[Fanzine Focus XLIV] Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 14

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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 the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is the aforementioned Crawling Under A Broken Moon.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 14 was published in in August, 2016 by Shield of Faith Studios. It continued the detailing of post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth which had begun in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1, and would be continued in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, which added further Classes, monsters, and weapons, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 3, which provided the means to create Player Characters and gave them a Character Funnel to play, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4, which detailed several Patrons for the setting, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 5 explored one of the inspirations for the setting and fanzine, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 continued that trend with another inspiration, Mad Max. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 7 continued the technical and vehicular themes of the previous issue, whilst also detailing a major metropolis of the setting. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 8 and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 were both a marked change in terms of content and style, together presenting an A to Z for the post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 10 switched back to more traditional content by focusing on monsters, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 11 examined some of the gods and patrons of Umerica and Urth. Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine No. #12 continued the humour of the setting by presenting the dark face of Buddy O’Burger, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 13 focused on adventures and monsters..

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 14 is less focused, but it goes big—really big! So big, it needs the pages of Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 15 to actually be complete. As the editor puts it, the issue can only be summed up with one word—“DINOTASTIC!!!!”. The issue takes the whole of what was once New Mexico and slaps it under a bright green dome and under that dome, it shoves the whole of Jurassic Park! Standing five miles high and two hundred miles in diameter, ‘The Mysterious Glowing Dome’ presents a huge prehistoric theme park gone to seed and haywire as a ‘semi-hex crawl’. This is a combination of hexcrawl with content and encounters already included and empty hexes that have been left up to the Judge to fill, and to that end, the article includes a set of ‘Random Hex Tables’ for creating interesting features, such as buildings, hazards, inhabitants, and resources. Sub-tables enable the Judge to create the details of chemical leaks, mutagenic exposure, park vehicles, and more. The rest of the article describes the details of some thirty-three hexes. For example, Hex #102 contains the overgrown ruins of a hotel and entertainment complex connected by a mix of wide, paved streets and broken down electric trolley cars, where there is a small chance of finding still useful mechanical parts and a single, very well hidden Saurian lookout tower, which has a chance of being manned with guards, whilst in Hex #112 is ‘Kidz Fun Land’, a once-family friendly attraction near the main gate that was previously a petting zoo for docile stunted dinosaurs, but is now ruled over murderous feral-children, who remain oddly youthful and have strange powers and who lay deadly traps for intruders. There is a mix of broad detail and specifics here, that the Judge can develop in addition to the spaces where she can add her own content.

All of this is backed up with a dozen rumours and descriptions of the park’s three factions—the Dinosaurs, the Scale Empire, and the Once-Men. ‘The Mysterious Glowing Dome’ focus on the first two, saving the third and latter for the next issue. The dinosaurs are a mix of what it calls ‘Purebreed’ dinosaurs and dinosaur aberrations as you would expect in a post-apocalyptic future like that described in the fanzine and The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide. The Scale Empire is an empire of Saurians, intelligent humanoid descendants of several species of dinosaurs whose ancestors were subject to gene modification experiments conducted by the park. There are three ‘Saurian Character Classes of the Scale Empire. The ‘Sorceraptor’ is a Lawful caster of unpredictable magic able to imbue his magic claw with even magic energy; the Sky-Sneak is rash, if daring acrobat with bat-like wings, keen-eyed, and capable of feats of trickery including bombardment, sneaking, and backstabbing; and a Battle Chanter is a large, solid herbivore whose bellowing can penalise enemies or give bonus or Rhythm Effects such as ‘Quick-Foot’ or ‘Droning Chant’ that reduces the enemies’ Action die by one step! The Battle Chanter is the Saurian equivalent of a Bard and its Rhythm Effects come in three tiers.

The three Scale Empire Classes are a means to create NPCs and if necessary, a means to provide a source of new Player Characters, whilst ‘The Mysterious Glowing Dome’ could form the basis of any number of campaigns. Player Characters could be dumped into it without having any aware of where they are, they could grow up there with no idea of the outside a la Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship, or be visitors from the outside world, the default set-up given for the setting.

The setting is filly supported in ‘Twisted Menagerie’, the bestiary for Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 13 provides solid support for the Umerica and Urth. The scenario is serviceable and more traditional in its treatment of its post apocalypse, than the satire and tastelessness of the previous issue. Of course, the content (though its tone may not) will work with other post apocalyptic roleplaying games and not just the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game or Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic.. These include ‘Once-Men’, the descendants of the park staff and patrons caught in the interdimensional storm that ripped the park from its original home dimension. They are mostly peaceful, idolize the images of the normal humans that still survive within the park, and have their own special mental powers. They are followed by stats for ‘Purebreed Dinosaurs’ and ‘Dinosaur Aberrations’, the latter are just Purebreed Dinosaurs, but with energy cannons, multi-lens eyes, and reinforced skeletons. Lastly, ‘Proto-Saurians’ are the evolutionary ancestors to the Saurians of the Scale Empire that can be domesticated as violent shock troops.

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 14 is as serviceably presented and as a little rough around the edges as the other fanzines in the line. Of course, the problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 14 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 by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material.

Although not fully complete, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 14 packs a lot of gaming content in its pages. The ‘Jurassic park’ setting of ‘The Mysterious Glowing Dome’ delivers all of the gaming potential in thirty pages that the similar The Valley Out of Time fanzine arduously worked to avoid for a whole six issues! It has content that that Judge can use right now, but with room aplenty for her to add her own, and the content can also used in multiple different roleplaying games, not just the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game or Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic.

Friday Fantasy: Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below

We are all fascinated with what is to come, what will happen in our futures, such that many consult horoscopes and seek out fortune tellers and pray to the gods for answers. Such means are rarely reliable, but what if there was a source of true prophecy? A place where answers of true meaning and accuracy can be gained for those willing to seek out its location and pay the price? There have always been rumours and stories of such places, but it one case they are actually true. The Cave of Secrets does exist and if the seeker of his future can find it and pay coins, gems, or magic items as tribute, he can ask the questions that he wants answers to. There are other rumours about Cave of Secrets though… So many men and women have sought answers that a great hoard of treasure has been amassed down the ages. Enough to buy whole kingdoms! Razor-edged swords and powerful wands! Precious gems and jewels that rain through your fingers! Which means that the Cave of Secrets has attracted an entirely different class of person  interested in what it contains! Mercenaries! Robbers! Raiders! Treasure hunters! Adventurers! Now the adventurers have followed the map with an ‘X’ marked ‘Cave of Secrets’ and stand before the cave entrance with its wooden sign which reads, ‘ENTER’.

This is the set-up for Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below, a scenario published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Designed for a group of six to eight Player Characters of First Level, the scenario is notable for three things. The first is that it is the winner of the Mystery Map Adventure Design Competition that was included in the pages of the Free RPG Day 2012 adventure module and the second is that as the competition winner, the scenario is actually good. The third is the nature of the curse that dominates the scenario and for the length of the scenario at least, will change how the players roleplay. The curse is triggered by the Player Characters’ greed when they touch the wrong items. Anyone who suffers the curse collapses to the floor, comatose, as his eyes tear themselves from their sockets and flesh grows back over the sockets, and then…! Then, the victim’s eyes move across his body and slide onto the floor and across the walls. The player is no longer roleplaying his character’s body, but just his eyes and he can send them hither and thither. However, the eyes can be attacked and there are some things, like the Eye Slime, which actively hunt these cursed eyes. Further, the only way in which the Player Character can communicate is by blinking or other eye moment and by tracing letters in the air or writing them down, which takes time. To facilitate this, the scenario includes a handout which the Judge can copy and cut out so these is a gap which the Player Character’s eyes can be seen. On the plus side, the Player Character can dominate unintelligent creatures, but this is not easy and the Player Character still cannot communicate using his voice, only the growls and howls of the creature dominated. Ways to remove the curse are suggested, but they are challenging, and ultimately, so is having to roleplay without being able to speak. This does not mean that it will not be entertaining though!

The theme of eyes runs all the way through Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below. Sets of eyes slide across the walls, blinking and spying on the Player Characters, they bounce down from looming stalks to batter and bruise them, and in one case, they even attempt to blink a message to them! The Player Character Eyes can slide through pipes and cracks and the scenario facilitates this, though the party will need to penetrate beyond the Cave of Secrets that make up the first part of the dungeon. Beyond lies the Temple, clearly a working area, although oddly devoid of its inhabitants. This does not mean that it is free of any dangers. For example, the Player Characters will be able to scour the library for the means to result the eyes to victims of the Cure, but it triggers an attack upon them by every single book in the library! They will likely also discover references here to ‘Shigazilnizthrub’ and ‘The One Who Watches From Below’. There is a room containing ‘Guard Pillars’, eyestalks of a gargantuan subterranean beast that pierce up through the floor and once aware of intruders, bounce up and down on them and rolling over them. The Temple level is the most detailed of the scenario’s four levels and there is a lot here for the Player Characters to discover and examine.

Underneath the Temple are the Brood Pit and the Undertemple. The former injects an arcano-technological element into the scenario as the location of the birthing pools of the abominable Halfling Hybrids that work and protect the complex. The latter is the location for the scenario’s finale and what a finale it is! For players who feel that they have not had enough combat up until now, will certainly get in the final scene. It takes place in ‘The Vault of Eyes’, a massive cavern marked by an abyssal central pit surrounded by mounds and mounds of treasure! There are even wheelbarrows nearby that the Player Characters could use to ferry treasure out of the cavern. Fortuitously, this is one of the treasure vaults of Shigazilnizthrub. Fortuitously, Shigazilnizthrub objects to thieves. So, before the Player Characters have time to go over treasure there is, a titanic black rubbery mass of tendrils, fins, and eyestalks shoots up from the depths of the cavern and surveys all before it. At the same time, the eyes on the walls of the cavern all open and look at the Player Characters. It is a sweet moment of cosmic horror… and choice. Do the Player Characters stay and fight? Do the Player Characters make a run for it? Do the Player Characters make a run for it and attempt to take as much treasure as possible? Make no mistake, this a very challenging, deadly encounter that could end in a total party kill. Or they could defeat Primordial Titan and make off with everything, and become legends. It is possible. More likely, the scenario will end somewhere in between as the Primordial Titan thrashes its tentacles up and down, and the Player Characters make a run for it with what treasure they can carry, chased all the way through the dungeon to the cavern exit by eyes sliding along the walls. It is a memorably great finale.

To support the Judge, Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below includes notes on how to run the final scene, in particular how to use the Primordial Titan’s ‘powerful suggestion’ which has been changed from ‘domination’ to make for a more interesting and less player agency-denying encounter. There are playtest notes too and a bonus encounter that that did not appear in the original printing of the scenario. There are also another three handouts, images of various locations. It is a pity that there are not more of them as they really help the players visualise the dungeon.

For the long term, Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below details Shigazilnizthrub as a Patron. This includes his Patron Taint, three Patron spells—Remote Seeing, The Crawling Eye, and Book of the Dead, and his Spellburn. This is an entertaining addition to Dungeon Crawl Classics canon and would work well with Player Character and NPC wizards.

If there is an issue with Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below it is that the treasure rewards do feel very light. At least in terms of what the Player Characters can carry in terms of coin and gems and thus carry out of ‘The Vault of Eyes’. The scenario is supposed to be giving the Player Characters life-altering amounts of treasure, but the scenario does not allow for that and effectively, the encumbrance rules feel as they limit what can be carried.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below is as well presented as you would expect for a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The writing, the artwork, the cover in particular, and the cartography are all excellent.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below is a great dungeon crawl infused with a sense of cosmic horror, given lots of detail and entertaining encounters, and topped off with brilliantly weird gimmick of a curse. The combination will not only present a challenge to any player, but also really make for a fun playing experience.

—oOo—

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio’s Gambit was the previous scenario •

The next scenario is Dungeon Crawl Classics #82: Bride of the Black Manse.

Friday Fantasy: Idylls of the Rat King

The silver shipments out of Silverton north to the capitol of Archbridge have suddenly ceased. Goblin bandits have been attacking the caravans laden with silver ore, killing innocent miners, and stealing cargo. Their base of operations has been identified as the old Gannu Silver Mine, abandoned almost a century ago. Perhaps the Player Characters learn off this when they stop off at the Silver Cup Inn in the village. Or they are asked to find out why a young nobleman is suffering a vile fever after the caravan he was travelling with was attacked by Goblins. Or perhaps the Player Characters are approached by the leader of the Miner’s Guild whose operations have been sabotaged and caravans raided by goblins. He believes that the Goblins are being aided by an ancient evil that was the actual cause of the mine being closed almost a century ago. Whichever way in which the Player Characters learn of the situation in Silverton, they find themselves outside the collapsed tunnel entrance to the Gannu Silver Mine with Goblin footprints all about, ready to investigate. If this set-up sounds familiar, that is because it is. It is the set-up to Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the RatKing, the very first scenario in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, published by Goodman Games in 2003. It is also familiar because Reviews from R’lyeh only recently reviewed Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King in 2023 on its twentieth anniversary. So why review it again quite so soon? The reason is that Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King that it is being reviewed here. Instead, it is Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King that is being reviewed.

Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls ofthe Rat King is not for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, or even Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game. As its full title suggests, it is instead designed for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Or rather adapted for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Intended to be played by four to six Player Characters of First to Third Level, what it does is combine the modern rules of the world’s most popular roleplaying game with the sensibilities of the Old School. However, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King does get off to an odd start by directly quoting the opening paragraph from the original: “Remember the golden days of role playing, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Well, those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics feature bloody combat, intriguing dungeons, and no NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know must be there somewhere.” Of course, as an adaptation, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King will deliver all of those elements, but it is an odd way in which to start the scenario, referring back to the original in such a direct manner, but without referring to the rules its uses. It is almost as if the publisher forgot to rewrite the opening paragraph to account for the adaptation.

However, beyond that, there is relatively little that is different from the original scenario. It still recommends the inclusion of a Player Character Rogue and a Good-aligned Cleric, as well as a Fighter with a silvered weapon. The scenario consists of a four-Level ‘Abandoned Silver Mine’ infested with Goblins and rats, but there is worse to be found the deeper that the Player Characters go. This is revealed first in a fun encounter at the end of the First Level with the Goblin Boss, who turns out to be a Wererat! To get to him though, there is the upper level of the mine to explore and plenty of stiff opposition from the Goblins to overcome. The latter due to a division in the Goblin tribe between those who are Wererats and those who are not, and those who are not, are frightened of those who are. This creates a little bit of tension in the scenario, though not necessarily something that the Player Characters are going to be aware of necessarily. What they are likely to be aware of is the number of secret chambers and vaults, given that under Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, it is easier to find secret doors, which are scattered across this and all levels of the mine. These are worth finding, not just because they might contain treasure, but because they may also contain silvered or magical weapons and useful clues to the secrets of the mine.

The encounter with the Wererat Goblin Chief is a sign of things to come. There are some entertaining encounters with the tribe’s torturer and jailer—into whose custody any Player character who is captured will end up, a Goblin sorcerer, a Gnome necromancer, a vampiress, and ultimately, the real villain behind the recent events. These last two encounters are tough, but they do present opportunities for roleplaying as opposed to rollplaying. In between, there is a whole level still being worked by miners still. Zombie miners, but miners, nonetheless.

There are some changes between Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King and the original Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King. For example, there is no daycare area or family room area for the Goblin tribe on the second level in Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King as there is in Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King. Which means there is no suggested Experience Point penalty should the Player Characters decide to slaughter the females and children of the Goblin tribe. This shifts the feel of the mine in original scenario from being the home to a Goblin tribe to this updated version in which the mine feel more like a Goblin military outpost. Also missing are the zombie badgers from the third level, but the several temples dedicated to the rat gods, Narrimunth and Nimlurun, remain. Effectively, some of the original spikiness of Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King has been scoured to take the edges off, so it is smoother, more palatable to a wider audience.

Rounding out Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King are three appendices. The first details the new monsters for the scenario. They include a Goblin Priest, Horned Giant Rat, Ogre Skeleton, and Wererat Goblin. The second details the village of Silverton. It is a one-page description of the village and its notable inhabitants. The third contains three handouts. If found during the adventure, the players and their characters will be able to learn about the secret history of the mine.

Physically, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King is well presented and, in many ways, an improvement. The maps are a vast improvement with some actual detail, but they are small and not as easy to read as they could have been. It also needs editing in places.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat Kingg has been republished before, most notably with its sequel, Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King, rewritten for use Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, and released at Gen Con 2008. Surprisingly, the scenario was not republished on its twentieth anniversary in 2023, nor indeed updated for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics. This update, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King is not unwelcome, but feels both slightly rushed and an odd choice in terms of roleplaying rules. That aside, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King is a serviceable scenario now brought to a wider audience.

Friday Fantasy: Glipkerio’s Gambit

In aspiring to great power and in obtaining the patronage of a great power, perhaps a god, a demon, or a celestial, there is sometimes a cost to be paid, a service to be rendered in return such patronage. So it is that the Three Fates, patron to the wizard in the party, call upon his aid and thus the aid of all in the party. There is no denying that is a great hook. It gets the Player Characters involved immediately because the wizard owes his patron a great deal and he stands to lose much, starting with his reputation and standing with the Three Fates, if he says no. What the Three Fates want him and the rest of the party to do is to recapture their temple, the Temple of Destiny. They can tell the Player Characters that it has been captured by the forces of Chaos, but no more, for something blocks their vision of it. To do so, the Player Characters must ascend Mount Tyche, in particular, the Staircase of Fate, close to the top of the mountain, in order to enter the Temple of Destiny and determine who leads the forces of Chaos in its takeover and defeat them.

This is the set-up for Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio’s Gambit, a scenario published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It is designed for a party of Second level Player Characters and it can be played through in one or two sessions. What has happened is that the wizard, Glipkerio, emboldened by his dark patron, Obitu-Que, has brashly seized the Temple of Destiny and turned it into his own lair, tapping into the Fates’ wellspring of power to fuel his own magical research. In particular, he has been able to infuse an amulet with enough power to control time and will use that against the Player Characters in what is the best scene in the scenario. However, to get to that scene, the Player Characters have to get through the rest of scenario and the scenes and encounters that make up the rest of the scenario are not bad, they are far from inspiring or exciting. The scenario begins well, with the Three Fates summoning the Player Characters when they return home from a night out and asking for their help. It does not have to be the Three Fates and they could instead be replaced by a Player Character’s own patron, but in this instance, it is the Three Fates and they give the Player Characters a magical artefact, a thread from their spinning wheel to protect the wearer from the forces of Chaos. Once the Player Characters accept the task and are transported near Mount Tyche to bring their ascent. The Player Characters can follow the path that winds round the steeply conical mountain, climb up the side, or fly, but pretty much, after a handful of fights, they get to the top.

If the encounters up the mountain underwhelm, the random events do add some colour and many feel a bit more ominous. For example, the phrase ‘Turn back now’ has been chiselled into a rock wall in gigantic letters and the Player Characters can discover the severed head of a Dwarf propped up on a rock which will croak the same phrase again and again, “You-ooo go-ooo noooooow.” The scenario picks up a pace when the Player Characters reach the Staircase of Fate just below the entrance to the Temple of Destiny. There is a fun puzzle here for the Player Characters to crack, though it has the potential undermine the gift that the Fates gave them, and between that and the Temple of Destiny has turned the temple entrance into a Corpse Gate, a gate of undead flesh, all grabbing arms, formed from the corpses of the villagers who lived below the mountain. If the Player Characters get too close, they will be grabbed, but a Cleric’s Turn Unholy ability will release them or do damage, and if a Thief wants to pick the lock, he has to reach into a gaping mouth!

The finale sees the Player Character confront the wizard, Glipkerio, not just once but multiple times. This is because he has used his newly infused Chronomantic Amulet to reach back in time and recruit younger versions of himself. Fortunately, these younger versions of himself are not as powerful as he currently is, though there are more of them. The number of duplicates also limits his (or their) spellcasting ability, but the Player Characters will need to kill them multiple times before they stop reappearing, and eventually, they will only be facing one, which transforms into the strange cat-headed, partially furry, one tentacled arm creature depicted on the cover. It is a cinematically fun final boss battle which brings the scenario to an entertaining climax.

Unfortunately, an exciting climax does not make up for an otherwise unexciting and underwhelming scenario. There are few opportunities for roleplaying, but worse, the scenario mostly ignores its themes of fate and the Fates with the Three Fates and time travel and manipulation with Glipkerio’s newfound powers. There are elements of both in the scenario, but not enough. Some of this can be explained by a lack of space, the scenario barely running to nine pages in length, but it would have been interesting if the Player Characters had been given the option of exploring three possible Fates somehow and perhaps been flung around in time as well. There is some element of time manipulation in the scenario at the start of the Player Characters’ ascent of the mountain with a strange encounter that foreshadows the scenario’s finale, and whilst a neat set-up, that again could have been  a stronger encounter.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio’s Gambit is as well presented as you would expect for a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The writing, the artwork, and the cartography are all excellent

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio’s Gambit is a serviceable adventure and no more—as written. It feels constrained by its slim page count, so if a Judge wants to take it and develop its themes and create some engaging encounters and events around them, whether that is the Player Characters chasing Glipkerio through time or deciding between their fates, then Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio’s Gambit could live up to its ideas and its potential.

—oOo—

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos was the previous scenario •

The next scenario is Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One who Watches from Below.

[Fanzine Focus XLIII] Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 13

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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 the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is the aforementioned Crawling Under A Broken Moon.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 13 was published in in June, 2016 by Shield of Faith Studios. It continued the detailing of post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth which had begun in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1, and would be continued in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, which added further Classes, monsters, and weapons, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 3, which provided the means to create Player Characters and gave them a Character Funnel to play, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4, which detailed several Patrons for the setting, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 5 explored one of the inspirations for the setting and fanzine, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 continued that trend with another inspiration, Mad Max. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 7 continued the technical and vehicular themes of the previous issue, whilst also detailing a major metropolis of the setting. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 8 and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 were both a marked change in terms of content and style, together presenting an A to Z for the post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 10 switched back to more traditional content by focusing on monsters, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 11 examined some of the gods and patrons of Umerica and Urth. Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine No. #12 continued the humour of the setting by presenting the dark face of Buddy O’Burger.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 13 is less focused, but continues the support for the Umerica and Urth. Its initial focus is on adventures in the setting. This begins with ‘Fantastic Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Idea Generator’ by Diogo Nogueira. With a roll of a few dice on six categories of tables—Goals, Locations, Antagonists, Supporting Cast, Complications, and Rewards—it enables the Judge to create a ready plot to develop further as needed. Each category has its own subset of tables, so the Judge can visit it again and again when short of inspiration. The actual adventure in the issue is ‘An Interesting Place to Die: The Rail Tunnels of the Delphia Beast’ by Reid San Filippo. It is rumoured that under the flattened ruins of old Delphia city is a network of tunnels where a foul Beast guards a fabulous cache of valuable salvage. The Player Characters get to explore the ruins of Delphia first and there are tables for hazards and encounters, and if they are lucky, holes with interesting, probably deadly things in them. Eventually, they will find their way into the ruins of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority subway system, mostly free of debris, but now the hunting ground for the deadly Delphia Beast, which is actually the acid-spitting Railipede born from one of the old subway trains. It is a sparse mini-dungeon, one easily visualised because we know what subway tunnels look like and roamed by a xenomorph-like creature on rails...

David VC does a ‘Racial Recast’ with ‘Grays (Elf Alternate)’. This brings the infamous little grey men of UFOlogy to Umerica and Urth. The usually Lawful Grays are annoyingly superior in attitude to the peoples of the worlds they visit. A Gray has Night Vision and is fitted with a Transponder so that their racial authority, the Gray Directorate, knows where he is and can serve as a Patron. He is vulnerable to iron though, but always has a silver suit which protects him against the environment as well as other advanced technological devices, such as a Holographic Cloak, Plasma Sword, Floating Drone, NecroNeural Net (which creates a zombie from a corpse to serve a Gray), and so on. A Gray begins with such item in addition to the Silver Suit and will gain more from the Gray Directorate. The Superior Mind of the Gray means he is good at working out what Alien Tech does. It suggests a Psionic variant, but this requires access to CrawlJammer #3. Lastly, it adds the Gray Directorate as a Patron, not a deity, but actually an interstellar government that actively monitors the activities of Grays on primitive planets. Only Humans worship the Gray Directorate. In keeping with the post-apocalyptic nature of the setting this is a darker character type than the Elf it replaces and it would make a good addition to a more general Science Fiction roleplaying game using the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules.

‘Death Bots’ by Ryan Moore provides the means to create the war machines built by the Ancients to fight in the final wars of the Apocalypse. In the future of Umerica and Urth, they can be found wandering the wastelands, stored in ancient bunkers, or being used as personal vehicles or mobile bases by Cyber-sorcerers. They can be the size of a small car or a mobile building, and the tables will define each Deathbot’s technological base, means of locomotion, weapons, and special abilities. Straightforward, quick and easy to use.

Lastly, the ‘Twisted Menagerie’ gives the stats for the Railipede, the monster from the earlier ‘An Interesting Place to Die: The Rail Tunnels of the Delphia Beast’, which does not actually need to travel along the rails of its network, it just prefers to. The ‘Illxiljlixlli’ or Luck Eater is an extradimensional demon which varies in appearance depending whether it is starving, hungry, sated, or corpulent, eating on the luck on its decidedly unlucky prey!

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 13 is as serviceably presented and as a little rough around the edges as the other fanzines in the line. Of course, the problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 13 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 by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 13 provides solid support for the Umerica and Urth. The scenario is serviceable and more traditional in its treatment of its post apocalypse, than the satire and tastelessness of the previous issue. Of course, the content (though its tone may not) will work with other post apocalyptic roleplaying games and not just the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game or Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic.

Friday Fantasy: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos

There is no denying the ambition of Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos. It plucks the Player Characters out of their ordinary adventuring lives and places them on a cosmic stage before the Lords of Chaos, forces them to enter their service and hunt for a lost artefact, and whilst promising rich rewards, dangles in front of them the possibility of betrayal at the hands of their own—and this not in a scenario for Eighth or Ninth Level Player Characters, but First Level Player Characters! Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos opens in strong fashion, with an emphasis on roleplaying. Yes, it is something of a deus ex machina, but it hooks the players and their characters immediately. It also sets up the Player Characters to distrust each other and not only is that intentional, the scenario gives great advice on how to do this. What happens is that each of the Player Characters is approached privately by one of the Lords of Chaos and asked to hand over the lost artefact to them individually in return for greater reward. To handle this, as you would expect, the Judge is advised to take each of the players aside and play this approach by a Lord of Chaos in private. So far, so good, but the advice goes one step further by suggesting that the Judge take aside the player with the least trusted character and talk to him, but not have one of the Lords of Chaos approach his character. This is the equivalent of a ‘chef’s kiss’, because it sows distrust even further and for once, the least trusted Player Character will be innocent despite what his fellow adventurers might believe. To ensure that this has the desired effect, it is also suggested that the scenario be run with Player Characters who have bonded in a Character Funnel.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at theCourt of Chaos is a scenario published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It begins with the Player Characters being drawn to the Court of Chaos and given a fait accompli by the Lords of Chaos—find the Yokeless Egg, an artefact infused with the First Chaos, which has been kept locked away for eons and forgotten about on the Plane of Law. The Player Characters are given a chance to discuss the situation and even partake of some hospitality in their own guest rooms, which is when each of the Lords of Chaos (and other individuals) approaches one of the Player Characters. Each of the Lords of Chaos will approach a different type of Player Character, as determined by Race, Class, or gender, before they are all brought back together the following morning. The individual, one-on-one scenes between the Lords of Chaos and the Player Characters are enhanced by handouts that individual depict all five. One is a heavily armoured, three armed warrior wearing a cloak of dead persons’ faces, another is a giant eyeball walking on chicken legs, and yet another is a hooded and cloaked figure whose face appears to be pair of elephantine trunks that end in dead hands! These are not pleasant encounters despite their honeyed words!

Of course, the Player Characters will accept the task allotted to them. They are then transported to the Plane of Law. The Yokeless Egg is actually easy to find, the Player Characters being dropped more or less on its doorstep, or at least, the cataphract it is contained in. Which it turns out, because this is the Plane of Law, is a giant flawless diamond. Inside, the Player Characters find five doors behind which there is room containing a trial of some kind. The trials are themed ‘Creation, ‘Construction’, ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Sacrifice’, and ‘Judgement’, and most of them consist of quite straightforward, even obvious—though obviousness would suite the Plane of Law—puzzles. The players and their characters will quickly work their way through them. That said, the most fun trial suggests that the Game Master place a piece of modelling clay in front of the players and have them work it into an object that will potentially solve the puzzle. It is a pity that the other trials are not as inventive as this. Unfortunately, the final scene on the Plane of Law involves the Player Characters facing off against better reflections of themselves, which is a cliché.

Once the Player Characters have the Yokeless Egg, they can return to the Plane of Chaos and stand before the Lords of Chaos. It is here that pandemonium can reign, depending upon the decisions of the players and their characters. If they have collectively decided to give the Yokeless Egg to the Lords of Chaos as a whole, then they will all receive a reward. However, if one or more of the Player Characters has decided to give it to just the one Lord of Chaos (or someone else), then there is the possibility that the other Player Characters could get left behind, stranded on the Plane of Law, that a fight begins between the Lords of Chaos and their minions, and the betrayer having earned the ire of his fellow Player Characters. The scenario covers a variety of outcomes, depending upon whom the Player Characters actually give the Yokeless Egg.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos is joyously different to other scenarios for the roleplaying game. There is scope for roleplaying and room for intrigue, as well as inherent intra-party conflict and betrayal. Which may well mean that the scenario is not suitable for every group of players, but still, it is very well handled in this scenario. It is neither overplayed or not underdone, instead, simply setting it up so that the players and their characters make the choice and thus determine in part how the scenario will end. Nor is it necessarily game-ending and the consequences are fully explored—at least within the scope of the scenario. What lets the scenario down slightly is the middle act, the scenes on the Plane of Law which lean towards the prosaic. They are not terrible, or even bad, but rather are simply not as fun or as exciting as the scenes involving the Lords of Chaos, whether for the Judge or the players. Especially for the Judge though, who is given a great cast of NPCs to portray with their capricious natures and malicious motives.

—oOo—

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos also includes a second scenario, ‘War Pit of the Chaos-Wizards: A Savage Spectacle, Starring Your 2nd Level Adventurers!’. This can be run as a thematic sequel to the main scenario, since it since it starts with the Player Characters being plucked from wherever they are and being asked to serve a servant of Chaos. This time though, it is not one of the Lords of Chaos, but a member of the Xeno-Coven, a loose confederation of ultra-powerful, chaotic sorcerers who aim to conquer or subjugate the multiverse in the name of the Chaos-gods.

This is Akhen-Am-Set, Scion of the Seventh Ritual of ‘Death, The Devourer’, an Adept of ancient, pre-Punjaran necromancy, who walks around on a carpet of insects so it looks like she floats. The Xeno-Coven holds irregular ‘Shadow-Meets’ at which its members work out agreements as to how they will work together and who will hold the Proctorship and be its leader. To avoid losses amongst their numbers, they field forces in an arena, the winner being declared the Proctor. This time, Akhen-Am-Set has decided that the Player Characters will be her proxies. There is, though, a catch.

The Player Characters have to die first. Which is not the bad bit. The bad bit is that Akhen-Am-Set raises them as undead and has them fight in the arena. Which has various consequences—especially for any Cleric. However, she does not just raise them as undead, she specifically raises them as ‘ento-morlocks’, or insect-ghoul hybrids, complete with features from the insect in question. Which can be Scarab Beetle, Scorpion, Wasp, Ant, or Mantis. Mandibles, insect eyes, acid-spitting, multiple legs, stingers, and more. Which is cool. All of which raises the Player Characters from Second Level to Third Level. Which is also cool. The scenario also details the forces fielded by Akhen-Am-Set’s rivals, including fey-like hyenas, reptilian metal golems, a cone-shaped humanoid demon with flesh of hardened lava, and Zeta Rettaxans from the planet Romulac.

Ultimately, ‘War Pit of the Chaos-Wizards’ is a big battle fought over several rounds in a star-shaped with eight points, which the Player Characters must study if they are to take advantage of its various environmental effects. It takes a little set-up as the Judge will need to copy and prepare new character sheets for the players and lastly, whilst the scenario is a fun fight-fest with a creepy moment to two here and there (such as when the Player Characters are transformed in ‘ento-morlocks’), it does have a sting in the tail…

—oOo—

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos is as well presented as you would expect for a scenario from Goodman Games. The artwork is good throughout with the illustrations of the Lords of Chaos on the handouts really standing out. The cartography is also as good as you would expect.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos is not perfect. The scenes on the Plane of Law are underwhelming in comparison to those on the Plane of Chaos. This is because the scenes on the Plane of Chaos really are fun and the potential for intra-party feuding and betrayal is intelligently handled. Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos lives up to its ambition and delivers something just a bit special and really memorable for First Level Player Characters.

—oOo—

Dungeon Crawl Classics #79.5: Tower of the Black Pearl was the previous scenario •

The next scenario is Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio’s Gambit.

—oOo—

Goodman Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place from Friday, 29th to Sunday 31st of May.

[Fanzine Focus XLII] Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 12

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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 the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is the aforementioned Crawling Under A Broken Moon.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 12 was published in in January, 2016 by Shield of Faith Studios. It continued the detailing of post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth which had begun in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1, and would be continued in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, which added further Classes, monsters, and weapons, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 3, which provided the means to create Player Characters and gave them a Character Funnel to play, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4, which detailed several Patrons for the setting, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 5 explored one of the inspirations for the setting and fanzine, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 continued that trend with another inspiration, Mad Max. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 7 continued the technical and vehicular themes of the previous issue, whilst also detailing a major metropolis of the setting. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 8 and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 were both a marked change in terms of content and style, together presenting an A to Z for the post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 10 switched back to more traditional content by focusing on monsters, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 11 examined some of the gods and patrons of Umerica and Urth.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine No. #12 continues the humour of the previous issue and puts satire right on the cover with the depiction of a clown-like server delivering a tray of fast food whilst wearing a badge that reads, “I HEART to serve man.” Which can be interpreted in many ways. Except not, because let us not dance around the issue—or rather, the theme of the issue. To cut to the chase, Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine No. #12 is the cannibal issue and Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine No. #12 is the fast food issue. Both of which are combined in a cannibal cult that is a parody of certain global fast food franchise. Subtle Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine No. #12 is not.

The issue also continues the examination of religion from the previous issue, because patrons know that at every branch of Buddy O’Burger, for a small donation, be served fresh,  tasty food by happy clowns and receive the word of the humour-filled gospel of Buddy O’Burger, the beneficent Burger god. So effectively, Buddy O’Burger is very minor cult with a lot of branches. Except that both the restaurants and the cult dedicated to the Burger god are a front. Where Buddy O’Burger, the beneficent Burger god appears dedicated to feasting and customer service, it is actually dedicated to feasting, customer service, and cannibalism! Most people accept the branches of Buddy O’Burger for what they are, but there are heretics and naysayers (otherwise known as food critics), who criticise both food and the cult. Often when a new branch of Buddy O’Burger opens up, they are the first to disappear.

As well as presenting the history of the cult from its founding to its current widespread status, the issue presents a handful of scenario hooks, amusingly listed under the ‘O’Burger Adventure Value Menu’. These include having to rescue a warlord’s children that have been harvested for the O’Burger value menu or having to defend against an O’Burger hit squad determined to stock up on meat. It is possible to play a Buddy O’Burger cultist in the form of ‘The Clownight’, who looks like he is wearing clown makeup, but has actually been transformed into a clown and been ‘blessed’ with all of a clown’s garish, bulbous features! ‘The Clownight’ has rubbery skin so gets an Armour Class bonus, a jaw filled with multiple rows of ever-sharpening, gnashing teeth for bite damage, and can gorge himself to temporarily enter food rage and gain an Attack Bonus Die. As Classes go, ‘The Clownight’ is definitely weird and creepy, and possibly too unsettling for some due to the high probability that the Class is a cannibal.

Buddy O’Burger himself gets the full Dungeon Crawl Classics treatment as a god in ‘Buddy O’Burger: the god clown patron’, which though replicates some description given earlier in the issue, does present some entertaining spells for his devotees. The Crave inflicts hunger on the caster’s opponents, Healing Feast summons a range of options from the O’Burger menu, and Meat Harvest opens a portal from the High Burger Temple through which giant gloved hands reach forth and grab the caster’s opponents for meat processing. The parody of the fast food franchise continues with ‘The Circus of Friends: The pantheon of the immortal servants of Buddy O’Burger’ including the Grumpus, a purplish, hippopotamus-like creature only placated by a frosty O’Burger milkshake, but is rumoured to mumble out prophecies that come true (which is why he is kept locked up by Buddy O’Burger in the High Burger Temple where he has his own agenda) and the Fry Filcher, a shadowy cloaked figure who steals french fries, but actually operates as a spy for Buddy O’Burger. Parallels between these servants and the other characters from that other fast food franchise are intentional, but given a sharp twist.

In between, ‘What is in that Jolly Meal box?’ gives a range of thematic, but minor artefacts such as Pocket Compass that always points to the nearest branch of O’Burger and collectable toys that give benefits if the owner eats at a O’Burger restaurant at least once a week, like being able to reroll a failed vehicle control roll once a week for the O’Krazy Kar toy. The inventiveness does not stop there, ‘The Delicious Artifacts of Doctor Dippinstein’ describing several artefacts in some detail. For example, each time a bite is taken out of The Double Death Deluxe Burger, it permanently increases the Stamina and Luck of the consumer, but several random creatures or persons within a mile drop dead. The consumer is aware of this. Eat blithely or at the peril of conscience…

The theme continues in ‘Twisted Menagerie’ with more fast food inspired monsters. The Clownug is a trusted servant of Buddy O’Burger which uses its clown-fun image to harvest ‘meat’ for processing, whilst the ‘Clownaut’ is the ultimate protector of the Buddy O’Burger, a giant clown. Lastly, the Fryder is a spider-like golem, searingly hot because it is made of fresh French fries. They hate all humanoids, but as you would expect, are very tasty once killed. Lastly, the issue ends with ‘Avatar Golems: The tools of the lesser mascot gods’, which gives the Judge the means to create lesser known mascots of the pre-cataclysm world and turn them into aspects of her own campaign world.

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 12 is as serviceably presented and as a little rough around the edges as the other fanzines in the line. However, some of the artwork is better than in past issues, perhaps inspired by the theme of the issue and consumption of a Buddy O’Burger Jolly Meal box. Of course, the problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 12 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 by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material.

Your reaction to Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 12 is going to vary depending upon how you feel about clowns and cannibalism, let alone fast food. The contents in the issue are tasteless, even distasteful, but they are parody, adding a fresh and garnished meat patty of dark satire to the world of Umerica that is decidedly well done. Of course, the content  (though its tone may not) will work with other post apocalyptic roleplaying games and not just the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game or Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic.

[Fanzine Focus XLI] The Hobonomicon #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 DM 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 choice is Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

The Hobonomicon #2 was published for GenCon 2022 and differs differs greatly from its previous issues. It still heavily features the artwork of Doug Kovacs—and others, but there is much less gaming content in its pages. The first two issues focuses upon the flight and survival of refugees from the planet of Punjar, in the very far future of the fabled city of Punjar, setting for many of Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics line of scenarios, particularly those for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. The Hobonomicon #0 presented ‘Escape from Planet Punjar’, a classic Character Funnel, in which Zero Level characters going out on their first adventure to hopefully survive and return as First Level adventurers. What happens after the surviving Player Characters escape the lightless, lawless bowels of the ecumenopolis that is Planet Punjar is explored in The Hobonomicon #1.

The Hobonomicon #2 does not explore what happens next and is not a continuation of either ‘Escape from Planet Punjar’ or ‘Meat Planet’ from The Hobonomicon #1. What it does continue is the previous issues’ comic strips. ‘Dreams of a Klartesh Fiend’ continues the drug induced nightmares written by James MacGeorge and drawn by Stefan Poag, whilst Doug Kovacs’ ‘Death of a Reaver’ continues the telling of the backstory of one of the members of ‘The Band’, the cast of adventurers who have appeared in the artwork for the Dungeon Crawl Classics line. Here the hero, having dealt with the bandits in her way in the previous episode and now with a captured prisoner, Ratface, attempts to find out why she was attacked. It is an engaging story whose only problem is that there is a long wait between issues. Both are followed by ‘Never Trust a Wizard’ by Stefan Poag, which is actually longer than both together! It tells the tale of a young woman who is driven to kill a sorcerer and take his head back to a wizard because he is holding her partner hostage. This is a tale of revenge and bloody violence as you would expect within the Dungeon Crawl Classics milieu. It is very well done, and a fun read. Together, the three comic strips take up half of the issue.

The actual gaming content in the issue begins with ‘Verses of Natraz’ which together with ‘The Missing Mercurial Magic’ extends the range of spells in The Hobonomicon itself. For example, Burning Glyphs causes glyphs in green living fire to appear above the target’s head and lights up the area and makes him easy to spot, whilst Bat Country summons a screeching swarm of neon psychedelic bats that cause those caught up in their flight to flee unless they make a Saving Throw versus Will. ‘Verses of Natraz’ includes a fantastic piece of artwork by Jeff Easley. Further spells are fully detailed Dungeon Crawl Classics fashion. These include Corporeal Engloblement which changes a wizard’s body into a sphere for various effects such as a one-ton rock, causing a sonic boom as it expands and suddenly contracts, and so on; Gnormby’s Plasmatic Force Phlanges creates a force hand; and Immolation shrouds the caster in protective magical flames. Other spells include Shadow Poppet, Thraxil’s Gift, Path of the Worm, and Name of the Beast.

‘Return to Magic Mystery’ lists twelve alternatives to giving NPCs and monsters the same spells that Player Characters have access. For example, a bolt of burning or freezing irritation that is so itchy, it reduces the target’s Armour Class, whilst ‘Empathic Shackles’ forces a target’s rolls to be in alignment with another character, meaning that the target’s player cannot roll higher than the other character. Thes effects are all fun and inventively different, so should surprise the players and their characters. Lastly, ‘1D12 Beastmen’ gives three sets of stats for the ‘Feral Beastman’, the ‘Savage Beastman’, and the ‘Towering Beastman Monstrosity’, but backs them up with twelve fantastic illustrations of different beastmen. All the Judge has to do is roll the die, determine what the beastman looks like and attach some stats. It is very basic, but the artwork adds flavour aplenty.

Bar the cover—which is done in colour, front and back, inside and out—as with previous issues, The Hobonomicon #2 is heavily illustrated in black and white throughout. The artwork is excellent, ranging from grim to gruesome, from daft to disturbing, but it all fits.

The Hobonomicon #2 is a fanzine of two halves, one with the gaming content, one without. Both are good in their own way, the new spells and magical effects are nicely inventive, but there is nothing here that a Judge and her gaming group has to have. It is good, but not good enough, and it does not help that the gaming content is essentially all spells and nothing else. Before that, the comic strips are enjoyable, but again no more. Ultimately, The Hobonomicon #2 is an issue of the fanzine that is for the collectors and the fans of Dungeon Crawl Classics rather than an must have issue.