This is an odd game; a Running Man meets Mad Max meets Auto Duel-style "death sports dungeons" game. It transforms the DCC rules into a parody game of the genre, where teams of dungeon crawlers take on dungeons for audiences in this corporate death sports league world of madness and magic. It feels a little like "DCC meets Shadowrun," in a way.
The characters feel like street gang members. The selection of classes is very narrow and specific, with the specialist class being overloaded into several roles. There are guns in this game, though they are just a handful of "street-style" weapons.
I would have liked to see more non-human classes, options for elves and dwarves, and a few more fantasy races, such as trolls, demons, goblins, kobolds, mimics, and other classics. Elves can only be a trickster class. XCrawl emphasizes that you are a professional athlete in an XCrawl League, a celebrity, and working your way up the ladder of fortune and fame.
The game needs a class expansion, though any DCC class could be dropped in just fine.
This is the same ground covered by Umerica, though this game is more Max Max, Fallout, and Gamma World and less magic and fantasy. The guns and gear in Umerica are superior, along with the tech and world design. I love all the atlases and details on this world's political factions and societies. The world feels like a real place and a step above the parody; though each faction is a pretty obvious parody, it all holds together well.
The guns in Umerica are excellent, and there is a vehicle combat system. The armor system differs entirely from DCC and XCrawl but can be converted. Umerica relies on its expansions to be a complete game, whereas XCrawl gives you much to play with.
In Unemrica, you are survivors and faction members, and the tone is less tongue-in-cheek than XCrawl. XCrawl feels more like the one-shot, convention parody game where you can play as a movie star and laugh it up. Umerica has parody elements, but it is darker in tone and feeling.
XCrawl is a strange game, but I am looking forward to it.
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