DCC RPG Thought of the Day 2020-11-30

As much as I enjoy playing and judging Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, I wish it had just a little more in common with B/X D&D. Specifically, I wish the spell descriptions were shorter and simpler. Spells in D&D (and, to a lesser extent, AD&D) are a pleasure to write. They're even more fun to cast. Deciding what to do when casting a spell ought to be a simple matter of choosing a spell, aiming for a level of potency, deciding whether to spellburn, and rolling for the effect. The problem is wading through dense paragraphs of possible effects, which can slow down play if the player hasn't already memorized every possible result of every spell in his or her repertoire. If the spell tables could be simplified, or possibly even unified to a degree, it could both speed play and encourage more spell creation. It's an idea I keep thinking about, and someday I just might design a few B/X-inspired spells and playtest them.