Goodman Games

Hey folks! First thing's first - This game looks awesome.

I'm so stoked to play. I grew up playing D&D through the 90s, then my group all became adults and we were usually to busy to invest enough time into a game, so I've been out of the loop for years. Just in the past couple months my girlfriend and a couple family members have expressed interest in playing some tabletop, but I was looking for something just right. I started buying up some 5e stuff when I stumbled across DCC. Good lawd, it looks brilliant. It reminds me so much of the cut throat D&D games my group would run.

Anyways, I'll resist the urge to yack too much about my gaming roots! I have some questions.

First, what does the rulebook include? I see it's a big weighty tome, but I can't seem to find a single review or anything where it addresses what's in it. Is there a monster manual in it? Are there any adventures or funnels in it? All I really know is that it addresses character creation and classes and such. I saw that much in a video.

Second, are there any guidelines to creating a funnel? I want to get a game going asap, possibly without waiting for an order to arrive - I like to research everything I buy, and then you've got to wait for it to actually arrive, and I may be rolling some dice as soon as this weekend. It seems like the funnel isn't as easy to whip up as your average adventure - it has to be difficult enough to slaughter the weak, while still possible to defeat so that the survivors can go on to become adventurers, right?

I'm looking for info particularly about the funnel right now. I found a pdf for the beta rules through a google search so that would be enough to get us rolling some dice, now I just need to whip up an adventure. I was thinking about a tower - I've got a story brewing for it - and I was thinking that I could prepare, say, 10 levels to this tower, and being a tower, each level would be sort of small and contained. That way I could start them off, and if by level 5 the party is whittled down to a group of survivors, then I could cut out the remaining levels and say the 6th level has your boss waiting for that final battle. Pretty basic, I know, but I've got a lot of roleplay-rust to shake off!

Couldn't be more excited to have found this game. Truly, it's genius.

Enkmar wrote:Hey folks! First thing's first - This game looks awesome.

It is awesome. I finished a DCC RPG campaign last winter, I'm running a 5e campaign for two groups, but in the meantime I'm still planning my next DCC RPG campaign. This is something no other game managed to achieve, except Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Enkmar wrote:First, what does the rulebook include? I see it's a big weighty tome, but I can't seem to find a single review or anything where it addresses what's in it. Is there a monster manual in it? Are there any adventures or funnels in it? All I really know is that it addresses character creation and classes and such. I saw that much in a video.

It has character creation, classes, combat, spells, magic items, GM advice, monsters, appendices. It's a fully playable game. I would've been happier if they expanded some chapters (eg. magic items), but coming up with new creatures and items is rather easy. Or you can convert stuff from other editions. There is a short funnel adventure, and an even shorter level 5 adventure.

Enkmar wrote:Second, are there any guidelines to creating a funnel? I want to get a game going asap, possibly without waiting for an order to arrive - I like to research everything I buy, and then you've got to wait for it to actually arrive, and I may be rolling some dice as soon as this weekend. It seems like the funnel isn't as easy to whip up as your average adventure - it has to be difficult enough to slaughter the weak, while still possible to defeat so that the survivors can go on to become adventurers, right?

There aren't any exact funnel guides. The funnel is just as easy to write as other adventures. The only real difference is that you have more characters with less HPs. It's even easier because of the expendable nature of characters. TPK? No problem, roll new characters, next time they'll be wiser. DCC RPG is a game where you don't have to sweat about balance, because it's non-existent. The XP system is prepared for this, you get XP based on how much trouble a survived encounter caused. The more the players sweat, the more XP they get. If you really want a good funnel, you should check out Sailors on the Starless Sea. It's brilliant and has plenty of wtf encounters.

Enkmar wrote:I'm looking for info particularly about the funnel right now. I found a pdf for the beta rules through a google search so that would be enough to get us rolling some dice, now I just need to whip up an adventure. I was thinking about a tower - I've got a story brewing for it - and I was thinking that I could prepare, say, 10 levels to this tower, and being a tower, each level would be sort of small and contained. That way I could start them off, and if by level 5 the party is whittled down to a group of survivors, then I could cut out the remaining levels and say the 6th level has your boss waiting for that final battle. Pretty basic, I know, but I've got a lot of roleplay-rust to shake off!

What kind of challenges are you planning to introduce in the tower? Maybe even fewer levels will be enough. If there is one advice you should take, add a few places where the players can replenish losses and introduce their new characters. Prisoners, travellers, whatever. Don't worry if they have more than one character at the end of the adventure, they don't have to take all of them to the next adventures - unless you want to. It's also a good idea to have several solutions to beat or avoid combat encounters, since zero level characters aren't formidable foes at all.

The book also contains a good funnel...Portal Under the Stars. My group enjoyed that one too!

Ravenheart87 wrote:

Enkmar wrote:Hey folks! First thing's first - This game looks awesome.

It is awesome. I finished a DCC RPG campaign last winter, I'm running a 5e campaign for two groups, but in the meantime I'm still planning my next DCC RPG campaign. This is something no other game managed to achieve, except Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Enkmar wrote:First, what does the rulebook include? I see it's a big weighty tome, but I can't seem to find a single review or anything where it addresses what's in it. Is there a monster manual in it? Are there any adventures or funnels in it? All I really know is that it addresses character creation and classes and such. I saw that much in a video.

It has character creation, classes, combat, spells, magic items, GM advice, monsters, appendices. It's a fully playable game. I would've been happier if they expanded some chapters (eg. magic items), but coming up with new creatures and items is rather easy. Or you can convert stuff from other editions. There is a short funnel adventure, and an even shorter level 5 adventure.

Enkmar wrote:Second, are there any guidelines to creating a funnel? I want to get a game going asap, possibly without waiting for an order to arrive - I like to research everything I buy, and then you've got to wait for it to actually arrive, and I may be rolling some dice as soon as this weekend. It seems like the funnel isn't as easy to whip up as your average adventure - it has to be difficult enough to slaughter the weak, while still possible to defeat so that the survivors can go on to become adventurers, right?

There aren't any exact funnel guides. The funnel is just as easy to write as other adventures. The only real difference is that you have more characters with less HPs. It's even easier because of the expendable nature of characters. TPK? No problem, roll new characters, next time they'll be wiser. DCC RPG is a game where you don't have to sweat about balance, because it's non-existent. The XP system is prepared for this, you get XP based on how much trouble a survived encounter caused. The more the players sweat, the more XP they get. If you really want a good funnel, you should check out Sailors on the Starless Sea. It's brilliant and has plenty of wtf encounters.

Enkmar wrote:I'm looking for info particularly about the funnel right now. I found a pdf for the beta rules through a google search so that would be enough to get us rolling some dice, now I just need to whip up an adventure. I was thinking about a tower - I've got a story brewing for it - and I was thinking that I could prepare, say, 10 levels to this tower, and being a tower, each level would be sort of small and contained. That way I could start them off, and if by level 5 the party is whittled down to a group of survivors, then I could cut out the remaining levels and say the 6th level has your boss waiting for that final battle. Pretty basic, I know, but I've got a lot of roleplay-rust to shake off!

What kind of challenges are you planning to introduce in the tower? Maybe even fewer levels will be enough. If there is one advice you should take, add a few places where the players can replenish losses and introduce their new characters. Prisoners, travellers, whatever. Don't worry if they have more than one character at the end of the adventure, they don't have to take all of them to the next adventures - unless you want to. It's also a good idea to have several solutions to beat or avoid combat encounters, since zero level characters aren't formidable foes at all.

i think that delightful prince charming, reanimator by danil bishop is pay what you want pdf at rpgnow store. you should check it out if you want to get a feel how funnel should run and you are reluctant to go for sailors at the starless sea.

Excellent stuff you guys. Really appreciate all the tips and advice! And I nabbed that adventure, too. Looks interesting!

Another question - DCC uses the D20 system for the most part, yeah? Does that mean I could plug in any D20 monsters without any tweaking? Like a 3rd or 3.5 edition D&D monster manual? I understand I'd have to drop their skills and feats, etc, but that's easy enough. I assume the stats would work, though?

Enkmar wrote:Another question - DCC uses the D20 system for the most part, yeah? Does that mean I could plug in any D20 monsters without any tweaking? Like a 3rd or 3.5 edition D&D monster manual? I understand I'd have to drop their skills and feats, etc, but that's easy enough. I assume the stats would work, though?

DCC RPG scales a bit differently. That doesn't mean that you can't use most monsters as written, just be prepared that their challenge might be different against DCC RPG characters. DCC RPG has no challange rating or encounter building guidelines by the way, and honestly, doesn't really needs it.

Get one of these if you need more monsters; the entry on Goblins is particularly interesting; beware the Goblin Cook...............

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/112 ... _44544_0_0

I would also point out that the Random Esoteric Creature Generator is a nice to have item when it comes to creatures (as will be the upcoming the Monster Alphabet).

http://www.goodman-games.com/4375preview.html