Goodman Games Gen Con Annual XI

Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, community content, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots of tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo in 2019, the first to be reviewed was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, a little patience and a copy of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book was located and reviewed, so since 2021, normal order has been resumed with the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Guide, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book, and Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston.

With both Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, the series had begun to chart a new direction. Each volume would contain a mix of support for the various RPGs published by Goodman Games and the content published by the Goodman Games community, but the major feature of each volume would be a tournament scenario, staged the previous year at Gen Con. Unfortunately, events caught up with the eighth entry in the series, Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to adjust, which of course, included Goodman Games. The result was that the traditional Gen Con Program Guide became a ‘Yearbook’ and this trend has continued since with the Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook and the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook. However, it has shifted ever so slightly again with a name change the book in the line, Goodman Games Yearbook #11.

Goodman Games Yearbook #11 looks back at 2023 for the publisher and opens on a more reflective, even mournful note than is usual for the regular annual or Gen Con Program Guide. In turn, various members of the Goodman Games team look back at the year past, starting with Joseph Goodman, noting the year’s highlights, changes, and so on. Joseph Goodman examines how he has made the switch from running the publisher fulltime rather than as a ‘hobby’ job and made a concerted effort to look at the trends in the hobby, whilst Jen Brinkman discusses the shift to Goodman Games having its own dedicated warehouse in Fort Wayne, Indiana, along with Harley Stroh. (This move has its own article later in the book, ‘News Flash: Goodman Games Moves To Our Own Warehouse!’, which also introduces the warehouse mascot, ‘Bricky’.) Michael Curtis and Chris Doyle look at the development and output of Goodman Games for Dungeon Crawl Classics and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, respectively, whilst Brendan Lasalle gives a short history of Xcrawl and the success of the Xcrawl Classics Kickstarter campaign as well as overview of the activities of Goodman Games Road Crew for the year. This is the cadre of Judges who run games for Goodman Games at game shops and conventions, and are in many ways the public face of the company, and it is further supported by both ‘Ten Years of Road Crew Art’ and ‘2023 Poster Design Contest’, both of which look back at Goodman Games’ art. Rick Maffei talks about the end of the Goodman Games YouTube series, Talking TSR, and the start of the new series, The 50 Greatest Classic Adventures of All Time. These look like great series, the one worth going back to and the other beginning of.

The reflections come to a close on a sad note, with Goodman Games Yearbook #11 remembering the deaths of three stalwarts of the hobby, noted for their contributions to the hobby and in one way or another, the Old School Renaissance. They are in turn, Russ Nicolson, who was previously interviewed in Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named; Jennel Jaquays, noted designer of The Dark Tower and The Caverns of Thracia, both originally published by Judges Guild and since republished by Goodman Games; and James M. Ward, best known for the creation of the first Science Fiction roleplaying game, Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship.

The first gaming entry in Goodman Games Yearbook #11 with ‘DCC Gen Con Funnel Experience Adventure: The Forsaken Vault of the Crimson Oracle’. Written by Brendan LaSalle, this is a ‘Funnel Experience’, intended as a means to introduce new players to Dungeon Crawl Classics using Zero Level characters. For the Player Characters, it begins with the appearance of a giant colossus, bursting up through the earth, in West Mauldeen, a remote farming village, opening a maw into which tip the remains of the village and its inhabitants—both living and dead! Awoken and thrown from their beds, the ordinary survivors find themselves in a cavern filled with the dead and the buildings they once lived in, facing a demon! The scenario is short, direct, and deadly, but has some really entertaining encounters, such as with ‘Gallyjacks’, Dwarves and Humans being ridden by one-inch-tall humanoids called Prizetakers (who come from the City of the Prize-takers) as if they pirate ships and from which they can launch boarding parties on the Player Characters; a surprisingly helpful goat; and a dying ‘giant’ head, which might be helpful if a way can be found to save him. There are opportunities too, for quite a lot of treasure to be found. The scenario is a lot of fun and will work as a demonstration scenario as well.

Both Dungeon Crawl Classics and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition are catered for with ‘Two More Old School Traps’ by Chris Doyle and converted by Mihailo Tešić. Inspired by Original Adventures Reincarnated #8: Grimtooth’s Old School Traps, the two traps here are detailed and dirty, nasty affairs. The first of the two, ‘The HyStairical Trap’, is also inspired by DCC #106, Trials of the Trapmaster’s Tomb and is a set of stairs that is trapped not once but three times. First, by a pressure plate that releases oil to make the stairs slippery, second by a pressure plate that releases laughing gas, and third, a pit which is really hard to avoid given the effects of the first two! ‘Whole Lotta Pit Traps’ is quite simple, five pit traps on top of each other and each one deadlier than the one above…

The scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in Goodman Games Yearbook #11 is William Fischer’s ‘Chains of the Conflagrator’. This is an expansion to Jennell Jaquay’s Original Adventures Reincarnated #7: Dark Tower, very much a classic, but highly thematic dungeon. It is designed for four to six Ninth Level Player Characters and intended to be played in a single session. They encounter Argun the Conflagrator, an ancient red dragon who terrorised the lands far to the south of Mitra’s Fist, the location for the ‘Dark Tower’. He has been long been imprisoned by cultists dedicated to Set and asks the Player Characters to free him. The main part of the scenario takes place in his lair where the Player Characters must survive the volcano environment and find a way to free him. It is a big and enjoyably bold encounter and adds a pleasing side quest to a classic game, but which could also be added another dungeon without any difficulty. It is supported with several new monsters devoted to Set.

Marc Bruner takes us back to ‘Dinosaur Crawl Classics’ in The Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book with ‘The Return Of Dinosaur Crawl Classics!’. This presents a new Character Class for the setting which is based on that of Dinosaur Planet: Broncosaurus Rex. This is the Protoceratops, a highly intelligent ceratopsian, which is also curious, peaceful, and psionic. They record knowledge on stone using their highly dextrous beaks, are good translators and negotiators and so serve as diplomat, and have psionic powers such as Rustling Brush which camouflages the user and Strengthen Bonds of social connections, new abilities also given here. There is a quick guide to converting the psionics from Mutant Crawl Classics to ‘Dinosaur Crawl Classics’. This is a solid addition to the setting, but just like its original inclusion in The Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book, it really makes the reader wish that it was a proper setting with a book of its own. It is followed by ‘From The Vault: New Mutations

For Your MCC Campaign’, in which Erica Barlow, Julian Bernick, James Pozenel, and Skeeter Green give yet more mutations for Mutant Crawl Classics, including Acid Generation, Bio Boost, Salvage Savant, and Warp Reality.

Throughout, as is the norm for all entries in the series, Goodman Games Yearbook #11 includes photographs from various conventions that the publisher and its representatives attended over the case of 2024. This, of course, includes Gen Con 2023, but also includes Gameholecon, Garycon, and many more. They are not as profusive as in more recent issues of the program guide and are threaded throughout the supplement rather than in blocks. This makes the events themselves and Goodman Games’ presence feel a little more peripheral than in past years, which is obviously not the actual case. ‘DCC Day’ is, of course, special for Goodman Games and so gets its own article with ‘DCC DAY 2023’ highlighting the great releases on the day. The publisher’s presence at Gen Con is dominated by the Goodman Games booth, which always has a physical presence. For Gen Con 2023, this was with a Wizard Tower Dice Tower Podium and its creation—as have the creation of other features have been charted in previous volumes of the Gen Con Program Guide/Yearbook—is enjoyably detailed by Wayne Snyder in ‘Building The Wizard Tower Dice Podium’. Lastly, the Goodman Games community and their contributions are highlighted in ‘The 2023 Goodie Awards: Our Annual Thank You To The Community!’. This brings the program guide to a close by bringing many names in the community to the reader’s attention and what they give. It brings the Goodman Games Yearbook #11 to a fitting close.

Physically, the Goodman Games Yearbook #11 is a slim affair, in keeping with the current reduced format of the series. It is well presented, a pleasing read, and full of very good artwork.

There are really two strands to the Goodman Games Yearbook #11—community and content to game with. Although it feels very much like there is more of the former than the latter, both are engaging and entertaining, capturing another year of Goodman Games and giving some fun gaming content too.

—oOo—

Goodman Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Goodman Games Gen Con Annual X

Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, community content, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots of tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo in 2019, the first to be reviewed was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, a little patience and a copy of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book was located and reviewed, so since 2021, normal order has been resumed with the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Guide, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book, and Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston.

With both Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, the series had begun to chart a new direction. Each volume would contain a mix of support for the various RPGs published by Goodman Games and the content published by the Goodman Games community, but the major feature of each volume would be a tournament scenario, staged the previous year at Gen Con. Unfortunately, events caught up with the eighth entry in the series, Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to adjust, which of course, included Goodman Games. The result was that the traditional Gen Con Program Guide became a ‘Yearbook’ and this trend has continued since with the Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook and the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook.

The Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook opens with a traditional look back at the previous year, which saw the continued return to Gen Con and the expansion and professionalisation of the company and also company owner, Joseph Goodman’s philosophy of Gen Con as “the full expression of the Goodman Games brand.” and the fun of playing games. This includes the creation of the Ziggurat and the Wizard Van, both of which have become features of the company’s presence at both the Gen Con and Origins gaming conventions. They also have their own features elsewhere in the book. In turn, Joseph Goodman, Michael Curtis, Chris Doyle, and Brendan Lasalle take a look back at the year, highlighting what the publisher put out in the last twelve months and the company’s return to the convention stage, marking what was a return to form with titles as Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen and Dungeon Crawl Classics #100: The Music of the Spheres is Chaos, funding Original Adventures Reincarnated #7: Dark Tower, and organising Dungeon Crawl Classics #104: Return to the Starless Sea as a tournament. ‘Returning To The Community Of Gen Con DCC’ by Harley Stroh follows this strand in celebrating the joy of returning to play at the event.

Art and how they look has always played a big part of the books that Goodman Games publish and highlighting this has always been part of the publisher’s Gen Con Program Guides and the Gen Con Year Books. The Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook is no exception, but there is an element sadness in the fact that it mirrors the artistic content in the previous volume in the series, the Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook, as it both notes the death of an artist who contributed numerous covers to its books and interviews another artist. Thus it says, ‘Goodbye, Ken Kelly’ to the late Ken Kelly and conducts ‘An Interview With Sanjulián’, in both cases showcasing their art and their contribution to the Goodman Games look.

Goodman Games is also well known for the extra dice it uses in both the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, as well as the more recent Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook embraces this as it takes a silly turn and suggests ways in which the eleven-sided die from Impact Miniatures can be used. Thus, in ‘Take It To 11!’ by Michael Curtis gives two new tables, one ‘The Quick And Dirty Foe Description Table’, the other, ‘The Weird Property Of That Thing You Just Found Table’, whilst separately, Chris Doyle offers two further tables in ‘d11 Fates for 5E’. These two include the bonuses to be gained from inserting coins into an altar dedicated to Myna, the Goddess of Luck, with better coins donated increasing the likelihood of a blessing rather than a curse, whilst ‘The Pool of Life’ has table of healing results for a fountain found in ancient ruins. To be fair, all four tables will work with both the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, though the entries in ‘d11 Fates for 5E’ require a little bit of set-up to use. Of course, four tables dedicated to an eleven-sided die does not seem sufficient. Surely, the number of tables should also have gone up to eleven?

‘When Tolls the Bell of Ruin’ is the first of two adventures in the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook. It is a scenario for a party of four to six First Level Player Characters for Dungeon Crawl Classics which begins with the Player Characters responding to the ominous tolling of a bell that has rung out across the land and instilled a sense of dread in all. It has been traced to an ancient monastery of muted monks and as the Player Characters investigate this isolated facility, they will potentially trigger the further tolling of the bell. The bell is actually the Bell of Ruin and whenever it rings, the monastery and the surrounding land are beset by a calamity. These begin with a constant chill and greyness enshrouding the land in a permanent twilight and escalate into everyone suffering rashes of boils, flames randomly striking the ground, and so on. The fun here is that the players will be rolling to see when the bell actually tolls. In between the peal of the bell, the adventure has a pleasingly quiet eeriness to it, the monastery silent and monks strangely missing. Inspired by the Conan the Adventurer cartoon, this is a solid adventure that is easy to add to almost any campaign.

The Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook details four monsters, not once but twice. First for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and then for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. They include the Humming-Wasp Swarm, a creature actually from the Terra A.D. setting of Mutant Crawl Classics whose drone stupefies and then enslaves victims into collecting harvests for the insects; the Shroud Ghoul which shoots gobs of caustic bile from its nose; the Shroud Phantom, undead that looks like burial shroud and suffocates it victims; and the Tri-Crystalline, a crystalline humanoid with three faces, each one of a different alignment that performs particular missions according to the alignment of the face that is awake. The Humming-Wasp Swarm is done as a fantasy version for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but even the Mutant Crawl Classics version can be used in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Otherwise these are very serviceable monsters.

The Goodman Games’ creative efforts at Gen Con in the past have shown us how the famous Ziggurat was created. Here, ‘A Wizard Van Is Summoned...’ shows how the infamous Goodman Games Wizard Van was modified, reupholstered, and fitted with furniture so as to be suitable to host games at the events where it appeared, whilst in ‘The Original Doom Beard’, Dieter Zimmerman not only provides stats for the Wizard Van (as ‘GG Joe Wizard Vandroid’), but also for its creator! This is followed by ‘Interview With The Mask Maker’ by Tim Wadzinski, who talks to professional mask maker Jordyn Boci, the creator of the masks worn at the convention by some of the Goodman Games staff. ‘The Original Doom Beard’ is, of course, another piece of silliness, but together these three pieces show some of the thought and processes that go into the creation of these items that at the show add to Goodman Games’ presence.

The second scenario in the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook is ‘Secret of the Slayer’s Sword’ by Alex Kurowski. This is designed for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and a party of four to six, Twelfth Level Player Characters, and it can be run as a sequel to Fifth Edition Fantasy #5 Into the Dragons Maw. However, it does have quite a complicated backstory that the Player Characters will need to be aware of, but what it boils down to is that Dracusa, a half-green Dragon Medusa, in her continued attempt to prove herself worthy of her draconic half, is hunting for a legendary sword, Vritrastrike, capable of delivering a mortal wound to any dragon. The adventure, set in a Mesoamerican style country, quickly gets the Player Characters to the shrine where the sword rests. The shrine consists of two big encounters, one quite a challenging puzzle, the other a big bruising battle with Dracusa. Success will reward the Player Characters with some fantastic treasure. ‘Secret of the Slayer’s Sword’ is a short, one session affair though nicely detailed. Given its detail and setting, it will require some adjustment to fit into a campaign, and although it states that it does not have to be run after Fifth Edition Fantasy #5 Into the Dragons Maw, to get the best out of the scenario, it really should be as it does feel like the second and concluding part.

Goodman Games has always been highly supportive of its community and showcases their activities in every issue of the ‘program guide’ or ‘yearbook’. The Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook is no exception and dotted throughout its pages are numerous photographs from the events at which there was a Goodman Games presence. These include Gary Con 2022, Kublacon 2022, Origins 2022, and others, as well as Gen Con 2022 itself. There is also the results of the ‘2022 Bumper Sticker Design Contest’, ‘Gen Con Signage’, and in ‘Inkburn!’, even shows how Hector Cruz, a fan of regular Goodman Games artist, Doug Kovacs, got him to draw a tattoo for him, and the ‘Twitch Shows Of 2022’, in which Alana Thompson encapsulates some of the best media streams dedicated to Dungeon Crawl Classics. Lastly, ‘The 2022 Goodie Awards’ spotlights the contributors to the Goodman Games community over the course of the previous year around the world. Lastly, the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook comes to a cozy close with the return of ‘Dear Archmage Abby’ and some gaming advice.

Physically, the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook is a slim affair, in keeping with the current reduced format of the series. It is well presented, a pleasing read, and full of very good artwork.

With the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook gone is the uncertainty of the Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook that chronicled Goodman Games’ adjusting to life after the Covid-19 Pandemic and returning to gaming and a convention presence as was before the events of 2019 and 2020. In fact, with the arrival of the Wizard Van, it is as if Goodman Games are screaming, “We’re back and we’re doing bigger and better things!!” Yet in comparison to the grandeur of the earlier Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, that does not really apply to the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook, which feels restrained and not quite as adventurous in the slimmer format. Fans of Goodman Games will undoubtedly enjoy the Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook, but perhaps regret that there is not quite as much to enjoy as there once was.

Goodman Games Gen Con Annual IX

Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, community content, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo in 2019, the first to be reviewed was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, a little patience and a copy of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book was located and reviewed, so since 2021, normal order has been resumed with the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Guide, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book, and Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston.

With both Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, the series had begun to chart a new direction. Each volume would contain a mix of support for the various RPGs published by Goodman Games and the content recognising the Goodman Games community, but the major feature of each volume would be a tournament scenario, staged the previous year at Gen Con. Unfortunately, events caught up with the eighth entry in the series, intending to highlight the presence of Goodman Games at Gen Gen in 2020, which would cancel Gen Con and every other event as well as face-to-face gaming. It meant that Goodman games had to adapt and adapts its by now traditional Gen Con Program Guide. The result was Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named, a slimmer affair that would alter the direction of the series as whole and also see the traditional Gen Con Program Guide becoming a ‘Yearbook’ instead.

The Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook also marked the twentieth anniversary of Goodman Games, celebrating it with a cover that referenced numerous releases and events from the publisher’s history. The issue proper opens with a moment or two for reflection upon the part of Michael Curtis and Harley Stroh, looking back at how Goodman Games was forced to change as a result of the pandemic and how through online contact and play, the community came together like never before and kept gaming, all before diving into the gaming content of the yearbook. This is a pattern repeated later in the book by Brendan LaSalle and Chris Doyle. Where the previous three talk about Dungeon Crawl Classics, the latter focuses on the development of Dungeon Denizens, Goodman Games’ bestiary for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, as well titles in the ‘Original Adventures Reincarnated’ series, such as The Temple of Elemental Evil and Dark Tower.

As with the previous Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, what the Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook also offers is a tournament scenario, though to be fair, it is more tournament than scenario. ‘Pits of Lost Agharta’ by Harley Stroh is a winner takes all series of arena ‘battle royale’-style battles that take place on a ziggurat deep underground to the amusement of foul Aghartan slave lords. Everyone roleplays a Warrior, First Level at the beginning, but who will acquire more Levels as he survives more rounds, but always begins a round armed only with a club. His aim is to survive. To do this, he can search corpse mounds for better equipment, gain strange boons from touching the Malachite Crystals which contain an aged and withered sage or wizard, take control of the ballistae mounted on the ziggurat, and so on. Once their characters have all acted in a round, the players get to decide what action the Slave Lords take, which might be to “Release the man-bats!” or command “Forward, feasters of flesh!”. The latter is important because the Player Characters have been held captive for quite some time and been fed on a diet of vile gruel, which consists of either mushrooms or mushrooms and the flesh of their dead comrades. Those Player Characters who turned cannibal get more Hit Points, but are in danger of falling under the influence of the slave lords during the battle.

‘Pits of Lost Agharta’ details and illustrates in full colour the various parts of the tournament and suggests how it might be used in campaign play. One way would be to tie it into the setting of Lost Agharta, as detailed in Dungeon Crawl Classics #91: Journey to the Centre of Áereth and then Dungeon Crawl Classics #91.1: The Lost City of Barako and Dungeon Crawl Classics #91.2: Lairs of Lost Agharta. There are also notes on how the tournament was run and who the winners were. There is a certain tongue in cheek battling charm to this, a way to run a tournament online which can then can also be run face-to-face.

Mike Bolam adds to the tournament with ‘Pits of Lost Agharta Variant Rules’ which suggests a way in which it could run as a board game and without a Judge, as well as setting it in an arena as in Dungeon Crawl Classics #84C: Escape from the Purple Planet from Dungeon Crawl Classics #84: Peril on the Purple Planet. It is an intriguing idea, though it would probably take almost as much time to set up as would running the proper tournament version.

There is a delightful sense of fun in the ever so bonkers ‘The ’Stashe Stash II: ’Stashe of the Titans!’ by Brendan LaSalle. This is a sequel to ‘The ‘Stache Stash: Magic Moustaches for DCC RPG’ from the DCC Annual Vol. 1 and presents yet more magical facial hair. These include ‘The Walrus or ‘The Ubermensch’, ‘The Handlebar’ or ‘The Rollie Fingers’, and even more hilariously, ‘The Hairy Mole’. They have odd magical powers like that of ‘The Antenna’ or ‘The Dali’ to cause any non-magical object to melt without any heat, to stop time whilst the bearer floats away, or catch an opponent in a time loop and so force him to repeat the action from the previous round. Amusingly, the modifier to the Saving Throw to shrug off this effect involves at least one cat. It is clear that both the author and the illustrator, Brad McDevitt, have had a lot of fun with this article.

‘Black Mountain Lights’ is a scenario for Second Level Player Characters for Dungeon Crawl Classics by Michael Curtis. It takes place in the Shudder Mountains, an Appalachian-style fantasy setting with elements of horror originally published as Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin. The Player Characters are staying as guests overnight at a remote farm during their travels when strange luminous figures creep out of the night, snatch up the farmer’s infant son, and carry him up the mountain. The Player Characters are implored to rescue the kidnapped boy, an attempt which takes them up the mountain where a witch is said to lurk. There is a dark threat to found up and, in the mountain, but it is not what the Player Characters may think. The scenario is a Shudder Mountains twist upon the classic Dungeons & Dragons-style set-up of goblins threatening the locals and can be played in a single session, so will work as a convention scenario. It is also easy to add to a Shudder Mountains-set campaign.

Although Goodman Games is best known for its content for its Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, but it publishes content for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition as well. The support for it in the pages of The Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook includes entries from Dungeon Denizens, the bestiary that the publisher is just now funding on Kickstarter, a scenario, and a look at a Twitch channel, all by Chris Doyle. The scenario is ‘The Monastery of the Dawning Sun’, written for Fifteenth Level Player Characters for use with the version of Crypt of the Devil Lich for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition (there is also a version for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics). The scenario is designed to be played as a tournament and as a campaign play scenario, but the introduction to the scenario favours the former rather than the latter. ‘The Monastery of the Dawning Sun’ is designed to offer an alternative opening suited to campaign play. It provides a creepy location, containing ancient defences and signs of bloody violence and destruction, despoiled by evil and marked by hints as what lurks beyond in the ‘Crypt of the Devil Lich’, all ready for the Player Characters to discover its horrors.

‘What is Talking TSR?’ is show livestreamed on the Goodman Games Official Twitch channel. It introduces the backgrounds of the presenters Chris Doyle and Rick Maffei, who together get to highlight their favourite episodes and also provide an episode guide. The article highlights the move that Goodman Games has made into supporting its releases online as does the addition to the usual series of photographs taken at various conventions. Not just Gen Con 2021, the Goodman Games Road Crew, and other in-person events, but also on-line events such as Spawn of Cyclops Con and Empire of the Cyclops Con for lots of screenshots of Judges with their players. Further support for the Goodman Games community takes the form of ‘The Goodies’, the awards given for supporting and contributing to the community, plus there is a list of the winners of the ‘Pits of Lost Agharta’ tournament. Lastly, there is a gallery of the ‘Road Crew Stickers’ from the previous year.

Physically, the Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook is well presented and easy to read. It does need an edit in places, but the artwork and the cartography are as good as you would expect for a Goodman Games release.

There is a certain sense of adjustment having been made with Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook after the Pandemic and its effect on the Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named. The inclusion of online content alongside in-person content is more assured, even if that content is restrained and not as ambitious as that of Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, what the Goodman Games 2021 Yearbook. The result is that the content is both easier to use as well as enjoyable as it tracks the move to a more normal existence than the year before.

Goodman Games Gen Con Annual VIII

Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, community content, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots of tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo in 2019, the first to be reviewed was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, a little patience and a copy of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book was located and reviewed, so since 2021, normal order has been resumed with the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Guide, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book, and Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston.

With both Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, and Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, the series had begun to chart a new direction. Each volume would contain a mix of support for the various RPGs published by Goodman Games and the content recognising the Goodman Games community, but the major feature of each volume would be a tournament scenario, staged the previous year at Gen Con. Unfortunately, events caught up with the eighth entry in the series, intending to highlight the presence of Goodman Games at Gen Con in 2020, which would cancel Gen Con and every other event as well as face-to-face gaming. It meant that Goodman games had to adapt and adapts its by now traditional Gen Con Program Guide. The result was Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named.

Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named also marked a name change as well, the traditional Gen Con Program Guide becoming a ‘Yearbook’ instead. It opens in tremendous fashion with a lengthy interview with the doyen of British fantasy gaming artwork, most well known for his work on The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and the Fiend Folio for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. In ‘An Interview With Russ Nicholson’ by Thorin Thompson, the late illustrator takes the time to talk about his influences, how he got into drawing, and how he became involved with Games Workshop, all before coming up to date and providing covers for two covers he did for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #2: The Sorcerer’s Tower of Sanguine Slant. Although not a gamer himself, it is clear that Nicholson is as much aware about games and the hobby as he is fantasy and that he also enjoys working in the medium. The interview is accompanied by a wide range of artwork, including the covers of several fanzines that he drew in the 1970s, that nicely showcases his style down the years. The only downside is that the interview is in the black and section of Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named, and so we do not get to see any of his artwork in colour. That said, we do get see plenty of the line art that Nicholson is so famous for. It is a good interview and a great way to start the yearbook.

The mechanical content in Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named begins with two articles by Marzio Muscedere. The first is ‘Monster Fumbles’. This provides a solution for what happens if the Judge rolls a one when rolling for an attack by one of his monsters. The exact die she has to roll depends on the Luck Modifier of the Player Character, so the higher the die type the Judge rolls, all the way up to a sixteen-sided die for a Player Character with a Luck Modifier of ‘+3’. This is accompanied by tables in turn for ‘Devils and Demons’, ‘Dragons’, ‘Giants’, ‘Humanoids with Weapons’—including orcs, kobolds, goblins, bugbears, lizardmen, cultists, and similar, ‘Monsters’, ‘Undead’, and ‘Elementals’. The latter category is the most complex, but only to the extent that the Judge has to adjust the results to fit the type of elemental who fumbled. The second is ‘Seven Mighty Deeds From The City Of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes’ which gives options for the Warrior Class’ Mighty Deed of Arms for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set. Most of these are a ‘Tandem Deed’, that is, a Mighty Deed which requires two Player Characters to work rather than the traditional one. For example, ‘Bewilder and Backstab’ enables one Player Character to distract an NPC and so give a bonus to another Player Character about to perform a Backstab manoeuvre on the distracted NPC. Others include ‘Back-To-Back Badasses/Back-To-Back Fighting’, ‘I Got You Bro!/Draw Attacks Away From Allies’, and ‘Launch Ally’, all of them nicely capturing that idea of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser working together as well as giving play a little cinematic flourish. The rest, such as ‘ Increased Critical’ are more straightforward, whilst the last one, ‘Snowball Fighting’ is a bit of silliness, but can be easily adapted to include any improvised thrown weapon. All are accompanied by excerpts from Fritz Leiber’s novels to give them colour and background.

James A. Pozenel, Jr. provides yet more Mighty Deeds of Arms, but where ‘Seven Mighty Deeds From The City Of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes’ was specific to the Lankhmar setting, ‘Dwarven Rune Tracing – Mighty Deeds Of Rune-Powered Combat’, is specific to the Dwarf Class. A cross between a magical skill and a martial art, they are intended to add flavour to Dwarf combat. The Dwarf needs to have an Intelligence of thirteen or more to know even a single Rune. Once known, with a Mighty Deed of Arms, he can trace it in the air, on a shield, or his armour, and it will come into effect the following round. They include the ‘Rune of Strength’, the ‘Rune of Rage’, the ‘Rune of Speed’, and so on. The effect of each depends on the roll on the Deed Die and there are suggestions too for being able to raise the effect all the way up to nine on the Deed Die and making the learning or gaining of new Runes a mini-quest in itself. Again, this is optional, but in play it nicely makes the Dwarf Class just that little bit different to the Warrior Class.

Stephen Newton has already penned two horror-themed scenarios for Dungeon Crawl Classics—Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #1: They Served Brandolyn Red and Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror: The Corpse That Love Built – 2018 Halloween Module—so it makes perfect sense for him to write ‘Stokerian Vampires: Bringing Bram Stoker’s Dracula To DCC RPG’. As the title suggests he adapts the archetypal vampires from the most famous vampire novel of all time, classifying them as ‘The Cursed’ like Mina Harker, ‘The Un-Dead’ like Lucy Westenra, and The King Vampire, who of course, is like Dracula himself. The article covers habits, lairs, hunting territory, traits, and more, much of which will be more than familiar. After all, Dracula is the basis for a very great deal of the vampire lore and the vampire in popular culture so the likelihood is that very little of the article is new. Nevertheless, this does not in any detract from the descriptions and details given for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, which all together give the perfect adaption if the Judge is looking for Bram Stoker-style, classic vampires.

‘The Dying Wish Of Daog The Blue: An Option For Arcane Healing In DCC RPG’ is a bit different and a bit controversial. Written by Jeff Goad, it suggests a way of bringing arcane rather than divine healing into the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It consists of two parts, the first fiction telling how Daog The Blue, having heard of arcane wizards casting healing magics on other worlds, from Middle-earth to Zothique, successfully brought it to Aereth. The other is the spell itself, Daog’s Dying Wish. This makes sense in a setting without the Cleric Class, but otherwise, it may be seen as poaching upon the territory of the Cleric Class.

The penultimate gaming content in Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named is ‘Deadly Hands of DCC: Eight Epic NPCs For Your DCC Game’ by Michael Curtis, Brendan LaSalle, and Harley Stroh. This is an entertaining selection of villains and heroes inspired by martial arts films. ‘Baron Von Strangle’, a cursed set of armour that empowers its wearer, but also forces him to strange everyone he can and so the demonic strangler has become feared across the Steppe Kingdoms; ‘Flamehand, Jack’ is a wandering monk, ageless, who might be a charlatan or he might be a genuine saint, who strikes so fast the air appears to ignite around his kicks and punches; and ‘Qin Qian’ is a member of Spangled Court of the Endless Cycle, the clergy of Aleea, Goddess of Ordinary Days, whose radical interpretation of the need for ongoing peace and normality, has led her to launch a crusade against anything and everything that threatens that. Although this has greatly upset the rest of her fellow priests and her goddess cannot quite condone her activities—though is pleased about the peace they have brought many, ‘Qin Qian’ continues her work and may even direct adventurers such as the Player Characters to attack some local threat. If they take her hints, then the Player Characters may gain a small blessing in return. There are some fun NPCs included in the octet in this article and many of them can be used by the Judge to develop hooks and encounters.

Lastly, Michael Curtis complains about how his ‘Glaive Expectations’ were not met. His disappointment came about because the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition did match the description of the glaive he was expecting. What he was expecting was the glaive from the film Krull. What he got was the ‘Glaive – Guisarme’, a polearm. So he instead provides a version of the Glaive from Krull, plus a magical one, for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics. Silly and self-indulgent.

Goodman Games has always been highly supportive of its community and showcases in every issue of the ‘program guide’ or ‘yearbook’. It begins in this volume with some images that capture the public spirit in terms of voting and preventing the spread of COVID-19 in 2019 and 2020 in ‘Goodman Games Tries To Change The World: Images Of 2020’. There are many, many convention photographs from Gen Con 2019 and Gama Expo 2020 before the world changes and play moves online, as showcased by photographs from Cyclops Con, DCC Days Online, and Bride of Cyclops Con. There are also the logo used for Goodman Games’ then new Twitch channel displayed in ‘Going Live On Twitch Goodman Games Evolves In 2020’. In 2020, it all felt like a radical change, one brought on by necessity, but now it feels much more like a normal state of affairs and everyone is far more used to playing online. There are also tongue-in-cheek ‘GG Joe Profiles’ of everyone involved at Goodman Games and the ‘2020 T-Shirt Designs’.

Goodman Games’ stand at Gen Con receives some attention with the hand drawn signs the publisher’s ‘Gen Con Book Shelves’, whilst Chuck Whelon draws the ‘Luck Award Winners’ of various winners on the Luck Token Redemption Table found at the back of the Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, not once, but twice! There is, however, a wistfulness to ‘The Ziggurat That Never Was’ by Wayne Snyder. Having previously built the Doom Gong and then the Obelisks of Doom for the stand, for 2020, he was set to build a skull encrusted ziggurat, part-book stand, part storage space. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 and the cancellation of Gen Con, the Ziggurat of Doom was not to be.

Lastly, Michael Curtis looks at the design of Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Chris Doyle looks at the design of looks at the design of Original Adventures Reincarnated #4: The Lost City in a trio of articles each. ‘Barrier Peaks Designer’s Notes, Entry 1: Of Sleek, Futuristic Design’ examines some of the issues in extracting the back story to the original module and developing that further, whilst ‘Barrier Peaks Designer’s Notes, Entry 1: The Future Was Then’ details how Curtis went about presenting the look of the original module, famous for its illustrations, in the new edition. Similarly, in ‘The Lost City Designer’s Diary, Entry 1: Converting A Classic Adventure’, Doyle explains about the process of adapting a forty-year-old thirty-two-page module into a homage written for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, hundreds of pages long, whilst ‘The Lost City Designer’s Diary, Entry 3: Hunting For Easter Eggs’ lists and explains some of ‘Easter Eggs’ he slips into the updated edition. All three articles for both modules—for a total of six—are short, but fascinating reads, more so if the reader has access to Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Original Adventures Reincarnated #4: The Lost City.

Physically, the Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named returns to format of Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, a book, rather than a collection of booklets. It is, as you would expect, well presented, easy to read, and a decent looking affair.

Ultimately, Goodman Games Yearbook #8: The Year That Shall Not be Named is almost, but not quite the ‘Goodman Games Year Book That should Be Forgot’, for as fun as some of the content is, it simply is not as good as in years past. That shows primarily in the lack of a scenario and then in the a medley of things and shorter articles that leave the reader with a feeling of brevity to the whole affair. Of course, the fault cannot be squarely laid at the feet of the Goodman Games, After all, circumstances dictated a very different book to the one that the publisher had likely intended.

Goodman Games Gen Con Annual VII

Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, community content, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo in 2019, the first to be reviewed was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, a little patience and a copy of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book was located and reviewed, so since 2021, normal order has been resumed with the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Guide, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book, and Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying.

What was notable about Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying was rather than providing a range of support for the roleplaying games published by Goodman Games, it focused on just the one, its flagship, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, and did so by providing one big single adventure—a tournament adventure. Or rather, a series of three connected and thematic dungeons that were played by multiple teams at Gen Con 50. Not only did Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying provide the dungeons ready to play, but also the same means of scoring as used for the tournament so that a group playing at home could measure their progress against those who participated in the event itself. It is a format that the publisher for the next title in the series, the Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston.

Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston, though, goes beyond Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying in terms of format, scope, and scale. In terms of format, it comes not as one book, but five, all contained in a bright and attractive wraparound cover. The five books are ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’, which contains the tournament adventure of the title, ‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Player Handouts’, which provides the visual clues for the adventure, ‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Judge’s Pack’, which provides a guide to running the tournament and more for the Judge, ‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Player Pack’, which provides advice and rules for the tournament for the players as well as the pre-generated Player Characters, and ‘Goodman High Class of 1974 Yearbook’, which contains the community content and overview of Goodman Games attended events in the previous year. In terms of scope, the three parts of ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ will in turn take the Player Characters to Terra A.D. and the post-apocalyptic future of Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, then the Shudder Mountains of Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin, and finally, the weird world of Dungeon Crawl Classics #84: Peril on the Purple Planet. (It should be noted that none of those are required to run the tournament, but the Judge will enjoy the references, as will her players if they have time between their characters getting themselves killed.) Finally, the scale and brutality of ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ is turned up to the maximum, as the Player Characters race across three different worlds, attempting to outpace the ever-expanding phlogistonic sphere that will kill them all and survive to the end to face the one responsible for their situation—who they thought dead at the start of the first part, something none of the tournament teams managed to achieve. In other words, they all ended in a ‘TPK’, or ‘Total Party Kill’. Make no mistake, ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ is designed to be and is a tough adventure.

‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ begins in media res, with the Player Characters about to prevent their arch-nemesis, the vile sorcereress, Haera the White, and her band of crocmen about to summon something unspeakable. Being stalwart heroes, the Player Characters leap into action, but in managing to sop her, they find themselves flung into the first of several increasingly odd worlds. ‘Round 1: The Infinite Phlogistopic Engine Complex’ proper, opens with the Player Characters in an experimental energy complex which has suffered a reactor meltdown exacerbated by the phlogiston explosion caused by their intervention in Haera the White’s summoning. Here the Player Characters must adapt to a highly advanced technological facility—so advanced that magic works here too—and work out how the basic technology works, solve some incredibly fiendish puzzles, and then race to escape. There is a flash-freezing device to get past which could stop them in their tracks, a nuclear reactor to learn control to not only get past, but also on a mutagenic mist, a lake of carbon tetrachloride—also known as energized cold plasma—to cross and try not to get swarmed by nanites, and teams giant mutant rabbits with the ability to use technology and turn anything into orange-coloured cellulose on touch to get past. The path through is linear and far from easy. It is also, at times, quite complex. The Judge really does need to study this section of the adventure as there are some difficult puzzles which she has to understand and be able to impart the effects when the Player Characters interact with them. In comparison with the other two parts, the map in ‘Round 1: The Infinite Phlogistopic Engine Complex’ is not as interesting, nor does it depict its area as well.

‘Round 2: Beneath The Shudder Mountains’ begins at the bottom of a coal mine and it feels very much more like a traditional Dungeon Crawl Classics scenario, full of weird magic and odd creatures. It is purposefully filled with temptations that lead to dead ends and TPKs, like the giant-like coal outcropping which turns out to be an unkillable coal demon if the Player Characters are greedy enough to pull the silver axe out of its thigh, or the suit of mithril plate armour worn by a body which is under rock pile in a room in danger of a rock fall! Despite these diversions, ‘Round 2: Beneath The Shudder Mountains’ is more obviously linear than ‘Round 1: The Infinite Phlogistopic Engine Complex’ and for the characters and their players, a whole lot less weird. It also benefits from some clearer map excerpts that make it much more straightforward to run. The round ends with a highly entertaining encounter with a Hillbilly Hydra—a Ganderbeast—which has multiple honking geese heads and its own nasty, nasty Critical Hit Table.

‘Round 3: Escape From The Purple Planet’ drops the Player Characters at the base of tomb which they must ascend. This first involves being chased through a labyrinthine cave by a growing Orm Swarm, past a psychic resonator which creates objects in response to their thoughts that might kill them, followed by an ascent up a cylindrical tomb with no means of ascent whilst liquid brass from below wants to drown everyone, and then towards the end, a puzzle involving colour combinations which infuriatingly, relies on the way colours are combined in modern computers and thus on player knowledge. Lastly, ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ comes full circle for a final confrontation with Haera the White and the chance for the Player Characters to escape back home.

As a tournament scenario, each of the three stages in ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ is designed to be played in a four-hour slot. That is, of course, if the players and their characters are exploring the dungeons in an optimal manner, making best use of their time and resources. This does not mean that their progress is on a tight schedule, but rather that they should not get too distracted. There are some fiendishly difficult puzzles and traps and the whole affair is, as you would expect highly inventive from start to finish. Throughout ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’, there is advice on running it, including a discussion of the advice given E. Gary Gygax on playing tournament adventures in the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and how that was not applied in many of the cases that lead to team TPKs, and lots and lots of entertaining tales of how many of the teams and even individual players fared.

‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Player Handouts’ provides a set of images to be given out during play as the Player Characters proceed through the tournament, in ‘Round 1: The Infinite Phlogistopic Engine Complex’ in particular. The ‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Judge’s Pack’ begins with a recap of the tournament just as entertaining as the play reports in ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’, before giving a breakdown of the results, TPKs, deadliest rooms and rounds, and even a comparison with the tournament adventure from the Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying. This is followed by a list of Special Awards and then the ‘Judges’ Rules And Tournament Guidelines’, including general advice, handling the different Classes in Dungeon Crawl Classics, Critical Hits, and so on. Since ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ is partly set on Terra A.D. and the post-apocalyptic future of Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the new rules for 2018 cover the use of ‘Artifacts Of The Ancients’ and how to work out how they are used and mutations. A good quarter of the ‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Judge’s Pack’ is devoted to the scoring for each round and location.

The ‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Player Pack’ gives the player’s guidance for playing a tournament scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, a minimum of background to the scenario, and in the main, the eleven pre-generated Player Characters. These are all Fourth Level.

The ‘Goodman High Class of 1974 Yearbook’ is the longest book in the pack that makes up Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston. It is also the only book to be in colour in the pack and as the title gives it its theme, which is that of a high school yearbook. This begins with entries for all the members of Goodman High, complete with photograph from their high school photograph, which means bad, oh so bad, haircuts! Goodman Games has always brought a physical presence to any event that it attends, such as the Doom Gong, which is banged at the start and end of tournament sessions and even when a Player Character dies! ‘Real Life Adventures: Quest For The Wizard Van’ charts the beginning of the quest for Goodman Games’ Wizard’s Van. The quest does not get very far, but it is start, and there is a happy ending as Goodman Games definitely has a Wizard’s Van now! Where there was no success in hunting for a wizard’s van for Goodman Games, one addition to the Goodman Games booth are the obelisks, complete with shelves and the means to fly the Dungeon Crawl Classics flags. Nicely, complementing the Doom Gong introduced for Gen Con 50 in 2017 whose construction was detailed in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying, ‘Building the Obelisks’ explains how they were made. It is a surprisingly long, but entertaining piece.

The gaming content in the ‘Goodman High Class of 1974 Yearbook’ is quite light and in keeping with the tone of the high school yearbook is somewhat tongue in cheek in places. Thus, ‘The Partial Spellbook Of Dr. Lotrin Von Weissgras-Geisterblut’ describes a Cleric’s spell that strips flesh of a fresh corpse and animates them into different form, whereas ‘The Customer Creature Catalogue’ details thirty-seven monsters based on photographs of certain winners on the Luck Token Redemption Table found at the back of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying. This does lean into the tongue in cheek tone, with creatures like the ‘Fro-Bro’, a slush/snow elemental, or the ‘Gleft’, a combination tadpole, dragon, and ocular bat! All are depicted in a cartoonish style, and fairly silly. The silliness continues with one of the items on sale at Gen Con 51 at the Goodman Games booth was DCC RPG Nunchuks! Putting aside the ridiculousness of them, ‘Nunchaku!’ gives full rules for their use in Dungeon Crawl Classics. This includes the Nunchaku Master as a variant of the Warrior Class and the only Class capable of using the nunchaku without penalty. There are new Mighty Deeds suitable for the Nunchaku Master, such as ‘Nunchaku Intimidation’ and ‘Nunchaku Counterstrike’. This piece of silliness make you wish that there was a pulpy martial arts setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

The Goodman Games Gen Con Program Guides have always thrown a spotlight on the artwork that appears as covers on its titles and in their pages. In this volume with ‘Painting The Froghemoth’, Erol Otus shows off his development of his Froghemoth painting that is featured in the endsheets of Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. It is fantastic to see the work in progress and the end result, also shown here, is stunning. ‘Erol And The Rubber Monsters’ looks at his collection of rubber monsters is an entertaining addition.

Every Goodman Games Gen Con Program Guide highlights the activities of the Goodman Games community and the ‘Goodman High Class of 1974 Yearbook’ is no exception. It includes a group photograph of the winners of the program guide’s tournament with ‘Meet The Riders On The Phlogiston’, a full list of the events Goodman Games planned to attend in 2019, and photographs from the thirty-four events it attended in the previous year! This all highlights Goodman Games’ presence at conventions. It returns to ‘Riders on the Phlogiston’ with ‘News Flash! Origins Tournament Update!’ which reports on what happened when the tournament was run at Origins 2019, a nice complement to the ‘Riders on the Phlogiston – Judge’s Pack’ and its big report on the tournament at Gen Con 2018. There are the usual additions such as ‘road crew flyer DESIGN CONTEST 2019’ and ‘2018 – 2019 mailing label artwork’ too.

The ‘Goodman High Class of 1974 Yearbook’ ends on a more serious and actually more interesting note, especially for scholars of Dungeons & Dragons and anyone with an interest in its inspiration as listed in the Appendix N of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. The latter important because of its strong influence on Dungeon Crawl Classics. ‘Comics In D&D’ by James Maliszewski looks at the very obvious inspirations for art in the Original Dungeons & Dragons taken directly from Marvel Comics. The author tracks down the originals and compares with how they appeared in the roleplaying game to show really just how amateurish the beginnings of the hobby were. Michael Curtis’ ‘Adventures In Fiction: Ballantine Adult Fantasy’ is engaging history and examination of the fiction published by Ballatine Books as part of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series between 1969 and 1974. Several of the titles would go on to be listed in Appendix N, so this is a nice piece of bibliographic archaeology for Appendix N. Lastly, in ‘Appendix N Archaeology’ spotlights are thrown on authors who might have been included in Appendix N. The three authors discussed—Harold Lamb, Clark Ashton Smith, and William Hope Hodgson—are all interesting and in each case, are given good introductions to their respective works and examinations of their influence on E. Gary Gygax and Dungeons & Dragons. These are all excellent essays and if Goodman Games were to expand this into a book all of its very own, it would a fine complement to the Appendix N.

Physically, the Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston is an odd product with multiple booklets and books, one in full colour, the others not. All though are decently laid out, easy to read, lavishly illustrated throughout, and good-looking both in black and white, and in colour, much in keeping with the other entries in the series. However, the pack as a whole is not quite as durable because it is made up of several parts rather than a whole and is both easier to damage and more difficult to store.

The Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston greatly differs from the previous entries in the series—and even from the Goodman Games Gen Con 2018 Program Guide: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying—as it contains only the one scenario and not as much gaming content. Consequently, it is not going to be of interest to anyone who does not play Dungeon Crawl Classics and who does not want what is a very tough tournament adventure. There are points of interest though for the Dungeons & Dragons scholar in ‘Goodman High Class of 1974 Yearbook’ that are worth reading even if the tournament adventure is not to their liking. For the Dungeon Crawl Classics devotee, there is of course, the community content to enjoy, but what Goodman Games 2019 Yearbook: Riders on the Phlogiston really presents is the roleplaying game at its hardest, its most challenging, and even if said devotee never gets to play the tournament adventure, at its most entertaining.

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Goodman Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.