Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/10/100-days-of-halloween-dungeon-crawl.html

Dungeon Crawl Classics #17.5: War of the Witch Queen

PDF. 28 pages. Color cover, black & white interior art.

This is the precursor to the larger Saga of the Witch Queen. I grabbed it to have a complete collection and to see if there were any differences between this and the newer version. I would still love to get my hands on a printed copy.

This adventure is designed for D&D 3.5/d20 OGC. This means converting it to Pathfinder is really a non-issue. More to the point we can convert Kyleth from an 8th-level Sorcer to an 8th-level witch.

The main differences here between this adventure and the counterpart Saga adventure, War of the Witch Queen is that this is for D&D 3.5e and Saga is for AD&D 1e. They are the same adventures with very minor tweaks.

Both send the PCs on a quest to stop and kill Kyleth the self-styled Witch Queen. It is a straightforward dungeon crawl. This is not a weakness, but rather its strength.

The obvious question is do you need this one if you have Saga of the Witch Queen? I say yes since the systems are different (but can be converted).

In northerly moors, evil witches are to be found. That might be enough to get the party heading that way... It is suggested that a well-balanced party is best for this adventure, but that there are some aspects best suited to a sorceror. If you don't have one, don't worry, they can be re-tuned to work with a wizard instead.

The DM's materials include scaling information, a wandering monster table, an adventure overview and the detailed backstory. Apparently there was an entire coven of witches living in the area, all evil, and they fell to squabbling. As a result of this, with plenty of treachery and broken promises as well as outright brawling, a young sorceress claimed the title of Witch Queen. Her hold over the title and the rest of the coven is still tenuous, and this looks like a good opportunity to rid the area of these evil witches entirely!

The adventure starts on the brink of a sinkhole in the moors, where the lair of the Witch Queen is believed to be located. It's wreathed in fetid mists and certainly sounds the part. How you get the party there, however, is left up to you. The first part of the adventure involves fighting and bypassing traps to actually get to the entrance of the lair itself.

The second part of the adventure begins when the party pass through a magic portal into the dungeons of the Witch Queen. That's when the fun starts. Traps and monsters abound, and it soon becomes clear that all manner of horrible things go on in these depths... and only after these have been navigated will the party be able to enter the final part, an extradimensional space where the Witch Queen herself is to be found. Needless to say she's none too happy about this and attempts to flee before she is killed, as she assumes anyone surviving thus far will be powerfull enough to send her for a dirt nap.

There's little in the way of follow-up adventure ideas, unless of course one of the party fancies becoming the next Witch Queen! This does present some intriguing possibilities... Resources include five pre-generated characters (which need transferring onto character sheets, they are a jumble as presented) and lots of 'this is what you see' pictures to display.

Overall, it's a tough but quite interesting delve, provided you like brimstone and the stench of sulphur! No doubt a great service would be done to all honest denizens of the area if the Witch Queen were to be overthrown...