Best approach for a one-off game?

[Antononymous]

Hello, new here and first time posting. I've played DCC as a player and it was a blast. Now I'm going to run it for some friends back home. I think the funnel is a great way to kick things off, but it's based on the idea that you'll get to take your surviving characters and actually develop them with further adventures. This game is going to be a one time thing as I only get home once a year. So my question is: Do you think my players will get as much out of it if they'll never get to be anything more than zero level characters, or am I better to give them each a Level 1 adventurer so they can actually do a little magic, accomplish feats of heroics, etc.? Or should I try to do a hybrid (one Level 1, and one or two peasants to be cannon fodder)?

[Marzio Muscedere]

I gave everyone a 1st level character and a couple of zeros, this way they can experience both the fantastic DCC game mechanics (deeds, magic, healing, disapproval, corruption, etc.) and the spirit/flavour of DCC with the funnel and character death.

[Antononymous]

I gave everyone a 1st level character and a couple of zeros, this way they can experience both the fantastic DCC game mechanics (deeds, magic, healing, disapproval, corruption, etc.) and the spirit/flavour of DCC with the funnel and character death.

I like this, especially if their "heroes" start sending the poor smallfolk into dangerous situations first as the game goes on...

[Antononymous]

I gave everyone a 1st level character and a couple of zeros, this way they can experience both the fantastic DCC game mechanics (deeds, magic, healing, disapproval, corruption, etc.) and the spirit/flavour of DCC with the funnel and character death.

I thought of a fun twist for this: I'm going to encourage the players to use the alignment of their Level 1 character to decide how they treat the Level 0s they're partnered with. So the Lawful ones could feel like they have a duty to protect them from danger, while the Neutral ones might think everyone deserves a chance to become a hero, but the Chaotic ones may treat them like cannon fodder.

[mythfish]

I gave everyone a 1st level character and a couple of zeros, this way they can experience both the fantastic DCC game mechanics (deeds, magic, healing, disapproval, corruption, etc.) and the spirit/flavour of DCC with the funnel and character death.

This is a good way to do it, but I also wrote an adventure in the Gen Con 2016 Program Guide intended to help with this. Funnels are so easy and fun for one shots, but it doesn't necessarily give people a sense of what most of DCC feels like. In "Not in Kansas Anymore", the 0-level characters who survive to the final encounter get to use some class abilities to fight against the final boss.

[Antononymous]

I gave everyone a 1st level character and a couple of zeros, this way they can experience both the fantastic DCC game mechanics (deeds, magic, healing, disapproval, corruption, etc.) and the spirit/flavour of DCC with the funnel and character death.

This is a good way to do it, but I also wrote an adventure in the Gen Con 2016 Program Guide intended to help with this. Funnels are so easy and fun for one shots, but it doesn't necessarily give people a sense of what most of DCC feels like. In "Not in Kansas Anymore", the 0-level characters who survive to the final encounter get to use some class abilities to fight against the final boss.

This is also a great idea. I was planning to take the group through Frozen In Time (love the mix of sci-fi and fantasy) but I'm not sure it lends itself as well to this approach. Is Not In Kansas Anymore available standalone, or just as part of the Program Guide?

[mythfish]

Just as part of the program guide at this point.