Hello, backers!

As you're reading this, most of the Goodman Games' crew is in Indianapolis for Gen Con 2026. But that doesn't mean we've forgotten about you! The campaign continues to grow thanks to your support. We're never not grateful for the continued trust our fans have for us and our ability to produce some great gaming goodies, and the Book of Funnels is no exception. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Speaking of funnels, we're doing our third year of the DCC Funnel Experience at Gen Con, so if you're attending and feel like spending a few hours with our excellent judges, swing by Lucas Oil Stadium. If you're not attending, but know someone who is and want to initiate them into our "Not a Cult!" tell them to make the DCC Funnel Experience a can't-miss event for their Gen Con 2026 game plan.

We take you now to someone who has some thoughts on funnel fundamentals and what to consider when playing or designing your next 0-level adventure.

Funnel Fundamentals
by Michael Curtis

While the funnel concept hasn’t exactly shaken the world of tabletop game design to its very foundations, it is an idea which has spread beyond the colorful covers of DCC RPG. Not only does Dungeon Crawl Classics’ sister systems like Mutant Crawl Classics and Xcrawl Classics utilize it, but a few other RPGs not published by Goodman Games have embraced the idea of “heroes are made, not born.” With the funnel idea making the leap into other games, many people are asking that eternal question, “What makes a good funnel?” Let’s see if we can provide some answers, shall we?

The most common question is “Do I need to run the PCs through a funnel?” The short answer is “no,” and it even says that in the DCC rulebook. However, the longer answer is “Why wouldn’t you?” Many people make the mistake of looking at the funnel as the PCs first adventure. That may be technically true (the best kind), but personally I consider the funnel to be part of character creation. You wouldn’t not roll for your hit points or choose your starting spells, right? So why not run the funnel?

The funnel is the perfect time to allow the players to test drive their PCs and it’s often during the funnel that the seeds of the character’s personalities are planted. An offhand comment that resonates with the player or a miraculous win in the face of adversity can do more to bring a character to life than any prewritten backstory brought to the table. 

This isn’t to say that more is better when it comes to funnel design, however. It’s too easy to consider the funnel like any other adventure, one requiring numerous encounters and plenty of intersections forcing the party to decide to go one way instead of another. These elements, commonplace in traditional adventures, get in the way of the funnel’s purpose: character creation. Ideally, a funnel should be short enough to get through in 2-3 hours. That gives the judge and players time to roll up characters, discuss some basic rules, and then dive into the fun. There are longer funnels out there, but you don’t want to spend two game sessions getting through things before the campaign really kicks off. Save the longer funnels for more experienced players who will breeze through things quicker than players new to DCC and/or the funnel concept. 

Next week I’ll be delving a little deeper on what makes for a great funnel, but for now, just remember that 1) funnels are part of character creation and not a “real” adventure, and 2) shorter is better. As long as you keep those fundamentals in mind, you’re already most of the way towards creating a great adventure to kick off that cool campaign you’ve been wanting to run.