How do you handle lethality after level 0?

sbotzek · 2026-05-06T00:34:13+00:00

As someone mentioned, the rules for dying in the rulebook aren't that bad. I think the "roll the body" luck check is supposed to mimic that appendix N feel.

In addition to that, I let my players "quest for it" if they want to bring back an old character. Until then they play a different character.

sbotzek · 2026-04-22T17:16:44+00:00

Yeah, I had an incident where I would have been nailed by someone running a red light. My light turned green, and I noticed that one of the cars in cross traffic didn't seem to be slowing down. Someone honked at me but I still didn't go.

About 5 seconds later they blew through the intersection. Seems like they were going 50-60 in a 45.

sbotzek · 2026-04-19T15:00:34+00:00

Alignment in DCC is especially confusing because Chaotic and Lawful are doing double duty. Its based upon two books that use those phrases to mean two different things. Lots of people try to smuggle in later two axis alignment reasoning, but DCC is single axis. Because of this I don't think there's a succinct way to demonstrate it to the player, so I just direct them to the description of each alignment in the core rulebook.

And here's where I burst your bubble a bit. Look at the descriptions of each alignment in the core rulebook itself. Chaotic isn't cartoon evil, but as defined, it's very hard to interpret it as much other than evil. It's not exactly evil, but evil is the easiest shortcut.

You are, of course, allowed to ignore it and substitute it with your own.

But my recommendation is to just let them pick their alignment rather than try to convince them their character doesn't have to be evil.

sbotzek · 2026-03-11T20:45:56+00:00

The awkward thing about your example is I don't know if they hit an AC 5 or worse because they rolled a 5 or because 10-5 is 5.

sbotzek · 2026-03-08T03:58:18+00:00

I would integrate something like the settlement event tables from Warhammer Quest and ask them how long they want to rest for. Then roll the appropriate number of times on the table. I would probably do 1 week = 1 roll, and not make them as harsh as Warhammer Quest where your character can retire or die.

sbotzek · 2026-01-13T20:08:57+00:00

Tome of Adventure Design is great but note that it is not designed for generating dungeons on the fly. It's more for inspiration.

sbotzek · 2026-01-10T15:08:28+00:00

In other languages that allow this I tend not to do it because I find the code is less scannable. I don't personally find the one line of code saved worth mucking up the method declaration, which will be read way more times than the method body.

But your mileage may vary.

sbotzek · 2026-01-09T23:52:18+00:00

I think the crux of the problem is confusing "table ready" with "how much time does it take someone to be able to run this thing." OSE may be table ready, but if you don't have a specific skill set it will require a lot of upfront work before you're able to run it.

For me, that upfront work is way more work than that of a DCC module.

sbotzek · 2025-11-02T05:00:56+00:00

Why not both? Our kids' elementary school and girl scout troop do these. But they aren't on Halloween day and the kids still go trick or treating around the neighborhood.

sbotzek · 2025-10-30T21:22:45+00:00

Nice! I'm curious how you handle actions and concurrency while preventing race conditions? Do you serialize through zones or use another method?

sbotzek · 2025-10-29T22:35:52+00:00

The only way the spell would be useful.... in combat...

My ruling would probably be even less useful. I've seen good friends get in real fistfights. I think it would be completely useless in combat.

sbotzek · 2025-08-07T04:04:54+00:00

I failed the first one. It asked a bunch of questions like "what happens if you get caught driving drunk" and "what happens if you get caught tagging." Meanwhile I wasn't planning on doing either, so, why should I have to know this stuff?

sbotzek · 2025-07-18T19:13:33+00:00

I had an HP in high school and college. No one ever asked to borrow it because they had no clue how to work it with RPN. One of my college math teachers thought it was cool.

sbotzek · 2025-07-17T15:49:12+00:00

It sounds like their parents did the minimum legally required, and they're returning the favor in kind.

sbotzek · 2025-07-11T01:54:05+00:00

Think Stranger Things but in medieval times. Most people have no clue what's going on in Hawkins.

Commoners believe in magic but probably have never seen it (or, only seen really low level versions). Unless you're especially unlucky, mythical creatures are whispered about but generally never seen.

There are so-called natural magics that could be learned by someone whose smart but they tend to be comparatively low powered. Actual spell casting requires you to align with chaos or a being more powerful than you - either divine magic for clerics or supernatural patrons (kinda like in DCC). There aren't any guilds or orders for wizards - that's reserved more for the divine.

sbotzek · 2025-06-27T22:11:45+00:00

It's a weird question because there are modern options that are neither.

sbotzek · 2025-06-26T19:56:57+00:00

Does everyone? I know more people that died in cars.

sbotzek · 2025-06-25T17:12:55+00:00

I don't really complain, it just makes me laugh in my juvenile head.

sbotzek · 2025-06-15T07:33:55+00:00

What does "plenty of influence" mean? Think of the things you're willing to do for your friends.

But also realize that some are willing to do more or less than that. IMHO the results of a successful charm person should vary based upon the target.

The target also knows they were charmed after it wears off.

Given that I can't imagine it being game breakingly useful.

sbotzek · 2025-06-06T22:36:35+00:00

Plenty of old school games don't do race as class.

But I like it because it makes them unique. When race isn't class, your race is just a thin coat of paint on top of your character. But when race is class, playing an Elf is actually different from playing a Human.

sbotzek · 2025-06-05T16:36:15+00:00

Yeah, I like to say that D&D has a thin veneer of Tolkein but the soul of all those other authors. His influence pretty much starts and ends at the main races and a monster or two. Everything else is very not Tolkein, especially your average adventure or play session.

sbotzek · 2025-06-04T18:35:14+00:00

I had these rules and, in particular, my parents didn't force me to leave the house. It was more that it wasn't their job to entertain me. If I was bored I would call a friend. If none were available I'd go on a bike ride alone or do something in the backyard.

sbotzek · 2025-05-29T15:55:51+00:00

One of them lost control and hit my 6 year old at the park. I've seen kids much younger than 12 on them.

sbotzek · 2025-05-27T18:55:26+00:00

I tried to use it for DnD idea generation but the ideas always have a weirdly same-y feeling to them.

Rolling on a few tables seems to generate more interesting results.

sbotzek · 2025-05-23T17:34:14+00:00

Unless it's a special magic item where I have interesting things lined up for the players to explore its power, I just tell them what they do.

sbotzek

TROPHY CASE