Recreating D&D with DCC

[Devil Swine]

Moved from where it was because it didn't have a lot to do with the post it was in and more of its own subject. Also when placed in the middle of someones work could easily be taken for a reflection of said work(and its not).


I'm just shooting from the hip here so feel free to ignore my often Ill thought out advice but...


For me DCC isn't going to be about redoing D&D. Frankly I have every single edition of D&D and If I want to recapture the old school feeling I used to have with Classic,I will go play classic.

I was slightly disappointed that DCC rpg choose to use the same old class we have seen before over and over. I understand why they did so,it's what is expected and to some extent just easy to do so. They changed enough about them so that at least they feel more unique in play and more reflective of swords and sorcery and less the mass produced fantasy preset DNA strand that everyone is forced into.

Class is almost setting. Think about it! In Conan's world Paladins have to be brought in with a shoehorn and forced into place with enough dynamite that it breaks the setting.

Cleric well, what the heck would the cleric class be doing in the world of Elric? or King Arther? For that matter just about any book from those great old days? Sure we can make them work if that's what we really are comfortable with but why?

Now to some extent this train has already rolled. I doubt any amount of talking about it and brainstorming is going to get DCC to change with the preconceived basic class's.

But already there are people saying things like " For DCC to survive it needs to have things like Ranger and Paladin options put in"

I do NOT agree,


In my opinion that is at least a missed opportunity at the least and at most a quick way to slide DCC into the well traveled shores of obscurity.

Why would DCC have a Paladin class? Totally at odds with the entire God/cleric structure. The Gods in DCC are not Lawfully Good kindly beings who strive to save mankind from itself and evil forces of the universe!

Rangers?? This isn't lord of the rings and why the heck are woodsman casting spells? You do NOT want your woodsman casting DCC spells let me tell you! Freaks of nature with Tentacles!


Now you could put a spin on both those class's to make more DCC oriented class's but why would you? Why not take the road unknown?

If you want some sort of warrior casters why not create something new? Something more akin to the books that DCC is based on?


If you were to create a class based on Elric that might work. A Swordsman who summoned demons! or if you had to have warrior with cleric magic create something along the lines of a specific deity class (the god of war and battle) who rewords faithful warriors based on how many creatures they kill in battle or how many souls they reap?

Something more fitting with the swords and sorcery setting and less with the modern generic throw everything in one basket and blend till its all the same pot?



*Again just food for thought and in no way a reflection on your work with the Ranger and Paladin. If that's what makes the game work for you then..more power to you! I just think once you jump in the MAKE IT LIKE D&D boat you miss all the other boats that could have sailed you into a truly unique swords and sorcery world and instead you wind up in slightly less friendly Forgotten Realms land.

[finarvyn]

It's a tricky question, and only Joseph can really answer for real, but I'll give a shot at it.

ANSWER #1: The DCC RPG may be a unique game when complete, but its roots trace back to the D&D 3E SRD and so many of the old notions and terminology still remain. There have been many discussions about this (make class X go away, to re-name stats or not, etc) and the key is that since it started with the 3E rules as a skeleton it's not a surprise that some of the old stuff remains. I suspect that if he could do it all over again, Joseph might have built a game from scratch instead of starting with the SRD. That's my thought, not one from Jospeh.

ANSWER #2: The DCC RPG isn't about a single setting. It's about a style of setting. Maybe clerics don't belong in Elric's world or Rangers only belong in Tolkien's, but the intent would be to build a rules system that could be used in any or all of them. If Joseph had specified a single world to recreate than many of those classes would likely not be included, but by keeping it general it's important to give many options and each GM can choose which ones fit his particular campaign.

You bring up some great points, however.

[smathis]

Devil Swine,

You're going to (maybe) LOVE what I'm working on for 3PP.

Yeah, maybe you're not into Dracula and Frankenstein and Werewolves. Cool. No big.

But the classes...

Are all based loosely on the types of characters you see in Fiction. Not "role-based". This diverges wildly from the norm. In essence, I chucked everything I thought I thought about classes in an RPG and attempted to construct new archetypes that (A) modeled broad fictional counterparts that would be easy for people to identify with and (B) were still fun to play.

And best of all, it's all compatible with DCC. So if you're looking for DCC without the traditional FRPG approach to classes, check it out. The spells and rituals should be pretty fun too. It could serve as a foundation for a great S&S game. Or could supplement the traditional classes in DCC with something different yet not completely foreign.

[Gameogre]

Well I will buy a copy and if not use the setting,will at least give it a look through for things to loot for my game.