[Fanzine Focus XXIX] Planar Compass #2

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. A more recent retroclone of choice to support has been Old School Essentials.

The Planar Compass series takes Dungeons & Dragons and the Old School Renaissance on a journey that out where it rarely goes—onto the Astral Realm and out between the planes. Of course, the option for travel in this liminal space has always been there in Dungeons & Dragons, most notably from Manual of the Planes all the way up to Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and the Planescape Campaign Setting. Whilst those supplements were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, the Planar Compass series is written for use with Old School Essentials, and it not only introduces the Astral Realm, but adds new Classes and rules for one very contentious aspect of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—psionics! Planar Compass #1 introduced both the setting of the Astral Realm, presented Dreamhaven, a first calling point for the Player Characters to visit and explore, and provided details of several new Races found across the Astral Realm as well as the rules for psionics. Which turned to be easy to use and did not break the game. Planar Compass #2 takes the Player Characters further out onto the Astral Realms, or rather prevents everything that the Referee will need to take her campaign further out into the Astral Realms.

Planar Compass #2 was published in November 2021. Following on from Planar Compass #1, it promises strange sights, ever changing environmental dangers, and monsters the likes of which the Player Characters will never seen. Opening with a quick table listing all of the planes and explaining that the contents of issue are designed for mid-level play, Fourth Level and higher, and what titles are required to use it contents. It notes that the waters of the Astral Realms are the thoughts, hopes and dreams, and nightmares of all sentient beings of the multiverse, physical matter alien to it and are always either an intrusion or a traveller. Such waters are endless and there are many places that a good crew with a solid ship will be able to sail far and away to strange places—if both survive the dangers of the Astral Plane, many of which are intrusions and breakthroughs from other planes.

The dangers begin with the monsters—oddly placed before the sections on astral ships, astral sailing, and so on. These are all native to the Astral Realm and include Bubonic Barnacles which feeds on the wood ships and can grow into humanoid forms or algae blooms; the Astral Amphiptere, a semi-translucent dragon which dwells in island caves, and whose can cause planar tears which it can escape through or even others to use; Psychic Dugong, capable of telepathy, whose Psionic Milk restores psionic energy; and the Kear Imago. This last is a much-feared astral predator which scoops up ships and feeds on the psionic energy of their crews, leaving them husks ready for their larvae to occupy and grow in… A table of ‘Pirate Encounters’ is ready for the Referee to flesh out.

The rules for Astral Ships use the rules for water vehicles found in Old School Essentials, but adds five classes of Saving Throw similar to those for Player Characters and monsters. These are Storm, Collison, Fire, Water, and Plane Shift. These are rolled when a ship is subject to wind and gale forces, strikes an object or is struck by an object, is subject to flames or extreme heat, is subject to facing huge waves and torrential rains, and when transitioning between planes or suffering planar stress respectively. Two pieces of artillery are given to outfit ships on the Astral Plane—ballista and the Onauki fire thrower. Stats are given for ten types of astral ship, which include pirate ships and trading ships and warships, more or less what a Referee will need to run an Astral Sea campaign. They range from the Aldhelsi Drakkar and the Aldhelsi Knarr to the Tortuga and the Psionic Ship! Some of these, like the Human Catamaran, lie within the scope of a group of Player Characters purchasing the, rather than travelling on ships belonging to others. There are pirate ships and trading ships and warships

A handful of magical items are detailed too. The nastiest is the Sword of Astral Tether Cutting, a cruel, thin blade made from the remains of a meteor which can cut the tether between the physical and Astral bodies of the target, killing them instantly! The most interesting is the Sand from the Shores of Dreams, which can be sprinkled on someone so that the next time he sleeps, everyone nearby experiences his dreams. This presents interesting story possibilities, potentially another realm to explore and more.

The rules for astral sailing uses what it calls a ‘hex-flower’ or rosette to determine prevailing conditions around an astral ship, the direction of nearby encounters, and the direction of movement. Effectively, it sits under the astral ship as it sails from one hex to the next. Each turn of movement is handled through the same sequence of play in which the players roll for navigation, weather, and nearby planes, which the Referee uses to determine hazards and create encounters, and rolls to see if a Kear Imago has detected the vessel. The Referee and her players work together to describe the region the ship is sailing through.

Notably, the direction of movement is randomly determined, though the Onauk and Astral Sailors—both detailed in Planar Compass #1—have the ability to nudge the roll so that it is in the right direction. If the Kear Imago detects the ship, then the leviathan-sized creature will come hunting for it. Options for the encounters, weather, and planes near and far, are detailed separately along with a lovely set of hexes illustrated with icons that the Referee is going to want to be able to pull out and slip under the appropriate hex on the hex-flower. Large and small icons are used to represent everything from sighted vessel or signs of land, instruction of a plane, and more, with the size indicating distance away. Large are of course hear, small are faraway.

What is not made clear until the Referee gets to the adventure, ‘The Hunter Beneath the Waves’ is that the crew of ship needs to mask its ‘psychic load’ lest it be detected by a Kear Imago. This can be done by Astral Sailors or by consuming Psychic Ambergris, one of the magic items given earlier. If detected though, the Kear Imago will hunt the ship until either the ship and her crew get away or the leviathan swallows it whole. This lands the ship in its gut and the crew—that is, the Player Characters—have to navigate their way out of the beast. This is simulated using the hex-flower again, but here the crew are navigating the corporeal body of a beast rather than the Astral Sea, hoping to find the brain and engineer an escape. As you would expect it is nasty environment, the various descriptions of rooms such as the stomach, intestines, and waste chamber accompanied by optional tables for traps, NPCs, and location details. The rules are more or less the same for navigating the Astral Sea using the hex-flower, but instead of being able to nudge the direction roll through abilities innate to certain Classes, the Player Characters acquire ‘Travelling Points’ for encountering denizens of this ‘Kear Dungeon’, discovering and disarming traps, gaining information from friendly NPCs, and so on. The adventure is intentionally odd, surprisingly non-linear given its origins, and it does include some tough encounters. Plus although the players are unlikely to replay the ‘Kear Dungeon’ again, there is the possibility of their encountering a Kear Imago again. The fanzine does leave the Referee wondering what to do in that instance. Of course, there are always to get the Player Characters needing to climb back into a Kear Imago again, such as having to find a Wizard who has not been seen for years or go after a criminal. Lastly, the issue includes a table for ‘Astral Fishing’ and a set of adventure hooks waiting to be developed by the Referee as well a decent little comic strip which follows on from Planar Compass #1.

Physically, Planar Compass #2 is hit and miss. It is well written and it is gorgeous-looking. In places, individual hexes are are too dark and too murky, whilst the layout feels a bit tight in places and odd in others. Plus the organisation is odd with the monster descriptions placed up front. Nevertheless, it is engagingly written, the artwork is excellent, and all together, it is a lovely little book.

Planar Compass #2 is a solid set of rules taking Old School Essentials and almost any Old School Renaissance retroclone in an expected direction, out into the beyond of the Astral Sea. It does feel like a transition, going from the Dreamhaven of Planar Compass #1 to the somewhere else, but not telling you where necessarily. Ideally that will be revealed in Planar Compass #3. In the meantime, Planar Compass #2 has all the rules to enjoy boat trip or sail away to location of the Referee’s own devising across the Astral Sea and back again, effectively, ‘Astral-jammer’ for Old School Essentials.