Commentary On Crawljammer Issue #2 From Moon Dice Games & Quick Intergalactic DCC Rpg Adventure Design

Grab It Right Over

HERE

Once again I'm late coming to the party with Crawljammer Issue #2, this issue is pretty solid for taking your Dungeon Crawl Classics games into space. This issue has some of solid ideas taken from here and there from the bowels of pulp cultclassic science fiction as well as science fantasy.Crawljammer is perfect to take an old school rpg or retroclone system game to the stars. Tim Callahan and co do an excellent job with some interesting and rather unique creations including :
A good take on the technomancer class 

There's plenty of monsters including a great take on some alien flymen

Cactusmen, and the rather interesting White Martians Tribunal 

I love the technological angles on this issue's spells

There's also a neat adventure encounter involving a prison ship.
Looking into how this issue's contents are set up reminds me of an old favorite film of mine. This isn't a bad set of material to pick up for two dollars There's  definitely a space western feel to the whole affair add in a bit of Crawling Under a Broken Moon especially Issue #6 plus #7& you are rock out an old school space western set on a failed colony world or the like. Something between Brave Starr and something a bit more well adult.

Brave Starr plays fast and loose with its after school audience with lots of shoot em up action and plenty of non PC violence for an 80's science fiction Western cartoon. Given all of the bone crunching hijinks and weird west feel of Crawljammer issue number two including some rather curiously dangerous libations. I more inclined to let my mind trip back to the days of yore with 1994's rental space  spectacular Oblivion. The cast roster reads like something out of a sci fi convention role call and its PG13 fun. According to wiki : It stars Richard Joseph Paul, Andrew Divoff, George Takei,^[1] Julie Newmar, Musetta Vander, Isaac Hayes and Meg Foster

Yeah they really don't make em like this anymore and this film borrows every single trope and cliche they could find to good 'B' movie fun effect! There actually is a plot and it touches on everything that Crawljammer & DCC over the table top approach is known for. Once again wiki to the trail with a reasonable plot synopsis:

Set in the year 3031 on a frontier planet light years away from Earth, a bizarre gang of futuristic desperadoes have their sight set on turning the tumbleweed town of Oblivion into their own private playground.^[4]
This film is set in a frontier town, Oblivion, which resembles the Old West, on a planet "light years" from Earth. The action begins with the murder of the town's Marshal Stone by a power-hungry villain called Red Eye (Andrew Divoff). Using a substance prized on the planet—which also happens to short out electrical devices—Red Eye cheats his way to victory during a showdown on the street, killing Stone and disabling his cyborg deputy, Stell (Meg Foster). He and his cronies begin to bully and persuade the townspeople into allowing him to take over the town. Oblivion's mortician, Gaunt, who possesses supernatural ability to foresee death, seeks out the Marshal's son, Zack (Richard Joseph Paul), who is prospecting in the wilderness.Meanwhile, Zack saves a "native," Buteo (Jimmie F. Skaggs), from an untimely death by giant scorpion. They team up just before Gaunt arrives with the news of Marshal Stone's death, and they all journey together to Oblivion for the funeral. During a misadventure in a saloon along the way, Zack avoids violence, even when harangued by one of Red Eye's henchmen. After attending his father's funeral, Zack visits his old friend Doc Valentine (George Takei), an inventor whose technology had failed to protect the Marshal. At the local whorehouse, a townswoman, Mattie (Jackie Swanson), learns that Zack is not a coward, but an empath, who feels everything that those around him experience. This leads him to abhor violence. Buteo learns that one of Red Eye's associates had been responsible for the deaths of his wife and children, and seeks revenge. Challenging him to a fair fight, Buteo triumphs and his opponent is killed. Red Eye and his gang capture Buteo in retaliation, place him in stocks, and whip him.
Sensing that something unsavoury is going on, Zack confronts his fears, saving Buteo and shooting many of the townspeople who had taken Red Eye's side. Apparently having won a victory, Zack celebrates until he learns that Mattie has been taken by Red Eye into the Badlands. He and his friends rush to save her, and in the process defeat all of the villains for good.
With such over the top fun that might take a month to go over every single square inch of weirdness dwelling in this grade B & C piece of fare. With such classic lines  like  the space dominatrix and the lizard gunfighter, who tells Julie Newmar's cat-woman: "No sense in messing up such a prime pussy."

Surely this film can't be used to run PC's through a zero level funnel with an alien outlaw raid on their home town followed by the PC's later dealing with the same outlaws and their hellish minions or the unique scorpions and alien monsters presented in this issue. Lash is a third level fighter or adventurer at least by the way and Red Eye is as nasty a piece of work as your likely to get as an NPC. The cast's tongue is definitely in cheek in this film. That's really half of the charm with Oblivion. Hell even io9 liked the film!
So basically issue two of Crawljammer gives a DM all of the tools to get their campaign off the ground in spades and gives a bit extra to get your gang of space cut throats and gunslingers facing down the worst scum of the galaxy.


There are several high grade ideas to steal from Oblivion and coupled with issue two of Crawljammer will give a party a solid leap into a Space Western campaign of epic proportions.
All of this blog entry is for pure entertainment and educational purposes none of this article is an attempt to violate nor impinge upon the copyright or trademarks of the DCC rpg,Oblivion's owners, nor the Crawling Under A Broken Moon or The Crawljammer fanzine. This is strictly the author's opinions as a sci fi film  and DCC fanatic.