General DCC RPG thread

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've said it before: that drawing illustrates (ha!) the difference better than any article possibly could.

That's what the article says, in fact.

 

[Faolyn]

There are a few people on here who play DCC RPG so I thought we should have a thread about the game.

If anyone new to DCC has any questions, please feel free to ask.

Is there a way to play this game without having to rely on a zillion random tables? Because that's one of the things that's turning me off from the game (race-as-class and the funnel are other things), but there seems to be things I find pretty interesting as well, like the deed die, the corruptive magic, and the godly favor die.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is there a way to play this game without having to rely on a zillion random tables? Because that's one of the things that's turning me off from the game (race-as-class and the funnel are other things), but there seems to be things I find pretty interesting as well, like the deed die, the corruptive magic, and the godly favor die.

Start at first level, for one thing. While the DCC diehards may cry out in pain, you're not playing with them. If you're not up for the Looney Tunes splatterfest, the funnel can get to be pretty tiring, especially if you have players who come to the game with a more modern mindset that their character is important, rather than a disposable avatar to be replaced when they die, like in a roguelike videogame.

Otherwise, the random tables are 99% wizard spells. If your group isn't playing with one, the randomness largely goes away, except when things go catastrophically wrong for a cleric.

 

[overgeeked]

Start at first level, for one thing. While the DCC diehards may cry out in pain, you're not playing with them. If you're not up for the Looney Tunes splatterfest, the funnel can get to be pretty tiring, especially if you have players who come to the game with a more modern mindset that their character is important, rather than a disposable avatar to be replaced when they die, like in a roguelike videogame.

Otherwise, the random tables are 99% wizard spells. If your group isn't playing with one, the randomness largely goes away, except when things go catastrophically wrong for a cleric.

Everyone’s different, but I see the funnel as a means to drive home the point that no really, we’re not in Kansas anymore. You play a funnel once at the start of a campaign and that’s plenty. But yeah, DCC RPG without the random magic loses most of the draw, for me. The reference booklet was recently updated. It’s worth grabbing to make referencing all the tables easier.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Everyone’s different, but I see the funnel as a means to drive home the point that no really, we’re not in Kansas anymore. You play a funnel once at the start of a campaign and that’s plenty.

Fair, but no one's obligated to play that way at their table, just because some stranger says they ought to. (A similar conversation is happening in the Shadowdark Facebook group, where people are trying to convince a DM that they need to use the optional funnel rules in Shadowdark when they're clearly not feeling it.)

I would bet big money that many of the campaigns that Joseph Goodman plays in start above level zero nowadays.

 

[deganawida]

Fair, but no one's obligated to play that way at their table, just because some stranger says they ought to. (A similar conversation is happening in the Shadowdark Facebook group, where people are trying to convince a DM that they need to use the optional funnel rules in Shadowdark when they're clearly not feeling it.)

I would bet big money that many of the campaigns that Joseph Goodman plays in start above level zero nowadays.

I agree. I feel like, from my read of the book and, the history of its development, and the time in which it came out, that it’s more of a reset for people who have only played 2e and above D&D. Though I love 2e still, it was (IMO) the beginning of a less lethal, more character power focused trend that continues to this day. Taking someone through a funnel is a great way to strip out built-up assumptions. However, if your group has played old school games and knows how lethal they can be, I would say it isn’t needed.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I agree. I feel like, from my read of the book and, the history of its development, and the time in which it came out, that it’s more of a reset for people who have only played 2e and above D&D. Though I love 2e still, it was (IMO) the beginning of a less lethal, more character power focused trend that continues to this day. Taking someone through a funnel is a great way to strip out built-up assumptions. However, if your group has played old school games and knows how lethal they can be, I would say it isn’t needed.

I would say that trend started with Dragonlance, which notably is just after the era that Goodman's works, all the way back through the 3E era, have emulated.

 

[deganawida]

I would say that trend started with Dragonlance, which notably is just after the era that Goodman's works, all the way back through the 3E era, have emulated.

As much as I love DL, I have to admit that you are likely correct.

 

[Faolyn]

Everyone’s different, but I see the funnel as a means to drive home the point that no really, we’re not in Kansas anymore. You play a funnel once at the start of a campaign and that’s plenty. But yeah, DCC RPG without the random magic loses most of the draw, for me. The reference booklet was recently updated. It’s worth grabbing to make referencing all the tables easier.

My table prefers to play characters with fleshed-out backgrounds.

 

[overgeeked]

Fair, but no one's obligated to play that way at their table, just because some stranger says they ought to.

Obviously.

(A similar conversation is happening in the Shadowdark Facebook group, where people are trying to convince a DM that they need to use the optional funnel rules in Shadowdark when they're clearly not feeling it.)

My point was only that if you’re going to not engage with the features of the game that make it unique, there’s no real point to playing DCC RPG instead on any one of the hundred other OSR D&D-likes. You play DCC RPG because you like what it does that other games don’t. At least that’s me.