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. One such fanzine is the aforementioned Crawling Under A Broken Moon.
If Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 5 drew heavily from one of the inspirations for the setting and fanzine, then Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 draws just as heavily, if not more so, from another. This is the Mad Max series of post-apocalyptic films, which popularised the notions of vehicular combat between radically customised vehicles across the post-apocalyptic landscape. It begins by introducing a new Character Class, ‘The Petrol Head’, a car-crazy scrapper with a supernatural bond with his vehicle. Tending towards the Chaotic Alignment, the Petrol Head has an Ace Die that can be used when rolling for vehicle control or stunt rolls, vehicle appraisals and repairs, and collision damage inflicted on other vehicles. The Class also has a Mojo Die, rolled whenever Luck is expended to determine how many points are available and recovers spent Luck by spending time behind the wheel of his vehicle. The ‘Fuel Hound’ ability means that he can sniff out nearby sources of fuel and he begins play with a buggy or small car, but can of course, steal, salvage, or even build bigger. The Class is simple and easily slots into the rules provided for vehicles and vehicular combat presented in the rest of the issue.
The rest of the rules continue with ‘Mayhem Behind the Wheel’ which details the basic effects of speed. The latter is given a level between one and ten, equating between ten and one-hundred-and-fifty miles an hour, giving each level a Handling Modifier for vehicle control rolls, a Wipeout Die rolled when a vehicle control roll is failed, and a Ram/Collision Damage Bonus, as well as a rough figure for movement, both per hour and Round. A vehicle control roll is made for various actions and manoeuvres, such as making a sharp turn, a bootlegger turn, drifting, avoiding hazards, and jumping gaps of various sizes, which can be modified by driving at night, with flat tires, accelerating too fast, and so on. If the vehicle control roll is failed, a roll has be made on the ‘Wipeout Result’ table. This can result in a skid or spin, minor, full, or multiple rolls, and worse! ‘Vehicular Manslaughter’ presents the rules for vehicle-to-vehicle combat, which are kept relatively abstract to prevent play from bogging down in technical details. Thus, range is kept to three bands—‘Close & Personal’, ‘On your Tail’, and ‘In the Distance’, with the latter equating to a variable number of steps between two vehicles. The lead vehicle sets the basic speed of the chase, and then anyone behind decides their own speed, typically to gain enough steps to get within ‘On Your Tail’ and ‘Close & Personal’ ranges. Vehicles that fall twelve or more steps behind loose the chase, but those with ‘On Your Tail’ and ‘Close & Personal’ ranges can make attacks. Drivers and passengers can make ranged attacks against another vehicle and its driver and passengers. This can be with personal weapons or it can be with flamethrowers, grapples and tow hooks, chemical weapons, flamethrowers, and more. It can also include magic! Plus, of course, one vehicle can ram another.
‘Popping the Hood’ covers what happens when car combat is over and a vehicle has come to a stop, and everyone aboard needs assess the damage and how much work is needed to repair it. This is determined by a rolled on the ‘Wreck Damage’ table with a modifier for the amount of damage suffered. ‘Fuel Consumption’ highlights fuel as an important commodity and a factor that a Petrol head will need to keep track of during play. Every vehicle has a Fuel Tank and a Guzzle rating, the latter a penalty to Fuel Use rolls. A Fuel Use roll is made after each hour or travel and after a battle, with modifiers for speed, time, weight, damage, and more.
‘What’s Under the Hood?’ lists numerous vehicles according to Type, Quality, and Traits. Type includes motorcycles, buggies, cars, vans, pickup trucks, and trucks of all sizes, all with their own stats and Traits. The stats look very similar to that for an NPC or monster, although with additions for Fuel Tank and Guzzle ratings, plus various Traits. For example, a Pickup Truck looks like this:
Pickup Truck: Init +1; Atk rundown +5 melee (2d8+Ram); AC 16; HD d12;
Speed Level cruise 3/ max 5; Act 1d20; SV Fort +4, Ref +0, Will NA; Fuel Tank
1d10; Guzzle 4.
Basic Traits: Extra Cargo ×2, Rugged, Hauler
To the basic stats can be added a Quality Level—‘Beater’, ‘Keeper’, or ‘Custom’—and various Traits. A ‘Beater’ Quality Level vehicle just runs, most of the time, a ‘Keeper’ vehicle is relatively reliable, and a ‘Custom’ vehicle is a prized artefact of a bygone age. Each Quality Level modifies the basic stats for a vehicle, starting with its Hit Dice and Wreck Check, and then more and more as the Quality Level improves. The list of Vehicle Traits is extensive. It includes ‘Armoured’, ‘Dangerous’, ‘Fuel Efficient’, ‘Off Road’, ‘Open’, ‘Weapon Mount’, and a lot more. This being a Dungeon Crawl Classics setting, it even includes the ‘Possessed’ Trait, which means that the vehicle is powered by a trapped elemental or minor demon. This provides extra bonuses, but changes the fuel needed from petrol or alcohol to something like raw meat or sweets!
The issue changes tack slightly with ‘The Random Road Gang Generator’, a guide to creating gang threats and NPCs to be encountered in the wastelands. The options determine the appearance of the gang, the weapons it is armed with, what vehicles it has, and its motives, as what special features it might have. The latter can include anything from trained beasts to combat drugs. The trained beasts range from pterodactyls and giant ant workers to pigtipedes and ape-men. There are numerous options here that the Judge can randomly determine, or simply pick from. Also listed here are the setting’s vehicular weapons, oddly out of place. Otherwise, this a really good set of tables and entries, allowing for a lot of variation and individualisation between one road gang and another.
Penultimately, ‘d100 Stuff Found on Apocalyptic Roadways’ is not just a table of random stuff to find, but also a table of encounters too. It is pleasingly useful. Lastly, the entry for the ‘Twisted Menagerie’ is the ‘Petrol Zombie’. Written by R. Dale Bailey, Jr, this is not a new monster, though it is new to Dungeon Crawl Classics. The Petrol Zombie is a mutated undead which stores petrol in its guts, which can then spew in an attack that can cause Petrol Sickness. This can cause cancerous boils that erupt and turn the defender into another Petrol Zombie, or at the very least, difficulty breathing, confusion, and vision loss! This is a nasty monster, but at least if unpunctured, its stomach can be pumped to collect the petrol.
Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 is serviceably presented. It is a little rough around the edges, as is some of the artwork, but overall, it is another decent affair. Of course, the problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 is that much of its contents have been represented to a more professional standard in the pages of The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, so it has been superseded and superseded by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material.
Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 5 was a good issue, full of lots of tongue in cheek post-apocalypse Swords & Sorcery fun, and whilst it may not be Swords & Sorcery, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 continues that fun. It handily adapts its source material and makes vehicles, vehicular combat, and vehicular mayhem very playable using Dungeon Crawl Classics. The familiarity of the source material also means that this is the most accessible of the issues of the fanzine to date.
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