DCC: How slow is combat?

RPGPundit · February 08, 2013, 11:04:14 AM

I'm working on my review of the DCC rpg, and I wanted to know from those who have played the game: it seems to me that with all the bells and whistles, with fumbles and crits and "mighty deeds" and spell duels and wizard mutations and clerical divine disapprova and all the rest, that a DCC combat would likely move slower than a regular D&D combat, on account that there's more factors and steps outside of "roll to hit vs. AC".

The question is how much slower does it get? Do all the quirky options and weird possibilities make the combat crawl? How much slower is a fight between a 2nd-level PC party and a dozen goblins than it would be in regular D&D?

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Drohem · February 08, 2013, 11:20:29 AM

I found that the combat wasn't any longer than a normal AD&D encounter if the spell casters are prepared when their turn comes around. Prepared means having the spell they are going to cast already at their fingertips to determine the effects of the spell casting role.

One Horse Town · February 08, 2013, 11:22:43 AM

Speaking as someone used to Rolemaster - it's not slow at all!

It doesn't seem substantially slower than ad&d. Generally, you're only throwing additional rolls in order to look at another chart on about 5% of your rolls in combat and maybe 10% when casting a spell.

So, about 5-10% slower...

Exploderwizard · February 08, 2013, 11:42:06 AM

Quote from: One Horse Town;626339Speaking as someone used to Rolemaster - it's not slow at all!

So, less than a whole 4 hour session then. Good to know.

estar · February 08, 2013, 11:47:23 AM

If you are prepared with preprinted charts or the Crawler Companion it is slightly faster than older edition combat due to the tendency for characters to go "splat" more easily.

I have to say the Crawler Companion for either iOS or Android is the single best RPG game utility I ever used.

Crabbyapples · February 08, 2013, 11:48:28 AM

Players with a Feat die usually take longer to make choices than a player with spells, if he doesn't just want to hit the enemy with a sword. They have so many options without clear options, the choices can be overwhelming. Spells do slow down play, but not as often as overwhelmed warriors.

K Peterson · February 08, 2013, 11:54:40 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;626327The question is how much slower does it get? Do all the quirky options and weird possibilities make the combat crawl?

It could be the slowest of any version of TSR-D&D (or retroclones) and wouldn't bother me. As long as it doesn't reach the sloppy morass of GURPS, or the please-god-let-it-end feel of 4e it wouldn't register anywhere close to crawling, to me.

RPGPundit · February 09, 2013, 03:33:43 PM

Very interesting. As I see it, there's a lot of little intermediate things that CAN slow down play compared to D&D, but its very unlikely all of these things or steps will come into play in any single fight.

I suspect, backed up by what y'all are saying here, that it still runs well within acceptable velocities.

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jedimastert · February 09, 2013, 04:56:05 PM

As long as spell casters know what pages their spells are on there is not much of a slow down.

The warrior special maneuvers were not that bad too deal with either.

The people playing spell casters in the game I ran really sped things up by using the smart phone apps available for free at Purple Sorcerer Games. The Zero Level Party Generator was very helpful as well. I know not everyone is into computer assistance as their game table though.

Votan · February 09, 2013, 07:39:26 PM

Quote from: K Peterson;626354It could be the slowest of any version of TSR-D&D (or retroclones) and wouldn't bother me. As long as it doesn't reach the sloppy morass of GURPS, or the please-god-let-it-end feel of 4e it wouldn't register anywhere close to crawling, to me.

I found GURPS okay. It's slow, but also can be terrificly lethal (which helps).

4E was painful when you know you've won but it is another 1/2 to work out if you used any additional resources winning or not.

RPGPundit · February 10, 2013, 02:44:52 PM

Quote from: jedimastert;626915As long as spell casters know what pages their spells are on there is not much of a slow down.

Hmm, yes, this could be one tricky detail running the game here in south america, for instance, where it will be extremely likely that I'd be the only one with a book and as GM would have to reference all the spells myself.

Simlasa · February 10, 2013, 03:08:05 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;627153Hmm, yes, this could be one tricky detail running the game here in south america, for instance, where it will be extremely likely that I'd be the only one with a book and as GM would have to reference all the spells myself.

Having a separate booklet of spells for Wizards/Clerics would be nice.
I've heard a number of people saying they print out the spell pages (or photocopy them) so the Wizard players can have their own reference sheets. This Page has a number of the spells (the ones that break across pages) reformatted as PDFs.

RPGPundit · February 11, 2013, 07:14:24 PM

Quote from: Simlasa;627160Having a separate booklet of spells for Wizards/Clerics would be nice.
I've heard a number of people saying they print out the spell pages (or photocopy them) so the Wizard players can have their own reference sheets. This Page has a number of the spells (the ones that break across pages) reformatted as PDFs.

I have some players who hate to as much as keep track of spell ranges or durations in regular D&D games, even old-school games (maybe especially those). I wonder if that's not a problem, then, expecting them to have to keep track of all the nuances of spellcasting in DCC?

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