Horror House Hell

Have you wondered what would happen if a group of squatters looking for a place to stay or estate agents showing around prospective buyers got trapped in a haunted house? It is an intriguing idea, perhaps more interesting than the traditional trick or treating kids or new homeowners. After all, we already know how desperate either group is. The squatters desperate enough to break into an old house looking for somewhere to sleep and the estate agents desperate to make a sale and get the property off their books. If you are intrigued, then This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED is what you want. This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED is roleplaying game of ordinary folk being trapped in a haunted house, scared, petrified, and even dying from the frights that the spiritual trauma bound into the building are inflicting upon them. Initially uncertain, the protagonists—or victims—will over the course of three acts, suffer creepy events such as footsteps in another room or a music box playing by itself and then face obstacles like the lights going out and having to scrabble about in the dark or the faces in all of the portraits or photographs suddenly breaking into screams, before confronting the ghostly or ghoulish doings with a séance to appease a spirit’s woes or one of their number becomes possessed and begins to stalk everyone else in a murder spree!

This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED is a micro-game published by Parable Games, the British publisher best known for the horror roleplaying game, Shiver – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown. It was funded as part of the publisher’s Parable Games ZineQuest RPG Buffet on Kickstarter. It pitches very ordinary—quite literally, each one is an everyman—folk into a terrifying situation, puts them through the ringer, and sees which ones survive. And survival is the prize. It is designed to be played in a single session, is very light in terms of mechanics, and comes packed with a bunch of prompts to use at every stage of the game. Some preparation is required in terms of the Housekeeper—as the Game Master is known in This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED—deciding upon the type of haunted house the Player Characters will be trapped in. Will it be a classic gothic mansion, a crumbling castle on the hill, or some irritating millionaire tech bro’s mansion? The choice will help the Game Master decide upon the nature of the haunting and how it will manifest over the course of the game. Beyond that though, This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED is a very low preparation roleplaying game, so good to have as a back-up or impromptu game.

In terms of the Player Characters, what the Game Master and her players need to decide is what the characters are. Several options are suggested, including the squatters and the estate agents, and beyond that, nothing. No Player Character has any skills to speak of, at least in a mechanical sense and the only stats are Harm and Will, like this:

Margorie Whittingham (Mrs.)
Estate Agent
Harm: 10
Will: 3

Mechanically, for a player to have his character overcome a challenge in This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED, he rolls two six-sided dice and attempts to get a result of seven or more. If he succeeds, fine. If not, he fails and bad things happen to him. The player is free to decide if his character is above average at this task or below average. In which case, he receives a bonus or penalty of one, respectively. The difficulty of the task can levy a penalty ranging from Difficult and -1 to Why Bother? and -4. Combat is primarily narrative driven, and since the Player Characters are ordinary folk, they rarely have the initiative or an advantage. If the threat is incorporeal, then the Player Characters will need to use the occult or some other means, to inflict harm upon them.

A Player Character suffers physical damage to his Harm and mental damage to his Will, including being scared. Both physical damage and frights can come from creepy events, obstacles, and confronting the danger itself, as well as from failing a roll on occasion. Reducing his Harm to zero will kill a Player Character, but when his Will is reduced to zero, he will become petrified. This imposes a further penalty on all rolls. However, if the player succeeds at a roll when his character is petrified, some Will is recovered and he is no longer petrified.

This is the extent of the rules to This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED, just two pages out of its twelve-page running length. The rest of the roleplaying game is dedicated to helping the Housekeeper create her haunted house and decide upon its nature. There is some advice, actually decent advice given the length of the game, and then lots of tables with lots of entries. These include reasons why the house is haunted and the ‘Minor Creepy Events’ for Act One, the ‘Haunting’ events for Act 2, and the nature of the final confrontation in the ‘Finale’ for Act 3. This is accompanied by a long list of ghostly enemies, from Poltergeist, Banshee, and Ghoul to Demon, Hellhound, and Legion. The Player Characters are supported by a list of possible weapons, from the mundane, like the rolling pin and the cleaver, and the magical, like the ritual dagger and Latin Dictionary (although the latter has a one-in-six chance of working, and a one-in-six chance of the Player Character failing in a Latin word salad).

Structurally, This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED is played out over three acts. In the first act, the Player Characters explore the house and suffer minor haunting effects. By the end of this, they will realise that they are all trapped inside and cannot escape—and of course, there is a table for this—and then in the second act, the serious haunting begins. This is when the Player Characters scramble for resources to survive and the means to overcome the threat they will confront in the third act, the finale.

Physically, This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED is simply, cleanly laid out and written. It is easy to read and the tables easy to use, since the Housekeeper is going to be referring to them on a regular basis. It is pitched as a fanzine, but really, that is only because the roleplaying game is short rather than the the format or inspiration.

This House Is F*+#@%G HAUNTED is a quick and dirty horror roleplaying game—low preparation, easy-to-play, and packed with prompts and ideas. Perfect for a gaming group in need of a fast game now and for the Housekeeper happy to improvise.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley

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 showcased how 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 be 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 and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game from Goodman Games. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is The Valley Out of Time.

The first volume in the six-part series, The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley takes you into ‘The Valley Out of Time’. Published by Skeeter Green Productions, it is written for use with both the Dungeon Crawl Classics RolePlaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, ‘The Valley Out of Time’ is a ‘Lost Worlds’ style setting a la X1 The Isle of Dread, and films such as The Land that Time Forgot, The Lost World, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, One Million years, B.C., and others, plus the artwork of Frank Frazetta. Combining dinosaurs, Neanderthals, and a closed environment, it is intended to be dropped into a campaign with relative ease and would work in both a fantasy campaign or a post-apocalyptic campaign. It could even work as a bridge between the two, with two different possible entries into ‘The Valley Out of Time’, one from a fantasy campaign and one from a post-apocalyptic campaign.

The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is the second entry in the series. Published following a Kickstarter campaign, like the first issue, it opens with a list of hooks and motivations to get the Player Characters into the Timeless Valley, whether that is to search for a rare item or McGuffin, ending up in the valley via random gate or teleport, simple discovery of the vale between two mountain chains, or a previously closed off valley suddenly being opened by gods or the like, for reasons which will become clear. The eponymous scenario, ‘Exploring to the Valley’ begins with the Player Characters travelling across the valley. Having encountered a tribe of Urmanoids, the Neanderthal-like species native to the valley, and helped fend off two attacks upon their camp, first by a giant lizard and then by a pack of Dinychus attracted by the first attack, in the scenario in The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley, the Player Characters continue their travels in ‘Exploring to the Valley’. They spot a more-like figure in the distance, obviously more technologically capable. If they follow her, they will discover that she is a scout for a group of hunters from a tribe of Urman proto-humans. The Player Characters have the option to watch or participate in the hunt and then interact with the Urman, or even attack them.

Unfortunately, ‘Exploring to the Valley’ is not a scenario, but rather an extended encounter—and a frustrating one at that. The problem is that it focuses too much on the combat and not enough on the interaction, and although it introduces the female scout, she is only used as a lure to get the Player Characters to the encounter. As a whole, this is fiercely underdeveloped in terms of interaction and thus of opportunities for the Player Characters to learn anything about the surroundings and the Timeless Valley. As a consequence, there is no real pull or push for the Player Characters to do anything but wander around, and hope that something happens to them. This lack of development is compounded with the inclusion of not one, but two further encounters, neither of them designed to be run in conjunction with ‘Exploring to the Valley’. ‘A Cat-astrophe in the Grasslands’ is an encounter with a Pakthara, or giant sabre-tooth cat, whilst ‘Conventional Wisdom says RUN!’ is an encounter with a Strigoso, or giant owlbear. Both are for parties of high-Level Player Characters and thus highly unsuitable to be run with ‘Exploring to the Valley’, which is intended to be run with Player Characters of Second to Fourth Level.

As with The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley, the remainder of The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is dedicated to three appendices. The first, ‘Appendix A: New Monsters’ gives full write-ups for the various monsters and creatures which appear in the adventure, including the Drumahen, or giant bison, that the Urmans are hunting, as well as the Urman themselves. They are joined by the Gorge, or giant stirge, the Naga, Royal Cap giant fungus, and the Strigoso. These are all nicely detailed. The second, ‘Appendix B: Random Encounter Tables’ gives random encounter tables for the jungle, grasslands, and hills of the Timeless Valley. This followed by the stats for the encounters themselves, some sixty or more entries. This takes up half of the issue, and if the ‘Appendix A: New Monsters’ is added to that, almost two thirds of The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is devoted to just monsters.

The third and penultimate entry is ‘Appendix C: The Timeless Valley’. Where the previous article in the series in The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley suggested ways in which the Player Characters could be brought to the Timeless Valley, in this issue, it actually look at the Timeless Valley as a setting, but not in a way that is actually useful. It opens with “What is the Timeless Valley? Where is the Valley? WHO is the valley? Why is the Valley? All good – if somewhat silly – questions.” These are anything other than silly questions. They are very good questions, they are very pertinent questions, because in answering them, they provide the fundamentals of the setting and from those fundamentals can be created stories and plots and motivations. It then continues with, “The Judge needs to integrate as much or as little background as necessary to keep the players interested in the area. Here at SGP, we think that the valley is ripe for exploration, conquest, just plain killin’ new critters. Whatever motivates the players and keeps the campaign going is why it’s here.” Which begs a number of questions. First of which is, if that is what Skeeter Green Productions thinks, why is it avoiding every single opportunity to support it? Why does The Valley Out of Time not have a background or setting? Why does The Valley Out of Time not include anything that would support Player Character motivations? And why does Skeeter Green Productions think that fundamental basic questions about a setting that it wants its customers to buy and play are silly?

That said, ‘Appendix C: The Timeless Valley’ does actually provide some background. It provides the history and the legend of the Timeless Valley and explains how it came to be populated with dinosaurs and other great beasts, and has its technological development slowed. It is a good introduction to the setting and well written, but it comes with one big caveat. This is that it is a possibility of a background. So not the actual background to the Timeless Valley? What then is the point of it except as piece of fiction, because there is no reference to it elsewhere in the fanzine and certainly no ideas are given as how such a possible background relates to the current state or geography of the Timeless Valley expect for the dinosaurs and the lack of technological development.

Physically, The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is well presented, although the artwork does vary in quality. As with The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley, this issue continues its ‘Partwork’-like structure.

The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is ultimately, an exercise in frustration. Its content is for the most part undeniably good, and that is because the various monsters and beasts are all given good write-ups and the stats in the encounter tables are useful. The rest leaves the Judge to ask the question, “Yes, and?” because what the issue fails to do is develop the Timeless Valley as a setting and present suggestions as what the Player Characters might do or go. The lack of an overview of the Timeless Valley as a setting, let alone a map, leaves the Judge with the parts of setting, but not the actual setting itself. This is compounded by the lack of a proper scenario, one with an actual plot and something that the players and their characters can learn or gain from in playing. All of which is exacerbated by the last thing in the issue. Two pages which are left blank as ‘GM Notes’. Literally, blank pages instead of actually addressing the fundamental problems of The Valley Out of Time and The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley as a playable setting. As a consequence, The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley completely fails to live up to its title. It is all about the monsters and nothing about exploring the valley.

Whether The Valley Out of Time is an actual setting or the parts of a setting that the Judge has to design and assemble herself remains to be seen.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Silam No. 1

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 showcased how 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 be 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 and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game from Goodman Games. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is Silam.

Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku and Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao were published by Wizards With Laser Rifles following a successful Kickstarter campaign. It presents a whole new setting for Dungeons Crawl Classics, including a Character Funnel adventure, three new Classes, and a brief introduction to the setting. All of which is preceded by an excellent map of the setting. ‘A Brief History of Silam’ provides the overview of the setting, one which is divided by attitudes towards magic. In the wake of the Glass Wars, The Three Powers arose in Silam to prevent the country sliding into civil war between the Lawful and Chaotic use of magic by Clerics and Wizards, an alliance between Neutral Wizards and Druids providing a balancing force between the two. The Three Powers built Spikes, subterranean bunkers where members could train, live, and protect themselves. After almost five hundred years, the young Queen Budhi initiated The Shattering which destroyed The Three Powers and then execute any magic-using member of her court and those that had participated in The Shattering. Over two decades later, a powerful cleric rose to usurp the queen—and almost succeeded. Great walls were erected between the lands of Queen Budhi and those held by the supporters of the cleric. Since then, a cold war between the Crown of Nicsa and the Tribe of Lliram has divided Silam as much as the walls.

The background has a particular effect upon the role of spellcasting Classes. Wizards cannot be Neutral and the background requires the use of the Druid as a Class. Unfortunately, one of the problems in Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is that it does not include a version of the Druid Class. Instead, it refers to other sources, ones that the Judge may not easily have access to. The Cleric worships not gods, as such but personifications of impulses such as ‘Protect’, ‘Change’, ‘Sleep’, and so on.

The Silam setting also does not use the Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling Race as per Dungeon Crawl Classics, although it does use as ‘Race as Class’ in introducing three new Races. These are the ‘Slate’, the ‘Icaron’, and the ‘Lorph’. The Slate is a tall, long-limbed humanoid with slate-like skin that gives an Armour Class bonus when not wearing armour and with ‘Metasig’s Touch’, grants them a Charge Die in combat. This can be rolled to create a ‘Defensive Field’ that gives a bonus to Armour Class or a ‘Melee Modifier’ that gives an attack modifier. The Slate can switch between the two from one round to the next and if the Charge Die rolls high enough, the defendant will also be stunned. A Slate’s Luck modifier applies to a single weapon also. The ‘Icaron’ is short and has bat-like features and vestigial wings. They have Echolocation with enclosed spaces and various Thief-like abilities, such as ‘Backstab’, ‘Climb Sheer Surfaces’, ‘Hide’, and ‘Sneak Silently’. Like the Halfling, the Icaron can also pass points of Luck to his allies, but the generosity of the Icaron means that he expects nothing in return. However, the universe gives back, actually returning some points of Luck afterwards! Lastly, the ‘Lorph’ are green-haired, brown-bearded, have wood-like finger and toenails, and are particularly indulgent. Their connection with the god of consumption, Haus, gives them the Forest Walk spell and they have the Charm Person spell which they can use on woodland creatures. Innately magical, Lorph can use both Cleric and Wizard spells, their use is subject to mercurial magic. However, their connection to both magic and Haus means that gaining too much magical power is dangerous and his ‘heart-seed’ can burst, causing him to transform into a tree and take root! A full list of the spells known by the Lorph is also included.

The second half of Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is dedicated to the Character Funnel, ‘The Spike of Dosku’. The Character Funnel is the signature scenario of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, one in which the players take control of four Zero Level Player Characters and attempt to have them survive an adventure or dungeon. Any Player Characters that do, gain sufficient Experience Points for them to be able to pick a Class and become First Level. To that end, Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku does include a table of occupations appropriate to the Silam setting. ‘The Spike of Dosku’ begins in the village of Hearth, in the lands of the Tribe of Lliram. Forces from the Crown of Nicsa are putting the village to the sward and the flame and whilst the Player Characters are led to a possible route out of the immediate conflict, it is through an abandoned Spike. The adventure is thus through a small training Druidic School of Magic. The Player Characters could rush through to the end, the route being relatively direct, but it pays for them to explore as they will need to gain every advantage if they are get past the very tough—especially for Zero Level Player Characters—guardian protecting the other exit from the Spike. In between, there are some entertaining encounters, like a drunken gargoyle barkeeper who is furious at having been bound to work behind the bar, a Soup Construct with a chip on its shoulder, and a giant Moss Spider that will either eat the Player Characters or leave the Spike as their lifelong companion! ‘The Spike of Dosku’ is a sold Funnel, playable in a session or two, and very nicely detailed.

Physically, Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is very well produced. The maps are nicely done and the artwork is excellent.

The problem with Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is that the setting itself feels slightly muddled. It is not quite clear what the relationships between the different factions are and what some of them want. This then makes it difficult to impart the conflict and tensions present in the setting to the players and thus provide some basic motivations for their characters. However, get past that and Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku provides a well presented set of Player Character options and a very enjoyable Character Funnel. Overall, Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is a good introduction to the setting that hopefully Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao will build upon.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco

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 showcased how 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 be 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 and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game from Goodman Games. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is Ninja City.

Ninja City is different type of fanzine for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Published by Get Haunted Industries, it adapts the roleplaying game from Goodman Games to run adventures inspired by the Ninja movies and craze of the eighties, cheap straight-to-VHS tales of crime and retribution, and just a little bit, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In Ninja City, the streets of the Player Characters’ hometown have been taken over by Bad Guyz—drug lords, street gangs, crooked cops, and worse—and nobody is doing a damned thing about it! Fortunately for the town and the Player Characters, they have rediscovered the Lost Secrets of the Ninja, found a sensei, set up a Clan in a secret hideout, and at the end of the day, when their day jobs are over, sneak out to strike at the Bad Guyz! Disrupt their operations, destroy their product, free the cheap labour they employ, rescue victims held hostage, defeat the Big Boss and unmask him, ultimately, free the town for good folk everywhere!

Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco is the follow up, published via a successful Kickstarter campaign. It opens with a hot and sweaty summer of a scenario, the eponymously named ‘Drug Demon Disco’. As the mercury in the thermometer rises, the Bad Guyz take advantage of the heatwave to go on a crimewave as the city cops are too lazy to leave the air conditioning of their black-and-whites and costumed vigilantes skulk in their basements, it falls to the Ninja to act. This Level One adventure opens with the Player Characters attending a ‘Squirt Day’ run by the city’s Youth and Family Association to help everyone cool done. What looks to be a fun day, turns to chaos as several members of the crowd each turns into a ‘Juice-Pumped Meathead’ and start attacking everyone. The Player Characters’ sensei informs them that the cause of the random transformations is an ancient being known as the ‘Shadow Demon’ and his coming presages the spread of an apocalyptic plague. He also points to the Freak Out Sector as a likely place to search for clues. This is the worst district in Ninja City and in order to find and face the villain of the piece, the Player Characters will have to dance and fight their way through a disco of death… This is a frantic, frenetic scenario, as well as suitably cheesy with big hair, dance moves, and a lot of hairspray.

‘Drug Demon Disco’ takes up half of Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco. The other half continues with some colour fiction, ‘Let me tell you of my greatest failure.’, which gives the back story to ‘The Black Lotus’. He is one of the deadliest of ninja clan leaders in the city. He has his own signature moves, such as ‘The Slumbering Serpent Uncoils at Dawn’. With this, the Black Lotus withholds his action to retaliate. In this, the highest of his Action Dice becomes the attack roll and the remainder—up to three—become the damage dice. In general, the Black Lotus fights defensively to lure his opponents into false sense of security before retaliating.

‘The Six Masks of the Mystic Masters’ presents six masks each of which provides an ability. For example, the ‘Hornet Masks’ or ‘Golden Sting’ which grants a chance of inflicting extra poison damage. They are intended to be difficult to find and the article suggests several possible locations. These require some development by the Judge, but the one-line descriptions are a good starter. ‘Newly Translated Forces’ details a new to be discovered power, ‘Force of Panda’, and how it is found and how the Player Characters have to sneak past a TV special to get hold of it. Again, it needs to be fleshed out, but this could be fun encounter.

Ben ‘Dr. Metal’ Grimes’ ‘Nin-Jistory: How the Ninja Craze Hit Suburban America in the Early 80’s’ gives a quick and dirty overview of the genre as it appeared in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s. It is a fun and very personal overview, which brings the fanzine to an enjoyable close.

Physically, Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco is a busy, fizzy affair, all action and ninjitsu. The scenario is fun and the other content is a solid content to add to the Judge’s campaign. As a follow on to Ninja City, fans of that fanzine will definitely want to pick this up and return to the hot, sweaty streets of Ninja City.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Legends of Uganda Issue #1

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 showcased how 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 be 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 and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game from Goodman Games. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is Legends of Uganda.

Legends of Uganda Issue #1 was published in August 2023 for Gen Con. Published by Sanctum Media, this a collection of lore and legends from the Republic of Uganda. Of course, there have been sourcebooks and supplements dedicated to Africa as a setting, such as Nyambe: African Adventures for the d20 System and Between Sand & Sea: Mythic Africa for Ars Magica—both from Atlas Games, but such titles tend not to be written by authors indigenous to the region. This is not the case with Legends of Uganda Issue #1, which is written by Ugandan game designer Ashraf Braden. This first issue details five legends and their stats, some weapons, and lastly a much needed pronunciation guide. It begins with an introduction from the author, explaining a little bit about his background and how he is drawing upon his country’s history in writing the fanzine, but also highlighting the difficulties in writing the fanzine, let alone bring it to print. Primarily this is due to a lack of access to the means, but he also makes clear that his publishers have been very helpful. Hopefully, this will continue and perhaps even encourage others from different cultures to contribute towards content for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics?

The first entry in Legends of Uganda Issue #1 is the ‘Kakondo’, one of numerous monsters detailed in the in the fanzine. Like many of the monsters detailed in the fanzine, it both hunts and haunts at night and it does so without being seen, but its presence is felt. This is as a supernatural presence, and once close to its victim, it paralyses him, inflicting terror and draining Personality. The ‘Lukwata’ is a sea serpent who took up residence in Lake Victoria, basking by day on an island called Ssese, and becoming the bane of fishermen of all three nations which border the lake. The ‘Lukwata’ can impale, cut, and slash with its gill-ridges and slash with its whiskers. The ‘River Elemental’ is a variant upon the Water Element, but specific to the rivers of Uganda. The ‘River Elemental’ is incredibly fast and can not only engulf and drown its victims, it can also drag debris within itself. This includes branches and scrub and uprooted trees and buildings, but where the creature gets fun is that this debris can include creatures like a swarm of fire ants or a Nile crocodile, and there is a chance that anyone struck by the River Elemental is also attacked or struck by the debris!

The final monster described in Legends of Uganda Issue #1  are the ‘Abasezi – The Night Dancers’. These are cursed cannibals who attend funerals unbidden and mark the graves before coming back to steal the bodies at night and return home to consume them. Because the curse is hereditary and family-based, outsiders have to carefully vet their would-be in-laws to see if they cursed. This is made difficult by the fact that the Abasezi look and act normal during the day. Each band of Abasezi has its own special ability, liking casting Sleeping Stones or Anthropophagus Healing. In comparison, to the entries in the fanzine, the Abasezi are nicely creepy, yet still relatable.

In addition to the actual monster descriptions, the author provides the legend those stats are derived from. For example, ‘Kamila’, meaning ‘swallower’ is a River Elemental sent as punishment by Nalubaale, the ‘mother of gods’, for anyone who annoyed her. The legend relates how Kamila would drown houses and their occupants at the command of Nalubaale, but was defeated by a fisherman by trapping it in house. Stats for ‘Kamila’ are also provided alongside the generic ones as well. 

In between are descriptions of African weapons, complete with associated Mighty Deeds. The ‘Yakoma’ or ‘sickle sword’ which has a sharply curved blade that can be used hook and tear, but primarily to pull an enemy off-balance and trip him. The ‘Panga’ and its larger counterpart, the ‘Ejambiya’, have heavy blades which can dismember limbs, and are much feared, whilst the ‘Fishing Net’ is used to entangle. All of these weapons have their own tables for the results of the Deed die. 

The only Class in Legends of Uganda Issue #1 is the ‘Bachwezi’. They are nomadic cattle keepers, again moving about at night, unseen, but heard as their voices and whistles carry, whilst leaving behind the remains of campfires. Descended from gods, in game terms they have higher attributes, prefer to have others fight for them, are Chaotic in Alignment, and by expending Luck, can turn invisible. Other powers include the ‘Soul-Bind’, the ability to rip a victim’s soul from his body and put this soul-form to work, whilst the victim remains magically asleep, and Telepathy. Use of these powers require the expenditure of Luck, and their effects can be increased by expending further Luck. They also regain Luck each night. However, all of these abilities are negated if a Bachwezi is exposed to sunlight, and even light stronger than moonlight imposes a penalty to actions. Stats are provided for the Bachwezi as NPCs or monsters, but this a much more powerful Class by usual Dungeon Crawl Classics standards. However, it remains to be seen if it is more powerful in comparison to other Classes that could appear in the pages of future issues of Legends of Uganda. 

Physically, Legends of Uganda Issue #1 is a plain, simple affair. The artwork is black and white, consisting of what looks like traditional depictions of the various monsters described in its pages.

If there is an issue with Legends of Uganda Issue #1, it is that in places its content does run into each other with little to delineate between one article and the next. Also, the fanzine is often written in a more personal style than is expected and the switch back and forth between that and a more objective style is slightly disconcerting.

Legends of Uganda Issue #1 really is a fascinating read, an opportunity to read about the monsters and legends of another country and not only that, but have translated into game terms—and all that by an indigenous author. Legends of Uganda Issue #1 brings a different voice and a different culture to Dungeon Crawl Classics and so widens it scope. It is more than welcome and hopefully more issues of Legends of Uganda and more voices will follow.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3

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 showcased how 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 be 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 and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game from Goodman Games.

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 is another fine looking issue of the fanzine published by Blind Visionary Publications. As with the previous issues, it continues to provide long-term support rather than immediate support for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. This is not say that none of its content is not of use or even useless, for that is very much not the case, but rather that it requires a bit of effort upon the part of Judge to work it into her campaign. In fact, all of content is detailed, interesting, and worth reading. Published in August, 2021, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, where the previous issue, Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1 strayed into the territory of the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, both Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 2 and Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 have stuck to a very similar format and remained in the territory of Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 opens with ‘Dor Nyvs’. This is a new Patron, one that is of the five Archomentals of the plane of earth and as much an individual entity as part of the landscape. It is described as being a surprisingly active patron rather than simply accepting the sacrifices and devotion of its worshippers. Its Invoke Patron spells include effects such as ‘Buoyant Pumice’ which reduces the target’s mass, doubling the encumbrance capacity, and if actually unencumbered, quintupling his jumping distance, ‘Tectonic Folding’, which causes the earth and stone to fold around the targets, inflicting damage and potentially entrapping them, and with ‘Timeless Stone’ turning the target into stone for a number of decades equal to the spellburn spent. Dor Nyvs actually allows its worshippers to choose a lesser effect than the one rolled, whilst its patron taint first pummels the spellcaster and anyone nearby with hot pumice and then subsequently forces the caster to take on aspects of the elemental plane of earth. Its spellburn causes a caster to cough up pebble and silt, weep crystal shards, and so on, whilst its spells consist of Find Familiar, Life and Death of Stone, Summon Minion of Dor Nyvs, and Earth’s Cradle. Of these, Life and Death of Stone enables the caster to feel the pain of stone—living or dead, and even heal it; Summon Minion of Dor Nyvs summons an earth-related minion or two; and Earth’s Cradle enables to sink into the earth, move through it, and listen to his surroundings. Overall, nicely thematic, although the idea of its being an active patron is not explored beyond its mention.

‘Cullpepper’s Herbal’ continues the regular feature begun in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1. Here there is a guide to creating concoctions and herbal restoratives, which includes descriptions, flowering times, astrology, shoots, and more. This time the entries are all fungi: Death’s Head Agaric, and Red Agaric, all illustrated and all very nicely detailed. In all cases, the individual parts of the mushroom are broken done and their use explained, such as the cap of the Red Agaric being poisonous unless boiled twice, and then very tasty in a stew, the stalk being useful as a thickener in stew, as a glue, and can be boiled down to make a covering for footwear that is waterproof, and the gills, if dried, work as an emetic, but good for flushing parasites out of the bowels! Not all of this information is necessarily going to be useful, but it great detail for a herbalist Player Character or NPC.

‘Rites & Rituals Part III’ continues the expanded use of magic and rituals in Dungeon Crawl Classics, begun in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1. Rituals are more powerful than normal spells, and their inherent power, unlinked to any god or deity, means that anyone can cast them. What this leads to is the creation of standardised rituals to achieve the same objective, but which are different from one cult or organisation to another. ‘Rites & Rituals Part I’ in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1 explained how they work, whilst cleric-related rituals were detailed in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 2. ‘Rites & Rituals Part III’ suggests ways in which they can used to enhance game play and add roleplaying scenes and adds two more sample rituals. These are Homunculi Servant and Sky Citadel, extending the range available.

The monster detailed in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 is the ‘Tentacular’. This is a weird combination of feline and tentacular monstrosity, essentially cat plus the Eye Tyrant of Greyhawk Supplement IV. It has the head and body of a cat, but instead of legs and tails, it has tentacles. It also has a beak through which it draws the souls of its victims and food. An Adult Tentacular has different powers in each of its eyes, such as being able to spot arcane spellcasters with one eye because they radiate a red aura, shoot blasts of corruption, or fires a beam of energy that rends armour in two! The Tentacular preys on wizards in particular, even needing to feed on their souls to undergo the change into a juvenile and into an adult. It is a fanatically, horrifyingly detailed write-up of a weird and wondrous creature, but the lengthy article does not suggest any ideas as to how the creature might be used in a game.

The companion piece to ‘Tentacular’ is ‘Tentacular kin – Fuzzies, Steelies, and Beakies’, inspired by an image which originally appeared in The Dungeoneer, Vol. 1, No. 2., accompanying the article, ‘Fuzzies & Steelies’ by Jennell Jacquays. If the Tentacular is the fanzine’s answer to the Beholder of Dungeons & Dragons fame, then as Fuzzies and Steelies were described as ‘beholderkin’, then it made sense for the Tentacular to have its own. These are the mutated result of a young Tentacular consuming the soul of a corrupted wizard or soul-eater. All three creatures live up to their singular names, the Fuzzie being a ball of stiff fur, the Steelie having a shell of hardened fur, and a Beakie a sharp beak capable of biting through armour and breaking bones! The Fuzzle and Steelie have sting attacks and can wield weapons with their tentacles, whereas the Beakie does not and instead has a sonic attack which can either be sleep-inducing purr or a piercing yowl. These are nice additions, but the article does not develop any of the three creatures beyond this.

In between, ‘You, Too, Can Gongfarm!’ offers a means of an Elf, Dwarf, or Halfling only rolling occupations particular to their races when creating Player Characters for a Character Funnel, the signature game style of Dungeon Crawl Classics in the players roleplay multiple Zero Level characters in the hope that some survive to advance to First Level. It is short and simple. Rounding out the issue is Joel Philips’ ‘Onward Retainer’. This continues the comic strip about the retainer in the fantasy roleplaying games begun in the first issue. It is nicely drawn and is a reasonable enough read, though not as funny as it is trying to be. Lastly, ‘Word Wyrms’ is another two pages of word puzzles. Great if you like word puzzles, otherwise, very much not. Unlike in previous issues, there is no editorial, just a listing of the contents on the back cover.

Physically, Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 is well written and the fanzine as a whole, has high production values. The artwork is good throughout, and the front cover again echoes the illustration from the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, by Dave Trampier, which is based on the Street of the Knights on the Greek island of Rhodes. This is an illustration that the fanzine will return to again and again for its front covers.

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 picks up where Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 2 left off. It is a very good-looking third issue, but none of the content is immediately useful or applicable to a game and the Judge will need to work it into her campaign. The other issue is the lack of application and the lack of advice on how to use any of the content, all of which would have made the fanzine of more immediate use. Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 contains good solid material, but it may not make to the table until after the Judge has decide what she wants to do with it.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Chthonic Crawl Issue One: Magic Items

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

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

Chthonic Crawl Issue One: Magic Items is a simple, straightforward affair published by Alignment Unknown Publishing in November, 2022. It clearly and directly presents seventeen magical items for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, and as per the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, these are not dull, run-of-the-mill, magical items, produced en masse as if from some magic item manufactory. These are individual items, intricate, detailed, and more interesting than an ordinary +1 sword or a potion of extra-healing. Which makes them worth questing for and worth discovering, as well as worth the Judge taking the time to equip her NPCs and villains with them. Above all, these magical items are interesting, which is one reason why the play of Dungeon Crawl Classics is different. Lastly, they are all basically compatible with other retroclones, which means that Chthonic Crawl Issue One: Magic Items will be useful for Game Masters running other Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games.

The tone and style is set with the first entry, the Robe of Maggots. This was created by the dread necromancer, Silas Gloom, constructed of thick, writhing maggots to ease the suffering of his wife, who was ill with a wasting disease. It was created to clean her wounds and enhance her healing rate, and as a byproduct enhanced her spellcasting. While worn, the Robe of Maggots grants an Armour Class bonus, prevents infection and increases the healing factor of the wearer, and the maggots and the flesh that they have eaten can be spellburned for a bonus to the wearer’s spellcheck. It is a great opening entry, a magical item that you both want the benefits of wearing or using, but are actually reviled by the item itself. The Judge will definitely want to give this to an NPC or villain because the benefits are good and because it is a really cool-looking, impressive piece of apparel.

The Robe of Maggots is followed by Fenthoril’s Giants Bane, a great club created a giant’s thighbone by an ancient Elven huntress with a hatred of giants, that inflicts both more damage and potentially rotting wounds; The Many-Eyed Shield of El-Rimduand, created by the fiend and failed conqueror, who plucked out his captains’ eyes and bound their spirits into the shield, and when someone rolls a one to hit the wielder, one of the eyes opens and triggers a random effect; and The Lopper, a meat cleaver previously wielded by ‘The Butcher’, which urges any current owner to lope off limbs, either the defender’s if the attacker rolls a twenty or the attacker’s if attacker rolls a critical failure! The seventeen not only includes arms and armour, but also a broach that enhances the wearer’s personality and obsession with value; a Dwarven monocle that helps the wearer determine an object’s value, but with a chance of the object being turned into coal and rendered valueless; and The Crucible, a Halfling’s self-heating, cast-iron skillet that can be used as an improvised weapon, can inflict fire damage, and any food cooked on it is purified of rot or poison, but was simply created to cook food without the need for a fire and thus avoiding the possibility of being noticed by wandering monsters.

All seventeen entries follow the same format. This is a two-page spread with description on the lefthand page that includes its lore, traits, and then a plot hook. The traits list its mechanical game effects. Opposite this, on the righthand page is illustration. This makes for a very clear and easy-to-use organisation. The artwork is excellent, the lore nicely detailed, and the traits clearly written. If there is an issue at all with the Chthonic Crawl Issue One: Magic Items, it is that the plot hooks are underwritten and underwhelming in comparison to the other details for each entry. Otherwise, Chthonic Crawl Issue One: Magic Items is a great looking fanzine. In fact, it looks better than any fanzine deserves to be.

Chthonic Crawl Issue One: Magic Items is an excellent collection of magical items that are worth looking at if you are running Dungeon Crawl Classics, or indeed any fantasy roleplaying game. The entries are inventive and engaging and very nicely presented.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Skull & Crossbones Classics #1

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

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

Skull & Crossbones Classics #1: A ’zine of high sea adventure was published in March 2020, by Sanctum Media when it set sail with a pirate crew for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It is intended to explore and present the Golden Age of Piracy with a range of new Classes, rules, and other piratically-themed content. In the introduction it sets out aims, gives a nod to its inspirations in the form of other pirate-based roleplaying games and supplements, acknowledges the exaggerated West Country accent that forms the basis of most pirate talk, and suggests ways in which a piratical Dungeon Crawl Classics could be run. This can be as historical game, as per the Golden Age of Piracy; add in elements of the supernatural, including a lot of monsters; or simply as an addition to the Judge’s Dungeon Crawl Classics. These are pointers only, and arguably worthy of article subjects in their own right. What is clear from the editorial is the author is a fan of pirates and that shows throughout the rest of the issue.

It opens with ‘Core Rules – Character Basics’, which addresses the basic elements of Dungeon Crawl Classics and the changes needed to fit a pirate roleplaying game. This include Alignment, Armour Class, Cultural Background, Firearms, Gender, Languages, Sexuality, and Skills. Alignment is shifted to become a pirate’s attitude towards the law and piracy, rather an indication of good versus evil. For Armour Class, unarmoured characters have a bonus equal to a Player Character’s Stamina and Agility bonuses, though any armour worn works as normal. ‘Race as Class’, as found in the Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game, does not appear in Skull & Crossbones Classics, and it is suggested that a player work with the Judge to come up with a period background. Firearms are mentioned, but left for another issue to detail. A range of real-world languages is pointed out as that the fact that different genders and sexualities were accepted aboard some ships. Lastly, it introduces ‘Seamanship’, a new skill that every Player Character has and which covers carpentry, astronomy, navigation, ropework, and more, representing everything that the average pirate would know and do.

In terms of specific rules, ‘Star Signs’ replaces the standard Birth Signs of Dungeon Crawl Classics. It gives these for the Western and Chinese zodiacs as well as the Polynesian zodiac. The latter are simplified to associated spirits for ease of play. All three give two modifiers. ‘Weal’ or a bonus if the Player Character’s Luck is positive, ‘Woe’ if it is negative. For example, the ‘Weal’ for Cancer is a bonus to Reflex Saves, but a penalty to Ranged Damage Rolls if negative. If a Player Character has no Luck modifier, he instead gains both at a one-point modifier! These are all fantastic additions, but whilst the Western and Chinese zodiacs made sense, as both cultures had pirates, it is not made clear whether the Polynesian culture did. This is of course, could be offset by an article about the Polynesian involvement in piracy and some ideas in terms of background and culture as well.

The new Character Class in Skull & Crossbones Classics #1. Inspired by the Biblical character, this is a “Living Bad Luck Charm” who will bring misfortune and woe to himself and any crew he serves with. Alignment determines how the curse befell the Jonah and how he regards it. The Lawful Jonah has committed a transgression, such as killing an albatross or whistly on deck, and knowingly suffers his penance; the Neutral Jonah were cursed through no fault of their own and hopelessly, helplessly bemoan their cruel fate; and the Chaotic Jonah take glee in his misfortune and willingly shares it. The Jonah can replace his Agility or Stamina modifier with his Luck modifier for Armour Class; has worse luck with firearms; with ‘Re-Align the Stars’ can attempt to use another Player Character’s Luck, though if this fails, both the Jonah and the Player Character suffer the consequences; and can spend Luck to reduce the effectiveness of the rolls of others—including negating critical successes and causing ‘natural’ fumbles! Luck spent is recovered daily.

The Jonah is an inventive Class, reworking the Luck mechanics of Dungeon Crawl Classics to primarily target others, both other Player Characters and NPCs. However, it is not an easy Class to play in terms of the setting, since any known Jonah would be thrown off a vessel to avoid both her and her crew from suffering the effects of the Jonah’s bad luck. So, what a player roleplaying a Jonah has to do is roleplay the Class, but keep it hidden what he is, whilst at the same time, the other players have to roleplay not knowing what he is, although mechanically, they are very likely to have a very good idea.

The Luck-theme continues with ‘The Devil’s Own Luck’. This is Luck extra to that which every Player Character has. It is also gained for rolling a fumble or suffering a critical hit in combat, violating the Seven Deadly Sins or the Ten Commandments, succeeding in a reckless action when failure would mean certain death, and so on, but being kind-hearted or pious or entering holy ground for reasons other than pillage, will lose a Player Character his own ‘Devil’s Own Luck’. However, rolling a critical hit will lose everyone their own ‘Devil’s Own Luck’. Whilst a Player Character has ‘The Devil’s Own Luck’, it can be spent as normal Luck, but also on other the Player Characters, and to turn rolls of above twenty into a natural twenty and rolls below one into a natural one. ‘The Devil’s Own Luck’ can also be wagered against a Player Character’s Luck to gain more of the former.

‘Sailing Superstitions’ covers everything from always stepping onto a ship with the right foot rather the left and the weather and whistling, whilst ‘Ill-Fortune’ explores what happens when a Player Character’s Luck runs out, he blasphemes, suffers or causes bad luck, or is cursed. Mechanically, this is to roll on the accompanying table. The results might be as simple as the Player Character dropping whatever is in his hand or the ship’s cook getting angry with him and flinging a cleaver at him, cutting his ear off. Alternatively, the rest of the crew might follow the Player Character into a failed mutiny or the Player Character’s presence attracts man-eating sharks! These require a bit of a set-up and so it is suggested that the exact result not be revealed until the right moment.

In a change from the Luck-theme, ‘Sea Beggar’s Bestiary’ details four aquatic creatures—the Barracuda, the Sea Devil, the Sea Serpent, and the Tiger Shark. These are solid write-ups, the Sea Serpent large to swallow a sailor whole and ram a ship. Rounding out Skull & Crossbones Classics #1 is its own ‘Appendix S’, a solid list of fiction to inspire the potential Judge wanting to run a pirate-themed Dungeon Crawl Classics game.

Physically, Skull & Crossbones Classics #1 is serviceably presented. It is decently written and illustrated with publicly available artwork.

The biggest issue with Skull & Crossbones Classics #1 is that it is the only issue to date and it leaves things such as the promised ‘Maritime Deeds’, ‘Naval Combat’, and ‘Ships, Ships, and More Ships’ articles left for an as yet unpublished issue. These are not the only things left unaddressed by just the one issue, such as how the other Classes work in a ‘Skull & Crossbones Classics’ setting, new magic spells and items, and background information about Chinese and Polynesian pirates only hinted at in the ‘Star Signs’ article. If not Skull & Crossbones Classics #2, then at least a Skull & Crossbones Classics supplement could address those issues—and more. That though, is an ideal outcome, one that might never come to pass. Which would be a pity. In the meantime, Skull & Crossbones Classics #1 is a good start, if very Luck-focused, introducing the possibility of pirates to Dungeon Crawl Classics. Until Skull & Crossbones Classics #2 does appear, there nothing to stop a Judge taking its content and developing it further and adding to it for her own campaign.