On Monday night, we, the Starshield Gaming Society, tried our hands at the brand spankin' new Beta test rules for Goodman Games entry into the Old School Renaissance, Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
We each were running 3 characters through the "Funnel."
My 0 Level fodders were a parsnip farmer, a soldier who has -3 to all attack rolls (that's why he's not up on the front), and a halfling vagrant (all three shown in the picture below).
As most of you know, DCC RPG uses the standard gaming dice from days of yore but also introduces other funky dice known as Zocchi dice, named for their creator. Our GM, Weezoh, bought a set , but I wasn't about to shell out 9 bucks for new dice I may never use again, so instead I bought the really useful DiceBook app for my iPad 2 ($1.99). That allowed me to roll all the funky dice I wanted right from my magical spell tablet while having the rulebook open at the same time, bookmarked with all the important rules and tables. I highly recommend that app for those of you iPad-using gamers out there.
On to the game: The adventure had most adventurers and mercenaries of our area surrounding out fighting a war. Then the crops started dying and creatures withered. All is not well in Mireston.
The mayor asks for volunteers to investigate the strange goings on. The best idea we can come up with is to explore the nearby swamp where it is said that deranged cultists of the god of decay Nimlurun are buried. Apparently, they plagued this region in decades past.
We set off into the swamp all jazzed up to save the village from the blight cursing it. We encountered crocodiles, snakes, and general unpleasantness, but eventually made it to the burial hill of the cultists. What we found was that there appeared to have been some recent excavations of the site. That's when we stopped for the night.
Overall, my impression of the game is that it does what Joseph Goodman set out to do: capture a gritty sword and sorcery feel, take the game back to its old school roots, and vilify min/maxers.
Here are some Likes and Dislikes based on character creation and one night's play:
Dislikes:
I don't like tables. I am a bit new school in that I like to know what I have done to my opponent simply by the roll of the dice and consulting my character sheet. I don't like having to go another step and roll on a table. Personal taste, I know.
Though I am a dice-crazed fiend, I don't like Zocchi dice. It just seems like they did it just to do it and not to advance the game design.
In fact, I think the rule set is just a bit too complicated for me. Not complex, necessarily, but complicated. In my dotage, I am looking to streamline and simplify while not sacrificing story or character option, not add levels of complexity needlessly.
I don't like having to run around the head of three different characters in the same session. The Funnel is a good idea in theory, but I think for those that will continue to make this game their game of choice will eventually forego the Funnel and just roll up 1st level characters. I think if we stay with this system for any length of time, that's what our players will end up asking for.
I am on the fence with the Luck mechanic. I may have to have more play before I decide on it.
No one cast any spells yet, but tables? Ughhh.
Likes:
Love the artwork and the feel of the game.
I love their take on the Halflings: They have really captured the life outlook I like in my Halflings, and of course, dual-wielding, baby!
A definite old school feel.
You can or cannot use miniatures. I like having that option. My minis were used like hand puppets: I held whichever one who was speaking up when he was speaking since we weren't using them on a battlemat.
You can or cannot use miniatures. I like having that option. My minis were used like hand puppets: I held whichever one who was speaking up when he was speaking since we weren't using them on a battlemat.
I hope I like more or grow to like more as we get our surviving characters to 1st level and class selection. I will post up again after our next session.
Until then, roll some dice and good gaming!
