Review 26: Doom of the Savage Kings
Ahh, back to DCC, land of big wordy blocks of text that often contain really really good things that you have to sift out of the verbiage. This is one of the first adventures that I ran for this system, and it still stands out as one of the better ones in terms of design and structure. It was written by Harley Stroh with cartography by Doug Kovacs, and art by Doug Kovacs and Stefan Poag.
The general premise of this one is very clearly inspired by Beowulf-- the village of Hirot has been terrorized by a dreadful beast, and the party must learn more about it before seeking out an ancient weapon that will aid them in defeating the beast and saving the town. I ran this one as is, for a group of level 1 DCC characters fresh out of their funnel.
Getting it to the Table
Compared to many of the DCC modules I've reviewed recently, this one seems to be a bit of an outlier in the sense that it's a lot more tightly written and is very efficient with its presentation of gameable content. Coming in at just 16 pages (counting the maps of the village, surrounding wilderness, and the tomb of Ulfeonar), it manages to pack a ton of stuff in without nearly as much fluff as you often see with adventures for this game. This is also an example of the phenomenon you see in OSR-adjacent games where often the most interesting and well-loved adventures are for low-level parties. One thing that is common amongst those types of adventures is that there is often a rather open-ended solution in mind, because in many cases the PCs are not going to be very capable in combat without some player ingenuity, so a good scenario writer will present a situation and then trust the players to come up with the best way to approach it, rather than spelling out a planned path to the "correct" outcome. This is shown in the introduction page (single page, yay!), which lists three possible ways that the hound can be defeated in appropriately heroic, or as Nanny Ogg from Discworld would say, "myffic" ways. These methods can all be discovered through interaction with the NPCs in the town, and it even suggests to the GM that other methods could be considered if the players come up with good ones, "erring on the side of dramatic heroics."
After the brief but actually useful introduction and backstory, we're given a description of the town (sadly the map is put way back in the appendices), followed by an excellent rumor table. It's a whopping 24 entries, making good use of DCC's weird dice, and many of them are misleading or false. Then we're given a half page of roleplaying tips for the major NPCs, which is something that is not really as common these days, particularly in the more recent DCC modules. Finally, we get to the "player start" section, which is a nice little encounter that really sets the tone of the adventure-- the villagers are met on their way to sacrifice one of their own to appease the hound, and the PCs must decide how (and if) they should intervene, which can have different repercussions with later relations to the NPCs. This is such a solid way to start an adventure, because it not only provides a logical hook to get involved with the events in the village, but it gives the players a tough moral decision right off the bat, and the choice matters.
Once the scene is set, the module really opens up into a site-based adventure that does not force the players into any one path. They can learn more about the situation and figure out how best to approach the problem, and then explore the surrounding areas to either find the ancient weapon or bring the fight directly to the hound (if the hound doesn't find them first!)
The tomb where the ancient weapon is buried is a wonderful example of a tiny dungeon that is incredibly dangerous and interesting to explore but doesn't steal the show. For me, it ticks all of the boxes-- multiple points of entry, ingenious traps that aren't too complicated to describe, and interesting extra treasure that helps to define the characters through play (magic bear hide that lets the PC go into a berserker rage, heck yeah). There's even a false tomb meant to stymie would-be grave robbers, which is a completely logical thing to have in a thing like this but you still don't often see it in games. Ultimately there are only 9 rooms in the dungeon, but it's more than enough for a full session as an interlude from the investigation and interaction in the town.
The final part of the adventure details the search for the hound in the Sunken Fens. This area is abstracted, which I think is a good way of handling it, though it did not provide a clear procedure for the travel through the fens. You're intended to roll for an encounter every hour, but there is no indication of how many hours it's supposed to take before you find the hound's lair. Once you find the lair, it's a fairly straightforward fight with the hound (provided you've found the right methods to defeat it!)
What Worked?
- Open-ended. After the introductory encounter, things are largely left up to the players to decide how to proceed. There are plenty of NPCs to interact with who will be able to help or hinder the party in different ways. One of my favorite little examples of this is the thieves in the Sign of Three Rats in Hirot, who are specifically described as knowing every false rumor on the table.
- One problem, many solutions. Slaying a deadly beast seems straightforward, but as written there are three different methods that are all "correct" and perfectly in line with the tone set by the adventure and its inspiration. There's the standard "special weapon" found in the tomb, the "weird witchy thing" gleaned from the mysterious old crone in town, and the "brute force a la Beowulf" method that would make whoever manages it a certified bad ass.
- Fiendish little dungeon. I loved all of the traps and tricks that were surmountable if the players were smart and asked questions, but deadly if they didn't. Special mention to the false tomb, complete with tempting deathtrap.
What Didn't Work?
- Maps you can't show your players. This is a common complaint with DCC adventures-- the maps are absolutely beautiful, but there are no player-facing versions with the secrets hidden.
- Mean ambush. As written, Hirot's jarl sends some mercenaries to ambush the party after they leave the tomb. While it certainly makes sense that they would do that, it feels a little bit mean and likely to result in a TPK through no fault of the players. I would recommend telegraphing the fact that they're being followed and that the tomb is being watched.
Final Thoughts
This adventure has gotten multiple reprints over the years, and it is well-deserved. With a tiny bit of expansion and hooks to other adventure sites, Hirot could easily be the home base of an extended campaign, provided the party doesn't alienate everyone through their actions. There's a lot to do, and a lot of ways to do it. Clever thinking is rewarded with unique treasure, and there are plenty of opportunities for memorable moments.
You can get Doom of the Savage Kings at the Goodman Games web store. Thanks for reading!