Crawl Handbook on Bryan Chasko's Portfolio

Ability Scores and Modifiers

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Every Crawler has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. A new Crawler rolls each score with 4d6 drop lowest: four six-sided dice, keep the three highest, add them up. The System rolls them with roll_dice (faces 6, count 4, drop_lowest 1). A score not given or rolled defaults to 10.

Ability Checks

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When a Crawler tries something whose outcome is uncertain, the System calls for an ability check: roll 1d20, add the relevant ability modifier, and compare the total to a Difficulty Class (DC). Meet or beat the DC and the attempt succeeds.

Dance-Offs

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Conflict in the crawl is settled by a dance-off, never by violence. Opponents are people the System dropped into the dungeon; they want to win, not to hurt anyone.

Procedure:

Tempo. The System announces the tempo, which sets the opponent’s base: Steady (opponent adds +0), Driving (+2) or Frantic (+4).
Move Calls. A dance-off has three rounds. Each round the System makes a Move Call that names an ability: Power (Strength), Footwork (Dexterity), Endurance (Constitution), Choreography (Intelligence), Read the Room (Wisdom) or Presence (Charisma). The System never calls the same move twice in a row.
Rolls. The Crawler rolls 1d20 plus the called ability modifier. The opponent rolls 1d20 plus their own modifier plus the tempo bonus. Every roll goes through roll_dice.
Assists. Each round, one party member who is not dancing may assist: +2 to the dancer’s roll, or use one ability that fits the call (an Ink Cloud during Footwork, an Eight-Point Hold that keeps an opponent from answering the call at all).
Round result. The higher total wins the round. The loser loses Groove equal to the difference, at least 1 and at most 6. A tied round goes to the Final Beat.
The winner is whoever takes two of three rounds. If the rounds end level, the Final Beat decides.

Winning a dance-off: the opponent leaves the floor (often relieved), the party gains Hype, and the System may drop a loot box. Losing: the party loses Groove and the System says so with relish.

The Final Beat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The tie-breaker. When a round or a dance-off ends level, the System’s drum speeds up and plays trick beats. The dancer who stops exactly on the final strike wins.

Procedure: each side rolls 1d20 plus their Dexterity modifier. The target is exactly 20. The total closest to 20 without going over wins. A total over 20 means the dancer kept moving past the final strike and loses. If both go over, or both land on the same total, the drum goes again and both roll again.

Groove, Mana, Benched and Cancelled

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Groove is how long a Crawler can stay on the dance floor. Mana is how many abilities they can use before resting. Both are derived stats: the Character Agent computes them when a Crawler is created, and nobody chooses them.

Stealth and Avoiding a Dance-Off

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Not every encounter has to be danced. A party can try to slip past opponents unseen.

Procedure: the party’s sneakiest member rolls a Dexterity check, 1d20 plus their Dexterity modifier, against a DC of 10 plus the highest Wisdom modifier among the opponents. If the party is under Chromatophore Stealth, the roll has advantage. Success: the party passes unseen, with no dance-off, no Hype and no loot. Failure: the dance-off starts, and the opponents win the tempo: the tempo goes up one step.

Hype, Sponsors and Loot Boxes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hype is a hidden stat: how much the alien audience loves a Crawler. The System shows it when it feels like it.

+1 Hype for each dance-off round won.
+3 Hype for winning a Final Beat.
+5 Hype for any achievement.
Half of all Hype is lost when a Crawler is benched.

Sponsors watch Hype. At 10, 25 and 50 Hype, a sponsor may send a box. Sponsors include the Benthic Collective and the Hydros-9 Aquatic Collective, aquatic viewer blocs who adore Barnaby, and the Bellevue Consortium, which sponsors the opponents and resents every upset.

Species

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The System offers a species at registration. Species is not heritage or ancestry: it is what kind of creature the dungeon decided you are this morning. Each species grants one trait.

Classes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Every Crawler picks a class at Level 1. Each class has a favorite Move Call: +1 to rolls for that call in every dance-off. Classes branch into hybrid classes at Level 10.

Titles, Skills and Fusion

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Titles are passive bonuses the System awards for remarkable or ridiculous accomplishments. A Crawler may hold several; the System announces each one.

Salish Sea Guardian: +15% movement on wet or slippery terrain; immune to water-based environmental debuffs. Cordula’s starting title.
First Final Beat: +1 to your next three Final Beat rolls.
Ferry Line Survivor: patience; advantage on Endurance calls when you are outnumbered.

Skills are unlocked by achievements, skill books from loot boxes, trainers in Safe Rooms, or practice: use a skill ten times in dance-offs and it gains a level.

Safe Rooms, Ferry Tokens and Floors

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Safe Rooms: cedar-walled rooms with a fire and rain on big windows, in the Northwest Regional style. Nobody can start a dance-off inside one. Resting restores all Groove and Mana. Most Safe Rooms have a shop, and some have a forge for skill fusion.