What is DCC?

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Zardnaar
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What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

Sup new here, refugee from the WoTC boards. What is DCC? I have heard of people describing it as a d20 version of OD&D. I like AD&D and some d20 D&D but I have never played OD&D. Anyway please tell me a little about the game, is there any free examples/character sheets one can look at?

Lately I have been buying everything on PDF via RPGnow.com due to living in New Zealand and not having a FLGS and postage from the stats is terribad expensive. What would be the cheapest way one could try out DCC as I remember the DCC name from d20 era of 3rd ed.

Cheers

Z
Last edited by Zardnaar on Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Harley Stroh »

Welcome, Zardnaar!

Downloading the free adventures from our Facebook page, would be a great start:
https://www.facebook.com/dccrpg

Along with the quick start rules, you should be good to go!
http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/ ... 060811.pdf

//H
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

Thanks I have to bail soon so I'll download them tonight and have a look. Any links to the main rules, popular adventures etc?
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Harley Stroh »

Poking around RPG now will turn up most of them:

http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=187_190

//H
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by finarvyn »

Zardnaar wrote:What is DCC? I have heard of people describing it as a d20 version of OD&D. I like AD&D and some d20 D&D but I have never played OD&D. Anyway please tell me a little about the game...
DCC is a modern-mechanic RPG that tries to go back to the early days of role playing to give a similar feel to the books known as "Appendix N" from the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide.

Appendix N is the list of books which inspired Gary Gygax in the creation of D&D back in the 1970's.

DCC has a mission statement stating essentially that we want to "roll back the clock" to the 1970's, taking the same source materials that Gary had access to and inspiration from, and build a game that will give that same sort of feel.

It's designed to be simple, even though the core rulebook is pretty hefty. DCC doesn't have complex skills and feats. It doesn't have a lot of nit-picky rules. It goes back to basic role playing concepts and starts from there -- if you want to try something the DM can "wing it" with an attribute check.

Much of the rulebook is devoted to spells. Each spell as a cool "special effects" type table. When you cast a spell you roll on the table to see how effective the spell is for you this casting.

It's fundamentally a simple game, no matter what some folks may post on other boards. I strongly urge you to look at the links that Harley posted and give DCC a try.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

I hasd a quick look at the quickstart guide but the facebook page was messy and had a lot on it. As I said I was in a hurry.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Ravenheart87 »

The best way is to learn what DCC is like is reading about how other people's adventures went. There are plenty of reports on these forums. You'll see a lot of death and weird stuff. :)
Vorpal Mace: a humble rpg blog with some DCC-related stuff.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Flexi »

Ravenheart87 wrote:You'll see a lot of death and weird stuff. :)
All in a standard playing session for a DCC player! :)
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Raven_Crowking »

DCC is the game where you become embroiled in epic struggles. And then you become 1st level.
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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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

Is it kind of like the old Darksun where you had a character tree? Level 0 d4 hit points lol. A bit different I suppose.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Skars »

yeah Dark sun you started effectively at level 3 :0
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by finarvyn »

Zardnaar wrote:Is it kind of like the old Darksun where you had a character tree? Level 0 d4 hit points lol. A bit different I suppose.
Sort of, although if I recall correctly you only adventured with one character at a time in Dark Sun. Dark Sun has you run one character at a time, but gives XP to others so they advance together. In DCC you start with a pile of characters and whittle them down to (ideally) a single one which survives to become "the" character.

Other than that, DS and DCC could be either similar or not so much. Certainly you could run a DS-style campaign using DCC rules, but that isn't at all mandatory.

I think that perhaps the "ultimate" DCC fiction would be Michael Moorcock's "Young Kingdom" stories with Elric, who goes on adventures and sometimes fights but sometimes calls in favors from patrons who can fight for him. And Elric lives in a dark setting where the good guy doesn't always walk away unchanged. When I think of the DCC rules, this series always comes to mind.
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"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own."
-- Gary Gygax
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!"
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"Misinterpreting the rules is a shared memory for many of us"
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Flexi »

finarvyn wrote:I think that perhaps the "ultimate" DCC fiction would be Michael Moorcock's "Young Kingdom" stories with Elric, who goes on adventures and sometimes fights but sometimes calls in favors from patrons who can fight for him. And Elric lives in a dark setting where the good guy doesn't always walk away unchanged. When I think of the DCC rules, this series always comes to mind.
I have always liked and used BRP's various versions of Elric/Stormbringer to play in the Young Kingdoms. There was always so much material for it in the form of Chaosium & Mongoose supplements etc, that I never really entertained the idea of using another system for it. I agree that DCC would be a very good system to use for it though.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

I have read the Elric books. What is the cheapest way to have a look at DCC if one wanted to just buy a book and maybe an adventure? $10 Paizo books have spoiled me but can one get DCC and an adventure for $20 or so on PDF? $7 an adventure on RPGnow.com sees reasonable but I'm guessing some of those are 3rd ed ones?

http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?keyword ... from=&pto=
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by tovokas »

This link will get you to most of the DCCRPG Adventures on RPGNow:
http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?filters=0_0_44544_0_0_0


This page on the Goodman Games site shows them as well:
http://goodman-games.com/dccrpg.html

Happy DCCRPG'ing. :)
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by finarvyn »

Zardnaar wrote:What is the cheapest way to have a look at DCC if one wanted to just buy a book and maybe an adventure?
The cheapest way to get into DCC has to be through the "Free RPG Day" starter PDF, which now sells for just under $5.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/9 ... re-Starter

It has two adventures, plus a page called "HOW IS THIS GAME DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I HAVE PLAYED BEFORE?" This one page gives a few key differences from d20 so that you could play a game much like DCC without access to the full core rulebook.

$5 is a pretty cheap buy-in. 8)

If you like what you see, you can get the full rulebook in PDF for around $25 and a bunch of DCC modules for around $7 or $8 each. (Be sure that the adventure numbers are at 67 or higher, however, or you'll end up with d20 modules instead of the new DCC ones. The old ones are pretty good, too, but you'd have to convert stuff.)
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"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own."
-- Gary Gygax
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!"
-- Dave Arneson
"Misinterpreting the rules is a shared memory for many of us"
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Skyscraper »

Note that the full rulebook is very cheap for its value. It has great stuff. Magic is fantastic. Patrons are great. Rules for thieves and warriors are fun. General advice is the best of all: gets be back on track of what roleplaying ought to be. I've bought many books for many RPGs over the years, but this one is the best.

Nice art too, and plenty of it (as in, on every page!), if you're into the retro art. I'm not, but it's still fun to look at.
Maledict Brothbreath, level 4 warrior, STR 16 (+2) AGI 7 (-1) STA 12 PER 9 INT 10 LUCK 15 (+1), AC: 16 Refl: +1 Fort: +2 Will: +1; lawful; Armor of the Lion and Lily's Blade.

Brother Sufferus, level 4 cleric, STR 13 (+1) AGI 15 (+1) STA 11 PER 13 (+1) INT 10 LUCK 9, AC: 11 (13 if wounded, 15 if down to half hit points), Refl: +3 Fort: +2 Will: +3, chaotic, Robe of the Faith, Scourge of the Maimed One, Darts of Pain.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Rick »

Right now if you use the coupon code OSRF711F2 at RPGNow or Drivethru you'll get 15% off some popular OSR products including the DCC core book. Expires Sunday 5/19.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

Skyscraper wrote:Note that the full rulebook is very cheap for its value. It has great stuff. Magic is fantastic. Patrons are great. Rules for thieves and warriors are fun. General advice is the best of all: gets be back on track of what roleplaying ought to be. I've bought many books for many RPGs over the years, but this one is the best.

Nice art too, and plenty of it (as in, on every page!), if you're into the retro art. I'm not, but it's still fun to look at.
Postage here is expensive and if I print out a 300 page PDF it costs something like $120 for a new laser toner cartridge or half that if you refill it. Think I'll grab the $5 version and have a crack at it. Even if I don't like it $5 is cheap for an afternoons entertainment.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Skyscraper »

Zardnaar wrote:
Skyscraper wrote:Note that the full rulebook is very cheap for its value. It has great stuff. Magic is fantastic. Patrons are great. Rules for thieves and warriors are fun. General advice is the best of all: gets be back on track of what roleplaying ought to be. I've bought many books for many RPGs over the years, but this one is the best.

Nice art too, and plenty of it (as in, on every page!), if you're into the retro art. I'm not, but it's still fun to look at.
Postage here is expensive and if I print out a 300 page PDF it costs something like $120 for a new laser toner cartridge or half that if you refill it. Think I'll grab the $5 version and have a crack at it. Even if I don't like it $5 is cheap for an afternoons entertainment.
Gotcha.
Maledict Brothbreath, level 4 warrior, STR 16 (+2) AGI 7 (-1) STA 12 PER 9 INT 10 LUCK 15 (+1), AC: 16 Refl: +1 Fort: +2 Will: +1; lawful; Armor of the Lion and Lily's Blade.

Brother Sufferus, level 4 cleric, STR 13 (+1) AGI 15 (+1) STA 11 PER 13 (+1) INT 10 LUCK 9, AC: 11 (13 if wounded, 15 if down to half hit points), Refl: +3 Fort: +2 Will: +3, chaotic, Robe of the Faith, Scourge of the Maimed One, Darts of Pain.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

Hopefully we'll be playing AD&D on Sunday so I'll bring it up with my players and see if they will chip in $5 or $10 each if they're interested in playing. Makes the $30 a lot cheaper. It will be Saturday USA time so the code Rick supplied will still be good.

Are DCC adventures all dungeon based and recommend one for a new group.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Skyscraper »

Raven_Crowking wrote:DCC is the game where you become embroiled in epic struggles. And then you become 1st level.
I love this description by the way.

To the OP: I play a homebrew game, I can't really talk to the commercial adventures. I love DCC as an out-of-the-dungeon game, but I think if you buy adventures you ought to find out why it's called dungeon crawl classics...
Maledict Brothbreath, level 4 warrior, STR 16 (+2) AGI 7 (-1) STA 12 PER 9 INT 10 LUCK 15 (+1), AC: 16 Refl: +1 Fort: +2 Will: +1; lawful; Armor of the Lion and Lily's Blade.

Brother Sufferus, level 4 cleric, STR 13 (+1) AGI 15 (+1) STA 11 PER 13 (+1) INT 10 LUCK 9, AC: 11 (13 if wounded, 15 if down to half hit points), Refl: +3 Fort: +2 Will: +3, chaotic, Robe of the Faith, Scourge of the Maimed One, Darts of Pain.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by Zardnaar »

Okies turns out I'm a bit more old school than my players. Most of them are d20 era and they do not mind 2nd ed AD&D but are not interested in 1st ed, BECM, or DCC as it is a little to basic by most accounts. Thanks for all the help and posts, I'll keep and see out and see if I can pick it up cheap on sale on PDF/Ebay. I would like to try it but its not gonna happen:(.
Nice forum you all have and happy gaming.
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Re: What is DCC?

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Zardnaar wrote:Okies turns out I'm a bit more old school than my players. Most of them are d20 era and they do not mind 2nd ed AD&D but are not interested in 1st ed, BECM, or DCC as it is a little to basic by most accounts. Thanks for all the help and posts, I'll keep and see out and see if I can pick it up cheap on sale on PDF/Ebay. I would like to try it but its not gonna happen:(.
Nice forum you all have and happy gaming.
DCC is d20 by the way. And, in my humble opinion, it's more modern than D&D 2E. But of course, it might still not be their thing.
Maledict Brothbreath, level 4 warrior, STR 16 (+2) AGI 7 (-1) STA 12 PER 9 INT 10 LUCK 15 (+1), AC: 16 Refl: +1 Fort: +2 Will: +1; lawful; Armor of the Lion and Lily's Blade.

Brother Sufferus, level 4 cleric, STR 13 (+1) AGI 15 (+1) STA 11 PER 13 (+1) INT 10 LUCK 9, AC: 11 (13 if wounded, 15 if down to half hit points), Refl: +3 Fort: +2 Will: +3, chaotic, Robe of the Faith, Scourge of the Maimed One, Darts of Pain.
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Re: What is DCC?

Post by finarvyn »

Zardnaar wrote:Okies turns out I'm a bit more old school than my players. Most of them are d20 era and they do not mind 2nd ed AD&D but are not interested in 1st ed, BECM, or DCC as it is a little to basic by most accounts. Thanks for all the help and posts, I'll keep and see out and see if I can pick it up cheap on sale on PDF/Ebay. I would like to try it but its not gonna happen:(.
Nice forum you all have and happy gaming.
At my table, the mantra is "he who runs the game picks the rules." I've found over the years that it's a lot easier to find players than GMs, so you might push for what you want and see how it goes.

Also, it's easy for someone unfamiliar with something to just say "no, I don't want to change." You could come back with "okay, you run a game then" and maybe they will appreciate your efforts more. I know that I have some players who do zero prep and just show up, whereas I spend lots of hours getting things ready. Your players might have a different view if they get a chance to be the GM.

Just my two coppers.
Marv / Finarvyn
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"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own."
-- Gary Gygax
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!"
-- Dave Arneson
"Misinterpreting the rules is a shared memory for many of us"
-- Joseph Goodman
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