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Dungeon Crawl Classics
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<blockquote data-quote="Alcamtar" data-source="post: 7127826" data-attributes="member: 3842"><p><strong>3 out of 5 rating for Dungeon Crawl Classics</strong></p><p></p><p>This game has wonderful art, and a lot of attitude. I consider it worth a buy just as an art book and inspirational reading.</p><p></p><p>For play, I'm not sure. The system boils down to a very lightweight 3E/d20. The monster stat blocks are beautiful in their concise brevity, while still being interesting. The classes are similarly streamlined. If they left it at that I'd be thrilled, but three glaring things detract from it:</p><p></p><p>First, it uses usual dice: d3, d5, d7, d14, d24, etc. I already have players peering uncertainly at their dice trying to decide if its the right one, I can only imagine when you have a dozen varieties that all look similar. Plus when you inevitably lose only one (cat!!), you're up a creek, so I need redundant sets of odd dice. It's a minor detail, but dice are a big deal and they matter.</p><p></p><p>Second, it is very, very dark. This is the game I always felt AD&D 1E wanted to be with its <em>cacodemon</em> and <em>spiritwrack</em>. DCC relies explicitly on pacts with dark gods and demons, and these are hard to avoid. Mechanically and fluff-wise, I think this is well done, and captures the literature they are trying to emulate (Elric, etc). The sample demons and patrons are interesting and evocative, and the whole system is directly engaging. It really does look fun, in the same way it's fun to go insane in Call of Cthulhu. But how many games call for ritual bloodletting or bargaining one's soul to a demon as a core mechanic? How many games have Cthulhu has a merely "neutral" god, and tempt you to BE the cultist? It yanks the game down a very dark path, one that many people will find uncomfortable or worse, and greatly limits its versatility. Pretty much all the patrons are evil, and while a lawful patron is possible, it is hard to write, since it is the horrific consequences of these pacts that are a major balancing factor in the magic system. A benevolent "good" patron makes it too easy, and a wizard without a patron is somewhat handicapped.</p><p></p><p>Finally, and this is I think the biggest for me: every spell has an intricate custom table you have to roll on when you cast it. I don't really understand this. They did such a great job with streamlining combat and feats and skills in favor of just using your imagination, but then they go and muck up spellcasting with all this table rolling? It is impossible to play the game without constant page flipping in a 500 page rulebook. The spell takes are loaded with minor mechanical gradations in range, area, effect, and so forth... exactly the kind of details I don't care about, and one of the things that drives me away from pathfinder. So I just don't understand this.</p><p></p><p>I would rate this 5 for the art and fluff, and 5 for the simplified d20 core, but the spell tables and pervasive darkness knock it down for me. I have yet to actually play it, partly because nobody I know wants to play with such dark and grim things.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alcamtar, post: 7127826, member: 3842"] [b]3 out of 5 rating for Dungeon Crawl Classics[/b] This game has wonderful art, and a lot of attitude. I consider it worth a buy just as an art book and inspirational reading. For play, I'm not sure. The system boils down to a very lightweight 3E/d20. The monster stat blocks are beautiful in their concise brevity, while still being interesting. The classes are similarly streamlined. If they left it at that I'd be thrilled, but three glaring things detract from it: First, it uses usual dice: d3, d5, d7, d14, d24, etc. I already have players peering uncertainly at their dice trying to decide if its the right one, I can only imagine when you have a dozen varieties that all look similar. Plus when you inevitably lose only one (cat!!), you're up a creek, so I need redundant sets of odd dice. It's a minor detail, but dice are a big deal and they matter. Second, it is very, very dark. This is the game I always felt AD&D 1E wanted to be with its [I]cacodemon[/I] and [I]spiritwrack[/I]. DCC relies explicitly on pacts with dark gods and demons, and these are hard to avoid. Mechanically and fluff-wise, I think this is well done, and captures the literature they are trying to emulate (Elric, etc). The sample demons and patrons are interesting and evocative, and the whole system is directly engaging. It really does look fun, in the same way it's fun to go insane in Call of Cthulhu. But how many games call for ritual bloodletting or bargaining one's soul to a demon as a core mechanic? How many games have Cthulhu has a merely "neutral" god, and tempt you to BE the cultist? It yanks the game down a very dark path, one that many people will find uncomfortable or worse, and greatly limits its versatility. Pretty much all the patrons are evil, and while a lawful patron is possible, it is hard to write, since it is the horrific consequences of these pacts that are a major balancing factor in the magic system. A benevolent "good" patron makes it too easy, and a wizard without a patron is somewhat handicapped. Finally, and this is I think the biggest for me: every spell has an intricate custom table you have to roll on when you cast it. I don't really understand this. They did such a great job with streamlining combat and feats and skills in favor of just using your imagination, but then they go and muck up spellcasting with all this table rolling? It is impossible to play the game without constant page flipping in a 500 page rulebook. The spell takes are loaded with minor mechanical gradations in range, area, effect, and so forth... exactly the kind of details I don't care about, and one of the things that drives me away from pathfinder. So I just don't understand this. I would rate this 5 for the art and fluff, and 5 for the simplified d20 core, but the spell tables and pervasive darkness knock it down for me. I have yet to actually play it, partly because nobody I know wants to play with such dark and grim things. [/QUOTE]
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