On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another choice is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
Ghostlike Crime #01: A Roleplaying Game Zine of Modern Weirdness is a fanzine for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game published by Abiology Games as part of ZineQuest #2 in February, 2019 following a successful Kickstarter campaign. It presents a modern day setting for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game which combines magical realism, the paranormal, and cryptid terrors that get reported on the six o’clock news. The streets are crowded and patrolled by emotionless cyborg beat cops, the bureaucrats answer to secret cabals, the world is scuzzy, drab, and decaying, and it is probably raining. This is a world of monster hunting in a dark dystopian twist upon today, but which could also be tomorrow, next week, or New York in the fifties. In classic Dungeon Crawl Classics style, the Player Characters begin life as office drones, shelf stackers, fast food servers, and the like, but after surviving an encounter (or two) with a terrible monster (or more), they realise that life is not for them and someone has to stop the monsters. They become monster hunters and defenders of humanity from paranormal threats because no-one else will—and particularly not the government. Ghostlike Crime #01: A Roleplaying Game Zine of Modern Weirdness includes new and adjusted Classes, equipment, suggested party set-ups, monsters, and more including three adventures!
The setting for Ghostlike Crime #01: A Roleplaying Game Zine of Modern Weirdness is lightly sketched over before the fanzine explains its Classes. The Warrior and the Thief remain largely unchanged, but the Halfling becomes the Half-Pint, the scrappy kid adventurer with very little changes. No other Classes are carried over into Ghostlike Crime #01, but two new Classes are introduced. The first of these is The Scrapper, whose second sight enables them to find ordinary objects and rubbish and both see and harness the magic imbued with them. Essentially, these scrap artefacts become the means to cast the spells of the Wizard Class of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Thus the ‘Mini Disco Ball’ is used to cast Colour Spray, a ‘Landline Phone’ to cast Ventriloquism, and so on. Many of these artefacts have personalities which the Scrapper will need to engage with to actually cast. Inside of finding artifacts, the Paratechnologist jury-rigs weird science devices, but can only use a limited number at a time. A list of devices, such as the ‘Ecto-Flare’ which reveals ghosts and invisible creatures or the ‘Electro-Tether’ which enables the Paratechnologist to force targets to obey single-word commands for several rounds. The devices require an Action Die roll as per casting a spell to use, and the devices can break, which means that the Paratechnologist will have to repair them which can take hours or days to repair. There are elements of Ghostbusters to both Classes, but definitely Ghostbusters on a budget.
Harvey HopkinsOccupation: TruckerZero Level STR 13 (+1) AGL 13 (+1) STM 18 (+3)PER 04 (-2) INT 11 (-0) LCK 07 (11)Hit Points: 7Saving ThrowsFortitude +3 Reflex +1 Willpower -2Alignment: LawfulEquipment: CB Radio, Tire Iron, Leased TruckStarting Weapon: Hockey Stick (1d6)Trinket: Fingerless Gloves (Melee Attack Rolls)
Several options are provided for the Player Characters to be together, including Monster Hunters and Freaks, essentially suggesting the sort of campaigns that the Judge might run. The remainder of Ghostlike Crime #01 is the Judge’s eyes only. It starts with ‘A Hellish Commute’. This is a ‘Character Funnel’, a scenario specifically designed for Zero Level Player Characters in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. The scenario throws the Player Characters into the last carriage of an underground carriage, who have an encounter with a cryptid which wrecks the train and leaves them stranded and desperate to find a way out. It includes encounters with C.H.U.M.s—or Cannibalistic Homicidal Underground Molepeople—before finding a way out realising that they can go back to their old jobs. The scenario has  very New York feel to it. 
The ‘Character Funnel’ is followed by ‘Cathode Casualty’, a First Level scenario which throws the Player Characters into the middle of a dispute between two scrappers guilds. The Pigeonrot Scrappers Guild want a device retrieved which was stolen by the Opensores Scrappers Guild. The device is somewhere in a storage locker and so the Player Characters need to break in and find it. Of course, the Opensores Scrappers Guild is going to do its very best to stop the Player Characters and then there is the matter of the device and what it does… The third adventure, ‘The Unstoppable Killing Machine’ is a more open investigation into a series of strange deaths, whilst ‘Monsters, Anomalies, & Ill-advised Creations’ gives details and stats for creatures like the ‘Atmospheric Jellyfish’ and the ‘Jersey Devil’, whilst ‘Watch Out For The… Bean-Nighe’ details a modern version of the creature of Celtic folklore, seen in laundromats.
Physically, Ghostlike Crime #01 is a sturdy affair. The artwork varies in quality, but the writing is decent  and the fanzine is enjoyable to read. Above all, the setting in Ghostlike Crime #01: A Roleplaying Game Zine of Modern Weirdness is engaging and fun, and will be fun to play in a grimly gonzo style. Plus, of course, Ghostlike Crime #01: A Roleplaying Game Zine of Modern Weirdness packs a lot of immediately playable content that the Judge can bring to table and get her players roleplaying to explore this weirdly off kilter today, tomorrow, or yesterday.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. And then there is Swordpoint: A Swashbuckling Roleplaying Zine.

Swordpoint: A Swashbuckling Roleplaying Zine is not really a fanzine, at least in the traditional sense. This is despite having the word ‘zine’ in the title. Published by Gallant Knight Games, this is a roleplaying game of swashbuckling action inspired by The Three Musketeers and Captain Alatriste as well as roleplaying games such as En Garde and Flashing Blades, all set in the Paris of the seventeenth century. Published as part of ZineQuest #3 it highlights how the fanzine and ZineQuest itself is moving from showcasing a particular game or author’s campaign—typically from the Old School Renaissance—to becoming a format for standalone mini-roleplaying games. Also, its odd format—five-by-eight inches, flipbook sized, and in landscape format, also marks it out as not being a fanzine in the very traditional sense.

Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Swordpoint uses a percentile system, being based on Mongoose Publishing’s Legend OGL. Players take the roles of Heroes who swashbuckle, race across rooftops, duel for honour, save the day, protect the innocent, defeat villains, and defeat villains again because they can never truly die. Games can involve military engagements, espionage, diplomacy, courtly intrigue, and both love and passion. There are rules for creating characters, action resolution, Style Points, combat, duels, grudges and revenge, spells and spellcasting, and of course, passion. These are all explained in a fairly succinct fashion, and whilst Swordpoint is not quite the bare bones of a roleplaying game, it is not far off from being so.

A Player Character has seven characteristics rated between three and eighteen—Strength, Constitution, Courage, Intelligence, Power, Dexterity, and Appeal. He has several Style Points, an Education rating for his general knowledge, and Rank. The latter represents his Social Status, derived from his social standing, position within an organisation, nobility, and wealth. Both Education and Social Status are percentile values. Rank can be increased for notable deeds, publicising those deeds, earning wealth, and so on. Rank can also be lost through misdeeds, and so on. A Player Character or NPC with a higher Rank will gain a bonus to social skills and situations. In addition, Player Character will have various skills—quite broad, and some possessions.
To create a character, a player rolls dice—typically three six-sided dice for most, but two six-sided dice to which six is added for Intelligence and Courage—to create the characteristics, or he can assign values from an array. Starting Rank is based on Power, but can be more if the character is of noble birth, determined by rolling on the appropriate table. Skill base values are derived from the characteristics and the player then assigns some bonuses, the largest being assigned to the character’s professional skill. He also has five items of equipment, which cannot include medium or large shields or armour, or shotguns, as they not suited to the genre. That said, stats for them are included should the Game Master want them in her game.
NAME: Campion Babin
CHARACTERISTICS
Strength 06 Constitution 06 Courage 17 Intelligence 15 Power 09 Dexterity 10 Appeal 12

ATTRIBUTES
Damage Modifier: -1d4
Hit Points: 23
Style Points: 5
Education: 75%
Rank: Gentlefolk

SKILLS
Athletics 26%, Craft (Specialty) 21%, Dodge 29%, Endure 33%, First Aid 35%, Lore (Religion) 70%, Melee 31%, Perception 44%, Persuasion 51%, Ride 39%, Shooting 25%, Stealth 25%, Thievery 19%

EQUIPMENT
Bible, sword, rosary beads, quill & ink
Mechanically, Swordpoint uses the percentile system of Mongoose Publishing’s Legend OGL. When a player wants his character to undertake an action, his player rolls the percentile dice and if the result is less or equal to the skill, then the character succeeds. Modifiers range between ten and forty, whether penalty or bonus, and in opposed rolls, it is the roll that succeeds and rolls highest which wins in that situation. Characteristic tests are rolled on a twenty-sided die.
Combat is not that much more complex than this. The rules cover initiative (players roll only, and go first if successful), attacking, dodging, insulting or taunting an opponent, two-weapon fighting, and so on. Successfully insulting or taunting an opponent will lose them a Style Point or Villain Point and is a nice genre touch. A character is only wounded when his Hit Points are reduced to zero, but further damage renders him first Helpless and then dead. Swordpoint being a swashbuckling game includes rules for duels, used by Heroes to settle matters of honour and resolve perceived slights and insults, whilst Villains use them as a means isolate and remove Heroes as threats to their Villainous plans. Heroes tend to duel to first blood, whilst Villains to the death. A successful Perception test allows the duellists to assess each other, learning things such as skill ratings, preferred weapons, Hit Points, Style or Villain Points, and so on.
In addition to loss of Hit Points, a Player Character can suffer a Condition. Being Wounded is a Condition, but a Player Character can also be Afraid, Confused, Exhausted, Heart-Broken, and so on. They have mechanical effect, but are primarily earned through the narrative of game play. In addition, Player Characters have Style Points, whilst the Game Master has Villain Points. Style Points can be spent to gain several benefits. These include ‘Catch Your Breath’ to regain some Hit Points, ‘Grit Your Teeth’ to reduce incoming damage, ‘Make Them Bleed’ to double the damage of an attack, ‘Redouble Your Efforts’ to reroll a test, and ‘Press Your Advantage’ to gain an extra action at the end of a round. Style Points are recovered at a rate of one per day, but a player can have his character fail a test in dramatic fashion, insult a foe in combat, accept a duel, and decide to accept a condition all to recover Style Points immediately.
Setting rules cover clubs and organisations, gambling, grudges and revenge. Having a Grudge against someone grants a slight bonus when acting against the target of the Grudge and can be settled quickly, whilst Revenge is a more determined, long-term attempt to do damage to a person and their situation. It requires Game Master approval, and enables the potential recovery of Style points when enacting said revenge. For the Game Master there are stats for various NPCs, from guards to Dangerous Villains, but oddly no feme fatale type character such as Milady de Winter. Swordpoint also includes rules for spellcasting and sorcery, plus a handful of skills, which would work in a more fantastical version of the genre. Rounding out Swordpoint are rules for Passion (and romance), which can be initiated between Player Character and Player Character or Player Character and NPC by the player or Game Master saying, “Passion, if you please.” The recipient does not have to consent, but a couple of tables follow which are rolled on to shape the romance itself. This covers the spark between them, the obstacle, and the possible fate of the relationship. When roleplayed, this all adds to the feel and genre of the game.

Swordpoint does not come with any setting. To be fair, it does not need to. This a swashbuckling film style of a roleplaying game and there are plenty of those for the Game Master to draw upon for inspiration, let alone the various works of fiction that she draw from.
Physically, Swordpoint is clearly and tidily laid out. It is well written and easy to grasp. It is very lightly illustrated. Given its length and format, Swordpoint is unsurprisingly sparse in feel and nature, and there are a lot of elements that the Game Master will need to develop, especially in terms of setting. Swordpoint: A Swashbuckling Roleplaying Zine is bare bones, but those bones are sturdy enough to provide everything, at least mechanically, that a gaming group will need to run a mini-campaign of swashbuckling action and romance.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another choice is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
Published in the Spring of 2018, Meanderings Issue #3 is a fanzine for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Where previous issues both had themes, this one comes without any theme. The issue opens with the introduction and acknowledgement—of Goodman Games as well as a host of other fanzines—but gets underway with a full review of Hubris – A World of Visceral Adventure in ‘Review Corner’. This is decent enough, but not as full a treatment given in Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic in Meanderings Issue #2. The actual gaming content begins with ‘Tools of the Trade: What are Thieves’ Tools?’, which lists all of the tools to be found in a set of thieves’ tools, from basic sets to expanded and master’s tools. This is a quick and easy breakdown and useful for the Thief, whatever retroclone is being played. Disappointingly, a few magical items are suggested rather than given. Hopefully that will be addressed in future issues.
Also included in Meanderings Issue #2, ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Weapon Styles – Weapons Tables for Two-Weapon Styles’ which inspired by Steel and Fury, this added weapon styles for sword and shield, Florentine, Twin Handaxe, and Twin Dagger, plus Deed fumbles and criticals too. Meanderings Issue #3 continues this with ‘Bladed Weapon Styles’ which covers ‘Clock & Blade plus Sword & Scabbard’. Again, this is part of the ‘The Dungeon Crawl Classics Weapons Project’ and adds options with much in the way of complexity and given the various weapon styles, some flavour too, as well as making both Player Characters and NPCs stand out a bit more in their use of these styles. The two options have a much more cinematic feel than the standard rules, but will add complexity in play as well as flavour.
‘Reeling in Clerics: By the Gods! House Rules for Clerics’ suggests ways in which the Cleric Class can avoid being abused—or rather a particular aspect—and that is the ‘Lay on Hands’ ability as well as other rules. The issue is that ‘Lay on Hands’ can be used over and over, so when this occurs with these rules, it earns levels of Disapproval, which penalises the Cleric on spell checks. Options are included for empowering spells, including sacrifices—with blood sacrifices mostly for evil or Chaotic Clerics—and converting others to the Cleric’s faith. Also included are guidelines for handling sins and even non-believers gaining Disapproval too. Again, more options for another Class, opening them up and adding depth.
‘In Defence of Luck: Using Luck Defensively’ is a more general article, which suggest alternate ways of using Luck in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The options suggest using its modifier to adjust Armour Class, burning Luck to temporarily boost Armour Class, to modify a Critical Hit, to burn for Damage Reduction, and to burn to gain a Lucky Escape. These offer lots of flexibility and the Judge is free to pick and choose from them. The suggestion is that whichever ones the Judge does include, the players are encouraged to narrate their use in a cinematic style, much like the other options in the issue. 
The weapons theme continues with ‘Magical Weapons: Unique Magical Weapons tables with Millstones’ which makes magical weapons interesting. Not mere +1 longswords or the like, but weapons with flavour and detail that grow and get better the more successful a wielder is with them. For example, ‘Flamebrand’ starts with a three-sided die as its effect die and an eight-sided die for its damage. When the wielder rolls the maximum on the effect die and kills an opponent, he achieves his first milestone with ‘Flamebrand’. This grants the weapon a +1 bonus to hit, increases the effect die to a four-sided die, and illuminates an area ten feet in radius. The weapon—and all three weapons in the article—has three milestones which the wielder can achieve and improve its abilities. Consequently, these weapons have lives of their own and they grow and change as they are wielded in anger. Of course, the three sample weapons are easy to add to a campaign, but the other use is as templates that the Judge can base designs of her own upon.
‘Breathing Life into Your Game: Crowd Surfing – Judge Tips for Bringing a Crowd to Life’ does exactly what it says. It suggests ways in which the senses—sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste—can all be used to help bring a location and its massed occupants to life. It is a short article for the Judge, but to the point and worth reading.
Although Meanderings Issue #3 is a general issue, it returns to the publisher’s campaign setting of Bastion, introduced and explored in the first two issues of the fanzine. ‘Occupations of Bastion – Zero Level occupations for the City of Bastion’ in Meanderings #2 enabled the creation of Zero Level Player Characters for Character Funnels or low Level, ordinary NPCs in the Bastion setting for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but it left the question what Classes there were for the Bastion setting. Meanderings Issue #3 provides the first answer with ‘Classes of Bastion – The Graft’. This is a cyber-samurai Class, primarily a mercenary, able to make use of the biological grafts mentioned, but not detailed in the previous issue. Instead, they are given in the following article, ‘Umbral Market – Bioarcana Grafts: Grafting Bio-organic parts’. Grafts can be bioarcana or technoarcana, the former alcemically treated body parts of other races, whilst the latter are enhanced mechanical devices. The options include weapon grafts, enhancement grafts, and utility grafts. However, bioarcana has a Warp score, which adds up as the Graft adds further modifications. If the Warp score exceeds the Graft’s Personality score, then he can suffer from Warp Shock and lose his humanity. However, the Graft can also temporarily push his grafts to their limits granting better bonuses. The effect of the Warp Surge is to increase, at least temporarily, the Graft’s Warp Score and so pushing him towards a loss of humanity. The Graft as a Class is a sub-par Warrior, so really needs to install the various bioarcana or technoarcana to improve his capability. However, this gives a degree of modularity and options in terms of what to select and so design a member of this Class. 
Physically, Meanderings Issue #3 is decently done. It is clean and tidy and the artwork good. It does need a light edit in places. The issue has a pleasing sturdiness due to the ‘Zeroes to Heroes – Paper minis for Zero Levels’ which presents seventeen or so paper minis on light card. Designed for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, these are rather fun.
Meanderings Issue #3 is for the most part, a selection of options for the Judge to add to her campaign. This is in the main an issue for the Thief and Warrior Classes. The limiting of Bastion-related content from the publisher’s to just two articles means that there is more general content to attract the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Judge, although the issue still feels as if it could done with more Bastion content rather than leave the reader wanting. Overall, Meanderings Issue #3 is decent issue with lots of things for the Judge to think about adding to her campaign.

Well, it’s about done for the season: the last Nightmare Weekend Before Christmas open house of 2022 starts on Saturday at noon and runs until 5:00, but that may stretch based on the number of last-minute visitors. After that, one … Continue reading →

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. And then there is All That Glitters Is Palladium.
All That Glitters Is Palladium: A Short History of Palladium is different. Published by Yaruki Zero Games, All That Glitters Is Palladium is a short history of the publisher best known for the roleplaying game, Rifts, or rather, “[A] short, tongue-in-cheek overview of one of the weirdest tabletop RPG publishers.” Within a handful of pages, it looks at the fifteen or so roleplaying games published by Palladium Books since its founding in 1981, as well as the entire Palladium Books Megaverse, explains the Megaversal RPG system which underpins the majority of the publisher’s titles and its general strangeness, discusses the publisher’s presentation style and values, and provides a detailed examination of Rifts, before coming up to date—at least in 2019—with the Robotech RPG Tactics Debacle. All with a dash of humour and a very knowing tone from someone who has played a lot of Rifts.
All That Glitters Is Palladium opens with an introduction that makes clear that the company is very much Kevin Siembieda’s and that he brings a “[G]onzo kitchen sink sensibility and boundless enthusiasm” to his books and also himself, often rewriting books when authors have already followed their brief. This is followed by detailed examination of the Megaversal RPG system, highlighting how the stats only really matter if they are very high, the inclusion of skills—often with surprisingly low chances, how the differences between Mega Damage Capacity and Structural Capacity, how even in the twenty-first century, a Science fiction/Science Fantasy roleplaying game like Rifts is using an Alignment system. In terms of production values it points to the publisher’s unwillingness to adapt to prevailing technology—the use of desktop publishing and the publication of PDFs in particular; the peculiar writing style with its use of underling, exclamation points, and ALL CAPS.
Although is best known for Rifts, Palladium found its fortune with two licences—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness and Robotech. Consequently, All That Glitters Is Palladium begins its overview of the publisher’s major roleplaying releases with those titles and they receive more coverage than other modern titles like Ninjas & Superspies or Beyond the Supernatural. Then they receive move coverage of Palladium’s other games—The Mechanoid Invasion, Recon, Palladium Fantasy, Systems Failure, and others. These latter titles barely receive a paragraph each, which is something of shame because some of these are still interesting, if only from a historical point of view. It is Rifts though, which receives the most coverage, four pages in all. The author describes it as an “[O]verwhelming stew of kitchen sink post-apocalyptic science-fantasy horror” and charts its development from the core through some thirty-six World Books, eighteen sourcebooks, fifteen Dimension Books, three Conversion books, and more. It is noted here that a lot of the written content is artwork driven, that is, written to provide stats and background based on a piece of artwork rather than the other way around as is usual in the industry. That said, the overview concentrates on the first two or three books beyond the core rules, and consequently, the overview is fairly broad at this point. The section on Rifts closes with a section on Savage Rifts, of which the author is particularly positive in terms of the writing and the layout, labelling them both as competent.
All That Glitters Is Palladium comes to close with the author delving into the ‘Robotech RPG Tactics Debacle’ and despite raising over a million dollars failing to deliver quite what was promised. The piece is again brief and provides the lightest of overviews. The author speculates that the licence will not get renewed when it runs out, and leaves Palladium awaiting lawsuits, its future uncertain… In between all of this, All That Glitters Is Palladium pokes the humorous list or five. For example, ‘Odd Palladium Skills’ like ‘Lore: Cattle & Animals’ and ‘Microfilm/Microfiche/Microdot Technology’;  ‘Questionable Magic Spells’ such as ‘Magic Pigeon’ and ‘Curdle Milk’; and ‘Dumb Superpowers’ from Heroes Unlimited, including ‘Alter Physical Structure: Rag Doll’ and ‘Clock Manipulation’.
Physically, All That Glitters Is Palladium is simply laid out and lightly illustrated. It is written in a very light and personal style. And that really sums All That Glitters Is Palladium up. This is all one person’s opinion upon Palladium Books, its history, its failings, and its idiosyncrasies. Consequently, it is not really a good history of the company and its books. Much of what it covers is already known and the author does not add that much more. It is clear that he knows the Megaversal RPG system and Rifts, but the joy he got from playing them in his games never really comes through. Nor it is a real history. Despite the author giving it both criticism and praise, there is no balance here because there is no voice from Palladium Books. So ultimately, whilst All That Glitters Is Palladium: A Short History of Palladium is far from uninteresting, the definitive history and assessment of Palladium Books is yet to be written.

As of this writing, Dallas winter arrived a little early. The current cold front is being compared to the big freezes of December 1983 and 1989, but thankfully we’ve neither seen the snow and ice of both of those nor … Continue reading →

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. However, not every fanzine has to be for the Old School Renaissance.
Loviatar No. 1 was published in August, 2011. Written and published by Christian Walker, it was not written as a response to the Old School Renaissance, but rather as a means to focus the author’s mind when it comes to running fantasy games. Thus it is not written for any of the then available retroclones, such as Labyrinth Lord or Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. Instead it is hybrid between Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, First Edition. Not mechanically, but rather between rules and setting, the author’s campaign being set in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Forgotten Realms using Pathfinder, First Edition. If that sounds like Loviatar No. 1 is a mongrel of a fanzine, there might be some truth in that, but that is the author’s choice, and anyway, the point of the early gaming fanzines of the nineteen eighties which the modern fanzine revival so heavily draws from, was to present content from the editor’s own campaign world. Which is what the author is doing in the pages of Loviatar No. 1. 
If that sounds like the content of Loviatar No. 1 is not of use, that is not the case. Shorn of the Pathfinder, First Edition stats—which like nearly all Dungeons & Dragons derived content are easily adapted to the retroclone of your choice—the content in Loviatar No. 1 enjoyably playable and easily changed to fit any Game Master’s campaign, whether that is again, mechanically, or dramatically. Future issues of the fanzine would shift to being specifically aimed at the Old school Renaissance, although it could be argued that Loviatar No. 1 had a sensibility that leaned in that direction anyway.
Loviatar No. 1 carries the tag, “a zine about tabletop role-playing games”. This is not the case, although oddly the fanzine does carry a number of adverts for roleplaying games, many of them long out of print, even in 2011. They include adverts for The Traveller Adventure from Game Designer’s Workshop, Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Bushido and Aftermath, and Star Frontiers from TSR, Inc. Apart from these oddities, the fanzine focuses entirely on the publisher’s campaign setting and on providing a base of operations for the Player Characters in that campaign. To that end, there is only the one article in the fanzine. ‘At the Corner of River Street and Craft Way’. This details four possible dwellings for his Player Characters in the city of Baldur’s Gate. They include a ‘Small Home with Loft’, ‘Warehouse’, ‘Ground Level Flat’, and ‘Former Tavern with Apartment’. Each is mapped out, fully detailed, including rent, and more. They feel reminiscent of the homes that a player might buy in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which was released the same year as Loviatar No. 1 as well as possessing the sort of sales pitch that an estate agent or landlord might give the prospective purchaser or tenant. However, it is the ‘more’ of the dwelling descriptions where the fanzine comes into its own.
Each of the potential dwellings comes with both history and plot, both of which a Player Character can become involved when not adventuring. Not only that, they pull the Player Character into the community around and they encourage the player to roleplay and they get the Player Character involved in story. For example, the ‘Small Home with Loft’ was previously home to a drug dealer named Shamus. No-one knows where he is now, but that does not stop the local gang from harassing the new tenant, the Player Character, to find out where he is, even Shamus himself, from turning up on the doorstep. The question is, what does he want, let alone where has he been and why did he leave? Some of the four possible dwellings get more plot than the others. For example, ‘Ground Level Flat’ was previously home to a cleric of Lathander, who used to provide healing to the injured and the sick. Not everyone is aware of this yet, so the local inhabitants will come knocking on the Player Character’s door at all hours with all sorts of illnesses and injuries. This in addition to the neighbours upstairs who are constantly arguing and always settle their biggest disagreements with bouts of lovemaking. How is the Player Character going to deal with his noisy neighbours, let alone the medical cases which come to his door?
In addition, stats are provided for each of the major NPCs associated with each of the four dwellings. These are clearly separate from the fanzine’s descriptive content and whilst written for use for with Pathfinder, First Edition, they are easily adapted or rewritten using the rules system of the Game Master’s choice. It does not even have to be retroclone. The contents of Loviatar No. 1 would work with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as much they would RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha or Symbaroum. It should be noted that the neighbourhood focus of ‘At the Corner of River Street and Craft Way’ feels similar to that of the ‘City League’ setting and series of articles for ‘Pelinore’, the fantasy setting developed by TSR UK in the pages of Imagine magazine.
Physically, Loviatar No. 1 is neat and tidy, and in general, well presented. Artwork is very light, but is fairly heavy in its style, as is the cartography, which reprints a map of Baldur’s Gate and shows the floor plans and neighbourhood of River Street and Craft Way. This does make the floor plans slightly difficult to read with any ease.
Despite containing just the one article, Loviatar No. 1 comes with plenty of plot and roleplaying opportunities, and despite it containing no new monsters, magical items, or spells, it is easy to add to the Game Master’s campaign. Refreshingly different, but still fantasy, suitable for one-on-one sessions with a player and downtime between adventures or urban focused campaigns, Loviatar No. 1 is simple, straightforward, and delightfully serviceable.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another choice is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
Night Soil is a fanzine which takes the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game as its direct inspiration. Specifically, it draws from the artwork of the fourth printing of the core rules to provide images that have in turn inspired the creation of monsters, magical items, spells, tables, and more that the Judge can bring to her game or campaign. It is a lovely idea, but the result—at least seen in Night Soil #Zero—was a bit of a mess, a hodgepodge of miscellaneous things and entries that unless you somehow know the artwork and its order in the fourth printing of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, may have you leafing through the pages of the admittedly short Night Soil #Zero in order to find something.
Night Soil #1 picks up where Night Soil #Zero left off. Literally in the case of the page numbers! Published by Inner Ham—previously known for Fantastic Exciting Imaginative: The Holmes Art ’Zine—Night Soil #1 includes a similar mix of monsters, magic items, spells, and whatnot as the inaugural issue, but notably benefits from fewer entries. It is still a mishmash, but the ideas are developed and given time to breathe, and so consequently making them not only more interesting, but also easier for the Judge to add them to her game.
Night Soil #1 opens with the first of several monsters. This is the ‘Scare-pion’, an unpleasantly large scorpion-like creature which can bifurcate its body and then snap it shut much like a bear trap! This impedes a Player Character’s ability to fight back and the player either has the give up his character’s Action Die to retain full Armour Class or lose up to six points of Armour Class! In addition, the pinned Player Character is subject to all of the Scare-pion’s attacks, but at a bonus. This is a nasty creature and the choice between Armour Class and Action Die is delightfully cruel. In comparison, the ‘Haas Rat’ is a rat with brains equal to the Player Characters and a penchant for subterfuge and becoming the boss of gangs of normal rats, whilst the ‘Dwarves of the Brazen Shield’ is a small band available for hire and willing to take on all sorts of work—except for working against other Dwarves. They are protective of each other right up to working together defensively in combat. The ‘Bugorilla’ mixes insect and primate for a hulking beast, but one with claws and mandibles almost everywhere. Its claws can tear through the rock and its gaze is so disarming that the creature gains an extra Action Die to its attack.
The magical items begin with the ‘Polearm of Surprise’, which can suddenly extend to gain the wielder and extra attack at the beginning of a round and a bonus to attacks, whilst the ‘The Twin Daggers of Chyenar’ which deal double damage to undead and beings of umbral and shadow. They can be given as gifts by angels, but demons always pursue the wielder. The ‘Crystal of Far Magic’ is much prized by spellcasters as they can use it to both spy on others at a distance and cast magic on them. Primarily this is by Magic-Users, but Clerics can use it too. There are plenty of smaller devices too, like the ‘Dizzying Ward’, which Magic-User can cast on a scroll or book to place a disturbing effect upon anyone who attempts to read it without permission, whilst Rogues can infuse their maps with toxins to create ‘Poisoned Maps’. The inclusion of ‘Neutralising Shell’ is an oyster shell used as a scoop or spoon, but it has been enchanted to counter poisons.
Entries in Night Soil #1 get inventive and more detailed with the inclusion of ‘More uses of a Dead Giant’, which does exactly that. For example, eating the liver of a giant means that the consumer does not to have to eat or drink for two whole days and the underarm hair of a giant will keep a campsite safe from natural predators. Then the ‘Spectacles of Reading Magic’ grant the wearer the ability to read magic without actually casting it. This requires a Luck roll, so it can go disastrously wrong, cause the wearer to hallucinate, understand just one word, and so on. Whilst this provides a useful benefit, the chance of it going wrong is of course, entertaining.
The detail continues with ‘Five Ready-Made Demons’, which range from Type I to Type V demons. Rattling Men are Type I demons that grab their opponents and imprison them in their otherwise empty rib cages, and anyone imprisoned literally has to fight their skeletally demonic gaoler to escape. The Bugdog King is a Type III demon, short, always fashionably dressed cross between a praying mantis and a crossbreed dog, but with the magnificent mane of a lion, which likes to wander from realm to realm, establishing kingdoms and then destroying them. More demons are always welcome, and the chaotic nature of the demonic planes means that there is huge variety, so the Judge can always throw something different at her Player Characters. Which these options allow.
Spells in Night Soil #1 start with Energy Shaping, which enables the caster to shape and redirect any energy around him, whether it is directly affecting him or simply part of the environment around him. Ghostflames sets the undead alight, with the mindless undead having a saving throw at a penalty, whilst the intelligent undead having one with a bonus. Sound Bending enables the caster to manipulate and sculpt sound, whether that is to dampen to silence, distort it, or even sharpen it into physical shards that can be cast at targets.
Physically, Night Soil #1 is scrappy—intentionally scrappy. The artwork is likewise intentionally rough. Together with the use of the typewriter style font, the look of the fanzine is designed to match that of the fanzines and books of the seventies and even then their lack of professionalism. However, as there are fewer entries in the Night Soil #1, the issue feels far less bitty and far less scrappy.

Night Soil #1 continues from Night Soil #Zero in being a mostly entertaining medley of the miscellaneous and the muddled, organised only by reference to another book. (Which is its major problem.) The inspired sits alongside the indifferent and reading the slim volume is very much a matter of whether you are going to get the former or latter, from one page to the next—or even on the same page! Night Soil #1 is the equivalent of another blind box purchase for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game—there are definitely things in here that will inspire the Judge and there are definitely things which will leave her uninspired, but it is definitely a case of there being more of the former than the latter.

Going back to my box of Dragons this week to pull out a nice one from January 1988.  I say "nice" but the issue is in fairly bad shape with no cover and pages falling out.  The winter of 1988 was an odd one for me. I had a girlfriend leave me (quite literally, she never came back to school), and I was entering my second semester of college.  Though I did start hanging out with the girl I would eventually begin dating and then marry, but that was still years off.  INXS was the biggest music group on the radio. Robin Williams and "Good Morning Vietnam" was the king at the box office (whatever happened to "Good Morning, Chicago!"?) and on the shelves was #129 of This Old Dragon. 

We are solidly into the "theme" issues of Dragon now. The cover, a Dwarven cleric of Thor, reflects this.  There are a few articles coming up that I think helped set the stage for how demi-humans would later be dealt with AD&D 2nd ed. Certainly, it was beyond what you would have seen in the Golden Age of AD&D 1st Ed. These are the end of the Silver Age of AD&D 1. 

Letters has some Top Secret S.I. questions and some questions about cover art.

Forum has the (then) latest debates on whether or not Magic-Users can use weapons and/or armor.  Some good cases are made here to be honest. All largely moot these days. 

We get to the Featured Section, Demi-humans.

Len Carpenter is up first with Arcane Lore, Magic of the Dwarven Priests. It is a rather good one to be honest that gives tips and ideas on how to play the "newly permitted" Dwarven cleric PC.  I am not sure if this article had anything to do with it, but the Dwarven Cleric became something of an iconic figure in the 3.x days.  To that end this article still has some sound advice on not just what a Dwarven Cleric can and could do, but also what spells they are likely to have access too and which ones they would not.  There are also plenty of new spells just for dwarven clerics. If you play a dwarven cleric today then this is a good article to dig up regardless of the system you are using. 

Children of the Spider Goddess from Eric Oppen is next and gives us some insight on the Dark Elves. I went back to this article way back when I was running the D series for my family. I was running it all under 5e and there have been millions of words written about the Drow and Dark Elven between this publication and when I used it, but I still found it quite helpful for working out how the drow act and do what they do.  While I have always felt that Drow should be Lawful Evil this article made a good point about how Chaotic Evil would work better. 

John R. Prager hits us with a short article about altering the dice rolls for abilities in Give Demi-humans an Even Break! Essentially demi-humans get extra dice they can roll for determining their abilities.  For example, if you are going to play a Hill Dwarf you roll 7d6 for Strength and just take the highest three. This might run counter old school dice rollers where you roll first and then determine the race/class or new schoolers where getting a low score in something typically associated with a particular race is really no big deal.  Yes, there is even a column for Comeliness. 

Halfling get a new class of their own in Don't Sell Them Short by Peter Dosik. The Halfling Guardians are bit like Halfling Paladins. Perfectly playable archetype/class.  

C.E. Misso finishes us up with a bit on driders in Entering the Drider's Web.  Driders' status have changed over the years with them being either cursed (this article) or the chosen of Lolth.  I also took this and put it in my Drow (D1-2,3) folder. While maybe not the exact heralds of the age, they were certainly forerunners of the days when everyone wanted to play an edgy drow. 

The Role of Computers by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser (and copyrighted 1988) covers the then state of the art in computer games.  Their featured game is Tower of Myraglen for the Apple IIgs. Make sure your Apple has been upgraded for stereo sound for this game! It is not the best game they have played, but it does take advantage of Apple's 640×200 resolution and sound capabilities.  They also have a bunch of smaller reviews for Acolade's Pinball Wizard, Beyond Zork, GBA Championship Basketball, California Games, and more. 

Nice full-page ad for Traveller 2300. 

Runequest fans get a treat in A Sorcerer's Supplement: New Sorcery Spells for RUNEQUEST by Michael DeWolfe.  I have the classic Runequest rules, so I should hold on to this.  I have still never played. 

Sage Advice covers all those new questions that come with new rule books.  This time for the D&D BECM (no I just yet) rules. 

Big four-page ad for Warhammer. The worlds of D&D and Warhammer have been drifting further and further part by this time. Might be one of the last ads I'll see for it.

Dean Shomshak gives us a nice treat. The Dragon's Bestiary this month covers monsters from the Para-Elemental planes of Ice. 

The Game Wizards from Jim Ward this month is A Volume of Oerthly Delights. He lets us know what could be part of the new Greyhawk Adventures hardcover (the last AD&D 1st edition hardcover). He gives us some ideas he is considering for the new book. They include: Greyhawk's Hall of Heroes, Greyhawk's Book of Creatures, Greyhawk's Book of Magic, Greyhawk's Book of Magical Devices, The Free City of Greyhawk, and Greyhawk's Clerics and Temples.  I can't recall how many of these made it to the hardcover, but I do recall their being some monsters.

Our fiction section is The Old Ways are Best by Larry Walker.   

"Who's in Charge Here?" by Bryan Caplan gives us guidelines on how many leaders in the form of higher-level fighters and/or cavaliers one should expect from a group of soldiers. 

Powered armor gets more details for Star Frontiers from David Dennis in Armored and Dangerous. I really should get a Star Frontiers game going again. It was a lot of fun. 

John C. Bunnell is back again with more book reviews in The Role of Books. He covers the likes of Sword and Sorceress IV, Tales of the Witch World, Agnes Day, and Murder at War. 

Role-playing Review by Ken Rolston gives us two soon-to-be classics; one for AD&D and one for D&D.  Up first we have GAZ 3 The Principalities of Glantri.  Long-time readers here know how much of a fan I am of Glantri, and Rolston concurs, saying it is the best city presentation for a TSR game world. He also says that the book is nicely presented and well-written.  His other is a little boxed set known as The Forgotten Realms Campaign Set. I don't suppose I need to go into detail on how this one was received here. 

Up next are small ads.  Lou Zocchi has some Deities & Demigods with Elric and Cthulhu in them. Send him 40 bucks.  Oh, and I never did get my characters drawn from Anvil Enterprises.

The Convention Calendar has the best cons for the Winter of 1988, including one I actually went to!

Lots of conventions listed here. Far more than we have now.

Dragonmirth has comics.

We end with some ads and just Snarf Quest. No Wormy, though. The last strip would show up in a couple more issues. Little did I know I was at the time living just a couple miles away from where Tramp was living. 

 So a fun issue. Great if you are into demi-humans. 

Mine has seen much better days, and I am unsure if it will survive the trip back to my box.

It's Tuesday, and that means a look at my latest mail call items.  This week has some pretty good stuff. 

Up first, a special Vampire Queen adventure from Bill Barsh and Pacesetter Games.

It is a Tournament style adventure for Pacesetter's BX RPG but it would work with OSE, B/X, or AD&D or any sort of clone.  Note: If you have not checked out the BX RPG lately the new revision fixes a lot of issues to first print had.

The package I got also came with 15 pre-gen characters to use. 

Long-time readers will know I am a big "Vampire Queen" fan, buying a lot of books on this theme.  This new purchase rounds out my "Pacesetter" collection.

And part of my larger Vampire Queen collection.

Pacesetter Games

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• DriveThruRPG

I also got two RPG-adjacent Calendars for 2023.

First is the 2023 A Year with Djinn Calendar from my good friend Djinn in the Shade. 

And that is about the only month I can actually show.  Djinn is great, and I love the exploits of her sorceress Solaine. 

You can find Djinn (and Solaine) here:

• Linktree
• Pateron
• DeviantArt
• Twitter (sometimes NSFW)
• Instagram (Main)
• Instagram (sorta NSWF)
• Ko-fi
• Facebook

Secondly, I also got the GinnyDi 2023 Calendar.

I have spoken about Ginny Di before and I think she is great. Her calendar features many of her original characters including Morelia the Wood Witch.  I grabbed the now sold-out Deluxe Ginny Di 2023 Calendar so I got the character card and the Ginny Di Dice.

Ginny is a lot of fun and this will work great in my game room.

Ginny Di online

• YouTube (her main home)
• Website
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Patreon
• Her WorldAnvil site with some characters

We are almost at the Winter Solstice, and Christmas is less than a week away.  

My thoughts this month have been coming back to D&D 5e and what the future for that might be.  At least for the next year or so, 5e will be largely the same, so I will be getting some 5e content out here to enjoy it.  I also just finished reading the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. Really one of the foundational stories of D&D to be honest. You can see where so much of D&D came from; Gygax's interpretation of this tale, and Tolkien's use of it in the formation of Middle Earth and his Legendarium. 

So my thoughts on all of these are rummaging around and I was thinking I need more types of cold creatures, bards, and more magic.  Some of that I showed off last week with my Jötunn Troll. 

So here is some 5e content from the frozen lands of the far North.

Elf, Álfar Skald
Medium humanoid (elf), Chaotic Neutral

Armor Class 13 (Hide armor)

Hit Points 17 (3d8 +3)

Speed 30 ft

STR 12 (+1)
DEX 13 (+1)
CON 13 (+1)
INT 14 (+2)
WIS 11 (+0)
CHA 12 (+1)

Saving Throws Con +3, Cha +5

Skills Performance +5, Persuasion +5, Perception +3, Survival +3

Damage Resistances Cold

Condition Immunities Blinded

Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive perception 13

Languages Common, Elvish, Giant

Fey Ancestry. The Álfar has advantage on saving throws against being charmed and can't be put to sleep.

Innate Spellcasting. The Álfar’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). The Álfar can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: minor illusion
1/day each: animal friendship, healing word

Fleet of foot. Like all elves, the Álfar are fleet of foot and can travel over snow and ice with no restrictions.They are immune to difficult terrain caused by ice and snow.

Protected eyes. Álfar have a protective membrane over their eyes. They do not suffer disadvantage from blizzards or poor weather.

Actions

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft. one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 +3) piercing damage.

Sling. Ranged Weapon Attack. +3 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target, Hit: 5 (1d4 +3) bludgeoning damage.

Description

Álfar are the elves of the coldest reaches. Also known as “snow elves” they are tall (6’ to 6½’), with long straight white or light blond hair. Some, though, have long black hair. Their skin is pale and their eyes are so pale that they appear nearly white or light bluish-white. This is due to a protective membrane over the eye that allows them to see even in the coldest of temperatures or the blowing of snow.

Álfar are typically encountered in roaming bands of hunters or in warmer climes, herders of goats and sheep. They will typically be armed with a shortsword and sling with up to 20 sling stones handy.

Like all elves, they produce beautiful works of art, though they lack the raw materials of their forest-born brothers and sisters. They are a nomadic species, often following large game in their frozen territories. For this reason, their chief artistic expressions are saga songs.  These tales of ancient times, gods, and heroes can last from a few minutes to several days to perform, often with other singers (Skalds) joining in and taking over for others. Álfar skalds are revered by their communities.

Álfar bards are known as skalds. Their role in the Álfar community is to memorize the saga songs of these nomadic elves, some which take days to completely sing. Skalds advance as bards.

The Nightmare Weekends Before Christmas open houses at the gallery continue for this weekend, with the gallery open on Saturday from noon until 5:00 pm. In the interim, for those planning trips to see family and friends this next week, … Continue reading →

It’s time for another anniversary at the Texas Triffid Ranch. As of next month, this silly little gallery celebrates three-quarters of a decade since the original lease signing. It’s slightly bittersweet because of events through the last 12 months, particularly … Continue reading →

Quick one today. Well, quick for me, but a bit of work for the original content creator.

I have not talked about my BlackStar game in a long time. I have not played any of it for a long time, to be honest. But I do have some new plans coming up, and my oldest has some ideas he wants to try out too.

Before I get back to all of that I found this great modeler on YouTube, Epyc Models. He builds an Ambassador Class Enterprise-C, which puts my meager attempts to utter shame. 

Have a watch.

Seriously cool, right? I need to check out his other videos after this for more ideas. 

Dungeon Crawl Classics #102: Dweller Between the Worlds is a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, the Dungeons & Dragons-style retroclone inspired by ‘Appendix N’ of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Published by Goodman Games, scenarios for Dungeon Crawl Classics tend be darker, gimmer, and even pulpier than traditional Dungeons & Dragons scenarios, even veering close to the Swords & Sorcery subgenre. One of the signature features of Dungeon Crawl Classics and its post-apocalyptic counterpart, Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, is the ‘Character Funnel’. This is a scenario specifically designed for Zero Level Player Characters in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. Dungeon Crawl Classics #102: Dweller Between the Worlds is not such a scenario, but is instead designed for use with First Level Player Characters, perhaps ones who have survived their own Character Funnel, such as Dungeon Crawl Classics #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #102: Dweller Between the Worlds, however, begins with a problem. Or at least, the physical product does. The scenario lacks the map for the Judge of area where it is set, meaning that it cannot really be played from the book as presented. Fortunately, the PDF version—for which there is a code included in the physical book—does not have this issue, giving the Judge access to the necessary map. Get past his hurdle though, and the scenario is different to other scenarios for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #102: Dweller Between the Worlds presents some big challenges and big set-pieces for First Level Player Characters. These include a battle against the forces of Chaos, a trek across the wilderness, and then an attack against the leaders of the attackers. It takes place in the valley of Dalur, home to various independent clans, where word has spread of strange raiders attacking out of the eastern forest over which strange lights have been seen and an early and servere winter has come. The Player Characters are in the service of Lord Jannssen, thane of a larger clan, who has come to the Fell, where as is traditional, the thanes attend councils to discuss issues which threaten them all. Nothing initially happens, but the Player Characters have the chance to gather rumours, ready themselves for what might come next, and so on. Suddenly, on the third day, giant chaos beasts descend out of the sky and attack the council! Here the Player Characters do not fight alone or together, but instead lead military units—spearmen, mounted knights, bowmen, and magicians—against the forces of Chaos. The scenario’s appendix provides ‘Alternate Rules for Large-Scale Combat’ which simplifies a unit’s combat effectiveness down to a single value or ‘Host value’ which represents their combat effectiveness. Attacks are made as normal, and if Player Character-led, can be modified by Class abilities, such as the Deed Die for the Warrior and the Dwarf Classes, Clerics can heal, Wizards and Elves lead magical units and add their spell check modifier to unit spell checks. The mechanics are simple enough, but they are different and the Judge should take the time to run a mock combat as part of her preparation to run the scenario. 
The battle is run on the primary handout for scenario, ‘The Fell’, which is reprinted instead of the map of the area for the Judge. That said, having it printed full size means that the battle at the Fell can be run as a mini wargame. For that though, the Judge will need to provide some counters or playing pieces to represent both the Player Characters and the attacking forces of Chaos. 
Once the battle at the Fell is over, the Player Characters have the opportunity to rest and recuperate before being sent by Lord Jannssen to the other half of the valley, and there persuade the Eastern clans to join the Western clans in investigating and defeating the forces of Chaos. Options are suggested if the Player Characters decide to go elsewhere, but it is expected that they will follow the thane’s command. The Player Characters have several choices in terms of routes, over the mountains, through the swamps, and so on, and the landscape of the ‘Eastern Valley of Dalur’ feels dark and dreary, often blighted by dark acts of the past that are highlighted in the various encounters which can be had in the region. Making for the hillfort village of Graenn, the Player Characters have the opportunity to rescue the villagers from the encroaching influence of Chaos.
The scenario’s finale takes place in the ‘Reft’, a portal to the edge of existence through which the wormspawn of Chaos that is Talaat can reach out and feed upon, sending his hosts to render the world into a barren wasteland. In order to stop Talaat’s assault on their world, the Player Character must enter the ‘Reft’, navigate its changing landscape—hopping across a series of islands moving in random directions and at random speeds—to confront the wormspawn’s regent. Getting across to him is challenging enough in itself and the Judge may want to adjust the process accordingly lest the players’ attention wanes. Suggestions are provided on concluding the adventure and beyond, including what happens if the Player Characters decide to stay on the other side of the ‘Reft’.
Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #102: Dweller Between the Worlds is decently presented barring the issue with the unprinted map. It is a pity that the image on the front cover does not match the description given of Talaat’s regent. Otherwise, the illustrations are decent and the maps nicely done. Rounding out the scenario is afterword by the author explaining the scenario’s influences which gives it a personal touch.
Dungeon Crawl Classics #102: Dweller Between the Worlds is an entertaining and challenging scenario, offering the players and their characters a surprising variety of situations to deal with and overcome. These situations—the battle and the island hopping in the void—do mean that scenario is not quite as easy to run and thus needs more preparation than other scenarios for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, but get those right and they will be what Dungeon Crawl Classics #102: Dweller Between the Worlds will be remembered for.

Almost like films on the Hallmark channel, Christmas brings with it festively-themed scenarios for Dungeons & Dragons. Typically, they involve Santa Claus getting kidnapped or Santa’s grotto or toy workshop at the North Pole being invaded, and the Player Characters having either to rescue him or deliver presents down all of the chimneys in the world and into children’s stockings everywhere. And the whole affair is wrapped in a kitsch swathe of red, green, and white, whether that is wrapping paper, bows, candy cane sweets, baubles, and whatnot, all of which is being invaded by someone who is monstrously grey and wants to spread misery rather than joy, but who only needs to be shown some love and the error of their ways so that they once again enjoy the bonhomie of Christmas. It is both a well-worn cliché and extremely American. Claus for Concern: A Holiday One-Shot for Christmas is no different. Published on the Dungeon Masters Guild, it is a scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.

Claus for Concern: A Holiday One-Shot for Christmas is designed to be played by Player Characters of between First and Fifth Level. However, it will require some scaling up and down to be suitable for the extremes of that range, whereas as written it is designed for Player Characters of Third to Fifth Level. It is intended to be completed in one session, but depending on the players could last as long as two. Although there are maps—drawn by Dyson Logos—for both the players and the Dungeon Master, it is a pity that there are no ready-to-play pre-generated as that would have supported the scenario as a one-shot and would have made it easier to set up and run.

The scenario begins with the Player Characters being approached by several Kringle Elves looking shell-shocked. They implore the Player Characters for help—they have escaped from Santa’s Workshop after it has been invaded by Frost Goblins, Ice Sprites, and Snowy Bugbears, and both Santa Claus and his wife Myra Claus are missing. They implore the Player Characters to come to their aid, return with them to the North Pole, investigate what has happened, and save the Workshop—and in the process, Christmas! What follows is a linear affair. The Player Characters arrive at the North Pole, make their way through the gingerbread and candy-styled North Pole Village, its byways scattered with various gift-wrapped presents (which the Player Characters are free to open), and into the Santa’s Workshop. It is not until they begin to descend into the workshop below the Player Characters encounter any opposition. Technically, what the Player Characters are doing is descending an inverted tower, so the stairs are actually backwards on the map, but everything they find is festively themed, but smashed to bits. Someone definitely does not like Christmas.

Ultimately, the Player Characters will encounter the villain of the piece—a very icy ‘Christmas Witch’. She is a fairly tough opponent and the scenario does warn the Dungeon Master that there is the danger of a ‘Total Party Kill’ if she is not careful. She has a very frosty feel and that follows through on her choice of spells. In addition, the scenario follows through on the ice theme in terms of its monsters. These include Mimics as both presents and Christmas trees, Snowy Bugbears armed with Frosty Morningstars and Icicle Throws, Ice Sprites, Frosty Winged Kobolds with Icicle Spears and Chill Wind from their buffeting wings, and others. Stats are also included for Santa Claws and Myra Claws. The invention also a stocking full of magical items, all themed, such as Rudolph’s Nose of Everlasting Light, Fruitcake of Greater Healing, Red Fur-lined Coat, and Santa’s Holiday Bag of Holding, the latter which might just be a Bag of Holding.

Physically, Claus for Concern: A Holiday One-Shot for Christmas is a neat and tidy affair. Bar the cover it is not illustrated, but as you would expect, the maps are excellent. The scenario is well written, but as a consequence of being linear, there is one moment where if the Player Characters cannot get through a door—which they need to in order to reach the climax, the monsters break it down from the other side. Which undermines player and character agency.

To be clear, Claus for Concern: A Holiday One-Shot for Christmas is Christmas cliché from start to finish. It is a turducken stuffed with mince pies, studded with bow-tied candy canes, slathered with bread sauce, soaked in egg nog, and covered in brandy and set alight whilst pulling two Christmas crackers with an equally festively anointed turducken Dungeons & Dragons Christmas cliché. However, it is a decently done cliché and perfectly playable, and there is even some invention involved that makes it stand out from the traditional Dungeons & Dragons Christmas fare, not least of which is the almost pun of a title. So if a Dungeon Master and her group want to play a Dungeons & Dragons Christmas-themed scenario, then Claus for Concern: A Holiday One-Shot for Christmas is definitely what they want for Christmas.

A Yuletide Snowball Massacre: A Ridiculously Festive Battle Royale for 5E is an adventure for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Published by Critical Kit, it is designed for a party of six Player Characters of Third to Fifth Level and is intended to be played in a single session, either as a one-shot or as part of an ongoing campaign. As the title suggests, this is a very different type of scenario, a Player versus Player battle in a snowbound arena for the entertainment for others, last one standing wins the battle and a prize! Although nominally set in the same campaign world of the Western Lands as the publisher’s other scenarios for Dungeon & Dragons, Fifth Edition, the scenario is really setting agnostic. All it needs is a winter with plenty of ice and snow and some kind of midwinter festival—it need not be Christmas, and the setting have a court of winter fey. Other than that, the scenario does require some set-up. The only given background is that Queen Mab of the Winter Court desires some entertainment and this time it is the Player Characters’ turn to fight each to death in the Perpetual Winter Arena. So the Player Characters may have come to the attention of Queen Mab before and be selected because of that or they may simply be selected at random. In whatever way it is set up, the scenario is easy to slot into a campaign, whether between adventures or an interlude or even dream sequence during an adventure. The scenario can even start en media res with the Player Characters suddenly waking up in the arena and having to fight.

The scenario does begin with some advice about player expectations. This revolves around things—Player Character death and Player Character interaction. For the former, it suggests that the players be made aware that death in the arena is not necessarily final—although if run as a one-shot, that may not be the case, since the players will not be as attached to their characters. For the latter, it suggests that the players embrace the fun. There are guidelines too, for the Dungeon Master on handling certain spells, but these are kept short, and for the most part, the Dungeon Master will need to make rulings at the table as normal.

A Yuletide Snowball Massacre takes place in the Perpetual Winter Arena. This is a snowbound forest glade and marked with spawn points, an icesheet where everyone can lose their footing, and present boxes that the Player Characters can open Present Boxes to find potions of healing, Candy Cane Wands, and the dread Snowbody! The latter is an evil snowman which is stealthy in snow, has sharpened twigs to attack with, and frost breath. They can also be summoned when a Player Character activates the one-shot Candy Cane Wands, which can also fling snowballs, an Ice Mephit at a target, turns the caster’s nose into a carrot or forces him to make snow angels for a round, or covers the caster in glitter and makes them look fabulous and thus, difficult to attack. There is a table of effects which the player can roll whenever his character uses a Candy Cane Wand. As a bonus action, the Player Characters can also throw snowballs at each other.

As an arena scenario, A Yuletide Snowball Massacre comes with a twenty-four by sixteen-inch poster map on sturdy paper and in full colour. This is a scenario which definitely requires counters or miniatures. There are also stats for the Snowbody monster, plus details of the Candy Cane Wand, Boompowder Baubles, and the Snowbody Stone, the latter the ultimate prize for the winner standing at the end of the battle royale.

Physically,  A Yuletide Snowball Massacre is decently presented, everything is easy to grasp, and the map is rather nice. It is an easy scenario to use, but it would have been useful if there had been stronger advice on the set-up or the ways in which the scenario could be used.

A Yuletide Snowball Massacre is not going to be suitable for every gaming group or campaign, at worst being a frivolous diversion, at best a frivolous and festive diversion, some light-hearted Player Character versus Player Character action. However, as more than a one-shot, the inventive Dungeon Master could doubtless find a reason to work A Yuletide Snowball Massacre: A Ridiculously Festive Battle Royale for 5E into her campaign.

A few newer products for HYPERBOREA I have picked up recently. Some came with the Kickstarter, others I picked up.

Atlas of Hyperborea

PDF and softcover. 36 pages.

This covers the whole HYPERBOREA world. There is an overview map and then broken up into detailed segments.  The softcover book is great, and the PDF does allow you to zoom in for more detail.

It is a good map, but you need the HYPERBOREA RPG to get the full use out of it.

Hyperborea Annual Calendar

PDF. 14 pages.

This is a great product. It is the 13 month, 28-day per month HYPERBOREAN calendar. It has the moon phases of the two moons, Phobos and Celene, and plenty of room to add your own details.  While you need the RPG to use this for Hyperborea, it would work out well for a homebrew world if you liked.

Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess

PDF. Color cover, black & white interior art.

This is an old-school adventure for 4 to 6 characters of 5th to 7th level.  

Lemuria. Ancient cults. Dinosaurs and demon apes. This adventure has everything. I kinda wish it could have been done for lower levels because it is a great introduction to sorts of adventures that HYPERBOREA should be the best at. While I originally grabbed this as a supplement to some other related adventures (and still might use it as such) it really, really feels at home in Hyperborea the most.

On that note it can be easily used in whatever OSR/Old-School system feels the most as home to your groups.

Plus it has a Dimetrodon in it. So I am already sold on it. 

Yesterday I covered the Player's book. Today let's go with the Referee's Manual.

HYPERBOREA Referee's Manual

PDF and Hardcover. 308 pages. Color cover, black & white art with full-color art pages.

Chapter 10: Introduction Again, this is our introduction this time for the Game Master or Referee's point of view. What the Referee does for the game and more. 

Chapter 11: Refereeing This get's into the Game Mastering process in detail. This covers grant experience for the characters and setting up the campaign. 

Chapter 12: Bestiary Our monster section and truthfully one of my favorites. The expected ones are here, but there are also plenty of new ones.  This covers roughly 130 pages.  There are interesting new takes on some classic "D&D" monsters, plus many new ones like a bunch of new "lesser" and "sublunary" demons. The format is most similar to Basic or Labyrinth Lord, and it is full of the usual suspects with some Lovecraftian Horrors, and even remnants of alien and bygone ages. "Demons" are here, but no devils. 

Chapter 13: Treasure Covers treasure types and magical treasure. Among the magic items are things like Radium Pistols and other sc-fi artifacts. Very pulpy. It also includes some rules on scribing spell and protection scrolls. There is even a small section on Alchemy in Hyperborea. Very useful to have really.

Chapter 14: Gazetteer.  The lands are a pastiche of Howard, Vance, Lovecraft, and Smith.  If these names mean anything to you, then you know or have an idea, of what you are going to get here.  This section has been greatly expanded from the previous editions. Included here are the gods again and a little more on religion.  Basically, you get the idea that gods are either something you swear by (or to) or get sacrificed to by crazy cultists.  So yeah, you know I am a fan.

Appendix A: Weather in Hyperborea. Likely more important here than, say, other game worlds. Weather in Hyperborea is dangerous. 

Appendix B: Hazards of Hyperborea. There are horrible things waiting for you in Hyperborea and they are not all monsters or the weather. 

Appendix C: Waterborne Expeditions. Covers waterborne adventures and combat. 

Appendix D: Warefare and Siege. Your characters have built their strongholds. Now someone wants to know it down.  Here are the rules.

Appendix E: OGL Statement. The OGL statement for this book.

Nearly every aspect of this game has seen expansion since the 2nd Edition; some sections more than others, but it is a great upgrade.