Dungeon Crawl Classics, Tales From the Fallen Empire Closed

[imperialus]

Ok, so now's the time for the pitch I guess.

*Edit* Post and ye shal receive. I guess it's out on Drive Thru now.http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1 ... the+fallen

So a little over a year ago I joined in on a Kickstarter for a Sword and Sorcery campaign setting called Tales From the Fallen Empire. About a week ago the PDF of the setting was released to us backers. It should be making its way to Drive Thru RPG shortly.

At any rate, I am hoping to start a PbP game using the setting. You would need to own both DCC, and Tales, as Tales introduces a whole bunch of new classes largely intended to replace the Core DCC classes. That said, if you are interested, you do not need to own the setting yet. I'll need some time to get everything prepped anyhow so I'm not planning on starting the game until after the PDF is publicly available. I've had some interest expressed over at the Goodman Games forum so I'll be reserving a few spots for folks from over there, but I have several spaces still open.

As for the setting itself. Tales is a low magic, post apocalyptic, bronze/iron age setting. The Coles Notes background is that the world (Eld) is the body of a dead god called The Leviathan. His children tried to control the world by proxy, first by controlling a race called the Antivians, or First Men, and later by creating human demigods called the Sorcerer Kings. 100 Years ago the Sorcerer Kings were overthrown, the dragons exiled themselves and went to sleep, and the world has started to rebuild.

Now this is a very brief summary. The setting book has probably 20 or so pages dedicated to the history and lore of the setting, plus more dedicated to the various cultures. There is an absolute ton of detail I haven't gone into.

Now, being a S&S setting in the traditional sense there are a few things that work differently from most other Fantasy RPG's and indeed DCC itself.

1) No clerics, or at least no clerical magic. There are priests, but every single one of them is either a sorcerer or a charlatan. Witches fill the role of healer, though to a lesser degree than Clerics do.
2) No Demihumans. There are non human races, and two of them, the Man Apes of Ooruk and the Draki Lizardmen are playable as PC's.
3) There are a significant number of human 'races' however. They don't have mechanical differences, but they do all have different social and cultural traits that can be used both as background skills, and for roleplaying purposes.
4) The only classes from the base DCC game that will be making an appearance are the Warrior and the Thief.
5) Power corrupts. This is especially relevant for the Sorcerer as it is much easier for them to suffer the effects of corruption, and it is required that they bind themselves to a patron.

Now I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to be running a funnel (level 0) adventure. I'm kinda leaning against it as I'm concerned about how chaotic having 20+ PC's in a PbP game would become, and there are some challenges with the setting itself regarding the funnel. Instead what I'm going to do is allow everyone to roll 4 level 0's using the standard DCC method of 3d6 in order (excepting Luck which is 4d6 drop the lowest) and then pick one to advance to first level. You still roll on the background tables, but you don't actually have to survive an adventure as a baker or whatever.

Other than that the other 'house rules' I'll be using are as follows:

1) To mitigate the lack of clerical healing each PC has a 'healing pool' equal to their Stamina score multiplied by their level. With one nights rest they can subtract any number of hitpoints from this pool to recover lost hitpoints on a 1-1 basis. For example Barri the 1st level Sentinel looses 6 hitpoints in a battle with a bandit, but he has a Stamina of 14. That evening he sets up camp binds the gash on his arm, and gets a good nights rest. By subtracting 6 points from his 'healing pool' of 14 he completely restores his health. Alternatively if desperate measures are required the healing pool can be used without resting for the night. If a character spends a turn recuperating he can restore hitpoints from his healing pool on a 2-1 basis. Barri's 6HP of healing would cost 12 hitpoints from his pool. If things are truly desperate then the healing pool can be used in a single round at a 4-1 basis representing a character digging deep into his or her inner strength and pushing their bodies to the absolute limit. In this case Barri could only restore 3 hitpoints, at a cost of 12 but there may be occasions when those 3 hitpoints mean the difference between life and death. This healing pool refreshes upon leveling up, and occasionally more frequently if the character has several weeks worth of rest.

2) Shields are more practical. In addition to their normal bonus to AC, if struck by a critical hit and equipped with a shield you can avoid the effects of the crit (though you still take normal damage). This does however destroy the shield.

3) I'll be using Dave Arneson's rules for treasure and XP. Basically, you can gain 1XP for every iron piece worth of treasure you recover from an adventure, but you need to blow it. This can be spent however you want. Ale and whores, sacrifices to gods, totems or patrons, gambling, charity, get rich quick schemes, or whatever fits your character best. The key thing is that you can't get anything 'useful' out of it. I'd encourage roleplaying this out, and I will give bonus XP to characters who give me interesting plot hooks while they're whooping it up.

*Edit* Post and ye shal receive. I guess it's out on Drive Thru now.http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1 ... the+fallen

[imperialus]

Regarding post frequency and the like:

Typically I can post every day, or at least every other day, I'd generally hope to find people who can commit to posting every 3 days or so. Now people have lives, and sometimes you might disappear for a bit. That's cool.

One solution that I've seen work well in the past is to reintroduce the old AD&D role of "caller". I'll set up a separate thread for the caller that will serve as a sort of bridge between the OOC and IC threads. Whenever the party is doing something together they can use that thread to co-ordinate actions and then the caller can post the final decision in the IC thread. For example, I present a situation in the IC thread like "you approach a T intersection" then the players can post in the caller thread with stuff like "Bob the Barbarian will approach the intersection and look both ways." "Sabby the Thief says we should go left!" "Sinbad the Sorcerer will cover our rear" and "Simon the Sentinal will cover the right corridor while Bob goes left".

Then, once the party has decided what they are going to do (or a reasonable amount of time has past) the caller can post the actual actions of the entire party in the IC thread. The caller is then responsible for dictating the actions of players who haven't posted. I've found it helps create a better narrative, and can help keep the campaign moving if someone goes quiet for whatever reason so we're not sitting around waiting for posts.

[Dogma]

I had responded on the GG forum and am still interested in playing. I have both the DCC ruile book and the TFFE pdf (was a KS backer too).

[Blazeguard]

I am interested as well. I haven't played DCC yet but I do have the book and would love to give it a try.

[MrHemlocks]

I have the DCC rule book and I'm running a DCC campaign for the last 1.5 years) I would LOVE to play this version of DCC! If I am allowed to play I will buy the PDF. Was holding out for the print version but if we need the PDF to play then that is ok also.

[Todd Spengo]

Color me interested as well.

[Rostranor]

I picked up the PDF the other day, but havnt had a chance to review it yet. As I said in the DCC Forum I am interested in giving this a shot.

[imperialus]

So that's five. Should be a good number to get started with. I'll PM one of the admins about getting a subforum set up.

Like I said in the OP I don't think I'm going to run a funnel adventure (unless everyone is really keen on it), but this does mean Character creation will be a 2 step process.

First, roll up your stat blocks; 3d6 in order excepting luck which is rolled 4d6 drop the lowest. Then roll your Birth Augur on P19. Do this 4 times, in effect generating 4 level 0 characters. Now, if there is a particular class you are dying to play, and no one else in the party has filled that role I will occasionally allow a small stat shuffle. Ie; swap your strength of 14 with your Intelligence of 8 if you are dead set on playing a Sorcerer, and there are no other good candidates in your pool, but it's on a case by case basis, and I strongly encourage people to play with what they roll.

After that, you can pick your race and roll on (or pick from) the occupation table related to that race. Do not roll the d4 for HP though, you automatically get a 4HP 'kicker'. If you are playing as a Draki or Ooruk you do not receive a starting occupation, but you do still get the 4HP kicker. Also, both exotic races have stat requirements. Ooruk must have a starting strength of 14 and a starting stamina of 12. Draki must have a starting agility of 14 and an intelligence of 12. This is largely to encourage their rarity, not because they are any more powerful than their human counterparts.

If you are playing as a sorcerer you must choose your patron and roll to cast the Patron Pact spell on P. 62 of Tales. You get an automatic +2 bonus to the roll due to the length of time the ritual would have taken, plus 1 due to being level 1 and whatever your intelligence modifier is. After reaching level 2 you can choose to renew the pact and hope for a better roll. After that, you can renew the pact every time you learn a new spell level (IE level 3, 5, 7, and 9) representing your being drawn closer and closer to your patron.

Regarding languages. Everyone speaks their native tongue, as well as the ability to speak (to varying degrees) a limited form of 'common' known as the Traders Tongue or Tradespeak. Sorcerers may also speak other languages if their intelligence allows it. Traders Tongue is and amalgamation of Sheshim and Keshtic and has much in common with their respective mother tongues of Zhouwen and Avitonic as well. That said, it is limited in that most of its vocabulary concerns mercantile interests, and it is limited to that. You could for example rent a room, ask cardinal directions and distance, or buy a sword using tradespeak, but it would be very difficult to use it to ask for rumours, inquire about an individual person, or other more complex subjects. Speakers of tradespeak are also largely limited to those that have reason to learn it, merchants, caravaners, and mercenary leaders. Due to the nature of the Walking City of Shem, Sheshim is the closest thing Eld has to a 'lingua franca' and many travelers will learn it as a matter of course. Among Sorcerers and other highly educated individuals Avitonic the language of the Ativians is extremely useful. Any attempts to communicate across language barriers will force a personality check. Failure may result in a lack of understanding, misinterpretation, or insult depending on how bad the roll is.

Each time you level up you gain 5 points that you can spread around learning new languages. Each point is a +1 bonus to the personality roll you make when attempting to communicate in that language. Once you reach +5 you are assumed to be largely fluent, and can communicate comfortably. You my still have a strong accent, and mix up stuff like verb tenses, or use the sentence structure from your native tongue but basic communication in that language is no longer an issue.

[Alethan]

So that's five. Should be a good number to get started with. I'll PM one of the admins about getting a subforum set up.

There can be only one. Admin, that is. Shoot ToniXX the PM about setting up your game thread.

[dcfitch]

Is there any room for one more player? New to the DCC universe, but it is already my favorite system.

[MrHemlocks]

Is there any room for one more player? New to the DCC universe, but it is already my favorite system.

We just started and we are ALL new to this DCC campaign setting. The Tales From the Fallen Empire PDF was just released last week. I sure hope you can play with us. Did you PM the GM?

[dcfitch]

I PM-ed the GM....hope it works out.

[imperialus]

Sorry, I hadn't checked this thread for a couple days. :p

Yeah, there sure is room for one more. If you don't mind rolling up a character I'll try to get him/her introduced ASAP. Just to double check though, you're OK with picking up the Tales From the Fallen Empire PDF?

[dcfitch]

I can get a copy. No problem. Are we only using classes from the campaign setting?

[imperialus]

Just the classes from the setting, plus the Thief and Warrior from the core book.

[ravenspoe]

I just wanted to post and say THANK YOU!
I was readying your PBP and it sent chills up my spine (in a good way).

I guess an author never gets to really see his world come alive until it is portrayed by another.
Thank you to the Kickstarter backers in the game for making this come to life.

Imperialus... If you give me a way to contact you I will send all your players a copy of the Amazon class for TotFE once it is finished. It is one of the classes that did not make it into the book.

Again, thank you again for allowing me to see some great stories come from the lands etched in my head.

[rredmond]

Wow welcome James Carpio!
Nice to see you here, hope you might take part in a game yourself!
Be well,
--Ron--

[ravenspoe]

Wow welcome James Carpio!
Nice to see you here, hope you might take part in a game yourself!
Be well,
--Ron--

Thank you for the welcome. What a great community you have here.

[thirdkingdom]

I just wanted to post and say THANK YOU!
I was readying your PBP and it sent chills up my spine (in a good way).

I guess an author never gets to really see his world come alive until it is portrayed by another.
Thank you to the Kickstarter backers in the game for making this come to life.

Imperialus... If you give me a way to contact you I will send all your players a copy of the Amazon class for TotFE once it is finished. It is one of the classes that did not make it into the book.

Again, thank you again for allowing me to see some great stories come from the lands etched in my head.

Hey James, I just finished listening to the RFI show with you on it (The Forest Oracle). Great job, man.

[Argennian]

+1 very good stuff, James. And with Gygax Magazine too!

Agreed it's a great community here. This place is really growing fast and it's all the good people here that makes it beyond rad.

Welcome aboard, indeed!

Best,

Mitch