Primal Tales #1

Primal Tales is a new line of anthropomorphic animal content for Dungeon Crawl Classics. I picked up the first volume at Origins this year.

The book discusses what primals are and gives character creation rules. Primals have natural abilities not possessed by typical DCC races, so they're a bit more powerful at 0-level (though still squishy. When they reach level one they must choose from a primal class. Volume 1 contains 3 (and after talking with author, Bret Brooks, I know the second will feature two more). These fill similar roles to the core classes, but definitely feel different. They are Savage Warrior (Warrior), Arcaster (Wizard), and Chimerae (Cleric).

The Savage Warrior gains extra benefits from having high luck and can use natural weapons. Arcasters have links to spells (and the class has a new spell, Find Spirit Familiar). The Chimerae can transform into animals and are very druid-like. They have three new spells (Consult Spirit, Resist Weather, and Spirit Healing).

The last part of the book focuses on the Queen of Nightmares, Lamia. She's presented as a patron. All relevant patron info is presented, including spells (Enrapture, Eye of Lamia, and Summon Self). The book ends with monsters associated with her, Lamurae, Lamian Succubus, and Avatars of Lamia (The Maiden, The Beast, and the Demon).

The project has a Facebook page. You can buy the pdf here. You can get the print version from Goodman Games or directly from Pandahead Publishing.

Is this something you should get for your DCC game?

Everything in the book is fun and well designed. Brett Brooks and Brendan LaSalle are the authors and they're both fantastic DCC writers. If you want some Dungeon Claw Classics, grab this one asap.

I've seen the pencil sketch of the second cover and it's going to be great too (and hopefully available by GenCon).