Canine Character Class: Dog becomes Beloved Character

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NickxBaran
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Canine Character Class: Dog becomes Beloved Character

Post by NickxBaran »

Image

Hello! Last autumn I started running DCC for my gaming group. I designed my own funnel, and though it wasn't quite lethal enough, it was a lot of fun. This led to a couple of one off encounters, then a Level 1 adventure, and currently I've been modding The Keep on the Borderlands on the fly while I've been prepping my next adventure...

There has been an unexpected turn of events over the last year of gaming. Everyone in my group is an animal lover, and many of the occupations give animals as "Trade Goods". Needless to say, Agatha the Hen has been carefully guarded like a child, and Fetch the Herding Dog has gone from sidekick to beloved Character. When his master, Beppo, died in horrific style, my group started pushing for Fetch to have full Character status. I'm not one to disagree. I thought my group was an anomaly so I didn't think anyone outside my group might be interested, but with the Tales of Dungeons and Doggies Kickstarter crushing their goal, I'm guessing there are a lot more people out there who might want to role-play their herding dog.

I did a few searches and didn't find rules, so here's the first draft of my own. I'd love to hear your feedback.

Canine Characters in DCC
http://brokencontract.blogspot.com/2018 ... n-dcc.html

Thanks for reading.
Last edited by NickxBaran on Sun Aug 26, 2018 2:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Raven_Crowking
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Re: Herding Dog becomes Beloved Character

Post by Raven_Crowking »

Bonus for the Iggy Pop reference.
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.
NickxBaran
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Re: Herding Dog becomes Beloved Character

Post by NickxBaran »

Raven_Crowking wrote:Bonus for the Iggy Pop reference.
I aim to please!
NickxBaran
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Re: Canine Character Class: Dog becomes Beloved Character

Post by NickxBaran »

Since first posting this I decided to commission art from Nerdgore (@artofnerdgore on Instagram) and posted it directly to my blog.

Anyone read it and have any thoughts to share? I'm starting to work on a DCC Zine so I'd love your feedback.
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Blood Axe
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Re: Canine Character Class: Dog becomes Beloved Character

Post by Blood Axe »

I like it, but Im having a hard time believing the skills of Hide & Move Silently. I could see Hide for a small breed dog. Maybe have different breeds , like classes? Fighter(larger dog), Runner (speed obviously), Runt(small dog ), maybe even a "trained" where the dog is a bit smarter. Or even a list of several skills where the player can pick a few to define the breed or the dogs "job". Just my my 2 coppers. I love the general idea though.

Where is the cool pic from?

P.S. dont ever type in "dogs in dungeon" and hit images. it doesnt end well.


Maybe this has something of interest:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/89 ... st_epoch=0
To defend: This is the Pact.
But when life loses its value,
and is taken for naught -
then the Pact is to Avenge.
NickxBaran
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Re: Canine Character Class: Dog becomes Beloved Character

Post by NickxBaran »

Blood Axe wrote:I like it, but Im having a hard time believing the skills of Hide & Move Silently.
I'm guessing you've never walked passed a yard with a lurking dog who lunges and barks just as you cross their path. Haha. I've had that happen tons of times. One time my own little buddy got a surprise bite on his snout through a wrought iron fence. :( But even a dog with a jangly collar can stealthily creep up on a squirrel or what have you. That being said, I think penalties should be applied if the dog is hot or engaged in heavy exertion. Really, panting is where their prey instincts can be foiled.

Additionally, I was also tapping into the trope of wild dogs or wolves creeping up out of the shadows that appears a lot in fantasy, whether its Game of Thrones or Disney films.

As for different subclasses of dogs, I was shooting to keep it simple as is generally the DCC way. To that end, I tried to mash-up existing mechanics (Halfling, Thief, Ranger from Crawl Zine) and then supplement it with a couple of (hopefully) minor new abilities. We'll see how it plays out across games. If the dog turns out to be the party assassin, I'll revisit these Hide/Move Silently ideas.
Where is the cool pic from?
I commissioned it from Rich "Nerdgore". You can check his work @artofnerdgore on Instagram. He actually just finished illustrating a 5E-based module zine called, "In the Name of Suffering" and he's working on art for his own project: Zeroquest.
Maybe this has something of interest:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/89 ... st_epoch=0
Thanks for the link. I'll definitely check that out.

I appreciate the comments. I'll definitely take your thoughts into consideration.
-Nick
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