Judge Phil's Zine of Goodies #1 Review

Released by Meridian Games and written by DCC Judge Phil Padovani, Judge Phil's Zine of Goodness #1 is a hodgepodge of DCC fun.  The first thing you'll  notice about the zine is the amateurish art and simple layout. That is 100% not a critique though. This zine embodies the true do it yourself nature of old school zines and I love it!  

There are three features in the inaugural issue.  The first thing we're presented with is a new class, the Amphibious Brain Slayer. These evolved oceanic creatures are psychic predators. They can use their huge craniums to cause others to be unable to see them or use psychic powers that are the equivalent of spells. They can use Psychic Burn (which is like Spellburn but only works with intelligence. They recover two points of Intelligence a day from its use. They also have  a Brain Slay attack that allows them to psychically assault their foes. They have the following new "spells:" Nerve Shutdown,  Nerve Control, and Mind Swap.  I don't see this class being used in every game but it's a fun change of pace from the normal DCC stuff. 

The second feature is another class. Honestly, the class is the whole reason I bought the zine. I needed a Deathmatch Wrestler class. It's not my favorite type of wrestling, but I am fascinated by it. The class can use a deed die to do classic wrestling-based Mighty Deeds. They can also do some crazy stuff with the Death Die. They can enhance their AC with combat adrenaline and do devastating last ditch moves. They can't wear typical armor or use traditional weapons, disdaining them as soft. The weapons are an odd part of this class. Several abilities are tied to light tubes (a deathmatch stable). These are the other deathmatch weapons cannot be used by non-deathmatch wrestlers and don't fit into the world of most DCC games. Honestly DCC is weird enough for these things to exist, but overall that's a small critique/issue I have.  You may want to reskin things a bit for traditional DCC, but this class is a perfect addition to Bloat Game's Gunzo: True Vigilante.

Finally there is a short adventure focused on deathmatch wrestling. The adventure isn't your typical. No the party is going to take part in Cage of Death V! This is a death match tournament that has rules included. I appreciated Judge Phil's tribute to the gonzo wrestling tradition and sport itself. Each encounter teaches wrestling terminology. A cool reward (in addition to the prestige and prize money) for this adventure is the players gain access to death match weaponry, even if they aren't DMW's.

This zine is full of wild ideas and heart. While the production values aren't the highest, that made me love this thing even more. You should definitely check it and the second volume out. My review for it will be up later this week. Finally, Judge Phil has a Kickstarter for Volume 3 that currently has 10 days left. It's fully funded, but you should check it out anyway.