Sell Me on Dungeon Crawl Classics For Long term Play, and NO Funnels

[Ralif Redhammer]

I ran a year-long DCC RPG campaign and everyone at the table enjoyed it. We started with a Funnel; the funny thing is, I gave people the choice of doing a Funnel or Lankhmar's Meet, and they overwhelmingly chose the Funnel.

In general, advancement was slow, level-wise. The party was still second level by the end. That being said, they advanced in other ways - better equipment, some magic items, corruption, and other strange mutations.

I mixed up published modules and my own adventures throughout. I wouldn't have wanted to try stringing a campaign together of just published modules.

The thing about DCC is that it is actually a pretty modern game, despite being lumped in with OSR, because the rules are designed to lead to outcomes that resemble pulp fantasy short stories of old, rather than be like 70s/80s D&D.

Yeah, when I run DCC RPG, I try to lean into the Appendix N influences outside of Tolkien, rather than trying to encapsulate old school dungeon crawling.

 

[Parmandur]

Lankhmar's Meet

Out of curiosity...how does this work? Haven't really looked at the DCC Lankhmar stuff.

 

[Mannahnin]

If OSE, DCC, Shadowdark and Dungeon World are all OSR, the term is pretty weak.

I don't think nearly anyone counts Dungeon World as OSR, and DCC is a bit borderline. But yeah, the term is used so broadly (has mostly become a marketing label), that it has little predictive value.

 

[Reynard]

I ran a year-long DCC RPG campaign and everyone at the table enjoyed it. We started with a Funnel; the funny thing is, I gave people the choice of doing a Funnel or Lankhmar's Meet, and they overwhelmingly chose the Funnel.

In general, advancement was slow, level-wise. The party was still second level by the end.

Wait, they gained a single level in a year of play?

 

[overgeeked]

Wait, they gained a single level in a year of play?

Two levels. They started at 0.

The XP required to go from 0 to 1 is 10 XP. It takes 40 more (50 total) to hit level 2. You need another 60 (110 total) to reach level 3. By RAW, XP is awarded by how deadly the encounter is. For example, 1 XP for a simple, easy, and barely-challenging encounter on up to 4 XP for a near-TPK level bloodbath. So if you play super smart and cautious, you face little risk and therefore gain little reward. If you play fast and loose and gonzo, you face a lot of risk and gain a lot of reward.

No risk, no reward as advancement. Which I love. It pushes players away from the boring 10ft pole nonsense and gets them to RP like actual Appendix N characters.

There’s also the question of how often they played. We’ve played three sessions of a 0-level funnel. If we’re playing once-a-month, hitting 2nd would take awhile.

Most groups seem to average about 2 XP per combat. How many combats over how many sessions? Reaching 2nd would take about 25 combats. Reaching 3rd would take 55. If you’re doing 2-3 per session, that’s about 13 sessions to reach 2nd…and another ~25 sessions to reach 3rd. If they play hyper-cautious, double that. But if they play gonzo, as Crom intended, half that.

Combat above can be replaced with encounter or scene as that’s a fairly common use.

That’s also RAW and a lot of people use their own XP guidelines. Gold for treasure. Milestone. Etc. One level per 1-2 or 2-3 modules is pretty common.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is there a way to get it as a physical book?

The link I used was to the physical book/PDF combo.

 

[Simlasa]

Taste. I dont like massive amounts of PC death and long campaigns with no meta/plot goal.

Why would DCC (or any game) necessarily lack a "meta/plot goal"? Do you mean some sort of built-in purpose, like Call of Cthulhu's PC vs. the Mythos?
DCC is wide open to whatever goal/plot/quest you might like to put it to... including fighting Cthulhu (the big C is a god in the rulebook, I've played a Cleric of Cthulhu).
Also, I don't think the 'massive amounts of PC death' is that big of a thing outside of the Funnel. Our group DID have PCs die (including mine) but it wasn't every encounter, every session. DCC fans do like to celebrate the fact that PCs can die (there's an ink stamp for it). But, for me, I will not play in a game where PC death is off the table... so yeah, it's a matter of taste, but I don't think its all that more deadly than other OSR games once you get the first level or so.

 

[payn]

Why would DCC (or any game) necessarily lack a "meta/plot goal"? Do you mean some sort of built-in purpose, like Call of Cthulhu's PC vs. the Mythos?

Sort of.

DCC is wide open to whatever goal/plot/quest you might like to put it to... including fighting Cthulhu (the big C is a god in the rulebook, I've played a Cleric of Cthulhu).

Thats fine, but I like a continuity and focus of the game. Im not an episodic west marches style gamer. At least not in perpetuity.

Also, I don't think the 'massive amounts of PC death' is that big of a thing outside of the Funnel. Our group DID have PCs die (including mine) but it wasn't every encounter, every session. DCC fans do like to celebrate the fact that PCs can die (there's an ink stamp for it). But, for me, I will not play in a game where PC death is off the table... so yeah, it's a matter of taste, but I don't think its all that more deadly than other OSR games once you get the first level or so.

We had a lot of turnover in our games. Part of that was the funnel and tournament push your luck nature of the games we played. I dont mind a quick a dirty DCC module, funnel, or tourney once in awhile, but I find skill play to eventually become exhausting. Especially, since I have nothing to progress towards except yet another dungeon to crawl.

That said, if you like weekly unconnected episodic style gaming with a heavy emphasis on the gamist part, DCC might be the regular game for you.

 

[overgeeked]

Why would DCC (or any game) necessarily lack a "meta/plot goal"? Do you mean some sort of built-in purpose, like Call of Cthulhu's PC vs. the Mythos?
DCC is wide open to whatever goal/plot/quest you might like to put it to... including fighting Cthulhu (the big C is a god in the rulebook, I've played a Cleric of Cthulhu).
Also, I don't think the 'massive amounts of PC death' is that big of a thing outside of the Funnel. Our group DID have PCs die (including mine) but it wasn't every encounter, every session. DCC fans do like to celebrate the fact that PCs can die (there's an ink stamp for it). But, for me, I will not play in a game where PC death is off the table... so yeah, it's a matter of taste, but I don't think its all that more deadly than other OSR games once you get the first level or so.

DCC is decidedly less deadly than most other OSR games. Excepting the 0-level funnel, of course.

PCs get more hit points than most OSR games because of 0 level. Sure, it's only 1d4 and CON mod, but when you're talking about wizards with 1d4 hit points, that's a lot.

Leveled PCs bleed out instead of outright die at 0 hit points. You get 1 round per level to be saved.

PCs also get a chance to survive death via the roll the body rules. You have 1 hour to recover the body, if so the PC rolls Luck. On a success, the PC survives.

While there is no raise dead spell, you can raise the dead via the Quest For It rules.

 

[Simlasa]

Sort of.

Thats fine, but I like a continuity and focus of the game. Im not an episodic west marches style gamer. At least not in perpetuity.

Again, I see no reason you can't bring a 'continuity and focus' to DCC or any other game. It's only episodic if you want it to be... or do you need to have a focus provided for you? Myself, I prefer the DIY thing of worldbuilding and finding my own reasons for adventuring. I particularly like location-based campaigns that deal with local intrigues and power structures.

The Funnel is only the first session or two (I've never had it go past the first)... and I see no reason that the game would have to focus on pre-written modules and/or dungeon crawls.

I don't think these are issues with DCC or any other OSR-ish game.