Great DCC resource from Purple Sorcerer

I just discovered the online DCC resources from Purple Sorcerer, and I'm in love. The have generators and dice-rollers galore, but the real star of the show is something called the Crawler's Companion.  This app (web, desktop and mobile versions available) manages to compress all the mechanics and resources of the core rules into a single piece of user-friendly software.

This is an extremely impressive feat.  The amount of reference materials here are amazing...basically, every detail of all the spells in the core rules are available.  When I say this is comprehensive, I'm talking about built-in tools for generating magic swords and demons.  And with all of these reference materials available, Crawler's Companion can roll the dice for you.


The net effect of this is that a reasonably knowledgeable DCC GM can leave the rulebook at home, if he or she has this app.  As I said before, Crawler's Companion also happens to be a highly-usable and even attractive app, so it's much more convenient in the middle of a game than the printed rules, or even a PDF.  I don't want to give up physically rolling all the funky dice, and because CC is well-designed, I don't have to.

Are there drawbacks?  Sure, but they're pretty minor.  First off, the desktop version requires Adobe Air.  Kind of an old-school technology with some overhead, but I can live with it.  

Second, it would be nice if you could add your own tables, like for new spells, new criticals, or reference tables.  Even the ability to change certain data for your own "homebrew" errata.  Again, far from a deal-breaker, because that's asking for a whole 'nother set of features and interface.

So I'm recommending this to all DCC players.  This app is powerful stuff. There's an interesting interview with Jon Marr, the guy who runs Purple Sorcerer (it sounds like a one-man show), where he mentions the fact that he wrote Crawler's Companion and all these other tools.  Very impressive!  

Did I mention that the Companion is free?  Guys like Jon Marr make this hobby a pleasure with their passion and generosity.  Take a look at the for-sale content on Purple Sorcerer...not only is it good to support companies like this, but my limited experience with their other products is positive.  I picked up The Frost Fang Expedition the other day, and came away pleased.  It wasn't up to Harley Stroh levels, but that's really not a fair standard, so forget I even mentioned that.