The Portsmouth Mermaid

FT 2: The Portsmouth Mermaid is a 2nd level adventure written by Daniel J. Bishop, with art by Matt Morrow (cover) and Luigi Castellani. Cartography is by Kristian Richards. Additional writing by Godric McKellan and Bobby Ree. The publisher is Purple Duck Games.

Disclosure: I am the author.

An invitation to a wedding, and a patron's desire for a mermaid's tears, bring the PCs to Portsmouth, an amalgamated not to H.P. Lovecraft's fictional towns of Kingsport and Innsmouth. In particular, judges would be well advised to read The Festival, Dagon, and The Shadow over Innsmouth if they are interested in direct influences.

The Little Mermaid, by Hans Christian Andersen, is another obvious inspiration. So much so that I am left wondering whether or not Lovecraft had considered this tale when penning Dagon.

There are a great many other fairy tale and nursery rhyme references in the adventure. The Golden River, it may be noted, relates to The King of the Golden River (by John Ruskin), and is also connected to Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror through the "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" encounter in Appendix C: Additional Encounters.

The adventure includes five appendixes.

Appendix A is compiled statblocks for everything referenced in the adventure. There are a lot of elements that can be in play, so this is worth printing out and keeping handy.

Appendix B is New Magic Items. In August of 2014 I ran The Scrimshaw Rod contest on my blog, and decided to split the difference, declaring both contestants (Godric McKellan and Bobby Ree) winners. These items were created by them, and they should have been credited in the text.

Appendix C contains Additional Encounters that can be used to liven up adventuring in Portsmouth, either during this adventure or later in a campaign. They are The Dancing Shoes, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Match Girl, I Do Not Like Thee Doctor Fell, The Sky is Falling, The King of the Cats, and Simple Simon's Catch.

Appendix D: The Esoteric Order of Dagon contains a complete patron write-up for Dagon, which can also be found reprinted in  Angels, Daemons, & Beings Between: Extended, Otherworldly Edition. (In fact, there is a Dagon cover.)

Appendix E: Faerie Animal Types for Portsmouth supplies a table for faerie animal characters, using the rules in Creeping Beauties of the Wood, but which are more suitable for the Portsmouth area.

This is the third item in the Faerie Tales from Unlit Shores series. Additional supporting materials can be found in Crawl! fanzine #11 (The Deep Elders) and Three Nights in Portsmouth.

The Portsmouth Mermaid takes place over the twelve days of a Yuletide Celebration in the town of Portsmouth, north of Westlake. The adventure is largely political, with several factions, all of which have a different optimal outcome. The PCs have to figure out what is going on, decide what to do about it, and then live with the consequences.

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Three Nights in Portsmouth

FT 2.5: Three Nights in Portsmouth is a series of three short 2nd level adventures written by Daniel J. Bishop. Art is by Matt Morrow (cover),  Kristian Richards (cartography), and Luigi Castellani. The publisher is Purple Duck Games.

Disclosure: I am the author.

This product offers three short adventures that can be sprinkled into, or occur separately from, FT 2: The Portsmouth Mermaid. The adventure came about largely for two reasons. First, I had intended to include a dragon in each installment of the Faerie Tales from Unlit Shores series, and I had failed to include one in FT 2. Secondly, there was a lot more to explore in Portsmouth. If your players are anything like mine, at the very least they will want to rob some graves, and having something planned when they visit the Overlook is a good thing.

The adventure contains three scenarios:

The Open Tomb takes care of the most pressing question a judge might face in Portsmouth - what if the players want to go grave robbing? There are homages herein to Peter Pan, as well as the potential to run into worse things. The name "Grimperrault" is a combination from the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault.

The Trail of the Rat is my own take on The Pied Piper of Hamlin, with ghouls and a little added nastiness in terms of a choice the PCs must make. No one makes it out of this adventure without making some form of alliance, and some form of enemy.

Blood for Cthulhu! makes use of several fairy tales themes and creatures while crossing the salt marsh, but ends with a scene straight from The Call of Cthulhu. Depending upon how successful the PCs are at preventing the titular sacrifices, the final encounter may be easy...or close to impossible. For added tension, make that PC whose player couldn't make it tonight one of the potential victims....!

If you are not using Portsmouth, these scenarios can easily be adapted to any urban environment.

You can read an Endzeitgeist review here.

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Creeping Beauties of the Wood

Creeping Beauties of the Wood is the second module in the Faerie Tales From Unlit Shore series, written by Daniel J. Bishop and published by Purple Duck Games.

Disclosure: I am the writer.

This adventure follows Prince Charming, Reanimator, and gives the PCs the opportunity to deal with the loose ends from that adventure. In addition to the Sleeping Beauty, they are confronted by Prince Charming's two previous un-dead wives, Snow White and Cinder Ella.

The adventure is largely a hex crawl, but there are four important locations that break this up: the hiding places of the three un-dead wives, and the Goblin Market. During playtests, the Goblin Market was so alluring to my players that we easily spent the greater part of a game session interacting with it, and the players went out of their way to have their characters return.

The adventure includes two patrons: Doctor Chapman and Hizzzgrad, Daemonic Lord of Crawling Things. In the terms originating in Silent Nightfall and used in Angels, Daemons, and Beings Between: Expanded, Otherworldly Edition, Doctor Chapman would be a demi-patron. Hizzzgrad is given a full write-up, and is reprinted in the expanded edition of Angels, Daemons, and Beings Between. An effort is made to give the PCs reason to work with Doctor Chapman, and potentially choose him as a patron.

The adventure also includes a new race-class: Faerie Animals. These are, essentially, animals which can take human form and which may learn a bit of magic as they gain levels. The faerie animals described herein are suitable for the Grimmswood location; a table for the region around Portsmouth is provided for The Portsmouth Mermaid.

While this adventure makes use of traditional fairy tale motifs, it also makes reference to the works of Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, and Christina Rossetti. There are Appendix N references worked into the text as well, although these are not as overt as in Prince Charming, Reanimator or The Portsmouth Mermaid. I hope they bring some joy to those who notice them.

Because the Faerie Tales From Unlit Shores series takes place in a persistent milieu - the events of one adventure have real effects on those that follow - your PCs may enter the Grimmswood many times over the course of their adventures. Even if, say, they fail to encounter Nick Cutter, the Iron Axeman, on their first outing, placing additional adventures in and around the region is certain to give them the opportunity to do so.

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Crawl! fanzine #11

Disclaimer: I have an article in this issue.

Crawl! fanzine #11 is "The Seafaring Issue". It is written by Bob Brinkman, Rev. Dak J. Ultimak, Daniel J. Bishop, and Sean Ellis. It is published by Straycouches Press. This is actually one of my favorite issues of Crawl! to date, and the artwork by Mario T. compliments the issue perfectly.

This issue contains:

Naval Warfare for Ocean Crawlers

Bob Brinkman makes his first Crawl! appearance with a vengeance, offering a complete system for resolving naval battles and statting up ships. This article alone is easily worth more than the cost of the zine. I would love to see this expanded upon, with many more ships statted out. It would be excellent.

Nautical Mighty Deeds

As a companion piece to the first article, Bob Brinkman describes Mighty Deeds one might use while at sea.

Fantastic Forms of Sea Ship Propulsion

Rev. Dak J. Ultimak offers a table of eight non-standard methods ships might use to get around. Fans of Jack Vance will recognize #4.

The Deep Elders

In Portsmouth, sailors whisper of the deep elders, though few have ever met them.

Designed to be used in conjunction with The Portsmouth Mermaid, this article describes servants of Dagon who possess non-marine creatures to do their Master's will. Included are rules to allow your players to continue running their possessed PCs.

Life Aboard

Finally, Sean Ellis provides an article, loosely based off Kirin Robinson's article in Crawl! #7, allowing you to run ocean voyages without hexcrawling. Basically, it allows you to skip the boring bits. Use when appropriate. This article is also, by itself, worth the cost of the zine.

Sanctum Secorum Episode #09 Companion: Two From H.P. Lovecraft

The Sanctum Secorum Episode #09 Companion: Two From Lovecraft was written by David Baity, Bob Brinkman, and Daniel J. Bishop. Art is by Bjarne Henning Kvaale, Joel Harlow, Mihail Bila, and Troy Tucker. The publisher is Sanctum Media. This product is produced in association with the Sanctum Secorum podcast.

This Episode Companion is based on Sanctum Secorum Episode 9: H. P. Lovecraft, which discussed Dagon and The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft. The featured adventure was The Portsmouth Mermaid by Daniel J. Bishop.

Disclosure: I wrote material for this product, and wrote the featured adventure in the podcast episode. Another adventure I wrote, Silent Nightfall, was discussed in the episode, as was material I wrote for Crawl! fanzine #11.

Within you will find:

Character Backgrounds

Born of the Old Ones: It isn't unusual in an H.P. Lovecraft story to discover that the protagonist is actually related to the monsters he encounters. This article, by Daniel J. Bishop, describes how such a relationship to the Deep Ones may play out, in particular with respect to the featured adventure for this episode. Similar tables can be devised for other creatures of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Character Classes

Deep One Hybrid: A rather neat take on a half-human, half-Deep One being, by Bob Brinkman. See also the Hybrid Character Class in Crawling Under a Broken Moon #18 for another take on this theme.

Featured Adventure

Escape from Innsmouth: A funnel adventure written by David Baity and Bob Brinkman, with cartography by David Baity, this one sees you as a Dagon-worshiping resident of Innsmouth when the neighboring villages decide to get rid of the cult. The only way to escape is to the sea.

It is suggested as a one-shot adventure, or a convention game, but I could see this being used in conjunction with the other materials in this Episode Companion to create extra characters after running The Portsmouth Mermaid or Shadow Under Devil's Reef. It could also be modified for Crawl-thulhu.

Magic Items

Crown of Dagon: Worn by the high priests of Dagon, this item is described by Bob Brinkman. It comes from the story, The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

The Monolith: An ancient, prehuman monolith described by Bob Brinkman. It comes from the story, Dagon.

Weapons

Barbed Mace: Statistics provided by Bob Brinkman.

Hooked Net: Statistics provided by Bob Brinkman.

Shell-headed Club: Statistics provided by Bob Brinkman.

As with previous Companions, this volume can help the discerning Dungeon Crawl Classics judge determine how to stat up creatures from whatever movie or literature he likes.

It's free!

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Tales of the Smoking Wyrm #1

Tales of the Smoking Wyrm #1

 was written by Trevor Stamper, Brian Gilkison, John Olszewski, and Steve Harmon. Art is by Joel Phillips, Carmin Vance, Alex Mayo, Bradley McDevitt, Brian Maikisch, Caitlin Stamper, and Trevor Stamper. The publisher is Blind Visionary Publications.

Disclosure: I backed the successful Kickstarter for this issue. I am also a backer of Issue #2.

The first thing you'll notice about this zine is that it is erudite. The creators discuss their sources as well as the history of the hobby. If that sort of thing excites you, then you will certainly enjoy this. I am in that target audience, so, while the writing is crisp, I can't be 100% sure how someone else will read this.

The Paladin: This is a good example of what I mean. The article starts:

"Paladins have a longstanding position in the Old School Revival (OSR). From their origins in Supplement I—Greyhawk (1975) as a subclass of Fighting Man to their firm position in every edition since Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition, the paladin is a mainstay of the genre. Historically, the term paladin originates from the French Chanson de geste (song of heroic deeds) cycle as names for the twelve foremost knights of Charlemagne’s court. Appendix N includes Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, which is itself inspired by the Chanson de geste."

If you love this sort of stuff the way I do, then you will enjoy the zine. They even go so far as to remind you of the paladin in Crawl! fanzine #6 and the Paladin of Gambrinus in The Gong farmers Almanac 2017 volume 6. Because I like to include these sort of links in the Trove write-ups, it is wonderful to have that part already done for me!

This is a bit different, and is actually fully in line with the "Quest For It" ethos of Dungeon Crawl Classics. Instead of creating a new class, the author writes, "any class can devote themselves to the tenants of their faith, under the guidance of a cleric of that god. This begins with the new third level cleric spell investiture, wherein the would-be paladins carry out a quest for their god, overseen by the cleric." That is gold, to me - the idea of prestige classes from 3rd Edition carried to their logical conclusion and done right.

Cthulhu: A complete patron write-up for H.P. Lovecraft's most famous creation, including invoke patron results, Spellburn and Patron Taint tables, and three unique patron spells: Summons of the Deep, Breath of the Deep, and Form of the Deep. There are also suggestions for adding three books to your Appendix N reading list because they contain some details about Cthulhu which H.P. Lovecraft left out.

For more on Cthulhu, see the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book, Crawl-thulhu, In the Prison of the Squid Sorcerer, Shadow Under Devil's Reef, Sanctum Secorum Episode #09 Companion: Two From H.P. Lovecraft, The Perplexing Disappearances in Brambury, The Portsmouth Mermaid, and Three Nights in Portsmouth.

Culpepper's Herbal: A fantasy version of Nicholas Culpeper's famous work (which I have on one of my bookshelves!). This installment describes adder's false tongue and aconite (or yellow wolf's bane). Included is a general description, where to find it, when it flowers, how it relates to astrology, and the potential bodily virtues of the plant (with full rules to use the plant in your game).

The Silver Ball: "Many an adventurer has run afoul of the mysterious Silver Ball, often when they least expect it. Appearing out of darkened shadows, or even mid-air, the Silver Ball does not speak, or make any sound at all. Rather it glides in silently, absorbing the adventurer into its inner volume, and then just as rapidly disappearing."

Tables are included to determine what happens when (if) the Silver Ball ejects you.

Telepathic Rat: Lots of Mutant Crawl Classics characters end up with one, but what exactly can it do? As part of the Kickstarter, Blind Visionary Publications also sent me a Telepathic Rat bookmark, which can act as a character sheet for your pet. For another take on the telepathic rat, see Check This Artifact.

Rites & Rituals Part I: “The DCC rules present spells in resplendent detail. Just prior to the spell section, there is a small passage on Ritualized magic. Here, The Dark Master clearly states that while spells presented therein can be extended in various ways (see DCC, pp.124-126), that the august tome the spells reside in do not include the “great rites and rituals of the era.” This article sketches out how rites and rituals differ from normal spells, and outlines how to present them.”

Included are the Rites of Schlag-Ruthe, which creates the means to dowse for magical power sources, and Dark Phylactery, which allows the caster to set aside parts of their soul “to ward against the death of their body”.

Onward Retainer: A cartoon by Joel Phillips, with a party named (fittingly) Fingers, Dormuth, Whizzler, and Scum.

What is the Smoking Wyrm?: In short, it is a zine that tries to follow in the footsteps of Alarums and Excursions, The Dungeoneer, Troll Crusher, Underworld Oracle, and their ilk.

Greetings morsels! Welcome to the Smoking Wyrm! Inside you will find your greatest delights and most excellent treasures! We cater to the most rarified of tastes! Most compelling of all are the stories people share while they drink deeply of our fine ales and wines. Who is here now, you ask? To the left, a rather muculent entourage yearning to share with you all extant (and some extinct!) knowledge of their fine patron who dwells deep in the sea’s abyssal depths!

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Sanctum Secorum Episode #29 Companion: Creep, Shadow!

The Sanctum Secorum Episode #29 Companion: Creep, Shadow! was written by Bob Brinkman, Clifford Morton, and Ari-Matti Piippo. Art is by Bob Brinkman, Joseph Garcia, Kerd, Miroslav Petrov, and Ari-Matti Piippo. The publisher is Sanctum Media. This product is produced in association with the Sanctum Secorum podcast.

This Episode Companion is based on Sanctum Secorum Episode 29: Creep, Shadow!, which discussed the novel by Abraham Merritt. The featured adventure was Bride of the Black Manse
by Harley Stroh.

Creep, Shadow! was a sequel to Burn, Witch, Burn!, which was discussed on the Appendix N Bookclub podcast here.

Disclosure: Four adventures I wrote (The Arwich Grinder, Creeping Beauties of the Wood, The Imperishable Sorceress, and The Portsmouth Mermaid) were discussed in this episode.

Within you will find:

Campaign Tools

Shadows, Followers, and Whisperers: "Sometimes the darkness has a will and a voice. And sometimes the shadows want things beyond the simple suffering of mortal men." Author Ari-Matti Piippo goes to town on the shadows presented in this novel, supplying everything you need to include similar beings/events in your home campaign.

Really, I cannot say too much about the job done here. In addition to general shadow mechanics, the author delves into specific shadow interactions. To wit:

• A Shadow of the Past: "A shadow of the past generations has stepped into the character’s soul sphere, and is slowly making itself known. This is not necessarily a bad thing, for there is much to learn from the bygone years. But the touch of a shadow is often painful to those who bear it, and results may vary."

• A Follower from Darkness: "Sometimes, a young shadow chooses to follow someone, to move to a better hunting ground and to discover the dark places of the world. Too weak to attack or to subsume the target, it stalks their steps, causing unlikely and unpleasant events unwittingly."

• The Uninvited: "The Uninvited are shadows only in the widest sense of the word: they are creatures from beyond the veil of this reality, existing solely in the void between worlds. They are sometimes able to reach out to the creatures of this plane, in places where the raw, umbral darkness is the deepest."

• Whisperers: "Being alone in a dark place can make you hear things, as your ears become more sensitive to the micro-sounds around you. These sounds are often scary, but usually just tricks your mind plays on you. But sometimes, they are the actions of trickster spirits called the Whisperers, also known as the Knockers or sometimes Pixie-Ghosts."

• The Loving Nightmare: "The Loving Nightmares are the memories and ghosts of those who died with unrequited love in their hearts. These forlorn creatures stalk the umbral realms in search for sustenance, forever hungering for the warm touch of a lover’s embrace. The only thing they remember from their past lives is the yearning; all other traces of who they once were are gone."

Curses

Two curses inspired by Creep, Shadow! are given game mechanics by Bob Brinkman. While it is unlikely that the PCs themselves will fall victim to these curses, because of the specifics of how they are cast, these can be used exactly as were their literary counterparts - as motivation when used against other characters in the milieu, and/or as a threat of their use against the protagonists.

The curses are:

Curse of the Captive Reflection: Although it can only be used under very specific circumstances, those who fall prey to this curse become "subject to every capricious whim of the witch who has them enthralled, so long as the witch holds the mirror on their person."

Curse of the Mason’s Knot: A killing curse that requires the victim's shadow to be measured.

Fiction

The Blood-Drinking Box, Part 5: Clifford Morton continues the tale started in Sanctum Secorum Episode #25 Companion: The Fallible Fiend. This is based of off Terry Olson's Elzemon and the Blood Drinking Box.

As with previous Companions, this volume can help the discerning Dungeon Crawl Classics judge determine how to stat up creatures from whatever movie or literature she likes.

It's free!

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Cult of the Cave Crickets

Cult of the Cave Crickets is a 2nd level adventure by Jeff Demers. Art is by Casey Lynch (including cover) and Marc Moureau (cartography only). The publisher is Dark Star Adventures.

Disclosure: I was given a pdf copy to review, and previously interviewed the author and artist on Raven Crowking's Nest. You can find that interview here.

This is a Lovecraft-inspired adventure which pits your PCs against forces seeking to gain a foothold in the Lands We Know. The author deserves kudos for including notes on what happens if the PCs fail and those forces succeed. Interestingly, the module uses the Lovecraftian idea of a doomed expedition, and gives the judge more than one potential start for the adventure. 

While the idea of a university expedition might seem a bit too modern for some DCC games, universities have existed since the Middle Ages, and there is no reason that a similar group could not exist in just about any setting, Of course, this also means that the adventure should be easily adapted to Crawl-thulhu, Ghostlike Crimes, Weird Frontiers, or the like. Actually, running this with Weird Frontiers would rock, and that is now my recommendation!

I generally prefer monster statistics to appear in the text where needed, but the use of sidebars/callouts is well done here, allowing you to get a clear understanding of what you need where you need it. Layout is very nice.

This adventure has yet to drop, so I want to avoid spoilers, Overall, it is a very nice piece of work, and I am looking forward to running it for my own players. There were a couple of things which might have been caught with another editing pass - a dropped word, a hamlet a day's ride to the south when the PCs have seen no one in days - but there is nothing that isn't easily fixed in play. The adventure does deal with madness, but doesn't provide game mechanics for the effects. I can't decide if that is a strength or a weakness, but it is something you should be aware of. Using the dice chain situationally as needed is probably all that is required. 

As a side note, because of the Lovecraft connection, this adventure uses several family names which have appeared in other Lovecraftian adventures, such as The Arwich Grinder and The Portsmouth Mermaid. This is to be expected, as authors riff off of the names provided by H.P. Lovecraft in his many stories. It is also an opportunity to link things together in an ongoing campaign, which is always a good thing.

Overall, the adventure achieves its goals of invoking Lovecraftian horror imagery in ways both expected and unexpected. This is going to be someone's favorite adventure.

In the hollow depths beneath the earth, where light is forgotten and sanity wavers, lies a terror beyond mortal comprehension!

Cult of the Cave Crickets invites you to descent into a labyrinth of darkness, where mutated insects skitter and fungal abominations writhe. Unravel the mystery of a fallen star and a missing research expedition over two to three sessions of intense gameplay. this is not a mere adventure - it is journey into madness, a confrontation with the unknowable, a test of your very sanity.

Dare you enter the subterranean abyss and confront the Cult of the Cave Crickets?

As of the time of this writing, the Kickstarter for this adventure is still ongoing, and can be found here.

Raven Crowking's Birthday Mathom 2014

Raven Crowking's Birthday Mathom 2014: The Ruined Keep & Additional Materials was written by Daniel J. Bishop with cartography by Daniel J. Bishop. The publisher is Raven Crowking.

Disclosure: I am the author, cartographer, and publisher.

The post offering this item, and giving the requirements for receiving it, appeared on 29 July 2014. As I said in that post, "These are just some fun things that you can get for free because sending them out helps me celebrate the passing of another solar rotation. And because the DCC community is great."

For a discussion of mathoms, see this listing.

This year's mathom included:

The Ruined Keep: This is one of two scenarios originally written for Raven Crowking’s Fantasy Game (RCFG), the “fantasy heartbreaker” I was writing before I switched to Dungeon Crawl Classics. I converted it to be used as a funnel for 12-18 0-level characters or 1st level adventure for 4-6 PCs.

Somewhere beneath the ruined keep lies the Oracle of the Crystal Grotto. The judge need only allow the PCs to learn this, and give the PCs some question that they need to answer, to hook them into the scenario.

If running a 0-level funnel, the PCs’ village may be suffering from an incurable plague, with the Oracle being the only hope of succor. If the PCs are in the early stages of the plague themselves, it will lend a certain piquancy to their mission.

If running a 1st level adventure, the judge may let slip that the Oracle can answer questions about  some treasure that the PCs discovered, or that the Oracle can lead them to spell knowledge or put them on the right track to obtain something else that they desire.

This adventure was reprinted in the Sanctum Secorum Episode #31 Companion: Jack of Shadows.

Bonus Material from Appendix N Authors: This material was compiled from various Appendix N sources and given DCC statistics. Included are:

• Chu-Bu: Minor god from Lord Dunsany (“Chu-Bu and Sheemish”: Saturday Review, 30 December 1911).

• Sheemish: Another minor god from Lord Dunsany (“Chu-Bu and Sheemish”: Saturday Review, 30 December 1911).

• Tree Spirits of the Vosges: From Abraham Merritt's “The Woman of the Wood” in Weird Tales (August 1926), I used my write-up for them almost exactly in Through the Dragonwall, which was intended as an homage to Abraham Merritt.

• Wind Whale: From Philip José Farmer: The Wind Whales of Ishmael (Ace Books, 1971). Careful readers will note a similarity with an encounter in the Appendixes of The Portsmouth Mermaid.

• Aerial Brit: Foodstuff (kind of), also from Philip José Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael.

• Namalee: A character in Philip José Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael, which may be used as an example of how characters can be transcribed without using standard DCC classes.

• The Purple Beast of the Stinging Death: A monster you do not want to encounter, also from Philip José Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael.

• Zoomashmarta: Another god, also from Philip José Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael. Because this god is an idol, as are Chu-Bu and Sheemish, it may be interesting to the reader to compare Dunsany with Farmer.

• Bloodsucker Creeper: Another monster from Philip José Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael.

• Stone Tortoise: Another monster from Philip José Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael.

• Air Shark: Another monster from Philip José Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael.

I have given Bob Brinkman blanket permission to use almost everything in this mathom for Sanctum Secorum Companion volumes, so hopefully these will appear in a The Wind Whales of Ishmael volume at some point. 

Additional Monsters: Dungeon Crawl Classics statistics for the behir, blindheim, hippocampus, and wyvern, using alterations I had made to the creatures for RCFG.

This product is no longer available, although, as indicated above, some of the content is.

Crawling Under a Broken Moon #18

Crawling Under a Broken Moon #18 is written by Reid San Filippo, Bob Brinkman, and Talon Waite (plus a little help from tainted edge games). Art is by Nate Marcel, Claytonian, Matt Hildebrand, James Yoder, Todd McGowan, and Hovig ghostontheshell DeviantArt CC BY-SA3. The publisher is Shield of Faith Studios.

Let's take a look inside.

An Interesting Place to Die: The Menfish Pyramid of the Bass Masters!: This article, by Reid San Filippo and Bob Brinkman, described the titular Pyramid as well as other points of interest along the mighty Misshippy river. If possible, this setting actually outshines Umerican Seattle, described in the previous issue. It is certainly its equal. Crawling Under a Broken Moon just keeps getting better and better.

One of the really nice things about this Interesting Place to Die, as with Seattle, is that the actors are all believably motivated and conflicted with each other. While some possible jobs are supplied as hooks for the PCs, there are no real "good guys" or "bad guys" here. Any one of these people could exist in real life, if he weren't a fishman or a raccoon-man. The result is that there is a plethora of things to do, and the material in the article could provide shifting alliances, or even be backdrop to another threat.

This is material that you can come back to again and again, making it well worth the purchase price, even if the issue ended here. But it doesn't.

Hybrid Character Class: Author Talon Waite supplies a "new alluring character class to get hooked on". Fishmen always seem to want to mate with humans (see H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, or my own The Portsmouth Mermaid). In Umerica, as shown in the previous articles, the Bass Masters have found a different way to go about it. The Hybrid is the result of such a union.

Not only is this a playable class, but it is one that has a niche that is, so far, unique: aquatic fish person who is unnaturally beautiful and who can release concentrated pheromones three times a day. This class could easily appear in almost any flavor of Dungeon Crawl Classics milieu.

Blood Dimmed Tides: These are rules for combat in water deeper than knee-high, including new equipment, by Talon Waite. Again, this is usable in nearly any milieu.

The Old Mutant and the Sea: These "New vehicle rules for watercraft to ride the toxic waves" do for aquatic craft what Issue #6 did for ground vehicles and Issue #7 did for air vehicles, planes, and mobile suits.

Twisted Menagerie: If you are going to hang around the Misshippy, you might run into some strange beings. In this case, Crawling Under a Broken Moon supplies you with:

• Whalephant: A powerful carnivorous elephant/whale hybrid. They travel in pods, so beware!

• Hippotuar: A xenophobic hippopotamus centaur whose upper body is as much hippo as human. 

• OctoWolf: An extradimensional mixture of wolf and octopus, with a love for shiny objects as well as for prey.

• Menfish: The descendants, presumably, of Lovecraft's Deep Ones. "It is said that these deep sea Menfish, or ‘fishfolk’ as they are commonly known, existed on Urth long before humans ever did."

• Hybomination: The final creature, by Talon Waite, is an example of "Love Gone Terribly Wrong"...apparently, not all fishmen/human couplings produce unnaturally gorgeous offspring. Some breed the terrible hybominations, which are driven to eat and breed with humanoids. 

All of these monsters are as usable in almost any Dungeon Crawl Classics milieu, so long as there is sufficient water for them to appear.

Once more, Crawling Under a Broken Moon knocks it out of the park!

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Shadow Under Devil's Reef

Shadow Under Devil's Reef is a 1st level adventure by Jon Hook. Art is by Peter Mullen (cover), Chris Arneson, Tom Galambos, Cliff Kurowski, Jesse Mohn, and Chad Sergesketter. Cartography is by Stefan Poag. The publisher is Goodman Games.

We all knew that, sooner or later, Goodman Games was going to release a module closely inspired by the writing of H.P. Lovecraft, and Halloween of 2017 was the time to do it. Jon Hook, who supplied statistics for 22 Lovercraftian Monsters for Dungeon Crawl Classics in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book was clearly the person to do it. His adventure in that same guide, The Thing That Should Not Be, is also solidly Lovecraftian, and would be a good follow up adventure to this one when the PCs reach 3rd level.

As the cover painting makes clear, Deep Ones are involved...but they are not all that is involved. Structurally, because both adventures pay homage to The Shadow over Innsmouth, there are similarities to The Portsmouth Mermaid. These do not, in any way, hurt either adventure, and it would be perfectly feasible to run both in the same campaign. Likewise, although this was released as a Halloween module, there is no reason to wait until then to play it. It is a good adventure with solid Cthulhu mythos elements.

The perfect October release! A raging storm has made the waters around Devil’s Reef impossible to navigate safely. The noble galleon, The Royal Dawn, has run aground and Princess Kaeko from faraway Fu-Lamia is now missing! Untold riches and glory await those who successfully find the princess and safely deliver her to Black Sand Port. As the greedy and ambitious adventurers set out to find the princess, their thoughts linger on the few Royal Dawn survivors that washed up on the beach with bodies that were corrupted by strange frog-like mutations. What kind of evil awaits the adventurers on that forbidden island?

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Sanctum Secorum Episode #27 Companion: The King of Elfland's Daughter

The Sanctum Secorum Episode #27 Companion: The King of Elfland's Daughter was written by Bob Brinkman, Jen Brinkman, and Clifford Morton. Art is by Blacknemera, James Zapata, Joana Rita Gomes, Jonathan R. Neill, Kenneth Sofia, Miroslav Petrov, Nicolas Raymond, and Thibault Girard. The publisher is Sanctum Media. This product is produced in association with the Sanctum Secorum podcast.

This Episode Companion is based on Sanctum Secorum Episode 27: The King of Elfland's Daughter, which discussed the novel by Lord Dunsany. The featured adventure was Through the Dragonwall by Daniel J. Bishop.

The King of Elfland's Daughter was also discussed on the Appendix N Bookclub podcast here.

Disclosure: I wrote the featured adventure for this episode. In addition, four adventures I wrote were discussed in the episode (Creeping Beauties of the Wood; The Portsmith Mermaid; Prince Charming, Reanimator; and Three Nights in Portsmouth), as well as three Harley Stroh adventures I converted to Dungeon Crawl Classics rules (Curse of the Kingspire, Dragora’s Dungeon, and Well of the Worm)

Within you will find:

Curses

Appendix C in the core rulebook deals with curses in-game, as they appear in Appendix N fiction. There are some excellent uses of curses in Dungeon Crawl Classics adventures - The Sea Queen Escapes and The One Who Watches From Below spring immediately to mind - but you can never have too many examples to draw from.

Curse of Impotent Fuel: Supplied by Jen Brinkman, this curse keeps the home fires from burning. Or the travel fires, for that matter. While this might seem minor, when you consider how much we humans rely upon fire - and not only for warmth and light - you might treat this one with a bit more respect.

Curse of the Mislaid Broom: Witches use brooms to get around, and this minor curse by Jen Brinkman makes a witch's broom much harder to find.

Curse of the Faerie Ring: This major curse, by Bob Brinkman, traps its victim in Elfland.

Fiction

The Blood-Drinking Box, Part 2: Clifford Morton continues the tale started in Sanctum Secorum Episode #25 Companion: The Fallible Fiend. This is based of off Terry Olson's Elzemon and the Blood Drinking Box.

Magic Items

Black Stick of Ziroonderel: This black stick, owned by the witch Ziroonderel, has a number of powers which are more useful around the house than in an adventure. Nonetheless, items like this are great for giving a campaign milieu verisimilitude, and these minor powers can also be used to impress PCs. Write-up by Bob Brinkman.

Broom of Flight: Next to her familiar, this is a witch's best friend. Write-up by Jen Brinkman.

Sword of Alveric: "Using runes forged of fallen thunderbolts, the witch Ziroonderel crafted this magical blade, capable of standing against all but the mightiest runic magics of Elfland." Seriously, Lord Dunsany is worth reading for his creation and use of magic items alone. For another example of the creation of a magic sword which would be cool to emulate in a Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure, see The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth. Write-up by Bob Brinkman.

Monsters

Author Bob Brinkman presents five creatures from Elfland:

Hounds of Erl: Elf-hounds bred to hunt unicorns.

Knight of Elfland: The hollow knights of Elfland. For similar creatures see the Sanctum Secorum Episode #24 Companion: Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Revelation of Mulmo.

Troll, Dunsanian: These are nothing like the classic Dungeons & Dragons troll, which is modeled off the work of Poul Anderson and the Harold Shea stories of by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. Instead, these are fun-loving creatures which serve the King of Elfland.

Unicorn: Exactly what it sounds like.

Will-o’-the-Wisp: Not the Dungeons & Dragons creature of the same name, but diminutive beings of Elfland.

As with previous Companions, this volume can help the discerning Dungeon Crawl Classics judge determine how to stat up creatures from whatever movie or literature she likes.

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