Running Funnels at Cons

[Kamawell]

I'm planning to run Sailors and Frozen in Time as funnels at a con shortly.

I wondered if anyone could comment on how well they fit into a four hour con slot or whether they needed any editing to keep the running time down.

Also, how about levelling up in a con funnel? I guess it would bring things to a halt for a while, probably just as the end of the module is in sight. Has anyone run one that way and is it worth it or should I ignore XP and just let them plough on through?

[goodmangames]

I have run Portal Under the Stars dozens of times at cons. It usually finishes in just under 4 hours. I have also run Sailors a couple times. It has more encounters and player choices. If the players are lolly gagging I usually adjust the encounters on the fly to speed up the timing.

Don't level up mid-game! That is not the intent of the rules. I almost always play with the "optional rule" (which I suppose in retrospect should be a real rule) that leveling up from 0 to 1st level simply requires surviving the funnel. I don't track anything for 0-levels other than "did they survive?"

Definitely let the players roll up their 0-levels. Assume 15 minutes at start of session for this. Players enjoy it and it gives them more attachment to the characters.

Hope this helps. Have fun!

[Doug Kovacs]

I second Joe. Avoid leveling in a funnel. It changes the whole character of an adventure.


For running Sailors in one session specifically, just make sure you have an hour or so to do the actual Starless sea forward. It's fairly easy to fast forward through the pool/skull room (with the handouts) and if the players are screwing around too much on the surface you might have the beast men come out of the tower and attack them. It could draw them into the dungeon proper once they know where it is. And. It could be fun for a yak headed man to throw a gong farmer down the well.

Just as a note for non-con games : the players are going to spend much longer at 1st level in a campaign anyway , so why truncate the fun of a funnel?

[Kamawell]

I have run Portal Under the Stars dozens of times at cons. It usually finishes in just under 4 hours. I have also run Sailors a couple times. It has more encounters and player choices. If the players are lolly gagging I usually adjust the encounters on the fly to speed up the timing.

Don't level up mid-game! That is not the intent of the rules. I almost always play with the "optional rule" (which I suppose in retrospect should be a real rule) that leveling up from 0 to 1st level simply requires surviving the funnel. I don't track anything for 0-levels other than "did they survive?"

Definitely let the players roll up their 0-levels. Assume 15 minutes at start of session for this. Players enjoy it and it gives them more attachment to the characters.

Hope this helps. Have fun!

That helps hugely - thanks! Judging running times is tricky - I wasn't sure Portal would have filled most of a slot but now I know different I'll run that one first.

The reason for the leveling question was that I know some folks have reported a high fatality rate without a level gain before the end of Sailors. I ran it the optional way when we started our mini-campaign and there was a fairly high casualty rate at the end but I guess that just makes survival all the sweeter!

[Kamawell]

I second Joe. Avoid leveling in a funnel. It changes the whole character of an adventure.


For running Sailors in one session specifically, just make sure you have an hour or so to do the actual Starless sea forward. It's fairly easy to fast forward through the pool/skull room (with the handouts) and if the players are screwing around too much on the surface you might have the beast men come out of the tower and attack them. It could draw them into the dungeon proper once they know where it is. And. It could be fun for a yak headed man to throw a gong farmer down the well.

Just as a note for non-con games : the players are going to spend much longer at 1st level in a campaign anyway , so why truncate the fun of a funnel?

That's really good advice - don't want to rush the finale!
I've learned from better GMs than me that a con game can rarely have too much pace so if I keep things moving in the early stages we'll have time to do the ending justice. Thanks for the wise words!

[michaelcurtis]

Frozen in Time includes a special "end the scenario" feature that allows it to come to a spectacular conclusion at several points. I specifically included it so that it can be run in a 4-hour convention slot and leave the players satisfied. No editing is needed, just review the advice about ending the adventure.

[Kamawell]

Frozen in Time includes a special "end the scenario" feature that allows it to come to a spectacular conclusion at several points. I specifically included it so that it can be run in a 4-hour convention slot and leave the players satisfied. No editing is needed, just review the advice about ending the adventure.

I'd forgotten about that - when I last read Frozen I didn't have a time limit in mind. Thanks for reminding me

So I'm all set now - a Portal, Sailors and Frozen triple bill at Conception!

[Kamawell]

Thought I'd report back on how it went.

Ended up running Portal once and Sailors twice as I hadn't had a chance to run Frozen ahead of time and didn't want to put paying customers through something I wasn't completely familiar with.

First run of Sailors was wonderful. None of the players were familiar with the system at all - I'm not sure they'd even heard of it - but they got the spirit of the thing straight away! A few early casualties kept them on their toes and the bit on the beach with the menhir became a hilarious but grim PvP bloodbath. Enough of them survived however for a full assault on the ziggurat. PC numbers fell rapidly but the beastmen kept pace and a scant handful of villagers escaped the collapsing cavern.

The following night Portal Under the Stars saw two of the players from the Sailors game come back for more, saying that they'd had so much fun the previous evening! An early death at the hands of the spear-wielding statues followed by the swiveling statue left them so paranoid that they took everything very carefully, which was a lot of fun to see! I tweaked the ending a bit to give them a moral dilemma - become the new puppets of the alien overlords and gain the power to destroy the hated neighbouring village of Crunn or reject this evil offer and return to life in their own hamlet. Mr Sparkles, the jeweller,when put on the spot, rejected the offer.

By Saturday night and the second run of Sailors, a lot of us had been infected by a bug that spread round the con very quickly. My voice was starting to go but we had another great game. It ended with another full assault on the ziggurat though the bodycount was a little lower this time as one sneaky villager used the carnage as a distraction to get to the top and trigger the endgame a little earlier.

So thanks for the advice everyone. You've helped me spread the DCC word to some more gamers and I'll certainly run some more at other cons this year - I had a great time!

[DM Cojo]

Don't level up mid-game! That is not the intent of the rules. I almost always play with the "optional rule" (which I suppose in retrospect should be a real rule) that leveling up from 0 to 1st level simply requires surviving the funnel. I don't track anything for 0-levels other than "did they survive?"

Is this the intent for any funnel, or just at conventions? I have run several funnels for my group, and I have always let them level up when they got to 10xp. This is usually near the end of the adventure. It does take some time to pause and do that, but leveling up isn't very hard, so it hasn't been too bad. It does make the climax a bit more survivable, and is a pay off for the players to be able to use their new abilities at the end of the night. But if that is not the intent, then I guess I have been doing it wrong?

[Raven_Crowking]

Don't level up mid-game! That is not the intent of the rules. I almost always play with the "optional rule" (which I suppose in retrospect should be a real rule) that leveling up from 0 to 1st level simply requires surviving the funnel. I don't track anything for 0-levels other than "did they survive?"

Is this the intent for any funnel, or just at conventions? I have run several funnels for my group, and I have always let them level up when they got to 10xp. This is usually near the end of the adventure. It does take some time to pause and do that, but leveling up isn't very hard, so it hasn't been too bad. It does make the climax a bit more survivable, and is a pay off for the players to be able to use their new abilities at the end of the night. But if that is not the intent, then I guess I have been doing it wrong?

If you're doing it wrong, so am I.

I use cheat sheets at public games to help players level up, and it takes 10 minutes tops for someone with three characters to level who has never done it before.

Level 'em up! says I.

[IronWolf]

I am in the camp of not leveling up during a funnel. And I've run a couple of long ones for the funnel as well - Perils of the Sunken City and Sailors. I don't even track XP - survivors get to level.