In DCC, the campaign starts small, usually in some village that was either just destroyed or that you’ve left for some other good reason. After that first session of Sailors on the Starless Sea, or whatever you may have run, you’re players are probably trying to find some kind of civilization. After all, they want to spend their gold and get some gear. And for the past couple years, I’ve been enjoying the vague campaign region of “Nine Towns”.
Credit where credit is due, this is something I stole from Brendan LaSalle. I saw him use this “campaign region” on his 1000 Insane Worlds/ Blades Against Bandwidth streams. Essentially, the PCs are all from little town that exists in a small region where there are eight other towns for a total of Nine Towns. Perhaps the PCs don’t even live in their local town, but instead nearby in a surrounding farmstead. Who knows. That’s more the for the players to decide.
If you’re needing to pick up some more adventure modules. Check out the new DCC/MCC Megabundle! There’s an enormous amount of material in there and you also get a 20% off coupon to the Goodman Games store! Use these adventures to build out your campaign region!
EDIT (4/29/24): I discussed this topic on a solo episode of Rules As Written. Check it out here.
What do the PCs know about the other towns and the surrounding region?
Not much. They have maybe visited one or two other towns, maybe. If players ask about this, determine it using PC backgrounds and Luck checks. The only unifying aspect of these town is that the region is either so secluded and/or of relative little wealth so there’s no heavy-handed leadership by some lord, though some may still claim the title of “lord”. Refer to pages 306-308 of DCC RPG for relevant info on a small campaign world.
Each town should be close to the next one. Roll 1d3 to determine how long it takes to reach the next town by walking. If you feel like that’s too close for another town then roll another 1d3 and total them together. To create you map, throw 9 random dice onto a piece of paper and connect them as it makes sense to you. Each die is a town and you just need to draw lines between them to represent some kind of travel road. For further procedure on exploring the campaign region, I'll just point you to the recent Bloggie award winner.
Next decide where you want to assign some or all of the towns. The PCs are very unlikely to know the names of all the towns so you don’t have to do it all at once. You may specifically want to keep some unnamed so that you can craft you own or just to leave yourself space for later. But for ease of use, here’s some taken from various DCC modules of relative low level. I’ll go through the process with you.
Nine Towns
Unnamed town near The Black Maw - Beneath The Well of Brass (level 0)
Unnamed town near the war-wizard’s tomb - Portal Under The Stars (level 0)
Unnamed town near Cob Hill Manor - Bloom of the Blood Garden (level 0)
Unnamed colony upon the Island of Alviz - Feast of the Gobbler Witch (level 0)
Note: As written, it requires a month long voyage to return to “the mainland” from this island.
Unnamed town - Danger in the Air (level 0) (DCC Day 2022)
Hirot - Doom of the Savage Kings (level 1)
Eng - Queen of Elfland’s Son (level 1)
Georgetown - The Misguided Menace of Georgetown (level 1) (GCPG2018)
Note: In addition to the town, there is a river, waterfall, mountain, and forest! This adventure is far, far sillier than most others.
Sturgeon - Chaos in the Mouth of Chaos (level 1)
Note: This is a halfling community and seems best placed in a hilly region.
Barrowdown - Well of the Worm (level 1)
Black Sand Port - Shadow Under Devil’s Reef (level 1)
Note: This is a seaside town. The black sand implies a nearby volcano. This adventure also mentions a region across the sea named Fu-Lamia.
Portnelle - They Served Brandolyn Red/ The Corpse That Love Built (level 0/2)
Terni - Love in the Age of Gongfarmers (level 2)
Jhurn-Hokaz - It Consumes (level 3)
Note: This is a dwarven mining town so it is best placed in a mountainous region.
Geography
Once you place your towns (or at least a few to start), draw some geography on your map. Each town should have some natural water resources, either a river or a lake. If you want to try to be scientific about maps, watch this video. If you get something scientifically wrong and a player later bring up how the geography doesn’t make sense, then remember, a wizard did it. If two towns are nearby each other, insert some natural border between them, such as a river.
But for filling in the actual region, look at the towns that you chose to populate your map with. Did you pick the seaside town from Shadow Under Devil’s Reef? Well, you’ve got a sea over there. Did you choose Eng from The Queen of Elfland’s Son? Well, you’ve got some forests over there now. This will help you fill in the insides of you map, and also decide what your borders look like. Don’t worry about this too much. Keep it quick and simple.
The Borders of Nine Towns & Adventures by Geography
As mentioned above, the towns that you’ve use to populate the map should help decide what your map borders look like. By borders, I mean the edge of the world that’s known to the PCs. All they' might know is that there’s some forests to the north, that the forests are very dangerous, and that there’s some big city beyond it. Or perhaps the sea to the west is filled with pirates and strange legends, etc.
Since you’re thinking about the borders, you can also use this as an opportunity to think about possible adventures that you can use. Some adventures can easily be placed anywhere, even if they require a bit of reflavoring. Other adventures really just make sense in one type of geography. The following lists (which do not claim to be exhaustive) can help bring adventure to your campaign region. You can also decide that certain adventures are set in a particular region, though the PCs by no means ever have to explore in that direction. Doing this can help you craft random (or not so random) encounters that foreshadow future adventure.
Nautical/Island
When the PCs go sailing or hope to travel to new regions across the sea, these adventures can be easily placed about. Any adventures that take place upon an island generally leave the PCs little reason to want to stay.
Creep, Skrag, Creep (level 0)
Note: As written, the PCs are from the island of Alviz and headed to work in copper mines in the land of Lys. This implies that it takes place at some point after the settlement of the island, which takes place in Feast of the Gobbler Witch.
The Tower of the Black Pearl (level 1)
Note: PCs start by setting out from a nearby coastal town
Geas of the Star-Chons (level 1) (reprint in upcoming DCC107: Forgotten Dangers)
Note: Set upon a small unnamed island.
Legend of the Silver Skull (level 1) (reprint in upcoming DCC107: Forgotten Dangers)
Note: Set upon a small unnamed island.
Moon Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom (level 2)
Note: Set upon the Tolomak islands, which include some ruins of a vague civiliation and multiple volcanos.
The Sea Queen Escapes (level 3)
Note: This adventure begins by the shore, but ends far out at sea
Beyond the Black Gate (level 4)
Note: As written, it begins with the PCs’ ship being sunk. The adventure takes place in a magical wintery realm which they’ll likely need to leave in the end.
Enter the Dagon (level 5)
Note: Takes place upon the Isle of Dagon
Mountains
When in densely mountainous areas or border regions, these adventures can be easily placed about.
Temple Siege (level 1) (DCC Day 2021)
The Emerald Enchanter (level 2)
Note: Mentioned this wizard tower being set upon a cliffside and near several villages, but the bonus adventure “The Emerald Enchanter Returns” places it near Hirot.
Glipkerio’s Gambit (level 2) (Chaos Rising)
Deadly Forests
When in densely forested areas of the map or border regions, these adventures can be easily placed about.
The Abbot of the Woods (levels 1-3) (reprint in upcoming DCC107: Forgotten Dangers)
Gnole House (level 2) (reprint in upcoming DCC107: Forgotten Dangers)
Yggdril’s Maze (level 2) (reprint in upcoming DCC107: Forgotten Dangers)
Christopher Robin’s Nightmare & The Blood Rose Curse (levels 2 & 2)
The Thing That Should Not Be (level 3) (GPCG2017)
Lost in the Briars (level 3) (2nd printing of Jewels of the Carnifex)
Swamp
When in the swampy areas of the map or border regions, these adventures can be easily placed about.
Night of the Bog Beast (level 2)
Note: Includes the town of Goz-Blight
Curse of the Kingspire (level 2)
Bride of the Black Manse (level 3)
The Croaking Fane (level 3)
The Making of the Ghost Ring (level 4)
Note: Begins in a swamp, the PCs are teleported to a variety of environments before eventually returning.
Anywhere Adventures
The following adventures can be placed basically anywhere in Nine Towns without much effort. For best results, try foreshadowing any adventures you plan to run with strange rumors in the nearby town.
Accursed Heart of the World Ender (level 0)
Note: as written, the PCs are pilgrims who begin the adventure at the Temple of the Sacred Bloodline
Elzemon and the Blood Drinking Box (level 1) (Chaos Rising)
The Black Feather Blade (level 1) (GCPG2015)
The One Who Watches From Below (level 1)
The People of the Pit (level 1)
The Inn at Five Points (level 2)
The Tower Out of Time (level 2) (Chaos Rising)
Dread of Demon Crown Hill (level 2)
Man-Bait for the Soul Stealer (level 2) (reprint in upcoming DCC107: Forgotten Dangers)
Fate’s Fell Hand (level 2)
Note: This adventure can be placed anywhere but will take the PCs to a demi-plane. They may not necessarily return to their place of origin.
Star Wound of Abaddon (level 3)
Evil Reborn (level 4) (GCPG2015)
Crossing the Border
If the PCs tire of adventuring in the region of Nine Towns, let them seek out entirely new regions!
Across Forest or Swamp
The Big City: For those who want to make it big in the big city.
Lankhmar: Has a variety of modules (levels 1-5). It’s easy to change this to Punjar if you already included demi-humans in your campaign.
Punjar: Essentially a legally distinct Lankhmar with demi-humans. It’s easy to use adventures that include both settings. I highly encourage folks to use Lankhmar content to further flesh out the city.
The Jeweler That Dealt In Stardust (level 3) (Chaos Rising)
Jewels of the Carnifex (level 3)
Blades Against Death (level 4)
Emirikol Was Framed! (level 4)
The Dread God Al-Khazadar (level 4)
The 13th Skull (level 5)
Elfland: Maybe the PCs get lost in the forest and find their way into Elfland. I’ll shill my own stuff for a moment and recommend by zine-sized campaign setting guide for adventuring in Elfland.
Across the Sea
Estrella upon the Marduke’s Island - Neon Knights (level 3)
Note: The city as being etched from acid and lit by magical moonlight lanterns. When playing this adventure at a convention under Brendan LaSalle, he teased us with mentioning that there exists an unmapped and expansive undercity below the surface.
The Lost Continent of Mu: The DCC Annual gives a solid overview on what adventuring here would entail, but this setting is largely left open for the judge to fill out.
Lankhmar: There are two Lankhmar adventures are set in cities across the sea. However, if you run the adventures as written, they both likely end with the PCs needing to flee the city.
Treachery in the Beggar City (level 3)
The Rats of Ilthmar (level 3)
Across the Mountains
The Chained Coffin and other adventures: Maybe the Shudder Mountains (levels 0-5) are just on the other side of those mountains! This is a fantastic place to adventure.
The Dark Tower: If you want to put a desert on the other side of the mountains then it doesn’t get any better than this!
Note: Tomb of the Savage Kings (level 2) and By Mitra’s Bones, Meet Thy Doom! (level 2) are the only other 1st party “desert” based adventures that I am aware of.
The Frozen North: Frozen in Time (level 1) and most of the holiday module line are great if you want a snowy environment. There’s also Thieves of Cold Corner (level 3) from the Lankhmar product line.
A Different World
The Purple Planet: Foreshadow this with random greenstone shards and send their butts to a doomed world.
Journey to the Center of Aereth: Have them trek under the earth’s crust and find out about the weird civilizations below.
Terra AD/Umerica: My preferred answer for what happens during a phlogistonic disturbance.
So what do y’all think of this method of creating a campaign region? What else have you tried and how might you improve this method?
What else is going on?
Big Trouble For A Little Blood
I’m keeping it weird! Two new level 2 and level 3 new adventures for Weird Frontiers, and a new zine for Weird Heroes of Public Access (WHPA13).
Exhuming John Barleycorn
A Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) compatible tabletop roleplaying scenario set in the Shudder Mountains.