Interview with Joseph Goodman

[goodmangames]

For those who are interested, here is a recent interview with me. Hopefully it will answer some of the questions being posed here.

http://gaming.suvudu.com/2012/05/interv ... s-rpg.html

[Karaptis]

If it makes Joseph feel any better, I thought hit dice meant hit points for monsters. My adventures were cakewalks.

[Raven_Crowking]

"My goal with DCC RPG is to keep the same low barriers-to-entry over time. All modules will be stand-alone and sequentially numbered (keeping with the DCC tradition) so they’re easy to collect and follow. There will be only one rules supplement or sourcebook each year, and it will be called that year’s annual (e.g., DCC RPG 2013 Annual). Each Annual will have a mix of rules, source material, and short adventures. And that’s it."

Woot!

Reading that gave me a little shiver of joy.

[finarvyn]

Nice interview.

By the way, Joseph, reading all of the Star Wars books sounds pretty tough. I used to own most of them (at least the ones published as of a few years ago, I don't keep up anymore) and it was hard to stay current. My favorites are the Timothy Zahn books and wish George Lucas would hand someone a stack of Zahn books and tell them to make a bunch of movies from his stories. Good luck in reading them all!

[Galadrin]

Joe, if you stick to everything you say in that interview and make it your Constitution, you will have generations of DCC fans to come. Very inspiring stuff.

[reverenddak]

Reading this made me really happy and proud to be a fan and supporter of this game.

I really relate to the camping in the California deserts. I do it a lot (I mean, a lot.) and I'm always inspired by the terrain, weather and just how it feels to be out there. I want to go camping with you guys!

I have an idea of taking a few gaming folks out to a secret spot in the desert, a hidden dry lake bed or near a volcano, and make an elaborate gaming table complete with chairs, shade, etc. We'd play for several hours each day, then at the end of the trip to burn it. It would be the most epic extreme gaming weekend ever.

or not. I'd be happy just to camping with some gamers.

[goodmangames]

Maybe we need the DCC RPG version of Burning Man.

[Ogrepuppy]

"If you describe an orc as yellow-skinned with tentacles, that’s “wrong” – that’s not what an orc should be. How interesting that a genre supposedly based on imaginative fiction has now become circumscribed by convention!"

I love this quote. Amazing how it applies to so much more than just role playing games, too.

[bill4935]

Great interview. I especially liked this part:

The game obviously went past that but I think it could be boiled down to 64 pages, if published with less art, fewer spells, and only the core character-and-combat rules. By the time my son is ready to game, I’d like to have a 64-page “Father-Son” edition of DCC RPG that he can easily read and digest.

This is what I'm looking forward to and it really got me thinking (the gamer's curse, to always be thinking about new improvements).

I definitely think there's a niche for a Basic/Kids version of DCC. Since the feat-less, AoO-free hardcover rules are quite basic now (which mature players use as a template for choosing the complexity level of their campaign), the introductory rules could be the same as what we have now, just leaving off some of the parts that might bog down a 7-11 year old, like 0-level characters, the arcane classes and their spell tables. I think a good gamemaster could create years of incredible adventures for a party of warriors, thieves and dwarves such that they wouldn't miss being an elf or wizard. Personal bias confession: having to solve problems without a powerful animal companion or a dozen magical solutions at your beck and call is one of the challenges of this game I really admire.

Since the rules don't need to be changed, just pruned a little, I think the same book might be a better resource for non-roleplayers (or non-spellcasters) than the current tome which is bigger and heavier than my college corporate finance textbook. If I play a 1st level warrior or dwarf and it'll take perhaps 40-50 weeks of gameplay to reach level 4, I know I'd rather be carrying a nice light softcover book back and forth that whole time. Speaking of non-gamers, I'd like a Father-Son edition to have tons more gameplay advice and discussion on teamwork, ingenuity and lateral thinking... but perhaps that's just because I've recently read Finch's Quick Primer for Old School Gaming, and it really appealed to me. I don't think any of the Basic D&D books from 1975-1989 ever had enough of this kind of material.

[Galadrin]

A 64 page version of DCC would be great. I think you could squeeze the classes (level 0 to level 2) onto 10 pages and 6 pages for equipment and combat rules. You could drop corruption and unnecessary spell levels so that Misfire + Casting Results (up to 25 or so) fit one page per spell. 8 Wizard Spells and 8 Cleric Spells would be another 16 pages. The next 32 pages could be judges rules, monsters and a sample dungeon.

I'd even be willing to pen a manuscript, if I wasn't going to be busy with school soon. I think 0-2 levels is more than sufficient (Moldvay's Basic D&D only covered 3 out of 14 levels, so 20% of the game).

[Bisikoff]

Great interview. I really like the idea of the annuals and low product line profile. Good stuff.

[Ogrepuppy]

A 64 page version of DCC would be great.

I believe this is what the Pathfinder Beginner Box (a fantastic product, really) and the E6 "system" strives for--paring down D&D to some fairly basic components while still retaining the 'essential D&D feel' of the game.

[mattstaggs]

Thanks for linking to the interview, Joseph, and many thanks to the forum for their kind comments.