Happy Monday, Book of Funnel Backers!

As you read this, Gen Con 2026 is finished and the Goodman crew in attendance is either safely at home or traveling there. Thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by one of our booths, play our games, get things signed, and otherwise remind us how awesome our fans are. We're all tired, but it's a good tired.

Last week, Michael Curtis had thoughts about the fundamentals of the 0-level funnel. With that topic covered, Manly Mike has some tips on what to include in a funnel to make it an amazing one. Get your judge's notebook ready and get ready to jot these down.

Top Five Things for a Great Funnel
by Michael Curtis

On Friday, I discussed fundamentals to consider when designing a funnel. Today I want to get down into the nitty-gritty of what you can include in a funnel to make it shine and be memorable for the players. This isn’t to say you always need to include these elements (I’m guilty of leaving some out myself) but keeping them in mind when designing your funnel never hurts.

1) Short and sweet: The idea is to be able to complete the funnel as part of the character generation process, sometimes called Session 0. DCC awards 2 XP for an average encounter, meaning a 0-level PC needs to survive five encounters to earn their 10 XP and level-up. Limiting the funnel to five to seven encounters should be adequate to get the surviving PCs to 1st level.

2) Try stuff out: A great funnel should have opportunities for the PCs to test out their future class abilities. This might mean a scroll that needs to be cast, requiring a successful spell check by one untrained in the wizardly arts, a trap that can be detected with either an ability check or, even better, practical means like tapping the floor or shifting statues, or an opportunity to commune with a divine figure or channel idol magic to heal an injured PC.

3) Replacement PCs: It never hurts to insert an opportunity for the party to replace slain PCs with new ones. These replacements could be freed prisoners, thawed out frozen characters rescued from suspended hibernation, or even conquered foes who’ve seen the error of their ways. However, keep this opportunity an option and not one set in stone. If the party hasn’t had significant losses when they break down to door to the serpent-man’s prison, the rescued prisoners are too weak or scared to aid the party. If the party’s taken a beating, however, all or some of the rescued prisoners are willing to join the group and fill out the ranks.

4) Campaign connections: While this is hard to do with a commercially published funnel, it’s an easy task when writing your own. Use the funnel as an opportunity to introduce people, places, and things that will be encountered in the planned campaign. The name of the future antagonist in an old book, the forgotten heraldry of the death champion knights who are trying to control the world, or a map to that big coastal city when the PCs will meet the pirate queen all lay the groundwork for later events and make players who pay attention say, “Wait! I remember that name!” 

5) Final character tweaks: The funnel is a great time to give the players one last chance to change or improve their PCs before they become “official.” Whether it be a reward for accomplishing some goal, a magic potion that physically transforms them, or divine intervention, the funnel’s climax or conclusion is an opportune moment for the players to make last minute alterations before leveling up. This isn’t to say that you should allow min-maxing, but a divine reward that allows a PC to increase one stat or swap two won’t break a campaign, and can be the final step that makes that surviving PC the player’s new favorite.