The silhouette of the sheriff stands in the cave entrance above you. "You are accused, and only Justicia can determine your fate now. If you come out the other side, your innocence has been proven and you may go about your business. If you are guilty, then you will not survive the Hangman's Garden!"
So begins this wonderful introductory adventure by Dieter Zimmerman. Dieter—one of the designers of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (DCC)—wrote and has been running since at least 2012, when Brian Gilkison, one of the Smoking Wyrm crew, signed up to play Dieter's game at Gen Con. The rest is history—that introduction to the game went on to Brian buying DCC, and then running it for the rest of us at Blind Visionary Publications. History was made that day!
We were quite surprised to discover that Dieter's adventure had never been given full publication treatment. We could not be prouder to offer up this wonderful adventure as our second issue of the Smoking Wrym Monograph series. With this issue, we have worked hard with Dieter to bring his concept to life—and make it easy for other judges to run at cons, friendly local gaming stores, and home tables!
The Hangman's Garden is suitable as a funnel, or a first- or second-level adventure. It is a great way to start a campaign, but also works equally well as an interlude. It is well-suited for home tables and for convention tables—indeed, we cannot think of a better way to introduce newcomers to the wonderful world of Dungeon Crawl Classics.
Written by By Dieter Zimmerman