History TabletopGame / DungeonCrawlClassics

* SurvivedTheBeginning: Enforced with the "Funnel" system of character creation. Each player begins with two to four zero-level commoners, and it's expected that most of them will die in their introductory adventure. Those that survive get to pick an actual class and become real adventurers... [[AnyoneCanDie not that it'll get any easier for them from there on.]]
* WizardDuel: ''Enter The Dagon'' has a given magic-using player in the party invited to a last-man-standing wizardry tournament. The other players work to sabotage the other contestants between duels.

* SpiritualAntithesis: While a SpiritualSuccessor to ''early'' editions of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' , it's this trope to the franchise in its current state, showing how differently it would have turned out had it doubled-down on its EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.

* SpritualAntithesis: While a SpritiualSuccessor to ''early'' editions of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' , it's this trope to the franchise in its current state, showing how differently it would have turned out had it doubled-down on its EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.

* ShoutOut: The cover art for the ''Neon Knights'' adventure gets its title from a Music/BlackSabbath song, and the cover art references ''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath''.

* CriticalHit: There arae tables and tables of effects to make them feel special and give a chance to knock a higher power foe down a peg.

* CriticalHit: As is expected for a D20 RPG. Has tables and tables of effects to make them feel special and give a chance to knock a higher power foe down a peg.
* CriticalFailure: As expected for a D20 RPG that wants to ocasionally make and monsters feel weak.

* ShoutOut: The cover art for the ''Neon Knights'' adventure gets its title from a Music/BlackSabbath song, and the cover art references ''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath''.

->''"You’re no hero. You’re an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them..."''

-->-- '''From the introduction to the character creation section in the sourcebook'''

''Dungeon Crawl Classics'' is a TabletopRPG by Joseph Goodman originally released as a series of adventure modules across ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [[{{TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition}} 3rd]] and [[{{TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition}} 4th Edition]] in 2003 and 2008 respectively by Goodman Games, but primarily known for the standalone iteration of the system released in 2012. It bills itself as a spiritual successor to early editions of ''D&D'', but taken in a darker and wilder direction, while reducing the overall complexity of the rules to encourage homebrew and smoother play. As part of this, it opposes having an internal or supplemental canon regarding world lore. After all, that's what the Judge and the players are supposed to build as they play. In general, it encourages fair play, using randomness, while not hesitating to kill players. After all, its completely fair that 75% of characters don't survive their first adventure and reach level 1. Those characters clearly weren't qualified.

* RandomNumberGod: The system encourages this with lots and lots of tables. After all, if something is arbitrary, it might as well be ''very'' arbitrary.

[=Dungeon Crawl Classics=] is a Tabletop role-playing game created in 2012, not to be confused with the publishers earlier supplements published under that brand. It bills itself as a spiritual successor to early editions of Dungeons and Dragons, but taken in a darker and wilder direction and reducing the overall complexity of the rules to encourage home-brew and smooth play. As part of this it opposes having an internal or supplemental cannon of lore about the the world of the game, after all that's what the Judge and players are supposed to build as they play. In general it encourages fair play, using randomness, and not hesitating to kill players. After all, its completely fair that 75% of characters don't survive their first adventure and reach level 1. Those characters clearly weren't qualified.

!!Dungeon crawl classics provides examples of:
Main/AnyoneCanDie: Openly encouraged. Characters are relatively fragile and generally replaceable. Level zero characters are expected to die early and often.

Main/CriticalHit: As is expected for a D20 RPG. Has tables and tables of effects to make them feel special and give a chance to knock a higher power foe down a peg.

Main/CriticalFailure: As expected for a D20 RPG that wants to ocasionaly make and monsters feel weak.

Main/DarkerAndEdgier: To TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons explicitly, while D&D promotes a level of power fantasy, DCC attempts to make players feel fragile and be cautious.

Main/GameMod: The system was designed for home-brew and house rules, and is intentionally more open ended.

Main/LowFantasy: The source book devotes an entire chapter to how to world-build one. In general characters aren't supposed to have much information beyond a days walk from their homes when they start and what they do have is rumor at best. Monsters are to be feared, and magic is unreliable.

Main/LuckManipulationMechanic: You can spend your luck attribute now to improve your rolls in exchange for being permanently less lucky, unless your a rouge or halfling. While this might seem like a good deal, the luck stat is used for many rolls and situations that have basically no player input. For example, the Judge is encouraged to spring traps and hazards on the player with the lowest luck if nothing else makes more sense.

Main/MagicMisfire: a critical failure always backfires, with possibly permanent downsides for messing up a casting that badly. Low rolls often act nearly as badly. Other situations, such as dueling with another caster, can also cause spells to fail in a spectacular fashion. the more powerful the spell, the more easy and intense failure.

Main/PowerAtAPrice: Wizards can sacrifice physical attributes to make their spells more reliable. More ambitious or foolish wizards can seek a supernatural patron to bargain for more power and an occasionally better deal.

Main/RandomEffectSpell: Every spell has one or more pages of table for the effects it can produce, to make magic feel less reliable, and that's before adding in the entire table of modifiers that apply to how different casters spells function.

Main/RandomNumberGod: The system encourages this with lots and lots of tables. After all, if something is arbitrary, it might as well be VERY arbitrary.