Ring Side Report: RPG Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen

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Product– Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen 

System– DCC RPG

Producer– Goodman Games

Price–  $9.99 here  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/390356/dungeon-crawl-classics-101-the-veiled-vaults-of-the-onyx-queen?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– Old school in the best and wartiest ways!  93%

Basics- WAKE AND STAB!  You awake as sacrifices to a demon lord!  Will you gather enough power to end those who sought to end you?

Mechanics or Crunch: This adventure is a crawl and a funnel all in one.  You have lots of bad guys who can die from your fists.  You have a few puzzles to solve and some socializing.  Those are the things that make the crunch of an adventure.  The adventure’s crunch is solid! 5/5

Theme or Fluff– The pure awesome of DCC is on display with some of its warts.  DCC doesn’t really have a default setting.  The setting is built book by book, and that’s awesome.  This one adds in a whole demon lord and a cult based on it.  And that is awesome.  If the GM runs this well, you can build characters and really get involved in the world.  BUT, the world is missing a bit of a setting, so that lack can kind of spring stuff on players.  Are you a devotee of a particular god?  Awesome!  Do you even know that god exists?  Less awesome.  It’s a minor problem, but the adventure has a solid enough flow that this might be the adventure where you finally learn about the bits making this world work. 4.5/5

Execution:   DCC is its own beast.  I love it, but it’s like the beat-up dog you know and love.  It’s not the prettiest.  It works, but it’s your ugly dog!  DCC has some criticism for being a bit too old-school in its design and layout, with extra art, layout, and design work to make DCC adventures a bit more approachable.  And those are valid criticisms, but I like the old school feel of DCC.  But this commitment to old-school adventure is not the most beginner-friendly.  This one is pretty easy to run and understand, even if you are newer, so while some other adventures may have smaller mechanics that are not quite understandable, this one is a fun, straightforward funnel.   4.5/5
Summary: I love me some DCC.  This game is crazy fun with strange things happening around every corner.  That said, I also see some faults.  Those are on display here.  The lack of a world hurts the game just a tiny bit.  You don’t know who you are when you start.  That’s good, as funnels are fun, but it’s bad when you want to really hook a player and character into the world.  The book is fun, but it’s got minor issues that might dissuade the new.  But the issues are only small compared to the fun and craft of this adventure.  This is worth a look if you want a fun funnel to draw people into DCC RPG! 93%

Ring Side Report: RPG Review of Flail

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Product– Flail

System– Flail

Producer– Games Omnivorous

Price–  FREE here https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/games-omnivorous/flail-an-old-school-fantasy-brawler  

TL; DR– The author’s love letter to old school hex crawls.  93%

Basics– Let’s do old school!  Flail is a love letter to old school RPGs and gambling.  How much are you willing to push?  Let’s break this one down.

Core mechanic– This is a bit of a mix.  For skills, these are called saves.  You roll a d20 and roll under your ability score.  For attacks, it’s roll a number of d6s and attempt to get at least one 1.  More ones mean more successes.

Advantage and disadvantage– If you are good or have some kind of bonus, you have an advantage.  Advantage on saves is to roll twice and take the better.  Advantage on attacks means roll an additional d6.  If you have a penalty or are not great at an action, you have disadvantage.  Disadvantage on saves is roll twice, and take the worse.  Disadvantage on an attack is roll one less d6.

Combat– Combat is pretty simple.  Initiative is determined by rolling a dexterity save.  If you succeed, you go before the enemies.  Fail, and you go after.  Then, on your turn, you get to do an action and move.  When you roll an attack, a single 1 gives you a success, and you deal damage equal to the weapon.  When you roll two 1s, it does double damage.  Roll 3 s and it instantly kills the enemy! Enemies do not have armor, but do reduce damage by a set amount.  If you are hit, you can use one of the usages of an armor, and it negates the damage.  Things like heavy armor have more usages.

Magic–  There are multiple classes that use magic.  All of them have a basic idea of choosing how much of a resource to spend, and you get to roll that many d6s.  If you succeed, different spells have different effects.  Some magic classes need just one success to make the spell happen.  Some have you add the dice together, and that determines an effect.  It varies by the caster and the spell.

Ok, let’s review this!

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a love letter to someone’s choices, but they might not be my favorite.  The splitting of the base mechanic makes this game offer interesting choices, but also breaks the flow of play.  I can absolutely respect the mashup between Call of Cthulhu skills and Shadowrun damage rolls, but it’s less elegant than either of them.  But it’s not bad.  It’s just not my cup of tea.  4/5

Theme or Fluff– This game feels like a solid 80s style.  It’s committed to old school, and it’s got art and aesthetics to match.  The game is pretty and horrific in a metal cover sort of way.  The authors wanted to publish a game of their own, and they absolutely did.  And I love it.  5/5

Execution– The book is everything I expect from a modern PDF and a system intro book.  The book is hyperlinked, easy to read, and quick to navigate.  The book includes multiple pre-generated characters so you can start playing instantly.  There are several places to play and hexes to crawl right out of the box.  Again, the authors wanted something, and they did it well.   5/5

Summary– This is someone’s pet project, and they poured their whole soul into it.  The mechanics are not my favorite, but they are done well.  The story and feeling of the world are on display.  The book is everything I expect from an intro product.  I might not love this one completely, but if you want an old-school hexcrawl with your buds on a Friday night, with some cold beer and hot pizza, then this is absolutely the product you need to pick up.  93%