Funky Dice And Lots Of Them

I heard from your StartPlaying GM that you’re interested in old-school dungeon crawling, but you want some chaos? If you like weird dice, tons of tables, and the most absurd magic system in tabletop roleplaying games, Dungeon Crawl Classics might be the game for you.

Embrace the chaos. Embrace the randomness. EMBRACE IT! You’ve embraced it? Good. Embrace it a little more and strap in, because this character creation guide is going to get weird.

Wait, How Many Characters Do I Make?

You start off in Dungeon Crawl Classics by making several 0 level characters, probably 4, but check with your StartPlaying GM to see what they want you to do. You won’t have a class, you’ll have an occupation which will give you the worst weapon imaginable and hopefully a useful item. 

Statistics, Modifiers, And Hit Points

To get your characters going, you roll 3d6 for your Stats, which are Strength, Agility, Stamina, Personality, Intelligence, and Luck. You’ll roll these Stats in order, and I highly recommend that you accept what you get and love your group of gross, probably terrible at everything, little gremlins. They’re perfect and they’re probably going to die anyway. Once you roll your stats, consult the Ability Score Modifier table. You’ll also roll a d30 on the Luck Score table which will determine what your luck score ends up changing, yeah, that’s right, this game uses especially weird dice. 

Once you have your Stats determined, roll 1d4 for your Hit Points, which are modified by your Stamina, you get 5d12 copper pieces, and 0 XP. You’ll get one randomly determined piece of equipment, and a randomly determined occupation. That occupation will give you one weapon and the training to use it, as well as an additional item. 

Now do that 3 more times and you have your starting characters. You’re done! That’s the whole guide! Now, I know what you’re saying though, you’re saying, “Jordan, how am I supposed to play 4 characters?” and I will answer “Oh my dear, sweet, innocent friend… You aren’t. Now they go into the Funnel.”  

Pour them into The Funnel!

Let’s talk about the Funnel. The Funnel, along with the magic system, and the funky dice, is what makes Dungeon Crawl Classics the game that it is. You will take your 4 characters, and take them through the most dangerous, deadly place they’ve ever been in their miserable lives. Most of them will die, but they’ll leave behind their items for your other characters to pick up. Hopefully, you end up with a character who survives at the end, and that character will become your character and will level up to first level. That’s right! You thought you were done with the guide. 

Let's Get Classy

Let’s level up to Level 1. Now that you are at first level, you get a few more things. Now it’s time to pick a class. You’ll pick from Cleric, Thief, Warrior, or Wizard. If you started the game as a Dwarf, Elf, or Halfling, you’ll have to pick those classes. Each class gives you drastically different abilities, such as the Thief’s Skills, the Warrior’s Mighty Deeds, or the Wizard’s Magic, but I’ll let you discover those on your own with your StartPlaying GM.

Now that’s really it. Are you still embracing the chaos?

To find a game of Dungeon Crawl Classics you can join, click HERE. To find other games you can join, click HERE.

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This guide was written by Jordan Hunt for StartPlaying. You can find him in most places as GM_ Jordan or sometimes in the wild buying a cortado and a muffin, he loves playing, running, and thinking about ttrpgs. Photo taken by me. Features a picture of the book (opened to display relevant art), a pencil, the dice required to play, and a computer on a dining room table.