Matt Funk is back at it again! When the Stars Cried Despair is a starter adventure at the end of the world. It’s a prequel adventure to Descent of the Ancient Fane, where the PCs face no less than the apocalypse. And it all connects to Goodman Games’ upcoming Castle Whiterock (April 2026). The adventure introduces new mechanics to create Bonds between PCs and establish their Business in the adventure, motivations that change the outcome of rolls and alter the story’s plot. This unique approach to a funnel/1st level adventure intrigued me so I spent some time with Matt to find out more. It launches on November 2nd, so get ready!

Tell us about the premise for the adventure! Is this set in Castle Whiterock or maybe in the surrounding area?

The adventure, When The Stars Cried Despair, is set in Lohre, and sets the stage for the Castle Whiterock tie-in, a supplementary megadungeon called Descent of the Ancient Fane, which reveals the secret demonic agenda behind much of the major catastrophes in Castle Whiterock. In When The Stars Cried Despair, the level 0 potential heroes have to stop the imminent end of the world, and confront the demonic deity behind Castle Whiterock’s woes and corruption to do so. I liked the idea of pitting the PCs against the end boss in their first adventure, both to establish the stakes and to give them a sense of who they’re going to be facing when, as Level 9 survivors of the most hellish megadungeon yet, they reach the end. It’s important to note that Descent of the Ancient Fane connects with Castle Whiterock by way of its multidimensional dungeon.

Its locations weave with some of the unanswered questions and unexplored lore in Castle Whiterock, which I connected with the original author of Whiterock, Chris Doyle, to develop. It addresses the reason why Castle Whiterock has been such a hotbed of evil activity over the centuries, and provides apocalyptic stakes that threaten not only all of Aereth, but other worlds, if the forces within the Ancient Fane aren’t stopped. So while it’s an optional supplement to a Castle Whiterock narrative, I feel that When The Stars Cried Despair and Descent of the Ancient Fane really take its tale to a grander level.

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Fallen PCs can potential return a demonic Risen enemies. I’m sure the Bonds and Business tables make such situations more impactful. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Yes, I wanted to take advantage of the lethality of a funnel adventure in When The Stars Cried Despair, both for an interesting new type of foe and for emotional drama. As you noted, PCs and NPCs who die rise again with randomly determined demonic forms and powers, as the Risen. Players can find themselves facing their own risen characters, in unique ways, which provides both a distinct enemy and opportunity for heartbreaking moments. Speaking of heartbreak, the adventure provides the Bonds table to give PCs connections with each other, to enhance roleplay and enrich the story. The Bonds table provides a vast and inspiring mechanic to bring the PCs, and their players, together, and it also influences game mechanics. These Bonds allow PCs to spend Luck on one another’s behalf, providing longevity to the characters and camaraderie between players.

Lastly, the Business table provides personal reasons for some of the PCs to be at the fort where When The Stars Cried Despair takes place. This aids in directing the narrative in a distinct player-driven way, as the motivations of one group of players may vary significantly from another. And these motivations also influence game mechanics, giving PCs who are pursuing their personal goals an edge on some crucial rolls and providing them resilience with the ability to Roll the Body even at level 0.

So everyone who follows the Backerkit page gets a free adventure? What the Bride of Baal all about?

Bride of Baal came about because I recognized a need for a one-night adventure that still tells a thrilling tale of high stakes, tied to the overarching narrative of Descent of the Ancient Fane. So often as a judge, I’m faced with game night cancellations and have to choose whether to skip a night so that everyone can participate in the ongoing campaign, or have the cancelling players miss out. I created Bride of Baal to be played in a single night, with only four PCs, though it’s certainly lethal enough to challenge a larger party. It takes place in a generic fantasy setting, so can fit any DCC game group. And as I note, it puts the players into the heart of the narrative in Descent of the Ancient Fane, as a prequel featuring a major NPC and a world-changing event in that story. In Bride of Baal, the players stumble into the end boss again, as Baal seeks to claim a sorceress who is integral to his diabolical plans. I’ve found it to be compelling for the PCs who survive it, inspiring them to want to thwart the dark forces that nearly claimed their lives in the tragic ceremony that takes place in it.

So all these will tie into your upcoming adventure that will tie into Castle Whiterock. What can you share about those future plans?

Our focus with When The Stars Cried Despair is to lay the groundwork, narratively, for our epic addition to the world of Castle Whiterock. We do so by having the module all set to print by the time the campaign funds, so that print editions arrive on gaming tables in January, and the build up for Castle Whiterock can begin through gaming sessions. I’m delighted and honored to say that the original Castle Whiterock creator, Chris Doyle, converted When The Stars Cried Despair to D&D 5e, and has agreed to do Descent of the Ancient Fane’s 5e conversion as well. With so much secret history and notable NPCs from Castle Whiterock featuring in Descent of the Ancient Fane, it’s been a unique blessing to the work to have Chris involved. The result will be a five-level dungeon like no other. It advances DCC PCs from level 1 to level 9, and provides a one-of-kind personalized experience along the way. As the PCs descend through the Ancient Fane, which connects to Castle Whiterock at five distinct locations on its map, they encounter demons and areas customized to play on the character’s fears and desires. In doing so, it uses mechanics to create situations inspired by the characters and unique to their playthrough.

Descent of the Ancient Fane not only reveals the secret history of Castle Whiterock, but also parts of characters’ souls in a new and provocative way. We can hardly wait to kick off this experience for gaming groups with When The Stars Cried Despair!

Thanks for sharing! Anything else you want folks to know about?

Many more surprises await! We have a special early backer offering for Descent of the Ancient Fane in the works, a guide to surviving Castle Whiterock by living off of eating its monsters on each level, called Delicious in Whiterock. Expect plenty of the usual Witch Pleas Publishing recipes to be found within! But above all, we hope to deliver something truly awesome and unique with Descent of the Ancient Fane, with six new patrons and their spells, forty new monsters, scads of magical items, and art on every page, thanks to Stefan Poag, Alexander Moore, Will McAusland, Jota Cravo of Mothership fame, and Jim Pavelec. Jim, a painter from D&D and Magic the Gathering, graced us with two cover variants that we think will be a terrific pairing with Sanjulian’s style on Castle Whiterock. It all amounts to an epic that we’re sure will do honor to the Castle Whiterock collection!

Which of the Castle Whiterock indie projects intrigue you the most? Tell me and I’ll make a short list of interviews for when its closer to launch for the rest of them!

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