The Secret Origins of DCC RPG

[Ravenheart87]

Plenty of us has seen the playtest version of DCC RPG, but we don't know much about what were the plans before those times. I seem to recall that the plan was originally not a new rpg, but to have a universal system (like JGU) so DCC adventures could be converted to any D&D-based game. It was only later, that the game become a thing of it's own. I also recall Doug mentioning that race as class appeared later, and demihumans could take any class. And I remember, that the core books was originally meant to go up to level 5, and having 10 levels was the wish of the DCC community.

I would gladly read more about the early, pre-playtest era of the game, of it's evolution. Were there any other character classes planned? When did the unique magic system kick in and how did magic work before? What about mighty deeds and weird dice? Were critical tables always class-based? Did you experiment with different ways to calculate hit points? Any small detail would be interesting.

[mythfish]

Most of the stuff that "is" DCC RPG was already in the game by the time I was brought into the fold, so I don't have a lot of stories to share. But I have a couple that might be mildly interesting.

[*]I remember being involved in a discussion about what dwarves' special abilities should be. My opinion was that since warriors were killer offensive fighters, dwarves should be superb defensive fighters to make them different from warriors. I think I was the one who suggested dwarves should get bonuses to shield use, though that eventually turned into an offensive ability.
[*]I was a proponent of the game only going up to level 5. But I was outvoted by the DCC RPG community, and in retrospect I'm glad I was.
[*]At one point Joseph asked all of us for a list of art ideas of scenes we thought were really evocative of old-school Appendix N style stuff. Joseph then sent out the ideas to all the artists. Many of the Russ Nicholson drawings in the book were based on ideas I submitted, which thrills me to no end.
[*]For anyone who is curious, the "additional writing" I'm credited with in the book is about 10 entries or so on the Mercurial Magic table.

[Ravenheart87]

I remember being involved in a discussion about what dwarves' special abilities should be. My opinion was that since warriors were killer offensive fighters, dwarves should be superb defensive fighters to make them different from warriors. I think I was the one who suggested dwarves should get bonuses to shield use, though that eventually turned into an offensive ability.

That's interesting, because one of the few things I missed for dwarves are some defensive abilities - they have less hit dice than fighters, and lack familiar abilities like poison resistance, or AC bonus against giant opponents.

[finarvyn]

[*]I was a proponent of the game only going up to level 5. But I was outvoted by the DCC RPG community, and in retrospect I'm glad I was.

This was an interesting discussion because a lot of folks to wanted more levels referred to a level-5 cap being a "deal breaker" and I think some of that pressure is what caused the higher levels to be added in. I would like to have seen a "DCC Basic" rules set that strips away the level 6-10 stuff and rolls back the clock to the level 1-5 days. That would be interesting, and a somewhat thinner book.

[mythfish]

This was an interesting discussion because a lot of folks to wanted more levels referred to a level-5 cap being a "deal breaker" and I think some of that pressure is what caused the higher levels to be added in. I would like to have seen a "DCC Basic" rules set that strips away the level 6-10 stuff and rolls back the clock to the level 1-5 days. That would be interesting, and a somewhat thinner book.

There was talk of rules for armies, ruling countries, and other high level stuff for levels 6-10. Maybe that will still happen some day.

In Annual #3.

[catseye yellow]

it is funny. we played through whole pathfinder kingmaker adventure path (generously spiked with DCC modules) and reached lvl 5/6. it took us about 20 months of weekly play. and we played for 7-8 hours sessions.

[Ravenheart87]

There was talk of rules for armies, ruling countries, and other high level stuff for levels 6-10. Maybe that will still happen some day.

We still only have a very small number of level 5+ adventures for DCC RPG, and I'm pretty sure we don't have too many parties that reached high levels. It's still not late to introduce such things, but instead of an annual, maybe it would be a better idea to write an adventure (or boxed set) with a military focus, and have supplemental skirmish and domain adventures there.