Day Nine of OSR Christmas - Post 3 - Crawl! If Ye Want to be Gifted! (Worldwide)

I told you it would be hot & heavy today!

+Dak Ultimak really needs no introduction. He is the publisher of Crawl!, the first DCC RPG zine and an awesome editor of DCC products on top of that. Gee, I guess I introduced him ;)

Dak is the ultimate Santa too. Don't believe me? Here's what Dak's giving away for OSR Christmas:

To be given away (Anywhere in the world!): 

1 complete set of Crawl!, printed+PDF.  

2 complete sets of Crawl!, PDF editions. 

3 single copies of anything I publish, in print +PDF, winner's choice (including Hack: Firearms print ed.) 

4 copies of no.11 (Print + PDF). 

5+ copies of Dungeon Crawl Basics (proof of concept/beta/not final print copies, and free copies of the final edition when finished.)  

That's a LOT of stuff, 15 prizes! And yes, physical copies go anywhere a postman will go.

How do you get to be on Santa Dak's "Good List?"

Simply go to the Crawlzine! Blog and follow the simple instructions.

Don't forget, there are two other giveaways that kicked off today :)

Crawl Fanzine #11 is Here - Nautical Madness (DCC RPG)

Well, alright. Maybe not "Nautical Madness." Crawl #11 is certainly nautically themed. Alright, technically it's "The Seafaring Issue."

It's Crawl!, so you know it's gonna be quality. It's also fairly easy to port most of this issue over to other OSR rulesets, either directly or as inspiration. Very cool.

What's inside?

Features:
-Naval Warfare for Ocean Crawlers
-Nautical Mighty Deeds
-Fantastic Forms of Sea Ship Propulsion
-The Deep Elders - Deep sea servants of Dagon
-Life Aboard - Ship morale and on-board events

All that for $2.99

Win Some free Crawl! That's NOT Part of OSR Christmas ;)

Head over to the Channel Zero blog and win some cool Crawl! swag. +Ryan Moore is giving away print copies of Crawl! 5, 6, 7 and 9 to 4 luck winners (to be picked on December 23. +Dak Ultimak will be adding PDF copies for the luck winners.

What are you waiting for? Tell Ryan "The Tavern" sent ya! ;)

Flash Giveaway - Crawl! #10 in Print Anywhere in the World - Four Hours Only!

In my excitement upon learning of the release of issue #10 of Crawl!, I forgot that I already had an active subscription with +Dak Ultimak .

What to do?

Simple.

Dak and I have decided to give it away - and Dak will ship it anywhere in the world.

I'm going to open this up for 4 hours only (I'm rounding up - cut off will be 915 PM NYC Time 8/1/14) - comment here, on G+ or the DCC RPG Community over at G+ - and yes, you can enter all 3 ways.

When the 4 hours are up, I'll randomly pull a winner from all that that comment.

If you've been wondering if Crawl! is right for you this may just put a free copy in your hands.

Shit, I love doing this stuff ;)

Are You Late to Crawl!? Crawl! Zine Now Available in a Colorful Bundle!

+Dak Ultimak has back issues of Crawl! available in a bundle pack. If you have somehow missed out on Crawl! in the past, it's an excellent way to catch up.

Sure, it's for the DCC RPG, and you might say "is it of any use if I don't play DCC?" The ideas themselves are often priceless, and I'll be yoking stuff from back issues of Crawl! to liven up my new Swords & Wizardry campaign.

Crawl! is one of the best RPG zines out there - if not the best (the competition is damn tight for "the best").

Oh, and Dak is taking preorders for issue #8 too...

Mini Review - Crawl! #7 (DCC RPG)

I misplaced Crawl! #7 after it was delivered without reading it. Actually, for a while I was doubting that I even ordered it. I found it yesterday :)

Dak continues to do a fine job with Crawl! and I really like the fact that much of this issue is easily transportable to other fantasy RPGs with little if any conversion if needed. Don't believe me?

Kirin Robinson's "Lost in Endless Corridors" is an article about using mazes to drive your PCs crazy. Stat free and good with any RPG system.

"Roguelike Fountains" by Thom Hall is about, you guessed it - magic fountains. Some parts of the tables may need minimal conversion, but there is a lot to like here for any OSR game. A d30 would help, but that's the first weird ass die I owned way before the DCC RPG ;)

"Consider the Ogre" by Sean Ellis is an article about making Ogres "fresh and mysterious". It's an awesome article and nearly worth the price of admission on it's own. Works with any OSR system

Jeffrey Tadlock gives us "Critical Table T: Traps". Use it for inspiration and you can simply pick and chose what works in your game without conversion. I'd use the crit table in place of the regular trap damage in a game like S&W just for the flavor. Probably more valuable for DCC referees.

"Shadowsword of Ith-Narmant" by Jurgen Mayer is a sword with awesome flavor, lots of power and one hell of a price to pay. It would work very well in a LotFP Weird Fantasy campaign with some conversion from the DCC RPG specific mechanics.

"My Gongfarmer Can't Do Shit!" by Paul Wolf is a one page article on how to make your zero-level profession useful in later levels. Pretty system specific in nature.

Crawl! is consistently one of the highest quality zines being published these days and it's available in digest sized print and PDF for the unbeatable prices of $3.95 shipped in digest size and $2.95 in instant gratification PDF.

You owe yourself an issue of Crawl! no matter what RPG system you play.

Crawl! Nearly Sweeps the RPGNow 5 Hottest Items (at least on The Tavern)

I like how 4 out of the top 5 hottest items at RPGNow are PDF issues of Crawl! Now that the latest issue, #6, releases tonight on RPGNow, maybe Dak will score a sweep.

No, I don't know why the deed they feed me is different than the one at the RPGNow home page. Heck, I don't know why the DnD Classics feed is down. I do know that Crawl! rocks.

That is all ;)

Grab Crawl! #6 in Print Here!

Crawl! Issue #1 Now Available in PDF (DCC RPG)

I'm not going to bore you with my review of Crawl Issue #1 (which you can read here). Suffice to say I thought it was a bargain at $3.50 for a print issue.

$1.75 for the Crawl #1 PDF? Not only is it an impulse buy at that price, it's just a fucking amazing price for an awesome product. Crawl! is consistently one of (if not THE best) RPG fanzine currently being produced.

If you play the DCC RPG and haven't checked out Crawl! yet, why not? Heck, even if you play other fantasy RPGs you'll find stuff to steal ;)

Mini Review - Crawl! #4 - The Tainted Forest Near Thorum

Crawl! for those that don't know, is a print only fanzine for the DCC RPG. Issue #4 of Crawl! is even more special then the previous 3, as it's actually an adventure. Yep, for $3.50, you get an in print DCC RPG adventure with detachable cover and artwork by Scott Ackerman. You don't know who Scott Ackerman is? Look at my blog header above to see some of the amazing work he does. Yep, him. Art AND cartography for The Tainted Forest Near Thorum.

Lets see - Ackerman cover, Ackerman town map on the inside of the detachable cover, Ackerman art on the first page of the booklet (I could swear that Tenkar the dwarf is depicted in the art there) and more Ackerman art for the dungeon map. Damn good stuff.

Yes, the US Postal Service
Got It Wet

As for the adventure itself - it's a 5th level adventure with both outdoor and indoor locations, so there should be ample opportunities for role playing and head bashing. When it comes down to it, that's what RPGs are all about ;)

It should be a fun one to run and play, assuming I ever get a party up to level 5 in the DCC RPG. One word of caution - there is a fairly powerful weapon that the party will probably acquire - because as we know, players would rather kill than talk. Depending on the type of campaign you are running, you might want to tone down some of it's power. You'll know it when you see it.

For $3.50 Crawl! #4, heck, any of the issues of Crawl!, is a bargain. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Tell Dak "Tenkar sent ya ;)"

From the blurb:


The 4th issue of Crawl! is an adventure module by Yves Larochelle and art by Scott Ackerman. It features:

A complete adventure for 4 to 8 5th-level characters!

A detailed village full of interesting locals but with a hidden secret!

A nearby forest full of unique beasts including a dragon!

A deadly dungeon with a sinister evil!

Plus new magic items and more!

This adventure can be played in its entirety, or bits and pieces can be used on their own, including a random forest encounter table.

Building the DCC Monthly Prize List - Crawl! Fanzine is on the List :)

Dak Ultimak posted a comment on the previous blog post:

I'd be happy to donate a copy of Crawl every month, and I'd like to publish the winning stuff every month too! You can add an issue of #1 & #2 into the prize pool now. I'll send them directly!

How awesome is that? He's also looking to publish the winning stuff from each month's contest.  Hot damn!  Of course, that means prizes will no longer be strictly random. I think I'll have to add those that donate prizes to a sort of "judges table", where we vote on the best and there is a simple point system. But really, who cares about that - what matters is not only do I have a bunch of Appendix N Adventures to give out in print, we'll have an issue of the Crawl! Fanzine to give out each month in print!

And don't forget Purple Sorcerer Games and Thick Skull Adventures, who donated PDFs to last month's inaugural DCC contest without ever being asked to do so. The DCC community certainly rocks :)

Mini Review - Crawl! #2 (DCC RPG Fanzine)

I'm really enjoying the second issue of Crawl! When I read the first issue (I have the cool black cover version) I had just started meandering my way through the DCC Rulebook. I'm now going back and rereading the first issue and I understand things so much better. It was cool before, but it's damn near awesome now. Just to let you know, the 2nd issue is even more so ;)

Crawl! Issue #2 deals with treasure in the DCC RPG. Treasure is handled differently then most OSR / OGL games, as magic items are not just uncommon, they are damn near unheard off at the lower levels. Crawl #2 has a very nice treasure system that works well with the flavor of the DCC RPG, for both special and lucky items in addition to the valuables the party may acquire while adventuring. Heck, this whole extended Loot section is worth more than the price of admission by itself.

The personalities of the Sunken City add a bit of depth to that adventure and I may use pieces of it in the next DCC RPG Arc I run. Jon, you done good.

There are some new, optional combat rules, but the page of new equipment is excellent. I think I will try yo sell my players a "Lucky" Ukulele ;)

For a mere $3.50Crawl! #2 is chuck full of DCC goodness.

Mini Review - Crawl! First Issue (Dungeon Crawl Classics Fanzine)

I think you can tell I'm a fan of RPG fanzines.  I'll take them in print and I'll take them in PDF.  I almost always grab the first issue of a new one for fear of missing out on something really good.  Besides, one issue is often enough to weed out the good from the not so good.

Crawl! is most certainly in the good column.

I'm pretty sure the cover shot of Crawl! #1 is not going to do it justice as it's black ink on black paper.  Trust me when I say the effect is much better in real life compared to my piss poor photo.

How about the inside?  Twenty pages of Dungeon Crawl Classics goodness.  See, I'm still working my way throughout the tome that is DCC and this little booklet helped kickstart me to decide to complete the journey (well, that and the DnD Next Playtest Materials being released today reminding me how much the smaller publishers are pushing the envelope regarding Old School Style play, but I digress.

Some quick and dirty rules for turning your DCC game into a more Swords & Sorcery type of game.  Simple enough guidelines and very useful, even if I don't decide to use them immediately.  They are effective in showing how simple it is to house rule, and how a house rule doesn't have to be huge to have an fairly large effect on flavor.  Interesting use of Hit Dice Pools as one of the house rules.  If you've been following the D&D Next talk, it is pretty much what Mearls was talking about.  In this context, if the campaign lacks clerics and magical healing, it is almost a necessity.

The article on Patrons I couldn't quite grasp - need to get further along in the core rulebook it seems.

Variable skill check difficulties was interesting.  Think I need to read more on that section of the rules to determine if I'd want to use it.

Converting OSR style spells to DCC was pretty interesting.  Two pages covered a lot of ground. If I ever kick off a full campaign of DCC I'd probably want to keep this handy if I wanted to throw the players some non-standard DCC spells.

So, can you tell that I think it's a steal for $3.50?

How about the idea that I ordered this before I'd decided to actually give the DCC rules a complete read through?  I'm damn glad I have a habit of picking up the first issues of RPG fanzines in general.  Crawl! is yet another one I'll be subscribing to.