Judge Phil's Zine of Goodies Vol. 3 Review

Volume 3 of Judge Phil's Zine of Goodies has been released digitally and it's another bizarre good time. As you can tell by the cover, the zine features the same amateur art quality and crazy ideas as the previous two volumes. This isn't a bad thing. It's what makes the zine fun. The forward again discusses how DCC helped Judge Phil, but also discusses how it and this zine is creating community and brining folks together.

The zine starts out with a new class, the Were-raptor G-Person.  This one is just downright weird. Like the protagonist of Velocipastor, you can transform between human and raptor form. You're also some sort of agent. Class-wise they get secret agent-y stuff and can also shift into a raptor. Finally they get magic, though this mimics black-ops tech and such. It definitely doesn't fit into a typical DCC game, but then again, what is a typical DCC game. Like the deathmatch wrestler found in volume 1, I think this one is a fun addition to Bloat Game's True Vigilante or Bronx Beasts. I could also see them popping up in Umerica. 

New downtime activity rules are given next. There are tables and charts related to invest money in real estate and take a stab at Stand-Up Comedy. There's enough crunch and variety to these to make them a useful and fun addition to games. I think they both fit very well with the above mentioned DCC settings.

The final downtime activity/game add-on is the Armored Advertising Agency. This bit of sponsorship makes me think of the underrated classic, Mystery Men. I'm sure we'll see something official like this in the future with Xcrawl. 

There are two adventure sites presented. The first is Boulder Mine. The party try to get some owlbear eggs for a local monstrous pet dealer. This one can be done in a single session and has a few different foes and obstacles.

The second adventure is Horse Warranty Department. The Horse Warranty Department is a mysterious new company that sells horse insurance (though they don't ever provide coverage). Obviously this is a cover for vampires. Because.... obviously.

Like previous volumes, this is a fun and ridiculous zine that adds a bit of WTF to DCC. I definitely recommend it. 

The Warriors (DCC)

I wanted to make some content compatible with Bronx Beasts and some other future DCC projects I have in mind. Decided to take some inspiration from one of my favorite 70's/80's flicks, The Warriors. 

Assume these stats are for the characters in the mid-80's, so they are in their mid to late 20's at this point. Veteran stats can be used for the boppers that survived the film. 

Warchief Swan
Init +2, Atk +4 melee switchblade (1d4+2) or +4 melee unarmed (1d4+2);  AC 13; Armor Die d3 (Warrior's vest); HD 5d8+10; MV 30'; Act 1d20+1d16; SP +1 to Atk rolls when fighting alongside other Warriors, Warriors can heal twice per combat; Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2; AL N

Warriors Veteran
Init +2, Atk +2 melee baseball bat (1d6+1) or +2 melee unarmed (1d4+1);  AC 12; Armor Die d3 (Warrior's vest) HD 3d6+3; MV 30'; Act 1d20; SP +1 to Atk rolls when fighting alongside other Warriors; Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1; AL N or C

Warriors Recruit
Init +2, Atk +1  baseball bat (1d6) or unarmed (1d4);  AC 11; Armor Die d3 (Warrior's vest) HD 1d6+1; MV 30'; Act 1d20; SP; Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +0; AL N or C

Mercy
Init +3, Atk +1  switchblade (1d4);  AC 13; Armor Die -;  HD 3d6; MV 30'; Act 1d20; SP Backstab + 2, +3 to Sneak Silently and Hide in Shadows; Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +3; AL N

Bronx Beasts Volume 1 Review

Written by Dan Steeby, Bronx Beasts is a fantastic take on Dungeon Crawl Classics. I picked up a copy of volume 1 at Gen Con and I was very happy with the purchase. "Bronx Beasts is a wild 1980's action featuring rules for generating and playing bizarre mutant animal characters..." These rules let you get your TMNT fix using DCC rules.

A majority of the 43 page zine is focused on Character Creation. This is different that typical DCC rules and has seven steps.

• roll attributes
• role beast origin
• roll beast type
• choose beast size
• roll beast form
• roll and spend evolution points
• roll lucky sign
• fill in the blanks

If you want your game to have a more heroic feel, there is a four color comic variant for character creation. Characters are either random or deliberate mutations. There are several sub tables for beasts created deliberately. The Beast Type table has a great set up. You can roll a d100 to randomly determine your animal nature or you can roll different dice depending on what biome you come from (urban, rural, wild, exotic, or bird-only). You then choose beast size (tiny to huge). This choice affects various stats. Next your roll to see how beastly your speech, legs, hands, and looks are. After this you get several "evolution points" that can be spent to customize your beast (for example give you armor or a natural attack). Like other DCC games, you roll your lucky sign (which gives you bonuses or penalties are certain die rolls based on  your Luck score). The final part of character creation involves using that info and filling in the rest of your character sheet. Overall the character creation process seems like a fun blend of DCC and TMNT and Other Strangeness. 

The rest of the zine gives other variations to standard DCC. There are no classes and everyone's stats are determined by their beast's levels level. There are some cool new rules. The non-magical nature of the game reminds me of DCC Lankhmar. Characters get Fleeting Luck and can spend luck to heal. Armor doesn't actually increase armor class, but is rather a die that lets you soak damage. Finally there are beast checks, fur burn, and bestial freakouts that are reminiscent of the actions wizards can take, but in this case allow beasts to tap into their inherent animal sides.

If you're a fan of DCC and TMNT, you NEED to pick up this zine. It's only 5 bucks! You can grab your copy here. Look for a 0-level funnel adventure for the setting when this year's Gongfarmer's Almanac is released digitally.

Addendum: Because this doesn't use magic or the standard classes, I'm pretty sure you have almost everything you need to run this game just by picking this up and any version of the DCC Quick Start.