How to run 0-level funnel with one character per player?

[wizard45]

I have been interested in starting a DCC game, and my current gaming group is on board. I grew up on 3.5 D&D, but over the years have slowly drifted to older editions. Now-a-days, I prefer to run older editions, but have never enjoyed that many older modules seem to assume that players are running multiple characters, i.e., modules for 10-15 5th level characters. My gaming group enjoys the old school feel, but their background is one of heavy roleplaying with a single character. I'm not alone in feeling that multiple characters can break the immersion when it comes to character development (even when dungeon crawling). I usually have players run single characters of higher level as needed.

Now, I have explained the 0-level funnel to my group, and they are excited to try out DCC and run their ill-equipped peasants into trap filled dungeons. I want to run Sailers on a Starless Sea, but upon reading it, I realized that it assumes multiple characters per player, 10-15 0-level characters. In any other game, I would raise the levels of the characters and players would play one character at a time. However, raising the character level defeats the purpose of the 0-level funnel, which is half the fun!

My question is: How would you modify a module a 0-level funnel for 10-15 0-level characters to be a 0-level funnel for 4-6 0-level characters. Due to the deadliness of the game, players would still have 'multiple' characters, but play one at a time with a queue instead of playing all characters at once. Or, if you do not recommend this route, why?

[Antononymous]

This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but when my group played Sailors everyone started with two characters and once they were dead the player was given two more. This cut down on the amount of stats to juggle at once, while maintaining the deadly fun of DCC. The in-game explanation for the appearance of new characters was the group found other adventurers who had become trapped in the catacombs during their own quest (if memory serves, there are a couple of good places in that module where you can stash replacement PCs to enlist as needed).

I suppose you could take this one step further and just give everyone a single character and then do the same thing to supply replacements, but there is a period when the player (or players, if more than one loses both of his or her original PCs) is out of the action until the group gets to a place where new characters can be added to the group in a way that feels organic to the story. So if you're doing this one character at a time, you might have a lot of players sitting around watching while they wait to get to that point in the adventure. My solution to this would just be to have them find a new character wandering around in the next encounter, and have all of the replacement characters come from a previous adventuring party that got separated.

PS: If you're going the two-at-a-time route and are using the pregen characters from Purple Sorcerer, print four to a sheet and fold in half. When they switch from one pair to the other, have them flip over the sheet.

[Raven_Crowking]

Remember that most of that mob of 0-level peasants is going to disappear in short order, leaving only a few survivors. I have found that most players enjoy running a mob of 0's, and I recommend that you try it this way before making up your mind. Knowing that there are lots of PCs removes the reluctance some judges may feel in killing PCs, on the one side of the screen, while watching your numbers dwindle is a truly visceral experience on the other.

If you want to modify Sailors to eliminate multiple characters per player, the easiest thing to do is make 1st level PCs.

[wizard45]

Thank you for the responses! I ran half of Sailers on a Starless sea last night with my group and everyone did have four 0-level characters as intended. It worked out great and was a blast!

[Raven_Crowking]

Thank you for the responses! I ran half of Sailers on a Starless sea last night with my group and everyone did have four 0-level characters as intended. It worked out great and was a blast!

Very glad to hear it! That adventure is a favourite of many, myself included.

[GnomeBoy]

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