Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure

Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure was written by Mike Evans. Art is by David Lewis Johnson, Alex Mayo, Jeremy Duncan, Angie Groves, Doug Kovacs, Jason Sholtis, and Wayne Snyder. The Foreword is by Harley Stroh. The publisher is DIY RPG Productions.

Disclosure: I supported the kickstarter and am listed in the Gallery of Strange Mutations.

Hubris is a world created from the festering corpse of a dead god. Hubris is an eminently usable toolkit for use in almost any Dungeon Crawl Classics milieu. Hubris is 348 pages of awesome....well, most of those pages are awesome. Some are OGL, index, etc. Either way, it can be a setting, or it can be a toolbox for use in creating/fleshing out your own setting.

Let's look inside!

The book starts with an Introduction, Setting Summary, and World Map.

Chapter 1: Character Creation: Here things get interesting. There is a new occupation table with entries for things like "alien abductee" and "pus diviner".

Hubris includes four new classes and five new race-classes. The classes are Alchemist, Blood Witch, Druid, and Shadowdancer. The race-classes are Avarian, Ekrask, Half Demon, Murder Machine, and Mutant. These are all well-designed classes. Although some are tied into the setting of Hubris (in particular, the Murder Machine, all of these classes are easily enough ported to other milieus.

The Alchemist and the Druid are fairly self-explanatory. You can listen to Jen Brinkman wax poetic about the Blood Witch on this episode of Spellburn. The Shadowdancer is similar to reminiscent of Shadowjack in Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny by way of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons' Shadowdancer class. Similarly, the Avarian, Ekrask, Half Demon, and Murder Machine appear to be re-imaginings of the Avian, Dragonborn, Tiefling, and Warforged from 4th Edition. In any event, they are fully enfolded in the Dungeon Crawl Classics ethos and the Hubris aesthetic.

The Mutant is the odd man out for race classes, and appears to be devised specifically for Hubris. Nonetheless, this is a well-crafted, flavorful class that could easily be used in campaign settings such as those of Mutant Crawl Classics, Crawling Under a Broken Moon, or Crawljammer.

I believe that the aarakocra (originally from the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio) was another inspiration for the Avarian.

Finally, this chapter includes some Optional Rules. These are Sacrifice Shield (effectively the "Shields Shall Be Splintered" rule from Crawl! fanzine #2), Weapon Proficiencies, Class Damage, and Quick Start Gear for characters beginning at 1st level.

Chapter 2: Equipment: This chapter describes new equipment for the Hubris setting, including many items that might be useful in other Dungeon Crawl Classics milieus. Again, the influence of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons appears with items such as the two-bladed sword, or an entire section on alchemical items.

Chapter 3: Territories of Hubris: The author writes:

The territories of Hubris are all set up in the same format: quick summary of the area, a d100 chart of the Lay of the Land, a d100 chart of encounters, and then it moves on into a brief description of a few interesting locations (and sometimes other pertinent  information, such as charts and tables unique to this territory). This format has been used to keep the fluff of the setting to a minimum, yet that is evocative, and can keep the book useable at the table.

This is a really great format, which focuses more on game play than setting minutia. The Lay of the Land section are features that can occur while traveling. The PCs may sometimes interact with these, but many are color. These, along with the encounters, could well be used (sometimes with cosmetic changes) in almost any Dungeon Crawl Classics game. For each of the areas, below, I am going to provide an example Lay of the Land and an example encounter, to give the reader a sense of what the book includes. Note that these are d% charts - while some features or encounters occur with a fairly frequently, each area has many options.

In order to avoid picking only the most interesting items, I am going to assume a roll of "50" in all cases.

Blighted Sands:

Lay of the Land: Jagged rocks jut out of the sand for several hundred feet There is a 35% chance the area will have patches of quicksand, 25’ radius (3d10+10 ft deep).

Encounters: A desert troll sitting atop a sand dune eating a giant scorpion.

Bogwood Swamp:

Lay of the Land: Sink pit (2d10+10' deep) full of orange leeches that will latch on and begin to drain a target’s life essence (1 Stamina loss per round until freed).

Encounters: 2d4 crocodiles.

Canyons of the Howling Red Rock:

Lay of the Land: Area is filled with softly glowing orbs that hum when living creatures approach. They are warm to the touch.

Encounters: 2d12 soldiers of Undra are being attacked by: Roll 1d5- 1) beastmen (outnumber troops 2-to-1); 2) 3d5 blood harpies; 3) 4 enraged centaurs; 4) a drake; 5) attacking each other, driven mad.

Frozen Wastes:

Lay of the Land: Small Ingvar village harvesting tubers and catching wild game.

Encounters: 3d4 Icy Flesh Clan goblins riding on the back of a wooly mammoth.

Great Plains of Unbidden Sorrow:

Lay of the Land: Small undefended farming community with 3d6+3 people.

Encounters: 3d4+3 guards from Fairweather. They are: Roll 1d6-1) fighting Eisenbar paladins; 2) camped out along the side of the road; 3) investigating rumors of a haunted keep that has appeared seemingly out of nowhere; 4) harassing a small avarian caravan; 5) dead and been torn apart by a vicious troll; 6) are looking for the characters.

Land of Perpetual Stone and Mire:

Lay of the Land: Large tar pit (30’ deep). Anything that falls in sinks 1d3’ per round. DC 20 Strength check to get out.

Encounters: 1d4 Rabid Ravens wish to bestow the characters with prophecy… if their minds can withstand the assault.

Mountains that Crawl:

Lay of the Land: Heavily defended Fairweather outpost resisting Malfactorum siege.

Encounters: Gnoll slavers traveling between the Great Plains of Unbidden Sorrow and the Bogwood Swamp.

Sea That Runs Red:

Lay of the Land: A small island of pure white sand. 2d4 marooned sailors are on the island after their merchant vessel was lost to the sea.

Encounters: A mutated orca bursts from the water and begins flying through the air.

Unsettled Expanse:

Lay of the Land: Bubbling pit of thick tar. There are several bodies of animals stuck in the pit.

Encounters: The animated heads of humanoid victims hover through the air and gleefully look for a victim to torture to death slowly.

Weeping Forest of Forgotten Memories:

Lay of the Land: A stream that flows gently through the woods; small amounts of gold are deposited in the waterbed. Successful Int checks will yield 2d14 GP worth of gold per hour.

Encounters: Small Wretched fairies cruelly pulling the wings of giant moths, giggling gleefully as they do it.

The reader should be well aware that, while these are glimpses offered into a variety of overarching locations, these locations may also have information that is specific to them (there are good reasons not to watch the auroras in the Frozen Waste), and all have specific locations (complete with Rumors/Adventure Hooks) within them.

Chapter 4: New Spells and Patrons: This chapter contains three new 1st level wizard spells, information on wizard's spellbooks, and four new complete patrons. The spells are Furnishings of the Mad Wizard (turn your enemies into chairs, pillows, candlesticks, or grandfather clocks!), Necrotic Mass (control your victims through the treat of magical tumors!), and Summon From the Void (summon a creature from the Void! It'll quite possibly kill you!).

The new, fully developed, patrons are the Charred Maiden, the Floating Island of Terror, the Spider Goddess, and the Twisted One. None of these are patrons for the timid. Or the sane. But there you have it. They are all well devised and flavorful.

The information on spellbooks actually comes first in the chapter, and is quite interesting. This material could easily be ported to other Dungeon Crawl Classics settings.

Chapter 5: The Strange and Terrible Gods of Hubris: This chapter begins with a clerical ability called Invoke the Name...essentially a form of invoke patron for clerics, which allows spellburn on a deity-specific table for each god.

The gods of Hubris are Bailey (God of Trickery, Deceit, and Profit), the Corpulent One (God of Excess, Want, and Obsession), Digradia (Goddess of Sacrifice, Shadow, and the Poor), Drallic the Flayer of Flesh (God of Pain, Intolerance, Strength, and Righteousness), the God of the Terrible Whisper (God of Knowledge, Secrets, and Madness), the Great Slumbering Monolith (God of Dreams, Prophecy, and Time), the Heathen Below (God of Death, Decay, and Betrayal), Set (Serpentine God of the Klind - God of Poison, Schemes, Forbidden Knowledge, and Deviance), the Stillborn Unwanted Child (God of Healing, Life, and Love, usually spoken of "with a contemptuous sneer"), Vralkar (God of Battle, Strength, Pride, and Survival), Yelsa (Goddess of Sex and Violence), and the Great Behemoth, Zxyldon (God of the Sea, Water, and Destruction).

There is a lot of meat here, and a lot of great ideas to steal for your game, even if you are not running it in Hubris!

Chapter 6: GM Tools and Tables: "This chapter contains a large collection of tables and
charts that can be used prior to or during the game to generate many things, like: creepy ruins, ancient and forgotten demigods, taverns and inns, villages, NPCs, city districts, and much more." You get:

• Ancient and Forgotten Demigods
• Bandits, Brigands, and Rapscallions
• City District Generator
• Diseases of Hubris
• Grave Diggin'
• NPC Generator
• Planes of Hubris
• So You Decided to Make Camp
• Strange and Interesting Herbs of Hubris
• Tavern and Inn Generator
• A Vial of…?
• Instatown/Village Generator
• What are These Strange and Ominous Ruins?
• Declaration of Years

Again, much of this is usable, either directly or as inspiration, in any Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign.

Chapter 7: Magic Items: This chapter includes a Strange, Mystical, and Fantastic Items Generator from which one might devise the Bottled Pitchfork of the Lecherous Fairy, the Squalid Mosaic of the Lamentable Prophet, and other items. It uses four columns of 100 descriptors each, allowing far more than a campaign's worth of strangely titled items to be created.

Ten specific "lesser" items are described, one of which is actually six items, and then a dozen Artifacts of the Deities. Finally, the chapter ends with Oddy Bodden’s Stupendously Amazing Magical Dice of Treasures Unimagined and Horrors Rather Left Undiscovered!

Chapter 8: Monsters: This chapter includes Contamination From Demonic Possession and a table to help determine What’s on Their Festering Dead Body before jumping into the bestiary proper. There are well over two score new monsters, including four types of dinosaur, a discussion of fae, and fallen angels (with two named examples).

For some reason, the really simple statblock format from the DCC core rulebook was not used. Given how easy this makes it to cut & paste statistics into your own home-brewed adventures, this is a real shame. This is not a unique flaw to Hubris, however, and it is the only one I have found, if you disregard terminology quirks like the dice chain being referred to as the dice ladder. And I do.

Adventures: Hubris includes two adventures:

• It Came From Outer Space: This is a 0-level funnel that is designed "to highlight the strangeness of Hubris and that ANYTHING goes in this bizarre setting." 

• In Her Realm: "An old hag who worshipped the Spider Goddess nearly all her life has grown thirsty for power and figured out a way to encroach into an area of the Spider Goddess's realm. The old hag must be killed for the pocket to be absorbed back into the realm of the Spider Goddess." This is a 1st level adventure.

Appendix N: Finally, the tome concludes with the "Yummy, Tasty Inspiration" that it was built off of. There is then an Index, and the OGL.

This listing took a long time to write because there is a lot to write about. The book is dense with usable tools, and playable material. Most of the sections justify the cost of the book by themselves. Taken in combination, this is an incredible value for the cost.

Hubris is a land of terrible creatures, grand inequality, strange and cruel gods, dangerous magic, opulent nobility, destitute commoners, people that have become corrupted and turned to savage beasts, constant wars, and worse.

The kingdoms are not kind or benevolent: In the Blighted Sands the Klind are slavers and openly practice sorcery, offering sacrifices to their depraved serpentine god, Set. Across the continent the Fairweather kingdom is governed by a corrupt and inbred royal family with the nobility following suit. Esenbar is ruled by a staunch xenophobic theocracy that tolerates little outside of their strict doctrine. The barbaric Ingvar of the Frozen Wastes wage vicious battles against the savage frost giants of The Crag, and care little about the goings on of the world; their life is cut from battle with an axe or sword. The Black Queen rules the citizens of the Floating Island of Terror from her throne of bones and dreams terrible machinations for Hubris. Shadowfall, built in the remains of the burrow of a gigantic worm, is ran by vampires and their thralls, and they welcome all who are devious, vicious and cunning.

There are no easily recognizable heroes in the world. You wander the wilderness or delve into ancient ruins: out of desperation, some crazed need for adventure, or for some bizarre belief that the world can actually be made a better place. Though civilization offers you security and comfort, you shirk those in the hopes of gaining riches and power. But when you die, no one will sing songs of your deeds. You will die a horribly bloody death at the hands of some twisted abomination or by the knife of an assassin sent by some fat, scheming noble.

Your epic tale will be forgotten in days as the dangerous world continues on without you and the apathetic masses stay complacent to dogmatic control of their government.

This is not a fairy tale or an epic ballad. This is a savage world. This is Hubris.

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Meanderings #3

Meanderings #3 was written by R.S. Tilton and Jeff Scifert. Art is by Mario Torres (including cover) and R.S. Tilton. The publisher is Epic Meanderings.

Disclosure: I am a Patreon member. I am mentioned in "Credit where credit is due: The Source of the Inspiration.", which is part of the Introduction.

Meanderings is the house publication for R.S. Tilton's Bastion campaign milieu, although the articles it contains are generally universally applicable to diverse Dungeon Crawl Classics campaigns. Some issues contain material focused on other game systems that the authors are interested in, although this issue is firmly focused on DCC. There is no specific theme to this issue, except for the rather generic "options".

Let's look inside.

Introduction: What it says on the tin.

Review Corner: An overview of Mike Evans’ Hubris: A review of Hubris, starting with "This is one Hell of a book. It’s a great setting, as well as an amazing resource for any DCC Judge." and then going into details. Written by R.S. Tilton.

Tools of the Trade: What are Thieves’ Tools?: Author R.S. Tilton examines thieves' tools, giving a list of items both in a basic tool set (as listed in the core rulebook), an expanded thieves' tools set that can grant a bonus to some skill checks. An even better master set, as well as magical tools, are also described.

Bladed Weapon Styles: Cloak & Blade and Sword & Scabbard: Similar to Off the Charts! in Meanderings #2, this article by R.S. Tilton offers two new Mighty Deeds. It uses the Mighty Fumbles and Mighty Criticals option from Steel and Fury.

Reeling in Clerics: By the Gods! House rules for Clerics: If you are finding clerics a little overpowered in your home game, R.S. Tilton offers some house rules to reign them in. I am especially pleased with the "Individual Disapproval ratings" rule, which answers the question: "What happend when I keep healing an ally who is offensive to my god?" Rather than simply upping the cleric's Disapproval, the author makes it harder to target the offensive recipient.

In Defense of Luck: Using Luck defensively: House rules by R.S. Tilton to use Luck to adjust AC, reduce damage, or instantly succeed on a recovering the body check - whether rolled over or not! The author also suggests ways in which non-thief or halfling characters can recover Luck, which would promote using it more. Judges may wish to consider the Fleeting Luck rules in the upcoming DCC Lankhmar to give players more incentive to use Luck without allowing every class to regenerate it.

Magical Weapons: Three new unique magic weapons: Written by R.S. Tilton, these are:

• Flamebrand: "Forged in the crucible that is Caldera Crenox, the weapon appears as a longsword, pitted and scarred from extreme heat. When grasped, the weapon begins to heat up as the tip glows red hot."

• Remnant: "This weapon is all that remains of the bastard sword of King Balhazara III. The weapon appears as a broken long hafted short sword of unusual metal, though to any weaponsmith, it is obviously part of a larger weapon."

• Wolfshead Axe: "This mithril axe is forged with a massive wolfshead motif as part of the head of the axe. The haft is made of pure moonstone, elaborately carved and inlaid with silver. The axe shines brighter as the full moon approaches."

Each of these weapons uses milestone and effect dice. A milestone is something that happens in-game to increase the effect die and/or unlock other powers. The author describes the effect die thus:

"Unlike a deed die, the effect die only generates a predetermined result; it does not automatically increase attack and damage results. Many times, the effect die result is simply additional damage, especially with the lower end results."

Crowd Surfing: Judge’s Tips to bringing a city of life: R.S. Tilton offers advive for judges running urban settings.

Classes of Bastion: The Graft - A warrior...enhanced: Authors R.S. Tilton and Jeff Scifert bring you an enhanced human warrior using bioarcana and technoarcana grafts to make himself both more than - less - than human.

"You are an enhanced human, a brutal sign of end-times, sacrificing your humanity for survivability, a mercenary who fights for the highest bidder. Whether using the crude bioarcana grafts or the more refined technoarcana ones, and unlike those with minor grafts, you are less than human, and yet so much more, part machine, part monster, one step away from a permanent trip to the Warpwastes. With each replacement, you risk your very essence and humanity."

Umbral Market - Bioarcana Grafts: Grafting Bio-organic parts: An article on bioarcana grafts. It is noted that the article is a placeholder, which the authors intend to revise after the release of Mutant Crawl Classics. R.S. Tilton and Jeff Scifert are the authors.

It should be noted that a review of Mutant Crawl Classics appears in Meanderings #2, so it is reasonable to assume that this revised version of the grafts article already exists (or partially exists).

Zeroes to Heroes: Paper minis for level 0s: Each issue of Meanderings to date has included a
loose insert on card stock of paper minis for zero-level games. This issue is no exception.

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Monster Extractor III: Giants & Giant Creatures, for DCC

Monster Extractor III: Giants & Giant Creatures for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game was created and illustrated by bygrinstow. The publisher is Inner Ham.

As with the Monster Extractor I and Monster Extractor II, this product is, literally, two pages long. The first page is the extractor proper, and the second page is a worksheet to record your creations. This Extractor is focused on creatures considerably larger than your average orc. The following creature was made using the Extractor to face a 6th level party with 4 PCs:

Init -2; Atk tail smash +9 melee (1d20) or tar spit +9 (1d24 plus adhesion); AC 36; HD 4d24+8; hp 53; MV 70'; Act 5d20; SP tail smash, tar spit, leap; SV Fort +17, Ref +1, Will +5; AL L.

It was randomly determined that this is creature is 75' tall or long, apearing as a big cat with an exoskeleton, that walks or runs on 3 limbs and can make mighty leaps up to 8 miles. It has the attack forms of Tail Smash (3 damage dice in a big line or 1 damage die to everything in an arc) and Breath Weapon [Sap/Tar -like Goo (1die + adhesive qualities)] with a 60' range.

Behold!

The Lion of the Necropolis: Init -2; Atk tail smash +9 melee (3d20) or tail sweep +9 melee (1d20) or icy spit +9 (1d24 plus frozen in place); AC 36; HD 4d24+8; hp 53; MV 70'; Act 5d20; SP tail smash, tail sweep, freezing spit, leap; SV Fort +17, Ref +1, Will +5; AL L.

On the world of Hubris, in the Frozen Wastes "the gargantuan city palace and grand necropolis of the Dread Lord Glish Mal lies covered in massive snow drifts and forgotten with time." The Lion of the Necropolis is a hidden guardian, mounded beneath the snow and ice, and waiting patiently for thousands of years to prevent the "horrific undead army and unimaginably powerful sorcery" of Lord Glish Mal from returning.

The Lion of the Necropolis appears to be an enormous lion, fully 75' long, not including its tail. Its exterior is covered in a stone exoskeleton that makes it appear like a statue when not moving. although its hind legs are fused into a single member, it can make prodigious leaps of up to 8 miles and can move at extraordinary speed.

The enormous cat's tail reaches a full 60' behind it. It can strike at three targets within a this range in a line, doing 3d20 damage to each target, or sweep all targets in a 40' arc for 1d20 damage. Further, it can spit icy water up to 60' away, doing 1d24 damage and instantly freezing targets in place (DC 20 Reflex prevents freezing). If the target misses the save by 5 or more, it cannot get itself free. Otherwise, a DC 15 Strength check may be attempted each round to do so. A creature frozen in this manner takes 1d5 damage each round it fails a DC 15 Fort save.

In ancient times, the Lion of the Necropolis was immune to the powers of all un-dead, and could transform magical energies used against it to its own benefit. These powers are no more, and their failure may one day release again the might of Lord Glish Mal upon a cowering world.

Monster Extractor III is designed to help jump-start your brain when you need something that reaches the sky and stomps on buildings, but can’t dredge up anything from the Monstrous Island of your creative centers.

A single page of charts to aid in finding that new monster, and a page of 4-up monster "character sheets" for recording your creations.

This product also acts as the "tip jar" for the Appendix M blog.

NOTE: This product has no actual relationship to Hubris. I just used that as a demonstration.

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Operation: Bughunt

Operation: Bughunt was written by Eric Bloat, with additional writing by James M. Spahn. Art is by Aaron Lee, Grzegorz Pedrycz, Jeshields, Joyce Maureira, Mark Wester, Phil Stone, and Tan Ho Sim. The publisher is Bloat Games.

Disclosure: I backed the Stars Without Number revised edition Kickstarter, where the majority of the art in Operation Bughunt comes from. A thank you message to the backers appears in this product.

If you are a fan of Starship Troopers or Aliens, this publication will allow you to run your PCs through similar adventures using the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules.

The author says: "The action is these gaming sessions should be cranked to 11, the lethality high, and the ass kicking higher! Have fun and don’t take this one too serious. It’s meant to be crazy, over the top and awesome. Reward creative play (I recommend additional Luck but you do you) and encourage the players to go big, take risks and drive it like it were on rails. But above all else, just have fun!"

So let's look inside and see what we get!

Combat Medic: Similar to the cleric or the Healer (in Mutant Crawl Classics), the Combat Medic is a class designed to patch you up and get you back onto the battlefield.

Engineer: What it sounds like - the person who keeps your armor and weapons working, and might be able to figure out what that piece of alien tech does. There is an unfortunate minor error in this class's Hit Points entry - the hit points listed are for the Engineer, not the Combat Medic!

Grunt: Front-line fighters, the Operation: Bughunt analogue to the Warrior class.

Pilot: This character gets you from one place to another.

Robot: For other takes on a robot (or similar) class, see Phatasmagoria #1, Hubris, Meanderings #2, and The Umerican Survival Guide. There are many takes on robots in science fiction/fantasy literature and film, and there is no reason why you cannot mix and match various robot classes.

Starting Cash: From $1 to $300,000. Unless you're a robot.

Rank and Advancement: An important consideration for a military-based game, because this isn't a democracy. If you are a robot, not only do you have no cash, but you are sub-human. This is very much in keeping with the dystopian alien-hunting literature. Your rank also determines your monthly pay scale. Robots might be tough, but socially? They are chattel.

Equipment Section: Provides rules for armor, weapons, and other items.

Cybernetics: "The Referee can choose to limit the number of cybernetic implants or replacements a character can have. Normally a character can have a number of cybernetic enhancements equal to 3, plus their Endurance modifier." I assume this means Stamina modifier.

Pressure & Shell Shock: This is actually pretty innovative for DCC, providing a system for tracking the mental trauma that your PCs experience watching their friends die or from suffering horrible injuries. You can relieve Pressure with quiet downtime, but judges who want to simulate the world of the Alien movie franchise or similar dystopian futures could include drugs or other vices with a similar effect. You could even include things like addiction and other downsides, and the need to relieve Pressure might still get your PCs to experiment.

Random Bug Generation Tables: If you want to fight bugs, you need bugs to fight. Consider using the giant insect tables in the DCC Annual and the random aliens from Drongo: Ruins of the Witch Kingdom along with the tables herein.

Although the product assumes that you are running an Operation: Bughunt game, these tables are perfectly usable in any flavor of Dungeon Crawl Classics. As a side note, you can consider using Operation: Bughunt as an exotic location your PCs might arrive in when they traverse a mystical portal or botch a planar step.

Boss Monster Bugs: Three big bugs.

Other Alien Enemies: Three more aliens. Two are a base type and master. Both have acidic blood. The third is an intergalactic hunter with the ability to turn invisible to hunt. Draw your own conclusions!

Goddammit! I hate going in hot. My ejector pod is too small, my armor is too big, and this new Cybo-leg is zapping me every couple of minutes. Doc says I’ll get used to it but I dunno.

This makes jump number three in as many weeks. The frequency of hard action has really ratcheted up lately. I’m exhausted. The squad is so bruised and banged up they look more like rag tag mercs than trained veteran marines. We still haven’t had a moment to mourn the fallen including General Smoothers. She was the best! As a General, she had no business being on planet with us losers. She should’ve been up in the command deck with the pilots! But that was never her style. She wasn’t content to fight from space. She was one of us; Infantry. She liked to get her hands dirty. She had to see the bugs and Arachnoids up close and then blast them back to whatever Hell they crawled from.

Things are really starting to cook in here. Must be breaking through the atmosphere. Won’t be long now. Today’s mission, a simple seek and destroy. The local population on Nivay 5 has decided to cut ties with Command and severed all communications. Intelligence shows a new large bug-hole recently burrowed. Our job today, land and disable the capital city on Nivay, causing as much destruction and disruption as possible, then high-tail it back to space before the bugs have a chance to figure out what’s going on.

Do I feel bad for the local population of Nivay? Hell no! Any friend of a bug is an enemy of mine! The entire galaxy is at war, in the fight for its life. You pick your side and you do your part. They choose the wrong side. Period. The end.

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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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Meanderings #2

Meanderings #2 was written by R.S. Tilton, with art by Mario Torres and R.S. Tilton. The publisher is Epic Meanderings.

Meanderings is not simply about Dungeon Crawl Classics (although this issue mostly is, and all content is applicable to the game), but also games such as Savage Words, Paranoia, etc. This listing, and future listings, will focus on material for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

This issue is themed as options, or "Outside the Box". There is a brief editorial, and then the author jumps into the zine proper.

Let's take a look.

Review Corner: Review of Mutant Crawl Classics: This is exactly what it says on the tin. R.S. Tilton provides a three-page review that includes a run-down on the contents of the Mutant Crawl Classics pdf. (As a backer of the kickstarter, the author has early access.)

Off the Charts!: Mighty Deeds Beyobd the 7+ for Warriors & Dwarves: Let's say that your warrior's attack bonus is listed as 1d10+4. You might argue that this means that the warrior has a Deed range of 5-14, as the author does, or you might argue that the warrior has a Deed range of 1-10 and also gets a +4 bonus to his attack roll, as I do.

Which of these two interpretations you use will determine how useful this article is to you, which extends the example Deeds in the rulebook to a result of 14+.

Let the Dice do the Talking: A Narrative Skill System for DCC RPG: This is a simple system to introduce misadventures, missteps, and coups to the skill system. This allows you to create results which are more than simply binary success or failure. There is an example on page 8 which I have find somewhat problematical: in the example, a "coup" when tracking affects not what the PC in question learns, but what the tracks actually come from.

Tides of Battle - Momentum in RPGs: Not necessarily DCC specific, this is a simple system that allows things that happen within a combat to affect the attack, damage, and morale rolls of the side with advantage. Although not specific to Dungeon Crawl Classics, this article would mesh well with those rules. The judge would, of course, have to rule on how various Mighty Deeds affected momentum.

No Man's Land: A non-system specific article offering 12 doors that can encourage PCs to explore elsewhere when a section of dungeon is not yet ready.

Occupations of Bastion: Occupations for the City of Bastion, "the last true city in a sea of suffering". Includes a random equipment table with "graft" as an option. While not fully explicated (more to come next issue), grafts seem to be a form of supernatural cyborg enhancement.

Classes of Bastion: The Bulwark against the Tides of the Waste: Class information for the Entombed, effectively brains in jars hooked into a golem chassis. An interesting class that one might easily envision finding a place in Umerica, Hubris, or Mutant Crawl Classics. Because, really, who doesn't want to play a brain in a jar operating a murderous construct?

Dungeon Crawl Classics Weapon Styles: Weapon Tables for Two -weapon Styles: As Issue #1 finished filling out specific Deeds for each basic weapon type, this article considers two weapons used to make a single attack. This is also intended to be a living document.

18 (Jek Touryk): The back cover has the full statistics for an "iconic" DCC character from Bastion. In this case, we are looking at a level 2 Neutral Entombed.

Paperminis: Finally, there is a loose insert on card stock of paper minis for zero-level games, plus an Entombed. According to the back cover, "Issue #2 marks the beginning of the ongoing Paperminis series with 15 occupational paper minis series". The opening editorial also indicates that this will be ongoing.

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Crawl! fanzine #10

Disclaimer: I have an article in this issue.

Crawl! fanzine #10 is written by Rev. Dak J. Ultimak, Jeffrey Tadlock, Daniel J. Bishop, Colin Chapman, Brad Littman, and Noah Stevens. It is published by Straycouches Press. The theme is "New Class Options!"

Within it we find:

Dwarven Priest

You will remember how Crawl! fanzine #6 offered you some new classes? Well, Jeffrey Tadlock offers you an alternative to the race-as-class system Dungeon Crawl Classics uses for demi-humans. Your dwarf gongfarmer might survive to become a full-fledged Dwarf. Or she might become a Dwarven Priest.

Elven Rogue

Similarly, your elf might become an Elven Rogue instead of just an Elf. Reverend Dak J. Ultimak supplies a new class.

Halfling Burglar

Rev. Dak's expansion on the standard Halfling class.....

Halfling Champion

...is followed by an alternative Halfling class, also by Rev. Dak J. Ultimak.

Now, I actually have some problems with these classes. They seem to give extras to PCs at very little, or no, cost. If a Dwarven Priest is almost always superior to a Dwarf, why play a Dwarf? Likewise the Elven Rogue, and especially the Halfling Burglar. If you feel that the original classes are underpowered, this isn't going to be a problem for you. If you thought the original classes were relatively well balanced, you might be having flashbacks to AD&D 1st Edition, where the multiclassed demi-humans were obviously superior to your human fighter. Unlike AD&D, though, there is no XP penalty to even things out.

Half-Levels

This article is an optional multi-classing system which I created to answer the same problems that the three classes above sought (at least in part) to address: At some point, players ask why their halfling cannot become a thief. Or why their warrior cannot also become a cleric.

The article, which was originally written with Crawl! fanzine #6 in mind, includes information for all the base classes, plus those introduced in that issue.

The basic idea is to introduce some cost in exchange for flexibility.

Not Just A Pretty Face

A series of charts to randomly determine physical traits, such as height, weight, and hair color, by Colin Chapman. This is useful not only for PCs, but to remind the Judge that NPCs should not all look the same.

Three Weird Races

The final article is a "spotlight on three of many 3rd-Party races" compiled by Noah Stevens. A basic description is given of the Transylvanian Adventures Half Breed by Scott Mathis, the Avarian of the Hubris campaign setting by WrathOfZombies, and the Faerie Animal by Daniel Bishop, from Creeping Beauties of the Wood. Yes, that last one is mine.

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.

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Liber Arcanum

Liber Arcanum was written by Jeffrey A Rhodes-Gloor, with additional material (Daelin’s Journals) by Rhomi van Ekorn, Art is by Laura Bost, Chris Parillo, Jon Willson, and J. Rhodes-Gloor. The publisher is Cognition Pressworks.

This product uses the same monster entry format as Creatures, Critters, & Denizens, which is either a plus or a minus, depending upon your viewpoint. It also uses the term "Storyteller" instead of judge, which I find irksome, but which has no real effect on the content.

This is a large, dense volume with a lot of material to cover. Let's dive right in!

Optional rules

This section covers optional rules for spellcasting. These optional rules are:

Optional Counter-Spell rule: Because sometimes you want to counter a spell without jumping into a full-fledged spell duel.

Increased Spell Failure: The higher the level spell, the higher the chance of failure. The spells in this volume are formatted assuming that you will be using this rule, but there really is no difficulty in ignoring the formatting if not.

Spell-books: Hubris has some excellent rules for spellbooks. These rules are a bit more fiddly, mechanics-wise, but there is no reason that you cannot use them together.

Reversing Spells: Some more information on reversing spells, including canceling, destroying, or hiding spell effects.

5th Level Spells: An optional rule to make 5th level spells harder to cast, and one which is used in this book. This means that you will need to do a little work if you want to use the 5th level spells herein without using this rule, but (1) that isn't too horribly difficult to do, and (2) you could easily rule that the "5th Level Spells" rule only applies to spells from this tome!

Beyond 5th Level Spells: This is an expansion on the idea that greater (ritual) magic may exist than even 5th level spells would allow for. This includes Greater Rituals (essentially 6th level spells), Rites (7th level spells), Ceremonies (8th level spells), and Sacraments (9th level spells).

Thieves and Runes: An option that allows thieves to inscribe runes, including runes drawing runes in the air without the standard penalty.

Deeper Mysteries

In addition to optional rules, Liber Arcanum introduces "Deeper Mysteries" - things that wizards might learn to increase their occult lore and differentiate one from another. Arcane casters may learn a single Deeper Mystery, plus one per every three levels. Deeper Mysteries are not necessarily learned, either. There is a chance to learn one (if possible) at each level, and that chance never exceeds 50%, unless modified by Luck or Intelligence.

Obviously, the judge can also award a Deeper Mystery (either a roll on 1d24 or a specific choice) as a reward within a particular adventure. This is especially useful if the judge wants to see something in play, or if the player wants to Quest For It.

Not every Deeper Mystery requires special rules. You might gain the opportunity for a patron bond. You might gain a chance to learn one or more new spells. You might gain a point of Intelligence. Or you might gain one of these:

• Mystery # 1: Lesser Spell Ritual
• Mystery # 2: Harmonic and disharmonic casting
• Mystery # 3: New Benefits for Rituals
• Mystery # 4: Durable Scrolls (including a Scroll Mishaps Table)
• Mystery # 5 Faerie Secrets
• Mystery # 6 The Game of Antonyms

Magic and the Elements

This chapter describes elemental forces (using a five elemental system, with both positive and negative spiritual energy). This leads to a discussion of Animancers & Necromancers. The author writes:

In the paradigm of a sorcery & swords fantasy environment, the dualistic concept of Spirit can have other, more subtle, yet profound applications. Spells such as Breathe life, Eternal Champion, Stamina, and other such spell manifestations can then be a form of elemental magic, as would Animate Dead, and a host of the spells traditionally thought to be the purview of clerics like Restore Vitality, or any other type of curative/ restorative magic. Among the stranger manifestations found within this elemental model is the idea that both positive and negative energy can be used to animate items. In the case of negative energy this takes the form of the parade of undead creatures from skeletons all the way up to the mighty lich and other fell spirits. Any of these same types of creatures can be found in the benign realm of positive energy;mostly in non-physical forms like helpful Ghosts, Invisible Companions, Eternal Champions, or anything animated via the Breathe Life spell or involving magical force. In fact, under this model it is possible to do away with the entire concept of clerics and deities.

The cleric is then reskinned and transformed into the animancer and the necromancer, arcanists who deal with spiritual energies.

This chapter also offers diagrams of Celestial Geometry, a table of Random Planes, and "Random things & other useful charts" This last includes spotting distances, minor demons, a quick reference to spell success and mishaps using the optional rules in this book, and a table of random spells. There is also a one-page discussion of the "[m]eta-magical effects of arcane ingredients upon spell casting and item creation", which is limited to bone, ceramics, iron, mithril, and star-metal, but which might offer the judge some inspiration.

Patrons

The Liber Arcanum contains five fully developed patrons. These are:

• The Queen of Battle
• Gydrion the Wanderer
• Avridar, King of Air
• Brinae, Queen of Water
• Hraalvid, King of Earth
• Kandri-sek, Queen of Fire

Each of these patrons has one or more "extras". such as aquamancers for Brinae or "On the wizardly uses of gems and minerals" and geomancers for Hraalvid.

Spells

If you are looking for new spells for your Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign, this book has them. Judges may use these spells as-is, may offer them as special treasures, or may even use them as patron spells for patrons of her own devising. Some may be powers unique to a magic item, or a cabal of wizards. They may be objects of quests by players keen for more arcane knowledge, or the judge can simply include them in the known spells that wizards and elves may have a chance to learn.

There are too many spells in the Liber Arcanum to describe them beyond their names. These spells are:

• 1st level: Cloud of Fresh Air, Incomprehensible Babbling, Obscuring Mist, Pilfer Voice, Reduce, Rending, and Runic Alphabet, Mortal (Lost Runes).
• 2nd level: Acid Resistance, Agility, Determined Locomotion, Electricity Resistance, First Aid, Mind Shield, Protection from (*), Silence, Sonic Resistance, and Wizard Lock.
• 3rd level: Destroy Potion, Encrypt Magical Writing, Fynderlang’s Forceful Flinger, Lesser Devastation, Make Armor, Panoramic Projectile Protection, Paroxysm, Planar Isolation, Runic Alphabet, Fey (Lost Runes), Stamina, and Wizard Hovel.
• 4th level: Adhibitis Ossa, Arcane Veil, Magic Hat, Telekinesis, Transmute Air, Transmute Earth (additional entries), Transmute Fire, Transmute Water, Wand Magic, and Weakening.
• 5th level: Devastation, Resilience, Transmute Spirit, and Wizard’s Tower.

Greater Rituals

This describes the Tattooing ritual: "By means of this ritual a wizard or other caster of arcane magic can have one or more spells that they know bonded directly to their flesh." Includes statistics for feral tattoos!

Rites

This describes the Pocket Reality rite: "This powerful Rite allows the participants to create a number of permanent refuges of varying sizes and internal principles. All results are permanent and will have at least one entrance on the Ethereal Plane, which is always the first gate created by the spell. All else is subject to the whims of the participants in the rite, their funds available, and willingness to spellburn."

Appendix I

The appendix covers:

• Miscellaneous Magic Items
• Expanded Magic Weapons (new powers, banes, and bane effects)
• Generic Magic Weapon & Armor Sheet
• Pre-generated Magic Weapons (with numerous examples)
• Blank rune tile sets (for mortal and fey runes)

Please note the following from the Legal and Advertising end pages (page 290; 295 in the pdf):

Cognition Pressworks is proud to support the Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game. To this purpose, the publisher and author hereby grant limited permission to use any 2 patrons and their attendant information including tables, and spells, but not artwork: or, up to 4 spells, their attendant information including tables and critters, but not their art work. Prospective publishers must include names of items used with the following copy: “{names of spells or patrons} are used with permission. Additional material from Liber Arcanum published by Cognition Pressworks, Jeffrey Rhodes-Gloor, copyright 2014" in a reasonably prominent location (such as the credits section of the book, or in the licensing section) to obtain this permission.

This means that the Liber Arcanum, like Critters, Creatures, & Denizens before it, is of real use not only to the harried judge, but also to the harried judge who would like to one day see his frenzied creations in print.

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Mind Games

UX02: Mind Games was written by Reid San Filippo, with additional material by Jon Carnes, Gilbert Isla, Sean Ellis,  and David Baity. Art is by Claytonian, David Coppoletti, Diogo Nogueira, Matt Hildebrand, and Nate Marcel (who also did the cover). The publisher is Shield of Faith Studios.

Upfront, I have to admit that this is my favorite psionics system to date, certainly for Dungeon Crawl Classics, and perhaps for any game. It is usable and appropriate not only for games where your PCs are crawling under a broken moon, but anywhere psychic powers might "fit".

Alternative psionics systems can be found in Crawljammer #3 and Drongo: Ruins of the Witch Kingdom. The Wizardarium of Calabraxis also includes a nascent prionics system. Likewise, some mutations in Mutant Crawl Classics, Hubris, or The Umerican Survival Guide might be considered psionic. My general view is that these can be mixed and matched - nothing requires that all mind powers work in the same way!

Options are good. But if you have to choose one consistent way to run psionics, my money is on this book. Let's crack it open.

Introduction 

This is a product which grew in the making, from a simple set of rules for Umerican campaigns to a guide which took the whole of Dungeon Crawl Classics into account. In the introduction, Reid San Filippo supplies the design goals for the product. I think that Mind Games reached these goals admirably:

• Psionics had to capture the old school feeling of the original psionics presented in the 1st and 2nd editions of the first fantasy RPG without being tied to their cryptic complexity.

• Psionics had to function differently than Wizard and Clerical magics without being any more complex.  

• Psionics had to be set firmly in DCC’s original Science Fantasy stylings so it would be adaptable to any of the current and future DCC settings available. 

• Psionics had to be awesome but, not so awesome that it did not [un]balance the other established DCC rules and content.

The Psion character class

Obviously, a psionics system requires a class with the ability to use psionics. In Mind Games, this is the psion. There are a number of options for powers your psion can have, but each discipline must be learned separately, with your level determining the number of powers, and the max tier for those powers. You also gain focus points, which can be used to gain a Focus die for a specific discipline, in a manner similar to the Deed Die or the Luck Die for warriors and thieves.

Psions can use psi burn. This is similar to spellburn or glowburn, but psi burn increases the Focus die, up to a maximum of 5 steps, by taking temporary Intelligence or Personality damage.

Failure can cause Psychic Dissonance, and every failure increases the chance of this occurring, similar to the way Disapproval works for clerics. Moreover, a natural 1 on the Focus die when a roll falls within the Psychic Dissonance range increases that range by 2, rather than 1.

How Psionics Work

This section explains the four disciplines of Psychometabolism, Clairsentience, Psychokinesis, and Telepathy. It explains power tiers (which are essentially like spell level, going from 1 to 4), psionic actions (which sorts how a power can be used). How to use psionics, either through Power Invocation or Psi Assist.

Psychic Duels 

This is not a rehash of the wizard's spell duel system. Instead, the basic outline seems more like the psionic combat rules in the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide, ending in the potential death or concession of the loser. Concession is an interesting mechanic, allowing the victor to force the loser to abide by one command (within certain restrictions).

Psionic duellists may also experience subjugation, which is the effect of a successful attack (or unsuccessful defense, depending upon how you look at it). The result of subjugation depends upon the discipline the attacker is using, the degree of success for the attack, and whether or not the attacker chooses to spend any reserved Advantage.

There is a two page sample duel, between the young psion Vouna and the evil tyrant Lord Mentac, which does a great job of illustrating the concept. In fact, I think that you would do yourself a favor by reading this sample duel both before and after reading the psychic duel rules.

Psychic Dissonance Table 

Unlike clerical Disapproval, dissonance is always resolved with 1d10. However, you add the amount you missed the target DC by, and if the Focus die also came up "1", you roll it, and add the result to the total.

Results range from "A  minor  bout  of  psychogenic  fugue settles  into  the  psion’s  mind  causing  -1  to  all power initiation rolls for 1d4 turns." to "The psion’s entire persona is lost to the universal metaconsciousness for 4d30 days. During this time a completely different persona inhabits the body. They will be of the same character level but of a randomly determined class and alignment. When the psion’s original persona eventually reconnects with their body, it will have to fight the current inhabiting persona for possession of it."

Psionic Powers 

Mind Games has a total of 13 powers for each of four disciplines. The write-ups are similar enough to those from the 1st Edition AD&D Player's Handbook or the 2nd Edition AD&D The Complete Psionics Handbook that conversion to or from those sources should be possible. (I have not actually attempted this yet, but it is the strong impression that I get.)

Powers have an effect for base success, and using a Focus die can increase what is possible.

Psionic items 

Living crystals (including a fair-sized section on living crystal weapons, comparable to the sword magic tables in the core rulebook), psychogenic baubles (ioun stones), brow jewels, and memory tomes are discussed.

Psychic Menagerie 

If the book had not shone before now, it would certainly shine here. The judge is supplied with five psionic creatures to challenge his PCs with. Because of the way psionics works in this system, the PCs need not be psions to enjoy the encounters!

The creatures are:

• Braingineer: Projected from the distant future of a collapsed timeline,  these  eerie  beings  are  supposedly  the remnants  of  a  highly  evolved  human  society. They appear to be living human brains floating inside  impressively  technological  transparent cylinders  with  many  robotic  limbs  attached  to the  base  of  the  cylinder.  Tiny,  colorful  lights blink randomly at all times on the cylinder bases. 

• Cerebear: This abomination appears like a grizzly bear with odd colored tufts of hair all over its body but its head is its most horrific feature. The top of its skull, including its ocular cavities and ears, has been replaced with a massive, exposed cerebrum that pulses with an eerie green luminescence.  Orbiting the naked, leathery brain like tiny gruesome satellites are at least a dozen mismatched eyes, each trailing a few inches of dangling optic nerve behind them. 

• Edacious Encephalon: Floating  just  out  of  phase  with  our  reality,  Edacious  Encephalons  (also  know  as Hungry Brain Devils  stalk intelligent beings in search of tasty emotions. They tend to  be  found  not  in  remote  ruins  but  populated  areas  currently  experiencing  high amounts of turmoil and stress. Settlements on the brink of war, political debates, and grand musical performances are some of their favorite feeding grounds. Should the situation need assistance to reach a palatable emotional state, they will employ psychic whispers to heighten the emotive tempo to levels near madness.

• Hive Mind: Not all people born with psionic abilities are predisposed to become Psions. Some, like the Crystal Shepherds, have a specialized psychic gift. Unfortunately for Hive Minds this “gift” always comes with a price. From an early age,  a hive mind will begin  to  hear  the  simple  thoughts  of  a  particular  type  of  insect.  Those  that  do not  quickly  go  mad  find  they  can  manipulate  these  thoughts,  eventually  gaining complete control over that type of insect. The price for this is the influence of the multitudes  of  tiny  alien  minds  pulling  away  the  person’s  humanity  and  creating a being that only looks human. This is not to say that hive minds cannot function in human society. In fact, they can be quite social and love the thrill of intrigue as they feed their insatiable desire for control. They are true sociopaths as their moral compass and values are almost completely alien.  

• Lobstrosityrant: This  dreadful  crustacean  is  a  much  larger  and  more  dangerous  cousin  of  the Lobstrosity (CUaBM issue #1, pg 22). Half again the size of its lesser relatives, its mighty shell is pearlescent white with tinges of every color of the rainbow reflected throughout. 

Great stuff!

Psi-Beast Critical Hit Table

Like everything else in Dungeon Crawl Classics, psychic creatures have critical hits to be feared. In this case, a normal attack has a psionic element.

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Primal Tales #1

Primal Tales #1 was written by Brendan LaSalle and Brett Brooks. Art is by Dean Kotz (including cover), Jarrod Alberich (cover), Guoh, Amber Harris, and Bradley McDevitt. The publisher is Pandahead Publishing.

Primal Tales is a zine supplying options for adding anthropomorphic animal characters to Dungeon Crawl Classics or Mutant Crawl Classics games.

Anthropomorphic animals have a long history in both children's and fantasy literature. Whether looking at Babar the Elephant, Reepicheep from Narnia, or Rocket Raccoon, these beings have been with us for a very long time. They have, of course, dominated a certain type of animation, as well as creating a sub-genre of mostly Young Adult fantasy with the Redwall Abbey series, MouseGuard, and similar works. And, of course, there are always Alan Moore's disturbing creations in the second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

At first glance, Appendix N would appear to be bereft of such characters, but looking closer, one can see anthropomorphic animals in The Maker of Universes, by Philip José Farmer, and there are certainly anthropomorphic tigers in Lin Carter's World's End Series. If one delves into the various alien races met in the works of some of the listed authors, I feel certain that you will encounter more than one being that could be considered a primal.

Even previous Dungeon Crawl Classics products have included creatures that might be considered primals, be they simians from Drongo: Ruins of the Witch Kingdoms, faerie animals from Creeping Beauties of the Wood, avarians from Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure, or manimals from Mutant Crawl Classics.

Still, you might be asking "Is this for me?", and I am going to be providing some suggestions for using this material even if you are not going to have primal PCs.

Let's take a look.

Introduction: What it says on the tin. Brett Brooks describes how Primal Tales came about: "That’s easy: someone asked us. Honestly, we were approached by a DCC fan, who asked if there was any chance of such a book existing. After some consideration, and several conversations with Joseph Goodman and the blessing of Goodman Games, the result is the book you hold in your hands."

The World of Primals: This is a single page, describing the basic assumptions of the world of Primal Tales, and acknowledging that these assumptions may be different in your campaign world.

Character Creation: Rules for creating primal characters. There is a "Primal Family Chart" that uses a d100 to generate over 80 different types of anthropomorphic animal, from "Alligator/Crocodile" to "Zebra". Each of these includes a natural weapon and special traits. There is also a "Primal Occupation Table".

If not using primals in your milieu, the family chart may be used to generate interesting beastmen or humanoids, at the very least. Vulturemen, shark-like orcs, and kobolds with frog traits are all possible, and all grist for the mill.

Savage Warrior: This is the primal version of the warrior class, which is given special abilities when using their natural weapons. If you are not using primals, this class is unlikely to be used...although you could use it as a template for beefing up some of the enemy humanoids and beastmen the PCs might encounter.

Another possibility is that the class might be used to represent a Tarzan or Mowgli-like character, who starts with natural attack damage of 1d3. In this case, the character might be given the Special Traits of the animal type that raise him, if it makes sense within the game. For instance, Tarzan might have "+1d skill checks (anything strength related), +2d climb checks" (using gorilla traits as a model), and Mowgli "Heightened Senses (+2d scent), +1d Skill Checks (Tracking)".

Arcaster: "Arcasters learn their magic from arcane spirits. These spirits are embodiments
of magic itself given form, and are invisible to most. To those who know their secrets and are willing to pay the price, an arcane spirit is a gateway to magical power." This class comes with a new 1st level spell, find spirit familiar.

In a game using primals, it makes sense to limit this class to primal characters. "Race as class" is used, after all, to keep elves from feeling like humans with superpowers and pointy ears, as they are in some other role-playing games. It also helps to keep the flavor of various options from merging.

In a game without primals, there is no reason not to open this class up to either humans and/or elves. Or, hell, perhaps in your world this sort of communion is a "halflings-only" thing!

Chimerae: Spellcasters who can take the forms of various animals, this would be a pretty cool class to include in your game milieu whether it is limited to primals or not. The class includes some animal trait information (useful when creating statblocks for natural creatures, or when modifying beastmen/humanoids, as noted above) and three new 1st level spells: consult nature, resist weather, and spirit healing.

If you are not using primals in your game, you might just want to call this a "druid"! Even if you do not want PCs using this material, there is plenty here to crib from for NPC antagonists.

Lamia: Patron of Mother’s Nightmares: "There are many conflicting stories about the life of Lamia and where she originated. Some say that she is the cast-off lover of a god, cursed by that god’s spouse. Others claim that her children were stolen by a jealous, barren goddess, who drove her to madness and down a path leading to atrocities that corrupted her and gave her great power. Then there are those who say that she is a succubus who escaped from the depths of hell, intending to find the perfect child to call her own. Physical descriptions of her vary widely. Sometimes Lamia is described as having the torso of a woman and the body of a lioness or a huge serpent. At other times, she is seen as a beautiful woman with the maw and fangs of a deformed beast."

Lamia is given a full patron write-up. As a patron who combines human and animal natures, Lamia is appropriate to this work. There is nothing, however, that limits Lamia from being used in any campaign.

For other versions of Lamia, see the Sanctum Secorum Episode #35 Companion: Hundra (1983) or D.A.M.N. Magazine #1 - Winter 2017.

Lamian Monsters: Three monsters are supplied:

• Lamurae: "From the nightmares of mothers and the essence of Lamia, the Lamurae were born. Ranging between one to three feet tall, the Lamurae resemble the shadows of death and decay."

• Lamian Succubus: "In the vast demonic realms, to have a name is a badge of honor. And in the annals of the succubi stories, no name is more revered than Lamia. Many of the succubi have devoted themselves to Lamia, seeing her as one of their own who has elevated them to newfound power and prominence. To that end, the Lamian Succubus is unlike any other." For other types of succubi, see The Balance Blade in The 13th Skull, The Crimson Void, and the Sanctum Secorum Episode #35 Companion: Hundra (1983).

• Avatar of Lamia: "The fact that no one can agree upon the origin or appearance of Lamia is not helped by the manifestations of her avatar. Those who have survived seeing her manifest have claimed that they have seen three different incarnations: The Maiden, The Beast, and The Demon. However, the true number of incarnations has yet to be accurately documented." Statistics for all three avatars mentioned are provided.

These monsters are appropriate for use in any Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign, and are in no way dependent upon the use of primals.

They exist everywhere. Among the common people they are talked about in quiet tones. Half man, half beast. Stories of them are told around campfires and hearths.

They inspire curiosity...
...confusion...
...and fear.

Many call them monsters.

Some call them heroes.

They call themselves primals.

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