D'sC play reports

[caveman]

Just thought I'd report games played. Feel free to chime in.

I DM'd from the new pdf for the first time last night. I ran a bit of White Plume Mtn. for 1st level characters, converting on the fly. It was a bit of a haphazard game. I wasn't totally prepped, and I kinda sprung it on my normal Type IV group, so we rolled up characters and went for it. I shined on all my elaborate houserules and went by the book.

The party had options of adventuring in Stonehell, Castle Amber, White Plume Mtn or a couple other options, and they chose the Plume, which was great, because I had a handout. They managed to make it through a couple of traps and defeat some ravenous undead. Almost to the inverted ziggurat.

The wizard cast some spells and crushed skulls with a crook staff (herder background). The Chaotic cleric had a tough tough time casting spells, kept watching her disapproval rating rise, and ended up sacrificing all the treasure found to buy it down. The Warrior battled bravely, but had a great fumble that involved an axe head flying off the handle.

The best notes were that these typeIV players got right into it and those that normally spend a session scrutinizing their pages of character sheets got right into describing the action and rolling the dice. They wished the session could go on longer! Point for DCC. With any luck my campaign will be converting soon.

BTW here's a link to my adjusted for the final edit houserules. The main things are that I slowed down combat progressions and changed the names of saving throws according to some ideas on these boards.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jX- ... t?hl=en_US

[caveman]

What ho! Another game. The regular group didn't get together to continue White Plume Mtn so I DM'd for my buddy and his gf who had never rolled the dice before. I pulled out the Heart of the Minotaur one page dungeon, so spoilers for that!
http://campaignwiki.org/wiki/DungeonMap ... ntest_2011
These one pagers are really great for one shots and quick games. You can have a nicely wrapped up story in a few hours.
The characters were an Elf and a half-elf Thief. Both were Chaotic, but the thief was tracking the gremlins that had abducted his sister and step mother. I used Kobold stats from the DCC and described them as little guys with green stocking caps, long pointy hears and big mouths with pointy teeth.
The thief approached a bored sentry at entrance, claiming ignorance, but the elf let fly with a wayward arrow and the gremlin scampered back into the cave. The two gave chase and encountered three more little dudes. This fight got ugly quick. The elf took a hit which spoiled her Sleep spell (-3 to the roll for getting hit while casting). Luckily some failed Morale checks went their way and one was back-stabbed while running away. Both would be heroes were fighting with knives.
Further, there came a room with a glowing pool of water. Gremlin voices could be heard echoing around the many cave exits. In the pool was a large blue diamond set into the stone, giving off bright blue light. It was magical and the water was warm. The elf dislodged the gem and held it up. The gem changed from blue to red as the water drained away. The gem pulsed faster and faster so they threw it down the hallway and ducked as it exploded! causing a cave in in that tunnel.
Later, a portcullis trapped them and forced them into a strange jeffrey tube, crawling along to escape a lowering ceiling. They came upon a break in the floor and looked down into a cathedral cavern where a ritual sacrifice was taking place! From their vantage directly above a massive minotaur statue they watched a shaman shove a bound human woman into a crevasse! After waiting a prudent amount of time for the congregation to leave, the thief and elf rappelled down, ignoring the golden eyes of the statue and pursued the sacrificial victim. Slipping down a pile of cow and goat bones into ever descending damp limestone passages, the partners came upon a beach with a rowboat, and large hoofprints in the sand. They rowed across and snuck into the Lair of the Minotaur!
The thief burned all kinds of Luck to Sneak up on the Minotaur as it raised its sword over the cowering woman, who was, of course, his mother. His critical hit found the bull man's kidneys, stunning the beast. The elf shot it in the back. Now the monster raised its sword and hacked the thief, who knew he could not survive another blow. However the monster missed its next strike and the thief brought it down with a dagger strike to the leg.
"Mercy" said the Minotaur as its Medallion glowed Golden.
"Why? When you showed no mercy to my mother?"
"I was only... I was only..." the monster's voice was strangled and it stuttered, finally repeating "Mercy."
The thief hesitated and then reached for the medallion. The bull snorted and tossed its head, goring the thief and tossing him in a bloody heap. So ended the life of the brigand posthumously named Welbeck.
Now the minotaur asked for mercy of the elf, who's arrow pointed at his eye. She showed none and pierced it's brain. Then she claimed the medallion for herself.
The woman screamed, "Now YOU are the monster!"
And the Curse continued...

So, a TPK, but entirely of the players' own devising. I'll note that they really needed a Warrior. If I had rolled differently for wandering monsters, or if they had explored any of the more dangerous side passages, they would have been in big trouble. Also, they didn't use there Luck. The new player was totally new to RPGs so the spellburn rules were beyond her as it was, but the thief was very reluctant. He is coming from type IV and seemed to consider this another resource that he was very wary of depleting.
Anyways, a fun evening. I'm totally digging these rules. It's interesting how much different it is to play than more modern style rulesets...

[Machpants]

Nice reports, I am interested how the non-RPGer GF enjoyed (or not) the session?

Also what is a Type IV?

[grinnock]

Type IV is longhand for 4E, usually.

[goodmangames]

Great play reports! It is interesting to compare to how people play more modern games, I agree.

I like how you played the Minotaur - begging for mercy then sneaking in a fatal gore. Well played.

[romprecentor]

Running mine old school but documenting online. http://www.epicwords.com/campaigns/2077

All my notes and game prep is on paper and after each session it goes on epic words. They have played through the Portal Under the Stars and a converted Isle of Dread. Headed next for Mists of Madness. Anxious for more material and a rulebook to page through!

[caveman]

I figured the Minotaur's Curse wouldn't allow him to give up the medallion unless he was granted mercy.

Type IV is indeed 4e. It has become really apparent to me how different systems make fore different styles of play.

The non gaming gal really enjoyed it. She's an actress, so she related it to improv practice. But basically she played a surly Katniss from Hunger Games type of elf. I thought it was nice that she got to play through a story that had a beginning middle and end, even though it was sort of a tpk.

[caveman]

The bottom part is reposted from the Savage Kings thread, but I thought I'd put it here for consistency, only with my modified impressions and houserules first...
Lessons Learned:
Everyone was stoked. Magic is really all or nothing! Assumptions were upended, and a good time was had by all.
Warhorses are tough! The Hound of Hirot isn't that tough.
Some corruptions are kind of good! Some mercurial magic is wild! (Mirror Image every time the spell is cast? I decided the mirror images were more like Dopplegangers, and somewhat mischievious)
The Index needs to get finished!
I still can't find the definition of Stunned. Lots of page flipping! (ruling: miss an action and attacks roll d24)

Houserules used:
All wizards add Cantrip to their base spell list.
Spell Dice "explode" on a crit, roll again and add it up. This assures spectacular success to go along with all the failed spells.
A hero who's body is recovered is at -1 to a random ability permanently, and also has a %50 percent chance of an alignment change.
Natural Healing uses the Hit Dice rules, so recovery for a wizard is 1d4/day; Warriors 1d12/day
I used the Roll Under mechanic a lot for incidental skills, with the idea that standard tasks will roll a d20, hard d24, and very difficult a d30.

A houserule I didn't use was requiring Spellburn and Luck Burn post roll to be at a worse ratio. I think that if I did, no one would ever use the "burn" rules. It's a very disassociated mechanic, but oh well. Players need SOME control.

I started running DOOM of the Savage Kings tonight. Short session but we got into it. A first level thief, two 1st level wizards and three 0-level dudes.
First thing they did was hide from the mob, then brazenly confront it. One of my players is pretty accustomed to type IV gaming. His wizard marched up, chastised the mob, then marched to the front to free the girl. He got trampled by the Jarl's warhorse, who did not even draw his sword. One hit. Down. The thief ran out and rolled over the crumpled wizard, who coughed up blood, but (Luck roll!) turned out to be not quite dead yet. He continued with 1 hp, a permanent -1 to Stamina in the form of broken ribs, but not change of heart (60% chance of change in alignment) He was surprised to get such a smack down!

They party then followed the mob, hid in the woods, rescued the girl and then ambushed the Hound, who went down in one round. (Thief crit: kidney strike)
The heroes were welcomed by the Innkeeper and the villagers. They got in a shouting match with the old priest, had a cryptic talk with the Seer, and finally decided to tempt the Hound with a sheep with fur rolled in crushed glass(!) tied up in the town square.
They heard the Hound coming, slaying a Night Watchman as it approached.
The thief found himself facing the beast along with a soldier and a woodcutter, but as luck would have it, a long run of fizzling spells (the other wizard had just been corrupted to always turn invisible when casting magic missile) ended with a crit. My houserule for spellcasting crits is the "exploding die", so he rolled again and maxed out the spell! Animal summoning. 100 Wolves were summoned out of the dark to tear apart the Hound and the sheep. Armed now with an army of wolves, the heroes lit out for the Tomb of the Savage Kings!
There we ended.

[caveman]

Last night I ran "Sinister Secret of Whiterock" for my DCC troup. Four chars. Three of them first level, and a second level elf. This is one ive found is good for a one shot mod. Weird monsters, nasty traps, sketchy magic items, cool map etc...
I described the mutant gnomes more like Derro. The could levitate and make you go crazy by looking you in the eye.
The chars burned alot of luck to save themselves. There was lots of clambering about on chains above and endless pit, so it was do or die. I've been liking the luck mechanic because it gives a player a way to avoid certain doom by close rolls but has a cost that effects other parts of the game.
A houserule that has had great effect is the Exploding Dice rule for spellcasting. Any time a crit is rolled, roll again and add it up. This brings the upper end of the spell charts into play and tends to totally shift a situation. The effects are really epic and reflect how magic can get away from the caster.
In this session a druid cast Entangle, which im treating as a reskinned spider web spell. The exploding dice maxed out the roll and the result was that he tapped into the great Rhizome of the earth and filled the entire dungeon with entangling roots. Doors could not be opened, but cavern walls could easily be climbed. So they climbed down to the lake and fought the levitating purple wizard. Because of the roots the cavern did not collapse. The end.
Oh, and there was a bit of spell duelling but it didnt make sense to me so I hand waved it.

[caveman]

Again into the breach!

Last night the group chose to investigate the Village of Hirot, which, since being rescued from the depredations of an infernal Hound, has since been abandoned, with only strange trees left behind... and so they entered the dungeon of the Sunless Garden, DCC#10.
I've had this mod lying around and I reckoned it worked as a nice result of the Flooding of Whiterock caverns, and the massive plant grow that occurred there, due to Druidic magic gone wild.
The heroes investigated, as they do, the druid and elf now joined by a wizard, a warrior, and a dwarf, "Stoneskull". They guessed the enchantment as soon as the encountered the cloak wearing tree in the middle of the road. They then entered that town and battled an Ogre, which the druid killed with a well placed "Magic Weapon/Shillelagh" spell, but not before it fumbled, collapsing a cottage atop the melee, and bear hugging somebody.
The "plowed" trail was then followed out of town to an large and ominous tree, with a cave amongst its roots. Scouting ahead, the party discovered a massive cavern beneath their feet. So they decided to rest. In the dark watches of the night, they were attacked by 6 Skaven, which are filling in for the bugbears (I've got some sweet newly painted skaven minis). These skaven killed the warrior and only be toss of the dice failed to slay the wizard and elf, who responded by casting Flaming Hands and rolling very high, which killed the druid as well as most of the ratlings.
Spellcasting in our game has become as precarious for its high rolls as its low ones (no fumbles yet).
The dwarf got attempted to stop a fleeing ratling by throwing his shield, but missed.
The party decided not to rest again.
They descended into the cavern, discovered a creepy garden, set fire to a pile of hay, killed some rats and reunited a dryad with her tree.
There ended the session.
I handed out XPs: 10.
The Druid pointed to his total: 48.
I said, roll on the Carousing Table.
He now owes 400gp to somebody and has fallen in love with the Dryad, who's name is Weed.
To be continued...

This game is great. Simple to make new chars, and we never know what is going to happen!