Weird Worm-Ways of Saturn

     Picked this up at this past Con on the Cob. Weird Worm-Ways is the first of a two part adventure from Moon Dice Games. A planetary crawl for characters of fifth level.

     This is set in the Crawljammer DCC zine setting, centered on Saturn. In an early issue of Crawljammer (#1, I think) creator Tim Callahan gave a quick tease about what is special about each planet in the solar system, and Saturn seemed a tough sell for an adventure. The idea of an ape-men civilization and a worm god were pretty awesome sounding, but wrapping your head around the severe magnetic fluctuations of Saturn is a tough sell. Any metal will be irrevocably drawn to the surface with no chance of return. What Daniel Bishop has done is give players a good reason to visit the planet, and if they want to chance bringing metal, then maybe they can get away with it. Apparently, once every thousand years, the magnetic forces wane and a certain technomancer would like something retrieved from the Vault of Zin the Meticulous.

     The first half gives the hook for the characters, then goes on to give brief detail about the surface of Saturn. There are random encounter tables for the different terrain types you will run into, and a good selection of creatures indigenous to the planet. The second half fleshes out the hex crawl the group must travel through in order to reach the vault. In the back are rules for creating Saturnian ape-men characters.

     Stellar writing by Daniel Bishop, amazing cover art by Matt Hildebrand, fantastic interior illustrations by Fred Dailey. All using Tim Callahan's Crawljammer setting to full effect, this is a must have for DCC fans. I am reminded that Clark Ashton-Smith wrote about Saturn and Tsathoggua. Guess I'd better catch up on my reading, then. The second issue (half?) may arrive early 2016, so fingers crossed.