Monday, August 10, 2015

Islands In The Stream - A DCC Rpg Actual Play Event

So I got together with a bunch of friends Sunday and grabbed my copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics, using a bit of a DYI setting that I threw together. I got a funnel together based around a post apocalyptic post alien invasion setting. We took a bunch of zero level apocalyptic survivors and had them kidnapped by aliens from their villages. All of them were a part of post apocalyptic gangs of one type or another but the PC's didn't know one another. The PC's were quickly pitted against various alien menaces and weeded out based upon performance, intelligence, etc. This was how the players acquired the right PC's to use and the funnel system proved them with a solid beginning.



The aliens then sectioned the PC's off again based upon raw talent and adapted or they were going to die. And lots did, there was an exchange of all of the PC's that others wanted. This went on several times until folks got the player character that they wanted. Several gladiatorial games were conducted until more of the PC's were eliminated and killed. The action was hot fast and brutal, the players loved it.



After this the PC's were whisted away to an alien world where they were involved in an alien hunting safari on an alien planet. There were questions this evening if the action was connected with my Accursed Atlantis campaign? Of course it was, after all this was taking place within the same universe. The answer came when the PC's were teleported to a lost island on some unnamed lost world, there were alien dinosaurs, weird warriors, and all kinds of hazards just waiting for them! All of this was being broadcast to an audience of inter dimensional aliens. Fortunately for me Fish Wife games and Dave Woodrum had cooked up Savage Island Encounters.
All of the hard work was done for me in advance. But I can just hear you asking yourselves, why not use one of the free DCC rpg resources on the net? Because I have very experienced DCC rpg players. 
And because of the popularity of the game I was forced to improvise last night for source material.


According to the description:
The crew of mighty adventurers have landed upon the beaches of a most strange and savage island, where great reptiles still roam and cannibals make meat of men. This is a place ridden with pirates, fanged beasts, and the various hazards of natures. Despite such dreadful aspects, the savage island is a place of potential fortune and glory.  Fortunately the pdf lives up to its name and had players guessing what was going to happen next. The wizard and cleric quickly found the shrines and magical empowerment sites on the island and I added in a few twists and turns to keep things moving and interesting.



Overall DCC was quite a lot of fun but my players do not want to see this become our regular campaign. The post apocalyptic fare that we usually get into has some mix of many of the elements of PA fiction along with bits of D&D thrown into the background. DCC is going to remain a once in a while short set of adventures. The setting implied by the DCC rpg book is expansive and interesting but the players want more of a generic setting that can easily be bolted onto several incarnations of the games of your imagination.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds very cool. Just curious how exactly the PC exchange and gladiatorial combat worked?

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  2. Alright right off the bat before even attempting to run the DCC rpg system, I did a bit of research last week before the game arrived. One of the videos that I watched was Wintersome's DCC RPG - GMing, Clarifications & House Rules.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4QvxOWIMTI
    The gentleman was very clear and concise with some common sense house rules for his own games, several of which I adopted for my own game.
    For this game's funnel I went with the idea that funnel was a part of the alien gladiatorial arena. I made Make Gladiator an occupation. That way anybody could have been sentenced to the Pits, but now that they survived the funnel if you choose to become a Warrior Class your effectively a bad-ass Gladiator. While others who survived can choose other classes as they see fit.
    This was an idea that I got from doing some research into using Dark Sun as a possible DCC setting. That comes from here.
    http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=44713

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