the 0 level funnel and small groups - some thoughts
I was looking at the 0 level scenario The Portal under the Stars. It said that the preferred number of victims was 15 0 level pc's or 8 level 1 pc's. It made me consider how viable the funnel was when dealing with smaller groups of players. I run games for a small group of friends, but we find ourselves one short, just leaving the three of us. Even at level 1 or above, we tend to run 2 pcs each in any dungeon bashing game. I ran 6 level 0's in a solo test of the aforementioned scenario. At the end I had two survive the ordeal. If I ran 8 or 10 then maybe I would have 3 to 5 at the end of it, unless the dice were cruel, none at all. I am on balance disinclined to use the funnel with such a small group. I would let the players make a some 0 level characters and then decide what classes are best suited to them. So they start off with the profession, some sellable goods or items and some weapons they may want to trade up. That establishes a base history for the character, then the player chooses a class that best fits the stats. Its pretty close to the Lankhmar book for DCC. Any thoughts?