New Judge starting a level 0 game question

[Hoggarth]

Hello veteran judges.

I am brand new to DCC and the old school style of RP in general. However, I love what I'm reading and I want to run a game at my FLGS. I have a question.

I already have a regular group of 6 gamers and we meet every other week to game. So I know I can get most or all of them to start a DCC game. However, in order to promote the game at the shop, I was thinking I would open it up to whoever wanted to play and maybe sell some books . What will most likely happen is I'll have 12 or more people wanting to play. I was trying to come up with options other than ending up with 12 players after the funnel. I am more comfortable with 6 players max.

Have any of you played in a game with a ton of people playing 1 level 0 character each and when it dies your just out? While that might whittle the group significantly, it also may tick off people who end up not playing on. Would it work logistically?

The other thing I was thinking would be to recruit a co-judge and see if we ended up with 2 good sized groups. Trouble is I only know of one other guy who has a book.

One more question if you will.

Say I start with 6 players and after the funnel only 2 of them have alive characters. Do you usually "try again" with new level 0's or do the dead players just make level 1's ?

Thanks!

[goodmangames]

Run two sessions of 6 players each! That is much easier than 12 players. In a 0-level game you really need to give each player 3-4 characters because they WILL die and the fun is in having them die - the players need to be able to take chances, learn the game, absorb a few PC deaths, and not be left on the sidelines when a PC dies. Games above 6-8 players are hard enough under normal circumstances but 12 players means each player spends a lot more time waiting around while other players act...it makes things less fun.

One other note - it is very important in zero level play to share characters if needed. If one player has all his PCs die, have another player with 2+ PCs lend him a character to play. That way nobody is on the sidelines, ever. And that avoids your other question - in my games there as lots of 0-level deaths but at the end of the game, everybody has at least one character.

I think it is great that you are helping to promote the game and running an event at your local store. I would say to just schedule a couple sessions of 6 players each. If the players have fun you will soon have another person step up to judge alongside you, I am sure...

[IronWolf]

I woud be reluctant to run 12 players at once and expect the funnel to actual whittle down who could play in the game. Some one is going to go home quite disappointed if they came looking to play and has to go home after the first encounter. I have seen many of a first encounter where 1 or more 0-level characters met their fate right there.

I would recommend running two different groups of six. That is a much more manageable group of players at the table and allows each player to have multiple 0-levels.

If you still have 12 interested players after running two 0-level sessions then let folks know you are looking for another judge and then you can split the group of players up across two judges.

Good luck! That is great that you are likely to have some many interested players.

[giant]

Regarding whether to have people create new level 0s or to jump to level 1, I would say have them start with 0s. I think it is a big part of the experience. I think DCC is perfect for multi-level play. For example, in the current arc I am running online, I'm having the group round out their 1 or 2 surviving 1st level characters with a few level 0s - instead of having hirelings. I think it is more interesting and gives them more options.

If people have only level 0s in a group of higher level characters, I would make sure that they reach level 1 at the end of their first adventure even if the others did not get 10 experience. Playing level 0 characters in a group of level 1s will be fun once, old pretty quickly though.

Last of my scattered thoughts: playing level 0s will help people who are not familiar with OSR games learn about careful play!