How to have a Montage!
The rationale: You learn very little from killing a monster. You learn a lot from reflection, drills, training, and reminiscing. DCCRPG has no Wisdom stat. No, your wisdom is using what you've learned to get better at surviving. It is a meta-stat. So you spend some time. Sometimes as little as a day, but often weeks or more. You have a montage. Eye of the tiger or some other Rocky song plays in the background. At the end of that time you've learned something. You've gotten stronger. The gods take a deeper interest in your narrative. They're watching, you know. It all comes down to a roll, so montaging too often is a foolish thing. So how do you montage? You're gonna choose a method, a goal (general progress is an okay goal), and how much coin you want to spend. Coin becomes XP when spent this way, but only coin you got from a dungeon, a treasure, or a monster (the gods don’t care about how much wheat you sell). Once you’ve made your choices, the Judge decides a DC and we roll 1d20 +ability modifier. Step one: choose a method from:
| Coin spent/XP needed to level up: 1: 100 plus surviving one dungeon/funnel. 2: 500 3: 1100 4: 1900 5: 2900 plus a major quest 6: 4100 7: 5500 8: 7100 9: 8900 10: 10900 plus succeeding at the challenge of the jealous gods ----------------------- Other house rules in this campaign:
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Your choice of method will likely be influenced by the goal of your montage, your ability modifiers, your class/race, and how much time you have to devote to training.
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Step two: Choose a goal. Some reason why you are montaging. What desire burns in your heart. "Listen, man, I just want to level up, do I need a reason?" Nope, you can just go with general, which is safe, but kinda boring. The more extreme a goal is, the harder the DC for the montage. Also, hard goals may necessitate even more time spent montaging. Table of possible goals (you can certainly negotiate your own with the judge!): |
Carousing | Sacrifice | Research | Training |
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Step three: Roll a d20. For nothing bad to happen, your roll has to be higher than 5 (a nat 1 is auto failure). The DC for something cool to happen is 17. Cool things don’t happen if you have a specific goal though, as instead you achieve your goal. The DC for a specific goal to happen is at least 17, but likely higher. Generally, carousing goals are the easiest, followed by sacrifice. | When you have a specific goal the judge can try to improvise bad results if you roll too low . If you went sans-goal, you are subject to the whim of the below tables for good or bad results: |
Carousing bad result (1d24) | Carousing good result (1d20) | Sacrifice bad result (1d16) | Sacrifice good result (1d16) |
1. Gain reputation as a lecherous lush. Social interactions in this town are awkward. 2. Get in a fight, lose 1d3 teeth, get a black eye, or break your nose and you'll be sore (-1d3 hp) at the start of the next dungeon or fight. 3. Wake up next to someone ugly or crazy (50-50 chance) or both (5% chance). Lose reputation. 4. Alcohol poisoning. 1d3 Stamina dmg at next dungeon or fight. 5. Things got a little crazy. Did we kill the stripper?! Move your alignment one step towards chaos. Can be undone by some sacrifice... 6. Insulted someone important, and challenged to a duel if you are equals or charged with a quest if you are the inferior. 7. Someone takes your bag by mistake, but leaves theirs, which has an interesting item... 8. A couple days after the party, someone claims you are the father. Even if you are a woman. Cause fantasy setting, that's why. 9. You are mistaken for someone else, and charged with their tab. Pay 30% more money (no xp for it) or wake up in the slammer. 10. You expose one of your important guests as a reptilian! Have a fight with our scaly secret masters. 11. You are inducted into a cult. It takes your friends a week to deprogram you. less 10% XP from this montage. 12. You wake up in stocks. -1 luck. Authorities let you out after a day. 13. You were robbed whilst unawares. Was it that saucy wench that you swear came to your room? You lose everything of value that you are carrying. 14. You break some knuckles punching a dude. No two-handed weapons/shields for 6 weeks. 15. Nobody comes to your party. -1 Personality until you throw at least 500 gold into one party. 16. You are challenged to a duel, but cannot remember with who. At the most inconvenient time they show up. 17. If you are a halfling or a dwarf, you are tossed (if not, reroll). -1d3 Intelligence from hitting your head. +1 Personality. 18. Your boasts have gotten you into trouble. You can't gain experience until you do something really awesome designated by the judge, like killing a legendary monster or stealing a legendary treasure. 19. You upset the mercantile guild. Everything is 20% more expensive for you and your associates in this town. 20. An evil magic user has some of your hair and flesh... you wake up with a gash and covered in strange runes. 21. Parlor trick hypnotised. It would seem that whenever someone says the words "my, it's drafty in here" you feel the urge to do something embarrassing... 22. Wake up married to something hideous. 23. Burn down the bar. Kicked out of town. 24. Drunkenly stumble through a secret dimensional portal. Lost in a strange world, but your allies can elect to be trapped there with you. | 1. Gain a reputation as the life of the party. You will be invited to a fancy one soon. 2. Humiliate that one person you hate. Gain one to your Luck or Personality. 3. Get on the good side of the local government representative. They will help you out when you need them. 4. Someone dies from too much partying at your party. Pity, but you are offered their job! 5. A comely lass or lad falls for you. 6. One of your guests is actually a supernatural entity that wants to be your bud, familiar or patron. 7. Your body adapts to all the partying. You get +1 to Stamina checks versus alcohol and poisons until you fail a carousing check. 8. You run into a long-lost relative. Maybe they want to go adventuring with you?! (henchman) 9. You win a bar bet and gain the services of two henchmen with low morale for a month. They may stay on if you pay them. 10. You gain 3 rumors about the next adventure. 11. You are mistaken for an important figure and the party gets really going. +25% experience. 12. You make buds with a master and get a free training session worth 300 XP (roll on the training montage table if you have time to train!). 13. The drunken friar joins your party! Get a DCC friar as a NPC companion till he loses a morale save or you carouse again. 14. You totally see through Sir Bearington's disguise, but are cool about it, and he will show up when you need him most. 15. You gain a jester minion. He constantly grabs treasure from others (not you). You like him, but others may not... 16. You have a good gambling session. Get some booty and +1 luck. 17. You judge some kind of bar event, and everyone praises your decisions! Gain +1 Personality. 18. You wake up next to a master spy that night. They mumble state secrets in their sleep that could be very lucrative for you. 19. You have an enlightening jape with some amazing adventurer! It nets you knowledge that gives you the saves (if better), hit die, or basic abilities of a random class different to your own. 20. Wake up with a random wand, potion, or magical version of a weapon from the weapons table. | 1. Thou dost displease me! Your face shows a mark of shame. Holy men will abhor you until you remove this mark with a successful Sacrifice check. 2. Thou art too proud! Your stature is lessened until you level up twice. People take pity on you now. 3. I am wagering with the adversary, and so... You lose something precious to you, such as land, your cows, or a loved one. 4. Thou dost amuse me so. People don't take you seriously until you complete an adventure, but you gain 1d5 luck points. 5. Only thou canst handle the following mission. You are charged with a difficult quest. 6. Who art thou again? You gain a complex, driving you to prove your worth to your gods. Role-play it well or risk losing luck. 7. Thou must suffer the sins of my peoples! You are covered in painful boils for a while. -1 to agility barring a successful Fortitude save after morning prayers. 8. Thou must feed my sheeple. 3 Idiots join you. They fight as henchmen, but they are bumbling fools and will constantly give away your position. Killing or turning them away is bad luck. 9. Thou must give alms. You are compelled to give away all of your rations. Except for a meal you are currently eating, you can't stop giving away your food until an adventure or quest ends. Eating food you once gave away will net you 1 Luck loss. 10. Suffer thee the children. 1d16 orphans show up during your next adventure. Get them to safety and see to their needs lest you get bad luck. 11. Thou deservest to know that my chosen people are... You realize that a race chosen by the game judge is the chosen race and all others are to be derided and ignored. This may cause you great cognitive dissonance if you are not of the chosen race. 12. What hast thou done?! If you are a cleric, roll on the clerical mishaps table. If not, you are kicked out of the holy grounds and can no longer make donations at this site. -2 luck. 13. Thou must slay the mightiest beast in the land! You cannot gain any experience until you slay an infamous monster named by the judge. 14. Thou art marked with my curse. You get a bad result from this list. 15. Thou art a prat. An applicable result from this list. 16. Thou must know humility. You are put under a magical geas to go somewhere and do something that is up to the Judge’s imagination. | 1. Divine luck is granted to you. +1d4 luck. 2. You know the general location of a relic of your faith (holy classes can use them, others can sell them). 3. Choose a spell you know (or learn one at next level if you have no spells). Luck burned when casting it comes back as if you were a thief. 4. You may call on the favor of a divine agent, such as an angel, one time if your goals are aligned with your gods’. 5. You may burn a luck point any time something from a divine source would harm you, or when enemies of your god would seek to harm you for your beliefs. This protection against a hit or spell lgoes away if you are currently not in good standing. 6. Your faith is strong enough to perform most any bog-standard miracle during the next adventure. Look to real life holy books for examples. 7. You gain a vision of the future. The next time you would be knocked to 0 HP, you can make a DC 10 Intelligence check to avoid that damage. 8. You have gained a bit of divine favor. You gain an extra 1d4 hit die. 9. You get an extra 1d4 added to a turn unholy checks if the natural roll for such checks is an 18 or higher. 10. Until the next level, you are watched over. Once per fight you can use an action to regain one hit die of health. 11. The first time you seem to be out of food, roll your luck and if you succeed you miraculously have food. 12. You may remove one mutation, spell corruption, or deformation from yourself or one companion. 13. The next time you would have to roll on the deity disapproval table, you may forgo that roll. 14. A supernatural being makes your association, and puts you on the fast track to sainthood, demigod-status, etc. You still have to earn your way into the position though. 15. A good result from this list. 16. You learn a patron-style spell, and can cast it once per day. |
Training bad result (1d16) | Training good result (1d20) | Research bad result (1d20) | Research good result (1d16) |
1:You suffer an accident and lose an eye. If you get this result again, you are simply scared somewhere. 2: Trained too hard. You gain two strength points but lose a point of stamina. 3:Your martial might has caught the attention of the gods. A monster will show up to challenge you to single combat soon. 4: You lose a hand, but now have a wicked hook and intimidation rolls are easier for you. 5: You accidentally kill your master! Now all his other pupils are after you. 6:Your master is killed and his secret technique scroll is stolen by a fellow pupil. Master begs you to hunt the dude down with his dying breath. No montaging until you take care of that. 7: You are seduced by the master, and become a target for their enemies. 8: Your master is less wise than they appear. Only half-XP for this training action! 9: Master has convinced you that you need to do a legendary task before you can gain anymore XP. 10: Your skill angers your fellow pupils. They gang up and attack you one night at the dojo. +1 Stamina if you survive. 11: You are struck with a strange sickness cause by a poison of a jealous rival (-1d8 stamina until you find the antidote). The rival has absconded into a dungeon... 12: You undergo an irreversible procedure that hardens up your skin (puncturing and slashing weapons are -1d to damage you), but you weigh a lot now, and your speed goes down by 10'/round and your armor penalty is now 4 higher. 13: You accidentally create an evil Tulpa through too much meditation. It looks like you and is giving you a bad rep somewhere. 14: You are conscripted and dragged down to hell to train with devil armies for a year. After that you escape the underworld with 2x as much XP as you have now. Normal fire cannot harm you and you save at +1d against all flames. You reek of sulfur and a devil is tracking you down for desertion. 15:You suffer a training accident and die. You come back as a ghost and are able to manipulate your old gear; manipulating other things takes a DC15 INT check. Possessing people is possible if they can't make their saves. You are invisible in daylight and glow at night. If anyone uses "turn undead", you disappear. 16: Suffer an accident and lose a limb. Yeash. | 1:Expert advice: You can re-roll a number failed checks equal to your intelligence modifier during the next adventure. 2: You gain a rep around the training grounds. Social interactions among your kind are easier for a while. 3: Extra credit: You gain training in a background that you can narratively justify and it will help you with appropriate skill checks. 4: You got groupies. They want to have your baby. You can have a baby. Or 1d3 of them. 5:You win the regionals! People in town think you are awesome and offer you the first round free etc. 6: The master is impressed by you, grasshopper. He teaches a technique so secret that it disappears from your mind after using it. The next time you wanna attempt a death-touch, let the DM know, but use it before you level again! 7: Fists of iron. Unarmed damage from you goes up a step on the die chain. 8: Reinforcements: You make a good friend that will show up sometime when you call for it to lend a hand in combat or pass 1d3 checks for you. 9: A legend is born: You are the chosen one! You may perform Lay on of Hands once per week per level without involving gods. 10: You are entrusted with a magical item of your master's. 11: You learn the ghost touch technique and can punch ghosts for 1d8 damage. 12: You get really skilled with a ranged weapon. Roll 1d24 to hit when you attack with it. 13: Negotiate a trick. You know it and can do it consistently. 14: You slay your father in a cave and his helmet has your head in it?! +1d to fear saves. 15: Secret of wuxia-flight: You can jump about 20 feet and balance on trees or even bounce off water. 16: Lock mastery: You get a free success on any one lock per session. 17: Trap sense: you will get +1d to find/disable trap checks that the Judge secretly rolls behind his screen like a proper Judge should. 18: Calvary to the rescue: Once, when you are in trouble in an applicable area, a cavalry of creatures you befriended during your training will ride up to join your side of the fray. This result can be checked for again after it is unlocked. 19: Successful meditation:, you get the answer to any one question you ask the Judge. 20: Name or roll a job. You can make checks as if you had that job. | 1: You gain a double shadow (curse). The referee secretly rolls and keeps track of the time in d3months that you have until the shadow merges with your own and subsumes you. 2: You glimpse an arcane secret that drives you mad, and you gain an associated derangement (via the system of the referee's choice) but have reckless non-nonchalance towards anything not associated with your derangement. 3: Your flesh starts to slough off and you need to wear bandages and apply unguents to keep it on. 4: You gain a third eye. It can see in the dark, causes you pain in the presence of the holy, and creeps out common folk. 5: By day you are good or lawful. By night, the opposite. You otherwise are as full of levity as before. 6: You have made enemies with a supernatural being. Expect its agents to attack soon! 7. Roll on the minor spell corruption table. 8. Roll on the major spell corruption table. 9. You are marked as a sinner for consorting with the supernatural. Always treat your alignment as the worst possible when a cleric does a lay on hands check. 10. You create a clone. This clone wants to kill you, and it has escaped from your lab! 11. You attract ghosts like the dickens. Whenever you are in a haunted locale, wandering ghost are twice as likely to show up and primarily target you. 12. You create a hole in space time somewhere on your person. It doesn't hurt, but it is unsettling. 13. Your patron abandons you! If you don't have a patron, casting the spell fails as a fumble the first time you attempt it. 14. Cursed! You cannot gain any XP until you find a legendary tome that has the solution to your predicament. 15. Roll on the 1d20 Magical Mishaps table. 16: You are afflicted with a mutation or derangement. It makes you ugly or flawed somehow. I suggest looking at the flaws from a Whitewolf RPG book… 17: A bad result from one of the below links. 18: You become obsessed with some kind of mad scientist scheme (creating man-bear-pig, etc.) and must spend every other leveling action trying to do something to realize it. 19: Roll a d30 on the undead crits table and take those results. 20: Mishap from here. | 1: You can see the auras of other beings for a month. 2: You have a good lead on where to find an ancient artifact, scroll, or weapon. 3: You gain insights concerning a ritual, and know how to cast it. 4: You gain a familiar, or, if you already have one, you current familiar pokevolves. 5: You are on friendly terms with a supernatural entity that you can call on for information once per adventure. It may ask you for favors back from time to time. 6: You gain a secret vulnerability, and can only truly be killed when it is employed. Someone must engage in Magical Study to guess what it is. From now on, you must engage in Magical Study once per level at no experience gained if you want to keep this ability. 7. You gain the audience of a being that can answer one yes-no question. You can try to do fairly cheap magical research with this goal in mind again... 8. Gain incites into the shadow dimension: You take only half damage from shadowy sources. 9. Eureka! You gain an extra spell slot. If rolled again, you get +1 to spell checks with one spell. 10. You gain a psionic power. It gives you a nose bleed each time you use it, which costs 1hp. 11. You can see in between dimensions when they are being disturbed. This makes you able to see certain crazy things... 12. Good result from one of the below links. 13. You learn a PG-13 Carcosa ritual. 14. You fashion a gate to a magical place where you can adventure if you so please, such as the Isle of the Unknown. 15. Choose a spell of your level or lower from another OSR book. Swap it for a spell you know if you'd like. 16: You gain a mutation. If the game judge agrees that it is not beneficial, they will let you reroll until you get something good. Links Zak S mishaps and cool stuff here. And the metal! mutations here are pretty good for messing up a wizard. |
