Played in a play test in Atlanta with part of my regular gaming group and Joseph and a few others and we all had a blast. I will start off with my review/thoughts and add the other players that were part of my crew as they come in to me.
Myself - I played a 2nd level thief named Flavious who was an animal trainer. Weird I know but I did start with a pony although everyone else kept trying to find ways for its dismemberment. It eventually got left in the dungeon when we was teleported out. So long pony I tried to keep you alive.
Highlights of my day:
Managed to take the first party damage when a shape shifting thingys head turned to a snake and bit me ( I know I tried to back stab it first but who cares) I had the worst luck score so it thought I was tasty. Made the poison save and all ended well.
Managed to check and find a trap. Strange symbols on the floor. Took out my trusty 10 foot pole with some hair from my ponys tail attached and tried to clear the sand off so our humble although deformed wizard could try and read it. BAM set it off lost 3 fingertips. BOB THE CLERIC, I need your assistance on aisle three we have a fingertip cleanup. Yes my fingers came right back with a touch from Bob. I promised him he could ride the pony anytime he liked.
Group entered a fight with two demonic creatures I ran for the bed and ripped it apart. Where's the damn loot.... nothing. Saw the cleric kissed by a girl and he didn't like it. Other little evil guy what do I do? Throw a dart? Backstab? No I took the blanket from the bed and sacked the little evil guy and instructed everyone to play whack a mole with my evil little bag of rats. A few hammers and shovels and boot prints later I finished off the guy with a little luck and a bounce off the cold stone floor. Hey where did the hot girl go..... Awweee no treasure and no chicks.... Bummer!!
Finished the day watching the final epic battle last about 6 seconds. Ugghhh... the barbarian. No Ugghhh was his name. I am not joking. He crit the final bad guy first round and ran him through.
Summary:
We lost 0 of 9 characters, had only like me and one other take any damage and our 3 hp wizard survived and ended up with an extra face on his back, so now we call him two-face. Can't win em all Joseph. This was really a cake walk. Although Joseph promised that many a group had not done near as well with the same test. It will be interesting to hear his response in this thread.
Now my thoughts on the game mechanics:
Pro's:
Even with the funky dice things moved a lot faster than 3.5 I think we spent more time figuring out what dice to roll than anything else and things still sped along.
No battlemap and miniatures. Definately a plus for the old school feel. This also helped tremendously with the speed.
The character sheets were laid out nice and simple.
Didn't have to look up one single rule.
A lot more role playing seemed to happen without everyone focusing on tactical positioning.
HUGE FUN and really a simple game at its core once you figure a couple dice rolling things out.
Cons:
A LOT of charts to look up, maybe critical hit and fumble decks would be easier. Then just draw a card. At least have them as an extra offering. I would definitely use them.
No one but Joseph had the funky dice.
I can see the whole corruption rule getting way out of hand at higher levels, we were at level 2 and it was already bad. Our wizard was throwing charm spells just to get a corruption to happen to him.
WHERES the treasure.......? I didn't even get one coin. But hey I'm a thief.
Atlanta Playtest With Joseph 06/20/2011
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goodmangames
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Re: Atlanta Playtest With Joseph 06/20/2011
Billy, thanks for making the drive! That was a fun game. I swear the first time I ran that adventure it was a near-TPK. I have five local witnesses I can call if need be! You guys were either lucky or brilliant. Probably brilliant, I'm sure. 
My favorite comment of the night was your directive to the succubus: "Go back to Hooters!"
With the party's resolution to the mysterious pit of unknown depth a close second: "Let's drop in the pony!"
All in all a great time.
Thanks for the feedback on the game. Interesting point on crit/fumble decks vs. tables. I'll have to think on that.
The corruption did get a little out of hand in this game, largely due to Patrick's wizard triggering corruption every time he casts charm person. Usually it's not THAT crazy!
My favorite comment of the night was your directive to the succubus: "Go back to Hooters!"
With the party's resolution to the mysterious pit of unknown depth a close second: "Let's drop in the pony!"
All in all a great time.
Thanks for the feedback on the game. Interesting point on crit/fumble decks vs. tables. I'll have to think on that.
The corruption did get a little out of hand in this game, largely due to Patrick's wizard triggering corruption every time he casts charm person. Usually it's not THAT crazy!
Re: Atlanta Playtest With Joseph 06/20/2011
I will repost this from one of my crew that participated in the playtest
Via: Wayne Jordan
For starters I'd like to thank you (Joseph) for taking the time out of your schedule to personally run a DCC rpg playtest game at FCB in Georgia. Billy Watford has been sending us forum postings for a couple of months now and when he mentioned that he had a few seats open in June for a playtest you would DM, me and Amy (my wife), both started making arrangements for the trip. Below is a little IC stuff, followed by my thoughts on the rules from a player's perspective, with only one adventure under my belt using these rules. Upon reading please be forgiving, lol. I’m sending this to Billy’s email and to you as a Facebook message (Joseph) edit it as you see fit to keep from spoiling the adventure we participated in for future players. – Wayne Jordan
**Spoiler ALERT!!!**
"What, so you want to hear that tale again? Well, buy me an ale and I'll do just that..."
I remember it like it was yesterday, me and my crew were down at the tavern, trying to decide what way to go next, since our coin was running out. Let's see it was, Wendell the Mage, Xanex the Elf, Bevina the Dwarf, Deepo the Halfling, Bob the Cleric, Flavius the Thief, Carter the Fighter and myself, Simeon the Sly. Oh, I almost forgot Uhh the Barbarian, even though he saved our bacon that day, I never can remember him properly... sometimes he's middle-aged, others he seems a youngster fresh off the farm.
We looked more like a mercenary company than an adventuring group, but we always believed there was safety in numbers. Xanex's patron summoned him and since he has aided us in the past, we tagged along. Not privy to the conversation they held, Xanex told us that he along with any of us that was willing would be transported to a distant land in an effort to recover the sword of neutrality or something like that. It was instrumental in maintaining the balance, you know, to keep things interesting without being boring. If the sword was in the wrong hands, well I just wouldn't want to be around if that happened.
Poof! We found ourselves in an alien landscape facing a cave, so we entered and after making our way further down, we came to an obelisk that reached up almost to the top of the cavern. Large runes covered the obelisk, which we discovered were demonic symbols. I wasn't sure what bothered me most, knowing what they meant or the fact that one of our wizards had cause to learn the demonic language. Unsure of what all this meant we moved on to an outlet that was inhabited by a dragon, and yeah when you've looked something like this in the face, well you get to name it. It was big enough that we all could do our worst to it without fear of hurting one another.
We you know what happened next, the fighters fought, the thieves got sneaky and the mages, well I guess you don't know much about them, do you? Xanex was very tall for an elf , at least he used to be an elf, seems he was getting all lizard-like on us, snake eyes and a forked tongue to boot. Wendell, well the less said about him is probably the better. He actually seemed to crave the afflictions that came with miscast spells. He slowed us down often, one of his legs looked six inches longer that the other, but he had a summon spider spell that, although it gave us normal folk the willies, was very effective. After one particularly bad mishap he sprouted a second face on his back.
Yeah, this was probably not a dragon, it tripped on its own feet landing flat on its back. After this we made short work of it, even though it almost poisoned Flavious and it shapechanged a few times. Upon it's death there was a flash and a symbol appeared in the floor, on a lark I suggested we check the obelisk and sure enough the first symbol was gone.
So we figured that we faced a series of tests and that theory proved true. Flavious being the sort easily swayed, checked for traps and almost cashed in early. Obviously smarter than he looks, he rigged up a device and triggered the trap and managed to keep seven of his fingers. Bob the cleric to the rescue and now our other thief is whole once more. This portcullis proved more difficult than the last and our strongest could not move it. I had two others help me in the last attempt to lift and it went up easily enough, to easy actually. Looking at my fellow lifters, I decided that these bars were also a test. Only those of a certain demeanor or faith could operate them.
One more symbol down , one more room... this room had only a symbol and walls... while checking for traps I determined that the path ahead was through the wall. After much discussion and a few safety precautions, we went through the wall and ended up in an arena surrounding a bed, but that wasn't the odd part... we entered the same way, but were spaced evenly around the chamber. Almost none of us could agree on what occupied the bed, some saw a beautiful woman and child, some saw just the woman, and others saw a succubus and a large spider. Uncertain at what to do Bob raised his holy symbol and the woman attacked him, well we figured that she was a bad guy, so we stabbed and flicked our weapons at her until she died. The little one was more difficult; it attacked Carter, who could not see it. I hit it with a sling bullet, giving Carter an idea where to aim, but he couldn't kill it. Flavious covered it with a blanket, effectively putting it into a bag, much stomping and smashing later it joined its mother.
This time the symbol appeared briefly and created a pit, which was apparently bottomless. Again there was much testing and discussion, some time later we descended into the hole and found a passage on one side. This led to a vast underground valley which was home to a mummy much larger than mummies have a right to be; hopefully this is the tomb of the last colossus we have been seeking.
We traveled down and towards the mummy, with our fingers crossed, ever watchful for the mummy's slightest hint of movement. Circling around the base of where the colossus stood, we found an entrance. Rallying all of our courage we entered it and after a sort distance we entered a room and found the reason for our quest, a sword. Not just any old sword of course, this one was hanging in mid-air wrapped in flames.
Before we had a chance to start figuring out how we would claim our prize, Bubalicious our elven mage's patron communed with him. We were told that once the sword was claimed there would be a sight only the bearer of the sword could behold, add to that once it was removed we would be swarmed by enemies. Well being the planners that we were, we determined the entrance was the only door into this chamber, so it got all of our attention. Trap the doorway, cast Darkness in it, you name it we thought of it... finally we decided to just wait and see.
Carter went up to protect Xanex as he drew the sword, Flavious covered one side of the door and I the other, Bevina and Deepo followed suit. Wendell, Uhh and Bob stayed in the middle ready to aid our front line or the rear. Xanex grasped the sword and there was a flash of light and he started invoking Bubalicious. We figured that it was safe, since we heard nothing down the hall, so we turned just in time to see Xanex change or become possessed by his frog lord. He then spun around and tried to cleave Carter in half.
Snookered by the frog demon, well we should have seen that one coming... even outnumbered as he was he could have took us, we were tired and effectively down to one mage with no useful spells and he did have that salamander that appeared out of nowhere. Things looked bleak, but we were just too stupid to give up. I whipped out my trusty sling and hoped that if we managed to defeat our former ally, the salamander would be dispelled.
A mighty battle ensued and the salamander proved very difficult to even score a blow against. Unfortunately for Xanex, he wasn’t Uhh dealt a death-dealing blow on our wayward friend. After the attack, there was an explosion and we found ourselves not to far away from our old tavern and in the night sky we saw a shooting star. The optimistic of our group believe that it was Xanex speeding off to be with his patron. I on the other hand know the truth. Falling stars plummet to the ground, and I believe that Bubalicious has that sword now and he is looking to get rid of all that were involved in his theft of the sword of balance. That is why I’m here in this backwater bar and no longer adventure, I’ve grown fond of living…
The moral of this story is never trust a wizard, all of them are two-faced, but it is only obvious with half of them.
****
Please note that the story above is Simeon’s recount of what happened, not necessarily what really happened.
Here are my thoughts on the DCCRPG based on what I’ve read and after only one session of actual play (really would have enjoyed staying for that second session).
PROS:
v The ruleset puts the control back in the GM’s hands, things are simple, no attacks of opportunity, no checking for traps every five feet, no feats, not a lot of skills to remember.
v The player makes the character unique/memorable through play not by design.
v The simplicity speeds up gameplay considerably, not a lot of having to check various skills to apply them to a given situation.
CONS:
v Corruption rules for spell casting are too harsh. Our mages would probably be totally ineffectual by 5th level. As it is I would never play a caster, if GMing I’d modify this heavily with a house rule. Something to make them rarer or something to reverse them like Remove Curse or Atonement.
v Zocci dice introduced to game are currently hard to find.
v Mechanics for rolling to hit will take some getting used to (d20 and d14 adding d4 and PC level to both rolls = sword attack/shield bash, for example).
Via: Wayne Jordan
For starters I'd like to thank you (Joseph) for taking the time out of your schedule to personally run a DCC rpg playtest game at FCB in Georgia. Billy Watford has been sending us forum postings for a couple of months now and when he mentioned that he had a few seats open in June for a playtest you would DM, me and Amy (my wife), both started making arrangements for the trip. Below is a little IC stuff, followed by my thoughts on the rules from a player's perspective, with only one adventure under my belt using these rules. Upon reading please be forgiving, lol. I’m sending this to Billy’s email and to you as a Facebook message (Joseph) edit it as you see fit to keep from spoiling the adventure we participated in for future players. – Wayne Jordan
**Spoiler ALERT!!!**
"What, so you want to hear that tale again? Well, buy me an ale and I'll do just that..."
I remember it like it was yesterday, me and my crew were down at the tavern, trying to decide what way to go next, since our coin was running out. Let's see it was, Wendell the Mage, Xanex the Elf, Bevina the Dwarf, Deepo the Halfling, Bob the Cleric, Flavius the Thief, Carter the Fighter and myself, Simeon the Sly. Oh, I almost forgot Uhh the Barbarian, even though he saved our bacon that day, I never can remember him properly... sometimes he's middle-aged, others he seems a youngster fresh off the farm.
We looked more like a mercenary company than an adventuring group, but we always believed there was safety in numbers. Xanex's patron summoned him and since he has aided us in the past, we tagged along. Not privy to the conversation they held, Xanex told us that he along with any of us that was willing would be transported to a distant land in an effort to recover the sword of neutrality or something like that. It was instrumental in maintaining the balance, you know, to keep things interesting without being boring. If the sword was in the wrong hands, well I just wouldn't want to be around if that happened.
Poof! We found ourselves in an alien landscape facing a cave, so we entered and after making our way further down, we came to an obelisk that reached up almost to the top of the cavern. Large runes covered the obelisk, which we discovered were demonic symbols. I wasn't sure what bothered me most, knowing what they meant or the fact that one of our wizards had cause to learn the demonic language. Unsure of what all this meant we moved on to an outlet that was inhabited by a dragon, and yeah when you've looked something like this in the face, well you get to name it. It was big enough that we all could do our worst to it without fear of hurting one another.
We you know what happened next, the fighters fought, the thieves got sneaky and the mages, well I guess you don't know much about them, do you? Xanex was very tall for an elf , at least he used to be an elf, seems he was getting all lizard-like on us, snake eyes and a forked tongue to boot. Wendell, well the less said about him is probably the better. He actually seemed to crave the afflictions that came with miscast spells. He slowed us down often, one of his legs looked six inches longer that the other, but he had a summon spider spell that, although it gave us normal folk the willies, was very effective. After one particularly bad mishap he sprouted a second face on his back.
Yeah, this was probably not a dragon, it tripped on its own feet landing flat on its back. After this we made short work of it, even though it almost poisoned Flavious and it shapechanged a few times. Upon it's death there was a flash and a symbol appeared in the floor, on a lark I suggested we check the obelisk and sure enough the first symbol was gone.
So we figured that we faced a series of tests and that theory proved true. Flavious being the sort easily swayed, checked for traps and almost cashed in early. Obviously smarter than he looks, he rigged up a device and triggered the trap and managed to keep seven of his fingers. Bob the cleric to the rescue and now our other thief is whole once more. This portcullis proved more difficult than the last and our strongest could not move it. I had two others help me in the last attempt to lift and it went up easily enough, to easy actually. Looking at my fellow lifters, I decided that these bars were also a test. Only those of a certain demeanor or faith could operate them.
One more symbol down , one more room... this room had only a symbol and walls... while checking for traps I determined that the path ahead was through the wall. After much discussion and a few safety precautions, we went through the wall and ended up in an arena surrounding a bed, but that wasn't the odd part... we entered the same way, but were spaced evenly around the chamber. Almost none of us could agree on what occupied the bed, some saw a beautiful woman and child, some saw just the woman, and others saw a succubus and a large spider. Uncertain at what to do Bob raised his holy symbol and the woman attacked him, well we figured that she was a bad guy, so we stabbed and flicked our weapons at her until she died. The little one was more difficult; it attacked Carter, who could not see it. I hit it with a sling bullet, giving Carter an idea where to aim, but he couldn't kill it. Flavious covered it with a blanket, effectively putting it into a bag, much stomping and smashing later it joined its mother.
This time the symbol appeared briefly and created a pit, which was apparently bottomless. Again there was much testing and discussion, some time later we descended into the hole and found a passage on one side. This led to a vast underground valley which was home to a mummy much larger than mummies have a right to be; hopefully this is the tomb of the last colossus we have been seeking.
We traveled down and towards the mummy, with our fingers crossed, ever watchful for the mummy's slightest hint of movement. Circling around the base of where the colossus stood, we found an entrance. Rallying all of our courage we entered it and after a sort distance we entered a room and found the reason for our quest, a sword. Not just any old sword of course, this one was hanging in mid-air wrapped in flames.
Before we had a chance to start figuring out how we would claim our prize, Bubalicious our elven mage's patron communed with him. We were told that once the sword was claimed there would be a sight only the bearer of the sword could behold, add to that once it was removed we would be swarmed by enemies. Well being the planners that we were, we determined the entrance was the only door into this chamber, so it got all of our attention. Trap the doorway, cast Darkness in it, you name it we thought of it... finally we decided to just wait and see.
Carter went up to protect Xanex as he drew the sword, Flavious covered one side of the door and I the other, Bevina and Deepo followed suit. Wendell, Uhh and Bob stayed in the middle ready to aid our front line or the rear. Xanex grasped the sword and there was a flash of light and he started invoking Bubalicious. We figured that it was safe, since we heard nothing down the hall, so we turned just in time to see Xanex change or become possessed by his frog lord. He then spun around and tried to cleave Carter in half.
Snookered by the frog demon, well we should have seen that one coming... even outnumbered as he was he could have took us, we were tired and effectively down to one mage with no useful spells and he did have that salamander that appeared out of nowhere. Things looked bleak, but we were just too stupid to give up. I whipped out my trusty sling and hoped that if we managed to defeat our former ally, the salamander would be dispelled.
A mighty battle ensued and the salamander proved very difficult to even score a blow against. Unfortunately for Xanex, he wasn’t Uhh dealt a death-dealing blow on our wayward friend. After the attack, there was an explosion and we found ourselves not to far away from our old tavern and in the night sky we saw a shooting star. The optimistic of our group believe that it was Xanex speeding off to be with his patron. I on the other hand know the truth. Falling stars plummet to the ground, and I believe that Bubalicious has that sword now and he is looking to get rid of all that were involved in his theft of the sword of balance. That is why I’m here in this backwater bar and no longer adventure, I’ve grown fond of living…
The moral of this story is never trust a wizard, all of them are two-faced, but it is only obvious with half of them.
****
Please note that the story above is Simeon’s recount of what happened, not necessarily what really happened.
Here are my thoughts on the DCCRPG based on what I’ve read and after only one session of actual play (really would have enjoyed staying for that second session).
PROS:
v The ruleset puts the control back in the GM’s hands, things are simple, no attacks of opportunity, no checking for traps every five feet, no feats, not a lot of skills to remember.
v The player makes the character unique/memorable through play not by design.
v The simplicity speeds up gameplay considerably, not a lot of having to check various skills to apply them to a given situation.
CONS:
v Corruption rules for spell casting are too harsh. Our mages would probably be totally ineffectual by 5th level. As it is I would never play a caster, if GMing I’d modify this heavily with a house rule. Something to make them rarer or something to reverse them like Remove Curse or Atonement.
v Zocci dice introduced to game are currently hard to find.
v Mechanics for rolling to hit will take some getting used to (d20 and d14 adding d4 and PC level to both rolls = sword attack/shield bash, for example).