Blood of the Augurs

Creating your character

We will start with a 0-level funnel — each player runs three or four ordinary peasants with no class, no training, and very little chance of surviving what comes next. This is the DCC tradition, and it serves the story: the people who get pulled into the Manteion's shadow aren't heroes yet. They're butchers, scribes, and debt collectors who stumbled into something too big to walk away from. Character generation is done using the free DCC core rules PDF (I'll send you the link after booking) or the Purple Sorcerer funnel generator at purplesorcerer.com — no purchase required. 0-level characters take about five minutes to make. The survivors of the funnel advance to 1st level, and that's where class selection happens organically, shaped by who lived and how. Come to Session 0 knowing nothing except this: your characters live in a city built around prophecy, and someone just told them the future isn't safe anymore.

Preparing for the session

Before Session 1, you'll need: A free account on Purple Sorcerer (purplesorcerer.com) to generate your funnel characters — I'll walk you through it if needed A video call setup with working audio; camera is encouraged but not required A read of the content advisory I'll send via StartPlaying before we begin — this campaign deals with institutional corruption, death, and moral ambiguity, and I want the table calibrated before we sit down No VTT, no extra software. We play Theatre of the Mind over video call. Roll your dice however you like — physical, digital, honor system. If you've never played DCC before, don't stress. I'll handle the rules. Your only job is to show up curious.

What Maxwell Durbin-Tan brings to the table

Every session comes with ambient sound built to the scene — the Manteion at night sounds nothing like a back-alley interrogation. I play distinct voices for NPCs and give every faction its own register, because in an investigation game, you need to be able to tell who you're talking to and whether they're lying. Expect: dense, specific world-building delivered through what your characters see and hear rather than lectures, NPCs with their own agendas and long memories, and a Judge who rewards lateral thinking over direct confrontation. Clues don't hide from players — if you're looking in the right place, you'll find something. What you do with it is yours. DCC's systems are strange and I love them. Expect Luck to matter, magic to misbehave, and the dice to sometimes end things before you're ready. Rule of Cool lives here alongside a real respect for what the system is trying to do.

Homebrew rules

I run Blood of the Augurs using DCC rules as written — the system already does exactly what this story needs. No modifications to core mechanics. What I will bring is a set of investigation procedures native to the fiction: named sources, faction heat, and a rumor economy that tracks what the city knows about your characters and what it doesn't. These aren't mechanical changes so much as structured Judge tools that keep the mystery coherent and the pressure real. I'll explain them in Session 0

How Maxwell Durbin-Tan creates a safe table

Safety is structural here, not optional. Session 0 covers table expectations, content calibration, and Lines and Veils — hard stops and fade-to-black moments we establish together before the story starts. Everything gets documented and stays accessible throughout the campaign. X, N, and O are available every session via private message to me. X halts and redirects immediately, no explanation needed. N steers the scene. O signals you're good. I check in at transitions when we're in heavy material. Aftercare happens at the end of every session — a short debrief, a temperature check, space to name anything that landed wrong. If something needs a longer conversation, we have it privately, at your pace. The door is always open. Message me through StartPlaying any time, and if something at the table isn't working, fixing it comes before anything else.