Champions of the Goblin Market is a level-0 Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure currently on Kickstarter until September 26, 2023. I interviewed the writer and publisher, Matt Funk, about the adventure. I will note early that the adventure currently uses AI generated images for all its illustrations, but Matt is contacting artists about commissioning original pieces and hopes to introduce stretch goals that would replace AI images. Keep reading to learn about Matt’s writing & playtesting process, inspirations, a turkey recipe, or plans for the future!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is your first publication. What inspired it and what convinced you to publish it?

I've always wanted to write a module, since first running games by the Drama building lockers in 7th grade, but it wasn't until this year that a desire for homage inspired it. I came across a compilation of Time-Life books, the Enchanted World series, that I'd read cover-to-cover when I was a kid, and inherited the Britannica Great Books series. I wanted to bring those stores to fellow gamers, sharing the world folklore, the obscure epic poems or the classic literary canon that I love, by bringing it to life through gaming. I started with one of my favorite poems, a watershed feminist work by Christina Rossetti called Goblin Market. I've always enjoyed its message of solidarity and sorority standing against unseemly men, and the imagery is enthralling. I gave it form as the first in the Lohre series, as the opening chapter of an Adventure Path, A Tale of Two Sisters. Happenstance and randomness, my generous patron spirits, then introduced me to Dungeon Crawl Classics and the Goodman Games community, and combined to be a perfect fit and a new calling.

Can you tell us a little about the adventure? 

On a narrative level, it's a tragedy woven from classical elements and folklore. On a meta level, I wanted to bring some qualities to the DCC funnel structure that were uncommon. The shorthand of the story is that two adolescent girls disappear from a frontier town that's holding a Midsummer festival, and the party of "concerned citizen" characters follow their tracks into forbidden hills, to a briar-choked ruin where goblins have gathered for their own bizarre Midsummer market. The characters then get drawn into the goblins' political schemes, tempted by goblin merchants peddling wares that might be blessed or might be cursed, and wind up in the middle of the sort of high-stakes, high-octane bloodbath that DCC is known for.

It differs from many DCC funnels because funnels are customarily a succession of puzzles and combats, in a rich strange fantasy setting, but are intentionally light on roleplay. I wanted players to challenged to discover who their characters really are before tossing them in the meat grinder, and so drew on some of the classical folklore tropes to present moral dilemmas and unusual roleplay opportunities. One challenge, players are required to rhyme and sing. Another, they have to confess sins, with a weird and hopefully memorable result. And at a few turn, their ethics are challenged. This is a funnel that digs deep into who the characters are, in a fun way. My aim is that Champions of the Goblin Market will give veterans a new experience and help those new to roleplaying have fun with some character exercises.

Subscribe now

Did you have any design philosophy/goals in mind when writing the adventure.

In creative writing classes, one of the best pieces of advice is "learn the rules before you break them," and I applied that philosophy to how Champions of the Goblin Market. I did all I could to stay true to funnel structure in how the map was designed, how the backstory had to be relevant, and how encounters should balance "traps" or puzzles with combat. That's just good module writing, in my opinion. I mentioned that I wanted to question characters' ethics, throw in some creative and light-hearted elements, and have a strong, melancholic emotional core; a tale of defiant hope against all odds, even defeat. And I certainly wanted to make the feel of folklore come to life in the descriptive text and the imagery, with a lyrical prose style that has a touch of pulp to it, and art that had a "painted" look to it.  I peppered it with Easter eggs, too. There was a necessary nod to Christina Rossetti, another hat tip to Geoffrey Chaucer that alludes to the sequel, and a few more sly mentions of poets. Plus, I called on some folk legends about goblins, involving fruit, shoes and charms. Overall, I wanted it to be steeped in the lore that inspired it.

There's also a turkey recipe. Tell us about that.

I wanted to bring a whole place to life, not just the adventure connected to it. Taste is a great way to do it. As much as I like a well-crafted module narrative that you can unwrap and dive right into, a "one-and-done one shot," I love sandbox adventuring. I wanted Judges and players to be able to pick up Champions of the Goblin Market, and be able to bring rich detail to the characters' backstory, like religious conflict, rituals, distinct sights, customs, sayings and the little "human" elements that bring a place to life. All that, plus a few seeds that might grow into a campaign of the Judges' design if they choose to water them. I called it the "Sense of Place" section, and I accompanied it with the recipe because taste and smell are vivid elements of experiencing a place. I wanted the turkey recipe, from the town's famous inn, The Darling Damsel, to share that within a gaming group.

And taste, eating, is a vivid element of the tabletop roleplay experience for me. Granted, most of the tabletop I play is now virtual, on the Dungeoncrawlers Discord server, where I can be found at The_Abyss. But my age-old tabletop memories come with the flavors of Starbucks iced coffee, or Nacho Doritos and Coca-Cola, or Togo's #26 sub sandwiches. Food brings people together, in a fundamental and caring way, and I hoped to bring that to people's experience of this module. Plus, it's a delicious recipe by any rights.

During playtesting, did you have any significant changes? What made you feel satisfied in the amount of playtesting you'd done?

The first thing I learned from playtesting is that I love playtesting. I've always been an interactive storyteller, receptive to my audience's experience and responses, and the playtest experience was exhilarating. I also added some elements that made it necessary, or at least well-advised, to explore side sections of the market. It enhanced the enjoyment. I'm satisfied because I've come to the point where everyone's giving me top marks, and the criticism I do receive aligns with what I'd expect from the module. 

Didn’t this adventure begin as a 5e adventure but was later re-written for DCC? What was making the adjustments like?

My first idea to write a module was to set it in Greyhawk, because it was an OG, freeform environment, and I wanted my modules to have that old-school, freeform feel. I found a nifty template for Word Doc modules on DriveThruRPG, read some articles by Kelsey Dionne about the OGL, and wrote the outline. Then I realized that DriveThruRPG doesn't offer Greyhawk as a setting that's licensed by Wizards. But I knew well that Goodman Games had a license to Greyhawk, as I'd been running a Temple of Elemental Evil campaign using their card-table-busting Old-School Revival version.

Editor Note: Goodman Games did not have a license for the Greyhawk campaign setting, but only for the specific adventures in their Original Adventures Reincarnated series, such as the previously mentioned Temple of Elemental Evil.

I contacted their info email address, whereupon Jillian and Matt informed me that though they couldn't extend the license, I could always write something for the Dungeon Crawl Classics system. I didn't know much about DCC except for that Wasabi Burger and Bob World Builder raved about it, so I got the Core Rulebook. 

I was absolutely blown away. It was everything I'd been looking for, for the last three years of my roleplaying revival. As a Call of Cthulhu RPG fanatic, I wanted a system with edge-of-your-seat lethality, which 5e definitely was not. I wanted sacrifice, danger, grit and drama. DCC had that by the bucket. I now can't imagine using another system for fantasy roleplay. For decades, I'd reading Robert Howard, Harold Lamb, Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock, but then having to settle for fantasy roleplay systems that played like a Marvel movie. No longer. 

The layout aligns more with what people expect from 5e than from DCC. Was their ever an internal debate as to whether you should do a separate layout style for DCC?

I felt like following the narrative format of a Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel, but giving it the "aged paper, painted image" aesthetic of a 5e module, balanced the DCC experience with a folklore fantasy aesthetic. I did make that decision consciously, and considered emulating the DCC aesthetic. After all, it was a huge reason that I fell head over heels for DCC. The drawings bring me right back to the sketches my friends and I would scribble on Mead paper in our binders, or on the brown paper wrapped around our textbooks. They're 70s, 80s and 90s style drawings that send me to that era. 

I decided that if I did that, I'd do it right. I'd get Doug or Brad or one of the DCC stable to do the work on one of my modules. But I resolved that would be at a later point. Champions of the Goblin Market would be something I and I alone created, not out of vanity, but because I'm used to relying on myself. 

The art used in the book is AI generated. Why did you choose AI art instead of stock art or original pieces?

I discovered Midjourney this year and, as I said in the inside of the module cover, I thought it was a great tool for "graphic-strapped authors." I didn't see myself as capable of reaching out to anyone for original art and I wasn't fond of stock art. I wanted imagery that matched exactly my aesthetic and precisely my vision. For someone who's used to relying on his words to paint a picture, it was cool that I could use words to literally paint a picture. Like many gamers, I was just a guy who wanted to share a story, and it seemed a tool to help do that.

Follow up, the DCC community is typically very keen on human made art, generally offering more appreciation for physically created media. Did you have concerns about how the community might react?

I have learned that to be the case, about two days before the Kickstarter launch, and I respect that. I would never want to deprive an artist of their livelihood, nor would I denigrate the work of the many genius artists who contribute to both Goodman Games and to the indie products of the community. But, to your question, no, I didn't have concerns, because over the months of developing this, nobody said anything. I work in an industry that's wildly happy about AI, so didn't expect a problem. It wasn't until someone old me, "so, this AI art is not going to go over well with some folks" that I realized there could be a problem. He urged transparency and, since that's a value I live by anyway, I included a line about AI art in the project description.

As I've said when I've responded on Facebook and Kickstarter, I know that ignorance is not an excuse. I never meant to offend anyone, or do any harm. I was just a guy who could write, with a tool that could turn that writing into art, and I thought it looked cool. The good news is, just like the community has supported Champions of the Goblin Market's development and promotion, they've also provided a good path forward. A Facebook user by the name of Alain Veilleux suggested that I could include hand-drawn art as a stretch goal. I really like that idea. I've started to reach out to artists, and have received some referrals from project supporters. Whether a second edition or a future project, original art by a human artist is now definitely going to be part of the picture for the Lohre series and Witch Pleas Publishing, our publisher.

So you promise this to be the start of an "adventure path." Any hints you want to share about future plans?

It gets dark and then goes big. A Tale of Two Sisters has four more modules, with more "Sense of Place," following a narrative thread about the missing girls from Champions while providing means to develop player characters as folk heroes in the increasingly detailed setting. These are roleplay focused. Intertwined are five modules, Descent of the Ancient Fane, which are straight-up, iron-spike-and-10-foot-pole, hack-and-slash dungeon crawls. They're based on Biblical apocrypha and medieval religious lore, and instead of "a sense of place," have mechanics to assist Judges in crafting a campaign. These are dungeon crawl focused. In 2024, I aim to bring it all together into a sourcebook with plenty of additional material, essentially making a complete setting out of the work. With a community like this to support and guide this quest, I have no doubt that we'll succeed in creating something awesome together.

Subscribe now

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably interested in Champions of the Goblin Market so head on over to the Kickstarter!

Also, there’s more great DCC/MCC Kickstarter campaigns going on! Check out Cover Stories by Luau Lou (Seekers of the Un-K'Nown, The Time-Lost Citadel, Dare Luck Club)! Imagine a Judge’s Screen, but it has the whole adventure on it! And I mean everything: adventure background, map, keyed encounters, monster stats, and awesome color illustrations!

Then there’s A Fairly Odd Tale by Jonathan Sullivan (The Gongfarmer’s Militia). When your party is sent to parley with a mysterious witch, you assume it will be a simple fetch quest. But now you've been sucked into a crazy book filled with monsters and characters from half-remembered stories. Will you survive the strange candy house, make it to the top of the beanstalk, solve the riddle of the door, and find your way back home?