A Dream for the Holiday

Every year, I take part in the Extra-Life charity Gaming Marathon. One of the things I do is choose a random name from the folks who were kind enough to support me in this and use their name as one of the characters in my story. This year that person was named Marianne.  

I was inspired to write this by how many people I've seen sad about not getting to be with family this year. My goal was to give folks a little bit of hope in these times.

Enjoy the story.

A Dream for the Holiday

by Steve Mayne

 

Once upon a time, a young boy named Hudson sat at home on Christmas Eve and he was very sad. Hudson missed his family. It had been a long time since he had seen his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He missed them all, especially Molly his favorite cousin and their dog, a beagle named Daisy. Even his older sisters couldn’t come home for the holiday. They’d all talked on the computer, but it just wasn’t the same.

His parents had done all they could to try and make the holiday memorable and fun. They’d cooked his favorite foods, and played games with him. It was a fine evening and he had enjoyed it. But now it was getting late and he felt a sadness at missing his family.

His mother came out of the kitchen with a plate and glass of milk. She sat next to him on the couch and gave him a one armed hug. “How are you doing honey?” asked his mother.

Hudson smiled up at her. “Fine,” said Hudson.

His mother handed him the plate, it held a single cookie. The cookie was a large star covered in white icing with a line of blue around the edge and white sparkly sprinkles covered the top; a Holiday Wishing Cookie.

“Do you know what you want to wish for?” asked his mother.

“Yes,” said Hudson.

“Well then,” said his mother, “eat the cookie, finish the milk, and then it’s off to bed with you.” She kissed his forehead, hugged him again, stood up from the couch, and went back to the other room.

Hudson looked at the cookie, his mother made him one every year. Holiday Wishing Cookies are special. You have to make a wish before you eat it and you can only have one each season. They helped make holiday dreams come true. Hudson knew they didn’t always work, but this year he really wanted it to; more than anything. He hadn’t seen his family in so long. He’d missed every holiday, birthday, sport, and special occasion. He hadn’t even been to school in several months and missed everyone.

Hudson closed his eyes and wished harder than he had ever wished before. “I want to see my family.” Then, being very careful to not spill any crumbs, just in case, Hudson ate the cookie, drank his milk, brushed his teeth, and then went to bed.

No sooner had he set his head on the pillow and closed his eyes he was startled by loud music and a bright light. He sat up in bed and found his room had been replaced with a great white space of nothing. There were no walls as far as he could see, no ceiling above him, and he leaned over the side of his bed to see only thick fluffy clouds where the floor should be.

“Hello Hudson,” said a woman.

Hudson sat up and looked around. At the foot of his bed hovered a fairy with metallic silver-hair.  She was no taller than Hudson’s knee which was probably why he hadn’t seen her right away. She was wearing a green dress with a tan pouch hanging from her belt. Her wings were the color of gold coins that sparkled when they fluttered.

“I’m Marianne,” said Marianne. “How are you tonight?”

“Sad,” said Hudson sliding back from her to keep a proper distance. “I miss my friends.”

“You can come closer if you want,” said Marianne. “This is a dream and we don’t have to worry about that here.”

Hudson smiled and got out of bed. The cloud floor was soft like the thick carpet at his grandmother’s old house. He curled his toes and watched tufts of clouds break away and float up.

Marianne laughed, it rang like the bells on a carnival game. It was fun and filled with joy and excitement. “We just have to wait for your parents and then we’ll be off.”

As if summoned Hudson’s parent’s bed faded into view. His mother and father sat up wearing the bright red holiday pajamas they wore every Christmas. They climbed out of bed and walked to Hudson and Marianne.

“What’s going on?” asked Hudson’s father.

“First, this is a dream,” said Marianne. “The rest of it will have to wait until we’re underway. We don’t want to be late.”

There was a loud bell noise and a bright red trolley car rose out of the clouds. It was sturdy and covered in brass poles and wooden benches.

Marianne floated up to the controls and called out, “All aboard.”

Hudson hurriedly climbed onto the trolley and sat near the front so he could see where they were going. His mother and father followed taking seats on the same bench. His mother placed an arm around his shoulder.

Marianne reached up and rang the brass bell that hung near the controls and then pushed a lever into position. “Here we go,” said Marianne as the trolley began to roll forward.

Marianne turned back to her passengers. “As I’ve already told Hudson, My name is Marianne and tonight I am an honorary Sandman. Normally, I’m a luck fairy. I’ll be guiding your family to the dream tonight.”

“I’ve met a sandman,” said Hudson thinking back to a previous Christmas. “I thought they were all large bearded men who carried sand in pillow cases.”

“Normally that’s true,” said Marianne. “But tonight is a bit special. The Slumber Lord came up with a magnificent idea, but in order to do it he needed to enlist as many magical creatures as he could find. There are so many of us taking part, even your friends Amelia and Stephen. The Slumber Lord called in every favor owed and promise made. We all joined up to make the grandest dreams in the history of dreaming.”

“What dreams?” asked Hudson.

“Almost everyone wished for the same thing for the holiday,” said Marianne. “They want to see their families and we’re going to make it happen the only way we can.”

“I thought that would be impossible,” said Hudson.

“In the waking world it is impossible,” said Marianne. “But we are in the dreamlands and here everything happens. Sometimes it just takes a bit of work.”

“So we’re all having the same dream?” asked Hudson.

“Yes,” said Marianne. “Amelia was right, you are quite clever.”

Hudson smiled to hear his friend had talked about him.

“Normally, people can’t share dreams,” said Marianne. “Tonight we’ve accomplished it by placing all of the dreams next to one another in a giant wheel. At the center of the wheel we’ve placed a single dream that your entire family is being brought to. It’s where we’re going now.”

“That’s amazing,” said Hudson smiling broadly.

“But first,” said Marianne, “we will have to pass through each of your dreams and maybe a couple of others. Are you ready?”

Hudson nodded.

Marianne turned and pulled another lever on the trolley, spun the steering wheel, and rang the bell. “Here we go.”

The trolley was enveloped by a huge cloud bank. Fluffy white puffs of clouds to burst out in all directions. The clouds cleared and they found themselves jaunting through a massive space battle. Ships hurtled around them firing on one another.

Hudson stared at the universe around them. Huge battle cruisers fired on smaller fighters as they darted in and out of the larger ships field of fire. Hudson smiled; he knew who the good guys and bad guys were. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew. When a large moon sized space station exploded Hudson cheered.

Then they slammed into more clouds and appeared on a long beach. He saw a familiar old cabin and boat half remembered. He thought he could even remember a picnic area over the hill just past the edge of the woods.

More clouds and they were rolling down a football field. The quarterback hiked the ball and backed up. He dodged one defender, then another, and then a third. He stretched back his arm and hurled the ball towards the end zone. One of his running backs still sprinting down the field veered slightly to line up the catch. The running back realized he wasn’t going fast enough and dove; hands outstretched. The ball slipped into his hands as he slid into the end zone. They won. They won the big game. Hudson’s father pumped his fist in celebration.

More clouds and they were racing down the highway next to someone on a loud heavy motorcycle. The bike’s engine screamed like an angry metal falcon. The rider popped the bike up onto its back tire and then dropped down to speed away.

Hudson marveled at the rider. “Whose dream is that?” asked Hudson.

“Your grandmothers,” said Marianne. “She’s always wanted one since she first rode back when she was a girl after the war.”

“Wow,” said Hudson watching the rider fade into the distance.

They passed through other dreams. Hudson saw dinosaurs, racecars, a police chase, an amusement park, and in one dream Marianne and his mother quickly covered his eyes with their hands. Then they were riding down an empty city street.

The street was well lit and snow fell but never seemed to cover the roads. It was cool but not cold. Every lamp post held a wreath and strands of twinkle lights wrapped around the pole. As they rolled down the street Hudson could just make out music in the distance. As they moved along the music got louder and louder until Hudson could recognize it as the songs that his uncle played at every Christmas.

The trolley turned a corner and a huge banquet hall came into view. It was covered in colored lights that flashed in time to the music. A long red carpet led up the sidewalk to the front doors. The sidewalk was lined with huge trees covered in decorations. Hudson could hear the sounds of laughter coming from inside the hall.

As the trolley approached the curb Marianne began pulling levers and switches. The trolley slowed and with a final pull on the brakes it came to a gentle stop at the red carpet. Marianne rang the bell.

“We’re here,” said Marianne.

Hudson’s parents climbed off the trolley and turned to look at him. His mother held out her hand. “Come along honey,” said his mother.

“I’m worried,” said Hudson. “I don’t always remember my dreams. What if I don’t remember this one?”

Marianne fluttered over and stood on the bench next to Hudson. “You might not,” said Marianne. “It’s possible you won’t remember this dream. However, I promise you that even if you don’t remember it here.” Marianne rested her hand on his forehead. “You will always keep it here,” and she set her other hand on his heart. “You will always feel the love from tonight in your soul. That will never go away.”

Hudson smiled at the luck fairy, slid off the bench, and took his mother’s hand. He walked towards the hall with his parents and only stopped to turn around and wave when he heard the trolley bell ring as Marianne began to drive it away.

 As they walked up the sidewalk Hudson looked at the trees covered in lights, ornaments, strands of popcorn and cranberries, and multicolored candy canes. Hudson reached out and took one from a nearby tree, it was swirled green and brown. He licked the end and smiled; mint chocolate, his favorite.

Inside, the hall was massive. His entire family was scattered before him. On one side there was a play area where all of his younger cousins ran and played. Some played tag on a huge indoor jungle gym. Others played board games from a huge wall of shelves. Others sat in front of a bank of screens playing their favorite video games.

Along another wall was a dance. Bright light up multicolored squares flashed to the music that came over the speakers. Hudson watched as the older kids danced and moved in time to the music. Though he noticed they were moving to a different beat than the music he could hear and he wondered if they were hearing the same song he was.

A huge table sat along one wall stuffed with all of his family’s favorite foods. Not even just the holiday foods. A large tray on his uncle’s favorite nachos sat next to his a crockpot of his cousin’s famous chili. A bar-b-que grill smoked silently in the corner covered in his grandfather’s best burgers. Near one end of the table was Hudson’s favorite pigs in a blanket next to a dish of that special dipping sauce his mother made.

Against the last wall was a series of comfy chair, soft couches, and small tables filled with snacks and drinks. This is where the adults all gathered happily talking to one another. He could hear snippets of how their year went, sports, movies, and the news. They laughed and smiled at one another.

In the center of the room was a huge fire pit in a small recessed area of floor. It was surrounded by soft couches built into the edge of the recess. The brick lip of the fire pit had small holders for roasting forks. Located around the edge of the couch at even intervals were small trays of marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers.

Hudson looked around the room at all of his family. Everyone was there even the ones from out of state and a few who had been gone for many years. Hudson saw his grandparents and ran over and hugged them. He talked to everyone he saw. Moving around the room trying to see everyone. He found each of his sisters and hugged them deeply.

After a while he heard the telltale jingling of a collar. Daisy the beagle trotted up to him, jumped up, and licked his face.

“Hello Daisy,” said Hudson hugging her.

“Woof,” said Daisy.

Hudson also found his friend and cousin Molly playing in the video games. She was just dropping from the battle bus when he walked up. She dropped the controller and hugged him too.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. Family talked to him, walked up and away, and hugged him. He ate far more pigs in a blanket than he should along with more foods than he could hope to remember. He danced with his cousins. The dance floor had different music from the rest of the hall. He even played games with some of the others. At one point his family settled around the fire and sang carols while making s’mores.

After a while he lay down next to his mother and rested his head in her lap. She sat there and ran her fingers through his hair. He stayed like that smiling until he woke the next morning.

 

Remember reader that this dream is coming for us all. We will get to see our loved ones in our dreams. And even though we might not remember it in our heads, I promise you the love and joy will live on in our hearts and souls.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Let's Run an X-Crawl: Part 2

 

I previously talked about this but I figured it’s good to repeat it here, so here’s the first paragraph of the previous article to explain why/what I’m doing. With the upcoming X Crawl Classic coming to Kickstarter soon I’m pretty excited about new and returning players getting involved. It’s not a secret that X Crawl is in my top three favorite RPGs and I would love for it to succeed. To that end I wanted to share some of my thoughts on how to start an X Crawl campaign. I’ve been playing X Crawl for nearly as long as there’s been a game. I played in the first ever Buckeye Crawl at Origins back in… “Zeus am I old.” Anyway, I’ve run a successful multi-year campaign, and several smaller one shots, and demos.

My previous article was advice to help Dungeon Judges (DJ’s) run an X-Crawl and some things they might want to look at to make for a hopefully more unique experience. In this article I’m going to focus on Crawlers. What your players need to know and what might help them as they get ready to play.

The first part of this is going to focus on mechanics. There are two things that get lost in most Crawlers first few game. I’m going to cover those and give them a couple of tips to help remember. After that I’m going to go into some character, atmosphere, and roleplay tips that can be used to help enhance the experience. X-Crawl is one of those amazing games that makes me think different, and I find that it takes some players a couple of sessions to get into the mindset for X-Crawl. I’m hoping these tips help shortcut that.

None of this is mandatory to have a good time, and if your game doesn’t focus on roleplaying or getting into character that’s fine. This game works both as a funhouse dungeon and a roleplay deep dive. However your group has fun is the perfect way to play these are just some tips to help both groups.

 

MECHANICS

Two things in X-Crawl I see new players miss all of the time are Mojo and Grandstanding. Even new DJ’s tend to forget these things and as such players miss out on a couple of bonuses that will help them in the long run.

MOJO

Mojo is the most often beneficial and the one I’m going to look at first. Mojo is a representation of the group’s teamwork. It is the mechanical representation of their long hours of practice, tactical discussions, comradery, and the trust they’ve built up. It’s that little boost of, “You can do it!” that’s found in most team sports.

Every Crawler has their own pool of points that they can pass out to help the other player succeed. Since you have to give them out before the roll player’s tend to forget they have them or they try to bank them for the final encounter. In hopes of not forgetting them I recommend a pile of tokens, poker chips, mini-snickers, or whatever you happen to have around. This gives you a physical thing to handle that should help remind you that you have something to give. Snickers work particularly well here since you can only eat one when you give away the point.

The other problem is banking them until the end. They prefer to hand out as many points for a single roll instead of a series of +1’ and +2’s to help out over several roles. This sounds like a great idea if you can reach the final fight then give the heavy hitters +10 to hit. It’s a guaranteed kill. I’m guilty of this. I’m guilty of both of these.

The problem comes in two parts, first, a high to hit role doesn’t do tons of damage or trigger a critical; it just hits. The other is a role of 1 will empty everyone’s mojo pool setting them all to 0. This makes it really difficult to bank the points to the big encounters.

The other misconception is that the +1 and +2 won’t help that much. While I think this is a more pronounced problem in previous editions, the DCC has a mechanic that makes this a far better option. If you fail a role in X-Crawl Classic then you can spend luck to make the role a success. By giving your teammates the small pluses at the very least you’re saving them a few luck points if they still fail the role.

GRANDSTANDING

Another mechanic that gets forgotten by new players is grandstanding. You get to perform two grandstands in an encounter; one during and one at the end. Grandstanding is that moment when you work the crowd to get them to behind you. If you’ve ever seen professional wrestling you’ll recognize the moment a wrestler starts playing to the crowd. In other sports, it’s the touchdown dance, high five line at the end of a home run, or the golfer’s fist bump after a great shot. Different sports have different levels of allowable excitement. In X-Crawl you’re going more for the wrestling level.

A successful grandstand will affect your fame score. Fame is mostly an out of crawl statistic. You’ll use it more between levels than during and it’s possible to never have to use fame during a crawl. To this end it’s more important to pay attention to fame and grandstanding in an ongoing campaign than a one shot.

However, it’s still a part of the sport and easy to forget. Much like mojo, the best way to remember is to have a physical reminder. If you’re using poker chips for mojo add a different color chip for your grandstand attempt.

Remembering to use it is one thing; using it well is another. You get bonuses on your grandstand check if you choose the right time to try it. Like most sports, grandstanding is best done after something memorable. I’ll not say something good here, which is a more traditional way of looking at it.

“I thought you had to do something good to be famous.”

“Not if you do it colorfully,”

 This is a quote from Major League, a really good baseball movie and worth watching. I use it here because it’s right. In real life we’ve seen the Cleveland Browns get a parade for a perfect season after losing every game. Eddie the Eagle is an Olympic legend after finishing with the lowest ski jump distance in Olympic history by wide margin. Neither of these were good things but they were popular, they had the fans behind them, they got attention.

Pick your moment, scoring a critical hit on the big boss is a great moment to grandstand. So is rolling a natural 1 to jump a pit, tumbling into it, landing on your own vial of alchemist’s fire, setting it off and barely putting the flames, and standing up with a single hit point. It wasn’t good, but it was certainly memorable. You will show up on the highlight reel. Does the clip end with you looking dejected or screaming, “Is that the best you’ve got?” It’s not flying, it’s falling with style.

 

That’s it for the mechanical parts of the article. From here on out I’m going to give a couple of character and roleplay tips I think can build the setting better. If this is where you leave us, thanks for stopping by but, you might want to skim the next part, just too really ratchet up the fun.

 

QUICK AND EASY PERSONAS

This is not my trick. I stole this from Brendan LeSalle. If you’re playing a one-shot and want a quick and easy description for your character think of the actor that will play them in the movie. Any actor, any character, any era. X-Crawl is from a world of magic where resurrection and mystic clones are both available. I use this when running demos and it’s incredibly helpful. I know that in some instances making a character that’s just a carbon copy of a specific character or actor you like is seen as lazy. Honestly, it’s a great short hand and I’m officially giving you permission to do it.

Plus, mixing it up can be fun. It’s just as entertaining to play a Barbarian that looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Gina Carano but it’s equally fun to play one patterned after Napoleon Dynamite or Velma Dinkley.

Beyond that you’ll want to decide if your team is white hats or heels. These are wresting terms that apply here in X-Crawl very well. White Hats are crawlers who try to show a more heroic side while Heels fight dirty and are generally considered the “bad” guys.

What stance your team takes doesn’t affect your characters overall personality. One of the best character concepts I remember from the early days of X-Crawl was someone from the forums who played Captain Howdy. The Captain was a White Hat; beloved by children and families. Behind the scenes he was a rat bastard. Being a White hat doesn’t make you a hero and a Heel isn’t necessarily a villain. Hell, the Rock was a Heel; and I think we’ll all agree he seems a decent fellow.

 

BACKGROUNDS

Why is your character an X-Crawler? One of those old standard questions we ask about gaming is why does your character go on adventures. There’s lots of safer ways to earn money. My first group was filled with the standard fantasy RPG reasons. Regain family honor, a quest for revenge, fame and fortune, and tragic pasts a plenty. These were all fine, but X-Crawl offers a few options we hadn’t thought of.

X-Crawl is one of the few games where we have examples of why people would actually do this. Look at any professional sport and you can see dozens of examples of why people play football, baseball, American football, and pretty much every other sport. You don’t need a long and detailed backstory of searching for your lost sibling who went off to adventure and disappeared. If you had a sibling do that, you know exactly what happened to them, you probably watched it on a big screen TV in full color with surround sound.

Here perfectly decent and reasonable backgrounds are you got a college scholarship, loved the sports as a kid, getting out of the projects, and dozens of others. Heck, if you’re playing a messenger then you have a built in background.

Messengers are the X-Crawl clerics. As a messenger your background is you were doing your life when a God appeared before you, informed you that you are the descendant of one of their many children, and demanded that you go forth and bring honor to their name in the sport of X-Crawl. Doesn’t matter what you used to do; police officer, soldier, accountant, or fast food worked; you’re a professional athlete now. I mean, you could say no…I’m sure the Gods will understand…there are tons of stories about how people told them no and absolutely nothing bad happened because of it…

 

TEAM NAME

What your team is called is one of those things I watch people stumble on. In most groups I’ve run, this includes one shots and campaigns, there’s a brain freeze when you ask for team names. There are two places to look, the first is professional sports. City and a mascot and you’ve got a team. This is a popular convention that’s worked well for a while. A quick method for this is use the city you’re all from and pick a mascot that you can all agree on. If you’ve got something local that fits in go with that. It doesn’t have to be fantasy based or fictional. A perfect example is the Sell Swords, an in universe team that’s featured in a lot of the art.

The other example for this is E-Sports. In fact, I’d recommend looking at E-Sports for lots of inspiration in X-Crawl. The model for how X-Crawl works and how E-Sports function are very similar. With E-Sports teams you get some fun things. You’ll have stuff like Team Liquid, Zealots, Murlock Book Club, or Fnatic. Sometimes they’re named after their sponsor, Team Red Bull has a thriving E-Sports presence.

I’d even o so far as to say you could widen this to the name of your character. Big K, Dumpster, MFPallytime, and Stormshriek are all E-Sports players. They also all sound like they could be running around in X-Crawl.

 

MOJO

Handing out Mojo is a mechanical, easy to perform action. However, you can always liven it up by describing what you do. A quick, “You got this,” is more than enough to justify a couple of mojo points. More often than not, that’s all it represents. However, if you’re going to spend a lot of points, I’d say four or more, then try and be a bit more colorful.

If you’re wearing a baseball hat flip it inside out and go full rally cap. Team chants are a good idea. Cool Runnings has that great, “Feel the rhythm…” count down they do when the take off at the start of a race. Quacking in the Mighty Ducks. The Cleveland Browns bark at one another. Baseball players use various handshakes with some players having a special handshake for every member of their team.

 

GRANDSTANDING

Typified more in professional wrestling than any other sport, grandstanding is a great way to ramp the game up. The act of getting the crowd to support you, cheer for you, and rally behind you is an art form in professional wrestling. The great ones get remembered, go on to be famous, and get film and television deals.

When performing a grandstand it’s better to put some effort into it. Have fun with your descriptions. You’ve just critically hit Guntar the Bold, ogre barbarian final boss of Highlands Crawl. He’s still up, he’s angry, and he’s turning to face you. This is a great time to grandstand. You could easily announce a grandstand attempt, roll some dice, and take the result. Or you could call him ugly, scream for the fans to give you their power, and put on a show of getting ramped up by the crowd’s cheers. Sounds silly? Hulk Hogan did it three times a week for years.

A nice subset of this is Cutting a Promo; another wrestling term. Cutting a promo is when a wrestler/crawler films a brief ad where they call out their opponent before the match or gloat afterwards. Calling out is more of a white hat version and gloating more for heels. In my opinion, cutting a promo is a great way to start a session. One of the players should take a moment to talk smack about what they’re about to face off against. Maybe they go after the DJ, a celebrity monster they know will be in the level, or another team taking part in the event.

If you want great examples of promos look up Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, and the Rock on YouTube. They’re all masters of it. Also, for DJ’s, check out anything with Mean Gene Okerlund as the poor commentator stuck reacting to the screaming wrestler for a great bit of color you can add to help boost the promos. Giving the Crawlers someone to play off of is great fun.

 

ODDS AND ENDS

A few last little details to think about. These aren’t anything you need in a one-shot and in a campaign they’re nice but not necessary. Even if you use them you don’t really need them for the first dungeon.

Team Colors/Uniforms

Does your team have official colors? Do you guys try and dress in a way that makes you look like a team or do you just wear whatever costumes and gear you want? How you do this can show cohesion, give your team a sense of togetherness, and lets you have that yell. The old give them the Crimson and Gold, for the Blue and Green, or Orange Black pride. If not, then what do you wear and how does it look? You’re athletes, what’s your number? What goes on your jacket, jersey, or next to your name in the program?

Theme Song

What’s the song that plays when you hit the field as a team? What’s your characters personal theme? Every wrestler has a song that plays as they run to the ring. The song you pick gives you a vibe that you’re setting. Choose a song that sets the tempo for your character and team. Hulk Hogan comes out to Real American, Rick Vaughn comes to the mound to Wild Thing, and the Superbowl Shuffle for the 1985 Chicago Bears.

Songs can be great fun to set a theme. Are you a messenger/paladin of Zeus; Thunderstruck. A brawler who specializes in tridents; Wipeout. A country music based jammer who plays a fiddle; Thank Gods I’m a Country Boy. An athlete who specializes in bare-hands combat; Eye of the Tiger. I could do this all day.

Front Man

Who’s you teams Freddie Mercury, Wayne Gretzky, Joan Jett, or Mia Hamm? One of you will stand out from the others. You’re who the DJ’s will talk to, the media will favor, and the fans will swoon over. You’ll also be the one hounded by paparazzi, stalked, and blamed. A spectacular win and you lead your team to victory. A brutal loss and you’ll be a dismal failure who should be replaced. It’s a two edged sword and one of you will probably have to bear it.

It’ll be a bigger part of the campaign if your group focuses on the parts between the crawls but, it doesn’t have to be. If your group doesn’t want to do the out of crawl bits then roll a dice and focus on the levels.

FINAL THOUGHT

As with everything I write about this, these are all thoughts, tips, and suggestions. None of them are required and should only be done if you want to do them. These are here to give you something to think about that hopefully helps enrich your experience with X-Crawl. If you don’t use any of these or come up with better ideas, then those are awesome too.

I hope you enjoy X-Crawl. It’s a great game and I want more people to play it. I’m a selfish bastard, I want to hear the stories.

Anyway, I hope this helps. If you have any questions, tips I might have missed, or ideas then please drop them in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Thanks. Until next time, Stay safe, be well, and may the Emperors light protect you all.

Let’s Run an X Crawl

 

With the upcoming X Crawl Classic coming to Kickstarter soon I’m pretty excited about new and returning players getting involved. It’s not a secret that I X Crawl is in my top three favorite RPGs and I would love for it to succeed. To that end I wanted to share some of my thoughts on how to start an X Crawl campaign. I’ve been playing X Crawl for nearly as long as there’s been a game. I played in the first ever Buckeye Crawl at Origins back in… “Zeus am I old.” Anyway, I’ve run a successful multi-year campaign, and several smaller one shots, and demos.

X Crawl is a unique beast and when getting started I made some assumptions based entirely on my years of gaming before that. While my history helped and anyone should be fine there are a couple of things I figured out through trial and error I thought might be helpful to others.

This article is going to be about how to start an X-Crawl campaign for Dungeon Judges (DJ’s). I’m planning to write a second article for players and what they might want to think about to get ready. I’ll try and have useful information here for both groups but I’m primarily focusing on Dungeon Judges.

For the purposes of this article, I’m going to use the Memphis Crawl from the X-Crawl colored edition rules as a reference point here. There will be some minor spoilers, but it will all be stuff I think the players should know going in. I won’t lay out any traps, plot twists, or direct information. I will give a general overview of some of the major themes and recurring characters.

 

GETTING READY

Most of what you want to do here is what you would for any adventure. Read through it, take some notes, and be familiar enough to run what your player’s will encounter. There are a couple of small differences between this and other settings.

First, you’re going to want to pay attention to the Dungeon Judge. This is going to be your character for the adventure. While, you’ll be playing all of the NPC’s as normal, the DJ is special. They’re the opponent but not necessarily the villain. They have a style, a way of behaving, and will interact with the players by Arcane Video Screens (AVS); a magic close circuit television. Every DJ has their own style, goals, and will be a force in the arena without ever coming into direct conflict with the characters.

For Memphis Crawl this is DJ Cudgel Up. She’ll be the character you spend the most time playing. If you look through the notes on her and the crawl you might notice a couple of things. First, Memphis Crawl is the opening crawl of the season. It’s meant to get the year going and bring everyone back after an off season break. Because of this the crawl has several very showy elements, large set pieces, and a few fan favorite monsters. Second, she wants the characters to be heroes; after all she gives them princess to save. Finally, the players are all Division 3 and this will most likely be their first nationally televised appearance. They’ll not be well know so the crawl makes up for and accentuates it.

This crawl is designed to give the players/characters a chance to introduce themselves to the world and make a splash doing it. It’s the first one of the year, it lets new teams introduce themselves to the public, gives them well known opponents to face off against, and princess to save. They are meant to come away from this with fans.

Another thing that sometimes gets overlooked are their opponents. This is a competitive sport. While it’s easy to think of it as team vs monsters it’s important to remember that there are five other teams running the first level of the crawl. Two of the six teams go on to compete in level two. Only the best team gets to compete in the final level. To this end you might want to have a couple of other teams named and ready to go.

I have a stable of teams set up ahead of time to pull from. I usually go through and create names and mascots for the other groups they’ll face. I also like to have some the teams set up with names, classes, and races for the different members. I’ll usually tick one off as the team captain as well. Your players may never directly interact with any of these teams and I honestly don’t even think you need stats. It’s just a nice piece of background information to flash on a scoreboard or for after the level.

 

            CHARACTER INFORMATION

Before you sit down for your first game, you’ll want to let the players know some things about the game. The description of the adventure is pretty good and gives them a good way in. However, I think there are a couple of things they should know before you go in. Cudgel Up has been running Memphis Crawl for a while and there are a few things that make it and X Crawl different from other games. These are some of the things that make X Crawl shine and will challenge your players to think even before they enter the level.

First off is the Princess. Every year Cudgel Up gives the contestants a number of princesses to rescue. This is a given. If you’re players are going to go into the crawl their character would know this. They’d also know that on occasion some of the princesses will be in harm’s way, this makes loading up on nothing but area spells and effects…not an awful idea, but it could limit options at a critical point. They’ll want a couple of single target options. They’ll also know that saving the princess involves reaching them and completing a challenge, this isn’t an escort mission. The princess’ will also be themed to areas of the dungeon. Each one will appear in costume at the beginning of every level and only some of them will be taken away. This will give them hints at what’s to come in levels 2 and 3 if they think to pay attention. It won’t be a guarantee of success but might help out in some of their potion buying and spell selection.

Next are the celebrity monsters. They are going to know that there will be the Cudgel Up Dancers and Vrusk the troll to contend with. The Dancers show up multiple times and this group of well-trained goblins are extremely loyal and tricky. They move with the coordination of your average SEAL team and have a room designed specifically for them that they’ve been practicing in. While they won’t be able to do anything in particular to prepare for them, they’ll want to be prepared to handle the little buggers when they show up. These are not going to be mindless thugs but well trained opponents. Also, they can show up on more than one level. They might only be on level 2 this year or they could appear in all three levels of the crawl.

Vrusk is a different matter. Vrusk the troll is a feature in the first level of every Memphis Crawl. This gives him the most exposure. He’s a fan favorite with his own fan club and a special rate for them to get tickets in his room. The players wouldn’t even have to work hard to learn that he’s going to be on level 1. They’ll probably come across it on the news or in their Facebook feeds. They will know everything about Vrusk, he’s big, a troll, and has woven barbed wire through his skin. He likes to grapple contestants and shred them against his skin. He’ll also be far more popular in his room than they will be. The crowd will be rooting for him. They also won’t kill him. The referee’s always call the room when Vrusk gets knocked unconscious for the first time. This will encourage the players to bring fire, but to remember that he might be holding one of them when it comes time to chuck the vial of alchemist’s fire or cast burning hands.

 

Finally, Cudgel Up likes to highlight Memphis in her Crawl. This can include area knowledge, local celebrities, or even challenges based on landmarks. While they won’t have any specific knowledge it might be fun to let them hit some Memphis tourist sites and see if they can figure some stuff out.

Now, you don’t have to tell players this. I think you should as it’s a part of X Crawl. They’ll know these things. They happen every year and are honestly an expected feature of Cudgel up. They won’t apply to every crawl the players encounter. I can think of at least two published crawls where they’re being run by new DJ’s and this sort of information wouldn’t be available. There are also several who don’t use recurring monsters, but would have certain themes, events, or types of encounters. One of the home brew DJ’s I created was DJ Big Daddy who was a former biker. Most of the prizes in his Crawl were high end custom Motorcycle parts. They could easily be sold for a good value but the team that won the entire event would also win a special edition Harley-Davidson’s and the custom parts would be installed for them. They know that much going in, it was even a factor in whether or not my players choose the crawl.

 

WHERE TO BEGIN THE SESSION

Unlike most RPG’s X-Crawl gives us a pretty decent starting point; the green room. We don’t have to know how the players met, became a team, or decided to go adventuring. We literally get to start with, “You’re in the green room…”

This gives us an advantage over a lot of starting campaigns. We get to skip a lot of the introductory bits of the game. The characters have been working together for a while, trained together, and know one another pretty well. Where a lot of games spend session 1 figuring out the group dynamics, this group is ready made. That’s a big step towards pushing forward.

This will help your players as well. I’ve never had a character concept 100% survive the first few sessions. It’s rare that I have a characters voice and mannerisms locked in for the first game. I’ll have a rough idea and can answer some surface level questions but usually anything really detailed I’ve written will be contradicted in a game or two. Starting in the green room helps players avoid spilling a lot of details about themselves that will have to be worked around later.

If you want to give them some role-play opportunities to get started with small steps, you have access to the greatest introductions of all time; game show questions. If you’ve ever watched the first five minutes of any game show you’ll have seen the host introduce the players and ask them a short leading question. You know the type, what’s a hobby you like, where did you go to school, is there anyone back home you want to say hi to? For X Crawl you want to start with something similar. Give the players a chance to get used to their characters before hitting them with heavy sports interviews. Questions you might even try if players seem to be having a rougher time is direct mechanics based ones like, their favorite weapon, fighting style, or spell.

Hit each player with a quick easy question and then move on to the dungeon. Let the fighting and adventure happen, take notes and at later interviews in the break rooms, after major show pieces, and at the end of the level to ask about the highlights from the crawl. Check out sports interview or even E sports interviews for some good examples of questions to ask here. In fact, I would recommend E sports over traditional sports for a much more fitting feel to what X Crawl is trying to accomplish.

 

NO GO DOOR PLACEMENT

You might have noticed that at Division 3 every room is to come equipped with at least 1 No Go Door for a quick escape should a contestant feel overwhelmed. You might also notice they don’t show up on the map at all. While you could go through and place them beforehand so you know exactly where they are. In fact I used to do this. I even included descriptions of where those doors should be in the adventure I posted on my blog. However, I’m going to back that up and say that you probably don’t want to place the No Go Doors on the map at the beginning. In fact you probably don’t want to point out their location unless specifically asked.

Part of this is it just clutters the map and reminds players that there’s something to get them out of jail if they get in over their heads. The other reasons is if you place them it might make useless if you need them. If you mark the No Go Door on the west wall when the team enters the room only to have the wizard really need one while standing on the east side of the room you’ve basically cut him off from his only escape.

I think X Crawl should be deadly; it should kill characters. However, it shouldn’t be unforgiving. Leave the No Go Doors off the map and then if a player gets into a bad spot and wants to save their character add it to the map and tell them where the exit is. You don’t have to make it a freebie. In fact I’d make them work for it a little bit. Make them have to scramble, give it some drama; if possible. Make them sweat.

If the player needs a way out and haven’t thought of one you can even remind them the No Go Door is an option. However, you should also remind them that by using it they are eliminating their character from the remainder of the level.  If the team manages to finish without them they can come back for the next level but it’ll be tougher with one contestant down and it should be.

 

BETWEEN THE LEVELS

They’ve made it to the end of the level and won the day. Now what? You can start on level two and get right to the next part of the crawl. It’s easy, fast, and a readymade next step. There’s nothing wrong with keeping the action going and if it works for you and your players it’s the best solution.

However, I will recommend giving them a little bit of flavor in the world. The first level of the crawl is run over three days with two teams running the level each day, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Teams will have to wait to see how they did and learn the final results. In that time they are able to socialize, visit the town, and hang out in the hotel. Maybe they want to visit the local Adventures Guild and learn from the veterans or train to keep in top form. There are lots of options to explore.

Maybe they can interact with other teams. Give them a rival or friend they get along well with. Introduce them to the plucky underdog who’s just trying to make good. If you’ve ever watched any sports movie or sports in general you’ve probably seen the effects rival teams can have. I’m from Ohio and the rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan that crops up every year is intense and all consuming. I don’t even live near the college and it gets dug in pretty harsh. Professional wresting has great rivalry promos floating around. How would your players react to someone from another team calling them out by declaring he’ll get more kills in the next level than their fighter?

Even if you don’t do any of these things it’s nice to give them some extra touches. Tell them how the other teams did. Most X Crawls expect/require a twenty percent mortality rate to keep the audience engaged and the ratings up. List off a couple of the deaths from the other teams. Highlights from the crawl are always fun too. Maybe another team had a hard time with a challenge the player’s breezed through or the reverse. Maybe one of the other teams discovered a secret your players missed. Maybe one team got completely wiped out or only had one member survive. Maybe someone got their arm torn off and their career ended early. There’s a lot of flavor that can be added here for these little bits.

One other thing to think about between the levels is the dungeons monsters. There are typically two or three days between level levels to allow for tear down, set up, and any promotional events the crawl has planned. However, something the monsters do during that time is watch the game tapes. While it won’t help the more mindless animals and undead the intelligent opponents will have a bit of new tactics to practice. If your players found a tactic they liked the monsters will try and find a work around.

Is the party’s tank hard to hit but does little damage then maybe they can be ignored in favor of softer targets. Does the mage favor area spells, then the monsters will space themselves out. Does the cleric focus all of their healing on single targets, then maybe spread the damage around. Did anyone have difficulty with a particular type of saving throw, they might be that spell type’s principal target moving forward.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

There you go. I hope this helps you get ready for your first crawl. X Crawl is an amazing game with tons of flavor and fun. If you just run it as a funhouse dungeon you’ll have a great time and lots of laughs. If you decide to add a couple of small tweaks here and there I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. Some of my favorite gaming stories are X Crawl stories and I’d love to sit around and share a couple of pints and the tall tales of days gone and adventures had with the lot of you. If you do use any of this advice or have some more for others coming along, please leave it in the comments below. I’d love to hear it.

A Difficult Topic

*Note* This is a rough piece. I considered editing it to make it prettier. I decided to just go with my initial write up because I wanted it to be my pure thoughts and instincts. To that end, I apologize for any disconnect in the words.

I’ve been putting off writing this because I wanted to organize my thoughts and figure out what I wanted to say. The truth of the matter is that I’m still not sure what to say. There are several reasons why I don’t know what to say. Small ones like, I’ve been watching this problem as a straight white guy sitting in the bleachers. I can see it going on, I know it’s a problem, but it’s never really hit me. I’m not even in the splash zone. The closest I’ve ever come is the one time a hotel manager almost didn’t let me and a friend have the room we’d reserved because for a short time he thought we might be gay. But that entire event lasted less than a minute or two.

A big part of the problem for me is that I don’t understand racism and bigotry. I mean, I understand they exist, I understand they’re real. I understand they’re awful. I just don’t understand why anyone would do it. There are tons of reasons you’re going to be angry with people, why you’d pick the color of their skin, the gender they’re attracted to, their religion, or anything that literally only effects them, I just don’t understand.

I follow a lot of internet geek culture and I see rises in anger over properties and events that seem to come from people being upset by any of these things. It’s easy to say, “because the internet,” but I don’t really think it explains anything.

For me my exposure to gaming has always opened my eyes to other people. It least it’s always felt that way. I like reading about other cultures, people, and ideas. I love sitting at the table with someone with a different perspective. So when I see people get mad at the inclusion of these perspectives I don’t understand.

Why does everything have to be me? Why do ALL of the characters have to reflect me? I don’t think they do. It’s nice to have a couple that look like me. Maybe it’s because I’m fat. I always liked being able to create heavy character in character creators to look more like I do. Maybe that’s why I can appreciate when someone else likes to see themselves in games and others don’t have the same reaction.

Something I’ve been thinking about for a while is how angry people in my hobbies get at shows like the Big Bang Theory. They don’t like it because of how it makes geeks and geek culture look. Those guys are caricatures of us. I’ve never met anyone that was that socially incapable of existing. Some of the people I see online who hate that show love Orphan Black for depicting board gaming correctly. They loved various episodes of South Park for its hobby and culture references. I still hear people quote, “How do you kill that what has no life?”

Why there are people who have those reactions and then can’t understand why someone would get excited to see Black Panther, Captain Marvel, or Batwoman. Why they get mad when a woman is chosen as a mascot, or a character is redesigned to appeal to young women is frustrating. To then see these same people take that a step further and be mad about voting, jobs, politics, and so many other things based on race, gender, and sexual attraction is mind boggling to me.

Is the problem that they started small and worked their way up? Is that what it is? Today they’re mad at Black Panther, tomorrow they’ll hate affirmative action, and then they’ll decide all black people are looking for handouts? Are those the steps? Is that it?

I just don’t know.

I’m on the verge of giving up trying to figure out what’s going on. I want people to be better. I want all of us to do better. I look around and I see the riots that are going on right now and I see the riots of the past reflected in them. I see pieces of Ferguson, Charlotte, Boston, and Los Angeles; all of the riots that I remember being covered in the news throughout my life. I’m sure there are more that I’m not remembering. I’m sure there will be more before it’s over.

I see us taking these same steps again and again. I see people in the media making statements about who is to blame, how we’re supposed to protest, and what is and isn’t appropriate. Actually, that’s incorrect. I’ve never seen anyone in the media talk about how people should correctly protest racism. Only how everyway someone does it is wrong.

I’m scared, frustrated, and angry. I’ve been that way for a while now. I want it to stop. I want us to be better. I just don’t know if we ever will be. I don’t know if we’ll ever see peace. Most likely not in my lifetime. Probably not in my nieces.

People are just too angry to move on. We need to get over the racism, hatred, and bigotry. We need to let them go, learn to be better people, and stop hating people because of the color of their skin, religion, gender, and sexual preferences. We need to let people be people without piling a ton of bullshit in their way for being different than us.

We need to do better.

I’m not sure if any of this makes sense or means anything to anyone. I’m not sure if this isn’t just me rambling on for nearly two pages and hoping it’s comforting to someone. I think I wrote this to make myself feel better as much as anything else. I do hope that someone who reads this will feel better knowing that at least one more person is on their side.

I’m just not sure if it helped me.

Until next time, be safe and be well.

*Note* As I was getting ready to post this the news and reaction to removing the confederate flag happened. I keep thinking of something my grandmother Dorothy used to say. She was from the south and had a very strong opinion about the confederacy. It was for idiot white people who were convinced that they’d all be sitting on the front porch of their very own plantation sipping mint julips if they just hadn’t lost the civil war. I think my family is a lot of the reason I am the way I am. I love them for that.

Spring Training Crawl

Spring Training Crawl

Hello,

I've had a lot of spare time on my hands lately and decided to write an adventure for one of my favorite RPG's. XCrawl is one of the best games I've ever played. A modern day dungeon crawl broadcast of national pay-per-view TV. Equal parts professional wrestling, the Running Man, and D&D. Well, to be more specific, in the near future it will be DCC or Dungeon Crawl Classics. I enjoy DCC and wanted to take a swing at writing for this system and share my love of XCrawl with the world.  

This is a introductory adventure for XCrawl Classic. To be clear, I don't have any of these new rules, I don't think they've been published anywhere as of yet. I also try and be vague about the actual mechanics found in the rules for DCC since I don't want to step on any toes. Finally, I don't have a map making program that produces results I particularly like. thus no map is supplied for the dungeon.

I've tried to put enough information in this post that you can use the existing books to run this adventure yourself or at the very least only have to cobble together very little pieces to get through the dungeon itself.

It's meant for level 4 characters with no magical weapons or armor. Let them have a 1 healing potion a piece, 2 if they don't have a healer. Everything should be fine.

If you're looking for help getting everyone in the right state of mind, I've played at conventions where XCrawl creator Brendan LaSalle was running and he always starts you off by having you name the actor that would play your character in XCrawl the movie. No matter the budget, the price, or the time period. With unlimited resources and magic to defy even death, who plays you in the movie?

Let me know what you think if you run this. Drop some highlights in the comments. I'd love to hear what's happened to you.

History

With the popularity of XCrawl and the sudden push to move athletes up to the majors there was an unfortunate clash of the talentless against the spiked walls of quick fame. In order to curtail criticism and push back against the use of any random idiot in a suit of armor, the Adventures Guild instituted a Spring Training program.

Every spring the Guild sponsors a six week training program that will “allow any fan to get their shot at XCrawl glory.” In reality it allows them to weed out the weekend couch warriors for the precious few who might have a shot a rising to the heights of XCrawl greatness; or at least will survive long enough to be dramatic and interesting.

The Basics

Spring Training Crawl is designed to be an introductory scenario for players and game masters alike. This crawl will walk you through setting up the world, the stakes, and to help show your players the small steps necessary to get the most out of XCrawl. It will give you some of the concepts and characters that can help the players find their feet in the world of XCrawl, a modern day, extreme sport, broadcast on pay-per-view, by the wishes of his benevolence Emperor Ronald the First, chosen by the Gods, to rule over the North American Empire. Long may he reign.

Cast of Characters

Skipper Cartwright: Dungeon Judge (DJ)

Every dungeon is designed, hosted, and prepared by a Dungeon Judge. Dungeon Judges are part game show host part serial killer. The trick is working the slider back and forth between these two extremes to see which wins out. More game show host means a less deadly crawl with more glitz and showmanship while more serial killer results in a darker more deadly experience. Skipper is 75% host, he understands that people will die because of things he created but has accepted that it’s just a part of the world we live in. He derives no pleasure from the deaths but suffers no guilt. He wants to put on a great show and be colorful and energetic in hopes of this leading to more bookings during the season.

 Skipper works as a fill in color commentator for Empire Sports II. A few years ago he was invited to be the public face of Spring Training Crawl and the relationship just worked. He’s not as vicious as some DJ’s and is mostly working to run the athletes through their paces. His rooms challenge the teams in combat, team work, and their ability to grab the crowd. Skipper tends to offer play by plays over the loudspeaker system built into the crawl.

Skipper is the character to be played by the game master, he is your character in this crawl more than any other. He is friendly, affable, and loves to pump up the teams. When a player rolls a critical hit Skipper can be heard over the PA adding color to the action. Take the time to describe the action and if it happens to kill a monster, his catch phrase for when this happens is, “Good night Eileen.”

Example: Doug “Sledge” Cragfist is a dwarf front line melee who is coming in for an attack on an orc. Sledge pulls back on his Warhammer and rolls to hit scoring a critical. Skipper comes in over the PA, “Sledge moves up the room, he’s in the air, his mighty hammer over his head. He brings down the hammer and knocks it home.”

Sledge rolls damage and scores high enough to kill the orc. “The hit is good and it’s good night Eileen! The orc is down!!!”

If you’re looking for inspiration on Skipper I suggest checking out videos of Chris Berman, Tim Kitzrow, or Dick Vitale.

The point of Skipper is to give the players the experience of interacting with a DJ and the game master the practice of playing one.

Pamela Proudfoot: publicist.

Publicists, coaches, agents, groupies, and any other behind the scenes person are a fact of XCrawl. You’ll always come across someone who is there to help the team to look good and/or survive. In this instance I’ve introduced a publicist to push the ideas and roleplaying opportunities of XCrawl. A publicist will push the team to look their best on camera, interact with the crowd, and warn them when they may be crossing the line. These support characters may or may not be a part of XCrawl depending on game master and player preference. For the purposes of this module, I suggest letting Pamela hang around to give you another tool to deliver information to the players.

Local advertising agency Woodrow and Lowman has a deal with the Adventurers Guild to supply junior assistants to help guide the teams as they stumble through what is possibly their first crawl ever. Pamela is one of the publicists brought in help teams through the crawl. She has been assigned to the layers. She shows up at the end of every room to give the players tips.

Pamela is friendly and honest with the players. She never tells anyone they’re wrong but offers slight tips on how to improve their marketability.

Examples: “That was great, but next time you go in for the kill try and yell out something catchy.” “Remember to give a nod to the VIP box, they paid a lot of money to be here and some of the nobles are always looking to throw money behind a starting team that catches their fancy.” “If you don’t like seafood that’s fine, but these are our sponsors and they’ve paid a lot of money to have their products here; if you can’t be excited at least don’t look disgusted by the prize.”

Woodrow and Lowman volunteers its lower rank employees for the crawl to see who is worth keeping around, promoting, or cutting loose. Pamela is very aware of this fact and is working hard to make the team marketable. She’s also aware that if this group forms a team they may want the services of a publicist and making a good impression on an up and coming team could get her in on the ground floor of something that could be huge. She is also a Halfling and her people are generally looked down on, so she’s working extra hard to see that her team looks good as they go through the crawl.

Structure

Spring Training Crawl is six week event that ends in a five room Crawl. During the first weeks the teams run drills, practice combat skills, and work with different partners to see how their styles meld. After the training period everyone is divided into teams based on personality, how well they worked together, and necessary skills to form a successful team. The players are one of these teams.

The Module begins at this point when the teams are formed and preparing to enter the crawl. There are 20 teams in the crawl four teams will run the crawl a day for five days. This allows time for cleanup, resetting the traps and obstacles, and generally returning the space to first mark.

The crawl is timed and the team with the best time receives a trophy. There are few additional prizes after that. Though there is a rumor that one of the teams might be inline for something big.

 The crawl consists of five rooms. The first two are non-lethal and the final three are full lethal. This means that the worst that can happen to the team in rooms one and two are a bit of embarrassment. After that people could and do die. The first room is an obstacle course that the team will have to run together. They’ll have to balance speed and organization. They need to figure out some of the obstacles quickly and figure the best way through them.

The second room is a challenge room using boffer weapons. Crawlers can be eliminated from the challenge but not the crawl here.

The third room is their first lethal challenge. While some Crawlers at this level have done lethal challenges before most have not. This will introduce a straight forward fight with little surprises.

Between the third and fourth rooms is a break room. Here the players get to take a break, meet a paramedic, and it gives Pamela a chance to introduce a couple of new mechanics.

The fourth room is a harder challenge. It’s more blunt force and is designed to pull away at the players resources. It’s also the first room with actual treasure in the form of potions.

The fifth and final room is a massive show piece. There is a large crowd, big monster, and a final confrontation. This room is designed to test the Crawlers to see if they can live up to the needs of XCrawl. It has an actual reward that can help set the team up moving forward.

It’s also important to note that every room will have a nogo door. A type of emergency exit that will let crawlers quit the crawl. They may be eliminated from the event, but they will survive and sometimes that shows a level of brains that coaches are looking for.

The Crawl

Green Room

Read the following aloud.

It’s been five weeks since you and the others began this adventure. You’ve spent the last ten days running drills and being paired up with different hopefuls; some of them now stand with you in this room.

The Green Room you’re in is a slightly upscale locker room. It’s the room you’ve been using this entire time to prepare every morning and shower every night. Just past a non-assuming door are the lockers you’ve all used to get ready for tonight. There’s a small buffet laid out with coffee, juice, some pastries, and orange slices. A friendly young girl from the local college, wearing her school colors, blue and orange, and a sorority pin marking her as member of the sisters of Hestia. She smiles sweetly as you look over prepared to help you.

At the far end of the room is sturdy metal double door, like the kind found in most gyms. Standing before it is the referee. He’s wearing the traditional white and black stripped shirt, with the regulation whistle and a series of three different flags for calling fowls. He’s also wearing a deadly looking colt 45 strapped to his hip.

On one of the walls has been installed a large AVS, Arcane video Screen. It’s showing a loop of commercials and highlights from previous Spring Training Crawls. Occasionally, there are ads for the upcoming Memphis Crawl, the traditional start of the XCrawl season. Upbeat local music plays through an overhead speaker.

Behind the scenes.

At this point ask the players what they’re doing to prepare for the event. Ask who they worked with over the last few weeks, who they didn’t. It’s assumed that even if they didn’t work with another person on the team they’re all familiar with one another. Let each of the players know they’re wearing an official Spring Training Jersey with their name and number on the back. Ask them what number they have. Though let them know that #42 is unavailable. If anyone asks why, it was worn by Skipper during his baseball days and he sometimes wears the old jersey during the event.

The Referee won’t discuss the crawl with the players. If they ask him for information he tells them they need to return to the staging area. He will then point out a large ten foot circle around the door that’s marked off in yellow and black tape ordering them to step behind it. If they persist, he will yellow flag them with a 2 minute penalty to their time.

The coed at the table is named Becky Jo, and she’s super excited to be here. She’s friendly and won’t talk about herself but will ask the crawlers how they’re doing. She makes a damned fine cup of coffee and can help fill any water bottles the team may have. She can also supply a couple if they don’t. Her bottles are all color coded to the college and have the schools logo on one side and the symbol of House Hestia on the other. They also have metal clips so they can be attached to any clips on belts and armor the team may have. Becky is a journalism student and thinks a behind the scenes look into the XCrawl might make an interesting story.

After a few minutes Pamela enters. She’s smartly dressed carrying a touchpad and small satchel slung under one arm. Pamela is here to get the team ready. If the players are harassing the Ref, she will enter just as the penalty was placed on them and argue on their behalf that she wasn’t there to advise them due to a scheduling error. The ref won’t remove the penalty, stating that those are the rules ma’am.

Regardless of how she enters, Pamela will gather the team and introduce herself. She’ll answer any questions they have and try and put a positive spin on anything they may be worried about.

She’s going to relay the following information.

*The Crawl will begin in a few minutes. When it does Skipper will come up on the AVS and introduce the team.

* He’s going to talk to each of you and ask something about you. Try and have an interesting fact ready. If the team wants to run anything by her, she’ll push toward anything that makes them more likeable; hobbies, family, where they went to school; basically anything anyone says at a gameshow.

*She’ll explain that the ref is going to give you some instructions about the first room. She can’t talk about it but what the ref says is true. The referees aren’t allowed to lie to you; anything they say is true.

*She’ll meet them after every room and see how they’re doing.

*She’ll push them to pick a spokesperson for the group. Someone to answer all of the questions asked of the team. If asked, she’ll point towards someone with a high charisma or an elf, the public loves elves. She’ll shy away from half-orcs, dwarves, and other halflings.

*There will be prizes in each room, but due to the level of the crawl they won’t be very impressive.

This section is to let the players get used to roleplaying in the world of XCrawl. Let them get used to how things are done and what the people are like. She won’t answer any questions about the crawl and if pushed will say that she isn’t allowed to explain more than they need for the next room. If anyone has any mechanical questions about no-go doors, mojo pools or such, they are explained as they come up and she’ll simply tell them not to worry about that now.

After you think this has gone on long enough, have the referee interrupt and indicate that it’s time for the crawl. A production assistant talking into a headset will enter and move the team to a marked spot in front of the AVS. He’ll jockey the team around trying to put the more attractive or heroic looking Crawlers to the front and center with the shorter ones in front of the taller ones. After that he’ll give them a count down and then…

Read Aloud

The image on the AVS changes to the Spring Training Crawl logo gently spinning against a green background. You can hear some applause from nearby. You hear a voiceover come from the monitor. Good morning sports fans. It’s a beautiful day her in downtown Miami. The sun is shining and the Gods have truly blessed us with a wonderful day. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m Skipper Cartwright and I’ll be your DJ on this glorious morning.

The image on the screen changes to show DJ Skipper he’s in an old fashioned announcer’s booth wearing a suit coat over an XCrawl Jersey with his trademark 42 on the front. Skippers’ chomping on a large cigar and smiling easily at the team.

Hello team, how are we doing today?

Behind the Scenes.

Skipper will exchange small talk with the team for a few moments. Introducing each of them in turn and asking where they’re from and for each of them to tell them a little bit about themselves. He is friendly and takes a good natured ribbing with the players. After this goes on for a little bit he’ll look off to one side and nod.

Well my producer is letting me know it’s time to begin. In that case, I call upon Apollo and ask for his blessing on these hallowed proceedings. May he guide you to victory in these times. In the name of Emperor Ronald the First, may his benevolence protect us, I call these games to order; we salute you. I open the dungeon to you, the athletes, may your skill and determination see you through to victory.

Game On!

The AVS switches back to the crawl logo, the referee opens the metal double doors to the next room, and the dungeon is yours.

Room 1: the Gym

When the team is ready to enter read the following aloud.

As you move towards the door the referee falls into step with your party. “This is the gym. It is your first challenge in this crawl. It’s designed to test your ability to work as a team. This room should be treated as a full challenge in every way. There are 6 stations. You’ll need to perform the stations in order, the room is timed, and there are penalties for skipping stations.” He stops and indicates a blue line on the floor. “Follow the line to your first station at your discretion.”

With that the Referee steps away and leaves the room to you.

A quick look at your surroundings reveals a large high school gym. Thick Plexiglas walls separate the audience from the floor. The stands are moderately filled with a locals having a good time and cheering you on. On one side the bleachers are roped off and reserved. Sitting in this area are a collection of people watching the proceedings intently and taking notes.

  The room itself is filled with the various stations. Each running the gambit of styles including gymnastics equipment, a short wall, and a large enclosed area near the end of the path.

Behind the scenes

This room is designed to see how well the team works together to overcome obstacles. It’s also a great way to introduce skill checks and dice rolling to new players.

The referee’s at each station will answer questions the team asks but after two or three will point out the team is being timed.

The crowd is broken up into two groups. The first group is fans of XCrawl who’ve come out to see the newbies. This room is the one used for the spillover crowd who didn’t get here early enough to get seated in one of the lethal rooms. They’re bored, drunk, and a little miffed that they’re watching the athletic portion of the event. While they have no way to directly interact with the team they’ll cheer if anyone fails or skips a challenge. It is possible to get the crowd to root for the team. If anyone of the Crawler think of it they can try and motivate the crowd by taking a round to “Work the Crowd.” This will require a target of 12 Charisma check. If the players do something creative, sing a song, use a flashy spell, or are generally charming then they get a +2.

The smaller portion of the audience, the ones in the reserved section are scouts for XCrawl team franchises, talent agencies, and sponsor groups. They’re watching the group and will move from room to room with them. They can’t normally be swayed by the players as they’re there to work. However, if the Work the Crowd roll scores a 16 or higher the scouts will start paying more attention to that person.

Station 1

This is a simple 12 foot wall with a set of gym pads lying at the bottom. The referee will inform the team that they need to all climb the wall. Anyone who chooses may walk around and take a 20 second penalty.

To climb the ropes a Crawler will need to make a DC 10 strength check. Teammates can choose to help one another either by giving them a boost or helping to lift them up from the top. This allows the person being aided to use the helper’s strength modifier.

If they come up with any other ideas to get over the wall give them a decent chance of working and possibly a +1 or 2 depending on how good an idea it is. The referee will allow anything that doesn’t destroy the wall. This includes hammering pitons into the wall as acceptable.

Station 2

This station is a rope swing. There’s a small 1 foot rise in front of the swing and a section of floor marked off with yellow and black stripped safety tape that spans 15 feet. The referee at this station informs the Crawlers they’ll all need to swing across the marked section. If anyone falls they’ll incur a 20 second penalty.

To cross the section someone will need to get the rope that is hanging in the center of the area. A dexterity check of 10 will allow someone to jump to the rope if they take a running start they’ll get a +2 to the role. A second dexterity check of 8 will be required to successfully swing across the area. If someone on the other side of the pit is helping to catch the swinger they can add the catcher’s strength bonus to the roll.

Station 3

This is a simple set of monkey bars. The Referee at this station will let the team know they need to cross as a group. The area under the monkey bars has a yellow and black hatched safety pattern. If anyone falls off of the bars they will suffer a 20 second penalty but then may walk around the challenge moving forward.

To cross the bars will require an agility test with a target number of 8 as a base. They’ll need five stages of completion to cross the entire set. An 8 will let them move one stage. For every 2 points past 8 they score they’ll move one extra stage. If they don’t finish the challenge in a single round then they’ll need to make a second roll to finish the path. In other words a 10 will move the 2 stages, a 12 will move 3, and a 16 will cross the entire set.

Multiple Crawlers can attempt to cross this challenge at once. The bars are not wide enough for one crawler to pass another. If someone attempting the bars doesn’t move all the way across then anyone following them will need to stop behind them or attempt to pass. If they attempt to pass by both crawlers will need to make an agility test with a target of 8 anyone who fails will fall and incur the penalty.

Station 4

The lift. This area holds a large fifteen foot press that must be lifted to allow the team to pass underneath. It requires a Strength check of 12 to raise the lift so someone can pass under. It’s wide enough that two characters can hold it up while the rest of the team walks through. The press is rigged so that it can’t fall and crush anyone.

Station 5

This station is two balance beams set across a 20 foot area of floor. The team will need to cross the beams to reach the other side. The beams are 4 feet apart decently sized for the challenge. Players will need to make a Dexterity Test of 8 to successfully reach the other side in 2 rounds. If they hurry and try and cross in one round they’ll need a 10 and if they go very slowly over 3 rounds they’ll need a 6 or better. Anyone failing or skipping the challenge will incur a 20 second penalty.

The beams are close enough that crawlers can help each other. If they do have one player roll the test using both player’s dexterity bonuses. If anyone checks the beams are held in place with sturdy clamps. The clamps can be undone and the beams slid together allowing the team to cross without rolling. It takes 1 round to redo the beams and someone will have needed to reach the other side. The referee won’t stop the crawlers as this was one of the expected outcomes.

Station 6

The team now stands before a large ten by ten room with a single locked door. The referee lets them know that all they need to do for this station is open the door.

The door room is a simple quick build with plywood walls and a ceiling. The door is a standard wooden door. The lock is difficult but not impossible. The door is also trapped.

To detect the trap a Crawler will need to make an intelligence test with a DC of 10 to detect the trap. Once detected it’s easy to disarm with a Dexterity test of 8. If the Crawlers don’t detect it then once the door is opened a small spray of mist will waft out of the room onto whoever opens the door. It smells sweet with floral notes.

The lock is a DC 14 dexterity check to open. Alternatively, someone could kick the door open with a DC of 8. However they’ll be hit by the trap if it’s still in place.

However the door is opened a goblin inside the room will hurl a pie into the face of whoever opens the door and yell, “Pie Gram!” the goblin will make a roll to hit with a +1 due to surprise.

If anyone was hit by the perfume in the trap, make a note for later.

Read the following aloud.

The referee gives you thumbs up and declares the challenge completed, the crowd cheers, the goblin applauds, and Skipper appears on a nearby AVS. “Great job team. How do you feel?”

After they answer continue.

Well we have a quick prize for you. In addition to 200 GP you get dinner from our sponsors at the Cutter Dave’s Steak House, the best steaks in Miami.  Each of you receives dinner for you and a guest at Miami’s premier steak house and my personal favorite. Cutter Dave’s, come for the family atmosphere and stay for the best steaks this side of the Keyes. Hit them up for their award winning ribeye, fantastic selection of meats and recipes from around the globe. Remember to try my personal favorite the Toby’s T-bone; flavored with a bit of island flare and Cutter’s special blend of herbs and spices. While you’re there don’t forget to stay for the dessert. And remember, tell ‘em Skipper sent you.”

After a moment a producer from off set calls out, “And we’re at commercial. Set for next room.”

Behind the scenes.

The team is now free from the cameras for a few minutes and set to head towards the next room. The exit opens and Pamela enters and walks up to the team. She’ll have bottles of water for each of them and if anyone was hit by the pie she’ll bring a towel for them to wipe it off with. She’ll also have a handful of “Peace Strings” for the team to tie their weapons into their holsters, sheaths, and scabbards. She’ll let them know they need to use these for the next room. The strings are there to keep their weapons from being used. Though in truth they only slow someone from drawing a lethal weapon quickly. She won’t tell them anything about the room or why the strings are necessary. However, if the team is nervous she’ll remind them that next room is non-lethal.

 She encourages them on a job well done and points to anything they might have wanted to do different giving gentle nudges where applicable. If the team feels they did poorly she’ll encourage them that they did better than team seven who skipped most of the physical challenges.

If anyone worked the crowd successfully she’ll congratulate them on a good job, if they failed she’ll console them on how tough the crowd was.

She’ll start walking them towards the next room and offer them the following advice. They’re going to want to start thinking of whether they want to be white hats or go the heel route in the arena. She’ll give this the wrestling comparison of how some teams are good guys and some are bad guys. It’s a thing they’re going to want to think about very soon.

She’ll also advise them on how to receive prizes from now on. They should be happy and grateful to the sponsors but not over the top unless it’s something huge; genuine but upbeat. She’ll let the team know that any treasure they won will be waiting for them after the crawl, this includes all the money, gift certificates, or anything they might win in the future that won’t be necessarily useful in the crawl itself.

When they arrive at the door to the next room she’ll say a quick goodbye and remind the team she’ll see them after the next room before ducking out a side door.

Room 2: Meeting the Troops

Crowd DC: 15 they are mostly family members of the team’s opponents.

The door to the next room is a standard metal gym door. It is unlocked and free of traps. Next to the door is a selection of foam covered boffer weapons. These include anything the team might be armed with including ranged weapons with blunted soft tipped arrows and bolts. These are Color Tag Items, description found at the end of the section. The Team will be encouraged to choose a weapon to use in the next room. Any bare fist fighters can find gloves that cushion their blow. As the team is choosing they will be informed of the rules for the room. In order to win they’ll need to capture their opponent’s flag while defending their own. There will be opponents in the room to thwart them. If any of their opponents are struck by 2 hits from a boffer weapon they’ll be eliminated. The Crawlers are eliminated if they take four hits.

When they’re ready to enter the room, read the following aloud.

The room before you is roughly 60 foot square. There are a series of padded waist high barricades sprinkled around the room. The floors are covered in overly thick gym mats that cushion your steps and make moving slightly awkward. Just inside the door is a large flag with the crawl logo emblazoned on it. On the far side of the room is another flag with a 421 backed by a quarter moon.

The room is ringed in clear Plexiglas walls similar to those found at a hockey game. The crowd is mostly made of families booing your entrance. Peppered through them are people holding up hand-made poster board signs that read things like, “Troop 421 RULEZ,” “Go Bethany!” and “Hunt Them Down!”

Situated at the far end of the bleachers is a small reserved section with the same people who had been in the previous crowd. They’re watching you and taking notes.

The rooms PA crackles to life and Skipper’s voice echoes over the crowd. “Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binaries among us, allow me to introduce our competitors this afternoon. On this end, we have our Crawlers.”

The booing from the crowd get louder as this announcement.

“And to face them in our noble contest, I ask you to welcome the scouts from Troop 421.”

The doors at the far end of the room open and a group of preteen girls in matching wilderness gear enter marching with near military precision. The crowd erupts in cheer of adoration.

“Welcome your local Diana Scouts.”

“Athletes!”

The scouts stand at attention.

“Salute your opponents.”

Each of the scouts in a measured ripple that flows in time from the outer edges to the center raise their bows to salute you.

After they finish there is a pause as the room grows quiet. The silence hanging in the air for just a moment before Skipper yells, “Begin!”

And the hunt is on.

Behind the scenes.

This is a simple combat with no damage. Players are free to defend themselves or go on the offensive as they see fit. They are also allowed to use any spells they feel appropriate. However, if anyone tries to use a spell that does damage remind them that this is a non-lethal room and they will be disqualified.

The goal is simple. Capture the other team’s flag by crossing the room and using an action to lower the flag or by eliminating the opposing team.

The Diana Scouts are a national youth group where girls are taught wilderness skills in the tradition of Diana, Goddess of the Hunt. While they are expected to lose, they were not instructed to. In fact, for every Crawler they can eliminate they’ll receive a reward and if they can remove an entire team they’ll get to attend a local film premier. They are playing for keeps.

There are two girls for every team member. For the scouts stats use goblins from the base rule book but give them a +1 to hit with a bow. They are using the same Color Tag weapons that the Crawlers are using.

The girls are talented and well trained. They’ve been practicing in this room for the last week in preparation for the Crawl and have learned to work together in this space. Their plan is to have two girls sneak around the edges, they count as trained for any stealth tests they’ll need to make. two girls will stay back and guard the flag. The rest of the girls will focus fire on the crawlers they deem the most dangerous. They’ll start focused on ranged Crawlers with spell casters being prime targets.

Once the room is completed, the referee will blow the whistle and end the challenge. Once this is done the girls will all line up and move to shake hands with the team each one saying good game as they do.

Assuming the Crawlers won they will be awarded 200 GP and the Color Tag Weapons they used in the room.

Color Tag weapons, for the paintball warrior who wants a bit more heft in his swing. Personalize your punch with 9 different colors, custom logos, and detailed styling on the blade, hilt, and scabbard. Designer weapons for the weekend adventure that wants to make a statement.

After Skipper awards the prizes they’ll break quickly for a commercial. Pamela returns and ask the team if they wish to take a photo with the girls. They only have time for one quick photo before they get rushed forward to the next room. Though Pamela will promise the girls that they can meet any of the team who are left after the crawl.

Once they’re done Pamela will remind the team to unfasten their peace ties as they walk towards the next room. She’ll praise them for good work especially if they treated the girls well and even took time to shake their hands and say good game at the end. She’ll remind them that the next room is full lethal. It is possible that they might die. Their opponents will not hold back. They will try and kill the team.

She’ll let them know that there is a No-Go door on either end of the arena. If things get to bad they should move to use that door. Once through it they’ll be out of the crawl, but they’ll get to live.

Once that’s done she’ll get a five count from the producer and start to leave. She’ll remind the team that the next room is full lethal, there is a break room on the other side, and she’ll meet them there. Hermes be with you.

Color Tag Weapons

Color Tag weapons are a boffer weapon developed for use as a paintball alternative. They haven’t yet caught on due to their initial cost, but the makers are hoping that by introducing them into XCrawl it will give the weapons the exposure they need to really take off.

When someone is hit with a Color Tag weapon a puff of colored mist bursts out ate the point of impact and stains the target. The colored mist will dissipate quickly but the mark on the target will remain until washed off with water and gentler scrubbing. The weapons come in several styles and colors.

High end variants can be made where the mark left behind is a simple symbol or design. This can even include someone initials or a signature. Popular examples include the newb, scrub, Git Gud, and teabag.

Room 3: Walking Sheriff

Crowd DC: 10

This room has a solid heavy metal door and cool to the touch. The door is unlocked and free of traps. The room itself is magically darkened and filled with fog. This is to interfere with anyone with the ability to see in the dark. While they can see the insides of the room, the fog blocks their vision farther than 15 feet. After the team opens the door read the following aloud.

As the door opens a thick fog oozes out mingling around your legs. The room beyond is dark and the fog makes seeing too deeply in difficult. You strain your ears to listen and hear a distant chatter that sounds close but blocked as if being projected through water.

Skipper’s voice echoes from the vacant space before you. The tinny scratching that has accompanied his use of the decades old PA system sounds more pronounced here than anywhere else.

“Welcome team. Once you cross that threshold you’ll be in your first official XCrawl fully lethal room. If that sounds like too much you can always bow out. Turn around and use the side door just to your left. Otherwise, enter and prepare.”

He pauses, waiting to see what you’ll do next.

If the team uses the door to their side, they’re out of the crawl. Their adventure ends here and even though they’ll never find fame in XCrawl, they’ll live to tell the tale of their weekend. However, if they advance into the room, he’ll wait until they get a few feet in and respond.

“Excellent. I knew you were heroes worthy of the Empire. I congratulate you on the path you’ve chosen. May you follow in the footsteps of the legends that come before you; Hercules, Perseus, and Nail Bomb Brooks. May Apollo, watch over you. May the Fates, guide your steps.”

The metal door slams shut behind you.

“However, this is XCrawl, and if you die…”

The darkness suddenly vanishes and you find yourself standing in 2 foot deep fog with a half circle of zombies wearing rubber masks and sheriffs hats surrounding you on three sides. The crowd, now visible behind a transparent wall on your left screams, “YOU DIE!” The traditional start of every professional XCrawl.

The battle begins.

Behind the scenes.

This room is sixty foot square and the team is standing roughly ten feet in. The zombies are all twenty feet away. There are two zombies per Crawler. There is also one ghoul lurking in the mist just behind the zombies. The reason they are wearing masks is due to previous legal problems XCrawl has faced from traumatized families who watched a deceased relative get ripped to shreds on national TV.

The zombies move forward and attack the closest target. They are unrelenting and unyielding. They also have no tactics. They simply attack whoever is closest. There is an exception to this.

If one of the crawlers was covered in the perfume from the trapped door in room 1 then the zombies will favor them. The perfume was a mix of nightshade and grave moss that’s used in necromantic rituals to attract the undead. The zombies will still attack the closest target but if the perfumed crawler is equal distance as another crawler they will always be favored. It also makes it difficult for them to hide from the zombies making all zombies efforts to detect a perfumed crawler hiding in the mist a trained roll.

 The ghoul on the other hand lurks around the edges of combat and looks for an opening. He will attempt to catch weaker less armored heroes by themselves preferring to focus on healers and magic users with a particular focus on anyone who can turn undead.

The Ghoul has no illusions about his place here. He’s lucky to be alive and is enslaved to a guild necromancer. He’s fighting to attempt to gain his freedom and will not surrender.

There are two No-Go doors (exits) from the room. They are located just to the side of the door the heroes came through and to the side of the door on the far end of the room. If the team feels overwhelmed they may use one of these doors if they can reach it. They will be out of the crawl but they’ll be alive.

The crowd in this room is larger than in the first room and they are more open to the team. They’re here to see people die but are willing to cheer on the team if they do well. As with the previous rooms a small section of the bleachers has been reserved for the scouts who’ve been following the team.

If it a round ends and it’s a foregone conclusion that the team will win then the referees will call the encounter and wrap things up. They’ll only do this if the ghoul is dead, and the players have clear superiority to the zombies, especially if they outnumber them and none of the team is suffering paralysis from the ghoul. Once this is done, guild necromancers will come in and control the zombies into pens to be used in a later challenge. No sense wasting perfectly good zombies.

When this happens Skipper comes over the PA again. Read the following aloud.

Way to go team. You’ve stepped up and knocked this one out of the park. An excellent first fight. How does it feel to get in that first taste of victory?

After he’s talked to the team for a few moments he’ll award them their prizes, and let them get back to the crawl.

The prize for completing this room is 300 GP, 3 potions of healing offering 1D6+1, and 2 scrolls of Remove Paralysis.

Once producers cut to commercial, Pamela will appear at the exit and motion for the team to follow her before they use any of their healing items.

Whatever they decide to do next they’ll find her at the door to the break room in the hall outside this room on the way to the next.

Breakroom: Half Time

The breakroom is a small swinging double door set up in the side of the hall leading to room 4. The gentle smell of cooking meat and spices comes from beyond. Pamela is standing at the door as the team arrives and welcomes them into the breakroom.

The breakroom is a small rest area set up for the teams as they move through the dungeon. The floors are well carpeted and the furniture is comfortable. This is essentially an upscale locker room. The cameras are off and everything that happens here is off screen and behind the scenes.

This area is set up as a break for both the team and the crew. During this time production will go to a long series of commercials, cut to a breakdown segment with sports analysts, and cover some other news from the sports world.

Pamela will explain all of this to the team and remind them that they’re expected to spend between ten and fifteen minutes here while everything is going on. She’ll encourage them to wash up, rest, grab a sandwich, and get some healing.

She’ll also pick one of the team who she feels has done a pretty good job of leading the group. If anyone has stood out as being particularly tactical or charismatic she’ll pull them aside and encourage them to say a few words to help rally the team. If they do that player can make a Charisma check against a target of 10. Allow for a +1 or +2 if they role play this. This will give the team a Mojo Pool they can use over the remainder of the crawl. Roll 1D6 or 2D6 if they succeed on the check.

The break room has two other people inside. The first is Chef Ruiz, a Dwarf chef from Carl’s, a popular local gourmet sandwich shop well known for its Cuban Sandwiches. He has a grill ready to go and can quickly make whatever sort of sandwich the team orders. It will be delicious.

The other person in the room is paramedic Alan Engle. Al’s a human from the local hospital that will help the team as best as he’s able. He’ll make a trained intelligence test with a +3 against a target of 8. He will heal his target equal to the number of points he beats the target by. He can heal paralysis for anyone with ten minutes of work and a test result of 14.

As the team spends time in the breakroom Pamela will point out the surrender rule to them. If a monster surrender they must accept it or be disqualified. The monsters here aren’t allowed to go back on their surrenders, there is no incentive for them to do so, unlike traditional XCrawl.

Once the team decides to leave the breakroom and continue with the crawl Pamela will wish them luck, remind them to say something nice about the sandwich’s when they leave the room, and give each of them a Friki Choo Cola Call coin. With instructions to use it when they are particularly thirsty or have done something that has drawn the attention of the cameras.

Room 4: Watch your Step

Crowd DC: 9

The door to this room is a metal gym door. While it is locked it’s also free of trap. It requires a Dexterity test of 10 to pick the lock or a Strength test of 9 to kick it open. Once the players have opened the door read the following aloud.

The room before you is another indoor sports center. There are several three foot high barricades with padded gym mats set against their bases on the floor. The barricades stretch the width of the room and are set at even distances the length of the room.

At the far side of the room are a number of orcs readying weapons and aiming down range towards you.

Behind the Scenes.

This is a simple combat room. The room is 40 feet wide by 80 feet long. It’s usually an indoor tennis court and if crawlers look they’ll be able to see the lines on the sections of floor not covered by the pads. The barricades are set every ten feet across the room and require participants to leap over them in order to advance up the room.

The middle barricade has a trap built into it on the crawler’s side. Anyone standing on the five foot section of padding will set off a spiked plate under the mat. The spikes will pop up through the padding and strike any crawler standing in the area. The trap has a +4 to hit and will do 1D6 damage. If a critical hit is rolled the trap will also hobble the crawler halving their walking speed until a healing spell is specifically cast on their feet. It will need to be cast directly on their feet and will require the removal of any foot wear. The trap can be discovered with an intelligence test with a target number of 12, anyone searching for the trap may treat this roll as trained. If they are already trained they get a +2 to the roll. The trap can be disarmed with a Dexterity roll of 10. Once the trap is triggered it is still a threat as the spikes stay up. However, moving at half speed will allow anyone entering the area to avoid the trap. If anyone doesn’t take this precaution the trap makes an attack roll with no bonus and does 1D3 damage with no crippling bonus for a critical hit.

There are two orcs per crawler, one armed with a crossbow and one with a sword and shield. The orcs break into two groups the ranged orcs staying at the farthest range with the melee orcs move forward hopping the walls. They won’t go past the middle wall as they know about the trap.

Any orc will surrender if they are reduced to ¼ health. Additionally, if the orcs are ever outnumbered 2 to 1 then the rest of them will surrender.

Treasure for this room is 200 GP and 2 potions of healing 2D6+2. The team also receives a set of Willowcraft Tennis Rackets and Balls. Willowcraft Rackets, hand made by elven crafts men of the San Fernando Valley. The racket of choice for all of the great masters. Willowcraft, for when you need to play with your heart. Game, set, and match.

Pamela meets them after the room is closed and tells them what a great job they’re doing. At this point she’s given them all of the information she can. She’ll offer praise and answer any questions. If the group wants to know how they’re doing on time, she’ll tell them that she can’t be very specific but will let them know they’re playing through quite quickly. She will let them know that the last room has a VIP in attendance. Before the room starts, they should consider taking a moment salute the private booth on the left side of the arena.

Once the group is ready to go through to the end she’ll wish them luck and remind them to smile.

Room 5: Down in the Bayou

Crowd DC: 8

Approaching the final room will require the team to climb a short 10 foot set of stairs; they are not trapped. At the top of the stairs is enough room for the team to stand, get ready to enter the last room, and jockey into position. Once they’ve reached the top of the stairs anyone who makes an intelligence check with a target of 14 will pick up the distinct smell of sea water. Anyone who’s spent a lot of time around aquariums, large bodies of water, or similar circumstances can treat this check as trained.

The large wooden double door is trapped but unlocked. If anyone opens the door without disarming the trap then several spears will eject from the walls. Anyone standing on the platform will be subject to an attack from one of the spears. The trap is +4 to hit and does 2D6 damage. To detect the trap they’ll need an intelligence check with a target of 10. To disarm the trap requires a dexterity check with a target of 12. Failing the disarm check by 5 or more will also set off the trap. The spears only hit anyone on the platform at the top of the stairs so it is possible to set the trap off while being outside of its area of influence.

Once the team opens the door read the following aloud.

The doors open to reveal a sixty foot round room filled nearly to the door with water. The center of the huge water tank is dominated by a thirty foot square wooden dock. A small ten foot wide walkway leads out to the dock. Above the center of the room hangs a large AVS screen hovering just below a massive support system, rotating slightly. It has your names flashing on it. Your video highlights appear on the screen along with your name, play for a few seconds, and then cycle to the next team member.

 The walls of the tank have been done in blue tiles to give the illusion of an endless sea stretching off in all directions. The image would be perfect if not for the 360 degree crowd standing and cheering behind the sturdy invisible walls. To your left a private booth set aside for nobles and other VIP’s holds a young couple sitting comfortably in regal seats with slightly bored expressions. Behind them, on the wall of the room, hangs a coat of arms denoting them as local Barons.

A referee standing just inside the door waves you forward into the room. When you’re all within ear shot he points to the overhanging supports and makes a gesture. Several rope ladders unroll down from above and dangle over the dock area in the center. “Those are your Exit, if anything gets too much for you. If you grab a ladder, you are forfeiting your place in the rest of the crawl and can take no further part.” He points to the door behind you. “Once I step through those doors, they will lock and you’ll 10 seconds to move to the center platform so the room can officially begin. Do you have any questions?”

Behind the scenes.

The team can ask any questions they want, but the ref will only answer a few. He won’t tell them who/what they will be fighting, or what if anything will happen once the room begins. If anyone tries to check for traps on the docks while he’s talking to them, he’ll warn them they’re in time out and penalize the team 10 seconds if they persist. If they ask if the docks are trapped, he’ll respond that it will be safe for them to cross to the central platform for the match and that the central platform isn’t trapped.

After a few questions, he’ll tell the team he’s leaving and ask if anyone wishes to bow out or continue with the crawl. Anyone who wants to go with him and quit is welcome to do so. Otherwise, he’ll back out of the room and lock the door. Once the door locks the AVS will start a countdown; the crowd will begin counting along, growing in volume with each number. Once the timer hits zero a loud air horn will sound, the crowd will cheer, and the room will begin.

The room starts with the walkway exploding. Each section will be hurled into the water by an air canon. Starting at the door and moving towards the dock in the center. This is a timed explosion and set to go off in rapid sequence. Anyone still on the walkway when this happens will be hurled into the water. They’ll need to make a Dexterity test with a target of 10 to avoid taking 1D6+3 damage from the lose boards.

At the same time this is happening the room’s main feature, Al will be swimming towards them under the walkway. Al is a weregator and is supposed to come up from the water and land on the central platform right after the docks have finished exploding to make it look as if his charging the docks is what destroyed the walkway. He’s been practicing this entrance all week. He’ll need to make a trained dexterity check with a target of 8 or take 2D6 damage from coming up to early and getting caught in the blast.

For Al’s stats use the minotaur from the base DCC rulebook. He’s armed with a Warhammer. He enters the arena by charging whoever is standing directly in front of the walkway and trying to knock them back across the platform and hopefully into the water.

Treat Al as having maximum HP +5 additional HP per crawler. At the beginning of each of his turns Al regenerates 10 HP. Al also has a tail whip he can use it has a +4 and deals 1D6+2 damage. Anyone hit will need to make a strength test with a target of 10 or be knocked back 10 feet and fall prone.

Once Al is reduced to a quarter of his full health he’ll surrender. Air cannons will blow confetti into the room, the crowd will go wild, and the team will have finished their first professional XCrawl.

Treasure for this room is 300 GP, and each party member gets a +1 weapon of their choice. If you have the rules for it, feel free to make these omni-weapons. A walkway will rise out of the water leading to an exit on the far side of the room. Skipper will walk out of the exit and come up to the team, shake their hands, and congratulate them on a job well done.

After the Crawl

Immediately after the crawl the team will go through some exit work. There will be some photo ops, and a bit of media work. They can be interviewed by local reporters, Empire Sports will try and get a quick sound bite from the members of the team, especially if they did something truly epic. They’ll also be greeted by the girls of Troop 421, take some photos with the girls and sit down to some snacks to talk with them if the team wants to. Each team going through the crawl faced a different troop of girls.

Afterwards the team be taken back to the hotel and told to clean up and attend a small banquet hall at the hotel. There they’ll meet up with the other teams who’ve already taken part in the crawl and be able to watch the other competitors. Here they can trade stories, talk about their experiences and generally be showered with praise. They can also cheer on the other teams. During this time they will watch at least one person they know get killed. When this happens the room will grow quiet and someone will call for a toast to the fallen hero.

It will take another 2 days before the final results are in and all of the teams have run the crawl. The official announcement will be made at a large end of training banquet. Of the 20 teams who took part in training, 4 died, 1 was permanently injured, and 13 teams failed to finish. The team should feel pretty good about themselves no matter where they fall in those stats.

The dinner is a semi-formal affair, with local celebrities and one or two minor nobles hanging around. Skipper and his lovely wife, Linda, are on hand and he moves around the party making sure to spend a little bit of time with each person.

During the reception they’ll hand out some awards including most improved, best singer, most healing done, MVP, and similar. Feel free to award the players with any of these you think appropriate. There will be a moment of silence and a short video montage to remember the dead. It will feature clips of them from training and one or two heroic moments from the crawl itself. There will be a blooper real from the crawl featuring some of the more humorous moments; a surly dwarf curled into a ball being pelted with arrows by the Diana Scouts after he spent the lead up berating them for being weak little girls, a moment where a bard got his pants caught on a zombie and drug it around the room, and a brief montage of several people being hurled into the air as the walkway exploded in the final room.

The final award for overall winner will go to the team who finished the crawl with the lowest overall time. This can go to the players after going through a complicated math formula featuring several room modifiers, situational bonuses, and a sliding modifier based on rounds played; ie we made it up. This award is presented by DJ Cudgel Up! Leader of the Memphis Crawl, the official season start for XCrawl.

If this is your first game in an ongoing campaign then have Pamela come up and congratulate the group during the party and ask if they’ve thought about forming a permeant team.

The day after the party is check out from the local hotel and the official end of spring training camp. If the team decided to stay as a group and work together, Pamela will ask them all to meet her for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. There she’ll offer to represent them going forward and work out a fair contract. She can also offer them a training house and gym access through her company. She’ll also let them know about the secret reward for winning the crawl. The highest ranked team that decided to stay as a group would be invited to take up the 6^th spot in the Memphis Crawl. If they want it, the spot is theirs. Now all they need to do, is pick a team name.