Mutant Crawl Classics Role Playing Game

by Jim Wampler

You’re no zero.

You’re a wasteland a mutant, a seeker, a robot-killer, a stoic shaman guarding forgotten ancient sciences. You seek triumph and technology, winning it with mutations and magic, soaked in the radiation and quantum fields of the mutated, the savage, the semi-sentient, and the artificially intelligent. There are treasures to be won in the taboo lands and ruins, and you shall have them.

Return to the glory days of science fiction gaming with the Mutant Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure like it’s 1978 again, with modern rules grounded in the origins of post-apocalyptic role-playing. Fast play, a mysterious future, and 100% compatibility with the DCC RPG system await you — just activate your artifact…

Genres: Role Playing Games, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Gaming

282 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a post-apocalyptic roleplaying game. There is a strong emphasis on radiation and mutation, so the world is more Toxic Avenger than Mad Max. Reading this book is like stepping into a time machine. It's a system that was designed to work like the old school roleplaying systems of the late 70s and early 80s. Characters are simple and life is short. The art is done in the style of roleplaying books in those days--simple line art, but the images are freaky and weird in an interesting way (just look at the cover).

[Garrett Henke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I’m running this game at a small local con in less than a week, I completely tore through this book. A huge fan of Gamma World for much of my life, I have been really looking forward to this release.

Overall, the game is pretty awesome. It’s gonzo enough and maintains all the old school races that later Gamma World editions got rid of. Yep, mutant plants are back!

If you’ve played Dungeon Crawl Classics (also a great game) the system is functionally the same. Far more lethal than Gamma World 4th Edition (my preferred edition since the early 90s), MCC is more of a beer and pretzels game than story-driven. Nonetheless, it’s a hell of a lot of fun in general as long as you don’t get too attached to your character.

Despite it’s strengths, MCC is missing some cool random charts for generic post-apocalyptic artifacts that have little use but local color. The Bestiary also isn’t as well-developed as I would prefer. Still, this is a fun game, no question. I would describe it as an almost perfect game for cons or gaming nights where someone can’t play and people just want a crazy romp through the post-apocalyptic jungle.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best modern interpretation of Gamma World, a role playing game which dates back to the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

The original game borrowed heavily from Metamorphosis Alpha, another Jim Ward title. It was loosely set in a highly irradiated midwest, a nod to the original home of D&D, Lake Geneva Wisconsin. Later editions moved away from the D&D roots towards clunky mechanics also used in a Marvel Super Heroes game. One of the later releases used Alternity rules, right before that system was cancelled. There was even a release for 4th edition D&D that I had never heard of until wikipedia.

This game will combine well with the random setting and dungeon creation tools of Dungeon Crawl Classics. The "character funnel" mechanic of creating several commoners to see which rises to become and adventurer works really well here, allowing players multiple rolls on the mutation tables to make interesting characters. There are a double handful of published adventures already, but I would guess that earlier Gamma World modules could be adapted fairly easily. I'd love to see a Metamorphosis Alpha setting for this system.

I own a PDF of the game and found a third printing softcover at Merlyns in Spokane. If I can convince my gaming group to actually meet, I hope to spring this on them in the (hopefully not irradiated) future.

[Matthew J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Dungeon Crawl Classics is to Dungeons & Dragons, so Mutant Crawl Classics is to Gamma World. Using essentially the same system as DCC, MCC endeavors to make an enjoyable, strange, old-school bit of fun. This isn't a game to take seriously, not a game about complex characters and heavy role playing. Not that you couldn't or shouldn't, but it's really not that kind of game. This is about mutants and ancient robots and radioactive hazards and giant bugs.
Fun stuff.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Post-apocalyptic expansion for the Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) rules system. It's set in the far future, long after the apocalypse claimed humanities greatest inventions and technologies. Civilization is right back where it started, except for the mutations, ancient artifacts of great power and radiation everywhere.
This book is packed full of mutations for your characters. There are over 70 mutations that range from superhuman strength to defects like vistigial non-functional wings. Something else that I loved is the lack of an alignment system (kind of). In its place, characters are part of a social construct with its own beliefs, goals and member benefits. I bought this book thinking it was sci-fi for DCC, which it's not, but it makes a fantastic starting point for sci-fi fantasy.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the smaller-but-not-tiny players in the market, Goodman Games has carved for itself a fascinating combination of aesthetic and play style: both over the top and grounded. The characters start out in low state and never really ascend to world-crushing power, yet the out-there results of die rolls can result in some astonishingly squishy outcomes. As in: either you or your opponent have just been squished. Lives are short and brutal and character sheets are cheap. The real upshot of that unfortunate die roll is a great story.

This really suits an adaption of Gamma World. The post-apocalyptic tribes are explicitly Neolithic in tone, and anything that can be found in the wasteland might be helpful, might be harmful, and is almost certainly dangerous.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a long time DCC fan (and a fan of Judge Jim since the first episode of Spellburn), I wanted to love MCC. I'd heard about it for years before I had a chance to pick up a copy.

I don't think it's bad, but it seems more useful as a DCC splat book for '70s-era science fantasy cartoons than as a standalone game.

I'm definitely going to pull from this book from ideas on how to present unknown artifacts to player characters, and the technology "shaman" is an interesting variation on the core DCC wizard. Patron AIs are an interesting idea I may use later, too.

Overall, I'm glad I bought it and read it, but I no longer regret taking so long to get around to it.

[Scott Waldie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cool spin on the Dungeon Crawl Classics OSR system, with a particular detail to aesthetics that remind one a lot of vintage Gamma World in the 80s. That said, this is a brutal game, that's part of its charm, but not for players that might get tired rolling up a number of characters; which is painless and quick, but still, players that want to 'settle in' to their PCs immediately might be turned off.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall great, some proofing errors, some 4th wall breakage and a noticeable lack of non-patron AI wetware keep this (one of my most highly anticipated kickstarter projects) from receiving five stars. I expect an expanded second printing will correct these issues at some point in the next two years.

[Steven "Steve" · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new take on the classic post-apocalyptic RPG’s of the 70’s and 80’s. Many options for characters and powers, including shamans who have wetware programs from worshipping AI’s. An excellent addition to the genre.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great gaming book. Great ideas for a Thundarr world building.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read... looking forward to playing.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more material from Goodman Games and the DCC/MCC third-party publishers I read, the less I ever want to play D&D's recent versions.

[John Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Dungeon Crawl Classics, but it uses the source material well. I agree with other reviews that state this is slightly better as a sourcebook for DCC than as a standalone game.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glorious glow burning mutant goodness.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dungeon Crawl Classics system gets adapted to wahoo post-apoc fantasy (think Thundarr the Barbarian, Kamandi the Last Boy on Earth, Planet of the Apes, &c.). Would probably have the same page count as the original Gamma World if there weren’t a d30 table for each & every mutation & “wetware program”, fumbles, six categories of crit, artifact usage, & on & on & on. Chock full of in-joke callbacks to everything from The Jetsons to The Matrix to a 70s-era margarine commercial. One of the MCC Cryptic Alliance analogues’ secret hand sign is literally to throw the horns, which pretty neatly encapsulates the “who cares if it makes sense, it’s frickin’ metal” ethos of the game.