Rotating Players, stable PCs DCC Campaign Plan

I've been  running DCC online for over ten years, since the beta when we all used Google Video Chat. In those days, player attendance was pretty consistent. I think it may have been because I played during weekdays.

Of late, I've been playing on weekends because of my job. Fridays and Saturdays for my American players. It has not been so consistent.  To deal with that, I’ve been running megadungeons. I try to not end the session in the dungeon. Get in, grab some stuff, and get out. Drop in play. Most players come once or twice a month to the weekly games.

Unfortunately, this has lead to rather shallow roleplaying. There is a serious dearth of funny PC voices and talking in character. And I miss roleplaying too; it feels like megadungeons often lack the good NPC meat I need.

So, here is what I am thinking for when my DCC players finish the current Thracia delves: DCC by the book.

What does that mean? Well in DCC’s pages are guilds, patrons, and spells that all need questing to satisfy. Did you know that wizards are not guaranteed to know spells by leveling up? My players don’t seem to. But you are supposed to research and get deep in that shiz. There are tons of things to quest for in DCC. Gold should be sought to level up faster via training. Curses from the appendix should be an onus to find a way to break them. Luck points should be sought by fulfilling alignment missions. 

But what about the inconsistent attendance of the players? Well, that’s where I wanna try something a bit radical: Five or six core PCs that the players take turns playing. That means we have a bit of a first come, first served mentality to attendance. You show up on time, you get a PC, preferably the one you played last time, but not always. Conversely, if there are only like three players, well, they gotta do double duty and run a couple PCs each.

If other players show up and the PCs have been handed out, maybe give them a hireling from a roster that the party pays. If a PC dies, a henchman can level up to first level and start being important.

In this manner, I think there will be an actual running, emergent narrative. Maybe I will be the only one that truly knows what is happening, but I can do session reports for people that care (some are only here to mindlessly cast spells and kick butt).

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Share good posts with good goblins. Claytonian at the gmails.