The Unseen Servant forums

Lately, I've developed an interest in level 0 games. I ran across a podcast that features live gameplay sessions of Dungeon Crawl Classics, and one of the games started the players off with level 0 characters. It was a hilarious playthrough with a high mortality rate and a challenge for those who want to survive making it to their first level. I would like to learn more about them, and who better to learn from then the fine folks of the Unseen Servant Forums?

My questions to you all are as follows:

Does this site have any Level 0 Games that I can read/lurk through?

What game system(s) works best for this kind of game? (1e and DCC come to mind, but if there are others I'd like to hear about them.)

Thanks for your time and responses, everyone!

-Ruke

I have played in a DCC game once that started everyone with 4 level 0 characters it was insane. As stated there is a high mortality rate with a level 0 character of mine only one survived but not for long. It's insane but fun. I thought some had run a couple level 0 games on here but it may have been a while back. I have toyed with the idea but haven't actually DM'd level 0 game as of yet. Maybe I shall next year

Rukellian wrote:I would like to learn more about them, and who better to learn from then the fine folks of the Unseen Servant Forums?

My questions to you all are as follows:

Does this site have any Level 0 Games that I can read/lurk through?

I'm searching for it now, and will update when I find it, but I know of one (there may be more) D&D module for 0-level characters: Treasure Hunt. I know someone was going to start it at one point (I was tempted to join it), but I don't know how far it got.

dmw71 wrote:I'm searching for it now, and will update when I find it...

Here you go:

• Recruitment Post: Labyrinth Lord AEC: Treasure Hunt (CLOSED - for now)
• Game Forum: Forgotten Realms: Moonshae Isles Adventures (Labyrinth Lord AEC)

I have looked into the game to see how far it got (a quick glance makes it look like it didn't last too long), but it's a start.

Just for fun I started my Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh game out with 0-level characters. (based off of the DCC concept)

viewforum.php?f=318


Norjax is running a zero level DCC funnel on here right now, though it seems to be fizzling out.

viewforum.php?f=483

There is a section in the Greyhawk Adventures book/Pdf for D&D that gives you a run down of 0 Level characters as well and not just as NPC's. Just figured I'd throw that out there as well.

Ruke, the game you want to peruse is this DCC Barrowmaze game by Raven Crowking...

viewforum.php?f=36

The DCC (Dungeon Crawl Classics) rule set is one that starts characters out at Level 0, so has rules in place for it. Here is the quick start guide (free .pdf). I think the full rule set is not terribly expensive. The DM should have the full rules, but players can get away with the quick start guide.

http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/ ... 060811.pdf

I'm pretty sure Raven had all of his players roll up four characters. The death toll was fairly high, but after a few ventures, each player had one or two sturdy characters at Level 1 and they went on from there.

I really liked Raven's version of the barrowmaze. Nothing fancy or big; it reminds me of the barrows from LOTR where Strider and the four hobbits fought the barrow wight and retrieved it's treasure to get the hobbits their swords.

Anyway... there you go.

Thank you for the recommendations, everyone!

A little late to the discussion here, but if you have interest in non-D&Dish systems, here are a couple of options that I've tried:

Legend of the 5 Rings works really well for 0-level characters; just don't pick a school and you become young samurai in training. The 1st edition rules also had a fun little section on running a 0-level ninja campaign, where the PCs start out as utter flunkies with the worst possible scores in just about everything, and then have to pass various tests and missions designed so that only those with true potential survive to become part of the ninja clan. It assumes 1 PC per player (and that all snowflake PCs will survive into normal play), but I think it works best as a hardcore DCC-type funnel, with hilarious deaths by ninja trap and noble samurai sacrifices for the good karma.

I've run GURPS games for normal characters, with only 25 or fewer character points. However, it does feel more like playing a 'real world' game than a '0-level' game, if that makes sense.

In the WEG Star Wars RPG, you can also make flunkies by making all PCs roll up as NPCs. This is actually a lot like the GURPs option, but because of how xp works in Star Wars, they'll be climbing back up to normal character levels pretty quickly. Also, because of how damage works in 1st edition Star Wars, your 'NPC' PCs will be much more vulnerable (damage is based on how many times higher the damage roll is to your Strength roll, so lowering your Strength stat makes you exponentially easier to kill).

I talked with my face to face Gurps group about the level 0 idea, and the 25 point character idea was brought up as well. Seems very fitting after giving it more thought. Thank you for the other game system references Starbeard!