Time to finally get my solo TTRPG campaign off the ground! I have bounced around a number of ideas but I have finally settled on what may be a fairly unorthodox model of play. I plan to use Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics as the rule system to run through a number of TSR D&D modules. Back in the day I didn’t have many TSR modules for AD&D or BECMI, it was all home brew. I did have a number of modules for Gamma World and Marvel Super Heroes but that is a tale for a different day. 

While I have a deep love for AD&D First Edition my favorite post-Gygaxian version of the game by far is Dungeon Crawl Classics built on the skeleton of Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons. If I eventually get to running AD&D modules I’ll probably switch to AD&D for the rules system but for the D&D (BECMI) modules I figured why not use the fantasy system I enjoy the most?

I’ll be using the eighth printing of DCC for this campaign. My plan, and this is the part I think may be considered unorthodox, is to primarily use the DCC rules but to do minimum conversion to the modules. I will convert the monsters in the modules to Ascending Armor Class but aside from that I’ll leave them as they are. I plan to track both the standard Ascending Armor Class and the traditional Descending Armor Class for my party of adventurers and just have the monsters attack according to D&D rules. I’ll convert any required Saving Throws or tests on the fly.

The conversion from ascending to descending armor class is simple enough. You subtract the ascending armor class from 19 to get the descending armor class. To go the other way, descending to ascending, you take the difference from the from base armor class, in the case of BECMI it is 9, to whatever their current armor class is and add that to the base armor class in the ascending system, in the case of DCC it is 10. It is easier to do than to type out! Let me give a couple examples:

Lets start with ascending armor class (DCC) to descending armor class (BECMI D&D)

To convert DCC AC 12 we just do the following 19 – 12 = 7

To convert DCC AC 8 it would be 19 – 8 = 11

To convert DCC AC 22 it would be 19 – 22 = -3

Now lets look at converting the monsters in the module from descending armor class to ascending armor class.

To convert D&D AC 7 we see it is two steps from the base line of 9 so 10 + 2 = 12

D&D AC 11 is two steps away but because it is higher than the baseline we will subtract it 10 – 2 = 8

finally -3 is twelve steps away from the D&D base line of 9 so 10 + 12 = 22

I’m sure this will not run as smooth as I think it will but who knows, I may be pleasantly surprised! I am going to follow the advice in DCC and start with 0 level characters. After a quick look through the modules I have handy I settled on AC3, “The Kidnapping of Princess Arelina” which came bundled with the Dragon Tiles paper terrain and stand ups. The module is “designed for a group of 4 to 8 characters between the second and fifth levels of experience. The group should include at least two clerics, as well as a mix of other character classes.” That sounds like a suitable challenge for a mob of 0 level peasants!  

Ideally I’d love to end up with a party consisting of one of each of the DCC character classes, maybe two fighters, for an adventuring party of 7 to 8 characters. I considered stacking the deck by predetermining that I would have a certain number of dwarves, elves and halflings in the funnel but have reconsidered that plan. I decided to go with 16 randomly rolled characters and if I am missing any of the classes after the funnel I’ll just fill the party out with first level characters of those missing classes. Why 16? Because the rule book recommends “at least 15” and since the fillable character sheet has four slots it seems a shame to leave one empty.

The current plan is to put up a new blog post each week. While it would be great to be able to give a weekly campaign update I think that is overly optimistic. I will give a campaign update at least once a month, hopefully more often, but there will also be occasional posts on a variety of subjects that are not related to the campaign. 

I’m not sure I can give any useful feedback without at least light spoilers for the module. This is something that troubles me as I do not want to ruin anyone’s joy of discovery. Not all posts will contain spoilers but the ones that do will have a warning at the top of the post and will have the spoiler tag.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and remember the words of the great ones, be excellent to each other!