Demon Bone Sarcophagus

A collaboration between Patrick Stuart and (Scrap Princess)[https://monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.com/]. A ‘sequel’ of some kind to (Deep Carbon Observatory)[https://youtu.be/icVt30uiagw].

What more needs to be said? Of course, we had to play at the soonest opportunity.

How We Did Play It

We used DCC. I offered the players the choice of one lvl 1 character or three lvl 0s (one player took this option).

In addition to the core book classes, I offered the following as options:

• Alchemist (Hubris)
• Druid (Hubris)
• Shadowdancer (Hubris)
• Half Demon (Hubris)
• Berserker (Gongfarmer’s Almanac)
• Sage (Gongfarmer’s Almanac)

Shadows and demons play into DBS, the others I just thought were cool. One player played a shadowdancer, so I tried to give him some insight into the liquid shadows that are around the place.

Tried out the following house rules:

• If a level 1 or higher character reaches 0 HP, they are Out of Action. If they might possibly have survived (body was not incinerated, consumed, dismembered, etc…), you can Roll Over the Body (as an action in combat, or soon after their loss of hp). The Out of Action character’s player rolls d20, trying to roll under the character’s Luck. If they roll over, the character is dead. If they roll equal or under, the character is alive. Set their HP and Luck equal to the die roll.

• The DC for Spells is equal to the total Die Modifier + 10, rather than the final roll.

• Spellburn is allowed before a roll, but at a reduced benefit (half for non-Luck stats). May take corruptions for a bonus to spellchecks, with a greater benefit after the roll.

But they hardly came up. No one played a wizard, and no one (except for the lvl 0s) reached zero HP.

What I Liked

PDF design - It’s full of links. They’re really handy. Links by sections, and links to adjacent rooms. The new Deep Carbon Observatory pdf was good, and this well surpasses it.

NPCs in a dungeon - Always great. Wandering NPCs with their own motivations, allegiances, and animosities really spice up a dungeon.

Starting equipment - The start of the scenario has a good pile of equipment there for the taking. Good for starting out a batch of new characters.

Trap tunnels/Sloth tunnels/Portals - There are muliple ways of traversing the dungeon. They tie into its history. They reward thinking of the dungeon as a real place.

Locked doors - The dungeon, on paper, is wide open. But broken and locked doors shape the way the party can go. As they gain the ability to open more locks, they can try new paths.

Interesting traps - A good trap is interesting, even if you know it is there. All the traps in here are good.

What Was Interesting

Triangular design - Every room is a triangle! This is… all right. I kept saying I should do some geometry to determine the distances within the rooms, but nevre got around to it.

How to get out? - There are a few ways of getting into the dungeon. Great! The tomb guardians are described as trying to keep anyone from escaping. But, it actually seems like it should be quite easy to escape? We could depend on out-of-character motivation of: this is the game, you’re here for the dungeon don’t leave. Or, if it’s part of a larger campaign or sandbox, the party could be free to leave and return experience the consequences. But I don’t like meta-gaming when it can be avoided, so I invented that the dragon-bone staff not only prevented the tomb from being scryed, but also blocked up any exits.

Character backgrounds - These were neat. Good alternative to tables. Did take more explaining than I expected.

Art-gallery dungeons - There are a few art exhibits in the dungeon. I don’t mind it. I don’t think the players did, but it could be tedious if overdone.

World-building - Quite a lot of it, really. And relatively little is available to the players. In a shorter work this might be a waste, but it fits in DBS as well as its place as part of a series.

What Didn’t Work As Well

Misprints and errors - The pdf had a few errors and was missing some important information. That’s a shame.

Cotton Eye Joe - The first question the party will ask an NPC they meet is “Where did you come from?” and the second might be “Where are you going?”. Can be difficult to answer when you’ve just rolled them up on the encounter table. Sometimes, I could get away with, “I was running in a panic and became quite lost in the darkness.” Other times, it was hard to imagine how an NPC had arrived where they were encountered without leaving much trace behind them. Still, it’s better than keeping track of each individual’s position. Maybe I should use more judgement, as is recommended above each encounter table.

Monument - The map shows a monumental stone carving. The early part of the book doesn’t mention it, so I assumed it was an embellishment. But it is mentioned elsewhere, so I guess it’s really there. Maybe I missed an earlier mention.