Kaiju Crawl

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’, which sadly, is a very North American event. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2023’, which takes place today on Saturday, July 22nd, 2023, the publisher is releasing not one, not two, but three scenarios, plus a limited edition printing of Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. Two of the scenarios, ‘The Rift of the Seeping Night’ and ‘Grave of the Gearwright’, are written for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and appear in the duology, the DCC Day 2023 Adventure Pack. The third, Crash of the Titans, is a scenario for Mutant Crawl Classics notable for sharing the same cover as that for the limited edition printing of the rulebook. It is Crash of the Titans which is being reviewed here as a preview of ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2023’.

Crash of the Titans is designed for a party of between four and six Third Level Player Characters which takes them into a unique environment to face—well, actually, to not face—but dodge and work around a pair of kaiju-sized monsters! The Holy Medicinal Order asks the Player Characters to help find a replacement power source for its most precious device of the Ancients—a rejuv-chamber—which is capable of healing almost any injury or illness. It requires a Q-Pack, one of the rarest of power cells and the Order knows of only one source where another can be found—the City of Storms. This is located in a nearby city of the Ancients and is renowned for the electrical storms which play out above its skies. However, when the Player Characters arrive, they discover that the skies are clear and the area, buildings and all, sits in a swamp of acidic water. This though is the very least of their problems.

As the Player Characters explore the area, they disturb not one, but giant mutants, one an insectoid monstrosity, the other all tentacles, and both towering over the Player Characters and the area. Both monsters wander the area randomly, stomping on the Player Characters if they notice them, and battling each other when end up in the same location. The region consists of six hexes surrounding a central hex which is a lake. There are encounters to be had and locations to be explored and scavenged in each of the six surrounding hexes amongst the old industrial and residential buildings. In other adventures for Mutant Crawl Classics, the number of artefacts that the Player Characters can find and make use of does sometimes feel scanty, but here the number feels about right given the limited number of locations and size of the scenario. The progress of the Player Characters is both hampered and driven by the looming presence and threat of the giant mutants, but it is also helped by a much larger, but more of an environmental nature mutant, which literally whispers hints to them as they move around the area.

Eventually, the Player Characters will find a Q-Pack, but will be faced with another problem—how to charge it! Thus sets up the second half of the scenario as the Player Characters ascend the vine-entwined walls of the area’s only standing building. This is a power tower and once inside, they will need to find a way to restore it to full operation and charge the Q-Pack, setting up the climax of the scenario in true King Kong kaiju style!

Crash of the Titans is a short adventure, which can be played in a single session, but probably best plays out in two. There is a sense of openness to the scenario with its relatively flat, swamp location combined with the ominous presence of the two giant mutants wandering around the region, sometimes clashing and fighting each other, forcing the Player Characters to flee. All of this can be played out on the scenario’s map which is presented in full colour inside its wraparound card cover. The scenario even comes with a pair of standees, one for each giant mutant, which the Judge can cut out of the cover and then use to indicate where each giant mutant is on the map. Whilst this would give the scenario a sense of space, would a Judge really want to cut holes in Crash of the Titans’ fantastic cover?

Physically, Crash of the Titans is very nicely presented. The cover hints at the adventure to come and the map inside the wraparound cover is very nice. In fact, it is actually good to see a map for Mutant Crawl Classics done in full colour like this. The scenario is otherwise well written, easy to understand, and straightforward to run.

If perhaps Crash of the Titans is missing anything it is that the whispering ally that the Player Characters encounter during the scenario could have been developed further, perhaps as a Patron—an alternative to the Patron A.I.s usually encountered in the Mutant Crawl Classics? Otherwise, Crash of the Titans is a great little scenario for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, one which packs a lot of inventive adventure into its few pages. Overall, of the releases for ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2023’, Crash of the Titans is the best of the three scenarios released.