Portal under the stars Columbus oh 6/29

[Abchiptop]

Just finished running the level 0 module at Dave's Clubhouse here in Columbus for a group of 15 players. Everyone rolled 1 pc (only had 2 rulebooks, one I printed and 1 pdf on my ipad) and character creation took a full half hour (including copying sheets by hand, I didn't print enough). I let everyone reroll occupation and  hp once if they died (all but 3 died at least once). I'm going to give a full writeup in a bit, but it was received well as a 0 level party game. A full campaign would be hard to sell on this group, but as a one shot, it was great

Highlights (spoilers):
The first character died trying to force the door after some poor intelligence rolls. The next took a few spears to the face trying to toss our dead hafling friend to trigger the trap, but rolling poorly and getting skewered.
I put the statue in a cage and gave it a bit more mobility to gather interest. It worked but I rolled poorly after the first two hit.
The snake garnered little interest, it got a surprise round and that was it.
The group almost attacked the crystal men, but a few great intelligence checks warranted letting them know they were peaceful.
They wouldnt drop the floor
They crushed all 7 skeletons, no clay generals, and they took enough crystals and took long enough that I ruled it leaked enough water to kill the soldiers (avoiding a TPK)

All in all, with 15 players, we completed it in 2 hrs (I rushed them), including char gen, and most seemed to enjoy it. Up to 30 entered, 8 or so survived.

[finarvyn]

Just finished running the level 0 module at Dave's Clubhouse here in Columbus for a group of 15 players. Everyone rolled 1 pc (only had 2 rulebooks, one I printed and 1 pdf on my ipad) and character creation took a full half hour (including copying sheets by hand, I didn't print enough).

An interesting situation. It avoids the fun of the character funnel, but I can see why you chose this route with 15 players.

Can I assume that most of the players were newbies? I ask because much of character generation should be simple enough that experienced players should be able to complete a lot of it without GM assistance. (Of course, running out of character sheets slows things down quite a bit.)

Anyway, sounds a little stressful but a lot fun.

[Abchiptop]

The longest part was hand copying sheets, and rolling profession, gear and telling stat modifiers and weapon damage.

A few highlights:

One of our female players rolled a cutpurse and I got to inform her she had a small chest; much laughter ensued

We found out this game isn't for our full group, the big 4e fans HATED DCC. One guy was killed 3 times, was mad about his starting gear (rolled a blacksmith, and a small hammer. Rather than embrace a blacksmith with a hammer fetish as a backstory, he just wondered how a blacksmith could have 6 strength.)

The players played it safe mostly, except the few who stole chain mail off the statues. They led.

One player literally got kebobed by spears, after a botched roll in which they tried to toss a halfling into the spear statue room.

Combat doesn't work when you have 15 players if monsters roll low, I had to modify the skeletons to attack as a reflex vs running real initiative.

A corpse was set ablaze to distract the crystal men.

A baker and I discussed the real world possibilities of making a fireball by throwing flour into the air then igniting it. I agreed, he threw, and our one guy with flint and steel refused to help and got a face full of flour.

Skill challenges don't work with 15 players, everyone wants to roll and someone usually rolled a 19 or 20. Kinda made skill challenges pointless except for scout crews.

The entry door trap made old school players push every door and check every ceiling and floor with their 10ft adventurers poles.


This was my first time playing a battle mat-less game, let alone running one. I enjoyed running it so much more than 4e, but I don't know if that would change in a full campaign. Nobody burned any luck, but nobody really rolled too poorly except me.

I enjoyed it, and I'm going to be running another game soon now that we're getting settled here in Indy, so if anyone in Indianapolis is interested, I'd be willing to run the game at games2d4, gamers or at arsenal game room.