Friday, April 6, 2012

DCCRPG Pre-Order PDF

I too received the DCCRPG pdf this morning and am interested in giving it a good once over. I really enjoyed reading the 3.5 Dungeon Crawl Classics, and I liked their design and aesthetic overall. I like Joe Goodman as well. Having said that, there are two things, at first glance, I would quibble with. The art is a double-edged sword. It is magnificent one one hand, but the sheer volume I find a bit too much. Also, I'm not huge on the perspective and approach taken in the OSR paragraph in one of the appendices. This should have been edited out IMO. These are more cosmetic than substantive issues. I don't think I'll get a chance to play it, as I want to play TSR D&D, but I look forward to giving it a good read and watching it expand and grow over time (which I'm confident it will).

10 comments:

  1. I love the art from the beta copy I have (especially all the stuff by Mullen; he is one of my absolute favorites). I haven't really had a change to read the actual rules, but from skimming it seems to be a bit heavy. For example, per-spell fumble table? Really?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also, the character funnel concept seems to me to be "3d6 in order 4 times, pick the best" which kind of subverts the idea of old school character generation in a really subtle way.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've seen the beta version and I really liked the art that I saw, and I really appreciate the effort that Joseph Goodman has put into this; it truly is a labour of love. The game itself is just too crunchy for me, especially the magic. Having a separate table for each spell is just too much mechanic for the type of game I want to play.

    I may pick this up eventually just to read, and maybe borrow some ideas from, though. I also like what I've heard about the production values of the hard copy. I hate glossy paper rule books, and I applaud Goodman's decision to go with high-quality 70# paper and good binding.

    So, kudos to Goodman even if the game is one I'll likely never play.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Brendan - it really isn't "pick the best" with the character funnel, it's "use a survivor". ;)

    Personally I think it will work best in ornaments, one-shots and short story arcs. I can't see running it as a campaign, but as a change of pace it should work really well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, but if you have one character with a few 17s or an 18 and then a few more average characters, who do you think is going to be the meat shield?

      Credit for this insight should go to David over at Beyond the Pale Gate:

      http://ramblingsfrombeyondthepale.blogspot.com/2012/02/dcc-funnel.html

      Delete
    2. Is that necessarily a bad thing, Brendan? I think it props up the idea of successful adventurers as both exceptionally able people and ruthless mercenary gits who subscribe to the "I don't have to outrun the tiger" school of non-heroism - which I'd thought were significant aspects of the old-school game.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. Not necessarily a bad thing. It just depends on what you want. Average ability scores will be higher than 3d6 in order.

      Delete
  5. I played it at a Con recently and it was a blast, but I'm not sure about it for regular Campaign play...

    ReplyDelete