1 hp, a weapon (of sorts), no armour, no feats, no spells, and 4 cp.

[doghead]

... and having heaps of fun.

OK, I am exaggerating a little bit. One of my characters has 3 hps.

We are currently running a DCC Funnel so we each have 4 zero level characters (three now, in my case). And some of them even have multiple hp's.

I like simple games. I usually run E6 myself. I was expecting to enjoy it. But I am surprised how refreshing it is. Half a dozen rolls, a few of rounds and combat is over. Forget managing resources, its about surviving. And the brutality of it, the uncertainty, makes a great springboard for inter-party interaction after the combat.

Eventually the characters will be funnelled down to one, who gets a level, and some more hp's. Hopefully by then they will also have a real weapon and perhaps some armour of a sorts, or a spell. Enough to give them a fighting chance of surviving the next encounter.

I am not saying its the only way to play (the one true way?), or even superior to other ways of playing. But if you get a chance to try it, take it. Its like a bit of a perspective reset. Its also fun.

thotd

 

[airwalkrr]

I've always loved gritty survival games like this. They aren't for everyone, but I sure am fond of em.

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Our group recently started a OD&D campaign and an npc cleric had 1hp, chainmail armour and a mace to defend himself. There was a lot of praying going on but none of his prayers were answered at 1st level, though perhaps they were. Somehow he's survived and made it to 2nd level. He now has 6hp and can cast 1 spell. It's great fun. I may have to check out DCC but did think it was maybe too far from standard D&D but your description doesn't sound like that?

 

[doghead]

Our group recently started a OD&D campaign and an npc cleric had 1hp, chainmail armour and a mace to defend himself. There was a lot of praying going on but none of his prayers were answered at 1st level, though perhaps they were. Somehow he's survived and made it to 2nd level. He now has 6hp and can cast 1 spell.

Oh mighty triumph! It sounds indeed like his prayer were answered.

I may have to check out DCC but did think it was maybe too far from standard D&D but your description doesn't sound like that?

My thoughts were a bit like yours. I don't actually have the game myself, so I couldn't say for sure. The 'zeros' were created using a random generator. If we get as far as a levelled character, I will get the game (although there is also a random levelled character generator as well). But from what I have seen so far, it seems pretty close to the old school D&D.

The game is being run in the PbP forums here. Feel free to drop by and check it out.

thotd

 

[darjr]

This game is great! The funnel is awesome fun!

 

[Ulrick]

Last year I ran a West Marches-style campaign taking the the Funnelling System from DCC and using it in S&W. It was a lot of fun despite 40+ PC deaths among a dozen or so players.

A lot of those characters only had 1 hp. Some survived to get character levels.

Although the campaign folded, I still get former players telling me what a great time they had.