I've briefly explained this time and again outside of the forums. Here's my official explanation of what makes X-crawl so different from your standard D&D game.
For starters, realize that anything not actually mentioned in the X-crawl rules, you are to assume the 3.5 ruleset of Dungeons & Dragons. This is merely a world setting for the game. So, for the most part it really should feel like you're in any other campaign. Your characters begin at the 4th level, and are assumed to have just passed their preliminary training, (Division 4 training) and made it to be recruited into your current team. The "Stash" Is 36,000 gold.
Technology:X-crawl is meant to feel like you're in a more modernized world. However, the idea is that rather than electricity being manipulated and used to power us, society continued to rely on magic and more primitive methods instead. Cars aren't fueled by oil and computers...they are powered by magical devices, and components. Urban towns still exist, with some towering the land...however, small and basic villages of old kingdoms are around as well. There are no advanced communications such as the internet, and in retrospect, things such as PCs and cell phones also do not exist. There is however flash photography and video cameras.
Book Snippet on Technology:
There are many areas where the
technology in the world of Xcrawl is
far behind that of the real world.
There is no space program, no
nuclear power, no cell phones, no
digital photography, and no
satellites. Computers are little more
than fancy word processors, and the
average commoner has never
touched an electronic keyboard.
Many of the old ways are still
prominent; farmers still use
windmills to power their farms,
newspapers still use moveable type
and most combustion engines are
designed to run on corn-based
ethanol rather than gasoline. As a
result, despite the common use of
airplanes, the aircraft in the world
of Xcrawl is relatively primitive.
There have been no vehicles to
approach the speed of sound, and
the concept hasn’t even been
realized. A rudimentary knowledge
of surgical techniques and antibiotic
substances exists, but advances such
as organ transplants, prosthetic
limbs, or radiation treatments are
unknown through any means short
of magic.
Monsters:Yes, terrible monsters still roam the lands outside the city walls. In fact, most major (and most small even) cities tend to have walls that cover and surround them in order to protect them from the vicious creatures that roam about. Highways go from town to town if one dares to set foot out of city walls. There are actually even a good amount of major cities that have an invisible curtain that blankets them, making the monsters oblivious to their existence. There are in fact people called "Trappers" who purposefully roam out in the wild searching for monsters to bring back to the Adventurers' Guild to use in the crawls.
Crawling:I don't doubt that this was most likely the main question you're asking. What IS crawling exactly? Well, the current year is 4,778 (Yes, it is indeed that late in the years) and your adventure actually begins on the 100th year of X-crawl's creation. People of these days know of, and cherish the good old sports of football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and hockey (of course the many others). However, X-crawl is what they turn to now. The people love watching adventurers gear up, and traverse through traps and monsters and perilous journeys. The crawls are like simulated campaigns. You won't always just be traversing a dungeon, sometimes there might be a town in peril, and it's up to you to find ways to protect it and help the people. It all is staged, but...you would never be able to tell. There are real-life events that you will have to deal with as well, as there are still real dungeons out there and real monsters and real perils. Whether or not you actually go through those is up to you. The "crawls" usually play out as any campaign. In fact, there's even an in-game GM and MC known as the "DJ" (Dungeon Judge). He will (Unlike your normal GM) actually interact with your characters and the crowd watching...he makes it entertaining, if you're doing too good, he has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve to make your life more miserable. He might even feel sorry for you and ease up on a thing or two. It is up to your players to act as if it is a real-life situation, and keep the crowd finding you believable at all times.
New Class: Athlete
New Skills:Drive: With cars being a new invention, yes driving is now a skill! Using dexterity as the focus ability. This is a trained skill (Meaning, you can't do it unless you have ranks) and is a cross-class skill for all.
(This skill is trained use only. Pretty much, if you don't have any ranks in drive, it's assumed you don't have a driver's license)
Perform (Grandstanding): This is a skill that you can use to show off and pretty much appeal to the crowd. Doing your "signature move" will depend on this skill. Killing an enemy with a signature move awards you mojo, doing your signature move and failing to kill them will penalize your mojo.
Perform (Mugging): This skill is used to degrade and make other teams and the DJ look bad. It makes for a good entertainment appeal, but is better known for the "heel" types.
Knowledge (X-Crawl): With this knowledge, your character will sort of have innate knowledge of what kind of things might appear in the specific crawl you're in. As these are the types that sit at home and study other crawls. Rogues, Fighters, and Athletes have this as a class skill.
The Mojo Pool:The mojo pool is a special number that you will never see or really know how much of it exists. Depending on how well you're playing, good or bad...I will be increasing this number. What exactly is it? Well, each player has a "Mojo" that they build up in the current crawl they're in. (You get some bonuses, so your pool can be higher or negative before the game starts.) And whenever an ally is going to make a roll involving the d20, you can give them any amount of your mojo BEFORE they roll in order to help them. If it's less than what you have, I'll give as much as I can. If a player ASKS for mojo, then they will instantly be cut off from receiving any for that current action. If you have negative mojo, and attempt to give someone else that mojo, well...then I will be giving them your negative points instead...so be careful...understand your karma, and in time...it will all make much more sense to you. If the player you gave mojo to rolls a choke, your mojo will be zeroed out...(Assuming you're positive) and possibly even lose some more mojo, depending on how I feel about the situation. If the player you gave mojo to rolls a destiny, your mojo will be zeroed out (if in the negative), and I might add some...based on how I feel about the situation. If you're already in the positives, then any points you gave are actually NOT deducted at all...So, good job!
Having lots of mojo left over by the end of the crawl will earn you extra gold and money! But don't let that be an excuse to be STINGY!
Ethnicity vs Race:Ethnicity = Asian, African, Irish, Hispanic
Race = Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome
Honestly, I rattled my brain trying to think of a nice/cool way to explain this...that's the best I came up with. Hopefully it makes enough sense. Yes, this means Spanish Dwarves or Asian Elves...that sort of junk.
Money vs Stash:In this campaign setting, you will come to realize you actually have 2 currency amounts to pay attention to. First, is "money", this is YOUR personal owning of platinum/gold/silver/copper that you use to buy your luxuries and necessities to live your life outside of crawling. This will not be used for any advancement in your actual game. This is meant for role-playing buys mostly. Of course, some training sessions and work-outs and things of that sort is also bought with money, but you can not buy ANY sort of equipment for crawling this way. This is considered cheating, and if the higher ups of the NAE ever suspect you are doing this, you shall be investigated and punished. (The equivalence of steroid abuse...which is also prohibited.) I'm not saying you CAN'T, I'm just saying you might get in trouble.
Your stash, on the other hand...is currency owned by your team. This is used before and after (Rarely during) a crawl to get your equipment. Your team earns gold for your stash by winning crawls, and selling treasure you find as well. The stash is managed by the captain of the team, other members may only access if the captain gives the ok. Another note, not saying you CAN'T, but you MAY not...For newer world item prices, the conversion method is approximately $3 / 1 gold.
Conclusion:To be 100% honest with you, X-crawl actually does have lots more rules and intentions. I, however, heavily modified it to my own fittings and what I feel like dealing with. There is an official book, and if you're lucky, you'll find a PDF on the net. You're free to read this to your own rights, maybe you want to really understand aspects more. I do ask, that you don't bother reading it in hopes of "correcting" me on any matters. What I say here in the forum becomes law about the game as I am the GM. If you feel anything is "bullshit", you are free to take it up with me, but don't use the basis that "The book says different." First line of the DMG: "Anything said by the DM over-rules anything written in any book.". Any more questions, feel free to post them right in here. I will probably be editing this a lot, because I feel like I've missed things...Not so sure, but we'll see.
Also, footnote...This is all merely experimental, if after the first story arc everyone kind of decides they don't really LIKE this kind of gameplay...I'll wipe out and refurbish to a natural D&D setting. Whatever everyone's feeling. I try to keep good tabs on how players feel about my campaign.
