Pro-wrestling meets DnD and professional sports. Dungeon Crawling is the national pastime of the North American Empire, formerly part of the Roman Empire, lead by Emperor Ronald I. Dungeon Judges (DJs) create the most elaborate and exciting dungeons for a team of XCrawlers to battle their way through for fortune and glory broadcast to every television in every corner of the Empire. Playing to the crowd is just as important as skill while traversing the dungeons. The more the crowd loves you, the more money you get.
The setting was created at the end of 3rd edition's cycle, just prior to 3.5 hitting, so it has some adjusting that needs to be done if you were going to play it today with a more refined rules set like 3.5 or Pathfinder. I suppose you could run it as a 4e game, but there's that whole inability to adapt 4e to non-WotC sanctioned environments so... yeah...
Anyways, the setting is entertaining to think about. Anything with a unique flair for the dramatic usually catches my interest quickly (see me obsession with Yu-Gi-Oh and pro-wrestling) and get's my head filled with entertaining ideas about the setting. This one, combining an alternate modern Earth setting with Pro-wrestling and fantasy gameplay, is right up my alley. Oh the things I wanted to design and play in it...
Being able to just jump right into a dungeon crawl without a real narrative attached is something I have trouble doing, but in a setting like this I can do it as an entire session just because. You can take classic crawls and make them special events. A pre-made dungeon? Easily incorporated. Random dungeon idea with strobe lights and fog machines? Done!
That isn't to imply that this setting is just dungeon crawls and roll-playing. There is real potential for international intrigue and hidden plots. XCrawlers are extremely skilled individuals from drastically different backgrounds. What happens when countries go to war? The Drow are still hidden in the Underdark waiting to take vengeance upon the surface world. Hitler could be resurrected under the right circumstances. There are entire criminal organizations running their own "basement" dungeon crawls. Sponsors and rival teams can interfere with you between Crawls. So much there.
I have wanted to play/run an XCrawl campaign so badly since I first picked up the book, but as always, my enthusiasm was rarely matched by those around me and when transitioning between different gaming groups over the years it was always more important to find the simple thing that everyone would play rather than the out there stuff that is difficult to get an established gaming group to try out.
I don't expect I'll ever actually get to play this game at this point, as much as I would like to. I like the setting, I like the feel, but I'm not sure I'll get a group together at this point anytime within the next 10 years and there are other systems/settings I would rather play first so once again it goes on the back burner.
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