The DCC RPG fills the OSR stomach, but there's still a vacant spot to fill.

dm4hire

Explorer
I'm eagerly waiting for my pre-order copy of the DCC RPG to arrive despite already finishing the PDF sent to us for pre-ordering. I'm looking forward to playing it, if only to get a taste of the old school it was based on (I started in 81 with 1st Ed so missed the different versions of basic). I love what I've read and enjoy almost everything about the game presented except the races as class. While I could house rule it I unfortunately fall into the "not enough time due to other things in life" category which the 10 level cap Goodman put on the game was designed to cater to. The DCC RPG does a great job of filling the OSR need for a light, self contained, low level cap game, but we still need one that is aimed for more modern game styles.

E6 and E8 are nice and would almost meet this need, but they tend to allow for progression beyond their maximum level, using skill points and bonus feats. The Pathfinder starter box is pretty good and meets the goals of a lot of things I’d want in a game with races not as class and does go to level 10, there were a lot of things left out to encourage moving over to the full game (which I own a lot of but again don’t have the time to progress beyond 10). DCC putting the cap at level 10 is brilliant in that he understands most players today don't have the time to progress beyond level 10. In fact the highest level I have ever played consistently with a group only reached level nine and it was due to life catching up and taking me away from the game table. Other characters I've made reached similar levels, but with a family and work and now school it’s hard to really progress beyond level 10 if you follow the rules of advancement. Heck, even point buy systems work against the time deficient player by ensuring that all the really cool stuff you’d gain as a player character comes later on, meaning you will probably never see the cool stuff in game unless you start with a higher buy in and miss out on low end experience.

So I’m wondering, who would be a good pick to produce such a d20 game, or other system, offering a more modern approach to character design and game play? The game should be self-contained like DCC RPG. Aimed at the more experienced gamers, but giving a more modern design approach to character development (i.e. race played not as a class and other post basic advancements). Players should be able to retire a character due to level limits and not from lack of play time since level advancement would be set to a maximum level (whether it is level 10 or lower doesn’t matter as long as a player can obtain the determined cap within a reasonable time).

Thoughts or suggestions?
 

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Thoughts or suggestions?
I was wondering if DCC achieved the stated goal of "rules grounded in the origins of sword & sorcery." Because when I was at a playtest session at Games Plus, the Cleric sure as hell seemed more like an archtypical D&D Heal-bot that any S&S story character I ever read about. Then the last time I glanced at the playtest rules Goodman had publicly available, it still seemed that was the case to some degree.
 

At first glance it would seem that way, but healing is quite different. First of all you choose what you're healing, such as wound type, disease, or blindness, and then make your check. The character only heals that and anything beyond what is needed is lost. The penalties for healing outside your belief system are pretty harsh. Not to mention the possible penalties for failing to keep your god's favor can be pretty nasty and fit in with S&S stories where the priests tend to turn away nonbelievers and a character needs just as much rest as they did magical healing.

Still I think it comes down to your interpretation of how healing worked in those kind of stories. What I read into a story and what you do often tend to be completely different.
 

So I’m wondering, who would be a good pick to produce such a d20 game, or other system, offering a more modern approach to character design and game play? The game should be self-contained like DCC RPG. Aimed at the more experienced gamers, but giving a more modern design approach to character development (i.e. race played not as a class and other post basic advancements). Players should be able to retire a character due to level limits and not from lack of play time since level advancement would be set to a maximum level (whether it is level 10 or lower doesn’t matter as long as a player can obtain the determined cap within a reasonable time).

Thoughts or suggestions?

Umm, Castles & Crusades?
 

I was under the impression that C&C went beyond level 10. That is my objective, a system that has a maximum level of no more than level 10.
 

I don't think there are any other OSR games with a set level cap. I think you're going to need to pick one you like -- there are certainly plenty of them to choose from -- and just cap it yourself.
 


ACKs has a level cap, max of 14 (at which point you are 1 in a million in power). Demi-humans are lower.

Yeah, I was going to suggest ACKS as well. ACKS character progression definitely slows down after 9th; you quit gaining hit dice and such, and the the level caps start hitting. While the race-as-class isn't perfectly what OP is after, the fact that there are multiple classes per race might help.
 

Yeah and there are a ton of demi-human classes in the companion. I would recommend ACKS it is a great system as much as I love the craziness of DCC.
 


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