Mini Review - The Undercroft #9 (LotFP)

The Undercroft is always a mixed bag, not so much in quality but as to what can (or will be) used at the gaming table. Being that is a zine dedicated to Lamentations of the Flame Princess' Weird Fantasy RPG (available for free - Rulebook and Referee Book) that really shouldn't be a surprise. The Undercroft pushes the envelope. What envelope? All envelopes. If you want to avoid the chance of being offended or disturbed, it might not be right for you. If you are willing to take the chance, you might find a goldmine of inspiration, not just for your LotFP Weird Fantasy Game, but other OSR games too.

Here's the Table of Contents to The Undercroft #9:

Skinned Moon Daughter
A new class for games in the Great North

101 Uses of a Hanged Man
Systems and advice for preparing alchemical concoctions from the criminal dead

The Doctor
A new class separating the divine from the healer

Everyone is an Adventurer
A deconstruction of multi-classes down to its base integers

The Sickness
A sex beast

Dead Inside
Replacement classes for a world of sadness and pain

Cockdicktastrophe
A sexy beast

Nine Summits and the Matter of Birth
Cosmic disasters and antinatal cults among the island people

The Undercroft #9 is priced at $3.56. There must be importance to that number but damned if I know what it is.

Now for some details and possible offending art - going to jump break in

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Skinned Moon Daughter is an Inuit / Eskimo themed class. Well done and disturbing. Would make for a great NPC Druid type character. Might be a bit much going on for a PC, but depending on where your campaign takes place, it may be worth the effort.

101 Uses of a Hanged Man is fucking awesome. A bit of history, a bit of real world fantasy and a shit ton of inspiration. Practically worth the price of admission all on it's own. I'd love to see my party smuggling the parts of executed men...

The Sickness

The Doctor is the Healing Class for the 17th Century. Well thought out with lots of special tweaks. Again, another class that may work best as an NPC and would probably fit well in any low magic campaign no matter the ruleset used.

Everyone is an Adventurer is just what it says on the tin. Want to go classless? Use these rules in the place of your typical classes. Or use them as inspiration for your own "classless" class.

The Sickness is one hell of a monster. I can't explain it. Everyone get's down with the sickness... Here's a pic:

Dead Inside is a selection of four new classes to replace the classes / races in the LotFP Weird Fantasy Rules & Magic book. These are some really unique classes. Swapping them in is going to change how your campaign plays out, but I suspect that isn't a surprise. These classes represent some really fucked up individuals, but in a relatable and game-able way.

The Cockdicktastrophe is a legendary monster, glimpsed by a few but never truly encountered. That's how the first paragraph starts. Later we get: the cock monster’s cock snaps shut and twists on your hand/weapon-dick. The monster says “This is called ‘docking’.”, but you can’t understand it because it doesn’t have a tongue in its dick-head’s mouth, just another cock. Not my kind of joke or monster, but it is reminiscent of some of the stuff Raggi has done in the past. Yes, that's the art to the left. I din't think to label it, as I figured the pic would speak for itself ;)

Nine Summits and the Matter of Birth is also a bit disturbing in it's imagery (and images) but there is a story reason for it. I'd never use this in game myself, but it does show how deep a plot hook can go. Yes, avoiding details just in case your GM wants to use this or a close variation in his / her campaign.

So, overall? Well worth the $3.56 investment. It's over 60 pages of quality gaming goodness with a dick joke thrown in for good measure ;)