Blogging About the DCC RPG

[thistledownjohn]

I've started a new blog, The Thistledown Post, and as I am planning a DCC campaign the game will be heavily featured. I plan to post campaign design thoughts, play reports, and actual play audio at my website, Thistledown Actual Play. Please drop by and have a read!

The Thistledown Post
Thistledown Actual Play

[thistledownjohn]

I've got a new post up on my blog where I talk about putting together my first character funnel session

The Thistledown Post

[tovokas]

I love reading stuff like this.

Thanks for sharing.

[finarvyn]

Always great to get more positive word out there. For some reason DCC is getting lots of "pretty, but too complex" comments on the web at the moment, I assume due to its thickness and heft. Nice to have tales of great games out there for folks to read!

[tovokas]

For some reason DCC is getting lots of "pretty, but too complex" comments on the web at the moment, I assume due to its thickness and heft. Nice to have tales of great games out there for folks to read!

Yep, that's one bug needs to get squashed quick.

I don't think I've ever ran a more accessible game for beginning players. Any "crunchiness" in the rules (like spell duels) comes down the road a bit- and in general such things are just delicious crunchiness for those that enjoy delicious crunchiness: the core mechanic is about as simple as it gets.

And I agree that "actual play" reports are the best medicine.

[TheNobleDrake]

Yeah... lots of "too complex" comments... mind boggling how such a "complex" game has people playing with character sheets feeling roomy on a half-sheet of paper.

Luckily, I only have one person I have personally encountered that seems a bit flummoxed by the game (he keeps trying to cast the mercurial effects of his spells as independent spell effects, or use one on a spell other than the one it is attached to... I have no idea where he even got the idea he could do that)

[Karaptis]

Excellent blog. I dig your take on alignment!

[Vanguard]

Yeah... lots of "too complex" comments... mind boggling how such a "complex" game has people playing with character sheets feeling roomy on a half-sheet of paper.

Luckily, I only have one person I have personally encountered that seems a bit flummoxed by the game (he keeps trying to cast the mercurial effects of his spells as independent spell effects, or use one on a spell other than the one it is attached to... I have no idea where he even got the idea he could do that)

I'm going to try and debunk this notion when I write up my review of Sailors on the Starless Sea. DCC RPG, while it does have its fiddly bits, is very fast paced. The only slow down that occurs is when you stop to roll on a table, but this hardly brings the game to a crawl.

[Raven_Crowking]

Yeah... lots of "too complex" comments... mind boggling how such a "complex" game has people playing with character sheets feeling roomy on a half-sheet of paper.

Luckily, I only have one person I have personally encountered that seems a bit flummoxed by the game (he keeps trying to cast the mercurial effects of his spells as independent spell effects, or use one on a spell other than the one it is attached to... I have no idea where he even got the idea he could do that)

I'm going to try and debunk this notion when I write up my review of Sailors on the Starless Sea. DCC RPG, while it does have its fiddly bits, is very fast paced. The only slow down that occurs is when you stop to roll on a table, but this hardly brings the game to a crawl.

Quite the opposite. Because those rolls actually matter, they increase tension, and therefore increase the sense of pacing.

Contrast this to 4e, as an example, where each roll is instead a tiny (and relatively inconsequential) step towards an end which occurs only at a glacial pace.

[Vanguard]

Yeah... lots of "too complex" comments... mind boggling how such a "complex" game has people playing with character sheets feeling roomy on a half-sheet of paper.

Luckily, I only have one person I have personally encountered that seems a bit flummoxed by the game (he keeps trying to cast the mercurial effects of his spells as independent spell effects, or use one on a spell other than the one it is attached to... I have no idea where he even got the idea he could do that)

I'm going to try and debunk this notion when I write up my review of Sailors on the Starless Sea. DCC RPG, while it does have its fiddly bits, is very fast paced. The only slow down that occurs is when you stop to roll on a table, but this hardly brings the game to a crawl.

Quite the opposite. Because those rolls actually matter, they increase tension, and therefore increase the sense of pacing.

Contrast this to 4e, as an example, where each roll is instead a tiny (and relatively inconsequential) step towards an end which occurs only at a glacial pace.

That has been my experience. The time spent paging through the book to get the appropriate table certainly helps impart the idea that this is an important roll. DCC RPG is by far the fastest system I've played.

[thistledownjohn]

Excellent blog. I dig your take on alignment!

Thanks very much!

[thistledownjohn]

I've got a piece up on The Thistledown Post about the gods that hold sway in my Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG world of Aedoss...

The Thistledown Post

[gambler1650]

I'll admit, I was somewhat thrown by the size of the book. When I began flipping through it though, I realized how much was devoted to spells (each spell gets close to a full page), charts, and the like. Certainly the basic combat rules are straightforward...

[Benoist]

Yeah I got kind of the same reaction and in fact it's very comparable to Rolemaster in that regard: the charts look intimidating at first, but when you look at the detail of the game, you see that it's not rules heavy at its very core. It just ask a little bit of forethought and organization to run properly, I guess (with photocopies of the spells, the crit tables handy, those kinds of things).

[thistledownjohn]

Our character funnel session report is up! Click below and have a read...

The Thistledown Post

[thistledownjohn]

I'm reading the books of Appendix N in an effort to see for myself how Mr. Gygax was influenced in the creation of D&D. I just finished Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. Read about what I found at the Thistledown Post.

The Thistledown Post

[tovokas]

More good stuff.

[thistledownjohn]

I'm talking about the integration of the adventure module DCC #66.5 - The Doom of the Savage Kings over at The Thistledown Post

The Thistledown Post