Friday Fantasy: Feast of the Gobbler Witch

Nine months ago, the Player Characters set sail aboard the Mayflower to the island of Alviz as members of a fanatical religious sect led by the charismatic Captain William Bradford and his second-in-command, Samual Parris. Adherents of Klazath, God of War, their sermons persuaded the Player Characters and other members of the cult that the word and yoke Klazath should be brought to the copper miners on the distant island of Lys. Unfortunately, the voyage has been struck by disaster, not once, but twice. First, when Captain Bradford was swept overboard during a sudden freak storm, and second, with a competent navigator aboard, when the vessel, its crew and passengers, were shipwrecked on the reef of a small, uncharted island. Where everyone aboard set out believing that they were journeying to bring the faith of Klazath to a far distant land, now they had to switch their focus to surviving on an island with no war to be fought in the name of Klazath. Their travails continued when the crops in the fields suffered a rot and with supplies dwindling, tensions rose rapidly and infighting broke out. This escalated when some of colonists began exhibiting paranoid and erratic behaviour, and in response to all of this, Magistrate Parris has declared that worshippers of foul Malotoch, the Carrion Crow Goddess of Death, have infiltrated the members of congregation and that they must be found and punished. Which turned into a witch hunt, literally, since Magistrate Parris condemned those of worshipping Malotoch as witches. As the paranoia grew, and the first handful of witches found guilty as charged and subsequently executed, the resulting hysteria spread through the colony and every man, woman, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling lives in fear of being accused. Which is exactly what has happened to the Player Characters at the start of Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch.

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, published by Goodman Games. It is a Character Funnel, and a Character Funnel is a scenario specifically designed for Zero Level Player Characters in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. The Character Funnel is a signature feature of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, and whilst they are challenging to play, they are also both fun and wrought with emotion as players often become highly attached to the poor four unfortunates, they are roleplaying who have found themselves in the situation. Some of the best Character Funnels really begin with the Zero Level Player Characters in desperate straits, much like the recent Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen and exactly like Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch.

As the scenario opens, the Player Characters are shackled together and condemned to death on Danver’s Green, the colony’s place of execution. After an attack by ‘Malotoch’s murder crows!’, Magistrate Parris offers them the opportunity to restore them to the bosom of the colony and Klazath’s good grace. They must locate the witch Abutit and take back the Holy Scythe of Mayflower that she has stolen. From the settlement of New Crimson and Danver’s Green, they need to explore the rest of the island, perhaps returning to the wreck of the Mayflower, examining the fields with their blighted crops, and so on. In the process, the Player Characters should discover some secrets that suggest that the situation on the colony and the true threat it faces is not as they have been told… Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch has just eleven locations, and not one, but two climaxes. The first involves brooms and flying atop a very high nest and the second, a fight at a feast alongside an unholy turkey, animated and murderous cranberry goo against a vampire!

Thematically then, what with its colonists, a ship called the Mayflower, a feast of turkey and cranberry sauce, the holiday in Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is Thanksgiving. However, it is quite a lot more than that given its length and the fact that it is a scenario for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Like a chef with a turkey baster, the author injects a squirt or two of Gothic horror to make the scenario Colonial Era Gothic Americana and another squirt or two of Arthur Miller to make it the scenario a Dungeon Crawl Classics version of The Crucible. After all, what else is a Character Funnel but a crucible for Zero Level player Characters?

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch can be played in a single session and includes a ‘DCC Holiday Placemat and Dice Drop 0 Level PC Generator’. This replaces the standard table in the Dungeon Crawl Classics rulebook for generating Zero Level Player Characters.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is as decently done as you would expect for Dungeon Crawl Classics. It is well written, the artwork is good, and the map easy to use. If it is lacking anything, it is illustrations of the scenario’s NPCs and major monsters that the Judge could show her players.

The major downside to Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is that it is a one-shot scenario. The Judge and her players are going to be left wondering what happens next to the characters who survived the ordeal on the island, and further, a Colonial Era setting for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game could be a lot of fun. Whether as a one-shot or the start of something that the Judge wants to write herself, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is a highly entertaining and thematically silly Character Funnel for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, which at the end of it, nobody going to look at a turkey the same way again.