Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[screenmonkey]

I've been checking out the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG beta and one idea struck me: rather than balance through point buy during character creation, create balance through randomization during character creation. Not my idea, but applying that concept to SW character creation sounded fun.

In DCC they create 2-4 0-level PCs for each player, knowing the attrition rate will be high. The survivors then become the choices for player characters. This is referred to as a character funnel, I thought it might be cool for SW as well.

How to randomly create attributes scores though? Someone did it with cards one time, but dice are way faster. I thought roll one of each type of die and the low rolling die is the characters attribute score.

Then have characters be non-WCs, the character has one skill linked to their highest attribute (randomly determined) at d6. No edges or hindrances.

He who survives the first adventure can become a WC that the player is more vested in because now they have a history.

Thoughts?

[tylermo]

I haven't had a chance to download it. Between two kids, work, and the odd rpg commitment or two, I'm not sure if I'd have time to DCC a whirl. I did pick up the adventure as one of my Free RPG Day freebies. I'll certainly check it out, but Castles and Crusades takes care of my retro fantasy needs, and Savage Worlds for all of the rest.

[screenmonkey]

Oh, I'm still using SW for all my gaming needs, it just suits my groups style too well, but I like to pluck ideas from other sources. Random character gen is also extremely newbie friendly.

[Thunderforge]

I've read a bit of the Dungeon Crawl Classics beta and think the character funnel is definitely a novel idea. Each player gets 2-3 Level 0 characters (i.e. peasants and other commoners) to play simultaneously and anybody who survives their first dungeon gets to advance to Level 1 and actually get a class.

I like the idea of rolling each die randomly and taking the one with the lowest roll (perhaps after acing if it matters) as the die type for the attribute. I think that in the case of ties for the lowest, reroll both until you get one that is lower. This still has the possibility of creating characters that are possibly better than standard 0 XP characters (for instance, if the results were especially good and got a d10, d6, d12, d8, and d4, it would be 5 advances above a normal character).

Consider this instead: for each attribute, roll a d6 (acing is possible) and round up to the nearest die type (capped at d12). So for instance, if they were lucky enough to roll a 9 on the d6, they would get a d8 for that attribute. This makes characters much likely to be weaker than normal Savage Worlds characters and probably needs some tweaking. Still, I think something like that would do a better job of creating the "commoner" feeling that Level 0 characters have in DCC.

For skills, roll the attribute die size for each linked skill. For every success and raise, the character has the equivalent of 1 skill point immediately assigned for that skill (they will need to get 2 skill points to increase a skill's die type beyond a raise).

Then roll a d30 (or a d% until you get low enough in that range) and, starting from the top of the Hindrances Summary (pg. 39 in SWEX) count the Major hindrances until you get the result of your die roll (for instance, a roll of 9 would give you Delusional-Major). Reroll if you go off the list because there are less than 30, but more than 20. Repeat for two Minor hindrances. You do not get the normal mechanical benefits from taking hindrances in this way.

For edges, I can't think of a good way to randomize it without making a whole table, so it's probably best just to pick one (because you're human) that you qualify for. Randomly choose gear too

And then you have a commoner who is much weaker than the standard hero, but would likely get full hero status if they survive their first adventure, just as Dungeon Crawl Classics tries to emulate.
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[Mylon]

I've never liked uneven characters in character creation. Is what inevitably happens is you get that one character that gets 3 d10 attributes 3 d10 skills that gets to hog the spotlight often and the rest of the characters end up playing second (or third, or fourth) fiddle. It's not fair. Worse, it can encourage players that perform poorly on the rolls to play very dangerously, or make some excuse about how their character doesn't even live to see the first session!

[Lord Inar]

[Boldfist]

If you want characters lower than "level 1" just give them all the Young Hindrance (3 Attribute points, 10 skill points without the free benny) and let them choose their free human Edge. Then if they survive the first dungeon have them make Novice (0 xp) characters based on what they have already taken (so they gain 2 Attribute points, 5 skill points and 1 Major and 2 Minor Hindrances from the dungeon crawl).

My .02.
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Norm "No Relation" Hensley

[BigWeather]

DCC has been out for some time and while I enjoy the adventures, art, and "feel" of the game (they nail the 70's D&D feel) I'm really not keen on using the rules as written (and don't really want to go get Zocchi dice or anything either). Has anyone written or is anyone writing a Savage DCC?

[ValhallaGH]

[Lord Lance]

[BigWeather]

[BigWeather]

[Dracones]

I also like the flavor and style of DCC, but I'm not a fan of the system's balance and mechanics.

I think the character funnel is a cool idea and is probably a lot of fun as a novelty but the fact that you can't create your character is really offsetting. "Oh, you wanted to play a wizard? Ah, too bad. None of your 4 dudes have an int above 11".

Another issue is that how do you bring in new PCs into the group? Do you funnel new -5 exp extras into the game and hope 1 survives? Unlike D&D and DCC the exp gain/curve in SW is flat. If new characters come in weaker than the current PCs they'll always lag behind.

[ValhallaGH]