New judge, thoughts and questions.

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Jchristmas
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New judge, thoughts and questions.

Post by Jchristmas »

Hello all!

I judged my first adventure (the 0 level funnel in the rule book) the other day with some guys entirely new to gaming, it was fun and i learnt a bunch (my first time ever being in charge) fun enough to start preparing for the next one

One thing that didn't seem to connect was having multiple PC's per person, being new players they just felt a bit lost and confused looking at lots of sheets of paper rather than roleplaying them, so the next adventure I have chosen is Mists of Madness because it requires 5 1st level PC's which is perfect.

I'm really hesistant to scare them off by making them build their own character (playing 5ed DND myself, its quite a lot to learn to play a game and is quite intimidating) I think down the line as they get into it I can get them more involved. I was thinking choose one of each class (2 warriors) and roll up all of the stats, then on the day let them choose a name/allignment and have some gold to spend on supplies. Was thinking maybe ill tag some 1st level spells as linked to each alignment so that they get given the spells rather than having to read them all. what do you think? good idea, or worth dragging them in over there heads? how have other judges dealt with brand new players?

Also a few other questions

1-when checking the mists of madness it talks often about squares, especially for traps, should i be playing it all out on a board or will imagination suffice? i was thinking id play the combats out with models so we can get an idea of distances and stuff, my first adventure we just winged the entire thing, didnt even bother with initiative.

2-In the rule book it states that a level 1 character levels up to level 2 at 50 EXP. the first encounter in mists of madness are worth 250xp a pop, how does this work? are they are both 4e?

3-In the rule book for each class what does the 'Attack' column refer too, +1 for level 2, +2 for level 3 etc

4-Want to make sure ive got combat right. A monster has +12vsAC - I roll a d20+12 and compare it to the AC - If = or above AC then its a hit and a save must be rolled - PC controller rolls a D20 adds appropriate modifier and if = or above attack roll then a miss and takes any 'miss' damage - If a hit then takes damage 1d8 + 4 in this case.

reading through the book, some of the damage looks really high, most of the 0 level characters had 1/2 HP and it feels like these level 1 characters will need at least 20 or so HP to survive a few hits. Am i missing something?


I'm sure more things will be popping up but ill leave it here, thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and has the energy to deal with another new judge. I'm the first in the gaming group to try out this system so i feel a tad lost but im sure ill get my head around it

J
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Raven_Crowking
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Re: New judge, thoughts and questions.

Post by Raven_Crowking »

You should let the players level up survivors of the funnel and then choose one to use. DCC isn't about "building" characters, except how they are built through play. Leveling up a character should take about 5 minutes, maybe 10-15 the first time if no one has ever done it.

I am not familiar with Mists of Madness, but that appears to be a 4e-era adventure, so you would have to convert it to make it work for DCC. The DCC adventure line started with 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons. When Goodman Games decided to create their own game, it used the name. The DCC-compatible modules start with Doom of the Savage Kings, at DCC #66.5. May I suggest a different 1st level adventure, written for Dungeon Crawl Classics specifically?

If you wish to go with official Goodman Games adventures, I would suggest

DCC #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings
DCC #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos
DCC #81: The One Who Watches From Below
DCC #82.5: Dragora's Dungeon
DCC #89: Chaos Rising
DCC #97: The Queen of Elfland's Son

If you want to look into third-party products, you will have even more to choose from. I would consider:

The Wizardarium of Calabraxis
Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror
The Treasure Vaults of Zadabad
The Haunting of Larvik Island

There are quite a few more choices, but these ones are probably accessible to new judges and players.

You should take as a caveat that I write material for DCC, and have converted material, so I am not completely objective.
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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GnomeBoy
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Re: New judge, thoughts and questions.

Post by GnomeBoy »

Jchristmas wrote:I'm really hesistant to scare them off by making them build their own character (playing 5ed DND myself, its quite a lot to learn to play a game and is quite intimidating) I think down the line as they get into it I can get them more involved. I was thinking choose one of each class (2 warriors) and roll up all of the stats, then on the day let them choose a name/allignment and have some gold to spend on supplies. Was thinking maybe ill tag some 1st level spells as linked to each alignment so that they get given the spells rather than having to read them all. what do you think? good idea, or worth dragging them in over there heads? how have other judges dealt with brand new players?
As Raven says, Mists of Madness is a 4th Edition D&D module from Goodman Games, while the DCC RPG is it's own thing, not part of D&D. Someone familiar with both systems could probably do a conversion to run the module with DCC, but that's a bunch of work. Stick with DCC RPG modules while you're new at it (Numbers 67 and up, plus third party publisher items).

As for leveling the characters up, it's not that complicated, really. If they can understand the archetypes (Warrior, Wizard, etc.) they just pick one that appeals to them. IF they're new to roleplaying, you can bypass the need to "optimize" perhaps... The abilities are all set down for them at that point, there's not much more to choose or dither over. The spells are randomly selected (page 48, second column), so no one should be reading each and every spell to decide which ones they want. You can do it that way, if you want, but the intention is that it is quick and easy to get a character built and start playing.

In the Funnels that I've run, people tend to focus on playing one of their Zeroes as their 'lead' character and the others back them up. Some folks might switch between two or three of their Zeroes, but that's up to them. But being new to roleplaying and trying to roleplay multiples could certainly be tricky. They'll get the hang of it.

But the intent would be that out of the survivors come the 1st Level characters. They could each pick one of their survivors (assuming they had more than one) and that's the character they get to choose a Class for...

When in doubt, randomize.

...And as a Judge, use the Dice Chain to solve your judging dilemmas whenever possible... :wink:
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

Link: Here Be 100+ DCC Monsters

bygrinstow.com - The Home of Inner Ham
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Raven_Crowking
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Re: New judge, thoughts and questions.

Post by Raven_Crowking »

...But if you really want Mists of Madness, petition Goodman Games to hire me to convert it!
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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