Enchiridion of the Computarchs (Preview)

Enchiridion of the Computarchs (Preview) was written by James A. Pozenel, Jr.. Art is by David Fisher, Matt Sutton, and K.J. O'Brien. The publisher is Horseshark Games.

This is a supplement for Dungeon Crawl Classics and Mutant Crawl Classics games using technological "magic". This includes, but is not limited to, Cyber Sprawl Classics, Crawljammer, Umerica, Terror of the Stratosfiend, and Star Crawl Classics. Even baseline DCC gets its sci fi peanut butter into the chocolate of fantasy gaming,so this product might have wide use.

According to the DriveThruRPG preview, Most this content in this preview has been released in Gongfarmers Almanac 2019 & 2020. This is a free preview of the soon to be released full version of "Enchiridion of the Computarchs". The full version will have 38 programs, 1st - 5th level, generation tables and as much art as possible. The full mechanics are presented here to allow the DIY judge to leverage what he likes without buying the full version. 

Let's look inside!

Technological Mishaps: Faults, Bugs, and Critical Errors are the "corruption" that occurs when you mess up program activation.

Burndown: The analog of spellburn for programs. Includes a d24 table.

Developed Programs: If you've been playing MCC, and wondering what your shaman can do (other than invoke her Patron AI), this section is for you. Not only does it contain the necessary information for running programs, but it supplies a table for Shamans indicating their Max Wetware Level and number of Wetware (programs) Known. There is a Program List indicating those programs which will be part of the full book.

The pdf also includes three 1st level programs (Decrypt/Decompile, Dynamo, and Glitch), two 2nd level programs (Exploit and Molecular Excitement) and one 3rd level program (Quarantine). These are fully developed, and ready to appear in your campaign.

The cabalistic and powerful Computarchs built the WorldNet, governed its growth, established its laws and conventions, and seemingly retired from their world altering creation. They left their tools and programs scattered throughout the vast network. Some have been found by seekers such as yourself and have been passed down from generation to generation. Collectively these pieces of software are known as Enchiridion of the Computarchs.

The Enchiridion of the Computarchs preview is available as a Pay What You Want product.

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Phantasmagoria #1

Phantasmagoria #1 was written by Chance Phillips. Art is by Luka Rejec (cover), Jim Magnusson, Stefan Poag, Jeremy Hart, and Penny Melgarejo. The publisher is Apollyon Press.

Disclosure: I backed the successful Kickstarter for this project. I also wrote a Zine Scene News Flash related to it for the Goodman Games website.

There is an embarrassment of riches now for those who want to throw a little star- or planet-hopping into their DCC campaigns. Crawljammer, Star Crawl, Operation Bug Hunt, Cyber Crawl Classics, The Hobonomicon, Sub-ether, Monster Extractor IV - Aliens & Manufactured Beings, Leopard Women of Venus, Drongo: Ruins of the Witch Kingdoms, Cyber Sprawl Classics, Terror of the Stratosfiend, RPGPundit Presents #19: Frantabulous Gonzo Robot Generator, Umerica, UX01: High Caliber Hijinks, Crawl! fanzine #8, Vehicle Mayhem!, Null Singularity, and Mutant Crawl Classics all provide material that the judge can use to craft an interplanetary romance with.

On top of that, adventures like Frozen in Time, Peril on the Purple Planet, Against the Atomic Overlord, The 998th Conclave of Wizards, The Dread God Al-Khazadar, Imprisoned in the God-Skull, The Weird Worm-Ways of Saturn, The Vault of Ash, Demon Drums, The Silent Army, The Tribe of Ogg and the Gift of Suss, Shade Hunter, Silent Nightfall, Secrets of the World-Harvesters, Lair of the Mist Men, Mother's Maze, and anything Mutant Crawl Classics or Umerica take you to space, or other planets, or have strong enough science fiction elements to help populate those brave new worlds where you seek out new life and new civilizations.

Appendix N fiction is like a stewpot left to simmer and filled to the brim with a number of distinct (but often inter-referential) voices. Dungeon Crawl Classics campaigns are similar. Each publisher, and each author...and, let's be honest, each artist!...adds their own unique flavor to the pot. The judge, like a chef, picks and chooses the ingredients which comprise a personal campaign milieu.

Let's take a look inside and see what flavors Phantasmagoria #1 adds!

Automatons: "Automatons are the universal debris of ambitious magitechnicians across the universe, thrown aside once they realize someone else has done it before and done it better."

That might seem ironic, as there are takes on similar themes in Hubris and Meanderings #2. The Umerican Survival Guide contains a Robot class. However, even if you are playing in a game that mashes things together, it is good to have options, and this is flavored a bit differently than the others. Also, if it malfunctions badly enough it might spontaneously burst into flame! Others have done it before. Better? That depends upon your tastes. They are different takes, but, being attempts to describe similar character types, there are certainly similarities in design.

Captains: "Captains are beacons of hope, capable of uniting people and willing to do anything to protect their crew. They are also adept duelists and swashbucklers."

This is definitely more Captain Blood than Captain Kirk. A bit like the Warrior, a bit like the Thief, and with a bit of the Bard's ability to inspire, without really being like any of those classes, the Captain really is a dashing swashbuckler whose ability to inspire their crew is real.

Gremlins: "Gremlins, sometimes called goblins, albeit never to their faces, are technological wizards who also possess minor spellcasting abilities."

Jovians: "Jovians were natives of a gas giant adapted to their home planet's crushing gravity. They lived in massive cities that floated above the clouds. Each city was ruled via committee with the head of each family being able to vote on communal affairs. For the most part the extended families operated independently, but recently the floating cities were conquered by various empires and the native Jovians were taken as slaves by their conquerors."

Together these classes give a vision of a setting where humans have largely conquered the aliens they have met in the cold depths of space. Gremlins work the engines, Jovians are slave troops sent into dangerous areas, Automatons serve at the pleasure of their Captain....perhaps their notorious engineering mishaps are a form of subtle resistance by the Gremlins....

But humans are not really the top dogs here. There are also Star Princes.

Star Prince: "Star princes are the humanoid forms of the stars who have undergone the final phase of their metamorphosis. There are no star princes of 5th level or below".

A really unique class which might be reminiscent of Stars in the Darkness, Star Princes are never generated through funnels, but only unlocked during actual play. They are forever recognizable as former stars, but burdened by being stars no longer, and are (short of accident, poison, or injury) effectively immortal.

Weapons & Kit: Includes armor and weapons for your explorers. There is a problem with the range of the nuclear pistol, which is listed as 20/10/1930. I am assuming that the range should read 20/100/1930. A few other bits of science fiction gear are also included.

Occupations: d100 table.

Spaceships: A workable system for spaceships is presented in four pages.

Explore the ruins of lost alien civilizations or sail through space in a massive freighter, weighed down with all manners of gold, jewels, and relics.

Play as a Jovian, a lithe yet strong alien native to a gas giant, a Captain, a brilliant tactician and duelist, or a Gremlin, an alien skilled with magic and technology. Build any type of ship from a tiny fighter to a massive dreadnaught, bristling with cannons.

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Trumphammer 2K

Trumphammer 2K was written by Author X and has no credit for illustrations. It is published by Author X.

Essentially, this is an unofficial mini-setting for DCC RPG games, wherein Donald Trump not only won the election in 2016, but in which there will never be another American election again, Canada has been nuked (for some unknown reason), and Mexico has united with a South American alliance to declare war on the United States under the God Emperor Trump. Players are part of the Resistance, with classes such as the Abortionist, Anon (members of a terrorist hacktivist collective), Embezzler, Euro (mystical European immigrant who has overstayed their visa), Grunt (illegal immigrant worker), Punk, or Thug.

For reasons which should be obvious, this is not an officially licensed DCC product. Author X’s sociopolitical views are the basis of this product, but whether this is a good thing or a bad thing must be determined by the individual reader.

So long as you don't take yourself too seriously, you might find some useful gaming material here. At the same time, it is impossible to describe this product adequately without some political discussion creeping in.

Trumphammer 2K was written in the months prior to the 2016 election, and the author hoped that it would have a “short shelf-life” because the political situation would change. There is satirical criticism of Republicans (in general and individually), the Green Party, the continued militarization of American law enforcement, far Right media figures, and so on. There is no mention of the corporate-leaning Democrats, the Sanders campaign, or the rigging of the 2016 primaries that was exposed by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Russia doesn’t come up, and one imagines that is largely because RussiaGate wasn’t a thing at the time.

Trumphammer 2K offers a glimpse into a future (and present) which is far more dystopian than our current reality, but which echoes the fears and experiences of real people. It could be used as the backdrop of a Cyber Sprawl Classics or DCC XCrawl campaign. It could be treated as an alternate plane of existence that our normal PCs somehow find themselves within (illegally, no doubt).  It is also surprisingly robust as a setting for messed-up one shot adventures. I could easily see a luchador from the 2015 Gong Farmer’s Almanac Vol 1 crossing the Great Wall of Trump on behalf of the Unión de Naciones Suramericanas.

Another potential scenario would see a patron send the party into the world of Trumphammer 2K to recover some item needed…or perhaps some portion of spell knowledge needed by the party wizard can only be found among the glowing radioactive ruins of Canada? Mutant Crawl Classics might offer several ideas here, as might the various Umerican publications….

While I am willing to talk politics with almost anyone, please, please, please keep politics out of the comments section here as much as possible. Thank you. Consider this request as part of my projected Zone of Equality, 50’ Radius.

  

It is the year 2100…

and God-Emperor Trump is the undisputed ruler of the USA. Elected in the election of 2016, he ascended, consolidating the financial, military-industrial and religious complexes into a single force that has forever changed the face of this nation, for the better…

At least that’s what the Talking Heads would have you believe. You’re one of the few that knows the truth, that sticks their neck out to ensure that your children can live in a better world, a world free of Trump’s Tyranny.

There is no peace in this nation, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of a mad god…

Will you submit, or will you fight?

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Cyber Sprawl Classics #1

Cyber Sprawl Classics #1 was written by Brent Ault. Art is by Korotitskiy Igor (cover), Mike Jackson, [ tfxr ] 3.0, Simon Cardew, and Victor Marguerite. The publisher is not listed.

Cyber Sprawl Classics is "Corruption & Creds Won by Console & Chrome": a cyberpunk version of Dungeon Crawl Classics that harkens back to the late 80s to the mid 90s. As the other puts it:

"There is a certain aesthetic that comes to mind when I think about cyberpunk. It is not a place of sleek design and Apple minimalism, but flickering LCDs and spraypaint. It has no glitz. No glamour. It is dystopian wreckage to it’s core, riddled with addicts high on second-life wetware, hackers plugging data-cables in their body’s cyberware, Runners disemboweling corporate security on rooftops and in between them all: a high-tech, low-life world colored in overcast grays and neon lights."

Access to The Umerican Survival Guide and Mutant Crawl Classics are specifically called out by the author as being useful. I would suggest that Nowhere City Nights may also supply worthwhile inspiration, especially if you wish "to run the fantasy-cyberpunk mashup of Shadowrun".

Let's look inside.

Introduction: Already quoted from liberally above, the Introduction is standard fare, explaining where the author is coming from and what he's trying to achieve.

Notable is this paragraph:

"Lastly, credit where credit is due: All of this art was found and reappropriated (stolen) from browsing the internet; Many from the old Shadowrun modules of the early 90’s. I’ve done my best to include artist credit. Mechanically, the Street Samurai and Infiltrator are the DCC Warrior and Thief, nearly verbatim, while the Medic is a reworked version of the Healer from Mutant Crawl Classics. The Firearms tables were largely from Crawl! Issue #8 and the Umerican Survival Guide."

What’s New: Training & Armor: Characters in Cyber Sprawl Classics learn to use weapons randomly, rather than by class. The exception is the Street Samurai, who is trained in all weaponry.

Armor is based on general type (Light, Medium, Heavy, or Shield) rather than specific types.

0-Level Occupations: This is a 1d30 table that provides only human characters, in keeping with the general theme of the cyberpunk genre. Your character could be a Musician (Punk), a Scientist, or a Programmer. This table is useful for any sort of "modern characters enter the fantasy world" version of Dungeon Crawl Classics, in addition to its obvious use here.

Luck Augur: Birth Augurs in Cyber Sprawl Classics do not have clever titles. No one is born under the sign of Crossed Computers.

Etiquette: This is knowing how to fit into certain types of society, including understanding the slang and expectations of a group. The types are: Academic, Corporate, Gang, Security, Runner, Socialite, and Street. Street is used by Information Brokers, the Homeless, and Bartenders, as opposed to Gang, which is used by Gang Members.

Classes: Provided herein are the Street Samurai, Medic, Console Cowboy, Infiltrator, Rigger, and Face. A character sheet is available here.

Basic Equipment: Exactly what it sounds like.

Appendix C:\ : An appendix of books, comics, films, videogames, and RPGs for inspirational reading, viewing, and playing.

You're no hero.

You're a Runner: a rigger, an infiltator, a street samurai, a cool-headed hacker executing programs in the metaverse. You seek corruption and creds, winning it with console and chrome, bathed in the blood and filth of the oppresive, the megacorps, the police, and the artificial. There are payloads to be won deep in the Sprawl, and you shall have them.

Return to the glory days of cyberpunk with Cyber Sprawl Classics. Adventure as 1984 intended you to.

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