Tag: Dungeon Crawl Classics

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #1: The Laughing Idol of Lar-Shann

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Product– Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #1: The Laughing Idol of Lar-Shann

System- DCC RPG

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– $7 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/393055/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-Dying-Earth-1-The-Laughing-Idol-of-LarShan?affiliate_id=658618  

TL; DR-Solid adventure with a bit of crazy ending. 97%

Basics–  Who wants a drink?  Drawn to a small town where a particularly special liquor is made, you find a massive idol barking orders.  Can you find the liquor before the idol counts down to… something?

Mechanics or Crunch– Ah first level Goodman Game scenarios!  These guys know their mechanics, so everything is solidly done with the right amount of random and fun monsters to fight.  My players and I all had a blast killing monsters, searching, and finding the secrets of the idol.  5/5

Theme or Fluff– Overall this is fun, but I feel the ending gets a bit off.  There are a ton of fun in this  adventure and has some crazy turns that are just perfect for the Dying Earth.  There is one problem with the adventure.  I won’t spoil anything, but I feel like one enemy would not attack the players at the end.  That said, if you run it how you want, it won’t be a problem!.  4.5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Yep!  This is what I expect from a Goodman Games adventure.  Solid work Goodman games!   5/5

Summary–  Ah crazy Dying Earth fun.  This with all the other adventures makes me want to read more Vance.  I love the crunch and the design, but I have a few issues with the ending.  That said, you write your own story as the Judge, so fix it on the fly!  This is a solid adventure that I loved, and I think you will too!  97%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #0: The Black Obelisk

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Product– Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #0: The Black Obelisk

System- DCC RPG

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– $7 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/393054/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-Dying-Earth-0-The-Black-Obelisk?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR-Short and Sweet! 97%

Basics–  Time for the trip!  You are all traveling for a possibly once in a lifetime religious trip across the dying earth.  Will you survive and thrive or will you die along the way?  What will your god have to say about the things you do along the way?

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a fun multichoice adventure, but it’s short.  There are three paths the players can take, but the paths might need a bit more.  I like what’s here, but if your players don’t roleplay a ton, you will get this done in about two hours.  That’s pretty short!  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff– This does feel like DCC, and now I want to read some Vance.  I didn’t read a ton of Jack Vance before this.  I know its where DnD magic comes from, but that was the extent of my knowledge.  After reading this, I feel its themed enough to feel like a DCC funnel as I kill loads of PCs, but I also feel like I want to learn more about the world this comes from.  5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Funnel?  Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout?  This is what I expect from Goodman Games and a funnel.  Solid work Goodman games!   5/5

Summary–  This was a fun adventure to get my players into the world of the Dying Earth.  Heck it got ME into the world of the Dying Earth!  I want to read more of this to get deeper in, so mission accomplished there adventure!  The crunch is good with the only real problem being the length of the adventure.  It’s not bad by any stretch, but it is short.  At a con on the last day, that might be a godsend for BOTH the GM and the players as you want to keep having fun, but you need a rest.  But, as a start, it’s a few points off.  That said, if my only real complaint about this product is I want more, then this is a solid product!  97%

Daily Punch 10-12-20 Elf and Halfling racial template for Star Crawl

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How about some more racial templates for star crawl?

Elf: Long lived, graceful, and aloof, elves have lived long enough for some of the oldest of them to see elves go from living in forest homes to living among the stars. The other races think them haughty, but honestly you deserve to be better then the rest as you are just better.
Stat Adjustments: Stamina -1, Intelligence +2, Agility +1
Special Abilities: Long-lived(Elves live up to 500 years), Magical ( choose one level one wizard spell that you cast as a wizard of your level)

Halfling: Adorable and short, halflings are the vagabonds of humanity. These small explorers took to the skies like fish to water as they drive space caravans across the stars.
Stat Adjustments: Stamina -1, Ability +2, Personality +1
Special Abilities: Lucky( when you spent a point of luck, you gain +1d4 instead), small( you are small sized)

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 7-10-17 Seelendieb sword for DCCRPG

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My wife found a sword in DCC.  She loves it, but maybe she shouldn’t….

 

 
Seelendieb-this is a +1 longsword of impressive sharpness that also increases the wielders strength by +4.  It’s hilt is shaped like interconnected grasping hands of bone with the crossbar being a spine.  It was forged by a god of death and destruction and gifted to his chosen paladin to steal life in the multiverse.

INT: 18; PERS: 16; does not possess the wielder.  Wielder gains hit points equal to half damage dealt, and then the wielder then makes a Will saving throw, DC equal to hit points recovered.

Fail First Three-The sword now makes the hit point recovery feel amazing.  This process is almost addictive.

Fail Next Three-The wielders alignment shifts to chaotic.

Fail Final Three-The wielder becomes a soul wraith.  There is no physical change, but the character now eats souls instead of food.  This is done as an action over an intelligent creature that died less than 1 turn ago.  The character can also consume blood of intelligent creatures in place of souls.  The character heals damage as if they has used lay on hands on themselves using their own attributes if they drink blood.  The character can no longer heal hit points as normal, but may be healed by a cleric of a neutral or chaotic deity.  Healing from a Lawful cleric harms the character, but the character is allowed a Will save to prevent the healing, DC equal to amount that would the dealt as damage.  The character’s title shifts as follows depending on the level:

1-Thrall

2-Damphyr

3-Aufhocker

4-Vampire

5-Dracul

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics #84: Perils of the Purple Planet

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photo-original

Product– Dungeon Crawl Classics #84: Perils of the Purple Planet

System– DCC RPG

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– $50 here for the boxed set http://www.goodman-games.com/5085preview.html

TL; DR– A good hex crawl, but I’d like a bit more guidance as a GM.  97%

Basics– Can you survive a blender of Appendix N other world science fantasy?  On the Purple planets a race of ape men fight under the guidance of strange alien powers for control of a desert world full of timeless technology as well as giant worms.  It’s every single awesome old school fantasy book, movie, and song rolled into one-the way any DCC RPG product should be made. Will you solve the secret of how to survive the world and find a way home or will you die in the dust?

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a great expansion for the DCC RPG.  The kickstarter added a ton of extra content to the adventure box set.  Among the different add-ons are a ton of adventure locals, race and class write ups for the kith (the ape men), new technology, an entire world to play in, and much more.  Overall, it’s all well done.  There are a few issues such as how often encounters happen and other small details I don’t think were as well explained as they could be.  Also, I think encounters happen far too often to keep move the story along.  It’s not going to end the game by any means, but there are some small issues that did keep me from fully enjoying the product.  4.75/5

Theme or Fluff- What is in this box set is very much amazing.  The set comes with a ton of world building.  Honestly, there is more world building than in the base book!  From a full right-up on kith cultures and a kith class, to the different kind of alien masters, this set is full of stories.  My one issue in this book is the players and the GM doesn’t really get an introduction to how to run this thing.  Unlike the other DCCRPG adventures, this is really a free form adventure.  Players can literally go anywhere, but the boxed set didn’t give me enough directions to keep the story moving in a good direction.  It does give a simple base idea of the adventure, but GMs are really on their own to determine what happens on the purple planet and to build a cohesive story there.  4.75/5

 

Execution– This is a gorgeous boxed set full of tons of amazing books.  There are books on crypts from space warriors past, a setting book, the adventure, a player book, a handout book, and even a GM screen.  The base DCC RPG doesn’t even have a GM screen!    I’d like a bit more spacing and art in the adventure, but honestly, that’s the same thing I complain about with the other DCC RPG adventures.  This one makes up for it by sheer volume of well done material.  You will learn an impressive amount about this world from the awesome books in this set. 5/5

Summary– I do love me some hex crawling.  It’s a great experience to just let the players go and explore the world.  This has even more than normal as the players get to explore a completely alien world.  This whole adventure box set has not only the named adventure but a ton of extra stuff to get players into this world.  It’s all amazingly well done.  If this adventure were just the adventure itself, it would not have rated is as high as I did.  The extra care put into this set really drives this over the top.  My only problems with this set were the lack of guidance as a GM and some minor issues with the mechanics of the set.  However, none of that takes away from how impressive this box is.  If you want to play in a world where Frank Herbert, Robert Howard, and Jack Vance all mixed their ideas in a blender and poured that over a base of old school D&D, then this is the product for you. 97%

Blurbs from the Booth- Multiple Characters to one Player

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

I’ve seen a problem at my table a few times.  I have one player who ends up playing multiple characters.  This has happened a few way.  One is the most broken feat out there for Pathfinder and DnD3e-Leadership!  With Leadership, a player gets a follower as well as a small army as they level.  Now one character gets two turns while the rest get one. Next is the funnel for Dungeon Crawl Classics.  Players start with five level zero characters and during their first adventure will lose some, but form a bond with one or two.  It’s a great way to build your character’s backstory, but it does have some problems.  Once  I had a player walk out of a funnel with four player characters at level one.  Now they want to play all four.  The final way is when a table is a little light, and the players decide that they can fill up that table for me by just playing more than one character.

 

So the first question you probably have is ‘Why Do I hate this so much?’  Well, it has to do with roleplaying.  Sure, in a hack and slash game playing multiple characters would be easy.  No fuss and no muss.  But in a game that has any amount of roleplaying, multiple characters just kill the game.  Now I have players who either don’t roleplay their multiple characters or roleplay too much and completely dominate the table.  Or I have players who have events happen that they just don’t tell me about!  If I as your GM don’t know it’s a thing, then it’s not a thing!  I need to know what your up to so I can build that into the world I’m running.  Finally, I have players who bilk the system by using multiple characters to just be extra powerful.  I hate that the most!  I hate power gaming for power gaming sake.

 

Well, what’s a GM to do?  Well I’ve made a few compromises and changes.  One, I no longer allow leadership.  I don’t like the feat and no organized play group does either.  It’s ok in some circumstances, but those are exceptions, not general conditions.  Next, I just don’t have games if I miss too many people.  No, you do not get to play Mike’s cleric if Mike is not here!  Mike wants to play, and we’ll play when he’s here.  And finally, in DCCRPG, when a player runs multiple PCs, his/her PCs tend to be the target of the monsters more often.  Monsters go for the biggest threats, and if you’ve got six guys standing in a group, then that is where my fireball goes!  Now admittedly, some of these solutions are mean and may target a player unfairly, but sometimes it’s helpful to remind players that this is more then just a dice rolling contest.  I want a story, and I hope they do too.  Multiple character to a player never end well as some players just won’t have the luck that the person with four characters will have, and that lesser player will not get a moment to shine or even feel like they are useful.  And that is a feeling I’m trying to avoid.

 

What do you think?  Am I over reacting?  Do you want one PC to a player?

Daily Punch 12-26-14 Arcane Warrior for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

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I love fighters who have just a bit of magic to them.  How about making for for DCCRPG?

 

Arcane Warrior

Level Attack (Magic Die) Crit Die/ Table Action Dice Known Spells Max Spell Level Ref Fort Will
1 +d3 1d10/III 1d20 3 1 1 1 1
2 +d4 1d12/III 1d20 3 1 1 1 1
3 +d5 1d14/III 1d20 4 1 1 2 2
4 +d6 1d16/IV 1d20 4 2 2 2 2
5 +d7 1d20/IV 1d20 5 2 2 2 2
6 +d8 1d24/V 1d20+1d14 5 3 2 3 3
7 +d10 1d30/V 1d20+1d16 6 3 3 3 3
8 +d10+1 1d30/V 1d20+1d20 6 4 3 4 4
9 +d10+2 2d20/V 1d20+1d20+1d14 7 4 4 4 4
10 +d10+3 2d20/V 1d20+1d20+1d14 7 5 4 5 5
Titles
Level Title (all alignments)
1  Spell Squire
2 Mage Errant
3 Mage Knight
4 Warlock
5 Eldritch Warrior

 

You have mastered the blade as well as the spell.  It is a hard road that not many can master as it is both mentally and physical demanding.  Many of called, but you however has risen to the challenge.  You are a wanted commodity for any side of a conflict, but your uniqueness also makes you a target foremost.

 

Hit points: An arcane warrior gains 1d8 hit points at each level.

Weapon and Armor Training:  An arcane warrior can use all weapons he or she wants, however, an arcane warrior needs one hand free to cast any spell.  Arcane warriors can wear any armor they can afford.  No worn armor interferes with spell casting of any kind.

Alignment: Arcane warriors have no natural drive toward law or chaos.   You my choose to study black magic as a chaotic wizard or follow control over the elements as a lawful wizard might.

Attack Modifier: Just like a warrior (DCCRPG p 42), you roll an extra die when you make an attack  called a magic die.  This die is added to the attack and to damage from his or her weapons or damage from any spell.

Caster Level: An arcane warriors caster level is equal to his or her current level.

Magic or Might: You are a unique breed of fighter and wizard.  You know spells like a wizard (DCCRPG p48) but also know the ways of the warrior’s mighty deeds of arms ( DCCRPG p43).  Spells are learned just as a wizard with the first three spells being selected at random at first level.  An arcane warrior may learn any spell that a wizard is able to.  Before you make an attack roll, you may select to cast a spell or to do a mighty deed.  If you select to make a spell, you’re attack must hit, the result on the magic die must be a 2 + the level of the spell you wish to cast, and then you cast a spell just like a wizard.  However, instead of adding the arcane warriors intelligence and level to the action die, an arcane warrior rolls his magic die and the action die and  adds the result to his or her intelligence score to determine the effect of a spell.  The second roll for the spell determines if the spell is lost or not.  An arcane warrior may elect to just use the magic die result from the initial attack roll or reroll with the second spell roll.  Casting a spell in this way is part of the same action die use.  Mighty deeds are resolved as normal per a Mighty Deed of Arms using the result of the magic die in place of the Deed Die (DCCRPG p 43).

Luck: An arcane warrior adds his or her luck modifier to all magic die rolls.

Action Die: A arcane warrior uses his action die for spells, attacks, or Magic or Might attacks.  At level 6, an arcane warrior gains a second action die for use in the same combat round’s action.