Alternate Character Creation, "Funnel" Style?

[zarthas]

Hey there,

I'm trying to get some people new to tabletop rpgs in general into LAW.  Something I've had some success with is running Dungeon Crawl Classic's "Level 0 Funnel" concept as an introductory adventure.
Recently I ran a game of The Black Hack as a Level-0 Funnel, worked well, maybe we run it with LAW?

The gist is each player is given a small stable of randomly generated characters, shoved into an extremely lethal scenario, and a surviving character is selected for advancement and becomes an actual Hero.  It is chaos and newbies seem to have fun with it.

I'm looking into how this could work for LAW.  I'm planning on running DCC's "The Portal Under The Stars", a free adventure included with the DCC Quick-Start Rules, using LAW rules.  It may not work at all, but it is a fun experiment.

I'm calling these redshirt-esque characters Commoners.

Attributes: All commoner attributes are assumed to be 8, or whatever the base value for their Race/Species is.

Profession:  Roll two six sided die.  The first one is tens place and second is ones.  Your profession gives you a Weapon, some Equipment, and possibly a Skill.

Profession Table

SPOILER: Click to show

Roll,Profession,Weapon,Goods,Skill

11,Doctor,Bloodletter (Dagger),"Jar of Leeches, Medkit, Creepy Mask",Medic

12,Baker,Rolling Pin (Club),"Sack of flour, Bread (2d6 rations)",

13,Bandit,Crossbow,Ragged Cloak,Stealth

14,Blacksmith,Hammer (Mace),"Leather Apron (Cloth Armor), Steel Tongs",Crafts (Blacksmith)

15,Prisoner,Bone Shiv (Dagger),"Iron Manacles, 3 ft. Chain",Streetwise

16,Butcher,Cleaver (Hatchet),Sausages x 10,Crafts (Butcher)

21,Caravan Guard,Shortsword,Bedroll,Alertness

22,Deserter,Rusty Spear,Small Shield,

23,Gravekeeper,Broken Shovel (Club),"Lantern, Shovel",

24,Farmer,Pitchfork (Spear),Basket of vegetables x 10,Crafts (Farmer)

25,Fisherman,Harpoon (Javelin),Net,

26,Manhunter,Club,Bedroll,Tracking

31,Sailor,Boat Hook (Spear),40 ft. Rope,Sailor

32,Pirate,Chipped Cutlass,"Gold Tooth (worth 10s), 1 Pt of flammable grog",Sailor

33,Minstrel,Dagger,Lute or Pipes,Streetwise

34,Stonecutter,Maul,Chisel,

35,Shepherd,Sling,1d6 Sheep,

36,Trapper,Sling,Bear Trap,Traps

41,Disgraced Noble,Old Bastard Sword,"Low Noble Garments, Extra 100 Silvers",

42,Hunter,Bow,Pelts (15s worth),Survival

43,Alchemist,Dagger,Beakers and Vials,Alchemist

44,Drunkard,Broken Bottle (Dagger),"Wineskin (1 lt.), 1d6 Empty Bottles",

45,Watchman,Studded Club,"Cloth Armor, 2 Torches",

46,Monk,Staff (Club),"Plain Robe, Book of Prayers",Literacy

51,Innkeeper,Club,Keg of Ale (100 pints),

52,Locksmith,Dagger,Lockpicks,Lockpick

53,Cutpurse,Dagger,Backpack,Thief

54,Merchant,Rapier,"Mule, Backpack, Saddlebags",Merchant

55,Secret Cultist,Not-Sacrificial-Dagger,"Absolutely-Above-Board-Religious-Tome, not-suspicious robes",Literacy

56,Scribe,Dagger,"2 Pints of Ink, 1d6 Bank Scrolls",Literacy

61,Assassin,Concealed Dagger,1d6 Doses of Poison,

62,Miner,Pickaxe (Mace),Shovel,Crafts (prospector)

63,Lumberjack,Axe,Cord of cut wood,Crafts (lumberjack)

64,Herbalist,Sickle (Hatchet),1 lb of Healing Herbs,Herbalist

65,Winemaker,Sickle (Hatchet),1d6 bottles of decent wine,

66,Carpenter,Hatchet,Iron Nails,

Goods:  Commoners roll on a completely random list of items to see what else they happen to possess.

Some concerns I've got:
--Assuming base value for attributes works nicely design-wise, but means they'll have a 26% chance of success on any 3/attribute roll.  I think this is probably fine, they are Commoners.
--I am mildly concerned that no flanking rules means there's no way to gang up on enemies.  Again, might be fine!
--Depending on your world, commoners could potentially use magic?  I guess this system assumes a lower-magic world.



Very open to any advice on how to run this or any thoughts at all!

[mister frau blucher]

I love those d66 tables, takes me back to Traveller days of yore!

All of those weapons require more than 8 Strength. Maybe still roll with that, anyway, and anybody that survives the funnel gets at least the minimum St? Or they get the extra 8 points to divvy up as they desire, becoming "first level."

Succeeding on one out of every four rolls is not conducive to survival; but I understand that's the prime attraction of the funnel, so maybe it works.

Yeah, no flanking in the base rules, but a lot of people add their own rules onto the system. A nice, simple rule is that the second warrior (and third, etc) that attacks the same figure in the same turn gets +1 to DX.

[zarthas]

Aug 4, 2021 22:48:40 GMT -5 mister frau blucher said:

I love those d66 tables, takes me back to Traveller days of yore!

All of those weapons require more than 8 Strength. Maybe still roll with that, anyway, and anybody that survives the funnel gets at least the minimum St? Or they get the extra 8 points to divvy up as they desire, becoming "first level."

Succeeding on one out of every four rolls is not conducive to survival; but I understand that's the prime attraction of the funnel, so maybe it works.

Yeah, no flanking in the base rules, but a lot of people add their own rules onto the system. A nice, simple rule is that the second warrior (and third, etc) that attacks the same figure in the same turn gets +1 to DX.

I had wondered how handle that ST requirement nicely, I think that's about as good as you can do!  I think I'll try rolling with a Commoner can use their "starting weapon" without penalty just because they're very accustomed to it but would need to meet ST for all other weapons as normal.  It may be a little silly after you advance to being a hero and get to distribute your 8 points but can no longer use it.  We'll cross that bridge when we get there.  Maybe there's some kind of time gap and you wasted away while boosting your IQ?

I like that flanking implementation too, still puts the risk on the first fighter to engage but is very tactically valuable, especially when a +1 is such a huge bump to these weaklings!

I haven't had a chance to run this yet, I'll report back when I do!