[Fanzine Focus XXVIII] Meandering – Across the Radlands #1

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, whilst the fanzine format is typically used to support other roleplaying games, it has also been used as a vehicle for complete, if small roleplaying games of their own.

Published in Spring, 2018, Meandering – Across the Radlands #1 is a fanzine for Goodman Games’ Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. Indeed, it was the first fanzine for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. Not to be confused with the earlier Meanderings Issue #1 from the same author, it does actually share the same preoccupation as Meanderings Issue #1, which is weapons. Thankfully it contains more than just more weapons for the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game.

It starts with ‘The Buggeymen’. This an alternate sub-Class for insectoid Manimals, a humanoid mantid which has a creepy appearance. In addition to their random physical and mental mutations, they have a bite or claw attack, can co-ordinate with other Buggeymen to gain a bonus when attacking the same target, gain a die on the Dice Chain for initiative because of their multi-faceted eyes, and gain a bonus per Level to intimidate rolls because of its alien looks. This is a nicely creepy option for a player to choose, and equally, it would work as an equally creepy NPC too.

‘Vault of the Ancients’ presents a range of gear, a standard supporting feature for any  post apocalypse roleplaying game. There are sixteen items listed, divided between defences, transportation, weapons, and more. There are some fun items here, like Grav Boots and the Grav Board, whilst the Pain Whip and the Psizer Glove are psinetic weapons and show a little more inventiveness. 

‘Armour in the Radlands’ is drawn from the author’s own campaign setting of the Radlands. It switches the armour rules away from the traditional Armour Class to armour which reduces damage, and can be broken down into three pieces for each type, from leather and ShelterTek Suit to BOSS Battle Plate and Powered Armour (I and II), including the suit, the helmet, and the shield. Every piece has a Damage Reduction—which is itself reduced by Armour Penetration, and it is possible to do Called Shots. This reduces the Action Die by one step, and the Warrior’s Mighty Deeds of Arms has been augmented with ‘Through the Gap’, which ignores points of Damage Reduction. There are simple rules for powered armour too, always something that the Player Characters want to get their hands on in any post-apocalyptic roleplaying setting.

The counterpart to ‘Armour in the Radlands’ is ‘Weapons of the Radlands: Scrap Weaponry  & Firearm Rules’. This increases gun damage by having damage dice explode, but also add rules for guns built from scrap. Primarily they jam more often. The weapons themselves are all modern or late twentieth century types. The larger, heavier weapons also an Armour Penetration value to counter the Damage Reduction values of the armour listed in the earlier article. Along with grenades and rules for rates of fire and fire selection, this is a decidedly low tech and grittier take on the post-apocalyptic genre, more Mad Max then the gonzo weirdness of Mutant Crawl Classics. That said, exceptionally strong characters can reduce the recoil penalties from firing bursts or fully automatic, so super-strong mutants have an advantage, as does anyone wearing powered armour. The rules are also add complexity to a Mutant Crawl Classics campaign than is the norm.

Between ‘Armour in the Radlands’ and ‘Weapons of the Radlands: Scrap Weaponry  & Firearm Rules’is ‘Survivors in the Radlands: Occupations of the Sun Do-a-Glow’ which is a set of tables for the type of people you might meet in the post-apocalyptic world. These are catagorised into Barbaric Folk, Civilised Folk, Marauders, and Sheltered, and they come with their own equipment lists as well. Plus there are additional, if short tables for pharmaceuticals and magazines, the former providing various bonuses and the possibility of addition, whilst the latter can be read to gain a temporary one step increase on the Dice Chain for a task if read beforehand. The various tables can be used to create background elements for NPCs, but they can also be used to generate backgrounds for Zero Level Player Characters for Character Funnels too.

Lastly, the ‘Bestiary of Sun Do-a-Glow, Volume 1’ adds eleven new things to be encountered in the Radlands. Gamma Beetles, Maul Rats, MG Sentry Turrets, Peacekeeper Robo-bots, and more. One interesting technological survivor from before the Great Disaster is the GULE or Genetic Un-Life Experiment. These use the skeleton stats from the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but originally they were bodies injected with nanites to slow cellular decay, but of course, this been damaged in the meantime and any GULE no longer has the mental faculties it once had. It adds an element of creepiness to just how technology went before the Great Disaster. Overall, these are fairly low level gritty threats in keeping with the feel of the rest of the fanzine.

Physically, Meandering – Across the Radlands #1 is perfunctorily done at best, but is easy to read and very lightly illustrated. Despite the issue’s focus on the arms and armour, and the rules for them, there is a definite sense of what the author own setting feels like. That comes through in both the descriptions of the arms and armour, and especially in the bestiary. Meandering – Across the Radlands #1 has a grittier feel than the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game typically does, and overall provides an interesting introduction to the author’s own campaign setting, if only tonally. Hopefully, Meandering – Across the Radlands #2 will include some background to the Radlands.