Dungeon Crawl Classics compatible: Return of the Ripper + complimentary PDF (via Leisure Games webstore)
The Autumn of Terror is back! Commemorating the twentieth anniversary DCC 24: Legend of the Ripper, this new adventure will chill your players' very souls.
Death stalks the streets of Spittle-Fields — an elusive killer committing horrible crimes. A century past, dread gripped the teeming slum of the Tenements. Women were savagely murdered by a shadowy figure who vanished into the fog. Then the murders stopped, but the killer was never found.
Now a fresh murder awakens fears that the Ripper has returned. The party must search for answers in Spittle-Fields Market, through the narrow alleys of the Tenements, in the haunted Ten Bells, within the sinister White Chappel and down into the sewers which carry all the filth from the city above.
Return of the Ripper is an urban horror investigation adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, set in Spittle-Fields, an insalubrious city district that has bloomed beyond Punjar's Plague Gate.
The four quarters of Spittle-Fields are presented as an urban sandbox populated with nearly 200 detailed locations, populated by an array of grotesque NPCs. The book is organised into eight chapters:
- Area 1: Spittle-Fields Market Quarter
- Area 2: The Tenements Quarter
- Area 3: White Chappel Quarter
- Area 4: Benevolent Craftsmen's Quarter
- Area 5: Guild of Master Builders
- Area 6: The Ten Bells
- Area 7: The Undercity
- Area 8: Tomb of the Sea Queen
The adventure contains over a dozen maps, illustrating the four quarters of Spittle-Fields, Spittle-Fields Union Workhouse, the Cam Inn, Mitre Tavern, the haunted Ten Bells Public House, the Guildhall of Master Builders, the White Chappel and the crypts and tunnels beneath the churchyard, the rivers, channels and sewers that flow beneath Spittle-Fields, and a planar journey to a pocket dimension.
Return of the Ripper is intended to be played as a mini-campaign, taking characters from 1st to 3rd level — and beyond. Spittle-Fields can also be used as an urban decay campaign setting and creative Judges will find many adventure hooks within.
Artwork and maps
The adventure features a full-colour wrap-around cover by D&D luminary Jeff Dee (Slave Pits of the Undercity, Village of Hommlett, Tomb of Horrors, Isle of Dread, DCC Core Rulebook) and the interior is lavishly illustrated by Stefan Poag, Chris Holmes and Italian horror comics legend Arjiuna Susini. Cartography is by Jason Edwards.
Spittle-Fields district maps are illuminated in the style of 17th-century woodcut maps by Wouter F. Goedkoop. Full-colour print-on-demand posters of the maps are also available.
Inspirations and references
Return of the Ripper pays homage to DCC 24: Legend of the Ripper by Andrew Hind (Goodman Games, 2005) and is published on its 20th Anniversary. Return draws on a wide range of literary sources (Peter Ackroyd, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Iain Sinclair) as well as history, psychogeography, folklore and weird fiction. The book includes its own Appendix N, a 6-page essay detailing the inspirational sources for Spittle-Fields.
Comments from Kickstarter backers
❝This might just be one of my favorite Kickstarters! Can't wait to see what ya work on next after this gets wrapped up!❞
❝The update about Lud Heat and psychogeography convinced me to back at the highest level I could to help get this project funded. It got me excited for not just an urban horror adventure but one with real substance and well-chosen source material.❞
❝This all looks really great. There looks to be a lot of meat on the bones.❞
❝All the art released in these updates has been freakin' awesome. I'm super stoked for this!❞
❝This has been so fun to watch. I ordered the print-on-demand map from DriveThru and it came out fantastic! The different versions you've been releasing as you've all been progressing has been great. You're doing a wonderful job!❞
