GameOgre wrote:Is it wrong that my bitching about the game and listing our dead somehow makes it seem cooler to me? Ugg
Is it wrong that I started to giggle as I read the list of the dead?
What would have made it funnier is if you has added a time signature to each entry. E.g.
6-Marina-0-Killed by exploding fire statue
7-Galla-0-Killed by exploding fire statue
8-Garmish-0-Killed by exploding fire statue
7-Minnie-0-Killed by exploding fire statue
8-Mortisha-0-Killed by Beastman Army
9-Nianna-0-Killed by Soul Forge
10-Angela-0-Killed by exploding fire statue
Now what would be funny is if Angela was killed by the same statue 5 minutes later. Maybe with a comment like "I am sure those other 4 (now dead) guys loosened the ruby eye, I think I am going to pry it out!"
Also, near the end the players probably ran out of names and started calling their PCs things that they saw laying around the game room like Stapler the dwarf, and Mountain Dew the elf priestess
Playing 3 x 8 hour sessions a week is an impressive # of hours. I am not sure too many games could stand up to that level of intense play.
Many of your issues are similar to my own questions about the game (which I own but have not played-although I still look forward to playing it)
1- I think the peasant funnel is a goofy idea that may be fun once, but is no way to start a campaign. It is antithetical to the roots of sword and sorcery that DCC is based on (i.e. the heroes of Appendix N are _not_ average men who become heroes, they are heroes (and often loners-not part of a 16 man collective) from the start. Elric was the King of Melnibone for crying out loud!). Also it forces people to play something other than their preference possibly for a full campaign that lasts for years. "Well, I wanted to play a wizard, but only my dwarf survived the funnel so I have played a dwarf for the past 36 months".
The justification seems to be twofold. a) that it prevents munchkinization, which I guess was a big issue in 3e but I play C&C and we don't really have that issue, and I don't remember it much in 1e either. And b) old school gaming was only for hard-as-nails gamers who walked to school uphill, in the snow, BOTH WAYS! Damn kids and your optimized tiefling arcane paladins. I worked a magic user up to 5th level one time, and he only had 7 hit points. It was the best darn character I ever had. Etc. etc.
But, the book does say you can skip all that, so I think your group (and mine) would be best to do that
2- I was expecting the variable outcomes stuff would have a few simple tables. I.e. all spells would roll and get say:
Fumble-bad thing to caster
Failure-affects party member
Marginal Failure-no effect
Marginal success-half power
Full Success-full effect
Critical-full effect + special
Or whatever. But instead each spell has its own specific table, each with effects that require a DM adjudication each time it goes off. Most are pretty straightforward to figure out, of course, but even in C&C there can be discussions about things like invisibility, and protection circles, and flying, and so on. These tables mutiply that aspect (for good and bad). Wonderful gonzo variability but as you note, it can bog down the game.
3- Your point about players not liking 13 goblins "mighty deed"-ing them was funny. I think the mighty deeds thing is very cool, but I did worry it would bog down combat and make it more like 3e. Sounds like you find it does. The thing about a table heavy game like DCC isn't the time spent flipping back and forth to the tables, it's the time spent head scratching and dialoguing that goes along with each variable effect.
Having said all that, I still look forward to it. It seems to have a lot of the flavour I want in a game, and flavour goes a long way with me. If the mechanics don't work for me, I have no hesitation to "C&C" the parts I don't like/that slow down the game
I think you guys might enjoy it more if you switched to 2nd or 3rd level characters with some heft to them, get back to playing for fun and doing extraordinary things, rather than just grinding to survive. Once PCs are just grinding to survive, and dropping left and right to fire trapped statues and the like, it can feel a bit like the beaches of Normandy
)
