[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco

On the tail of 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 showcased how 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 the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game from Goodman Games. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is Ninja City.

Ninja City is different type of fanzine for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Published by Get Haunted Industries, it adapts the roleplaying game from Goodman Games to run adventures inspired by the Ninja movies and craze of the eighties, cheap straight-to-VHS tales of crime and retribution, and just a little bit, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In Ninja City, the streets of the Player Characters’ hometown have been taken over by Bad Guyz—drug lords, street gangs, crooked cops, and worse—and nobody is doing a damned thing about it! Fortunately for the town and the Player Characters, they have rediscovered the Lost Secrets of the Ninja, found a sensei, set up a Clan in a secret hideout, and at the end of the day, when their day jobs are over, sneak out to strike at the Bad Guyz! Disrupt their operations, destroy their product, free the cheap labour they employ, rescue victims held hostage, defeat the Big Boss and unmask him, ultimately, free the town for good folk everywhere!

Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco is the follow up, published via a successful Kickstarter campaign. It opens with a hot and sweaty summer of a scenario, the eponymously named ‘Drug Demon Disco’. As the mercury in the thermometer rises, the Bad Guyz take advantage of the heatwave to go on a crimewave as the city cops are too lazy to leave the air conditioning of their black-and-whites and costumed vigilantes skulk in their basements, it falls to the Ninja to act. This Level One adventure opens with the Player Characters attending a ‘Squirt Day’ run by the city’s Youth and Family Association to help everyone cool done. What looks to be a fun day, turns to chaos as several members of the crowd each turns into a ‘Juice-Pumped Meathead’ and start attacking everyone. The Player Characters’ sensei informs them that the cause of the random transformations is an ancient being known as the ‘Shadow Demon’ and his coming presages the spread of an apocalyptic plague. He also points to the Freak Out Sector as a likely place to search for clues. This is the worst district in Ninja City and in order to find and face the villain of the piece, the Player Characters will have to dance and fight their way through a disco of death… This is a frantic, frenetic scenario, as well as suitably cheesy with big hair, dance moves, and a lot of hairspray.

‘Drug Demon Disco’ takes up half of Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco. The other half continues with some colour fiction, ‘Let me tell you of my greatest failure.’, which gives the back story to ‘The Black Lotus’. He is one of the deadliest of ninja clan leaders in the city. He has his own signature moves, such as ‘The Slumbering Serpent Uncoils at Dawn’. With this, the Black Lotus withholds his action to retaliate. In this, the highest of his Action Dice becomes the attack roll and the remainder—up to three—become the damage dice. In general, the Black Lotus fights defensively to lure his opponents into false sense of security before retaliating.

‘The Six Masks of the Mystic Masters’ presents six masks each of which provides an ability. For example, the ‘Hornet Masks’ or ‘Golden Sting’ which grants a chance of inflicting extra poison damage. They are intended to be difficult to find and the article suggests several possible locations. These require some development by the Judge, but the one-line descriptions are a good starter. ‘Newly Translated Forces’ details a new to be discovered power, ‘Force of Panda’, and how it is found and how the Player Characters have to sneak past a TV special to get hold of it. Again, it needs to be fleshed out, but this could be fun encounter.

Ben ‘Dr. Metal’ Grimes’ ‘Nin-Jistory: How the Ninja Craze Hit Suburban America in the Early 80’s’ gives a quick and dirty overview of the genre as it appeared in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s. It is a fun and very personal overview, which brings the fanzine to an enjoyable close.

Physically, Ninja City: Drug Demon Disco is a busy, fizzy affair, all action and ninjitsu. The scenario is fun and the other content is a solid content to add to the Judge’s campaign. As a follow on to Ninja City, fans of that fanzine will definitely want to pick this up and return to the hot, sweaty streets of Ninja City.