Phantasmagoria #1 Review

Phantasmagoria #1 is the first issue of a new sword & planet zine for Dungeon Crawl Classics. It had a Kickstarter earlier this year, that I sadly missed out on. However, I picked up a copy at Gen Con this past weekend. There's quite a bit of info packed into 36 pages.

Nearly half of the book discusses new classes. They are:

• Automaton - discarded magi-tech robots that gain upgrades as they level up
• Captain - inspiring master swordsman
• Gremlins - race of mechanically inclined wizards
• Jovians - natives of a gas giant, that seek freedom away from their conquered home
• Star Prince - the final humanoid form of a star, this class starts at 5th level (note Stars and Suns are too distinctly different things in the Phantasmagoria setting)

This section is followed by five pages of advanced weaponry, armor, and equipment. My favorite among the things listed are stats for chainswords!

There is a new starting occupation list that includes the new races. The original demihuman core races are represented too, though each only has one entry on the list.

There are six pages discussing space ships. While I've yet to use these, I really like the design. Essentially the ship is treated as a character with stats, armor, engines, and weapons. I like this approach because it doesn't seem to complicate things.

If you're looking to take your DCC game to the stars, you need this zine. It lays wonderful groundwork for any space game. The one shortcoming of Phantasmagoria is the lack of setting. I assume that will be addressed in future issues, but right now, it's just a bunch of (really fantastic) space rules. If you want to flesh it out, I recommend getting a hold of some issues of Crawljammer, Star Crawl (which I picked up at Gen Con also and will review soon), and keep an eye out of Leopard Women of Venus. Honestly, Leopard Women was one of the main reasons I picked this one up. I thought they could compliment each other well.

You can snag Phantasmagoria #1 from the Goodman Games shop. There are two covers, but I prefer the Luka Rejic art picture seen above.