I borrow from other RPGs when building campaigns for just about anything.

I have three games that I am drawing a lot of inspiration for my DCC campaign. I’m building this game for fun, partly on here, partly just for fun. Three games immediately came to mind when I first read through DCC. They were Warhammer FRP (First Ed mostly,) Hackmaster, and Earthdawn.

I’d be remiss if I left off prior editions of D&D, but I think that should be pretty obvious. I really liked a lot of 3rd Ed. The Diablo 2 books were of particular interest for DCC given that game is almost a never ending dungeon romp. There are also some keen things in 4th Ed, oddly enough. I’m thinking of borrowing some items and abilities from that edition.

*Disclaimer: I’m not publishing anything that I borrow directly from any of these games. I am a big fan of the Beg, Borrow, and Become-Inspired-By school of campaign and dungeon design, however. What’s a game without homebrew materials? Especially one like DCC that strongly resembles old school D&D.

The 0-Level funnel and class abilities in DCC immediately made me think of Warhammer FRP.

Ran this a lot back in the day.

The first edition of WFRP was epic in its own right. The classes and utterly brutal combats made for an outstanding game. The combat and class abilities are a nice fit with DCC. I may actually consider pulling some of the classes over. They’re pretty simple. Heck, DCC is a pretty simple system to begin with.

DCC only has 10 class levels to work with. The previous 0-Level career also plays in a lot like good old WFRP’s mulitclassing options. Not to mention WFRP’s rich world and grim fantasy adventures. This system begs to be pillaged for spells, items, and character classes.

The Dungeon Crawls and overall camp value reminded me of Hackmaster.

Using a game that emulates another game for ideas in a game that emulates the same game… Deep thoughts.

I still have all of the Hackmaster books within easy reach on my shelves. I’m most likely going to pull some of the less cartoonish weapons and monsters from Hackmaster. Every time I look at DCC, I think of Knights of the Dinner Table. The Hackmaster sword, the Crossbow of Slaying, and a Fireball coming online.

Yes, Hackmaster is a campy take off of Rolemaster and old D&D, but it is hilarious and a lot like DCC in its delivery. Given a +2 weapon is noteworthy in DCC, I’m sure the big ticket items from Hackmaster will fit in quite nicely. The modules for Hackmaster are knockoffs of old D&D modules, so converting them should be fun. I also like Flateroy’s Guide to Fortification and plan on pillaging some from that book.

Last but not least is Earthdawn.

FASA really out-did themselves with this RPG in terms of campaign creation and world design.

I played a lot in the first two editions of Earthdawn. The Horrors are ridiculously powerful. Magic was its own sort of special. The gods? Long gone, IIRC. I miss a lot of the Earthdawn world

When I read through the magic system and saw the variable monster tables (*Demons, Dragons, etc) toward the back of the book, Earthdawn immediately came to mind. I think a few d12 tables of unspeakable random horrors would be good for DCC. I’m also considering adding Windlings to DCC and possibly Orks and as friendly races. I think adding Trolls and Obsidimen might be a bit too much.

Thanks for stopping by. More to come. Have a great week!