Monday 22 September 2014

[Review] The Undercroft zine #2

Hear me out. If you like weird fantasy, horror and/or Lamentations of the Flame Princess you should not waste your time here reading this review. The time you spend reading this review you could spend reading The Undercroft issue 2. You'll get it from HERE in print and PDF. Now go.

You are still here? Alright. Either I was not convincing or you really want to hear what I have to say.

For first, look at the cover to the left. It is fucking sweet! +Cédric Plante is a guy I found in G+ and have been following him. He is a brilliant artist. Look at that picture and see how brilliant the cover is. It is damn sweet! You should also follow Cédric if you are in G+. He does draw some crazy sweet stuff!

The main guy behind The Undercroft is one individual called +Daniel Sell. This is already second zine, but unfortunately I haven't read the first one so I cannot say where the zine is going. This I can say; this second issue is very, very good!


As I already said, this is perfect for those who like weird, horror and LotFP. In my humble opinion there can never be enough material like this. Something what is imaginative, weird, horrific and terrific. Something you enjoy reading and what gives you creeps. And as you read it you imagine how you could screw your players with the material in hand. This is like it. Lots of great ideas, and creepy stuff.

Here I want to mention other artist (of four), Matthew Adams. His style is very creepy and somewhat familiar. Good stuff.

But what you, we, get? 24 actual pages of content (if you add the one page comic). Monsters, potions, a small dungeon and a short story.

The monsters are good. Except the waste disposal hog the monsters are also creepy. These are not just your average "one new thing for player characters to kill for exp, lulz and fun" but creatures what can live up for a small adventure! Nice touch is that two of these monsters are statless, there is only fiction of them. Not a bad call because everyone knows that (LotFP) OSR statting is super simple. Basically you get the information what the monster is like, what it does etc. and can stat it up to match your own game. But does everything need stats afterall? Stats mean it can be killed... should everything be killable?
Awesome is a monster called That Which Slips Between. For me it was very, very creepy creature! And it is tied to the small dungeon, what makes the dungeon extremely creepy! The dungeon is not creepy but the creature, damn. It's like Stephen King decided that Mythos needed some creepiness and Ray Bradbury gave a blessing for it!

Also the potions are very good! I think they fit the weird fantasy and Raggi's style of magic items very well. These potions are to screw you in a way or other. Well, at least characters might learn not everything they find in a weird fantasy adventure should be chucked in!

Also bonus points for The Visitor. I liked it a lot. Very creepy in X-Files way... with some Mythos style writing. One of those monsters you can make adventure around. Liked it very much.

So as you see I really, really liked this zine! Lots of good stuff, and fortunately everything (except the short story and comic) you can actually easily use in your games!

See, was it worth to read my ramblings? You could have spent this time reading The Undercroft issue 2 instead! Now, go and download it and let me know did you like it also!
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Daniel's blog: http://whatwouldconando.blogspot.co.uk
The Melsonian Arts Council store: http://melsonia.storenvy.com

Biography of Daniel Sell:
"I am quite boring as far as RPG writers go. I don't moonlight as an astronaut or a sex worker, I write fiction and RPGs and barely survive off the proceeds. Living the dream."

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