Pyramid Review
Xcrawl: Sell Out! (for d20 System)
Published by PandaHead Games
Written by Brendan J. LaSalle
Art by Chris Appel, Ed Ball, Allyson Brooks, Marcio Fiorito, Brian Laframboise, & Bob Stevlic
192-page b&w softcover; $24.95
For the last year, Xcrawl, PandaHead's roleplaying game of extreme dungeon sports in a Romanesque world, has concentrated on The Games themselves -- those forays into man-made crypts and labyrinths. The sourcebook for the North American Empire, the larger setting in which The Games take place, is due out this winter, and they've begun to bridge that gap with Xcrawl: Sell Out!, the sourcebook for the business of being involved with the crawls.
The full rules of Xcrawl are laid out, or at least as full a set of rules as one can give and not have your sourcebook sound like a set of stereo instructions. What's legal in play? What magics are allowed? Each increasingly lethal division is described, starting with the "let's-pretend" elementary school Action League and finishing up with the majors, Division I (the level at which the big kids play) and Unlimited (a level shown favor by the Emperor because it lets him execute dissenters without public censure).
We learn the attitudes of the different races concerning The Games. Dwarves claim it's an insult to real adventurers, though many enjoy the guilty pleasure. The aloof elves see only fleeting glory in it, but their works are among the most cherished weapons a crawler can carry. And for the put-upon halflings, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 5, 2003
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