While other DCC Horror adventures usually fall into the realm of “adventure flavored with horror”, Brenan LaSalle brings true horror with the level-3 adventure titled The Web of All Torment. It’s a perfect one-shot, but can also be used to transition PCs into a new stage of their campaign. I ran it a couple year ago and it became my favorite adventure in the DCC Horror Line. My campaign had a group of (mostly) DCC characters traipsing around the world of Terra A.D. and trying to find a way back home. It was a great way to have them arrive in the great city of Punjar and not have to worry too much about how exactly that happened. It just required them going through a hellish version of Groundhog Day (or perhaps more akin to Death Day). Alright, that’s all you get without major spoilers! So if you’re going to be playing this one anytime soon, you may want to hold off on reading more. However, forward this onto your judge if I’ve piqued your interest!

Spoilers Below!

The adventure begins with the PCs working in the Kozy Kobweb, a lovely little tavern where they have all been working for… an indeterminate amount of time. The PCs happened across this cute little establishment one day and decided to retire from that wearisome adventuring lifestyle. The pay is… well, you can’t remember, but you have no complaints! You all have good jobs and a roof over your head. The patrons are lovely and the surrounding town is cute. I will note here that the adventure can be very easily themed to specific holidays. Perhaps it’s Christmas everyday here and the PCs always serve eggnog and Christmas cookies! So it can be a great adventure to insert any time of the year.

As you may suspect, things are not what they seem. The PCs are trapped in the demi-plane of Suffering. Things change when one of them accepts a gold coin from a traveler that allows them to see the hellscape for what it really is. This exact event has happened untold times before. If the PCs all die, it will happen untold times again. And in the end, perhaps some will make it out and others will continue to suffer. For it is the suffering of their realization that is so entertaining to their “host”, Saint Agony of the Web.

You can have some fun here, having the PCs each slowly realize what’s going on. The ones who know the truth will have to remain cool and collected, lest the “regulars” at the Kozy Kobweb turn on them. They’ll likely attempt to alert other PCs in secret, perhaps pointing out that the beermugs are full of blood and the roast ham, isn’t pig. It’s “long pig”. If a fight breaks out, anyone who hasn’t realized the truth simply sees some fun roughhousing or a group hug. To represent the PCs being rusty at their abilities, the first combat will have them at -1d for some of their actions, such as spellcasting.

After this, the PCs realize that they need to get their items (probably just having knives from the kitchen at best) and get out of here. However, they also need to evade the Kobweb’s proprietor, Miss Alice. She functions like a horror movie slasher. She cannot be truly killed, just put down for a while. A regular death (stabbings and such) will have her rise back up in a few minutes, so unless the PCs can pull off some serious immolation from Flaming Hands (or something similar), they’ll be continually dealing with her throughout the adventure.

The PCs can explore the Kobweb and find a few choice horrors and choice items, including one NPC merchant who turned into a reoccurring character in my campaign. And a magic sword that can point out anyone who has told a lie about the welder. In the basement is (almost) all of the PCs items. Judges need to pick a single meaningful item to have missing (a cleric’s holy symbol, that piece of starting equipment, etc). The PCs need to delve deeper to find this item or they will be unable to leave.

So without overwriting this review and going over every location, the PCs must delve deeper and encounter more horrors along the way. Once they retrieve their “missing item”, they must leave the Kobweb and escape the realm. There’s some good spooky encounters in there, not all of which of combat related. Near the finale, the PCs were attacked by a mob that appeared as everyone they ever met before this session. The mob itself is not much of a threat, but the dwarf failed a related Will save and never again trusted anyone from his past.

The PCs can attempt to break out at any time, but without all their items, it’s almost impossible to do anything but reset their suffering and trigger that “Groundhog Day” type scenario. Saint Agony, their secret host, may even confront them at the end and offer them an easy way out. It’s a trap though. That resets things too. The PCs have to escape via their own capabilities.

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Summary

The Web of All-Torment is a 5-star adventure in my book. It’s an amazing one-shot that creates a vibe and atmosphere that I haven’t quite seen elsewhere. So go pick this one up! It’s tough to find in print these days, but the PDF is always available.

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Kickstarter Round-Up!

My goodness! There’s just coming out of the woodwork! Each of the following sound pretty cool to me:

• Unnatural Selections Volume 2 - A DCC/MCC monster collection from Luau Lou

• Reverend Werewolf’s Old Timey Monster Mania Family Hour - A little bit of everything from Levi Combs and friends

• MACE — Volume #002 - 45 villains by JE Shields