RPGPundit Presents #16: The Great City of Arkhome

RPGPundit Presents #16: The Great City of Arkhome was written by RPGPundit, with artwork by Michael Clarke, kreatiw, Rorius, and imagepluss. The publisher is Precis Intermedia.

Although not advertised as a Dungeon Crawl Classics product, readers of RPGPundit's blog will know that he runs (or ran) a gonzo post-Apocalyptic Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign known as the "Last Sun". This is not post-Apocalyptic in terms of our world having undergone an Apocalypse. Or maybe it is. It is difficult to tell.

Because not all of the RPGPundit Presents series are compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and none of them are printed under the compatibility license, I shall do my best to list them when I believe they are designed for use with DCC. Others are more generic, or designed to be used for other games (in particular Lion & Dragon).

Adding to this confusion, the Great City of Arkhome is explicitly part of RPGPundit's Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign, to which he refers as "the crown jewel of my Last Sun setting". The relationship to DCC is obvious (for instance, "the Frog-Daemon Bobgobdabulz the Unspellable, who dreams of obtaining the magical power necessary to transform the whole canyon into an enormous swamp"), but the product itself is essentially system-neutral.

Within you will find a brief discussion of the Factions of Arkhome, as well as generators to determine the contents of various towers, based upon which levels you are in, and the events that might occur there.

For example:

"An entire level dedicated to the breeding, milking, and slaughtering of giant snails can be found here. This provides the bulk of lower-class food supplies for the city. Some of these farms occupy two levels of a tower. The single largest snail farm is in one of the towers controlled by the Snake Witch (it is four levels in size)."

Examples of events include:

"Students at a magical academy are dying under mysterious circumstances. The headmaster is a low-level wizard desperate to find the cause. A chaos-creature summoned by one of the hapless students may be responsible."

"The Thieves Guild has put out a reward for the live capture of one of their former members—One-Eyed Jack. He has skimmed a fortune from their earnings and is currently in hiding, trying to buy his way out of the city by subtle means."

"A mostly abandoned level has had an outbreak of zombie-ism among local beggars, who are now threatening to move into a more-populated residential shantytown."

Although this was obviously written with Dungeon Crawl Classics in mind, I would have marked in "honorary", except that it links directly to RPGPundit Presents #20: The Great City of Arkhome 2, which has an occupations table for Arkhome.

From the annals of the RPGPundit's (in)famous Last Sun gonzo fantasy campaign, this supplement focuses on one of the last known cities that still has a majority of human inhabitants. Surrounded by an immense desert region, Arkhome is littered with enormous towers that are linked to each other through bridges. The Assassin King, Snake Witch, Old Families, and various gangs vie for power. Random level and event tables are also included.

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RPGPundit Presents Volume 4: Last Sun: Hipster Elves!

RPGPundit Presents Volume 4: Last Sun: Hipster Elves! was written by RPGPundit, with artwork by Michael Clarke, itskatjas, and OlyaTropinina. The publisher is Precis Intermedia.

Although not advertised as a Dungeon Crawl Classics product, readers of RPGPundit's blog will know that he runs (or ran) a gonzo post-Apocalyptic Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign known as the "Last Sun". This is not post-Apocalyptic in terms of our world having undergone an Apocalypse. Or maybe it is. It is difficult to tell.

Because not all of the RPGPundit Presents series are compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and none of them are printed under the compatibility license, I shall do my best to list them when I believe they are designed for use with DCC. Others are more generic, or designed to be used for other games (in particular Lion & Dragon).

Hipster Elves are the dominant elven culture on the Northern Continent, living in domes that they no longer know how to use or maintain. "In the best of cases, only about 7% of all Hipster Elves bother to learn anything these days. Those who do tend to know very little. The other 93% have no idea about the outside world, though they are sure it is just like they imagine from the safe space of their bubble-shaped dome. This makes the Hipster Elves inevitably doomed."

This product includes a basic description of Hipster Elves, a description of Hipster Elf domes (including the information you need to determine if they are inhabited, and, if so, by what), and a Hipster Elf occupation table. Hipster Elves can have occupations like "Activist: Pointless", armed with a "Staple-Gun (1d2)" and carrying "1d100 leaflets about a cause no one actually opposes" or a "Vegan Barbecue Cook" armed with a "Knife (1d3)" and carrying "inedible garbage he claims tastes just like meat".

Descriptions of some of the more unusual Hipster Elf occupations are also given. For instance, a Professional Allergic is described as: "These Elves have no actual allergies, but feign having several life-threatening ones that limit what they can eat or how much they can work. They often worry about the presence of gluten in foods that have no gluten by definition."

Clearly, RPGPundit's sociopolitical views color his descriptions in Hipster Elves, but whether this is a good thing or a bad thing must be determined by the individual reader. So long as you don't take yourself too seriously, you might find some useful gaming material here.

From the annals of the RPGPundit's (in)famous Last Sun gonzo fantasy campaign, this supplement details the most common surviving species of Elves on the surface world: Hipster Elves. Discover the secrets of this decadent and largely useless people's high-tech domes, their culture, and a hilarious table of over 50 new 0-level professions for Hipster Elf characters.

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RPGPundit Presents #19: Frantabulous Gonzo Robot Generator (Honorary)

RPGPundit Presents #19: Frantabulous Gonzo Robot Generator was written by RPGPundit, with artwork by Michael Clarke, svetlin, JuliannaMillion, studiostoks, and JoeBakal. The publisher is Precis Intermedia.

Although not advertised as a Dungeon Crawl Classics product, readers of RPGPundit's blog will know that he runs (or ran) a gonzo post-Apocalyptic Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign known as the "Last Sun". This is not post-Apocalyptic in terms of our world having undergone an Apocalypse. Or maybe it is. It is difficult to tell.

Because not all of the RPGPundit Presents series are compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and none of them are printed under the compatibility license, I shall do my best to list them when I believe they are designed for use with DCC. Others are more generic, or designed to be used for other games (in particular Lion & Dragon).

Adding to this confusion, the sample robot, BOLT-o, definitely appears in RPGPundit's Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign. Nonetheless, the product itself is essentially system-neutral, and the statistics given for BOLT-o would need to be reworked to some degree in order to be used with DCC. For instance, BOLT-o's Hit Dice (needed for determining critical hit results) and save modifiers are not provided.

This is a useful product for judges running games in Mutant Crawl Classics, the Umerica of Crawling Under a Broken Moon, Crawljammer, or similar settings.

The generators included are:

Random Robot Names: Includes a d30 table for model, as well as a d30 table for prefixes and a d20 table for suffixes, to name your robot. For instance, IBID-Max is a Jacintian Fem-Bot model.

Random Statistics: Includes Robot Form (d20 table with 10 options), Hit Dice (d20 table with 8 options), Initiative (d20 table with 9 options), and AC (d20 table with 10 options).

IBID-Max was created by selecting 15 on the previous tables, so, keeping with that, our robot is a box on wheels with a 30' base movement, has 10d8 Hit Dice, causes 2d6+2 damage with an unarmed attack, has a +2 bonus to Initiative, and an AC of 20.

Random Weapons: A d20 table, with 10 options. The table refers you to RPGPundit Presents #3: High Tech Weapons for more information, but I am going to assume that the reader has access to Crawl! fanzine #8, High Caliber Hijinks, The Umerican Survival Guide, or Mutant Crawl Classics rather that create a listing for that volume.

Our robot now has an energy blade (2d8 damage, ignores 4 points of AC).

Random Special Qualities: A d20 table with 20 options. Our robot has a recording device to record and play back audio and/or video.

Other Random Qualities: Includes Robot's Creator (a d20 table with 20 entries), The Robot Is... (d30 table with 30 entries), The Robot Wants (d20, 20 entries) and Robot Hobbies (d20, 20 entries). Our robot was created by Sky-Nazis, is 40% mithral (immune to non-magical attacks), wants to perfect a time machine, and raises chickens as a hobby.

One could see how this process not only creates potential for encounters or long-term play, but also creates hooks by implying, for instance, that Sky-Nazis were (and perhaps are) a thing. Or that they might make a box-on-wheels as a fem-bot.

The product also includes BOLT-o as a sample robot.

Randomly generate robots, androids, cyborgs, and other artificial entities for gonzo-themed OSR (or other fantasy) games. Whether mindless machines or intelligent bots, this collection of random tables can produce a variety of model designations, names, forms, and other qualities.

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RPGPundit Presents #20: The Great City of Arkhome 2

RPGPundit Presents #20: The Great City of Arkhome 2 was written by RPGPundit, with artwork by Michael Clarke, Steve Robertson, Samiramay, Pavelmidi, kuco, and Songool. The publisher is Precis Intermedia.

Although not advertised as a Dungeon Crawl Classics product, readers of RPGPundit's blog will know that he runs (or ran) a gonzo post-Apocalyptic Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign known as the "Last Sun". This is not post-Apocalyptic in terms of our world having undergone an Apocalypse. Or maybe it is. It is difficult to tell.

Because not all of the RPGPundit Presents series are compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and none of them are printed under the compatibility license, I shall do my best to list them when I believe they are designed for use with DCC. Others are more generic, or designed to be used for other games (in particular Lion & Dragon).

This product specifically relates to RPGPundit Presents #16: The Great City of Arkhome, adding more details and an Arkhome 0-level Occupations table. More random events and encounters are supplied, and more information is presented about various aspects and personalities of Arkhome. For example:

"The Evil Parrot was created by a chaotic wizard long ago, as a kind of familiar. He granted it an extraordinary intelligence in order to act as spy and assassin. The Evil Parrot was too evil, however, as it murdered its own master. It has since proceeded to enact a reign of terror, without anyone even suspecting it."

No game statistics are supplied, so you will have to invent your own.

From the annals of the RPGPundit's (in)famous Last Sun gonzo fantasy campaign, this supplement focuses on one of the last known cities that still has a majority of human inhabitants. Expands on issue #16 with a random 0-level occupation table, 3 random event/encounter tables (surface, canyon cave, and sub-surface), and more.

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RPGPundit Presents Volume 15: Last Sun: Gazetteer of the Middle-Northern Wilderlands

RPGPundit Presents Volume 15: Last Sun: Gazetteer of the   Middle-Northern Wilderlands was written by RPGPundit, with artwork by Michael Clarke, Microstocker1, imagepluss, ddraw, and filkusto. The publisher is Precis Intermedia.

Although not advertised as a Dungeon Crawl Classics product, readers of RPGPundit's blog will know that he runs (or ran) a gonzo post-Apocalyptic Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign known as the "Last Sun". This is not post-Apocalyptic in terms of our world having undergone an Apocalypse. Or maybe it is. It is difficult to tell.

Because not all of the RPGPundit Presents series are compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and none of them are printed under the compatibility license, I shall do my best to list them when I believe they are designed for use with DCC. Others are more generic, or designed to be used for other games (in particular  Lion & Dragon). In this particular case, there is at least a blog post describing this product as being specifically related to the author's DCC campaign.

Despite the name, you will find neither a map of the Middle-Northern Wilderness, nor any long description of the same. There is a five-paragraph outline of the region, but that hardly qualifies as a gazetteer in my books.

What you will find is a 0-level profession table for the region, which allows for the creation of Dwarven Mole-Ranchers, Elven Human-Advocates, Halfling Stranglers. and Human Torchbearers. In many ways, the humans get the short end of the stick as far as interesting occupations go.

There are also notes on professions, in case you don't know what an Elven Blogger's recording device does, or need stats for a Halfling Chicken Rider's mount. Given that this also describes items like the blaster gun and the jetpack, it may be useful to judges running games in the Umerica of Crawling Under a Broken Moon, or mined for ideas usable in Mutant Crawl Classics.

From the annals of the RPGPundit's (in)famous Last Sun gonzo fantasy campaign, this supplement focuses on the Middle-Northern Wilderlands. This is home to tiny groups of human survivors that were devastated by a zombie outbreak, the Rose Dome populated with Hipster Elves (see issue 4), cannibal halflings, and more. Also included is a table of 75 0-level professions for Dwarf, Hipster Elf, Human Survivor, and Feral Halfling characters. 

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RPGPundit Presents #26: Mutant Hordes of the Last Sun (Honorary)

RPGPundit Presents #26: Mutant Hordes of the Last Sun was written by RPGPundit, with artwork by Michael Clarke, Mikesilent, ddraw, gertot1967, and Vitaly_Gertsik. The publisher is Precis Intermedia.

Although not advertised as a Dungeon Crawl Classics product, readers of RPGPundit's blog will know that he runs (or ran) a gonzo post-Apocalyptic Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign known as the "Last Sun". This is not post-Apocalyptic in terms of our world having undergone an Apocalypse. Or maybe it is. It is difficult to tell.

Because not all of the RPGPundit Presents series are compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and none of them are printed under the compatibility license, I shall do my best to list them when I believe they are designed for use with DCC. Others are more generic, or designed to be used for other games (in particular Lion & Dragon).

Referencing RPGPundit Presents #15, #16, and #20, this volume provides a quick and dirty method of generating mutants. It could be considered compatible with the method described in Crawling Under A Broken Moon #2, or could be used to make NPC mutants in a Mutant Crawl Classics campaign.

In the gonzo world of the Last Sun, human beings are an endangered species. The time of the Great Disaster caused an enormous amount of ecological damage to the world. Not only did many humans die, but many more were mutated into horrific monsters and monster-races. Create mutant characters for your gonzo games, from the Color and Gold Mutants to the Vegan and Mud Mutants. Determine special abilities like the cyclops, warted, and psychic.

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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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