Best-Selling DCC & MCC Zines of 2021
It’s time to turn our eye back on the year 2021 with a focus on one of the most popular third-party products, the zine! We’ve compiled a list of the best-selling zines without separating them out by product line, so this list contains releases for both DCC and MCC in a single review.
In past years we have used the aggregate sales of an entire zine line to rank best sellers. This means zines with more issues invariably rise to the top. For the 2021 rankings, we’re instead ranking based on the single best-selling issue of each zine. This gives newer zines a chance to break into the top 10. In addition, we have to consider the place of compilations in the rankings. Over the years, some publishers have released books that compile the individual zine issues. To keep the zine rankings true to the original intent – which is the zine format – we have opted to not include the compilations as part of the rankings.
So, without further ado, here are the best-selling DCC and MCC zines of 2021!
#1 – Hobonomicon
Doug Kovacs turns the idea of fantasy on its ear with his smash-hit zine Hobonomicon. Whether you are traversing the wilds of Meat Planet or reading about the adventures of the Reavers, each issue is packed with artwork, articles, and adventure. The best-selling individual issue for 2021 was Hobonomicon #0, but each issue is something special in its own right.
#2 – Tales From The Smoking Wyrm
Welcome to the Smoking Wyrm! This strange and mysterious inn offers a wide variety of options for everyone who dares to enter its doors. Each issue has a great selection of things that can be added to your DCC or MCC campaign, from character classes to spells and magic items to adventures and even word search puzzles. The best-selling issue of 2021 was Tales From the Smoking Wyrm #2, but all three issues offer a wealth of material for your game.
#3 – Hexanomicon
The Hexanomicon isn’t a setting of its own, but rather a tool to help you create your own setting. It uses stickers of hex map landscape elements, sheets on which to place them, and tables to determine the contents of hexes. Specific destinations are left to the judge, but the basics are waiting for you inside its pages.
#4 – Phantasmagoria
Throw your campaign off-world and into the depths of space with Phantasmagoria! Each issue offers a different sample of things that add a science-fantasy edge for your game. Mangrels Ate My Servants!!: Phantasmagoria #3 was the best-selling issue for 2021.
#5 – Merchants of the Multiverse
Merchants of the Multiverse offers up everything that a character wants—treasure and a means to get it! Scarcity and surplus, supply and demand; whether it be need of guzzoline, water, or super-tech, the world will continue to operate off these adages after civilization falls. We’ve created this zine to help fill in those gaps for your post-apocalyptic game, primarily for use in Mutant Crawl Classics, but these rules can be easily adapted for use with other post-apocalypse or science-fantasy settings.
#6 – Crawl!
The first zine for DCC RPG is still one of the most popular. Each issue of Crawl! is packed with material for your DCC RPG campaign. Three issues of Crawl! were top sellers for 2021: Crawl! #1, Crawl! #12, and Crawl! #2, but every issue puts out fantastic material.
#7 – Crepuscular
This comic-sized zine contains the 0-level adventure funnel, Sanctum of the Snail, plus a wealth of other material including a new patron, new magic items, and 30 NPCs ready for use!
#8 – Tome of Debasement
This zine details the followers of Herlezzect, the Debased God, covering the unique traits, disapproval results, and canticles for evil cultists who pledge themselves to the debased one. The bulk of the zine is taken up by a collection of spells geared for use by the evil clerics in your games, with evocative titles like: Deceiving Visage, Putrescent Bog, Rotting Stench, Halo of Flies, Lash, Twisted Form, Radiant Corruption, and Uncontrollable Urge. You’re probably thinking those would make a great tracklisting for a metal album, and you’d probably be right.
#9 – Akashic Titan
The akashic titans are magically-powered metal behemoths that soar across the endless Bands in their journey from world to world. This 80-page zine gives you the tools you need to incorporate the akashic titans into your Dungeon Crawl Classics games. In addition to giving an overview of the titans and the Bands, Akashic Titan provides two settings: Starnheim, a port city for the titans that can be dropped into any fantasy world, and the Elaborate Crystal Palace of the Jale Band.
#10 – Them’s Monsters
Them’s Monsters! is a collection of creatures both baleful and benign for the Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG. This slender volume introduces 18 new monsters, from the deadly carrion knight to the inscrutable weremoose. Them’s Monsters! also includes a new character class, the Dungle, a race of hearty little beetle people from the Crepuscular City.
If you want to dig in deep and delve into the underground lairs, be sure to check out the Best-Selling DCC Third-Party Products for 2021.
Want to crawl out of the dungeon? Try some radioactive fun with our Top Ten MCC RPG Third-Party Best Sellers for 2021.
Want to try your hand at creating something for DCC or MCC? If so, check out our post on how to be a third-party publisher.
And this is just a small sample of what is available. We’ve got a ton of great products from other folks on our site, and we encourage you to check out everything from all of our Third-Party Publishers!
