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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
DCC RPG BETA, June 8th
- Thread starter mach1.9pants
- Start date
Alaxk Knight of Galt
First Post
In the same vein, I love that skills are not explicitly enumerated. Ask a question, would your typical smuggler/farmer/noble/blacksmith know how to do activity X. It's a brilliant simplification to the existing skill system. A farmer and a noble might know about animal handling while the blacksmith would be out in the cold. A smuggler and noble might be able to appraise the value of an art object. Great stuff.
I also like the random farm animal note, but where is the PIG!
fireinthedust
Explorer
I think the 0-level is a good idea (I have my own 0-level rules that I made up knowing this game was coming out. Different! But these are great)
I think the issue is an RP one. Like in CoC how cultists can be regular joes during the day but whip out the hooded robes at night. So the farmer has a secret room on his farm... you've seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it's not unheard of!
Then there's the classic: "learning from your first adventure, you push yourself to master the arcane arts..."
Ditto how the elf goes from 0-level to having a patron they've talked to for years AND spells they know. In theory elves have been around so long they can just chat with their patron, but not at 0-level.
Still, it's a narrative issue. The point is that we now have rules for young kids who go on adventures only to grow up to be big knights. One could start off as Pippen and Merry, and then switch over to the Halfling class in an LOTR adventure.
Another example: Wheel of Time. Rand et al start as 0-level mooks, but discover their potential through the first novel.
Art: I really like the Law vs. Chaos picture. Different artist than the other ones, but not to be forgotten.
The other ones, btw, are fantastic, though. I'd like to see a lot more art like this in the books. You'll notice, on the one p25 and 35 (for the Wizard) that the artist has a fantastic grasp of both 2d and 3d styles? It looks like a simple drawing, flat, stylized, but the direction of the lines, especially on the p35 arm, curve those flat lines to give a really active depth. Neat. Add to that the great penmanship in the inking, especially the good use of crosshatching for the shadows. Very impressive.
I think the issue is an RP one. Like in CoC how cultists can be regular joes during the day but whip out the hooded robes at night. So the farmer has a secret room on his farm... you've seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it's not unheard of!
Then there's the classic: "learning from your first adventure, you push yourself to master the arcane arts..."
Ditto how the elf goes from 0-level to having a patron they've talked to for years AND spells they know. In theory elves have been around so long they can just chat with their patron, but not at 0-level.
Still, it's a narrative issue. The point is that we now have rules for young kids who go on adventures only to grow up to be big knights. One could start off as Pippen and Merry, and then switch over to the Halfling class in an LOTR adventure.
Another example: Wheel of Time. Rand et al start as 0-level mooks, but discover their potential through the first novel.
Art: I really like the Law vs. Chaos picture. Different artist than the other ones, but not to be forgotten.
The other ones, btw, are fantastic, though. I'd like to see a lot more art like this in the books. You'll notice, on the one p25 and 35 (for the Wizard) that the artist has a fantastic grasp of both 2d and 3d styles? It looks like a simple drawing, flat, stylized, but the direction of the lines, especially on the p35 arm, curve those flat lines to give a really active depth. Neat. Add to that the great penmanship in the inking, especially the good use of crosshatching for the shadows. Very impressive.
Ed_Laprade
Adventurer
After reading a good chunk of it I was rather forcefully reminded why most groups houseruled the early editions. (Shuddering at memories of losing half a dozen characters before having one 'stick' long enough to reach 2nd level!) On the other hand, he does suggest that you have that many on hand before starting, so its not like he doesn't know what he's doing.
There were a few things that seemed rather odd. In the section on what characters could likely get a skill check on the suggestions seemed off for some of them. (A miller, whose job is to grind grain, might know something about the grain involved? Etc.) And the prices of some things also seemed off. A sap, basically a sock filled with sand, costs GOLD to buy?
And one thing really cheesed me off. He says that plate mail (which, BTW, there isn't any listing for in the armor section) is inflexible. Has he been living in a cave for the past 30 years? That nonsense has been so thouroughly disproved that one has to wonder...
There were a few things that seemed rather odd. In the section on what characters could likely get a skill check on the suggestions seemed off for some of them. (A miller, whose job is to grind grain, might know something about the grain involved? Etc.) And the prices of some things also seemed off. A sap, basically a sock filled with sand, costs GOLD to buy?
And one thing really cheesed me off. He says that plate mail (which, BTW, there isn't any listing for in the armor section) is inflexible. Has he been living in a cave for the past 30 years? That nonsense has been so thouroughly disproved that one has to wonder...
Raven Crowking
First Post
And one thing really cheesed me off. He says that plate mail (which, BTW, there isn't any listing for in the armor section) is inflexible. Has he been living in a cave for the past 30 years? That nonsense has been so thouroughly disproved that one has to wonder...
Apparently, this is before the invention of almayne rivets.
Vyvyan Basterd
Adventurer
It seemed interesting, but my reading was soured by this:
We are challenged here at ENWorld to be better posters by telling others why our game is cool without knocking the other guy's game. And here's a bad example of this negative behavior in an otherwise professional product. I'm not angry because I disagree with their assessment (which I do disagree with), but moreso because it seems they are taking the edition wars from "some random guy on the internet" status to a professional product level. Nevermind that they have been quite successful because of the very "modern role playing games" (gee, wonder which gorillas they're poking at?) they now mock.
Other than that the rules remind me of my 1E game when we tried to tack on a bunch of fun fiddly bits from Dragon and other publishers. It was fun, but none of the fiddly bits stood the test of time.
DCC RPG Beta p. 10 said:
We are challenged here at ENWorld to be better posters by telling others why our game is cool without knocking the other guy's game. And here's a bad example of this negative behavior in an otherwise professional product. I'm not angry because I disagree with their assessment (which I do disagree with), but moreso because it seems they are taking the edition wars from "some random guy on the internet" status to a professional product level. Nevermind that they have been quite successful because of the very "modern role playing games" (gee, wonder which gorillas they're poking at?) they now mock.
Other than that the rules remind me of my 1E game when we tried to tack on a bunch of fun fiddly bits from Dragon and other publishers. It was fun, but none of the fiddly bits stood the test of time.
Raven Crowking
First Post
Vyvyan Basterd
Adventurer
I'm giving a review of DCCRPG and drawing parallels to past experiences I've had. Fun past experiences that I've had. I was not saying or even insinuating that any other game is better than DCCRPG.
If you are referring to my comment that the "fun fiddly bits didn't stand the test of time," understand that I am not trying to state what you think I am. The elements we added to our 1E game were fun, but didn't make a lasting mark on our 1E game. Things that seemed fun and fresh at first became stale and tedious over time, within the time we were playing 1E. I see similar parallels in DCCRPG. My overall review may not be positive, but it is not a promotion of another game system at the expense of DCCRPG. The game looks like a system I would have loved at one point in my life, but my current tastes (Witch Hunter: the Invisible World, in case that makes any difference) do not make DCCRPG appealing to me.
So, sorry, won't be changing my middle name just quite yet.
Raven Crowking
First Post
So, sorry, won't be changing my middle name just quite yet.
No worries.
Da InterWebs doesn't convey a sense of humor as well as it could.
But that was funny!
RC
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