My First Time!

[Renshai]

I've owned the DCCRPG system since it was released. I bought the collector's edition and one regular book, and all the modules but up until now I haven't been able to pull together a group. That recently changed and this weekend, I've got six players ready to jump in and play. The group won't stay that large, and a 2 members will be moving off soon only to return from time to time, but I think we have enough to lay a good foundation for a long term game.

So, I'm starting with Sailors on the Starless Sea, because you know, its awesome. Its a lot like the adventures that I once designed when I had time to do such things. Needless to say, I feel comfortable with the atmosphere of the module.

What I'm kind of worried about is what all I need to know for my first game. I've read the rule book (or as much as one can digest such a massive tome), and I get all the rules. I've played D&D since the early 80s, so I'm not a rookie, my last campaign was a Labyrinth Lord Stonehell game that lasted over a year.

So, I'm looking to the experienced DCC Judges out there to give me some advice on the key elements that I need to know for the first game (which will be using the fatal funnel). What are the pitfalls, what charts do I need for immediate reference and so on and so forth.

Thanks for your time!
-Renshai

P.S. If the name Renshai looks familiar (not the excellent series by Mickey Zucker Reichert), Harley Stroh was kind enough to mention me in Gazeteer of the Known Realms under the Citadel of the Demon Prince as an NPC known as "Renshai the Cunning" .

[tovokas]

I think the most important thing as a judge is to just have fun. Your enthusiasm and playfulness in the middle of the swirling chaos that is the funnel will do more to create a fun environment than anything else.

You'll likely be dealing with more characters than you've ever judged before, so do whatever you can to streamline things: have players roll 1 initiative for all their characters. If something imperils the whole party, choose a subset of characters to be effected - rolling for all 24 in one rush will likely grind things to a halt. Use luck scores to quickly determine who is the target of bad things. Think on your feet and make quick decisions. There is no wrong answer as long as you trust your instincts and react quickly: your players will without doubt do things that aren't covered by the rules! Encourage daring-do.

Beforehand, prepare your players about the deadliness of the funnel, and they'll almost certainly get into the fun of the often spectacular deaths. And they'll also become amazingly attached to their little serfs faster than you can possibly imagine. Seed the adventure with replacement characters for the truly unlucky, or encourage players to share to the less fortunate if some players are still fully loaded while others are down to 1.

There are tons of resources out there for charts: look on the resources thread for the full listing. One option to start things off quickly is to print out a stack of 0-level characters sheets using the party generator, give three to each player and let them select one to enter play with. There is also a single-sheet chart sheet I put together that I give to every player. There are some fantastic booklet style resources out there as well.

So good luck, and have fun. I've yet to have a funnel experience where everyone didn't have a blast!

[Skars]

Nicely put and great suggestions. For games like the funnel where a bunch of characters are assigned to a player, I grabbed post its with 1,2,3,4 listed on them so that players can identify characters by rank. So when something comes up randomly to hit a subset of the party, I will call out which rank is affected after rolling a d4 (or d3 as numbers drop heh). I also tend to ask players to roll their initiative just once and will simply compare the rolls to the monsters roll to determine order by rank. Fast and sleazy method:
1. if players all roll higher than creature - all ranks go first in order
2. if players roll average or the values are all over the place, just split it up; two ranks, then monster, then two ranks.
3. If the monster is really fast it goes first.

For future adventures or when players just have one character they can roll individually or you can just go Old School and have one roll for players and one for creature and just go around the table.

[Renshai]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm ready to get this game started!

One thing I just read, looking through People of the Pit. The suggested number of player characters was 8-10. Is that normal? I understand the number of PCs for the funnel, but man, that's a lot of PCs.

[tovokas]

Don't worry, in the People of the Pit they won't have 8-10 characters for long...

[Skyscraper]

Having the crit and fumble tables is a must to keep things moving, to avoid flipping through the book. You can get a reference sheet here http://goodman-games.com/forums/viewtop ... 60&t=14791 on this forum. Have at least 2-3 copies at your table, and ask a couple of players to be responsible for them to lighten your load.

Funnel: keep things moving along. This means, don't go into length battles with numerous if you can avoid them. Don't let one PC take up the action for too loog to the detriment of the 23 others. If the game bogs down on something, push the players in one direction or throw a curve ball at them, e.g. "while you're discussing this, a zombie erupts from the ground and tries to grab the unluckiest PC's ankle" (roll 1d20 attack roll).

Follow the advice in the core book: roll out in the open. You'll be killing many PCs, you want the players to know you're being fair and square.

And as mentioned earlier, have fun!



Oh and one last thing: report back with a description of your first experience!

[Renshai]

I will definitely report. I actually have a pretty aweosome setup for my chart reference. I have one of these:



One thing, I'm running Sailors on the Starless Sea for six people. Is 3 PCs per player good? Or should they run four?