One-off Tourney storyline: Assault of Arkney (advice wanted)

[ProdigalWilliam]

Hello, I realizing I'm diving right in before proper introductions, so I'll give a smattering of background. I've been playing DCC for about 8 months and love it (almost to the point where I am starting to fear the brutality of the system my level 3 cleric is staring down). In the past, I've done a little DM'ing but a lot of non-RPG group facilitating.

I am looking to create a one-off adventure in a tournament style to hook new players in an alternative DCC universe to the one of which I am already a part. Because of the nature of the room where I'll be hosting, I'm planning to create two "heats" for the tourney which will last two hours each. I'm looking for input on the nature of how ambitious this is. If what I want to create seems too overboard, I want to hear it. The funnel story as I see it so far is this:

You are from the small village of Arkney on the outskirts of the Dominion of Sirione (gotta love random name generators). The village is under constant raids by gnolls. Where the gnolls have been absconding with your village folk has been unknown to you - until now.

Now you know, because tonight you are being carried away, blindfolded, gagged, and bound. Your blindfold slips as you are tossed to the ground. You notice your kinsmen and women among you, similarly distraught and bound. Your captors, out of simple-mindedness or haughtiness, have neglected to disarm you. You wait for a moment the gnolls are distracted to summon an adrenaline rush to cut your bonds and make your escape!
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I see the escape as a series of fights through caverns until the captives emerge and make their way back to the village (with a series of attacks by pursuing gnolls). The zero levels will have no equipment other than a dagger (if occupation stipulates) or an improvised dagger (small sharpened stick, etc.). I'm anticipating the equipment gained from the first couple battles (crudely made javelins and shields) will necessitate a boost in difficulty in monsters, but I am not sure how much to ramp up that difficulty. As for handling deaths and introducing new meat to the grinder, other captives and slaves will be fleeing and meet up when appropriate.

On the most ambitious side, I want the second heat of the tournament to follow the story line to where the villagers organize an attack on the gnoll encampment. The PC group will be the advance squad. They will fight a few sorties from the gnolls. When the attacking party hits the camp, I'm really hoping to sort out a system that allows for a much larger battle to rage around while still approximating the style of a series of small group zero level encounters.

As inspiration, I'm loosely following the description of battles in the Iliad. I want the group of PC villagers to jump in fight for a number of turns and use the morale system to check which smaller group (PC or gnoll) flees further into its ranks. If the humans win, they have a round to loot the fallen and gear up for the next round, if not they must run and form up ranks with new meat.

What do you think?

[doktorgrym]

Goals are gonna eat up 0 lv pcs like no one business.

Also, 0 Lv funnels should be a mix of combat, traps and problem & puzzle solving.

I do not know how much con experience you have? Most slots are 4 hours. A 2 hour slot will allow you roughly 2.5 to 3 encounters with a motivated group. I normally see about half hour setup and narrative which will combine basic rule structure and game concepts.

All combat encounters will just make many new players feel helpless with 0 lv pcs. What lv were you planning pcs to be?

Try something less and you can work with more.

For 0 lvs
Use goblins or kobolds, while running the event do not go and call them goblins or kobolds, describe and immerse your players.

0 level peasant folk run and hide when "monsters" roll into town. That is the realm of soldiers and heroes to fight them things.

I'd go with goblins, unless you can play the ruthless race "Kobolds"are truly meant to be!

The nice thing with goblins are they have built in smart and ruthless big brothers (Hobgoblins) and bigger brute dumb brothers who are sneaky (Bugbears).

By placing traps and problem and puzzle solving into the mix you will allow they group use their 0 lv careers, what would the gong farmer do with that BOS to fool the goblins tracking dogs?

A better intro might be after seeing friends and family captured the last few towns folk(the pcs) realize it's them or us. They gather what they can from their homes and places of work and follow the trail of the wagons the other town folk were herded into.

This way the PCs if they survive will be heroes and not just survivors because they chose to put themselves in further danger rather than playing it safe and hiding. If a few players PCs all die, you can fold a few rescued villagers into the mix as replacements.

Reading other 0 lv funnels you'll see a breakdown of encounter types.

KSW