Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by Goodman Games

Thanks for a great review of a great game!

 

[mouser]

Hardcover available?

Does anyone know if the print edition is still available anywhere?

Not on amazon or their website.

I hate spending money on PDF's

 

[Ravenheart87]

Does anyone know if the print edition is still available anywhere?

Not on amazon or their website.

I hate spending money on PDF's

Not available on their website? It's one of the first items you see when you check their online shop. It's also available in Paizo's store.

 

[dkyle]

However, I don't think any of my players would dig the Paranoia six-pack character creation method.

Yeah, my group ran the Beta for a little while, and I did not think that the level-0 stuff worked as expected. It was not survival of the fittest. It was survival of the characters that sucked at doing stuff, so were generally out of harms' way twiddling their thumbs while the useful characters did stuff (and ended up getting killed).

Also, being forced into a racial class due to background roll really sucks...

 

[Ravenheart87]

Also, being forced into a racial class due to background roll really sucks...

House rule it if you don't like it. It's not that hard. I'm going to play a bit by the book for now, but I have planes for seperating race and class, and adding some new classes to the game. Not a big deal.

 

[dkyle]

House rule it if you don't like it. It's not that hard. I'm going to play a bit by the book for now, but I have planes for seperating race and class, and adding some new classes to the game. Not a big deal.

It's a review thread. "House rule it" is not a good answer to a criticism of a game system.

I didn't say it single-handedly ruins the game, and that if only it was something else, I'd play it. I said it was a mechanic that I particularly don't like.

Now, it is a game that I don't like, overall, for many reasons. If I houseruled everything I dislike about DCC, I'd end up with a game that was more my design than Goodman's.

 

[Ravenheart87]

It's a review thread. "House rule it" is not a good answer to a criticism of a game system.

A game is more than just a collection of rules. The writer himself emphasizes customization and house ruling, the game is full of tools to customizes various elements of the game, there's even a seperate appendix about rules complexity, so while it's not part of the game mechanics, it's an important aspect of the game.

 

[Leif]

It's a review thread. "House rule it" is not a good answer to a criticism of a game system.

A game is more than just a collection of rules. The writer himself emphasizes customization and house ruling, the game is full of tools to customizes various elements of the game, there's even a seperate appendix about rules complexity, so while it's not part of the game mechanics, it's an important aspect of the game.

Excellent and valid points from you both.

 

[tenkar]

I hated the beta of DCC on first read.

I am thoroughly enjoying my read through of the final DCC RPG.

It is most certainly NOT for everyone. It is the game Joe Goodman wanted to write, so he did. It encourages house ruling to make it closer to the type of game the GM / Group wants to play and gives some suggested changes.

It requires a certain amount of DM Fiat to make decisions on things like skill use and Mighty Deed of Arms (a warrior ability) which some groups will embrace and others will be uncomfortable with.

I do find it funny that even Old School gamers like myself have trouble agreeing what actually constitutes Old School Gaming, the OSR, Appendix N and the like. It's one of those things that you know when you see it, but no two people see it the exact same way.

 

[Leif]

So, tenkar, what changes were made between the beta test and the final version of DCC RPG? Must've been some pretty dramatic editing going on somewhere to make you flip-flop like that, eh?

 

[Ravenheart87]

Changes that first come to my mind:

More stuff: 0 level professions, levels, spells, monsters, patrons, art.
Lots of inspiring and useful writing, tables, appendices were added.
No seperate XP charts for classes, calculating XP was simplified.
There's a lower chance that failure in spell casting cripples the caster.
Spell tables were redesigned, every spell got unique effects for failure.
No percentile thief skills, they work like every other skill check now.
Level 0 demihumans get some of the abilities from thier racial classes.