Tinmen

Tinmen is a race-class written by Ville Rahkila. Art is not credited. The publisher is Knights of the North.

The tinmen are an idea familiar with anyone who has seen or read The Wizard of Oz....or even the much darker Return to Oz. It is a metal man, an automaton which doesn't suffer the pangs of flesh. In this case, it is an automaton that has the ability to repair items (including itself) and to spend money on parts to improve itself.

Tinmen is not the first (or only) product to contain variations on this theme. All are a little different, though, and using one version should not preclude using others. There is also an explicit nod to the original Tin Man (Nick Chopper) in Creeping Beauties of the Wood, so if PCs obtain his cursed axe, the judge could easily use this class to model the soon-to-be-metal PC's advancement.

It should also be noted that this race-class would easily fit into a post-Apocalyptic milieu, be it Umerica or Mutant Crawl Classics. 

In addition to the race-class, there is a bare-bones character sheet designed to go with it.

It was just a jumble of tubes and screws and metal plates. But the group decided to fuel it with the blood of their dead and take it with them. And thus, I had to write the following rules for the rickety race of tinmen. They are a weird bunch but should provide some tank-y power in combat and some useful utility skills for the group.

Have fun!

It's free!

Get It Here!

Them's Monsters!

Them's Monsters! is a collection of monsters written and Illustrated by Joshua LH Burnett. The publisher is JLHB Polytechnic.

Disclosure: I backed the successful Kickstarter for this project.

Dungeon Crawl Classics has a vibrant, creative community and a fantastic zine scene chock full of home-brewed content. DCC monsters don't play by the rules, and there is a lot of encouragement to create your own creatures - but there is also a wealth of shared creature content in the DCC community. Sampling the creative output of others can not only spur your own creativity, but it can give you options that you might not have thought of yourself. Also, of course, sometimes it just prevents you from reinventing the wheel.

While Them's Monsters! is largely a collection of critters, it also contains a two-page Moonblossom and Chance comic (itself containing statistics for Slugboys and Syklopsnik the Monster Boss) and Grist for the Mill, a 0-level funnel adventure which both uses the creature material herein and includes additional monsters for the harried judge. At only two pages (including map), the adventure is sparse on details, so the judge may wish to give this some consideration before using it.

The old abandoned windmill just north of Boggart’s Hollow is rumored to be the haunt of ghosts, witches, and demons. Over the years, dozens of villagers have disappeared after wandering too close to the old mill, but that’s just the way of things. People go missing, monsters eat villagers, and life goes on. But today, things have changed.

Tonight, the village shepherdess, Molly Brubaker, came running into town in a panic. While Molly was out tending to her flock, some great shambling ogre-like beast came stalking from the shadows of the windmill and snatched away Lucibelle the Educated Sheep. Lucibelle is the pride and joy of Boggart’s Hollow–a symbol of luck and fortune. Her theft certainly spells doom

for the entire village. A rescue party of desperate townsfolk has been quickly assembled!

The creature also took her shepherd’s crook after she dropped it and fled. The crook is a family heirloom dating back 5 generations. She will happily reward it to whoever rescues Lucibelle.

The class included herein is the Dungle, a humanoid dung beetle. This is a fully developed class, taking up three pages for the class and one for general description. A 0-level occupation table is provided! This is a viable class, which might also be used in an Umerica or Mutant Crawl Classics game to good effect.

Scholars believe that dungles evolved from the dire dung beetles that haunt the Glowing Desert far to the south of Xöthma-Ghül. In time, they moved into the great necropolis upon which the Crepuscular City would eventually be built. Forming loose tribes within the mighty dungeon, dungles functioned as scavengers and often served as minions of more powerful monsters. When Imperious Perfectus conquered the necropolis and built his city atop it, he offered the dungles an opportunity to live and work within the city.

(From this it is easy to see that the lore in Them's Monsters! ties into Crepuscular #1.)

The creatures herein largely are mid-range to more potent. They include: the Carrion Knight, the Chaos Ooze, the Cleric Lick Monster, the Crovoborge, the Cybersnail, the Eyeless Dead, Humbaba, the Iron Medusa, the Millennium Tortoise, the Muldasynkovi, the Pumpkin Knight, Raw Head, the Sanity Assassin, the Sludge Dwarf, the Sludge Golem, the Terrible Infant, the Void-Belly Giant, and the Weremoose. 

I did not see an OGL page, and there is no indication of Open Content or usage rights, which is the only thing marring this collection. This shouldn't matter for a home game, but remember that you have to ask for permission, or redo stats, description, and lore if you want to publish.

Get It Here!

The Twisted Menagerie Manual

The Twisted Menagerie Manual is a collection of creatures for the Umerica campaign setting. It was written by Reid San Filippo and Bob Brinkman, with additional content by Daniel J. Bishop, Gilbert Isla, and Tanner Yea. Illustration is by Nate Marcel (including cover), Aaron Robinson, Andrew Walter, Brad Morris, Clip art, David Coppoletti, Diogo Nogueira, Frank Turfler Jr., James V West, Karl Stjernberg, KJ O'Brien, Lee Anthony “Deadpoolrus” DeviantArt (CC BY SA3), Matt Hildebrand, Matt Jordan, and Richard Tingley. The publisher is Shield of Faith Studios, LLC.

Disclaimer: I have an "Additional Content" credit on this for use of the Doomriders from this blog post. This was an unpaid contribution.

What we have here is a hefty collection of creatures, not all of which are "combat-only" types. All of them are at home in the post-Apocalyptical setting of Umerica. Many would be at home in other settings as well, including Mutant Crawl Classics, Hubris, and more vanilla Dungeon Crawl Classics games. Definitely, many of these beings would fit into a Star Crawl or Galaxy Black milieu.

The Umerica setting, from The Umerican Survival Guide onward, does use different rules for armor than the core DCC rules. This book provides everything you need to convert monsters from the Umerica rules to standard rules and vice versa. 

It also contains a section on Boss Monsters, that gives the reader/judge some idea of how to utilize these beings to create the "Big Bad" for an adventure or campaign arc. Overall, it is an extremely impressive piece of work. 

The Twisted Menagerie Manual is brought tangentially as part of a wider Umerica discussion on the Order of the Shanna podcast here. Umerica is discussed on the Glowburn podcast here.

The wild and weird world of Umerica is a dangerous place filled with murderous creatures. It’s a good thing too since XP does not grow on trees! Within these pages dwell a cornucopia of crafty creatures to cram your campaign with consternation and paralyze your party with panic. Each one listed with adventure hooks to help drop them into your game.

Take a look at this selection of monster names from this tome

Apocalypse Ooze • Autogiest • Autovore • Beetle Apes • Blast Shades • Bowel Tyrant 
Can Crabs • Cake Horror • Clown Servants of Buddy O’Burger • Constrictor, Mutant
Corpsenado • Cryo-lurker • Cyber Ghoul • Cyber Saucer Simian • Demolishroom
Dinosaurs • Dinosaurs, Augmented • Dinosaurs, Mutant • Shroomers • Ox Beetles • Pigtipede
The Discarded • Doomrider • Dragon, Biohazard • Dragon, Cryo • Dragon, Forest
Dragon, Gearhead • Holographic Dragon • Robot Dragon • Xeno Dragon • eGhost
Elementals-Data • Elementals-Debris • Elementals-Gun • Falcon Wolf • Flying Laser Ursine
Frab • Fruiti-Slush Ooze • Game Devil • Golem, Junk • Golem, Mannequin • Golem, Plush
Golem, Vehicle • Greenman Swarm • Hippotaur • Iguanadillo • Insect, Mutant
Jack-O-rang-utan • Komo-doans • Linoleumoeba • Lion-Snake • Luck Eater • Menfish
Monitor Lizards • Muckraker • Mutitan • Newt, Aberration • Octowolf • Orbus • Power Wight
Puppetcubi • Quantum Ape • Railipede • Rail Wraith • Reindire • Rerun Wraiths • RoboDevil
Robo-Lich • Robots • Rocker • Rockin’ Wraith • Scorpionoid • Septicraken • Serpent Shrubs
Sharkhana • Shriek • Splice Fiend • Sporefangs • Techno-Mimic • Think Tank • Toycubim
Trapdoor Toadspider • Trashlodyte • Tru-Pet • Un Men • V.E.T.T. • Varrok • Vendibeast
Whalephant • Wraith Rider • Whaaar Mutts • Wheeler Demon • Wrath • Xeno-Locusts
Xenotaur • Xeno Mummy • Yowling Atrocity • Zilla • Blink Zombies • Chrono Zombies
Melting Zombies • Petrol Zombies • Rave Zombies • Silver Zombies
Zombie Monks of the Cyberhive

Besides over 100 brutal beasts, this book also contains a bevy of barbarous Bosses based on a few of the creatures within. Each one listed with a backstory, common followers, motivations, and more.

The icing on the irradiated cake is the Scenario Sketches, a bunch of rough encounter ideas incorporating one or more of the monsters from this tome, all ready to be polished a bit and dropped into your campaign on short notice.

Get It Here!

Flammable Hospital (Honorary)

Flammable Hospital was written and/or inspired by Jason Kielbasa, Acep Hale, Debbie Deaver, Chris Thomas, Richie Cyngler, Dan Domme, Reece Carter, Brenda Wolfe, Paul Wolfe, Terra Frank, Wayne Snyder, Gabriel Perez Gallardi, Anthony Fournier, Michael Raston, Nik Wolfe, Christian Kessler, Ashley Mensinger, Harald Wagener, Kathryn Muszkiewicz, Michael, Noah Stevens, James McGeorge, Alex Roberts, Harley Stroh, Soriah Esquivel, Doug Kovaks, and Jarrett Crader. Art is by Terra Frank, Michael Raston, Doug Kovacs, Christian Kessler, and Chris Thomas (logo). Jarrett Crader also supplied pictures. There is no publisher listed.

Disclosure: James Pozenel Jr. sent me a copy of this zine so that I could create this listing. While he is not credited with this product, he has done other writing which appears, or will appear, in the DCC Trove of Treasures. I am told that the copy he sent me was an extra. Was it though? Or was he just trying to exorcise his games collection?

This listing is honorary because Flammable Hospital is more of a "DCC-adjacent" product than something directly tied into Dungeon Crawl Classics. For one thing, your level is random, and you might be "Star Jackson" level. Abilities are taken from a combination of D&D and DCC (although "Sexy/Charmisma" is a bit different), but they are percentiles, apparently generated by rolling 10d10 x 10. Or perhaps not. There are no clear rules. There is no clear indication of how to use the material provided. This is not an accident.

Flammable Hospital does not take itself seriously. At best, it is a way to roll dice and role-play without much of an actual "game" involved, which may be perfect if you want to get the silliness out of the way at the beginning of a convention or if you don't feel like anything more serious one night.

Usually, I try to figure out some way to use an unusual product within a regular Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign. Here, I could see some of the background as a setting for a Country Crawl Classics or even an Umerica adventure where the Flammable Hospital is inhabited by the kind of insane beings who created it. Just be aware that you will have to build it yourself; you will only be getting the skeleton of a skeleton here!

You can find another review on Flammable Hospital here.

I am not sure where you can find a copy of this. My best advice is to start cataloguing every DCC and MCC product in existence, and perhaps someone will take pity upon you. It worked for me!

 

Terror of the Stratosfiend #1

Terror of the Stratosfiend #1 : 1-555-Tentacle was written by Sean Richer. Art is by James Everett Jackson (including cover), 2 headed giant, Skullthug, and Graz. The publisher is Orbital Intelligence.

The very fabric of the world bent and broke, as portals from stars beyond the stars started to open at random in an event known as “The Drop”. Cruel psionic tentacled giants, and a menagerie of entities both cthonic and cosmic erupted forth. Mankind was doomed as they knew it, until humans began pouring out of the portals. Humans that spoke the same language, and breathed the same air, but were from distant stars beyond the stars.

Something was different though, both Stratosfiend and Humans from both sides began to defect. The Half-Stratosfiend were born (honestly, don’t ask) and offered their services to the highest bidder. It was no longer Chaos vs Law.

Confession time: I absolutely love this zine, but I could really use a primer on the setting. There is a lot of implied background, and regardless of what flavor of DCC you play, a lot of useful material. But there is a massive tome on the setting, full of wicked illustrations, just waiting to be written. The setting isn't just confined to a single world, either, as we shall see once we get to later issues. I feel as though I am being given the merest glimpse of something worth fully exploring.

The new species and classes are open to any level 0 character, once they gain enough experience to reach the first level. In some cases this means that character may change species when they hit level 1. Not only is this allowed, but it’s encouraged. The Drop is a strange event, and it only makes sense that rampant mutation and infiltration would occur.

This issue has four new classes. 

The Human Sat-Casters "call down hell from the skies above. They’ve learned to tame the wild intelligences that inhabit rogue space stations, and weapons satellites. They serve as the eyes and ears of what they call Orbital Intelligences (patrons), and will stop at nothing to spread their word." If this sounds like something that belongs in your Mutant Crawl Classics game, you are not alone! Because of their link to the Orbital Intelligences, sat-casters take a penalty to their spell checks when they don't have direct access to the sky. On the other hand, they can use satellites to track targets, and can attempt an uplink to boost their spells. Attempting an uplink is, of course, hazardous, and may result in patron taint. I rather like this, as patron taint is more interesting than corruption, arising as it does from a direct connection the PC has made.

I see no reason that Patron AIs from Mutant Crawl Classics could not act as Orbital Intelligences, and vice versa. Likewise, this class could fit very easily into an Umerica game.

The Half-Stratosfiend Street Whisperer is, as the name implies, half-human and half-Stratosfiend. They are constantly evolving, and may sacrifice hit points permanently to evolve immediately. Evolution gives them additional powers, in general, but rolling an activated power turns it off until it is rolled again. They also have tentacles that they can use to attack. They are also sneaky. They are also all dedicated to slaying one Orbital Intelligence or another, gaining bonuses when opposing their chosen target and its agents. 

When a 0-level PC reaches 1st level, remember, any class may be chosen. In other words, the cheesemaker just sprouted tentacles and is babbling about killing the Earth-Mother....

Don't worry. Things get stranger. Meet the Stratosfiend Delver. "The Stratosfiend are a terrifying race from beyond the stars. They are bipedal humanoids with tentacles that protrude from their spines. They tower over humans and bear many of their features, which begs the consideration that they share an ancestor. Delvers are relentlessly curious and will regularly halt their plans to inspect every detail that seems out of place. Their spells derive from inside of their massive brains, and they rarely if ever will bond with a patron."

That's right. While the cheesemaker is sprouting tentacles, the butcher just turned into a giant psychic tentacle monster. 

Don't worry. Things get stranger still. The Stratosfiend Magistrate Gladiatrix are still waiting in the wings. "All races have natural born leaders and in the case of the Stratosfiend, the magistrates are hatched from the will of the hive-mind. While Stratosfiends tower over humans, the magistrate sub-race towers over its brethren. Most have devoted themselves to infiltrating large population centers and crushing resistance leaders to their own will. The rest seem just fine battling anything to the death. The Gladiatrix in particular are brutal killing machines. They delight in ripping their prey to pieces with axes and their tentacles. They even charm their prey to draw them closer."

Again, the cheesemaker sprouted tentacles, the butcher is now a 10' tall psychic monster....and the orphan? She's just turned into a 20' tall killing machine.

Now imagine how an adventure could cater to the human sat-caster, the 10'-tall psionic tentacle wizard, and the 20' tall killing machine. The half-Stratosfiend street whisperer and the sat-caster can both fit into dungeons and normal-sized buildings, but the sat-caster is hampered by being cut off from the sky. And, let's face it, there is a good chance that the street whisperer lured the sat-caster there just to kill him as part of her quest to oppose the sat-caster's patron!

The whole thing is a glorious muddle. One can assume that normal classes are also allowed, so that if in your world the Drop took place after the Apocalypse, there are mutants and/or robots thrown into the mix (depending upon your choice of post-Apocalyptic game). Perhaps you would rather have warriors, thieves, and elves try to deal with this strange new world? A dwarf could easily keep his 0-level dwarf abilities and become a street whisperer or a gladiatrix, right? 

You would think that this alone would be enough for any zine, but we are only a little less than a third of the way through!

Weapons: Stats are given for 12 weapons, from a fighting stick to an assault carbine. Crawl #8 might be of particular use to judges wishing to expand on what is provided here. 

Upgrades: This section provides 20 upgrades to weapons, some of which may be of use in any campaign milieu, and all of which demand to be used. Your bow may fire homing arrows. Your bullets may burrow into their target. Your shotgun may be sentient, and your sword may be incubating a dreaming horror. 

Armor: Some strange types of armor are available after the Drop: Psionic War Focus, Blade Harness, Twitching Carapace, Explorer Exo-Suit, Siege Preparation Matrix, and even Beach Gear (which makes you easier to hit, but you are faster, and you look good!).

Equipment: "Here we have a strange collection of parasites, hormonal cocktails, and scanning equipment. I for one wouldn’t want to be caught dead without a Micro-Evolution Syringe… then again, maybe death would be better than tempting evolutionary fate.. There are no prices listed... but i’m sure we could work something out."

Spells and Patrons: In this section, we are treated to a single 1st-level spell that can be cast by Stratosfiends. Polyphemean rage causes a plasma beam to shoot from the user’s single giant eye and seer the target in plasma. We are also treated to two patrons, which are given full write-ups, including invoke patron results, spellburn, patron taint, and patron spells. 

Sky-Lasher the Everlasting, Trident of the Sun: "The manifestations of Sky-Lasher are many, ranging from a bat-winged flaming demon, to a sentient defense satellite. The only thing that’s for certain, is that solar panels are soldered into its skin. Its desire is to bring the cleansing fire that only the sun can offer, as well as render illumination and introspection that turns a soul to ash. Offer it something it has not yet judged, and it may do you a solid. Offer yourself as a burnt offering, and it very well will start listening to you. When you see beams of fire pouring from the heavens, Sky-Lasher is smiling. It should also be noted that it has its own personal fleet of bombers, fighter craft, drones, and zealots."

Terror-Eater, The Earth-Mother: "What’s more beautiful than a visceral, hungry, destructive, and all powerful monstrosity? Nothing. Nothing at all. She values her cosmic hunger above all else; if you can feed her, you keep her happy. She’s more than willing to make you more like her, if being a tentacled monstrosity is what you want. She lives beneath the Earth, but rumour has it that she IS the Earth."

Finally, this issue rounds out with a Bestiary. The creatures introduced are divided into two groups: Children of Space (Seeker of the Scourge, Skulker of the Harbinger, Goliath of the Horror, and Goliath Birth-Engine) and Children of Earth (Cloud-Thirst Null, Ogress of the Earthen Chimes, and Earth Howler). 

Beasts, horrors, and humans from stars beyond stars, pour through portals and reduce the land to ash. What more could you want? A talking shotgun? We've got that. A staff that hatches into a living breathing creature? We've got that too.

Ever wanted to take command of a 15 foot tentacled horror? Maybe you would rather find out what it's like to unleash unbridled psionic energy? Perhaps you'd rather sneak through the streets and sell your skills to the highest bidder? Or maybe you just wanted to call down the aid of a maniacal weapons satellite?

Get It Here!

DCC Conversion Lost Tomb of the Bitchin' Chimera

DCC Conversion: Lost Tomb of the Bitchin' Chimera is a DCC conversion by George Holland of an OSR adventure (level 3 to 5) by Andrew Ervin. Art is by Justin Sirois in both products, with cartography by Niklas Wistedt/Paths Peculiar in the original product. The publisher in both cases is Severed Books.

This entry jumped the queue because the DCC Conversion (which is Pay What You Want) does not contain the actual adventure. You will need to buy the OSR version to make good use of the conversion. So, if you are thinking "A new DCC adventure is worth at least X dollars!" you will want to take into account the price of the original work.

The adventure itself is officially licensed by the Dead Milkmen, No DCC level range is given, but somewhere around 1-3 is probably appropriate. This was intended as a one-shot adventure. As with adventures like Rock God Death Fugue, Null Singularity, and Black Sun Deathcrawl, it is fun to imagine ways in which the product could be worked into a larger campaign. Really, this one is strange even by DCC standards, and your PCs will feel more like victims of a bad trip than protagonists of a sword & sorcery novel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is something you should be aware of.

The adventure could easily be set in Narcosa by way of the Sandsea. There is even a Drug User class in The Class Alphabet which you could use. You might also be able to throw this one into an Umerica game without too much trouble. It will still seem like some sort of drug trip for the characters. If you read the description of the adventure, which is included below, you will understand what I mean. 

There is a Crystalline Tree that a clever judge could link to The Palace of Unquiet Repose in a rather nasty way. The contrast between the very serious and the very silly could be interesting, but the Lost Tomb of the Bitchin' Chimera dares you to even try to take it seriously.

This is also, let's face it, a pretty bare-bones conversion. If the adventure took itself seriously, I would be bringing up all sorts of problems the judge is likely to face based on the NPCs alone. Let alone the adventure's use of Charisma and Comeliness in a way that is not going to map perfectly (or even, in some cases, well) to DCC's Personality. But the adventure does not take itself seriously, and the odds are that, if you are running it, you will not be taking it seriously enough for the conversion problems to matter.

Severed Books is thrilled to announce Lost Tomb of the Bitchin' Chimera, an officially licensed Dead Milkmen roleplaying game module set in the weird world of Tiny Town. Written by Andrew Ervin and illustrated by Justin Sirois, this one-shot adventure blends fantasy and punk into a hilarious story your players will never forget. 

A monstrous seabird is terrorizing the hamlet of Tiny Town. The distraught Mistress Brownnose calls for aid. If our adventurers hope to placate the beast, they must cross the Swampland of Desire and find the Life-Is-Shit Boneyard. There, if they’re brave enough—or dumb enough—to enter the lair of the Burrow Owlbear, they might just find the Tomb of the Bitchin’ Chimera.

The adventure is ultimately system-agnostic, and can also be enjoyed using the rules of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. It has been designed for player characters of levels 3 to 5 and you can play it as a stand-alone game or easily fit it into your ongoing campaign.

Remember, the DCC Conversion is not sufficient alone. 

You can get the conversion here and the OSR version here.

The Class Alphabet for DCC RPG

The Class Alphabet for DCC RPG was written by James V. West, Stephen Murrish, Anne Hunter, Victor Garrison, Jarrett Crader, David Baity, Julian Bernick, R.S. Tilton, Wayne Snyder, Claytonian, Diogo Nogueira, Noah Stevens, Jose Seldana, David Coppoletti, Jeff Goad, Jon Wilson, Reid San Filippo, Justin Isaac, Forrest Aguirre, Terra Fox, Anna Costa, and Rick Kammer. Art is by Danny Prescott, James V. West, Davey Parrott, Jane Elisabeth Thomas, David Coppoletti, Evlyn Moreau, Jon Wilson, R.S. Tilton, Claytonian, Diogo Nogueria, KJ O'Brien, David Lewis Johnson, Ray Otus, Karl Stjernberg, Anna Costa, and Rick Kammer. The publisher is Dungeon Remixer.

Disclaimer: I was given a free pdf from the publisher, in hopes that I would write about this product (which I would have anyway). As a result I noticed a few small edits prior to publication, which resulted in my being given a credit as an editor. My blog, Raven Crowking's Nest, is listed in Appendix III of this work.

This book, not surprisingly, contains an Introduction and a "How to use this book" section. Each is a single page long. Not all of the classes herein are going to fit well into every campaign. With 26 classes to choose from, the odds are that something will fit into any given milieu. None of these classes, however, is simply a Ranger or Paladin variant. Well, there is the Zealot....

For some reason, the publisher decided to make the pdf not only automatically default to a two-page spread, but treated those spreads as single pages. This is not ideal. Obviously, the two-page spread looks good - most pages are designed to take advantage of how one would see the pages in print - but it does make reading the pdf harder than it needs to be. At the point of this writing, a print version is not available.

Let's take closer a look at each of these classes, shall we?

A is for APE ASCENDANT: You are an ape. You are a very smart ape. You are a smart ape with primal strength and rage. You are a very smart ape with primal strength and rage that can deliver powerful psionic blasts. If you wanted to play an analogue of Gorilla Grodd, this is your chance. This is a relatively simple class to understand, taking only a single page of the book.

This class would fit into any tropical milieu with a bit of gonzo, but the PC might have a harder time visiting a tavern. This could also stand in for a yeti-type character, or a subset of Ith’n Ya’roo.

B is for BLACK CAT: Literally a magical black cat, this is nonetheless a fairly complex class which takes a full 12 pages to describe fully. The Black Cat gains spells, its own unique critical hit table, and a full patron write-up for Shammat, Lady of Cats. 

Most campaign milieus will include cats, and most societies are not at all surprised to see cats hanging around where people are. This class could gain wide usage as a result. Shammat might be an interesting patron for wizards and elves.

C is for CYBER-ZOMBIE: This class represents a dead body reanimated and upgraded with technology. Characters have to die in order to become Cyber Zombies, and not every dead character can be revived as such.

This is a complex character class that requires 7 pages to describe, including upgrades that the character might gain. In a milieu similar to Umerica or Mutant Crawl Classics, this class could fit right in. The class might be the result of PC action, or the result of technological processes beyond the characters' control - in this way, an adventure location could create Cyber Zombies as unique PCs even in a nominally medieval setting.

D is for DRUG USER: I am still amazed that Joseph Goodman let this one into the book.

A complex class taking 10 pages to describe, "You sacrifice your sanity to forces from beyond the cosmic veil in exchange for powers unknown in your birth universe. You walk a tightrope between controlling your environment and controlling yourself. If you let your guard down for just one unwary moment, or pursue an ecstatic experience just a little too far, you risk being invaded and ultimately consumed by Transdimensional Cognitive Parasites who skitter around the periphery of your reality, looking for a portal into a host consciousness in your dimension".

Ostensibly, this class could fit into almost any game setting, but including it will definitely change the tone of a campaign. Sadly, there is no mention of taduki.

E is for EDITOR: Taking up two pages, this class is designed with meta-gaming in mind. Serious meta-gaming. As in looking at the judge's notes and reporting back to the party meta-gaming. This might be fun in a one-shot, but I would have a hard time using it in an extended campaign. What else should one expect from "Jarrett Crader & accomplices"?

F is for FLESH-FORGED: This is a two-page re-imagining of Frankenstein's Monster, with an awareness that all of its parts might not actually be human. The class is relatively straight-forward and could fit into almost any milieu. With a little bit of disguise work, it might even be welcome in a tavern. I would limit the use of the class to prevent it from losing its impact.

G is for GOBLIN GANG: Another two-page class, you are literally a gang of small, imp- or gremlin-like goblins. Effectively, this is role-playing a swarm. Does it work? Well, the class is not difficult to understand, but it would have a hard time interacting with the mundane folk of your average village.

It would be easy to reskin this class to fit into almost any campaign milieu, although if the game is strongly human-centric it will not fit. They could be some form of collective intelligence in Star Crawl, Crawljammer, or Phantasmagoria. In Umerica or Mutant Crawl Classics, they would fit right in. In a game based around the Shudder Mountains, Dark Trails Weird Frontiers, or Transylvanian Adventures this class could represent an opponent, but probably will not be a comrade-in-arms.

H is for HELLFONT: Why allow wizards to have all the fun of demonic patrons and corruption? Now your Warrior-type character can have them too! Although not a complicated class, it does take 4 pages to also document the powers and corruptions you might have. I picture this class as being inspired by Venger from the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, but I could certainly be wrong.

If there are demonic patrons in your milieu, this class will fit. You might have trouble mingling with other folk, however,

I is for INTELLIGENT WEAPON: Here is an interesting idea: your PC is an intelligent weapon. This also means that you need a thrall...some feckless would-be adventurer that you can control and act through. It is a neat idea, taking three pages to detail, and is not overly complicated. Although a magical sword, axe, or hammer might be the go-to ideas that come to the average player, it would be easy to use this class in Mutant Crawl Classics, Star Crawl, or Umerica with a more technological base. Not every magical ability is easily converted to a technological ability, but transition should go smoothly with a little judicious interpretation.

J is for JOCKEY: This is a one-page class for those who might wish to ride some form of critter. It isn't complicated and, for the most part, it should translate easily to almost any game milieu. If  the idea of a PC mounted on an umber hulk is too gonzo for you, use sparingly!

K is for KNAVE: This is possibly the most complex class created for Dungeon Crawl Classics at the time of this writing. It is not surprising, then, that it takes a full 30 pages to fully describe. 

"Knaves are selfish in the extreme. They take what they want, and live off other people’s labor. Knaves take the largest slice of pie; they drink the whole pail of water. Knaves want the biggest and the best, the first pick, the choicest cut. They demand service and servitude, and anyone who stands against them gets beaten down full sore. Knaves blackmail and ambush, they burgle and break, they wheedle, they scheme, and they’ll fight to the death – but never lift a finger to do an honest day’s work."

What sets them apart, though, is service to the Arcana. The Knave has a mystical relationship to the tarot deck, They have a suit chosen from those of standard playing cards - Clubs, Spades, Diamonds, and Hearts - that helps to define their powers. In short, once more, they are complicated. Flavorful, but complicated. You will want to have this section printed out at the table if you play a Knave or have one in your game. 

Depending upon how your magic is styled, this class may or may not fit into your milieu. It would be perfect in a game inspired by Faerie Tales from Unlit Shores, but might seem out of place on the Purple Planet. Or not. It's your game.

L is for LEMURIAN: Another ape-themed class, this one being a man-ape with ancient memories but no overt psionics. Well, the picture shows a man-ape, but this could just as easily describe Brule the Spear-Slayer from Robert E. Howard's Kull stories, or some of the heroes of Lin Carter's more tongue-in-cheek Lemurian Cycle. The class is not complicated, clocking in at three pages. If your milieu includes ancient peoples in a primordial world, the Lemurians may do nicely.

M is for MONSTER TRAINER: Clearly inspired by Pokémon, this somewhat complicated class only takes three pages to describe. Unfortunately, the sample monsters from the Working Class Alphabet are not reproduced (so you had better get that as well...) but, then, anyone travelling in a DCC milieu is bound to encounter something worth catching.

Because of the obvious source of inspiration, this class might not fit into all milieus. However, the writing is good, and the class could fit into almost any game. 

N is for NINJA VAMPIRE: You are a ninja. You are a vampire. It takes two pages to describe what this means, because, after all, "Ninja Vampire" is not a hard concept to grasp. Whether or not your character fits into a particular campaign milieu is another matter. This class is particularly appropriate appearing in the ruins of Seattle in an Umerican campaign.

O is for OGRE: You are an ogre. It isn't that complicated. Your class takes three pages to describe because you get your own special crit table. You get that table because you are big and you like to bite things. There are probably a lot of campaign milieus where you can't get seated in a tavern.

P is for PUPPET MASTER: This class casts spells and controls puppets, which makes it rather like the villain of A. Merritt's Burn, Witch, Burn! This is not very complicated, but takes 3 pages to describe because the puppets themselves must be described. This class could fit into most settings.

Q is for QUANTUM WANDERER: "You are misplaced in time and space — lost, marooned, or simply not where you started — but in any case, you come from a world very different to the primitive one you find yourself on now. Though it must be said these primitives do keep finding ways to surprise you with their inventiveness. You may be moving on as soon as your etheric beam emitter is working again and your towel is dry, or perhaps this is where you’ve decided to settle long term. Or you may be searching this world high and low, in hopes of finding a way back to where you belong..."

This class takes three pages to describe and assumes that the PC comes from an advanced future. Appendix N fiction is filled with modern people become embroiled in other worlds, be they the past of their own world, or other worlds such as Mars or Venus. Here we are more into Kang the Conqueror or Booster Gold territory.

R is for RO-BARD: This is a robot entertainer. Although the class uses standard DCC class metrics, this is clearly a class that would fit well into the Umerican setting. It might also fit well in Star Crawl, Phantasmagoria, or Crawljammer. Not overly complicated, the class takes 3 pages to describe.

S is for SLIMENOID: A simple, single-page class that is also not likely to be welcome in the average tavern. "Mucal invader, is there no end to your oozing?!" Strangely, though, I could see this class working in most campaign milieus. In some, the Slimenoid would be an anomaly, but in a Mutant Crawl Classics game? Slime on!

T is for TENACIOUS D-FENDER: This is a three-page class dedicated to Tenacious D - effectively a parody of a parody. Nonetheless, it is a playable class...although playing one will very likely affect the tone of the game.

U is for UBIQUARIAN: "Everyone has wished they could be in two places at once, but the ubiquarian actually can—and some can even be in up to sixteen places at once!" It's an interesting idea for a class, and one that could fit into a great many campaign milieus. The class is not overly complex, and takes up three pages including a table for Astral Mishaps. Probably more importantly, the rules allow the class to do some unique things - including providing advanced scouting - but it should not overwhelm the table.

V is for VELOCIRAPTOR: A two-page description of a Velociraptor class. For other takes on similar classes see The Goodman Games 2017 Gen Con Program Book, Crawling Under a Broken Moon #14, Hubris, and Tales of the Fallen Empire. DCC players seem to have a thing for playing saurians. They are even part of Primal Tales.

W is for WOLF GIRL: "Bristling with primal energy, finely tuned to her territory, thriving on self-governance—the Wolf Girl is an unapologetic autarch, motivated by razor sharp instincts and a ferocious drive to survive. Her prevailing ideology is essentially solipsistic: preservation of self, and of the environs that sustain her. Threats to this paradigm are dispatched with swift brutality. Depending on her natural empathy, a Wolf Girl’s sense of self can expand to include friends and causes, which she will defend with exceptional displays of courage and sacrifice.

Wolf Girl has an inner wolf; she is a shifter, dominated by mood swings, focused anger, and unresolved trauma. Residing in the wild, she and her lupine companion are self-possessed, meditative, and stunningly savage. 

A Wolf Girl might use her connection with the earth to craft potent medicines, bezoars, and alchemical components. She might also be a master of her physical reality: platforming buildings, deflecting gunfire, and lancing targets from hundreds of yards away. Wolf Girl’s origins and motivations differ as well. The Wolf Girl is a paragon of natural balance."

This is a magical female Mowgli which takes two pages to describe. The Wolf Girl would fit into most campaign milieus, but would excel at outdoor adventuring away from the confines of both the city and the dungeon.  

X is for XENOCYTE: A two-page class that seems a bit Alien. There are game milieus into which this would fit (Star Crawl springs to mind), but I have a hard time imagining Xenocytes mingling in the tavern after an adventure, or carousing on the streets of Lankhmar.

Y is for YOUTHFUL MUSICIAN: "In every age, in every land, there have been those good souls who travel amongst the needy and who work to undo the machinations of evil. There is something about youth, exuberance, and transgressive music that stirs adolescence and young adults into travel and the championing of all that is good and right. Often, these foolhardy souls simply strive to right the wrongs caused by petty men and women against their neighbors, but every now and then they stymie the efforts of galaxy-spanning cults, supernatural beings, and weird entities from beyond the stars. They fight the good fight for the sheer reward of it, asking no recompense and wandering here and there living where the needs of Law might take them. They tend to attract weirdness of all kinds, and are frequently accompanied by talking animals, beneficent spirits, barmy obsolete robots, and all manner of other companions. Playing music is something of a side gig, or perhaps solving mysteries is the side gig - often there is no way to tell..."

This two-page class is inspired by Jeff Quick’s game Hijinx, appearing in Polyhedron #158. It is a joke class, like the Hot Dog Suit, which will definitely alter the tone of whatever game it appears in.

Z is for ZEALOT: The last class in the book is a two-page divine champion which is definitely promoting a single god. This should fit easily into most campaigns.

Appendices: The book also includes three appendixes. The first deals with esoteric rules and frequently asked questions. The second breaks down the classes into the in-game roles they fill. A discerning judge might reproduce the list from this chart to indicate which options are available in their game. An even more discerning judge might allow certain classes to become available as rewards for meeting certain Quest For It goals, or for playing through specific adventures. Finally, there is an appendix of resources, including an Alphabet of Game Worlds.

The Class Alphabet for DCC RPG introduces 26 NEW classes to your game. Each is fully playable from level 1 to 10, and there's a class for every letter of the alphabet! Within this book you will find a mythic proportion of options for any variety of game setting or playstyle. Every class has been lovingly handcrafted and lavishly illustrated by a team of gongfarming gamers from every corner of the globe. These classes will not only elevate your game to new heights of gonzo-infused frenzy, but will also inspire a multitude of ideas to help judges and players develop their own unique content.

Apes, robotic bards, quantum vagrants, shadow manipulators, monster trainers, puppet masters, ogres, dinosaurs, hellbound warriors, tenacious d-fenders, and gangs of goblins are JUST A FEW of the madcap character classes you'll discover inside. All completely illustrated with accompanying spells, crit tables, powers, and other bizarre tables of options.

Strap in, because your game is about to experience a paradigm shift and things may never again be the same!

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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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QuaranZine Volume 1

QuaranZine: Visions & Vistas Beyond Four Walls (Volume 1) was written by Judge Yossarian, Stefan Surratt, Sean Richer, David Koslow, Mat Biscan, and bygrinstow. Art is by Doug Kovacs (cover), Boson Au, bygrinstow, and Sean Richer. Art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art used under Creative Commons licensing. The publisher is The Social Distance Collective.

Here we have a Pay What You Want title which supports GiveDirectly, to help families in need due to the Covid-19 pandemic we are currently (as of this writing) experiencing. Currently, this is only available as a pdf, but if a physical printing ever becomes available, I will be getting that as well.

So, what do you get in exchange for your donation (or lack thereof)? Let's look inside and see.

Handy Map: A handy map provided to help you ground your DCC campaign in a setting.

Introduction: The lockdown sucks, but DCC does not, so here are some materials to help make things easier. Stay safe, and stay at home!

I am paraphrasing, of course.

[Start Rant]Let me switch roles here for a moment, if I may. I know that there are people who do not believe that Covid-19 is as bad as it is, but the number of deaths is so low precisely because of the lockdown. If it seems like the response is overblown, when all is said and done, it will be because the lockdown worked. It is also strikingly clear that the people who make the economy turn - the real wealth creators - are average working-class people. The very wealthy are still managing to siphon wealth from the middle and the bottom, but the actual creation of wealth? That stopped when we did.

There is an obvious link between what I am saying here and the politics behind Trumphammer 2K, but I don't see the Democrats demanding more for the average person either. Really, both the main parties suck, and we really dropped the ball by letting them create another election where the main choices are so repulsive.

The end point is that both parties left you to fend for yourselves, and to help each other as best you can. This is an attempt to help. Be as generous as you can, but don't feel bad if you are strapped for spare cash. But remember that the people who want your votes are not your friends. Try to vote for someone who supports your values, even if you fail. Because both parties are leading you off a cliff, and the edge is getting very, very near.[/End Rant]

Vignette: Greed is Good: Author is not listed, but I assume this leads directly to....

The Invisible Hand: Lawful Deity of Wealth, Utility, and Rational Self Interest: This article, by Judge Yossarian, describes economics as an actual god, similar to $ in the Umerica setting. The article includes complete descriptions for clerics, including unique disapproval.

If you didn't like my mini-rant before, you will probably not like this entry either, although it is cleverly done. "The Hand hates inefficiency even more than it hates charity."  Indeed. In DCC, Lawful does not mean Good, and Chaos does not mean Evil.

The Champion: This is a DCC class, by Judge Yossarian, representing "an oathbound guardian of your house, an ardent defender or your faith, a tireless slayer empowered by dark rites, a long-suffering freedman sworn to vengeance, a madman who only finds peace in the din of battle."

I expected this to be a bit of a warrior clone, but it is not. Although the class has a "Trance Die", this die does not allow Mighty Deeds, and is not even rolled. Instead, it tracks how much damage the champion can ignore. Because of the Champion's narrow focus, both critical hits and fumbles are more likely. The more damage they can ignore, the more likely they are to fumble. It's a neat mechanic, and one I hope to see in actual play.

The Penitence Shroud: Author Stefan Surratt offers this magic item, a relic which seeks "to have agents of Chaos confess their sins and renounce their ways."

Parchment Poiesis: This is a level 1 wizard spell, created by Stefan Surratt. By writing arcane symbols on parchment, the caster can bring tools, servants, or even prophesies into existence.

The Dryad King: A Mad, Bark-Laden Patron God: Author Sean Richer describes the Laughing Tree. Included are Patron Taint, Spellburn, and Invoke Patron results. The patron taints can actually be useful, but you have to spellburn at least 10 points to have an effect, and the patron has no patron spells listed. Worse, invoking the Dryad King leads to permanent transformation!

And yet...and yet...I could easily see this patron used in actual play. First off, of course, NPCs may worship/bond to whatever crazy being they wish to. Secondly, in a one-shot adventure, having an elf or a wizard become a grove of trees could be very cool. Third, the Cultist in The Phlogiston Books Vol. 1 could certainly get value from this patron. Finally, it's just a cool idea for a patron in its own right.

d20 Potentialis Tables: This article, by David Koslow, offers inter-planar curiosities to "fascinate, intrigue, or otherwise confound your PCs next as they quest through the multiverse." Many results would work perfectly well in almost any campaign setting. There are 20 potentialities each for coastal, forest, and city settings.

3 Wizard Spells: Matt Biscan offers three wizard spells for use at your table:

• Chromacast is a level 2 sell that allows the wizard to master light. The effects are interesting, and not at all what I was expecting. 
• Devour is a level 3 spell that allows the caster to feed off of the life energies of others, and then use that energy in various ways.
• Plant Growth is a level 2 spell that does what it says on the tin. Unfortunately, the "General" part of the spell description copies that of devour. You can cause plants to grow within targets, or even create  flesh-eating monsters.

Just Dropped In: Author (and illustrator) bygrinstow delivers six new monsters for the discerning judge to use. If you are not in the know, read this short description of the creator's blog, Appendix M, and then go visit it.

The creatures on offer are The Horrid Thing (a shack-sized corpse ball surrounding an evil brain), Fricsid (a minor demon accompanying The Horrid Thing), the Bitter King of the Ancients, the Sky Crawler, Root Scholars, and Opalescent Gel. Your players may never forgive you.

Remember the good old days, when roleplaying games were in person, dice rolls were physical, and the finale of every dungeon wasn't a teleconference bug? Those days aren't back, but Quaranzine is here to help. This volume is meant for those judges, scattered across the planes, whose noble spirits have been tested by their social distancing, and are ready to game for a great cause: COVID-19 victim relief.

Produced by community volunteers and charged with fulsome amounts of Dungeon Crawl Classics-compatible content, this zine brings you a bevy of unique entities, spells, monsters, and tables for use with your DCC games and all proceeds from Quaranzine 2020 will be donated directly to a non-profit COVID-19 relief fund.

That’s right — while you and your players quest for the arboreal patronage of the Dryad King, or deliver a fiery market-based sermon as demanded of you by the Invisible Hand, your money will be going to help families impacted by COVID-19 across the United States.

You’re no shut-in.

You’re an adventurer. . .

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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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Ghostlike Crime #1

Ghostlike Crime no.1 is a "RPG zine of magical realism, the paranormal, and cryptid terrors in a modern day dystopia" written by Kane Cathain. Art is by Carly Onofrio (including cover), Peet Sketches, and Michael Bukowski. The publisher is Abiology Games.

Disclosure: I backed the Kickstarter.

Let's look inside and see what's there.

What is Ghostlike Crime?: Ghostlike Crime is an alternate setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics, where "Terrible things creep in the shadows and cryptid terrors stalk humanity. The Cabals of the Corporatocracy have hoarded the magic of the world for themselves to inflate their power and control."

Rather than being "Scooby Doo meets DCC", this is a dystopian version of our current world with a splash of supernatural chaos thrown into it. The materials herein could (un)easily be combined with Bronx Beasts, True Vigilante, Nowhere City Nights, or Terror of the Stratosfiend to whatever degree you like to create an even stranger campaign setting.

It should also be noted that, if you are running a more classic DCC campaign, products like this are extremely useful should your PCs gain access to the planar step spell or similar magics.

Creating A Character: A summary of character creation.

Occupations: As an alternate modern setting, the base DCC occupation table isn't going to work here. This table uses 1d66 (1d10 + 1d6 used for the 10's and the 1's place, respectively), for 60 possibilities. There is a separate 1d20 table to determine your 0-level weapon, from a kitchen knife to a slingshot.

Lucky Trinkets: Instead of a birth augur, you have some kind of object that makes you lucky (or unlucky) when making some kind of roll. These are nearly impossible to get rid of, even if you want to.

Classes: The warrior, thief, and halfling port over to Ghostlike Crime. The halfling becomes the "Half-Pint" - basically a kid who goes along on adventures. Imagine Short Round, Newt, or the kids from Stranger Things. Rather than dying, half-pints just run away. The party can Quest For It to convince them to go on adventures again.

Ghostlike Crime also includes two interesting new classes, to wit:

The Scrapper: This guy goes dumpster-diving to find "Scrap Artifacts" that can allow them to cast spells. I am reminded of Philip José Farmer's The Alley Man (in a good way). Not only are scrap artifacts basically junk, but they are pieces of junk with personalities. A judge who didn't mind mixing their peanut butter with their chocolate could throw a scrap artifact into a Mutant Crawl Classics game! Is it magic? Is it technology? Is there a difference?

The Paratechnologist: Use weird science to create techno-magical items like Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters. Thirteen weird science devices are included. This character would be at home, I think, in a Crawljammer or an Umerica game as well as its native setting.

Team Concepts: What sort of game are you running? This is similar to games that suggest that you define a series premise.

Equipment: Adventuring in the modern era requires new weapons and armor. The aspiring judge may also wish to invest in Crawl #8 for additional firearms rules.

Adventure: A hellish Commute: The first of three adventures in the zine, this is a 0-level funnel where the PCs have to get out of a subway tunnel after an unfortunate incident with the train.

Adventure: Cathode Casualty: This is a level 1 adventure about recovering a scrap artifact.

Adventure: unstoppable killing Machine: "This adventure is in a non-traditional format to better serve the monster hunting side of Ghostlike Crime. It’s not bound by scripted events or maps that need following. Instead it’s based around a particular monster and a chain of events the characters will come in contact with."

Monsters, Anomalies, & Ill-Advised Creations: Finally, the author includes several creatures to use in your adventures. Most (if not all) of these can be easily used in other settings, some right out of the book and some with a little adjustment. They are the Alicanto, Atmospheric Jellyfish, Bunyip, Chupacabra, Jersey Devil, and the Lone Pine Mountain Devil.

Watch Out for the Bean-Nighe: No game stats, but this Gaelic washerwoman can now be found in laundromats. Could it inspire an in-game encounter? Yes it could!

Terrible things creep in the shadows and cryptid terrors stalk humanity. The Cabals of the Corporatocracy have hoarded the magic of the world for themselves. They inflate their power and secure control over the masses. Magic cannot be trusted and its manipulation has repercussions. Where the wealthy and powerful are kept protected from these consequences, the rest of the population is exposed to the dangerous things crossing over into our world. There are those that will fight these incursions, adventurers who will face the unknown, revolutionaries that will challenge the powers that be - join them now!

This parallel reality is a dystopia where magic exists, but open practitioners are unheard of. Wealth hoards power and these usurpers who cannot wield it enslave those who do. Ghostlike Crime is set up to be as grim or gonzo as you like.

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Secret Antiquities #1

Secret Antiquities #1 was written by Michael Curtis. Art is by Michael Curtis, François Le Douarin, Bradley K McDevitt, Jacob A. Riis, and WikiCommons. The publisher is Freak Flag Press.

So, what is Esoteric America?

"The Land of the Freak and the Home of the Strange".

According to the author, this is a Dungeon Crawl Classics setting inspired by his "own interest in the folklore, weird history, and strange happenings that make up the story of America." The idea is that this is a hidden America, lying hidden behind the nation that appears on the surface, and "unknown to the majority of its residents."  This is a setting that is inspired by the esoteric lore of our modern age.

"American history (both pre- and post-European contact), folklore, music, urban legends, pseudo-science television documentaries, and tall tales comprise the headwaters from which the Esoteric America setting flows."

The first issue of Secret Antiquities focuses on patrons for Esoteric America. You can, of course, use and adapt this material for other settings, especially settings like the American West of Dark Trails Weird Frontiers or Black Powder, Black Magic...or post-Apocalyptic Umerica! Hopefully, the author will offer some glimpses in future issues that demonstrate how games set in Esoteric America "in any region of the country and in time periods ranging from when the first settlers crossed the land bridge from Asia up until the modern age" might be structured. I am imagining a series of one-shot adventures, possibly building to campaigns that tell long stories from the perspectives of many characters over generations (like Stephen Spielberg's Taken), but the author may have other ideas.

Let's look inside.

Introduction: What it says on the tin. It's three pages long, and everything quoted after "The Land of the Freak and the Home of the Strange" comes from it, so you may wish to give it a read.

This inaugural issue contains seven patrons: five of which are fully described including invoke patron tables, spellburn, patron taint, and new spells, and two abridged patron descriptions with only the invoke patron tables. Although designed for Esoteric America, guidelines are given for each allowing them to be easily used in more traditional DCC RPG campaigns.

Esoteric American Patrons: A note on the patrons of Esoteric America. If enough people believe in them, it doesn't matter if they were never real. Does that remind you of American Gods? It should. Esoteric American patrons have a few bits of information that most patrons in DCC do not:

• First Manifestation: When the patron first appeared in America. This lets the prospective judge know what eras of American play a patron should appear in. Uncle Sam, for instance, isn't around yet if your PCs are crossing the land bridge from Asia.

• Status: Is the patron still around in the 21st Century? Has he been weakened? Changed? Again, this gives the judge some guidelines for using patrons in different time periods.

• Alignment: In mainstream Dungeon Crawl Classics, the alignments of patrons are not given, although some of them should be clear based upon the nature of the being. If it is a god as well as a patron, alignment can also be determined by checking out its information for the cleric class. I am not certain this information is really needed here.

• Demands: What the patron wants from you. While I am not certain that alignment is needed in Esoteric America, I am certain that this would be useful information for any campaign setting!

• Other Campaign Settings: How to adapt the patron to other campaign settings. The author questions why you would want to.

The rest of the issue consists of the patrons. They are:

Uncle Sam: This iconic figure is given a full patron write-up. You can see a sample of this patron here.

The Anti-Sam: The patron of the American nightmare (who is either Chaotic or "perhaps horribly Lawful") is given a full patron write-up. "The Anti-Sam stands for those who only stand for themselves, profiting on death, misery, and hatred."

The Old Man of the Mountain: Also known as the Great Stone Face, this is an ancient patron of knowledge and the land. "Although seemingly as eternal as the mountain which it adorned, the Old Man of the Mountain's existence came to an end in the early morning hours of May 3rd, 2003, when the stony profile collapsed in roar of falling rock. Locals left flowers at the base of Cannon Mountain, touched by a loss they could not adequately explain." A full patron write-up is provided.

Stagger Lee: The patron of badasses is given a full write-up.

The Dead Rock Star: The patron of Fame and Excess can be any dead rock star - Buddy, Elvis, Janis, Jimi, or Kurt. Have you run Rock God Death-Fugue? Those PCs might be other incarnations of the Dead Rock Star. There is a full patron write-up.

Emperor Norton I: The self-declared "Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico" is the patron of the benevolently mad and those enslaved by circumstance. Although only given a partial patron write-up (general information plus invoke patron results), the real-life inspiration makes for interesting reading that I wasn't aware of. This patron still has an impact on the San Francisco area, and is still active in Esoteric America!

Mrs. O'Leary's Cow: The cow might not have started the Great Fire of Chicago, but in Esoteric America she gets the credit, and is the patron of arsonists.  A partial patron write-up (general information plus invoke patron results), is provided.

Everything you’ve heard is true.

Witches practiced black masses in the woods around Salem. Frozen alien bodies are stored in clandestine government installations. Washington D.C. was designed by geomancers to harness ley lines. The shot that killed President Kennedy was a magic bullet. Phantom hitchhikers travel the country’s highways, bound for a location no living soul should ever see. A secret war is being waged for the soul of the country. And without you even knowing it, you’re caught in the crossfire.

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