Review & Commentary On Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine issue #14 (DCC) From Shield of Faith Studios

Dinosaurs inside the confines of a post apocalyptic adventure are nothing new and go back to the roots of science fiction films very beginnings and even further back. But who cares because this is Crawling Under A Broken Moon issue #14 and this issue brings a kick ass Jurassic Park other dimensional setting into the post apocalyptic DCC universe of  Merica. Don't let the cheesy cover artwork fool you this issue is tight and it builds on and packs in the setting material for Dungeon Crawl Classics!

Available Right Over HERE!



 
Anyone who grew up in the tale end of the Eighties and Nineties knows the full impact of dinosaurs and Jurassic Park. This issue of Crawling Under A Broken  takes the radioactive and mutagen soaked setting  and wrenches it up to eleven! You get three PC classes and full shotgun blast of prehistoric goodness! Basically this issue takes on and gives the dungeon master a semi complete setting to work with and a hex crawl of pretty epic proportions.

This issue contains:

A semi-hex crawl in a extra-dimensional abandoned theme park so big it will be spread over two issues!

A Twisted Menagerie full of Dinosaurs and Dino-Mutants!

The Saurians of the Scale Empire, ruled over by the eldritch Dino-Sorcerers!

This issue is a key one for the Merica setting because it takes the themes and material of Crawling Under A Broken Moon away from the tool box approach of the fanzine aspect and brings the game setting material into a whole campaign setting of material. This issue is packed to the brim of itself with really useful post apocalyptic DCC  material. So what's it like? Well issue fourteen of Crawling Under A Broken Moon reminds me of those classic Eighties mutant animal cartoons taken through the DCC lens.



This is perfect material to take the PC material from the first fourteen issues of Crawling Under and let your players go nuts with it. The setting here is about a prehistoric park of the Ancients caught in the dimensional energies of the events of the apocalypse and taken elsewhere to mutate and form into weird prehistoric societies. The park's inhabitants are very dangerous indeed and you get an entire cross section of them now divided into factions ;"The Dinosaurs - These are descendants of the original creatures used as attractions of the park. Most of them roam freely across the park as few of the original barriers that separated the dinos into species appropriate enclosures are still in place. While not unified by any sense of the word, these beast are very territorial and will fight to expand their natural habitat to the very edges of the park grounds.
The Scale Empire - While most of the Dinosaurs are “natural” the park did engage in a great deal of genetic research and performed many gene modification experiments. The most successful of which are the present day Saurians, highly intelligent humanoid descendants of several species of dinosaurs. They consider
the eastern half of the park to be theirs and only have halted their thirst for
conquest there as the sea that runs through the middle of the park makes the large
scale conquering of the western half very difficult.
The Once-men - These are the descendants of the park guests that were trapped inside when the dome was ripped from its home dimension and deposited in its current location. Due to many safe guard failures, a large portion of the mutagenic compounds that escaped from the research labs during the relocation flooded
the hotels and other “secure” tourist locations that were used as refuges by the stranded humans. This resulted in a rapid biological development of the refugees to a pseudo-neolithic state. More on these peoples will be covered in Part Two, next issue."

If you love ANY of  dino mutants and always wanted to play one in an old school post apocalpytic game of DCC then this is the issue for you folks! Every option is on the table to play and adventure with these types of creatures in Crawling Under A Broken Moon issue #14. You are truly going to get your money's worth here.


But this isn't the only thing you get in this issue! Oh no you get a semi complete campaign and adventure world of prehistoric proportions. As a DM you get a hex crawl setting filled with rumor tables, treasures of the ancients of the park, complete work ups of robots, weird factions, and much more all divided across the board and worked as tight as the Crawling Under A Broken Moon material gets. But is it tight and playable? Surprisingly it lives up to the quality and other material that we've seen in other issues. Unlike other old school fanzines Crawling Under A Broken Moon is very well put together and this issue fits together like another piece of the puzzle.



I know what your thinking , "Com'n we've seen plenty of hex crawls and this is simply another money grab Eric?" No, its really not and Reid & co. have put together a viable DCC adventure setting with the teeth and legs to have a fully fleshed out campaign that will last years. Take the Hex descriptions like the following:
"114 The Wild Orchard - The majority of this hex and two other hexes (118 & 121)
are engulfed in a massively dense grove of giant fruit bearing trees. These
trees bear fruit year round in breathtaking abundance. The continual harvest
is a juicy drupe fruit, larger than a fist, in a multitude of colors. While not
poisonous per se, it is mildly intoxicating to most living creatures (Fort save
DC 9 per fruit). There are always creatures of all kinds sparsely loitering
drunkenly about the grove. The only creatures not affected are the numerous
Therizinosaurs that dwell here."
Now drop you Dungeon Crawl Classics PC's in and stir it with a helping of your regular Crawling crew and  add in PC's from this issue and your going to be ready for a complete run of  DCC play for months and months to come.

Here are ten ways in which “Dinotastic Park" could be used in your own Crawling Under A Broken Moon Campaign:

1. The Saurians of the Scale Empire are a threat to each and every mutant should the dimensional gateways to the park begin to break down. Hint, Hint, DM's the evil of the eldritch Dino-Sorcerers could spread and then who knows what's behind them? 
2. Dinosaurs require lots and lots of food, the wasteland seems a perfect place for expansion of these species. 
3. Could a PC actually be an advanced scout for one of the factions in the park? Hmm there's a plot twist there. 
4. Despite the  Dinosaurs and Dino-Mutants, Dinotastic Park is a great site for looting and recovery of treasures of the Ancients 
5. Need a weird or strange genetic or mutation based technology location to temp adventurers? Dinotastic Park is the perfect place to drop it in!  
6. Do you have a caveman fetish for old cartoon villains who can control dinosaurs then  Dinotastic Park is the place for a vacation. 
7. Four words Prehistoric Dinosaur God Patrons 
8. Carcosa/ Dinotastic Park crossover adventure! 
9. Special home brew dinosaur park monsters are found in
   Dinotastic Park
10. Issue #14 of Crawling Under A Broken Moon gives a ton of PC options to create your own dinosaur or dino mutant characters.
    
     

 So do I think that Crawling Under a Broken Moon is worth the money? Well in a word yes! There's tons of prehistoric  resources for the DM to use in their own campaigns and lots of madness to unleash on the wastelands.