DCC7 – The Secret of Smuggler’s Cove

There are at least three versions of this module. Normal ‘ol DCC7 is a third edition adventure, while GG3 is for Castles & Crusades. This version is by Black Blade Publishing, under license, and is for the First Edition of the worlds most popular fantasy roleplaying game. The trademark troll strikes again! I have absolutely no idea why this DCC is so popular; the reasoning completely escapes me, unless it was an experiment in systemless design so they could release modules for every game system simultaneously. In any event, the credits lead one to believe that Black Blade just converted the adventure to OSR and that’s it. I hope that’s the case for the mad archmage’s sake.

What we have here is something very evocative of Saltmarsh. There’s a lighthouse that people think is haunted. There’s a ruined house attached to the lighthouse. Both have been ‘haunted up’ by a group of smugglers that dwell in sea caves underneath. And there are fish-men, Locath in this case, that are involved also in another connected cave system. That’s four adventure areas and maybe 60 keyed encounters. covered in about 32 pages with a ‘double module cover’ ala Queen of the Demonweb Pits. There are three player handouts, all on one page for easy photocopying.

There’s a village quite nearby, with a thousand feet or so, with a population of 550. It has about six businesses described, including the local alchemy shop. An inauspicious beginning, even if the town is described at the end of the module. The village lacks any sort of flavor at all; if you’re going to use DCC7 then I’d suggest transplanting in some Harnic village or town.

The lighthouse has four rooms, one per level, with a very simple wandering monster chart. Basically you get to experience two spooky illusions and then a real undead haunter before making it to the top, wherein the first clue lies to the actual events going on. The ruined manor home also has a rather simple wanderer chart to go along with it’s 12 keys. Gnolls, scorpions, weasels and a harpy lurk about. There’s not much going on, although a thorough group will pick up a clue for a magic item discovered deeper. Well, not much going on except for the BOXED TEXT. I did mention the BOXED TEXT didn’t I? I wouldn’t want to forget the BOXED TEXT. The BOXED TEXT is in just about every room in the module. I loathe boxed text.

The first dungeon level is more of a ‘basement of the house’ level, complete with evil demon temple and prisoner cells. I like prisoners in dungeons but this cell area has a problem. You see, there’s an Iron Flask in one of the cells. If the party opens the flask then we’re given instructions on what happens as the creature appears. If they don’t open the flask then the creature is sitting in the middle of floor is a cloak over it. Wait, what?! If I open the flask then the monster appears but if I don’t then it’s sitting on the floor? Clearly, something is amiss here in the design, something being left out or being lost in the translation or original concept. Otherwise, it’s giant rats, dark mantles lame wanderers, and the temple with a couple of devils and an undead.

The second dungeon level is the home of the smugglers and the module makes a big deal of the tides. Two high tides and two low tides a week, with the high water line marked on the map in multiple places. Great! Good detail! Except of course for the fact that several of the smugglers rooms are below the high tide mark. The smugglers storeroom? Below water twice a week. The leaders opulent bedchamber? Below water twice a week. Long-term prisoner storage? Guardroom? Treasure chamber? All below the high water line.

Finally we get to the Locath caves. They throw pots of green slime at the party. Look, I don’t mind gonzo, in fact I LOVE ASE1, but either do gonzo or don’t. If you just toss in some half-ass gonzo like this then it feels like a cheap shot. Otherwise it’s caves full of Locath and their leader. Joy.

This thing is a hack-fest. Almost every room has an encounter in it. In fact there are about 31 creature rooms and 5 traps rooms. Not a lot of room to maneuver around with your bloody battle-axe doing your talking for you. I’ve heard people talk about this module in glowing terms but I’m at a loss as to why. Yes, there are no ancient dragons in 10′ rooms, however that’s a rather sad commentary on what it takes to be a good design. More puzzels! More factions! More complex maps! More weird! Alas, those are not present in this product.

This is available at DriveThru.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/1781/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-7-The-Secret-of-Smugglers-Cove?affiliate_id=1892600