Nowhere City Nights

Nowhere City Nights was written by Julian Bernick. Art is by Spencer Amundsen and Jack Kotz. Firearms rules use some rules from Crawl! Fanzine no. 8: Firearms! and Crawling Under a Broken Moon #1. The publisher is Order of the Quill.

Billed as "A Modern Noir Campaign Setting for DCC RPG Characters" or "Modern Occult Noir Based on DCC RPG", Nowhere City Nights offers a modern supernatural take on Dungeon Crawl Classics that uses Noir movies and related pulps (I presume) for its aesthetic. An Appendix Noir would be a useful inclusion in any expansion to the product!

"Nowhere City Nights is a roleplaying game based on the core rules in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. (DCC RPG). In Nowhere City, the players take the roles of Gutter Knights, Free Agents or Sorcerers as they scheme and plot and kill in the dim, noir-ish underground of a decadent and declining modern city."

Let's go for a visit...

Welcome to Nowhere!: This provides a brief intro to Nowhere City, and its relationship to Dungeon Crawl Classics.

"Nowhere City had a better name once, but no one calls it that any more. It's part of a bigger nation, or it once was, but those old power structures are mostly forgotten. Local corporate overlords rule the day and violent gangsters rule the night. The police are an army that serves both of those masters, depending on the neighborhood and the night and the sack of cash. The working people of Nowhere City pray that they can live their lives in peace and anonymity, without attracting the attention of the city's masters' or worse."

One of the nice things about this intro is that your city - Yes! Yours! - may very well be Nowhere City. And, if it isn't, why not?

That is actually quite brilliant!

Character Classes in Nowhere City: "Sorcerer cults have turned their back on what’s left of civilization in order to serve the extra-dimensional Veiled Ones. Cadres of Gutter Knights are dedicated to exterminating those cultists at any cost. And the slick, unscrupulous Free Agents will go anywhere, kill anyone, take anything… for a price."

PCs in Nowhere City will be Gutter Knights, Sorcerers, or Free Agents. These are, respectively, modified Warriors, Wizards, and Thieves.

Gutter Knights are strict orders of Warriors dedicated to the destruction of Sorcerers. They are sworn to poverty and humility, but all of them have a Vice (which is determined by random roll).

Sorcerers "are the problem that must be solved. The use of magic is predicated on alliances with the Veiled Ones. These powers are so evil that the greatest warriors in the world ignore the mundane corruption and perversity of Nowhere City in order to destroy Sorcerers." Although Sorcerers have pledged their very souls to Chaos, each has a Virtue (determined by random roll).

Free Agents are Thieves with some modern thieving skills, such as Computer Hacking, Demolition Setup, and Infiltration/Bluffing. Every Free Agent has a Vendetta which is, as you probably guessed, determined by random roll.

Gutter Knights are always Lawful, Sorcerers are always Chaotic, and Free Agents are always Neutral. Each gets XP only for completing specific goals of their class. The odds are that a party will contain each class, with their conflicting goals, XP requirements, Vices, Virtues, and Vendettas. Again, brilliant!

Weapons and Gear in Nowhere City: Rules for modern weapons, armor, sainted steel, and other gear.  Crawl! #8 and Crawling Under A Broken Moon #1 are specifically called out.

Backgrounds in Nowhere City: Occupations. It is noted that the "traditional DCC RPG Funnel may not make quite as much sense in a grim, semi-civilized setting such as Nowhere City", which is somewhat ironic, as the first official supporting product for Nowhere City Nights is a 0-level funnel adventure.

Vehicle Chases: For races and chases, with Criticals, Fumbles, and Mishaps. Elegant and fun mechanics.

Nowhere City for the Judge: Notes on establishing the proper atmosphere, a description of the occult Shadow Conflict, notes on the organizational structures of each class, and notes on running a Nowhere City campaign.

Organizations and Employers in Nowhere City: Chapters of the Gutter Knights and descriptions of Sorcerer Cults. These are the primary players in the Shadow Conflict. Sanctum is described for Free Agents. A description of the corporate overlords and violent gangsters would have been welcome here. Considerations of religion are left to the judge.

A Key to the City: A brief overview of Nowhere City, which allows enough space for each judge to make his own Nowhere City. Several important neighborhoods are described. with an eye towards gamable material. "Plot Hooks for the Wild, Wild Waste" provides a full 20 seeds for possible adventures.

Notable Locations of Nowhere City: Some of the places your PCs may visit or avoid. Each has a Location Name, Neighborhood, Address, Description, and Security listing.

Enemies and Opponents of Nowhere City: Provides stat blocks for the people and monsters one might meet in Nowhere City. Well, some of them at least. In a Dungeon Crawl Classics game, there are always monsters you didn't expect, but this will definitely get you started!

Appendix 1: New Patrons: Nowhere City Nights provides three complete new patrons, which may be used outside of the Nowhere City setting if the judge desires. They are:

• The Weeper: He waits at the end of time, howling back through reality at his servants. He hates all that has ever existed because he knows the ultimate end. Reality is his plaything. Human destiny is a joke and he knows the punchline. But instead of laughing, he weeps.

• Scutigera: The many-limbed predator that scurries in the stars. As the centipede hunts and kills in the house of man, so does the Hunter with a Thousand Arms haunt the outer reaches, looking for prey. It’s said that in the aeons of the past, before the gods of man even roamed the earth, the Hunter with a Thousand Arms ruled the night and his constellation devoured those of other entities. Then his stars disappeared and now the Hunter waits to reemerge when the time comes for his servants to overrun the Earth and begin a new age of predatory tyranny.

• Annihilation: The being.. or concept .. known as Annihilation haunts the world from the place outside the realm of matter. His servants remove themselves from the haunts of men and take to the wildernesses, the sewers, the alleys, the abandoned warehouses and landfills. To join his legions, you must erase yourself; give up your identity and your life in his service. But no new identity is given. Those annihilated hope to disappear completely, to eradicate even their own memories, all in the service of their inscrutable senselessness. They work toward the final end of All, the victory of unthinking inevitable Annihilation.

Appendix 2: Random Events and Encounters in Nowhere City: A table of sixteen events.

Appendix 3: Table of Random Street Names: A d20 table containing 20 street names and 20 avenue or boulevard names.

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The Gong Farmer's Almanac 2017 Vol 7

The 2017 Gongfarmer’s Almanac Volume 7: Adventures and Settings , was written by Steven Bean, Eric Betts, Daniel J. Bishop, Jarret Crader, Terra Frank, and Gabriel Pérez Gallardi. Artwork is by Doug Kovacs, Marc Radle, Shawn Brewer, Dan Domme, Gabriel Pérez Gallardi, Christian Kessler, SGT Dave, Matt Sutton, Shyloh Wideman, and Clayton Williams. The publisher is the Gongfarmer's Local #282.

Disclosure: I wrote a submission in this volume.

Unlike previous years' Gongfarmer's Almanacs, five volumes of the 2017 edition have an overarching theme - the roiling, ever-changing plane of Pandemonium. Volume 7 does not follow this theme, but rather contains content similar to what we've seen in previous years.

Crypt of the Lost Hyms: This adventure, by Gabriel Pérez Gallardi (cartography and symbology by Christian Kessler), revisits Ur-Hadad, the titular city of Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad. The adventure isn't long, so I will try not to do anything to spoil it. Suffice to say, knowledge of the Metal Gods will go a long way.

“In the vast windswept plains North of Ur-Hadad, the First City of Men, a lonely barrow is the only landmark for many miles around.”

How to Win Friends and Influence People, DCC Style: In this article, Jarret Crader gives you tricks, tips, and support for running Dungeon Crawl Classics in public venues.

Bloody Hound: Steven Bean supplies a new class for Nowhere City Nights. The Bloody Hound is the film noir detective recast through a Nowhere City Nights lens.

Rules and Skills for Detective Work in Nowhere City Nights: And then Steven Bean supplies the rules you need to make use of that class. Taken together, you have the makings of a detective in any sort of urban DCC environment.

The Lost Patrol: A Zero-Level Funnel for Trench Crawl Classics: There are a lot of flavors of Dungeon Crawl Classics available now. You can crawljam, crawl under a broken moon, visit Drongo or the Purple Planet, crawl with mutants, or play noir-style characters with magic. This adventure, by Eric Betts, takes you into World War II with more than a dash of the occult.

Your infantry group, the 1023rd Rifle Regiment, has been attacking into Romania striking toward Hitler’s oil fields...or so the rumors say. You are not really sure where you are, just that you arrived by truck less than two weeks ago and have been marching and fighting since. Mostly, fighting consists of running for cover when German artillery starts to blow your fellow soldiers apart. Three days ago, the regiment stopped on this rise and you dug the trench you’ve been living in since. It is miserable, but at least you have a place to hide from the artillery.

Trench Crawl Classics: Eric Betts supplies the rules you need to leap into occult World War II action, using Dungeon Crawl Classics. Also recommended are the firearms rules from Crawl #8. In this case, the PCs are conscripts in the Red Army, but it would be easy enough to expand. Notably, there are no new classes described - the occult is real, and your PC might well end up a cleric or wizard!

The Vampire, Returned: Author Terra Frank provides a series of tables for creating unique vampires. These do not create statblocks, but they do provide the nature of the creature you would then stat up.

Thirteen Brides of Blood: Finally, the issue ends with a zero-level funnel by Daniel J. Bishop, with artwork by Shawn Brewer and cartography by Shyloh Wideman. I mention this because the adventure was largely written to use existing cartography, supplied by Shyloh Wideman over the G+ DCC community. Without his support and enthusiasm, it wouldn't have happened!

Vampires haunt the land! Erasmus Cordwainer Blood has existed for countless centuries, feeding off the villages closest to his hidden lair almost as a form of sport. Usually, his victims are those who remain out beyond the setting of the sun, lone travellers, or the inhabitants of isolated farmsteads. Once every seven years, though, villagers from number of nearby communities simply disappear. It is said, in hushed whispers, that Blood has taken them to feed his Brides.

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Outlive, Outsmart, Outkill!

Outlive, Outsmart, Outkill! is a 0-level funnel adventure written by Julian Bernick. Art is by Spencer Amundsen and Jack Kotz. The publisher is Order of the Quill.

This is the first stand-alone published adventure for Nowhere City Nights. The irony of the first adventure for this setting being a funnel came up on Spellburn, where Julian Bernick is one of the hosts.

Remember the good old days? Nah… Nowhere City never had any good old days, no matter what the politicians say. It’s always been a hellish cult-infested battleground contested by the power-mad forces of Chaos and the few, desperate defenders of Law. And this conflict comes with bloodshed, heroics, vile sorcery and plenty of NPCs who are meant to be killed. We hope you enjoy your stay. After all, we heard the roads and the airport just closed down due to a mysterious state of emergency.

This is a new adventure, so I want to be careful about spoilers beyond those supplied by the publisher. Suffice it to say that if you are looking for a dark, noir version of DCC Xcrawl to play as a 0-level funnel, you have come to the right place.

It is not a spoiler to say that the section entitled Ending the Adventure gives options for both "...and Starting a Campaign" and "...in a Convention or Short-term Game". The ending of Outlive, Outsmart, Outkill! supplies a good starting point if you are moving into a campaign, or a good ending point if not. A funnel adventure has to answer the question "Why did these people stop farming turnips?" (or, in this case, doing paperwork!), and Outlive, Outsmart, Outkill! certainly does that.

Appendix A provides a table of 100 quirks that you can use to help define your Nowhere City Nights 0-level characters. Some of these would be quite fun to use in a game session; others might actually change the nature of play. It would actually be more interesting to have a Strength 5 character roll "60: Weightlifter" than a character with a 16+ Strength. And if you roll 100? Let's save that for as a surprise, but the judge and player will probably need a private consultation.

Outlive, Outsmart, Outkill! is a mad parody of today's cynical reality TV world. You want sadism, isolation and high stakes betrayal? In Nowhere City, you can take it all the way. The elite sorcerers of Scutigera have abducted a random assortment of civilians and forced them to compete in this lethal contest... while they watch. There's no fame and money at stake and there's no second place. In this contest, the winner gets to join the Sorcerer Cult-- and everyone else DIES!

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D.A.M.N. Magazine #2 - Autumn 2017

D.A.M.N. #2 - Autumn 2017 was written by Marc Bruner, Paul Wolfe, David Persinger, James Spahn, Julian Bernick, Jason Sholtis, and James Pozenel. Art is by Thomas Novosel (cover), David Fisher, Dave Persinger, Jordan G, Doug Kovacs, Jason Sholtis, Stefan Poag, and Marc Bruner. The publisher is Mystic Bull Games.

Disclosure: I helped nursemaid the first issue of D.A.M.N. into existence, and helped to move the publication to Mystic Bull so that it could continue to thrive. I am also mentioned on pages 4 and 5. Finally, I have a finger in Angels, Daemons, & Beings Beyond: Elfland Edition (I wrote a forward and backed the kickstarter) and more than a finger in Dark Trails Weird Frontiers (I wrote some critters and elixirs and suchlike...indeed, I am still doing writing for David Baity on this project). You can safely assume that I am biased when discussing this product.

Let's look inside.

From the DAMNed Pit: "Emergent Play and Long Delays" is an editorial by Paul Wolfe. The editorial has an addendum for "Late September", and the issue hit the virtual shelves on November 29th, so it is clear that there were a few delays. Perhaps there was some wait on content, but it is not apparent that this is so from the issue, which is so chock-full that it spills over into a free web supplement.

These items of "News in Third Party Publishing" include some things which have now been out for a bit, but it is definitely worthwhile to have a feature like this in D.A.M.N.!

d14 Rumors and Reports: Mostly fun.

Underworld Ranger: This is a character class designed for the Dungeon Crawl Classics version of Operation Unfathomable, which in turn gives a bit of a preview of the tone and art for Jason Sholtis' megadungeon setting. Writing and art are by Jason Sholtis, with Paul Wolfe supplying the DCC conversions and Stefan Poag supplying additional art.

Some parts of this article, like the Underworld Foraging Success Table, are quite fun and flavorful (pun intended). Strap on your ZR1 Dissuader, check your Chaosometer, and leap....er, carefully and stealthily creep....into the fray!

Third Party Spotlight: Dark Trails: Dark Trails Weird Frontiers is David Baity's Lovecraftian Weird West setting for/adaptation of Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Third Party Spotlight: AD&BB Elfland Edition: James Pozenel provides a preview of the upcoming patron supplement:

Queen amongst the sea-faeries, Dahudmorgan inhabits the rocky shores of Menegond, Thousand Rocks. During the day, she hides within a magnificent golden city under the sea or in one of the natural caves or grottoes in the sea-cliffs surrounding her home. At night she sings from her perch on one of the rocky islands that stretch along the coastline, combing her long golden tresses.

Invoke patron results, patron taint, and spellburn are supplied.

Duel at Midora Temple: This is a 0-level funnel, written by Paul Wolfe, which brings Oriental Adventures to Dungeon Crawl Classics in the form of the Ketsuin Empire. This is a complex adventure, taking place in a complex setting. You will need to download the web supplement to make characters. There is more than a small chance that PCs will oppose other PCs. There is more than a small chance that a player will be running two or more PCs which oppose each other. Good stuff!

(See also: Monk.)

Dashing Deeds Abound!: The Swashbuckler Class: Author James Spahn provides a class somewhere between the warrior and the thief, capable of Dashing Deeds of Daring, possessing a luck die, and having the ability to add both Personality and Agility modifiers to AC when unarmored.

Nalfeshnee: Lord of Pigs: A complete patron (except for the spell write-ups, which can be found in the web enhancement), by David Persinger. This includes statistics for wereboars and gore golems.

Lord Nalfeshnee, King Nalfeshnee, the God of Gluttony, or the Master of Butchers. Knowledgeable in vivisection, consumption and hoarding, he is the progenitor and namesake of all Nalfeshnee demons. When the most gluttonous of mortals die, Lord Nalfeshnee inserts their souls into his own mutilated horrors, forming the lesser Nalfeshnee who guard hoarded masses of treasure and relics of chaotic power. He frequently makes deals with rapacious mortals, granting them a short life filled with worldly delights, fattening their souls for future servitude. Secret guilds of butchers who desire customers with an endless hunger serve him. Wizards may make pacts with Lord Nalfeshnee, exchanging access to chaotic forces, in exchange for shepherding wild chaos magic back for their master’s consumption.

Attack of the Frozen Führer: This is a 3rd level adventure, by Julian Bernick, written for Nowhere City Nights. The mainstay of Nowhere City Nights in 21st Century technomagic pulp noir, but this adventure takes place in 1940. It revolves around Hitler's attempt to recover the Spear of Destiny from a museum in Nowhere City during World War II.

While the Gods Laugh: Author Marc Bruner offers a 10th level funnel adventure for your enjoyment. Yes, a 10th level funnel. Yes, I know that sounds ludicrous, but yes, Marc Bruner pulls it off in a way that is very Appendix N. Once more, you will want to grab the web enhancement before running this.

Submissions: Guidelines for submissions.

Flammable Hospital Crowdfunding Preview: This preview, by "the Mongrels" is....actually, I'm not sure what it is. It appears to be a LARP funnel based of Dungeon Crawl Classics? But there is a map? Perhaps someone will enlighten me in the comments...?

Those with the DAMNed Pen: Author bios.

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Crawling Under a Broken Moon #7

Crawling Under a Broken Moon #7 was written by Reid San Filippo, Sean Ellis, and Daniel J. Bishop, and published by Shield of Faith Studios. Disclaimer: I wrote a creature that appears in this issue's Twisted Menagerie.

When Issue #5 focused on the Kingdom of Aetheria with its Masters of the Universe vibe, I had worried a little that Crawling Under a Broken Moon was beginning to run out of steam. How ill-founded those fears were! The post-Apocalyptic genre is as fertile a playground as the typical run of fantasy gaming, and, rather than taking a departure from its focus on post-Apocalyptic play, Shield of Faith Studios continues to examine the numerous possible facets gaming after the End of the World can take.

Issue #7 is a bit more of a hodge-podge than the rather more tightly focused issues that preceded it. It is hard not to get the impression that some of this material simply could not be fit into previous themed issues. This is not a complaint; there is some really good stuff here.

In this issue we get:

The Cyborg

A lot of games have tried to deal with the concept of cybernetic PCs, with varying degrees of success. I think that the authors here nailed it, providing a meaty class that fits well with the Dungeon Crawl Classics and the Crawling Under a Broken Moon vibe. You could use this class with Nowhere City Nights to get a Judge Dredd-style game.

Trains, Planes, and Mobile Suits

In The Road Warrior, Mad Max encounters a gyrocopter pilot. Now you can, too. Or you can become one.

Rules are provided to cover the operation of trains, gyrocopters and ultralights, and mechs (and similar robotic vehicles). Appropriate wipeout tables are provided. How the new vehicles work with the Petrol Head class (and others!) is also described, for each vehicle type.

If you are playing in the Brimstone of Black Powder, Black Magic, you may find the rules for trains rather useful.

Interesting Places to Die

This issue focuses on the Citadel of Scrap, a "major city in the wastes devoted to technology, transportation, and trade", and also a convenient hub for adventure hooks in the Umerican wastelands. Written by Sean Ellis and Reid San Filippo, the article covers history, layout, job opportunities, and a new monster, the Scut, once-humans drained by the God in the Pit to become "little more than dry sponges in search of humanity to absorb".

The God of the Pit, you ask? Well, "within the last decade a great meteor crash decimated the part of the city known as the Ruins. It is believed that a god-like being slumbers at the bottom of this crater, gaining strength until he may awaken and eat his enemies and all they love."

The Rail Wastes 

An additional "interesting place to die", the Rail Wastes are the wastelands where rail lines are still operating (at times) between the Citadel of Scrap and whatever destinations it is still in contact with. The focus is on adventure, and things that may happen to make your journey by rail more interesting.

Spare Change 

Sean Ellis provides a brief rundown on what now works as coinage in post-Apocalyptic Umerica, from pretty bits of bead to promissory notes for gas, or even water purification pills. Now, do you spend your treasure, or do you use it?

Twisted Menagerie 

Finally, the issue describes three new creatures.

Remember how last issue made me think of statting up Stephen King's Christine? In this issue, the Autogiest has done the work for me. It is exactly what it sounds like: a possessed vehicle that wants to kill you.

The Bounder is a mutant descendant of the kangaroo, loosely inspired by the hoppers of Sterling Lanier's The Unforsaken Hiero. Of course, being Umerican, they have some special powers that hoppers certainly do not. This is the creature I wrote for this issue.

Cybernetic attachments that are no longer wanted, the Discarded "are driven by a hate the people that rejected them and a desire to continue their existence by seeking out new implants to incorporate." If you are a Doctor Who fan, as I am, you will be reminded of the bits of Cybermen around the Pandorica. Star Trek fans may think of Borg implants that infect new hosts. Either way, this is a potentially horrifying monster, and one that, with its relationship to Cyborg characters, brings the issue to a satisfying close.

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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The Ghoul Prince

The Ghoul Prince is a 2nd level adventure by Zzarchov Kowolski. Art is by Alex Mayo (including cover). Cartography is by Dyson Logos. The publisher is DIY RPG Productions.

Disclosure: I have been offered a print copy of this product for free in exchange for this listing. I paid for the pdf version, and I would have made this listing anyway.

This adventure begins with an interesting premise. Note that I am not talking about the premise of the adventure itself, but the premise of how the adventure is written. The author writes:

"So this adventure is starting with a weird question I’ve been playing around with: how easy can you make it to slot a published adventure into the wildly different campaign settings of actual tables, without destroying all the flavour and actual value of that adventure as a useful tool."

"The idea is that there is a central frame of an adventure with a lot of set dressing that is used to cement it into a setting. The frame of the adventure is unchanging, while the set dressing is specifically labelled with an accompanying index so the GM can reference
notes with what is on the page.

These are not just cosmetic changes, and they do impact the play of the game."

This is an interesting framing device, but it takes space to convey. Examples of using this adventure location as a barrow, a desert tomb, and an alpine mausoleum are provided. There is space to create your own frame using these as examples. To make better use of the adventure, consider using the alternative frames when devising other sites of your own. By using bits and pieces of a given frame across several adventures, you can get full value for those you do not include as part of your version of The Ghoul Prince proper.

The Ghoul Prince himself is a great adversary, and is given appropriate (but easy to use) mechanics to promote his role in the adventure. The judge will may have to create stats for some creatures, although the author took this into consideration and offers the judge easy ways to avoid it.  Still, I prefer full statblocks be included for all creatures, and there lack herein is the only serious failing I see with the adventure as written. On the other hand, this does make the adventure easier to adjust for other level parties.

Overall, monsters and setting elements are good and flavorful, but if the judge doesn't do her prep work, she may find herself flipping pages - a lot! - during actual play. The pdf is password-protected, but content copying is allowed, so it would be possible to cut & paste the details you need into a single document, and then print it before game time. I would recommend this. I would also take the time to copy statblocks you might need from the core rulebook so that you don't need to look them up at the table.

By introducing some holograms and medical-superscience, this would also work well as a Mutant Crawl Classics adventure. The framing set-up would allow it to work with Crawljammer, Umerica, Transylvanian Adventures, or any other setting you might wish. It would even work well in something like Nowhere City Nights or the Brimstone of Black Powder, Black Magic.

The adventure also includes a full patron write-up for the Bone Lady: "a powerful demon that takes the form of an old crone. She haunts the wilderness around the tomb (in a regional sense) and appears only at night. When encountered or summoned, she will be next to a magically appearing crater filled with bones that she stirs and tends with a long pole. Anyone who peers into the pit to see its contents must make a DC 12 Will Save or be driven to dig out their own skeleton and add it to the pit, becoming frantically obsessed with doing so." 

This patron does not grant unique spells, but offers ones which already appear in the core rules.

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Cyber Sprawl Classics #1

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

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

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

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

Let's look inside.

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

Notable is this paragraph:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Basic Equipment: Exactly what it sounds like.

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

You're no hero.

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

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

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Tengu

The Tengu is an "Eastern Adventures" character class written by Mark Tasaka (who presumably did the art) and published by Old School Adventures.

You are a trickster, a mischief-maker, and at times a trouble-maker. You are the teller of tall tales; the singer of strange songs. You call the mountains, the forests and the open skies your home. You would rather gamble than do an honest day’s work. Most consider you lazy; but, you consider yourself resourceful, as you always find ways to reap the greatest benefits from the least amount of work.

If you are unaware of what a tengu is, here is a quick description. In this case, we are looking at a mischievous bird-man, rather than a celestial dog-man, a near god, or a master swordsman. Like elves, tengu went through numerous incarnations before the role-playing game industry appeared! 

Essentially, this character is a thief with a mimicry ability and limited flight. There is no disadvantage given to offset these extra abilities, but, unlike a human thief, it is pretty easy to determine just what an (undisguised) tengu is. That alone may be enough to "balance" the class for DCC purposes.

In any event, the class is clearly understandable, playable, and describes exactly what it intends to. Trickster crows/ravens are found in other mythologies, so that with a simple name change, the tengu could fit into a North American milieu in particular. This might be appropriate for a Black Powder. Black Magic or Weird Frontiers game. If the game is set after largescale Japanese immigration occurred, there might be both native and Japanese versions of this class operating in the campaign milieu. Tengu might also appear in settings like Nowhere City Nights or Bronx Beasts without any difficulty at all.

Of course, a fully developed Asian setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics would also be welcome! Paul Wolfe did some work along this line in D.A.M.N. Magazine #2 and elsewhere. (And, thanks to Ariel Churi, I have learned that Old School Adventures does have a 14-page DCC Eastern Adventures Campaign Guide).

There is a tengu character generator available here (scroll down).

Tengu are a demi-human race of ‘crow-men’. A fully grown tengu stands just over 5’ tall. Like birds, tengu have hollow bones, which allows them to fly; thus, it is rare for an adult tengu to weigh more than 80 lbs. Tengu usually live in isolated locations, with their dwellings hidden within ancient trees, on mountain sides or in abandoned temples. Tengu spend much of their time near roads frequented by travellers; there, they wait for unsuspecting travellers, where they use their talent of stealth and thievery to steal food and goods from their unsuspecting victims. Often their victims do not realize that the theft has occurred until after they have reached their destinations, many miles away. ....

It's free.

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