Review of Deep Carbon Observatory Remastered

Author: Patrick Stuart
Artist: Scrap Princess
Maps: Dirk Dietwielle

I am currently running this module. I tried to keep spoilers to a minimum, but if you are one of my players, please read this after the end of the campaign. Thank you.

Just buy this! This is one of the most interesting TTRPG modules I have ever run. Foundational. It will give you a new perspective on what an adventure can and should be. Even if you don't run it, it is so full of ideas, evocative concepts, and amazing art that it is worth your money anyway.

The module, in essence, is a dungeon delve preceded by a hex crawl. An ancient dam has collapsed; the Lock Valley is flooded, and the Deep Carbon Observatory, which lies at the bottom of the drained lake, is now accessible. The adventure begins in the town of Carrowmore during the flood. The characters, thrown in medias res, are assaulted by a sequence of micro-scenes where they confront the horror of a humanitarian catastrophe. From there, they move upriver through the drowned land, a landscape of devastation and weirdness. Various factions are racing against the PCs, but none is as iconic as the Crows, the nastiest rival adventuring group I've ever encountered in 20+ years of TTRPGs; they are the epitome of fighting dirty, using the environment to their advantage and surviving at any cost. Continuing north, the dam itself is a small but intriguing dungeon, followed by a vicious faction war in the deep zone that allows the PCs to take part in the slaughter or watch the carnage from the sidelines. All culminates with the Observatory itself: 40 rooms with plenty of loops and verticality - a masterclass in Jaquaysing. Inside this eerie and abandoned place, stacked to the brim with the weirdest structures, puzzles and loot, lurks one of the most terrifying monsters I've ever read.

The art of Scrap Princess is incredibly powerful. A couple of black and angry lines are enough to communicate more than the most photorealistic portraits. The same philosophy is adopted in the descriptions: instead of a rambling narrative, several evocative sentences provide you with an accurate sense of the situation. One of my favorite NPCs has her own backstory communicated splendidly through her own inventory:

• A brief letter from a famous mage thanking him for his idea, but saying not much interest in voodoo doll displacement rituals
• An article dated a year later: mage's paper describing advances in doll displacement rituals - his name on the paper - her name not mentioned
• Multiple spell-books from murdered wizards - useless and defaced.
• An opium pipe.

Do you really need to know more about her history?

The biggest issue is probably the non-linearity in which information is presented. Before running, it is recommended to read it in its entirety, and a minimum of additional preparation is recommended. Another thing to underline is that the tone of the adventure is, at times, very grim, and safety tools are strongly advised.

System-wise, it is designed for LotFP (Lamentations of the Flame Princess), but it is easy to use in any OSR-style game. I am running it with Dolmenwood, but any D&D-adjacent system like OSE (Old School Essentials) works. Nothing stops you from running it with 5E, but converting the stat blocks of the encounters does require some work, and you may want to tweak some of the systems to increase lethality and emphasize the survival mechanics.

In conclusion, this is a wonderful adventure, uniquely imaginative and deeply engaging. I cannot recommend it more.

You can buy it from the author's blog: https://falseparcels.bigcartel.com/