think. Has like 4 encounters, 3 of which are basically puzzles. 
  

----

So I got "Chaos Rising" $15 from drivethrurpg, but it swapped out all but one of(??) of the modules. I bought Doom of the Savage Kings from there for $7. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/dccrpg/comments/1146yn9/which_modules_should_i_get/

OLD VERSION OF Chaos Rising (((super confusing, unless I'M confused and I might be they switched almost ALL the adventures in this apparently, see wikipedia))) is $15 but has 7 adventures, most small in scope but each great for a single night. The Tome of Adventure is $40, but has the has all the following:

Doom of the Savage Kings, first published as DCC #66.5 (((Not in Chaos Rising anymore it seems)))
Sailors on the Starless Sea, including the bonus level The Summoning Pits, first published as DCC #67  (((Sailors otSS is apparently well loved b/c played by everybody)))
The People of the Pit, including the bonus content The Assassins of the Pit, first published as DCC #68
The Emerald Enchanter, including the mini-sequel The Emerald Enchanter Strikes Back, first published as DCC #69
The Jewels of the Carnifex, first published as DCC #70
The 13th Skull, including the stand-alone adventure The Balance Blade, first published as DCC #71
Beyond the Black Gate, first published as DCC #72     

Wikip list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeon_Crawl_Classics_modules , note that Mike Mearls and Dave Arneson did some old modules. Can find all of Stroh's and Michael Curtis's stuff. 

Ones by Harley Stroh, the super author:

• Enter the Dagon - (heh). 
• Doom of the Savage Kings - we are playing this first (now). Seems well written for sure, it grabbed me from the first scene with the raven-haired lady. 

Ones by Michael Curtis, the other super author:

• The Tower Out of Time (Level 2 by Curtis)
• The Undulating Corruption (Level 5 by Curtis)

NEW VERSION of Chaos Rising (what I bought... does it overlap some with Tome of Adventure Vol. 1 Chapters 

of

goodman-games.com/store ?), back to the Chaos Rising that I got for $15:

Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box (Level 1 by Olson) *The Imperishable Sorceress (Level 1 by Bishop) *Glipkerio’s Gambit (Level 2 by Bittman) *The Tower Out of Time (Level 2 by Curtis) *The Jeweler That Dealt in Stardust (Level 3 by Stroh) *The Undulating Corruption (Level 5 by Curtis) *The Infernal Crucible of Sezrekan the Mad (Level 5 by Stroh)

Compare to DCC Tome of Adventure Vol. 1, 

• Release Date: Nov 8, 2022
• Cost is $30 on Drivethrurpg, or $50 for Hardcover (plus gives pdf free via code) today May 26, 2025.

Ch. 1, DCC#66 Doom of the Savage Kings (level 1)***I BOUGHT A COPY ALREADY***

CH 2, DCC#67 Sailors on the starless sea (level 0-1)

Ch 3, DCC#68, People of the Pit (lvl 1)

Ch 4, DCC#69, The Emerald Enchanter (lvl 2)

CH 5, DCC#70, Jewels of the Carnifex (lvl 3)

CH 6, DCC#71, the 13th Skull (lvl 4 ... but 6 PCs)

CH 7, DCC#72, Beyond the Black Gate (lvl 5... but 6 to 10 chars; or smaller parth at 6-7th lvl)***I Have a COPY ALREADY***

AKA

- Doom of the Savage Kings, first published as DCC #66.5
- Sailors on the Starless Sea, including the bonus level The Summoning Pits, first published as DCC $67
- The People of the Pit, including the bonus content The Assassins of the Pit, first published as DCC #68
- The Emerald Enchanter, including the mini-sequel The Emerald Enchanter Strikes Back, first published as DCC #69
- The Jewels of the Carnifex, first published as DCC #70
- The 13th Skull, including the stand-alone adventure The Balance Blade, first published as DCC #71
- Beyond the Black Gate, first published as DCC #72

DCC - how it works, free stuff

DCC is easier for the DM/Judge/GM

Great advanced Q&A here: http://smursh.net/dcc-ref/dcc-frequently-asked-questions/ 

• Nat 20 on spell check? 
• Add double your level instead of 1x your level to the spell check total.
• Can I choose any spell result?
• Generally, no, you go with the result you rolled. But some spells specifically allow you to choose lower results. Mercurial magic gets into this a bit too.
• Module list in spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nuxOSlcd-zsRUdga6PoEZlGtfXZRSBaItCFRA8cI5Q8/edit?hl=en&forcehl=1&gid=0#gid=0

Interesting blog: https://deathtrap-games.blogspot.com/2024/02/lets-talk-adventures-dcc-68-people-of.html

A TON of free stuff here: https://peoplethemwithmonsters.blogspot.com/p/dcc-rpg-resources.html

And he has a ton of DM tools (and animal summoning tools kinda):

• Especially liking his AD&D monster converter: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2qlP_VOf718LTFEc05ZVlpIU0U/edit?resourcekey=0-80PUq_H_Zo9fchDXiWwQBw
• Use it with this AD&D 2e monster super for animal summoning for PCs and monsters for DM list: https://www.completecompendium.com/ 
• Wandering monster list is great too: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2qlP_VOf718ZWplZ21rYTk3Tzg/edit?resourcekey=0-77tkT8gJbZeI2ksYptPY2w 

Quote via: https://play.nobleknight.com/rpg-guide-dungeon-crawl-classics-dcc-rpg/

Adventure paths and big 5E modules can be a lot of fun, but it can also require a big commitment in order to complete them. Plus, they often require a lot of work on the part of the DM to set up and properly run. Dungeon Crawl Classics give enough story and flavor text to help the GM understand the module, and then focus on the hard parts: cool set pieces, interesting encounters, and clever puzzles and traps.

Notice the sword on the wizard. Also, funny module name. Stroh the author. 

TOOLS/LINKS

1. Quickstart PDF is free! It is for levels 0 through level 2. Easy find via web search. 
2. FAST CREATION  purpleSorcerer.com for roll up a lvl 0  or lvl 1 (etc.) char free. Or many. Menu->Tools, 0-level party generator. 
3. *** Sorcerer's Grimoire on purpleSorcerer.com also! ***Super useful***
1. Makes PDF of spellbook for Mage or Cleric. Can do Mercurial Magic for you. 
4. ***phone apps exist that have the Spell tables for die rolls. 
5. Lotsa info via “the gaming gang” on yt, “why you should play Dungeon Crawl Classics”. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ptNErcRDNAo
6. There are online VTT options, and bundles like her talestavern
7. Bundles to save $$$ at 
1. Humble Bundle
2. This one shows mini bundles at least: talestavern
8. Super handy main rules bookmarks: https://www.technicalgrimoire.com/files/DCC_Bookmarks.pdf
9. Super list of all modules/adventures: https://www.tsrarchive.com/dcc/dcc.html

INFO

• Is less serious, more gonzo (I'm taking out/avoiding any SciFi), more random, more deadly. Play extra characters as needed b/c main chars will often die. 
• Kinda made to be played mostly levels 1-5 they say. But you are more powerful at those levels, tho fragile. Glass cannons. So I think I like that glasscannon stuff... probably. Let's find out. 
• I say good to skip the "Funnel" level 0 stuff if you don't have a 3+ group of players. 
• Speaking of gonzo, Gonzo the Muppet was a Frackle (monster) in the TV special The Great Santa Claus Switch that was before the Muppets show. Thanks Wikipedia. 
• Fun and easy. Feels d20 easy, kinda like 5e, but lots of things from Basic D&D, B/X, BECMI(?). Is kinda based on 3.5e in many ways, but waaaaaay simplified in a good way. Let the crazy tables decide with randomness some of the highlights, or burn  your luck and spellburn when you really want something crazy cool.
• Not a super Optimizer/Min-Max/Build centric kind of game at all. You will not spend time minmaxing... and obviously not if you do the Funnel level 0 stuff. 
• Fun if you go with the flow. Designed to have the danger, the funnies, the awesome power that you get out of other D&D games, but without the extreme effort and studying. A nice change of pace, I think I can appreciate both. 
• Does have something like feats (but not Feats exactly), etc. Borrowed from DnD. Does it rly?
• Many DCC modules by Goodman Games r about 3 (4-5 hr sessions) sessions long. 
• Michael Cerlirc (or something) and Harley Stroh are considered v good classic authors. 

• The Doom of the Savage Kings (Hound thing) is by Stroh, and reads really nicely so far. We are just getting into it. 
• Chaos Rising - it changed from a year ago, but it still has 5 or so adventures. Levels 1-5ish. 
• The main book has a Level 0-1 module, and a Level 5 module. 
• So I had to buy some extra to just start at level 1. 

Luck can be added to rolls but once use up luck that's it except for thieves and halflings. DM/Judge will give out Luck for cool deeds.  

• ***DM/Judge should encourage burning luck frequently but then award it back for cool stuff  Better vibe than “inspiration“ really. 
• Before or After a roll, you can add your luck. 

Thieves can regen Luck. One pt. per char.level per night.  Or 2 per day per char.level if all day bed rest. 

Halfling (always thiefy) are Luck batteries bcuz regen luck pts. And They r the only ones who can donate luck to others. For every 1 pt of luck burned, it counts for 2 pts.

Warrior Deed Die do 2 things. He gets an extra die, smaller (grows w/ level) die to add to att and dmg. A Deed die. They do dmg and they *might do a deed. Need at least a 3 for a mighty deed. And at level 1 my guy gets a 1d3 die for dmg and possible mighty deeds. 

Mighty Deeds for Warriors and Dwarves, let’s u do more than just attack. 

Two Examples of Deeds explains it best:  

Example #1: A 1st-level warrior with a Strength of 16 (+2 bonus) has a d3 deed die. He is fighting a goat-headed demon that emerged from an extraplanar portal. The warrior declares his Deed will be to shove the demon back through the portal. He attacks, rolling 1d20 + 1d3 +2 (due to his Str).

The result is a 16 on the d20, and a 3 on the 1d3, plus his +2 Str modifier, for a total attack roll of 21 (16+3+2). 

The demon’s AC is 17, so the attack lands. Because the deed die came up a 3, the Deed also succeeds. The warrior does 1d8+3+2 damage with his longsword and shoves the demon back through the portal! (Note, depending on the size and strength of the opponent, the judge may still require an opposed Strength check for such a maneuver. In this case the demon is man-sized, and the judge rules that the pushback succeeds.)

Example #2: On his next combat round, the same warrior
declares his Deed will be to shatter the demon’s horns, a
grievous insult to any horned denizen of the Nine Hells. He
rolls 5 on his d20, 3 on his d3, plus his +2 Str modifier, for a
total attack of 10 (5+3+2). This is below the demon’s AC of 17. The attack misses, and even though the deed die came up a 3, the Deed fails.

 

Wizard magic - even low lvl might get an epic spell off . Randomly determined what spells u get, so always play uniquely. And no spell slots. 

Cleric healing, Lay on Hands. It is a "die or dice" to be healed, depending on the healee's normal hitdice. So a Warrior with D12 HDice would get healed by say 1d12. 

MODULES:

Example Module- Doom of the Savage Kings. #66 is probably the first non-DnD version.  Author Harley Stroh is considered great. Only 18 pgs long, nice. 

DCC get the Reference Sheets book for $10

 See book bricks and boards yt “dunegeon crawl classics buyer’s guide”  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r7hyez4JAzU&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD

((Btw, get some real DCC modules… so Gonzo, gotta see how they do it first))

Has tables easy.. like

To turn  undead

Roll crit hit, what can u do, it’s in there

Fumble table

Mercurial magic table

Blaster Sorcerer 5.5e2024, Treantmonk

 He did a lot of the math. Very nice vid. 

2024 sorc is good for Single Target blasting. 

“Sorcerer blaster damage d&d 5.24 2024 players handbook” yt

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_O7HBQ3RU1Y

Basically, Draconic sorc with innate sorc for adv makes Bigbys Hand clenched fist ounch suoer good after level 10 or something. It is conc. 

***+1 AC with Elven Chain for Mages!!!!

Commenter jas0616, showed that it is better to retoll all 4 and below on a d8 reroll option from metamagic empower spell.

See commenter 20100langlois, he says treantmonk goofed  on calc  and some other stuff like… animate objects might be good, better than Bigby’s! Bcuz he forgot to sdd soellcasting modifier (char bonus) to anim obj dmg. At lvl 19, and lvl 20… he messed up clac for scorch ray by a lot 3.x not 9.x,

And nicinwales has good argument for ChromOrb build.

Don’t forget at lvl 19 or 20  consider to use draconic spirit (conc free version at some pt) aka summon dragon when going in dungeon for more than 4 battles a day instead of bigbys. 

At low lvls maybe light crossbow and true strike  

Super mega fireball, magic missile, and inviz.in DCC

Dungeon Crawl Classics - ordered hardback + DCC brand Zocchi dice set x2, will be in by June 9th (why so slow, oh well). PDF no prob. Gonna play this, let the kid DM I think. Deadly style, stack of char.s, why not. 

See Bob the Builders video: No Magic Spellslots, Crazy Effects, d20 to 32

ALSO, comments say crazy magic in games named:

• Invisible Sun - 
• Every char is a magic user. 
• But I'm reading "Guns and bullets" on the very website they have so... Bloodborne style I guess. 
• https://invisiblesunrpg.com/ , 
• Sounds interesting, not simple but super cool they claim: wikipedia
• Ars Magica
• Revolves around magic
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Magica
• Based in Europe
• Atlas Games did the 4th and 5th editions. Apparently they are good. 
• 
  

• Publishers	Lion Rampant, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Atlas Games
  Publication	1987 (1st edition) 1989 (2nd edition) 1992 (3rd edition) 1996 (4th edition) 2004 (5th edition)
  Genres	Medieval fantasy
  Systems	d10-based with strong magic system

• Mythras Classic Fantasy does similar, with 4 levels of effect for all spells, based off your Casting Skill roll and the targets resistance roll. Granted not as wild ranges of effects [as DCC], but definitely flows and keeps the game moving

Back to DCC:

To Read https://www.reddit.com/r/dccrpg/comments/e23qnp/dcc_magic_system_cheatsheet/

Read https://www.reddit.com/r/dccrpg/comments/jk66yh/magic_and_spellcasting_reference_sheet/

See https://purplesorcerer.com/

See http://juliosrpgcove.com/onepagespellbook/

1. Spellburn is using HP to make Spell d20 (correction d20) roll higher.
2. On your spell d20 roll, add INT modifier and your caster Level, and luck points (can borrow luck from halfling ally, counts as dbl). 
1. So you can really try hard if you really want to get that max effect roll. 
3. 
   

Consider a crazy scroll of one of these crazy spells. 

In DCC, if u get the super roll, 

• Fireball (fb) can shoot a mile away and do 20d6 (u are likely level 5). Any aoe size up to 40’ radius. 
• MagicMissile can be weak doing 1hp, or can do 6d12 or something crazy to one target within 100 miles or something . Or medium dmg to a ton of targets. 
• They make it rare but very crazy when magic rolls high… outshining everybody, but very fun. 

DCC Spell Details: 

Magic Missile

• 1 on d20 means: Lost/failure/ and worse! Corruption, etc. 
• 2-11, lost failure only.
• 12-13, single missile does 1 pt. of dmg. 
• 14-17, single missile, 1d4+caster level.
• 18-19, caster throws 1d4 missiles doing 1d4+caster level. Single target, needs line of sight. Never miss, but maybe blocked by Magic Shield spell. 
• 20-23, 1d4+2 missiles that do dmg of 1d6+caster level. Separate targets OK. LoS.
• 24-27, do dmg of 4d12+caster level, single missl. LoS, Range 1,000 ft.
• 28-29, 1d6+3 missls, dmg of 1d8+caster level. Separate targets OK. LoS, any range.
• 30-31, 2d6+1 missls, dmg of 1d8+caster level. Separate targets OK. Can cast through a crystal ball or similar. Can defy magic shield a little, 50% chance to go through (roll indiv. per missile). 
• 32+, 3d4+2 missiles at dmg of 1d10+caster level. Target can be just about wherever, if caster has knowledge of... needs physical memento of target, and spend one Turn (10 min.s) concentrating to cast the spell. Hits invisible or concealed. Max range 100 miles, at up to speed 10 mi/sec (slower underground). Never miss unless physically blocked. 

Fireball

The Original Fireball came from Leonard Patt in 1970 - Another History of D&D Fireball Article

Fireball the spell was invented in 1970 it would seem! So Chainmail borrowed from this unnamed rule system in 1970 by Leonard Patt, while he was a junior in college in the New England area. Thankfully Chainmail did this, or it may have been lost forever. 

From MtGathering I think.

D&D Arcade game.

https://dumpstatadventures.com/blog/deep-dive-fireball-spell

Quote: The history of the Fireball in tabletop gaming reaches back to 1970 when the first incarnation can be found in a war game created by Leonard Patt (a good, albeit quick, background on Patt’s Fireball can be found here). We aren’t going to get into the debate about how Gygax stole the Fireball and many, many other things from Patt’s game.

https://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-precursor-to-chainmail-fantasy.html

Quote: Chainmail itself drew on a two-page set of rules developed for a late 1970 game run by the New England Wargamers Association (NEWA), which were designed by one Leonard Patt. Patt’s system shows us the first fantasy game with heroes, dragons, orcs, ents, and wizards who cast fireballs at enemies, though his contribution today goes entirely unacknowledged. The picture above shows this system in play at a Miniature Figure Collectors of America convention in October 1970 representing the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, a demonstration that won a “Best in Show” award.

https://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-conversation-with-len-patt.html

Quote:  

Patt was a junior at Northeastern University in Boston, studying chemistry, when he wrote these fantasy rules. He grew up just south of Boston in nearby Weymouth, and fell in with the New England Wargamers Association while in college. Previously, in high school, he remembers playing Risk and Stratego, but not much more by way of wargames. He has since gone on to a career in chemistry, having left wargames behind in his college days.

So how did he feel, when he learned of the recent news that his fantasy wargame rules had helped inspire Chainmail and thus Dungeons & Dragons?

“I was just amazed, I had totally forgotten that I had done it," Patt replies. "Those memory cells had been completed wiped out by advanced organic chemistry.” When it comes to the Courier, the paper containing the fantasy rules, Patt admits, “I had completely forgotten even about that little journal.” He thinks it unlikely that he attended the Philadelphia MFCA convention personally where the game was played in 1970, given his responsibilities at school.

Wargaming may not have been his true calling. A 1969 issue of the Courier announced a tongue-in-cheek  "Lenny Patt Award" to be bestowed twice yearly to a NEWA member "who consistently shows much tactical ability and knowledge of rules while never winning."

Commenter says: "NEWA Ancients ruleset they were using". 

Loot for Kid's party

 

Druid loot ideas: 

• https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1066-druid-201-the-best-magic-items-for-druids#sentinelshield
• Sentinel Shield is not the Animated Shield. 
• Sent.Shield gives While holding this Shield, you have Advantage on Initiative rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks. The Shield is emblazoned with a symbol of an eye.

Ethereal Filcher to steal his stuff:

• https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/etherealFilcher.htm
• If need to get rid of some magic items (even if just for an adventure to ... another plane(?)). 

Bucketlist - fireball a horde of orcs in ad&d 1e or B/X

Bucketlist - fireball a horde of orcs in ad&d 1e -- To nuke them all, damn it. Let’s go!

BTW, Is this sound effect good? 

AI trash art, but sort of looks like nuking a bunch of undead at least. 

For reference... yeah I got to play a little old school DnD back in the day, but I never got the mystical fireball or lightning bolt... never got to that point. Then finally did get it in 3.5e, I think(?) super briefly... was cool and all, but just not the same. Now in 5e, fireball is so damned weak compared to mega HP everything, it just isn't the same feeling whatsoever. Shoulda stayed 3.5e I bet. Oh well. 

BTW, the kid suggested when rolling a 1 on reflex save = crit fireball. Working both ways, similar to pathfinder. Sounds fun seeing that happen once every 4(?) weeks. But I don't know, that could be worse as a DM predicting damage output ... too dangerous to the party?

A quote from ENworld that grinds my gears because it's true and I don't like the reality of it:

"I think this is a common mistake when comparing editions. The role of a 1e magic-user was to blast monsters with high damage spells. The 5e wizard only fits that role as an evoker, other schools are more about controlling the battlefield or making other characters more effective."

Magic users got half the number of spell slots, and do about 1/3 the damage they used to do compared to HP bloat - you practically can only have 2 fights a day where spells can be cast as much as you want even at level 9. Only DPS cantrips make up for it, but we all know the Warlock's eldrich blast gets very boring very quickly. I don't know, I'm kinda getting sick of the way every character is almost playing the same role in 5e... don't need clerics, magicusers don't do enough burst DPS, rogues have no teeth apparently, don't even need rogues to pick locks or open chests, etc. I dunno, it's weird. 

And gear overlap goes along with the role overlap. Everybody can 

• everybody can use thief tools
• too easy to feat/background to get armor as a magicuser
• use magic rings and such to cast fireball(?) it seems like. Gotta double check. 
• 
  

Loot/ Boots of Levitation for My characters/party - other items

Some from https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/6ja76f/lets_gather_a_list_of_fun_unique_magical_items/

How about a QUEST for some of these artifacts?!

• Boots of Levitation. Good idea. Strong but not fly… so other ways for the kid as DM to challenge, so it's not the same exact thing we just did with his group. 
• Arrow of the Hydra - This fine arrow of cedar wood and kingfisher feathers is tipped with a sharp hydra’s tooth. When you hit a target with it, the arrow deals an extra 3d6 poison damage. If you miss, the arrow lands in a DM-selected square, within 20 feet of intended target. At start of the next round, an undead skeleton claws out of the ground in that square. The skeleton acts on its own initiative, and attacks the nearest living creature until reduced to 0 hit points.
• Gauntlet of D - think VampHunterD's hand. My invention. Put on gauntlets, and a magical mouth appears on one palm whenever you activate (free action) it's powers, or if it wants to talk to you. It has hearing out to X feet.
• Once per day, blindsight out to 20 feet in every direction for up to 2 rounds, but you must open up your hand and point it out in each direction. 
• Eating dirt as bonus action to heal X HP. Once per day. More as you level up. 
• Once per day -eating dirt as bonus action, then as Action (within 10 minutes), it blasts out a magical attack (similar to dragonborn breath) once a day. 
• Damage is FORCE?
• 2d6 through level 5
• 3d6 at levels 6-10
• 4d6 at levels 11-15
• 5d6 at levels 16-20
• Shape/range can be up to:
• 15 foot cone
• or
• 60 foot line
• "This was one of my most fun magic items:
• Spear of the Swift Sargent: An old wooden spear with a burned and charcoaled tip that holds traces of ancient magics. When rolling initiative roll add 2 and if you hold the first initiative out of all possible characters choose one: On the first round of initiative increase your AC by 10 and gain +5 speed on this and all future rounds this initiative. On the first round of initiative you have 2 actions and gain +5 speed on this and all future rounds this initiative. On the first round of initiative double your movement speed and gain +5 speed on this and all future rounds this initiative."
• OK, so the super power is just that first round. After that you are just +5 speed. 
• Combine with Feat for Improved Init? 
• Change SPEAR to... ? So that a magic user can hold it. 
• Gemini Rings of Chaotic Sorcery(Legacy): These two rings are possessed by spirits of sorcerer twins who gave in to the powers of elemental chaos. Their souls are forever bound together. As a consequence these rings can never be more then ten feet apart from each other. When you first attune these rings choose two Metamagic abilities. If you use one Metamagic ability twice in a row the other ring becomes jealous, roll for the Wild Magic Surge table. These rings give you Sorcery Points equal to double your proficiency bonus. Using both Metamagic features in the same turn allows you to choose to Wild Magic Surge at Advantage.
• Acheron Boots(very rare) : These boots were made for the dangers of Acheron. Whenever you take fall damage you take half as much. You also can jump up to three times your normal jump distance. In addition also gain the Uncanny Dodge feature unless you already know the Uncanny Dodge. In which case you gain Improved Uncanny Dodge which does not take a reaction to use.
• Items to give ADV or better on Init rolls
• Sentinel Shield does ADV. NO ATTUNEMENT!?
• Chronurgy or War Magic Wizard: These two wizard subclasses are from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Both of these have a class feature at level two that lets you add your Intelligence modifier to your initiative bonus. 
• If you have a subclass/class like swashbuckler that lets you add charisma or something else.
• Shield of the Silver Dragon +2
• CoS
• +2 AC
• +2 Init bonus

• Boots of the Vigilant from Taldorei Reborn:

  While you wear these boots, you can sense impending danger. After you roll initiative, you can choose to roll a d8 and add it to your initiative roll. Once this property is used, it can't be used again until the next dawn.

• Indie Rex's Player's Handbook of Swift Action

  A rare tome that grants a permanent +1 to the reader's initiative.

• Alert Feat gives +5 bonus
• 
  

Next Time, maybe Against the Giants?

It's from 1979/1981, redone for 5e in "Tales from the Yawning Portal".

5e VERSION by WOTC

"Tales from the Yawning Portal". Page 166. 

Reddit says way too easy: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/9z7mi5/running_against_the_giants_5e_and_my_players_are/

       Oh sure. 12 is way too high for AtG - it's challenging at like 9, maybe. Even the book claims it's for 4 L11s, and they balance around 4 people who actively make the worst possible characters and have never heard of tactics. And it's a bummer, because it's built around stealth and subterfuge, and it's pretty fun if you play that way, but if you *can* win the fights, then it's just a tedious slog of unending combat.

When I ran it for overleveled PCs, I replaced every damn giant with their beefed-up version from SKT. Go nuts. Tucker's Kobolds those giants up, add traps, have them rush to each others' aid, give them all spellcasting. Make the remorhaz invisible, reskin a roc as a giant peacock, bump up the dragon an age category, throw in an ice devil on a diplomatic mission. As written, it's going to be a cakewalk, so feel free to pull out all the stops.     

REDUCE PARTY's MAGIC ITEMS IF NEEDED: find in-game mechanics to deprive them of their items. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. Ethereal Filchers and anti-magic fields were made for just this reason.     

       I’ve never found hoards to slow things down as much people seem to think, I’ve ran encounters with 30+ enemies and my turns are still faster than some of my players. Obviously use group initiatives, sometimes I’ll divide enemies into 2 or 3 groups either by type or location. You can have enemies arriving as rounds go on as well. Basically, before enemies turns decide which/how many attack each player and then just move pieces and start rolling dice on your turn, dice rollers are helpful here. Have the players AC so you quickly determine how many hits each and dice roller up the damage. Don’t do too many enemies with spellcasting or lots special abilities, most of the enemies should be mooks with just an attack or two. Some people use swarm rules, but personally I always found that a bit off. I do however have groups of archers do area of effect attacks sometimes.

But if you just want to buff enemies, try and make them more dynamic rather than just packing on HP, damage, or AC. For powerful inidividual enemies, legendary actions are a good way to accomplish this. For example, give remorhaz 3 legendary actions, 1 point for a slam dealing 3d6+7 bludgeoning+3d6 fire, 1 point to swallow a grappled creature, and 2 points to disengage and use it’s burrow speed. Now, it can engage your frontline then dive away go for the wizard, makes it much scarier. Mounts, flybys and cunning actions are also good ways to make enemies a bit more shifty.

Lastly, consider terrain and tactics in your encounters. Archers are good filler monsters, archers behind cover with some difficult terrain in front of them who focus fire on the wizard are even better. Have enemies try control the players, use choke points, scatter traps around, grapple and shove. Spellcasters are great for this, Silence would be vicious on your all spellcaster party, but even lowly fog cloud can used to cover enemy movements and keep your players on their toes. Good, challenging encounters are hard, I struggle with all the time, but things all have helped me. Good luck to ya!     

AD&D VERSION CONVERTED in 2016, not by WOTC:

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/189455/Classic-Modules-Today-G123-Against-the-Giants

AD&D VERSION, converted to 5e stats unofficially  

They say the AD&D version converted (before the official 5e conversion in 2017) is mega hard, but also say it's a legendary campaign circa AD&D: https://www.enworld.org/threads/against-the-giants-for-5e.491175/

Mega hard b/c fireball in AD&D did 85% of HP of a Hillgiant. In 5e, it does 25% of HP of a Hillgiant. And giants hit harder in 5e, like more than dbl the dmg. 

"I am currently running AtG, and they've made it to the Hall of the Fire Giant King. The biggest issue I've run across isn't the deadliness of the encounters, but the lack of room for the number of creatures. In AD&D they assumed Giants only took up a 10' square, but in 5E they take up 15', and that extra 5' make a big difference for combat and just fitting in the rooms(no pun intended). I've had to change tactics and move/remove creatures just to get things to fit. If you are concerned about the deadliness, then removing monsters will help with this issue as well.

I would say level 9-10 is a good starting point, and try to get them to level about each adventure. Since you have an experienced player, it shouldn't be hard to remind them that these are HARD adventures designed to test the Player's (not Character's) skills. I think letting the players know that stealth is a far better strategy than charging in is almost a necessity (my group had to argue a lot with the Barbarian PC to keep that from happening)."

"I think this is a common mistake when comparing editions. The role of a 1e magic-user was to blast monsters with high damage spells. The 5e wizard only fits that role as an evoker, other schools are more about controlling the battlefield or making other characters more effective."

This.

I say run it as-is, as a one-shot. If the players lose, they lose and can try again with a different approach. The intermediate TPKs will make victory all the sweeter when it finally happens.

I can think of combat-heavy approaches that would likely succeed (e.g. heavy use of Polymorph; or a party of Moon Druids (Pass Without Trace, Spike Growth) with a Necromancer 6/Warlock 3 who freely uses Rope Trick to let the party rest anytime and anywhere), and there are more strategic approaches that would likely succeed too (Combat As War; decoys w/ illusions and high mobility to make the enemy divide his forces so you can defeat them in detail). Eventually the players will find something that works for them." 

Esper’s List of Great Modules, 3.5e plenty

Esper’s list is on his vid “my favorite D&D adventure of all time”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMheMozZM2c

Lots r from Dragon Magazine during 3.5e.

Meenlock.

Don't be Afraid of the Dark, 1973. Inspired the Meenlocks. 

" i liked a lot of the adventures in
0:16the old dungeon magazine from 3E 3.5E
0:20the Seeds of Sehon three-part adventure
0:23arc was really cool uh the tides of
0:26dread which was like the finale of
0:28Piso's 3e adventures which really was a
0:30whole campaign that had a lot of
0:32fantastic moments in it some of the

0:34early Wizard of the Coast 4E adventures"
were quite good like Sleeper in the Tomb
0:38of Dreams and all the kind of like good
0:40Nier Veil stuff including Ambershard
0:43Manor which Christopher Perkins ran for
0:45Acquisitions Incorporated back in their
0:47early days



5e stuff I would
0:49probably say that Dungeon of the Mad
0:51Mage is my favorite there it's just a
0:54bunch of really well-crafted dungeons i
0:57think that of all the official you know
1:005e published campaigns like official
1:02campaigns Dungeon of the Mad Mage is the
1:05one that really captures the actual
1:07classic essence of Dungeons and Dragons
1:10the most so there's these and a whole
1:12bunch of other ones that I really like
1:13but if I have to pick just one adventure
1:15I'm going to go with Escape from
1:17Meanlock Prison and it comes from
1:19Dungeon Magazine issue 146 back in 2007
1:24May 2007 so kind of later in the
1:27lifespan of 3.5e it's a first level
1:30adventure and it's actually a horror
1:32adventure however the players going into
1:35it don't know that it's a horror
1:37adventure which I think makes it so much
1:39more effective it has a really
1:41interesting and unique adventure hook
1:43where the characters get paid to go out
1:46to an isolated private prison that's
1:49also a a vineyard like they make wine
1:52there as well the prisoners make the
1:54wine it's a private prison there's a lot
1:56of like political prisoners there and
1:58really unique strange NPCs that are
2:00imprisoned there and the characters are
2:02paid to go and do a prisoner transfer
2:05they're paid to go pick up this one
2:07prisoner who's this like strange

@roberthradek71001 day ago
Meenlocks were inspired by the creatures in the movie "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" from 1973 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz3dB0z08vs . Guillermo del Toro even made a remake of it in 2011. Definitely gives you a lot of inspiration on how to run meenlocks.