HYPERBOREA / Tower of the Black Pearl

**Posted by Druvas** 3/13/2017 6:44 am

I've been looking over the synopses' of several of the newer DCC modules by Goodman Games. Man, do these have some good weird-vibes rolling off of them. I'm going to try and run Tower of the Black Pearl to see how it goes. I believe there are some goblins which I will swap out with ape-men or something (suggestions?), but the adventure looks sound. With only 12 or so encounter areas, it should be a short one-evening adventure. Have any of you run any of the newer mods (66.5 - 93)? Successful? Would do it again?

http://goodman-games.com/store/product/dungeon-crawl-classics-79-5-tower-of-the-black-pearl/

**Posted by gizmomathboy** 3/13/2017 8:18 am

Yeah, I've swapped out goblins for ape-men. They seemed a close enough fit for the job of random humanoid fodder.

**Posted by grodog** 3/16/2017 10:42 pm

Druvas wrote:
Have any of you run any of the newer mods (66.5 - 93)? Successful? Would do it again?

Jon has run some in our WL camapign, Charley, so feel free to pick his brain at the show next week.

edit: ah, but you're not going this year, are you? Ping him on FB for some recommendations, then!

Allan.

Last edited by grodog (3/16/2017 10:43 pm)

**Posted by Ghul** 3/17/2017 6:54 am

I've run this exact adventure in my home campaign, by the amazing Harley Stroh! Events from that adventure had a huge impact on our campaign. I would have to look back at my notes to see any swap-outs, though. Great little adventure, though. I recommend it!

Last edited by Ghul (3/17/2017 6:55 am)

**Posted by Blackadder23** 3/17/2017 11:27 am

Depending on the context, bandits or other human NPC's could make good substitutes for goblins.

Last edited by Blackadder23 (3/17/2017 11:28 am)

**Posted by Druvas** 3/17/2017 11:15 pm

gizmomathboy wrote:
Yeah, I've swapped out goblins for ape-men. They seemed a close enough fit for the job of random humanoid fodder.

Turns out, I was wrong. Only humans, snakes and weird animated fetishes. No alterations needed at all other than stat blocks!

**Posted by Druvas** 3/17/2017 11:16 pm

grodog wrote:
Druvas wrote:
Have any of you run any of the newer mods (66.5 - 93)? Successful? Would do it again?
Jon has run some in our WL camapign, Charley, so feel free to pick his brain at the show next week.

edit: ah, but you're not going this year, are you? Ping him on FB for some recommendations, then!

Allan.

I shall! Thanks and enjoy GC IX. Wish I were going this year...

**Posted by Druvas** 3/17/2017 11:21 pm

Ghul wrote:
I've run this exact adventure in my home campaign, by the amazing Harley Stroh! Events from that adventure had a huge impact on our campaign. I would have to look back at my notes to see any swap-outs, though. Great little adventure, though. I recommend it!

Well, we just finished up the Tower. I thought it was a bit slow, probably because it was fairly combat light. My group tends to be more hack n slash but they enjoyed this far more than I did. I was pleasantly surprised! I had a series of late evenings at work this week and I was completely unprepared to run the adventure which slowed things down. At the end, though, everyone was happy, everyone survived and everyone managed to make 2nd level (finally!). I'll get my CJ up to speed in the coming days!

Nice adventure with good puzzles. The map is a little confusing and the descriptions could be a little clearer but, like I said, I was almost completely unprepared to run it and everyone still had a good time. That's a win.

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 3/20/2017 11:59 am

Any advice on what's needed to translate DCC to AS&SH? It seems a lot less direct than with many other systems.

**Posted by Druvas** 3/20/2017 5:36 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
Any advice on what's needed to translate DCC to AS&SH? It seems a lot less direct than with many other systems.

So, this one was pretty easy. It's all human combatants, and all fighters at that. The standard pirates were 0-level so I stuck with the d6 for hp, flipped the AC to descending, no fighting ability bonus and left everything else alone. The pirate leader was 2nd level, so I gave him the same as above, except 2d10 hp and +2 fighting ability. That was about all that needed doing. Certainly, though, it will be more complicated for non-standard fighter-types, but not by much. When in doubt, just make some s*** up on the spot. ;-)

**Posted by Brock Savage** 6/08/2018 10:15 pm

Ghul wrote:
I've run this exact adventure in my home campaign, by the amazing Harley Stroh! Events from that adventure had a huge impact on our campaign. I would have to look back at my notes to see any swap-outs, though. Great little adventure, though. I recommend it!

I'd love to know how you incorporated this adventure in your campaign and what, if any, changes you made. I'd really like to run my players through it but feel like it needs to be tweaked for more "weird tales" flavor.

**Posted by Ghul** 6/09/2018 11:44 am

Brock Savage wrote:
Ghul wrote:
I've run this exact adventure in my home campaign, by the amazing Harley Stroh! Events from that adventure had a huge impact on our campaign. I would have to look back at my notes to see any swap-outs, though. Great little adventure, though. I recommend it!
I'd love to know how you incorporated this adventure in your campaign and what, if any, changes you made. I'd really like to run my players through it but feel like it needs to be tweaked for more "weird tales" flavor.

Yikes, it was about 7 years ago, so I'd have to dig up my old notes to see! I'll see what I can find...

**Posted by Ghul** 6/09/2018 11:47 am

Handy Haversack wrote:
Any advice on what's needed to translate DCC to AS&SH? It seems a lot less direct than with many other systems.

I must have missed this question from years ago, but this was a 3E adventure that was adapted to 1E (the version I have). So there really wan't any conversion necessary. It predated the DCC "game", harkening back to when DCC was a line of 3E compatible adventures with a smattering of 1E adapted stuff.

**Posted by Brock Savage** 6/09/2018 12:15 pm

Ghul wrote:
Yikes, it was about 7 years ago, so I'd have to dig up my old notes to see! I'll see what I can find...

Arg, sorry about that, I don't want you going through any trouble on my behalf.

**Posted by francisca** 6/10/2018 11:51 am

Ghul wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
Any advice on what's needed to translate DCC to AS&SH? It seems a lot less direct than with many other systems.
I must have missed this question from years ago, but this was a 3E adventure that was adapted to 1E (the version I have). So there really wan't any conversion necessary. It predated the DCC "game", harkening back to when DCC was a line of 3E compatible adventures with a smattering of 1E adapted stuff.

Mmmm. I didn't know there was a 3e version of Tower of the Black Pearl, l thought it was only in 1e, in the flipbbook.

**Posted by Ghul** 6/11/2018 9:16 am

francisca wrote:
Ghul wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
Any advice on what's needed to translate DCC to AS&SH? It seems a lot less direct than with many other systems.
I must have missed this question from years ago, but this was a 3E adventure that was adapted to 1E (the version I have). So there really wan't any conversion necessary. It predated the DCC "game", harkening back to when DCC was a line of 3E compatible adventures with a smattering of 1E adapted stuff.
Mmmm. I didn't know there was a 3e version of Tower of the Black Pearl, l thought it was only in 1e, in the flipbbook.

You could very well be right. I may be conflating it with one of the 3E adventures that taco jon adapted to 1E.

**Posted by francisca** 6/11/2018 8:42 pm

I think you are thinking of Secret of the Smuggler's Cove.

I actually did a 1e conversion of that, too, that goodman hosted for several years on his website.