This review covers the kickstarter PDF of the upcoming Mutant Crawl Classics (MCC) hardcover rulebook. In Mutant Crawl Classics (also available in PDF) you explore a mutated ruined world as a human or mutant (human, animal, or plant). In 282 black and white pages filled with amazing art, MCC presents hothouse jungles and glowing deserts filled with ruins hiding ancient artifacts guarded by mutated beasts. The game pays homage to Gamma World while providing its own twists and unique takes on a ruined world.
The greatest strengths of MCC would be the art and the adventures. The ruined hothouse jungle world inhabited by bizarre and many times murderous beings comes alive. Rampaging robots, planet wide AIs, sentient cockroaches, strange devices of the ancients, and crazy mutations challenge the PCs. PCs will handle strange devices of the ancients, roleplay and receive power from global AIs, fight mutants of all kinds, and explore well detailed ruins.
The rules chassis is a mostly stripped down D&D 3.5 with race and class combined like in basic D&D. Combat and basic challenges PCs will face like falling and fire are covered. However, some of the rules and corner cases of 3.5 are not included, so referees will need to be ready to make several rulings. For example how to determine surprise and any type of encumbrance system are completely up to the referee to devise.
Charts are a big part of MCC. The effects of mutations, wetware programs (similar to Dungeon Crawl Classics spells), and crits all rely on charts. The charts provide a wide range of unpredictable results that fit well into the 1970s style post-apocalyptic genre but can be even more random than Gamma World during play.
A unique 0 level funnel replaces the need for creating a background as the first adventure simply becomes the story of how the PCs became adventurers. The funnel has a high death toll, however, and some players do not like the high body count. The weakness of 0 level PCs also makes some PCs feel powerless.
For non-humans, race is class. Humans have four classes to choose from healer, rover (rogue), sentinel (fighter), and shaman. The shaman connects a human PC to a powerful AI patron. The patron provides powerful wetware programs (spells) in exchange for loyalty. The class is similar to D&D’s warlock. The shaman serves as a unique addition to the implied setting relying not on mutations or only tech but instead focusing on spell like powers.
The biggest hurdle for my players was the dice. MCC uses d16 and d24s and more. The need to roll strange dice threw them off especially as none of them had the special dice. And I had trouble telling the difference between a d14 and a d16.
The greatest challenge for me was the rules, specifically the missing ones, followed closely by making the weird dice work for the players. I had trouble finding some things during the game. Because of my D&D experience, I simply fell back on memory for a lot of things (I decided that surprise is determined by Intelligence opposed by the ambushers’ Agility for example).
I do like the truly primitive start and 0 level funnel of MCC. The adventures and implied setting of MCC are flavorful, challenging, and a joy to explore. The rules, however, range from well detailed and chart heavy to referee fiat to missing completely. The game is fun to play if you are comfortable relying on the referee’s decisions for quite a bit of the rules, If you are familiar with running D&D and love Gamma World post-apocalyptic gaming, than MCC may work well for you.
This article was contributed by Charles Dunwoody as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. Please note that Charles is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
The greatest strengths of MCC would be the art and the adventures. The ruined hothouse jungle world inhabited by bizarre and many times murderous beings comes alive. Rampaging robots, planet wide AIs, sentient cockroaches, strange devices of the ancients, and crazy mutations challenge the PCs. PCs will handle strange devices of the ancients, roleplay and receive power from global AIs, fight mutants of all kinds, and explore well detailed ruins.
The rules chassis is a mostly stripped down D&D 3.5 with race and class combined like in basic D&D. Combat and basic challenges PCs will face like falling and fire are covered. However, some of the rules and corner cases of 3.5 are not included, so referees will need to be ready to make several rulings. For example how to determine surprise and any type of encumbrance system are completely up to the referee to devise.
Charts are a big part of MCC. The effects of mutations, wetware programs (similar to Dungeon Crawl Classics spells), and crits all rely on charts. The charts provide a wide range of unpredictable results that fit well into the 1970s style post-apocalyptic genre but can be even more random than Gamma World during play.
A unique 0 level funnel replaces the need for creating a background as the first adventure simply becomes the story of how the PCs became adventurers. The funnel has a high death toll, however, and some players do not like the high body count. The weakness of 0 level PCs also makes some PCs feel powerless.
For non-humans, race is class. Humans have four classes to choose from healer, rover (rogue), sentinel (fighter), and shaman. The shaman connects a human PC to a powerful AI patron. The patron provides powerful wetware programs (spells) in exchange for loyalty. The class is similar to D&D’s warlock. The shaman serves as a unique addition to the implied setting relying not on mutations or only tech but instead focusing on spell like powers.
The biggest hurdle for my players was the dice. MCC uses d16 and d24s and more. The need to roll strange dice threw them off especially as none of them had the special dice. And I had trouble telling the difference between a d14 and a d16.
The greatest challenge for me was the rules, specifically the missing ones, followed closely by making the weird dice work for the players. I had trouble finding some things during the game. Because of my D&D experience, I simply fell back on memory for a lot of things (I decided that surprise is determined by Intelligence opposed by the ambushers’ Agility for example).
I do like the truly primitive start and 0 level funnel of MCC. The adventures and implied setting of MCC are flavorful, challenging, and a joy to explore. The rules, however, range from well detailed and chart heavy to referee fiat to missing completely. The game is fun to play if you are comfortable relying on the referee’s decisions for quite a bit of the rules, If you are familiar with running D&D and love Gamma World post-apocalyptic gaming, than MCC may work well for you.
This article was contributed by Charles Dunwoody as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. Please note that Charles is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
