[Fanzine Focus XXXII] Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 2

On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another popular choice of system for fanzines, is Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, such as Crawl! and Crawling Under a Broken Moon. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game.

Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror is one such fanzine. Published by Discerning Dhole Productions, this fanzine presents Lovecraftian investigative horror through the lens and mechanics of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. In Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 1, presented a ‘Character Funnel’, a feature of Dungeon Crawl Classics which introduces a setting and sets them up for play with Zero Level Player Characters. Each player controls not one, but four Zero Level characters, and whichever one of them survives the ordeal of the scenario has proved themselves strong enough to advance to First Level and so gain a Class in the traditional Class and Level, Dungeons & Dragons set-up. In the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, the surviving characters go on to be Fighters, Thieves, Clerics, Wizards, and so on. In Crawl-thulhu, the surviving Player Characters will go on to be Adventurers, Docs, Roughnecks, Scholars, and Socialites. The Character Funnel in Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 1, sent them scampering around Dunwich in ‘A Horrible Day at the Dunwich Fair’ on a day trip from hell as they react to the dread events of HP Lovecraft’s ‘The Dunwich Horror’.

Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 2 picks up where the first issue left off. Written by John Potts and Annie Hunter, it covers skills, Classes, recovery from death and insanity, magic, and campaign tips. It wastes no time in getting down to business. So there is no forward or editorial. Instead, it starts with ‘Skills’. In Crawl-thulhu, there are just sixteen skills covering most of the actions an Investigator might undertake. This handled mechanically by the Investigator’s rolling a die and adding the appropriate attribute and Level bonuses to equal or exceed a Difficulty Check. Actual skill level is handled by the ‘dice-chain’, which ranges from the three-sided die all the way up to the thirty-sided die. An Investigator begins with a ten-sided die in all of his skills. He will be trained in one single skill, determined by his Occupation, rolled for during the character creation process. For example, the Secretary receives the Search skill, the Undertaker the Stealth skill, and the Antiquarian the History skill. A trained skill means that the player rolls a twenty-sided die instead of the ten-sided die. Acquiring Levels during play gives the Investigator skill points, which can be expended to raise a skill level to Expert and then Master. This means that the player rolls a twenty-four-sided and a thirty-sided die respectively.

‘Magic’ introduces Lovecraftian magic to the mechanics, if not the roleplaying game, of Dungeon Crawl Classics. Character Level does not work as a bonus for Magic skill tests and Sanity is lost for casting spells, the higher the Level of the spell and the more effective it is, the greater the Sanity loss. This is keyed to the spell descriptions and especially the fact that Magic-Users in Dungeon Crawl Classics are attempting to roll as high as possible to get the best possible result. In Crawl-thulhu, the practitioner of the arcane arts does not want to do that that, because the higher the roll, the bigger the effect, the more the caster is dealing with abstract mathematics he was never meant to engage with, and the higher the Sanity loss. What Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 2 does not do is provide extensive lists of spells. Instead, the author provides a ‘Mythos Spell Name Generator’ which can be used to inspire the creation of new spells, modelled on those found in the pages of Dungeon Crawl Classics, or simply rename them.

Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 2 introduces the Classes of the setting. There are six of these, each typical—even clichés—of Lovecraftian investigative horror—and each with an indication of their Weapons Training, Unique Skill, Skills they can train in, and more. The six are the Adventurer, the Doc, the Gumshoe, the Roughneck, the Scholar, and the Socialite. The Adventurer is the guide, tracker, and crypt delver a la Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. His unique skill is Deeds of Derring-Do, using a Deeds die to carry off incredible feats of action, such as leaping from one moving car to another, grabbing a rope to swing across a chasm just in time, and so on. The Doc is a Doctor, who with his ‘Dissection’ can dissect a Mythos creature to evaluate its biology and weaknesses to gain an attack bonus against the creature and at higher Levels grant half of this bonus to his fellow Investigators. The Gumshoe is the classic private investigator, who with the ‘Sharpened Skills’ Unique Skill receives bonuses to find or gain clues and information. Roughnecks are the combat specialists and receive not one but two Unique Skills. One is ‘The Old One-Two’, which simply adds an extra die to all attack rolls, whilst ‘Hardened to Threats’ increases his Armour Class. The Scholar analyses the Mythos as an intellectual, his ‘Inquisitive Mind’ Unique Skill giving him a Mythos Die to roll whenever he would lose Sanity. The result reduces the amount he would lose. Like the Roughneck, the Socialite has two Unique Skills. ‘Force of Will’ is the first, which enables the Socialite to burn points of the Personality attribute to gain a bonus when dealing with people. Personality point loss is recovered daily. The other is ‘Deep Pockets’ which grants him extra funds each week.

Despite the obviously pulpy nature of the rules and play of Crawl-thulhu, it is still a deadly setting, both mentally and physically. Two tables reflect this. ‘Mental Trauma’ provides a list of effects should an Investigator be reduced to zero Sanity and recover. This includes the permanent loss of Sanity as well as effects such as short-term memory loss, expressed as a loss of Experience Points, which is worse depending upon whether Investigator cast a spell or encountered a Great Old One, or even believing that you are dead and so will not eat or drink or even gain Experience Points unless cured of the delusion. ‘Near-Death Experience’ does the same for being reduced to zero Hit Points and recovering. It typically involves the permanent loss of the Stamina attribute and a physical trauma such as arrhythmia or constant tiredness.

Lastly, ‘Crawl-thulhu Campaigns’ explores the options for taking Crawl-thulhu beyond the ‘A Horrible Day at the Dunwich Fair’ Character Funnel of Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 1. One is to use Doctor Henry Armitage of Miskatonic University as a patron who could suggest missions and investigations the Investigators can look into. Another is generate random Lovecraftian or Mythos-related plots, mostly via generators available on DriveThruRPG, but it also references the excellent Stealing Lovecraft too. A third is re-use existing material. To that end, it provides a quick and dirty conversion guide for Call of Cthulhu. The fourth is to suggest various modules for Dungeon Crawl Classics which can be used in conjunction with Crawl-thulhu. Some will require tracking down, but all of them are useful starting points for play beyond the Zero Level of the Character Funnel.

Physically, Crawl-thulhu Issue 2 is nicely put together. It is clean and tidy, and the artwork decent throughout.

This second issue nicely builds on the foundations laid by Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 1. However, Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 2 still leaves you wanting more. Some of that will come in the third issue, but something like some plot hooks or scenario seeds might have given the Judge something to work with herself until that issue arrives. Until that happens, Crawl-thulhu: A Two-Fisted ’Zine of Lovecraftian Horror Issue 2 continues firming up the foundations of Lovecraftian investigative horror for Dungeon Crawl Classics.