Dungeon Crawl Classics - Woe Be to The Wizards

"Wisely did Ibn Schacabao say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes." - H.P. Lovecraft, "The Festival"

I have bitten the bullet, and finally (after much heartsickness) bought a digital version of Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics.  Why the pangs?  Well, I should have just borne the cost and purchased a hardbound version so that I can lay awake at night in bed giggling like a 12-year old.  It is strange to see what I remember about 1st ed. D&D and the Red Box set (I always add "pre-Unearthed Arcana") lovingly captured and improved upon with mechanics that add to rather than subtract from the spirit of the thing.  I think this is the D&D that I have carried around in my head for 25 years, given form.  It's not the same as the 1st ed., obviously - I think Labyrinth Lord is awesome in that regard.  But it allows a knowledgeable DM with experienced players a wide amount of leeway to play a game that is what AD&D tried to capture, I think.  Without all the damn 18/00-25 baloney.  It leaves rules out to avoid MinMax builds and rules-lawyering and all the stuff that wearied me about role-playing in the late 90's after I grew to love D&D and gaming in the mid 80s.

I love the Luck mechanic, and the burning of it to add spice to the statistics and chance.  And the Warrior and Thief rules are great.  The Halfling and Dwarf classes are included, of course, for historical accuracy.  Each class has a niche that has something to commend it.  Except maybe the Elf - I could always do without elves, but hey, YMMV of course.  The cleric rules (and to a lesser extent the alignments of all characters) draw you in to the machinations of the gods and demons that run the show.  However, I think the game really shines in the vast amount of material that is included for the Wizard.

I mean, you can't read through the book without understanding that the magic system is intended to be mysterious and baleful and dangerous.  The fate of the magician is sealed almost from the start.  That being, harnessing the power of magic is bad news and should be avoided at almost all costs and can only end in tragedy.  The patron system and spell duels are nice touch that I can't wait to see unfold in an actual game - something that's often portrayed vividly in fantasy fiction but not always done well in gaming.

Anyway, once I've read through it again, I will post a few hooks and a patron daemon or two.  I have already progressed a funnel group of 4 hapless peasants through their adventuring careers to end with a benighted Chaotic Necromancer, vainly struggling to undo the damage his tinkering with awful powers has done his body and soul.  He is accompanied by a foul-mouthed and cantankerous Neutral dwarf sidekick (started as a apothecarist) who has a nose for gold and rare herbs that keep his benefactor preserved and on just this side of the brink of liquifaction.  They move from place to place one step ahead of a former colleague and friend, a witch-hunting monomaniac bent on vengeance.  Their patrons constantly put them at cross-purposes in the manner of the old Elric of Melnibone stories that I loved so much.  Maybe they both loved a fair-haired elven lass who saw her fate in the stars before either of these figures was born - who knows?  Did she set the whole tragicomedy in motion with her studies long ago?  When they meet now, the air around them boils with mutual hatred and the figures of their patron gods and demons clash in the air around them and they leave waste and ruin behind

It's a well thought out system, and I like it.  Now I need to meet up with some like-minded folks and let some d7's and d16's fly.  Or not - the thing is worth reading and thinking about on its own merits as a stimulus to cloud my brain about reality.  I am choking on the air around this election, for Vecna's sake.

I just thought of a "Vecna for President 2012" T-shirt that I should have thought of months and months ago.  Dammit.

Adventure ... running! Henchman #1

Welcome! 

I'm thinking about getting back into role-playing games after a 15 year-hiatus.  I have kept up reading e.g. 4e D&D (blech) and some of the d20 source books (meh) and Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu but for the most part my gaming and hobby-type activity since, oh 1996, has been confined to WH40K and painting figs (maybe I can show some of my meager painting down the road).  I have been inspired by the Old-School Revival e.g. Dungeon Crawl Classics, Labyrinth Lord, Mr. Greg Christopher's Ambitions and Avarice (which I have not yet played but some have seen it).  Being somewhat a greybeard (started D&D around 1982) and somewhat busy with my job to find a suitable f2f game group, I've given some thought to looking for an online bunch to roll polyhedra with.  That later.  Right now, I am training for my first 5K race, replete with zombies and things to jump over.  I have given some thought to making a L4D-model first aid pack to take with me, but it seems it could hold me back when I go over/under the barb wire.  But it would be a good "on the go" cosplay.  Hurr.

Why do I say this?  Well, in the interests of adding back to the gaming community, I intend to post a series of ill-fated and star-crossed henchmen based on situations I find myself in.  Pretty lame, eh?  In the meantime, if you have any advice on how to find a good online gaming group (I prefer LL, DCC, Call of Cthulhu) or a nice batch of older gamers in the SoMD/DC/NoVA area, tap me here or whatnot.  In the real world I do therapy at 6th level (my psychoanalysis skill is currently at 53%!), I am a bumbling photographer, and am preparing my metaphorical bugout bag for when the existential SHTF.  You may find my older (more ranty, less RPG flavored) blog at noahms456.wordpress.com

Thanks for reading!

Hapless Henchman #1

Flens Flatfoot, 0 level normal human porter

Con 16, Dex 14 

"Damn these shoes to the sixth circle of hell for their shoddy stitching!  Yes, yes, young Master, just give me a moment to get the pack on, wait.... was that a manticore's bellow?  Run!"

A grizzled old Imperial man who has made his way through the world by avoiding (narrowly) a long series of close encounters with danger.  A henchman who often runs away is more often than not a pauper, however Flens differs from other hangers-on in that he has a keen ear and sense of smell, a quick tendency to run at the slightest provocation, and much better-than-average stamina for a man of his indeterminately elderly age.  None of the parties he leaves with return, and none have ever spread word that he is a coward.  His years of experience provide him with insight into the proper placement of iron rations to distribute the load across his (often aching) lower back, and the party's flagons and tin ladles make no noise in their straps.   He estimates that he has struck out with 24 parties of various wide-eyed paladins, dwarves, acrobats, and barbarians, but Flens has yet to "strike it big".  Although many a party he accompanied was destroyed outright, miraculously Flens' packs often contained the lightest goods, and pockets and compartments that were easily emptied when a quick burst of speed was required.  Thus far he has lived out his life on the proceeds from the sales of scraps of various Cathayan silks and singed herbal spell components, the rightful owners of which have journeyed deep into the Barrowmaze, never to be seen again.  The beermaids in the Cranky Hippogriff whisper that long ago Flens was raised by the desert-striding elves of Virthan but was banished for poor taste in music.  He never complains outright about his load, but does mutter a litany of somatic complaints in the rear ranks (just out of earshot of his employer).

 

(any party he joins may benefit from a +3 to one member's move silent check once per game day.  He will always fail a morale role if one is taken, and personally gains the benefit of expeditious retreat should he break from the party to flee.)