Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

Monday, October 3, 2016

Bringing the Old Group Back to Life - Two Great Games, One Seamless Campaign - DCC RPG adventures and S&W Complete rules



My old gaming group, the one formed in the early 80s when we were in High School, continued in one form or another through college and gamed weekly right through the night before my rookie assignment to the South Bronx, wants to get back to gaming.

Sure, we've done the Everquest, Anarchy Online, Conan Online, Star Wars Galaxies, EverQuest 2 and myriad other MMORPGs together since then, but getting them to sit down for tabletop roleplaying has not been in the cards. Not until now that is.

I've been giving away RPGs every spring when we gather together for out yearly meet, eat and drink and there is always talk about playing but never a consensus. Which is why I was surprised that last month I was getting emails about not "if" we will game again, but "when."

Well, that when is soon. We'll be using Roll20 (as 2 members of out group are in Texas) and the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules. They are close enough to the AD&D that everyone used to play to feel familiar without bogging down in the AD&D rules we used to argue about and then ignore (weapon speed I'm talking to you!)

I gave them the option of campaign play or episodic and they have opted for episodic, at least initially. Which of course made me think about the DCC RPG adventures, which simply scream episodic play.

So, I'm tossing this out to my readers. What DCC RPG Adventures should I put my soon to be resurrected gaming group through? Remember, I'll be using the S&W Complete rules, but I've converted DCC RPG adventures for use with S&W Complete in the past, mostly on the fly and it works fine.

9 comments:

  1. Sailors on the Starless Sea. Funnels are the best.

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  2. I agree with David, sailors is a must.

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  3. Work your way toward 'The Sea Queen Escapes' when they're a little higher level. Still one of my favorites of the DCC line.

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  4. I'm kinda leaning towards the Purple Sorcerer stuff. OK I haven't played any of it but it looks really good. You were actually the guy who clued me into it. Am thinking of picking up a few of their modules and try to run in S&W Complete.

    Hey if you don't mind my asking, what are the main conversions you do for DCC to S&W?

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    1. HP and damage from the adversaries has to get tones down, often by 50% or more, at least for HP

      magic rewards need to be tweaked a bit

      much of it is by feel

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    2. Got it - thanks! I will probably get some of the Purple Sorcerer DCC modules (via your affiliate link of course :-) )

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  5. This was on Bundle of Holding as a campaign that goes from 1st to 15th level.
    #24 I have played using AD&D 1st Edition & added onto the list & it was good. Also added in #12 to this:

    DCC #2: The Lost Vault of Tsathazar Rho (level 1)
    #29: The Adventure Begins (levels 1-2)
    #24: Legend of the Ripper (levels 1-3)
    #36: Talons of the Horned King (levels 3-5)
    #7: The Secret of Smuggler's Cove (levels 5-7)
    #17: Legacy of the Savage Kings (levels 4-6)
    #8: Mysteries of the Drow (levels 7-9)
    #50: Vault of the Iron Overlord (levels 7-9)
    #30: Vault of the Dragon Kings (levels 10-12)
    #12: The Blackguard’s Revenge (levels 9-11)
    #12.5: Iron Crypt of the Heretics (levels 11-13)
    #15: Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen (levels 14-15)

    On another note a good use of the Weapon Speed Factor, & which i use & works great on ROLL20 for the Turn Order is:

    Initiative = [ (1d10) + (Dexterity Defensive Adjustment Bonus) - (Weapon Speed or Spell Casting time)]

    You then go in the Turn Order from Highest to Lowest, (Descending Order).

    I also use Maps, (sometimes upgraded in Dungeonographer), Tokens for players, monsters, villians & NPC's. I fill in the token info & make macro buttons for weapons & spells & class abilities, etc.

    I recently created critical Hit charts for bladed, blunt, Missile/Thrown weapons & Vs Animals as well as a Fumble table based on "Good Hits & Bad Misses" article from The Dragon Magazine July 1980. If anyone wants these API Script Tables for Roll20, let me know !

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