Through most of my RPG-playing life I have always used homebrew settings and campaigns. Only recently, as I have gotten into my later years, have I gotten into using modules. I’m not sure it actually saves time to run a module (or at least run it well) versus creating my own, but the efforts are spent on different things. In homebrew I have experienced hitting creative roadblocks, which is what I am looking at modules to alleviate. I would rather spend time analyzing a pre-written module than creating my own.

It’s just a phase, I know. I still love worldbuilding and developing interesting conflicts, but my players need something to play and my module mojo could use some development.

And so, here I am running DCC-01 Idylls of the Rat King – an old school dungeon crawl with a basic frame of a story but no compunction to make it anything other than:

• Adventurers find enemy
• Adventurers kill enemy
• Adventurers earn treasure

There are story elements available in the module, however, that can easily be missed – at least, I missed them at first. And so, I’m sharing with you some of the things I found that I wished I noticed earlier. Needless to say, this contains spoilers. If you are playing, or expect to play, Idylls of the Rat King, you really should stop reading and go check out some of my other content or let me know what you’d like to see.

Still here?

On with the discussion.

First, with the adventure hook being related to goblin attacks on shipments of silver ore, there will be crates of ore found at various points in the mine. Some are marked as belonging to the Archbridge Mining Guild. Laglidin Cladinias is mentioned as the leader of the Miner’s Guild in Silverton, but it’s not specified if that’s the same as the Archbridge Mining Guild. I bring this up because later we find crates from the Soulgrave Silver Coalition.

In my case, it was the Silverton Guild that made an offer of reward to the party to stop the attacks once and for all. The Guild wants to see any recovered ore returned to the rightful owners, while the party is welcome to anything else they come across. And so, establishing that there are two, if not three, guilds of interest can be used to introduce a few more unique NPCs with different attitudes and goals.

Next, the Unholy Sleep Chamber in Area 1-14 is decorated with the grim remains of numerous humanoids, including a recently crucified halfling. Where did these victims come from? It would be helpful to include more details about the people who have been attacked by the goblins. Perhaps the halfling was a wealthy merchant that people of Silverton knew and loved? Maybe the mayor keeps a list of those lost to the attacks – something to make this discovery more meaningful to the PCs?

In Area 1-17, the Personal Quarters of the Goblin Chief, there are trophies collected from years of raids. Importantly, there’s a shield with the Gannu family crest on it. Did the goblin chief acquire it when he first attacked Lawrence Gannu? That would imply that Lawrence had the shield with him (for some reason) and that he would then allow the goblin chief to keep it after he took over leadership of the tribe. That doesn’t make sense to me. So how did the chief come by the shield and why doesn’t Lawrence have it now?

I don’t have a great answer for this in my game, but you’ll want to prepare for your players being inquisitive.

The secret chamber in Area 2-7 contains a gold ring and a scroll written by someone named Jessica. This really comes out of nowhere and does nothing, as far as I can tell. I suppose it serves to humanize (humanoid-ize?) the people affected by the original Gannu, but it doesn’t do much on its own. In my case, I created the target of Jessica’s affections and made him a weak spirit that reaches out to the PCs in the general area of 2-7. My players are really bad about constantly searching actively for hidden doors, so having something to nudge them into finding the room and resolving the spirit’s anguish served the story better.

The Holding Cell in Area 2-13 is intended to hold the PCs should they be defeated and captured. I don’t know about your players, but this situation is far less likely than them beating everything they face. I wish I had identified a person or two from the most recent silver ore caravan who may have been captured. This would give the PCs a rescue opportunity and chance to earn greater rewards from the prisoners and/or their families. The loss of these people could have been mentioned as part of the initial adventure hook.

In a few different areas there are skeletons that supposedly come from the time of Serrenna’s discovery and conflict. I wish that I had developed more of the history around the attack, maybe put a monument in the town to all of those who were lost and whose bodies were never recovered. Just a simple thing, but something the players can connect to their current experience with the undead. The zombies are Narzy’s, but where did the skeletons come from?

Finally, there are a few named enemies: Rez-zomar the Goblin Chieftain, G’zogah the wizard, and Narzy Hilspek (and of course Lawrence) as well as the Jailer and the Torturer. Aside from Lawrence, though, there’s really little to no opportunity for the players to learn of who they are. They’re just enemies to fight. You could plant some knowledge about this particular goblin tribe from before they were taken over by Lawrence. In addition, we know nothing about Narzy’s past and I think it can add an interesting facet to the threat as the PCs encounter the zombies and then learn about Narzy’s mining operation.

My players and I are finding this simple adventure to be quite fun. It doesn’t require a lot of thinking and there’s plenty of baddies to kill with impunity. Still, there are some potential story elements that are easily added to support modern play styles while still feeling old school.

I am still improving my skills reading and digesting a published adventure and finding these nuggets for expansion prior to play. If you’re thinking of running Idylls of the Rat King, hopefully my lessons learned can help you out as well.