Interview: Matt Funk & Pilgrims of the Goblin Road
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The first interview I did on this platform was with Matt Funk and he’s back again. He’s got another project and some stunning art to show off. Check out Pilgrims of the Goblin Road and learn more below!
Tell me a bit about Pilgrims of the Goblin Road. Are the PCs supposed to be guarding a caravan while they travel the road? What kind of an adventure is this?
I set out to make a Level-1 adventure that provided a great tool to support backstory. After all, Level 1 in DCC is when players go from the multi-character meat grinder experience of the Level-0 funnel to investing in their characters. I wanted Pilgrims to help that investment by developing backstory, as it expanded the setting of A Tale of Two Sisters from the small town of Thorpe to a larger area with a city at its center. In essence, I wanted it to be a solid stepping stone for a campaign.
But I also want A Tale of Two Sisters’ adventures to bring something unique to roleplay experience and, in this case, to the starting phase of a campaign. So, rather than have a single, uniform backstory, Pilgrims encourages the Judge and players to have many different backstories that brought them to the caravan. It provides a table with details about each reason, which can be randomly selected if the player and Judge wants. And it encourages the gaming group to spend about 15 minutes for a “kickoff scene,” where the players eat together and talk openly, in character, about what brought them to the caravan. It also emphasizes that, since it’s in character, the players should feel free to lie if they want.
That’s because many of the reasons to be in the caravan have secret aspects, and some are in direct conflict. Those hidden agendas entwine with the NPCs that are encountered throughout the adventure, and with the treasure items. In Pilgrims of the Goblin Road, backstories aren’t just interesting background facts; they’re living drama, urgently relevant to the action, potentially at odds.
I firmly believe that conflict builds character. When the conflict evokes characters’ background, it makes the background even more meaningful. It builds the Level-1 character from the roots up, bringing their background to the center of the action. And it assists in defining the group dynamic, as some characters might have to abandon their backstory agenda for the sake of the team, or find a way to deceive or openly defeat their peers.
That’s a long way of saying that some characters might be guards, and some might be thieves masquerading as guards. Some might be bodyguards, some might be treasure hunters and some might be religious devotees. All soon find their interests entangled, and endangered by a raiding party of goblins from a clan featured in the prior adventure from A Tale of Two Sisters, Champions of the Goblin Market, looking to settle a score.
This is the second entry in an adventure path that you plan to go up to level 4. How outlined is this adventure path?
I have maps, encounter descriptions, narratives and principal NPCs composed for all of them except for the final one. The last one, tentatively titled Wintermas, lacks the encounter descriptions. And, as I mentioned in the case of Pilgrims of the Goblin Market, each adventure in A Tale of the Two Sisters will have an approach to roleplay that’s somewhat unconventional, to give the Judge and players a distinctive experience.
In the case of Champions of the Goblin Market, I wanted an environment that challenged the morality of the funnel characters, rather than just putting their lives at risk, and presented the potential for curses, dark allegiances and vendettas that could haunt the survivors. In Pilgrims of the Goblin Road, I wanted a variety of urgently relevant backstories and motivations that made a unique outcome each time the adventure is run. The next module, Pirates of the Goblin River, pits the characters against a rival party of “heroes” and flips the customary narrative structure with an explosive first encounter. After that, Hunters of the Goblin Grove plays with the approach to the map, making the terrain, and the path from encounter to encounter, variable, thereby creating a variable narrative.
Also, as promised, the campaign setting, that of civilization violently confronting the wilderness, and the central NPCs, will develop. As the characters grow and get stronger, they will as well. By the end of the series, it’ll have a full region, with numerous locations, a defined economy, a deep history, rich culture and pantheon. The player characters will have developed along with the core NPCs, sharing challenges, setbacks and gains, as if these characters were members of the party themselves.
I see you mention the "city of Chaucer". I imagine that that's a reference to the author. Is Canterbury Tales a big inspiration point for you?
It absolutely is, and my hope is that participants of Pilgrims of the Goblin Road who might not be as familiar with Chaucer and Canterbury Tales will investigate the source of the name. One of the aims of the Legends of Lohre campaign setting is to feature references, plotlines and direct excerpts of classic literature and authentic world folklore. I’ve always enjoyed educating about great books and global legends, and DCC’s revival and expansion of Appendix N inspired me to apply the same attention to those stories through gaming. From Easter Eggs to overt usage of names, there will be many instances where literature and folklore appear, along with appendix entries featuring open license works we’d like to bring attention to.
Canterbury Tales is especially significant to Pilgrims of the Goblin Road, as it inspired the notion of having many different backstories that tangle and collide during a pilgrimage. In that sense, Chaucer’s work informed that distinct kind of intertwined narrative, where many stories come together. Also, it was ideal for the next step in the campaign setting’s evolution, as it gave the characters a reason to visit the largest city in the region, much like Canterbury was in Chaucer’s England, and a reason for the setting’s religion to take center stage.
Your last adventure had an actual recipe that folks could use. This one has a poem inside. Was a poem always the plan, did that arise from playtests, or did you fiddle around with other kinds of unique handouts?
Yes, Pilgrims of the Goblin Road and Champions of the Goblin Market both have poems and recipes in them. I love both poetry and cooking, and wanted to share them in a way that enhances the players’ experience. The lyricism of language lends a magical quality to the narrative and serves the education that I mentioned before. The element of food can bring a tangibility to experiencing a campaign setting.
In Pilgrims of the Goblin Road, the recipe is a stew that might be found in the caravan. It’s big, hearty, simple, savory, and just as ideal for a group of players as it is for pilgrims. Eating something like that, especially during the kickoff scene mentioned earlier, could really draw players into the experience. It takes only about ten minutes for a Judge to throw together, though it does take a remarkable seven-and-half hours to cook.
The poem was a challenging choice, as I was torn between featuring the prologue from Canterbury Tales and featuring one of the poetic works of John Bunyan. Ultimately, I chose Bunyan for a handful of reasons. Firstly, John Bunyan is less well known than Chaucer. When people hear the name “Bunyan,” especially in America, they usually think of Paul, not John. But John Bunyan was an important literary and cultural figure, and the selected work we chose, his hymn known as The Pilgrim, was short enough to easily share with a gaming group. Besides, its title and reference to “hobgoblins” were just too perfect to pass up
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Thanks for sharing! Anything else that you'd like to share?
Beyond my eternal gratitude to you and your readership? Only that the Kickstarter offers not just Pilgrims of the Goblin Road, but Champions of the Goblin Market for those who missed it. At Witch Pleas Publishing, we’re invested in developing a true canon, so as soon as some fans asked for it, we featured bundles with the prior adventure from A Tale of Two Sisters. We’ll continue to provide these bundles in future Kickstarters, which we have planned for the remainder of A Tale of Two Sisters and for the dungeon-crawl-focused series, Descent of the Ancient Fane. The latter series seeks to provide a pure “iron-spike-and-10-foot-pole” approach to dungeon exploration, but with the same rich references and unique experience all Legends of Lohre works have. For anyone who want to purchase past works, we’ll always offer them on our website, Witch Pleas Publishing, where we can be contacted by email and social media. We love to hear from everyone, value feedback to guide our work and company evolution, and encourage any who want to, for any reason, to reach out. As with Pilgrims of the Goblin Market, we consider all our friends and fans to be members of a caravan on a mission and we treasure our team!
That a road you’re willing to walk? What do you think about having more defined adventures paths in DCC?
What else is going on?
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