DCC Tournament FAQ

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goodmangames
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DCC Tournament FAQ

Post by goodmangames »

I've gotten several questions about the DCC tournament. Here's a FAQ that should hopefully cover the major points:

Second Annual Dungeon Crawl Classics Open Tournament
Frequently Asked Questions


I didn't get in a game! Will you add more slots?
We're trying! It depends on DM availability. If we are able to add more slots, we will fill them on a first-come-first-serve basis with signup sheets at our booth. Come by Thursday morning to sign up.

How do I advance to round two?
Advancement is determined based on points scored in round one. The highest-ranked teams will advance.

How do I score points?
Points are scored in the same manner XP is generally awarded: killing monsters, avoiding obstacles, acquiring items, and resolving challenges.

Do I need to preregister for round two or three?
No. Rounds two and three appear in preregistration strictly for scheduling purposes. You do not need to preregister.

Do I need a generic event ticket for round two or three?
Yes. If you advance, you will need a generic event ticket for the round.

What if I have a time conflict with the round two slot?
This is a team tournament, and advancement occurs as a team. The minimum number of players for a team to advance is three. If fewer than three members of a team are not available to advance, that team forfeits its slot. The slot is filled by the next-highest scoring team from the previous round.

Can I request a specific time slot for round two?
We will take note of requests for specific times, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to honor them. With 32 participants in 8 slots, the logistics of scheduling will probably not accommodate every request.

Can someone take my place on the team?
No. No substitutions are not allowed.

What happens to my character, then?
One character per player. If you’re absent, your character goes home. You won’t lose points for his death, but the character is out of the game.

What if I miss round two but can make round three?
When you missed round two, your character went home. He is not available for subsequent rounds.

What if I’m late?
There is a ten minute grace period after the official round start time. After that ten minutes passes, the game starts with whichever players are present – or is forfeited and passed on to the alternate team if there are insufficient players present.

How do I know if I’m an alternate team?
We will announce alternate teams with the advancement information.

When do results get announced?
Teams that advance from round one to round two will be posted at the Goodman Games booth Saturday morning. The exhibit hall opens at 10:00 AM and the first round two game does not start until 12:00 noon, so you’ll have time.
Round two results run on a tighter schedule. The final round two game ends at 8:00 PM Saturday night, and the first round three game starts 8:00 AM Sunday morning. We will request contact information for each round two team (cell phone, hotel room, etc.) and notify team leaders of their status by 10:00 PM Saturday night. We will also give out a phone-in number to call to find out results.
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Post by jburnson »

My friends and I are running Crypt of the Devil Lich, last year's GenCon tourney module, to prepare for this year's slot. We have a few questions.

The DM guidelines for last year include this rule:

"5. Rolling the Dice: Please roll all dice in front of players. In other words, do not hide results from PC's. I know you probably do this differently at home. However, I'd like to establish a reputation of trust, fairness, and transparency at the Gen Con tournament, and this will help."

Questions:
(1) Is this rule addressing only the DM's rolls for himself, or also his rolls for the players?
(2) Is this going to be your policy again this year?
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Post by goodmangames »

(1) It applies to ALL rolls by the DM.
(2) It will also apply this year.

The tournament DMs hate this rule. Pretty much everybody hates this rule, except me. I think it's important to establish fairness. At home, every DM fudges dice rolls every now and then. But in the tournament, it's important that the results be determined by skill, not luck -- at least insofar as that's possible. That's why the damage results are averaged, for example. Rolling the dice publicly removes the temptation of a tournament DM to fudge a result for the sake of role playing or some other silly reason. ;)
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Post by Reese »

personally, i think certain rolls should be kept secret

spot, search, listen, appraise, and so on

it's hard to ignore the fact that you just failed a search check for a trap, you know? anything where you're going to know the results right away (attacks and so on) i couldn't care less if they're hidden or not, but i find it easier for some people to roleplay when they don't get any out of character knowledge to interfere
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Post by jburnson »

Thanks for your answer. I have no argument with the rationale. I ask only because we're trying to run our game in the same way as yours.

Another question: The link on the "Free Downloads" page for the Player Pack for last year's tourney says, "The original player pack, given out so that tournament participants could familiarize themselves with the pregens." This line implies that tourney participants received the pack at some time before the tourney itself. Is this right? If so, when is "before"?
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Post by goodmangames »

I hear you on the Search, Spot, etc. rolls. That's a good point.

As for the player pack, yes, it will be available for download in early August. We strongly encourage all participants to download and read the pack ahead of time! The most important part is to become familiar with the characters so you don't take up part of the precious time limit reading over a character sheet.
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Question more than a reply

Post by Tindalos »

My group and I need 2 tickets for either RPG01319 8/18 12:00 noon or RPG01341 8/19 4:00pm. We have tickets we are willing to trade for either of these slots. Those would include the 2 of the above mentioned that I don't get and RPG01335 8/19 12:00 noon also RPG01331 8/19 8:00am. Any suggestions?
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Post by jburnson »

goodmangames wrote:As for the player pack, yes, it will be available for download in early August. We strongly encourage all participants to download and read the pack ahead of time! The most important part is to become familiar with the characters so you don't take up part of the precious time limit reading over a character sheet.
Thanks again for the courtesy of your replies. My group is looking forward to seeing the new characters in August!
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Post by Tindalos »

Not sure how frequent this question gets asked, but will you be posting the charcters for the upcoming Gen Con DCC tournament?
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Post by fathead »

Tindalos wrote:Not sure how frequent this question gets asked, but will you be posting the charcters for the upcoming Gen Con DCC tournament?
It's in the post right above yours.

I'm still hoping that they'll break and post it earlier though...

:D
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Post by ynnen »

fathead & all -- I finally got the last tidbits of feedback in from the very last playtest groups to die in the (er, "run through the") module and am working on integrating all the comments.

Once all the playtest feedback has been processed, the character sheets and other related content can be tweaked on last time for optimum balance and accuracy -- I'm hoping to have all that to Joseph very soon for posting online.
Crypt of the Devil Lich, Dungeon Interludes, The Mask of Death, Adventure Begins, Vault of the Dragon Kings, the Power Gamers Wizard Strategy Guide, The Adventure Continues, Palace in the Wastes and PhoenixCrawl Open
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Post by jburnson »

ynnen,

Take your time. We all want to see the characters, but I am sure that we all also want all the t's crossed and i's dotted (or the skill points balanced and the attribute penalties applied, as the case may be).

John
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Post by ynnen »

LOL... It's a fine line between rushing to meet a deadline and taking the time to be thorough.

While I certainly can't promise 100% accuracy, that's what I'm striving to provide. And I can virtually guarantee that folks will find something to dislike or object to with the characters -- after all, you can't please everyone!

What I can guarantee is that a lot of time and effort has been spent designing the PCs for this tournament, and that these PCs have gone through the ringer with several demanding playtest groups, dozens of savvy (and opinionated) d20 enthusiasts, and I am quite proud of the results. I can't wait for the tournament!
Crypt of the Devil Lich, Dungeon Interludes, The Mask of Death, Adventure Begins, Vault of the Dragon Kings, the Power Gamers Wizard Strategy Guide, The Adventure Continues, Palace in the Wastes and PhoenixCrawl Open
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Post by Drone »

I read the Player Pack yesterday and it talked about how a group could play in their slot with only 3 players instead of 4 if the fourth player didn't make it before the grace period is up.

My question is: Is the scoring for a smaller team different than a full team since the smaller team is at a disadvantage? In other words, does a smaller team score more points for overcoming an obstacle that would be easier to overcome with a larger team?
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Post by ynnen »

Drone wrote:My question is: Is the scoring for a smaller team different than a full team since the smaller team is at a disadvantage? In other words, does a smaller team score more points for overcoming an obstacle that would be easier to overcome with a larger team?
Nope. The tournament is set up for 4 player teams. A team can play a session with only 3 players, but it will be very difficult. The option is there to allow flexibility for players who make their time slot even when another player misses out.

This keeps the playing field level for all teams, regardless of how many players they have in their time slot. Otherwise, a team may be tempted to play "short handed" for bonus points, and simply call it quits part way into the session, rather than press onward in the spirit of the tournament and the Dungeon Crawl Classics product line.

Joseph or Chris Doyle can chime in to address this issue if I'm off the mark with anything, but this came up in conversation several times while we worked on the scoring and rules for this year's tournament. When all else fails, we're striving for balance, consistency and fairness.
Crypt of the Devil Lich, Dungeon Interludes, The Mask of Death, Adventure Begins, Vault of the Dragon Kings, the Power Gamers Wizard Strategy Guide, The Adventure Continues, Palace in the Wastes and PhoenixCrawl Open
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between round character status

Post by eightbits »

I read the Player Pack and didn't see anywhere that mentioned the status of the characters at the start of each round. If (When) I advance from round 1 to round 2 (and from round 2 to round 3 for that matter,) will my character's hit points, spells, item charges etc... be carried over too or do they start fresh? Do you have different character stats laid out for each character for each round of the tournament? The reason I ask is because this might affect which characters my group chooses to take into the dungeon.

Thanks!
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Post by cthulhus librarian »

goodmangames wrote:But in the tournament, it's important that the results be determined by skill, not luck -- at least insofar as that's possible. That's why the damage results are averaged, for example.
I assume that this applies to the DMs rolls only, correct? Players will still be rolling their damage, not applying averages? If the PCs use average damages, this could make a difference in which characters we choose to use.

Also, are there any other special rules that the DMs are playing under for the tournament that it would be useful for the players to know about in advance?
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Post by ynnen »

cthulhus librarian wrote:I assume that this applies to the DMs rolls only, correct? Players will still be rolling their damage, not applying averages?
Correct. Players/PCs will roll for their damage as normal. The "transparency" and balance Joseph is alluding to is coming largely from the DM side of the screen -- so attack rolls will be made in public, damage is averaged, some special considerations need to be made about splitting up the party, using meta-knowledge, and all sorts of things that would go over well in a home game, that need to be moderated and applied equally to all sessions of a tournament game.
cthulhus librarian wrote:Also, are there any other special rules that the DMs are playing under for the tournament that it would be useful for the players to know about in advance?
While we can't divulge all of it, there are some DM guidelines we'll be sticking with that the players may find helpful... Following these will make the DM's life (and subsequently yours) much easier:

1) Get to know the PCs beforehand. Make any reference sheets, spell books, etc that you want before hand. While the DMs will quietly sit by while you look up a special ability for the fourth time, it will eat into your limited tournament slot. It's the player's job, not the DMs, to know the ins and outs of the PCs. The DMs are well versed in the PCs, and they need to be, but the players bear the burden of knowing all the options and abilities.

2) Show up on time!! I can't stress this enough. With such a limited time slot, each party needs as much time as possible to go through the dungeon. DMs will be adhering strictly to the time guidelines and the grace period rules.

3) Don't ask for a score after the session. The DMs will not be sharing scoring information with the individual groups. The DM score packs will be returned to the tournament coordinator after each session, and the tournament coordinator alone will be tracking scores. Scores will be posted after all sessions in a round, per guidelines established in the Tourney FAQ/Player Pack resources. So please don't pester the DM for information he can't provide.

4) Determine your default weapon and ammunition. The default ammo/weapon for each PC must be declared before the round begins. The DM will ask for this at the beginning of each round. Effectively, you're telling the DM "unless I say otherwise, I'm using ammunition XX"... This will help speed things up and reduce confusion.

5) The PC sheets are being used "as is" from the site. Stats errors or discrepancies in the PC sheets are possible. But the PC sheets are being used "as is" to make sure all players on all teams are playing with the same profiles. Even if you uncover a math mistake calculating the AC, or the wrong skill distribution, etc, etc. The sheets posted online and in the player handouts are being used, verbatim, regardless of any errors.
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Post by cthulhus librarian »

ynnen wrote: Correct. Players/PCs will roll for their damage as normal. The "transparency" and balance Joseph is alluding to is coming largely from the DM side of the screen -- so attack rolls will be made in public, damage is averaged, some special considerations need to be made about splitting up the party, using meta-knowledge, and all sorts of things that would go over well in a home game, that need to be moderated and applied equally to all sessions of a tournament game.
thanks for the quick reply!

One more question, if I may ask.
Will the damage that Ubo the Barbarian sufferes from his Vicious Keen longsword (1d6) be rolled by the player, or will he take average damage (3) every time he hits?
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Post by ynnen »

cthulhus librarian wrote:Will the damage that Ubo the Barbarian sufferes from his Vicious Keen longsword (1d6) be rolled by the player, or will he take average damage (3) every time he hits?
Since this damage is from a player-controlled source (ie, the PC itself) the player will roll the damage. An average result will not be used for the 1d6 damage applied back to the barbarian from Ubo's vicious sword.

This does mean a lucky player may get by with minimal damage, while an unlucky player may constantly roll 6s. Since the damage from the vicious sword is NOT absorbed by Damage Reduction, that can be significant, and Ubo's hit points could effectively become a "resource" to manage just like potions, scrolls, wand charges and the like.
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Re: between round character status

Post by cthulhus librarian »

Thanks again for the quick answer Ynnen. Could you answer Eightbits question above about Character status at the beginning of the subsequent rounds? Thanks!
eightbits wrote:I read the Player Pack and didn't see anywhere that mentioned the status of the characters at the start of each round. If (When) I advance from round 1 to round 2 (and from round 2 to round 3 for that matter,) will my character's hit points, spells, item charges etc... be carried over too or do they start fresh? Do you have different character stats laid out for each character for each round of the tournament? The reason I ask is because this might affect which characters my group chooses to take into the dungeon.
"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire,
and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." - Terry Pratchett
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Re: between round character status

Post by ynnen »

Sorry for overlooking this one before...
eightbits wrote:I read the Player Pack and didn't see anywhere that mentioned the status of the characters at the start of each round. If (When) I advance from round 1 to round 2 (and from round 2 to round 3 for that matter,) will my character's hit points, spells, item charges etc... be carried over too or do they start fresh?
This will be treated as it was last year, for those of you familiar with the Devil-Lich Tournament.

All PCs will begin a new round of the dungeon at full hit points, and with all disposable starting magic items intact (ie, wand charges, memorized spells, potions). Essentially, each round, the characters start out exactly as listed on their character sheets. So don't leave any bullets in the chamber... That will be my one and only piece of advice -- if you need to use an item or spell, don't hesitate to use it.

This also means, as detailed in the Player Pack (Returning from the Dead on p. 2), that characters who died during a previous round and were not raised during that round will be available, albeit with one negative level for each death.
Crypt of the Devil Lich, Dungeon Interludes, The Mask of Death, Adventure Begins, Vault of the Dragon Kings, the Power Gamers Wizard Strategy Guide, The Adventure Continues, Palace in the Wastes and PhoenixCrawl Open
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