A Closer Look at "In the Prison of the Squid Sorceror" (DCC RPG Adventure Anthology)

(Did I mention that In the Prison of the Squid Monster is one of many prizes in this month's DCC RPG Contest here at Tenkar's Tavern?)

I picked up In the Prison of the Squid Sorceror last week when Lulu was having it's 25% off sale. Actually, I grabbed a couple of things, but this is the shiny that I'm taking a look at (with the DCC RPG Campaign waiting to be sprung). Yes, I already have this in PDF and reviewed it prior, but print version is always nice to have and it allows a look with fresh eyes if you will.

There are 12 mini to short encounters / adventures in this book. I really think they should have gone with 13, as it would have fit the DCC universe a bit more closely, but I digress.

The first adventure (by Ken Jelinek), after which the book itself is named, is for 1st level characters. I'm already trying to think which adventures to "seed" rumors to the survivors of the funnel, and this would be perfect. This may just be long enough for players new to the DCC RPG and characters with actual levels (and class power / spells) to get their feet wet before moving up to larger / tougher adventures.

Mermaids From Yuggoth is a 3rd level adventure from +Daniel Bishop . The name of this short adventure conjures images of Cthulhu Mythos in my mind, and the adventure itself helps that along. It's more roleplay than combat and is meant to fill in some of the dead space between other adventures - you can actually start events in motion when the party is 2nd level. It's not something you see often, but does a fine job of adding a sense of continuity between other DCC adventure.

Skipping ahead a bit in the book, we come to The Long Sleep by Ken Jelinek. Potentially a funnel for a smallish party of of 0-levels, I think it will find more use as an adventure to pull out when the party has less than it's full allotment of players at 1st level. Yeah, I'm focusing more on the lower level stuff, as that will see more immediate use.

I'm thinking these short adventures (there are 9 more included - I'll get to looking at them closer as the week goes on) would work well if played 2 in a session (the Brave Halfling Appendix N adventures could be thrown into the hat too as they are short in length). It's kinda like a DCC RPG  Double Feature, with a built in intermission / bathroom break / walk the dog built into it.