Saturday, March 16, 2019

Classic Crawling in Lesserton and Mor

So, looking at the Player's Guide to Lesserton, one of three books that comprise the outstanding adventure setting of Lesserton and Mor, it occurs to me that the character creation rules for Lesserton natives can be slightly modified into an alternate 0-level character generator for Dungeon Crawl Classics.  Most of it can be ported directly, and the single biggest conversion to be done is working out starting equipment for the various career backgrounds.  I'll arrange this conversion process similarly to the chargen process in the Player's Guide.

1. Classes and Races
Well, you're a 0-level here, so no class for you.  Also, this is DCC, so rather than have you agonizing over a choice of race, roll 1d6 per character.

1-3 tainted human
4-5 orkin
6 tainted halfling

Roll on the taint tables as directed in the Player's Guide.  I would recommend treating orkin as DCC humans with 30' infravision and enough of an orcish appearance to keep them from fitting in with polite company.  If you want to use a half-orc DCC class for them (once they level up), feel free.

2. Contacts and Enemies
Use these as is.  As a matter of fact, use them for any character, whether they're from Lesserton or not.  These contacts and enemies are all connected to the character's home town, so far-traveling adventurers won't really run into them much, but for campaigns tied to a local area for at least a while, it provides some interesting background and possible adventure hooks.

3. Background Skills
Roll on the table in the Player's Guide, and then reference here for starting weapons and equipment.

Actor wooden prop sword (as club) costume jewelry
Animal doctor staff herbs, 1 lb
Baker bread knife (as dagger) hard bread, 2 loaves
Beggar club begging bowl
Bird-stalker club 2 fresh pigeons
Blacksmith hammer (as club) steel tongs
Boot shiner polishing rag (as garrote) small tin of dubbin (polish)
Brass maker brass ingot (as club) lidded crucible, 1 quart capacity
Brewer quern handle (as club) ½ gallon growler of beer
Brick maker clay paddle (as club) clay, 5 lbs
Buckle maker hammer (as club) 5 brass buckles
Butcher cleaver (as axe) side of beef
Candle maker scissors (as dagger) candles, 20
Carpenter hammer (as club) wood, 10 lbs
Charcoal burner hand axe charcoal, 5 lbs
Chef knife (as dagger) spices, 1 lb
Chimney sweep flue brush (as club) goose
Clerk, bookkeeper quill (as dart) parchment, 10 sheets
Clerk, shop knife (as dagger) extra roll on Table 3.4
Cook knife (as dagger) meat pie
Cooper crowbar (as club) barrel
Cryer dagger parchment, 10 sheets, blank on one side
Dancer dagger costume jewelry
Dentist/barber razor (as dagger) tooth extracting pliers
Dishwasher knife (as dagger) 2 porcelain plates
Dye worker staff fabric, 3 yards
Feather gatherer club small sack and a selection of feathers
Fortune teller dagger tarot deck
Fur and skin dealer skinning knife (as dagger) badger pelt
Glassblower hammer (as club) glass beads
Graverobber shovel (as staff) 10 cp, small silver chain worth 2sp
Hair stylist scissors (as dagger) boar bristle brush and glossy hair oil
Hat maker scissors (as dagger) fashionable hat
Hay and feed dealer knife (as dagger) oats, 5 lb
House-servant staff locket
Laborer, outdoor shovel (as staff) large sack
Laborer, warehouse crowbar (as club) small chest
Laundress club two bedsheets
Leather worker awl (as dagger) piece of leather hide, 2' square
Leech razor (as dagger) herbs, 1 lb
Luthier chisel (as dagger) fiddle
Mudlark staff 10 cp, porcelain teacup, thimble
Mule wrangler club mule
Musician dagger ukulele
Paper maker pulp beater (as club) paper, 50 sheets
Petty official quill (as dart) ink and small blank book
Plasterer trowel (as dagger) large bucket
Porter knife (as dagger) backpack
Potboy knife (as dagger) 2 bottles of ale
Pure finder shovel (as staff) small sack and 5 lbs of dog feces
Rag and bone man staff large sack
Rat catcher club net
Rope weaver knife (as dagger) rope, 100'
Rug maker scissors (as dagger) 2'x4' braided rug
Seamstress/tailor scissors (as dagger) fine suits, 3 sets
Seed miller club flour, 1 lb
Shoemaker awl (as dagger) rugged boots, 2 pairs
Shopkeeper dagger 4 gp, 14 sp, 27 cp
Snitch dagger 50 gp and an enemy
Soap maker knife (as dagger) lye soap, 5 lb
Stone cutter sledge hammer (as warhammer) masonry chisel
Street vendor: beer, soup, or tea large ladle (as club) 5 clay cups
Street vendor: pans, spoons, tinware skillet (as club) 10 spoons
Street vendor: produce knife (as dagger) fruit
Swamp gleaner staff herbs, 1 lb
Teamster staff bridle
Thatcher knife (as dagger) dried rushes, 20 lb
Tinker/sharpener hammer (as club) whetstone
Tour guide dagger 20 sp
Waiter knife (as dagger) silverware sets (knife, fork, spoon), 2
Watchman short sword lantern
Weaver dagger fine suit of clothes
Wig maker scissors (as dagger) fine peruke
Wood hewer hand axe bundle of wood
Wool shearer scissors (as dagger) wool, 5 lbs

A few interesting notes here:
Some professions were similar enough to existing DCC backgrounds that I just gave them the same starting equipment.  Which ones these are is an exercise left to the reader.

Chimney sweeps apparently used to drop geese down the flue, where their frantic flapping during the fall would loosen soot.  Also, sometimes they used a brush on a chain, with a lead or iron weight at one end that they would drop down the chimney; if the Judge wants to allow it, a chimney sweep can have one of these and use it as a flail instead of a club-like brush.

Rather than having a set piece of additional equipment, shop clerks get an additional roll on Table 3.4 in the DCC rules.  Two rolls.

A luthier is a maker of stringed musical instruments.  Maybe you knew this already.  I didn't.

A mudlark pokes through the mud along the edge of a river (or in this case the swamp, I guess) in search of items of value.  Maybe you didn't know this.  I did.  Feel free to come up with a more random selection of items for a mudlark to start with.  This might be worthy of a d100 table all on its own.

A potboy is a server in a tavern.  At least this one is; I found an alternate definition as a dishwasher, but that's already listed on the table.

A pure finder is a collector of dog feces.  Apparently dog poop was used in the tanning process back in the day, and this was just one of the reasons tanneries weren't allowed within many settlements.

Rag and bone men collected various kinds of trash and recycled them for various purposes.  Rags were used in paper making.  Bones were cleaned of grease, which was then sold to soap makers.  The bones were then usually sold to chemists.

I'm going to assume that a seed miller is pretty much like a grain miller.  Online research in this area was complicated immensely by the fact that Miller is a very common name in the English language.  There is a Miller Seed Company with a large online presence, as well as several seed researchers named Miller.  If there's a difference to be found, I guess Jeff and Joel Sparks will have to let us in on it.

Sneakiness!
Let Lesserton natives who are not classed as Thieves roll a d20 instead of a d10 for stealth related rolls.

4. Starting Poor
The Player's Guide is overly generous here. DCC characters from Lesserton still only get 5d12 copper pieces to start.


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