2023-12-02 - Hawkland 2023

DCC table setup

I had the great pleasure of running DCC for a table of 4 who got up very early for the 9:00am conference start. While I have run D&D adventurer’s league in game shops for folks I don’t know, this was the first time I’ve ever run a game at a convention. I picked a DCC module I had run once before so that I already had an understanding of the pacing. The players were great and got right into the fatalistic humor of the game.

This was the pitch given to the conferencegoers:

This isn’t your father’s D&D. This is your crazy uncle’s D&D! Come try a 0th-level meat-grinder and introduction to Dungeon Crawl Classics.  This module is a great gateway to a style of tabletop RPG called OSR (Old School Renaissance). 100% randomized premade characters will be provided.

Twelve peasants braved the starless sea and prevented the big bad from returning to the mortal world.

The final ziggurat

Different table, different outcomes

While this second run-through solved similar puzzles as my previous game, memorable moments and characters for me were:

• A pair of random squires were determined to be twins, and both survived the adventure by sticking together and frequently rolling maximum damage
• An anthropomorphized pet cow
• An alchemist named Regis who consistently poked all the dangerous objects
• Critical successes and failures causing interesting outcomes in the final fight
• A first time RPG player who creatively used their inventory throughout the adventure

58% Survival

Using numbered meeples for the funnel peasants

• Dave - Radish Farmer - Survived
• Sammy - Halfling dyer - squished by a civilian flung off the ziggurat
• Larry - Dwarven blacksmith - Survived
• Jim - Squire - Survived
• Jim II - Squire - Survived
• Pim - Healer - Yeeted off the ziggurat by a chaos lord
• Steve - Butcher - Squished by a friend
• Umglichu - Elven chandler - Survived by mild-plot armor
• Regus the tall - Alchemist - mutated, murdered by a bewitched friend
• Dan - Minstrel - Survived
• Tigerlily - Turnip Farmer - Survived, with cow
• Patricia - Dwarven miner - death by swinging blade trap