I want to start my next low magic fantasy setting by having each player run three 0-level characters each simultaneously (I currently have 3 players).  Probably give them a starting profession or two, 3d6 for attributes, & minimal alteration.  Anyone that claws his way through and survives will make first level.

Anyone here done this "funnel" as a GM or a player?  Comments or advice on running or what to expect?  I predict death will be common but some will survive.  Trying to set the stage that death is right around the corner, use your wits and hopefully be a bit lucky.  Thanks.

My one experience with the "funnel" style, the players were new to the idea and burned through a ton of starting characters. They'd make a trip back to town... for more characters. 

After that we settled down to a regular type of gaming with one character each. (This was Dungeon Crawl Classics)

You want to be aware that some players might not want to run multiple characters at once. We made it work, but some players just don't have the knack or desire to run a mini-party.

Ratman_tf, your description of your experience is what I would predict.  My group has 1920s CoC in our rotation, so two characters are the norm for that - shouldn't be an issue.

Quote from: Vic99 on July 06, 2021, 09:14:29 PM
I want to start my next low magic fantasy setting by having each player run three 0-level characters each simultaneously (I currently have 3 players).  Probably give them a starting profession or two, 3d6 for attributes, & minimal alteration.  Anyone that claws his way through and survives will make first level.

Anyone here done this "funnel" as a GM or a player?  Comments or advice on running or what to expect?  I predict death will be common but some will survive.  Trying to set the stage that death is right around the corner, use your wits and hopefully be a bit lucky.  Thanks.

  Did it for DCC, we had 5 players and 3 had 3 characters and two had 2.  It was a good bit of fun, but also very obvious the players used the 0 level guys with terrible stats to open doors, take point, etc.  I generally used random dice rolls to pick who monsters went after to offset that bit of gaming the system.  It was a good bit of fun and we enjoyed it. 

   I have also done this where the players only had one character, though it was a zombie apocalypse setting and modern.  It was GURPS and no character had more than 75 points, and one was around 50.  I still do not know how they all survived, especially since they played their characters like people out for number 1 and not the "team" (which makes sense as they were all strangers to one another).   We had a few hilarious moments (I had pre made the characters and they had to roll to see who they played.  One of the characters was a fellow who sat around in a beat to death single wide trailer, watching Alex Jones in between bong hits and beer runs and Xbox binges.  He was the only character with a gun (a loaded AK by his couch) and gun skill, though it was not good (10).  When the other characters came running up to his door with zombies chasing them, the paranoia and hijinks ensued.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on July 06, 2021, 09:38:11 PM
You want to be aware that some players might not want to run multiple characters at once. We made it work, but some players just don't have the knack or desire to run a mini-party.

You can do it in series rather than parallel. Roll up 3 characters, pick one to play, if they die or retire, choose one of the remaining, if they die or retire, you get the 3rd.

If all 3 die in one session then we have a talk about your playstyle...

Quote from: Ratman_tf on July 06, 2021, 09:38:11 PMYou want to be aware that some players might not want to run multiple characters at once. We made it work, but some players just don't have the knack or desire to run a mini-party.

I think anyone _can_ do it.  I had a large group for many years where everyone had 2-3 PCs per player, even the newbies, and no one had an issue.  Wanting to do it, of course, is an entirely different issue.

I've run a funnel for my OD&D game successfully. One thing I noticed is that 0 level characters aren't really all that more vulnerable than first level characters (at least in older versions of D&D). So they weren't dropping like flies.

A couple changes I made:

First, players would roll 1d6 for starting hit points for their character. Then, when they gain first level, they roll their class hit point die and take the higher of the two values. This generally avoids 1 or 2 hit point first level characters but keeps the hit points in the normal range of what a first level character would have. Alternately, you can start PCs out with hit points equal to 1/2 their CON but they only gain new hit points when their rolled value exceeds this number.

Secondly, characters couldn't become magic-users automatically. Instead, they'd have to roll to see if they understood magic. Basically, whenever a character came into contact with magic writing (usually a scroll or spell book) and they studied it, he would roll a d8 (because eight is the number of Chaos and, therefore Magic) and add his INT modifier to it. If he rolls an 8 or higher, he could see what lies Beyond the Gate and instantly turn into a first level Magic User. A character only gets three rolls to understand magic. If he fails all three then his mind just isn't equipped to handle it.

I've done a couple funnels for DCC and we had a great time with it. I used Purple Sorcerer to just create sheets of four completely random characters and we'd blast through the adventure with between 12 - 24 0 levels. Lots of fun, and I found that the "favorite" character on a given sheet had a huge chance of dying ignobly. I've also run a funnel in CP2020 using the FADE rules from the CP2020 book to generate characters, which was also a good time.

I think it takes a certain type of player though, and your players' enjoyment may vary. In the DCC games if someone made it through all but one of their starting characters I'd immediately let them promote to being a 1st Level character of a type that matched the playstyle for that character, immediately rolling their 1st level HD and gaining any spells/abilities. They tended to carry the others, and if someone had more than one character at the end of the adventure, I let them choose which to keep, then gave them +1 HP per additional 0-level that they retired. Then we'd go on to the higher level modules.

Here is a video by Professor Dungeon Master at Dungeon Craft.  In this series he talks about his Caves of Carnage campaign, which starts as a 0-level character funnel.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RayVJoDwuwQ&list=PLYlOu5g6H7ZzvhIruv6BAd5XSArkgZzYw&index=1

Quote from: Panzerkraken on July 07, 2021, 10:54:12 AM
I've done a couple funnels for DCC and we had a great time with it. I used Purple Sorcerer to just create sheets of four completely random characters and we'd blast through the adventure with between 12 - 24 0 levels. Lots of fun, and I found that the "favorite" character on a given sheet had a huge chance of dying ignobly. I've also run a funnel in CP2020 using the FADE rules from the CP2020 book to generate characters, which was also a good time.

I think it takes a certain type of player though, and your players' enjoyment may vary. In the DCC games if someone made it through all but one of their starting characters I'd immediately let them promote to being a 1st Level character of a type that matched the playstyle for that character, immediately rolling their 1st level HD and gaining any spells/abilities. They tended to carry the others, and if someone had more than one character at the end of the adventure, I let them choose which to keep, then gave them +1 HP per additional 0-level that they retired. Then we'd go on to the higher level modules.

When I run funnels, the players keep all of their PCs that survived. And if all of their PCs die in the course of the funnel, I give them four new 0-lvl PCs (e.g., reinforcements have arrived from the village). I have yet to have a funnel end with a player having all of their PCs dead.

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on July 07, 2021, 08:40:11 PM
Here is a video by Professor Dungeon Master at Dungeon Craft.  In this series he talks about his Caves of Carnage campaign, which starts as a 0-level character funnel.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RayVJoDwuwQ&list=PLYlOu5g6H7ZzvhIruv6BAd5XSArkgZzYw&index=1

Greetings!

Professor Dungeon Master of the Dungeon Craft program is awesome. I watch that program every week. He's very, very good. DEATHBRINGER just kicks ass!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Another down side is the people that _need_ to write a book for a character's back story.
They get very annoyed when their character dies and feel they should have "plot immunity".

May quit in a huff.  Too Bad, So Sad.

So, basically, the "funnel" starts at the player level.

Quote from: Greentongue on July 09, 2021, 01:43:28 PM
Another down side is the people that _need_ to write a book for a character's back story.

This is why two of my house rules are,

• Open game table - anyone may come or go at any time. An open game table avoids backstories because players come to the game not knowing the system, setting or other players - so they just sit down, roll up a character and start playing.
  
• No backstory: The Dungeon Master will not test your patience with boxed text, we as a group ask that you return the favour. You don't begin with a story, you create one as a result of play. You will in the game experience a series of events, which you may later choose to tell as a story.