DCC RPG "Funnel" for LL ?

[Blood axe]

The DCC RPG has something called the "funnel" . Basically, each player starts with several 0 level characters with no real class yet. (famer, cheesemaker, miner, scribe,etc) You go on an adventure, and those few that survive , pick a class at the end and become a full-fledged level 1 character.

Viable for a starting LL game? This looks like it could work for a beginning campaign or low level adventure like The Keep. Players could have 3 charcaters each, farmers, watchman, etc from the surropunding area.

DCC is a deadly unforgiving game. Lots of PC deaths.

Thoughts?

[aspiringlich]

I like that idea. It's a way to "earn" your PC's back story (which is still all the rage these days), instead of just declaring one by fiat.

[Blood axe]

Adventuring parties of 10-15 is normal. Players have several characters each.

[greyarea]

My only issue with the funnel concept, is that there is no guarantee (unless the DM makes it so) that each player will have but one PC survive. Now, if more than one of a player's PC's survive the funnel then it's easy ("Which player do you want to play? The other goes back to his old life.") but in none of a player's characters survive the funnel, then what?

DCC might have a mechanism for this, I'm not that familiar with it, but I'm really curious what happens when the funnel is a TPK (or a TPCK for a player).

[Blood axe]

I dont think there are any hard rules to cover that. Ill have to look, but the book is as large as a telephone book.

If all a players charactets die, I can think of several options, none fantastic.
He could start a new level 1 character. He could start 3 more 0level characters. He can take someone elses unwanted character that graduated to level 1.

It also seems that "extra" level 0 characters arent necessarily abandoned. They could also continue on. They might serve as 'insurance'.

Honestly, I am not 100% familiar with the system. Im not a fan of the crazy dice, but the game seems well put together & alot of fun!

[Goblinoid Games]

The way I run LL it's basically a funnel anyway. Labyrinth Lord by the book is deadly, it's only when you add various house rules it becomes less deadly. But I can see where it might be fun to start with some "peasants" who go out to adventure somewhere and then take on the track of a class.

[greyarea]

There's a post about using it for Swords and Wizardry here: http://d20darkages.blogspot.com/2013/04/dcc-rpgs-funneling-system-for-swords.html

I think a distinction between LL as a funnel and the DCC funnel system is mostly psychological: The character you roll-up in LL is your character and you invest time on background and equipment, etc while the DCC method is starting people off with the concept that your characters will die, most likely sooner rather than later, and don't invest too much in them yet. I played an LL game where a player quit because his character got aced by a raider's arrow in the first shot of the first battle. He had come up with this great new character and it's dead before a single action in battle (we had lost initiative). If he had gone into it with the idea that his characters would die like that, I think he might have stayed on. (As an aside, we were able to convince him to rejoin later and he was a great player for the group. His first question was, "You aren't going to kill my character in the first round, are you?")

DCC is the first fantasy RPG to really capture my attention since ADD1e/B/X (and LL/AEC, the best retro-clone IMO) but the funnel isn't the big draw for me: I'd like to try out that magic system and crit/fumble system. And the new dice are cool. (And before you complain about new dice, remember that that was a huge complaint about D&D back in the day, a complaint that went away when d20s, d12s, d10s, etc became more widely available.)

[Blood axe]

I like the idea of Patrons & variable spell effects. Im having trouble finding the funky dice at a decent price. I dont want proxies.

[John Adams]

The way I run LL it's basically a funnel anyway. Labyrinth Lord by the book is deadly, it's only when you add various house rules it becomes less deadly. But I can see where it might be fun to start with some "peasants" who go out to adventure somewhere and then take on the track of a class.

I agree.

Two of the five sample PCs in the LL core book example!

"Alexandra and Niles have no time to mourn the loss of their friends; there are too many dangers lurking nearby. They quickly take the money and most useful items from the corpses of their companions," (LL p. 59).

o level pcs are easy enough to create or the DCC RPG's funnel (which is OGL) gives plenty of random characters for LL.

[dawnrazor]

Wasn't there rules for 0-level characters in Unearthed Arcana? I also remember that the Cavalier class started as a squire at -2 level or something (haven't read UA in many years)...

Maybe those 0-level rules could be adapted to LL/AEC?