The DC20 RPG Hits $1 Million on Kickstarter, Proving Players Are Still Hungry for 4e
DC20 is another D&D-alike aimed at finding the next great evolution in fantasy TTRPGs. Finding significant crunch in some old ideas.
D&D 5th Edition has just about run its course. The new evolution is coming in a few short months. But, more to the point, the divergent systems are starting to grow. You have Level Up A5E, Tales of the Valiant, and soon, DC20, an “intuitive and dynamic” fantasy roleplaying game that promises to change things up in a big way. And, though this might sound flippant, it pleases me to no end to see that the spirit of D&D 4th Edition is alive and well here.
Because some of the big features of the system come from some of the best parts of 4th Edition: all characters have spells. It’s the solution that everyone wants, “but not like that.” I don’t know why they say it like that, but they do.
From The Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords in the latter days of 3.5 Edition to 4th Edition, “every character has special attacks that are basically spells.” This is a problem that the industry solved. And then took a massive step back from because executives answering to shareholders are cowards.
But the ideas of 4th Edition live on. In DC20, you’ll see things like “Martials get Stamina Points and Attack Maneuvers” and “Skill Challenge Mechanics,” which was another 4th Edition special. But DC20 goes even further. It’s not “just 4th Edition,” but it clearly takes some cues from the past and runs with them into the future. And it’s just passed $1 million on Kickstarter, so let’s take a look.
DC20 on Kickstarter – $1 million and Then Some
So what is DC20 anyway? Well. It’s a D&D-alike RPG. You play as elves and dwarves and humans and fighters and wizards out there a-questing in the questlands. It doesn’t hide this fact either:
Innovating on the best parts of 5e and Pathfinder, DC20 forges a new path forward with reimagined rules for ALL aspects of TTRPGs. The rules are designed to not hold Game Masters back and to no get in the way of Players, so that everyone has more fun as the rules fade into the background.
However, I do take issue with “the rules fade into the background” because they most assuredly do not. The rules, in fact, get all up in your face basically any time you’re doing stuff, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Part of playing a game is wanting to actually use the rules rather than have them fade into the background. It just strikes me as a little weird to say, “We are reimagining all of these rules, but then also they fade into the background.”
They don’t. And the creators should be louder about that. For instance, characters have 4 action points that they can spend on and off their turn. You might use an Action Point as a reaction. You might use it to make an attack. Or you might even combo with an ally. It’s hardly fading into the background, though.
The other big pillar of DC20 is big number good. It’s basically how everyone plays D&D already anyway: you roll a natural 20 and something amazing happens. But now it’s baked into the system a little more. Roll high on your attack roll and you’ll do commensurately more damage.
It’s a very gamified take on D&D, for what it’s worth. And it feels like there are some exciting ideas here. You should check out the Kickstarter for the full rundown of how the game works. But just know that if you’re looking for a more exciting D&D, DC20 has got you covered.
