The Big Black Book

An enforced seven day absence from the internet has developed into a three week absence here. Time to mend that.

Yesterday my "deluxe" copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, or DCC RPG, arrived. At about 500 pages of thick paper, this monster is a little thinner than the old "family shelf bible" but is a stunning tome, and with it's sinister "gold leaf" cover art it will certainly make everyone think you're reading the Necronomicon.

That I cackle as I read amusing bits in the rules, thus simulating a slide into madness, can't hurt this impression.

Where some of the "Retro" games just work on recreating  an earlier set of "that game" -- Labyrinth Lord and others come to mind here -- and games like ACKS start with an earlier rules set of "that game" and work forward, with things like Domain and Trade rules -- DCC RPG is a mix of the older versions and the newer versions.

And then DCC RPG takes a 90 degree turn and heads into new territory. No one looking at a character sheet should be too surprised. The six traits have been renamed, but there are hit points and AC and nothing should really leap out as unfamiliar. Saves resemble

However in play things tend to work a bit differently. Wizard and Cleric spells? Be prepared to come at these from scratch. Wizards make skill rolls to cast spells, each spell has it's own one page entry. GMs and Players may want a pdf so they can print copies of the spells for the spell-casting players. Clerics, on the other hand, have an increasing chance to annoy and anger their patron deity. Both Wizards and Clerics can interact directly with their otherworldly patrons. This has a really "swords and sorcery" feel to it, magic is not just a talent or skill.

In R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing there is a quote I'll borrow: "Priests speak with the voice of the gods, wizards steal their words." Not directly true in DCC RPG, but never have I seen a system that better emulated this.

There are a couple things about DCC RPG that bother me. It really seems they went out of their way to introduce odd dice. d7s, d14s, d16s, d24s, and d30s all enter play alongside more common dice. Although translating a +/-4 modifier into a larger or smaller die size is an interesting mechanic who really has a collection of d16s and d24s? In practice this strikes me as clumsy.

Still, there is a lot to like in DCC RPG, I look forward to taking it for a spin.