Fanzine Focus III: Mystic Pangolin #2

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 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 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, such as The Undercroft and Vacant Ritual Assembly. Similarly, Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game has proved to be popular choice for fanzines. Mystic Pangolin though, is written for use with Swords & Wizardry, Mythmere Games’ interpretation of the original Dungeons & Dragons.

Published by Blackie Carbon/Cloudstepping Media, Mystic Pangolin #1 was released  in the Autumn of 2014, but beyond its vibrant cover, the contents never quite succeeded in being all that interesting. The second issue, published in February, 2016, promises “...a terror bird’s ton of treats”. The question is, does it deliver on that promise? Further, does it improve on the underwhelming first issue?

Well, behind what is a fantastically good cover, Mystic Pangolin #1 is initially unpromising. The first article is part of the Down ‘n’ Dirty Dungeon Dozens series, which presents short, sharp lists of useful information for world-builders and GMs. Now the inaugural entry in the series, ‘Casks & Barrels – terminology and definitions’, from Mystic Pangolin #1, suffered from a surfeit of facts and a lack of application, or at least suggested application. Not so, ‘Textile Treasures’, which at cloth in all forms and fashions, from simple bolts of cloth and tapestries, carpets, and rugs, to mummy wraps and human skin suits. There is not only description here, there is history and there is usage. In other words, there is application. So we learn what tabards are and why they were worn, what not to do with an altar cloth, and so on. This absolutely the right amount of detail and depth for an article like this, with the author’s going beyond mere description to explain each item’s use being both helpful and suggestive to the GM. It is a solid, thoughtful article and shows off the potential of the article series that ‘Casks & Barrels – terminology and definitions’ did not.

‘All the Fun of the Fair’ details a small troupe of travelling entertainers comprised of two Thieves, a Cleric, and a Fighter, all of Third Level. Although nicely nicely detailed with a background fully worked out, what sets these NPCs apart from the similar offerings is that none of them are interested in theft, that is they prefer to use their thievery skills for the purposes of entertaining the crowd rather than robbing them. So no pickpockets working the crowd then… Although there is nothing wrong with this, it begs the question, how do you use these NPCs? It is not a question that the article sets out to, or indeed, actually answers. It is a solid piece of writing, but a scenario hook or two would not have gone amiss here.

Big, mostly flightless, but definitely predatory birds are the subject of ‘Terror Birds’. It describes and gives stats for a selection of real world, prehistoric birds such as the Phorusrhacos, the Kelenken, the Anthropornis Penguin, Haast’s Eagle, and more. These are great for ‘Lost World’ and primordial settings and really should inspire terror. After all, the Phorusrhacos is ten feet high, and can claw and kick its prey before delivering a downward death strike with its beak.

Designed for characters of between Fourth and Seventh Level, ‘The Haunting of Kilderkin Fell’ is cliché, but a well done cliché. Lord Doric of Kilderkin Fell has fallen ill, bedridden with some kind of living death, further threatening the decline of the family estate. Can the player characters determine the cause and restore Lord Doric to the land of the living? There is a lot that will be familiar to the plot of this scenario—a worried family, an isolated and moldering castle, and dark secrets. This is less fantastical than a typical Dungeons & Dragons-style adventure, owing much more to the gothic stories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and perhaps even just a little to Shakespeare. Despite the familiarity of its plot, ‘The Haunting of Kilderkin Fell’ is well written, solid scenario.

Rounding out Mystic Pangolin #2 is another entry in the fanzine’s ‘Ports of Call’ series. This describes ‘Walrus Bay’, a way station and refuge in the far north that can provide warmth and safety should a passing ship and her crew be forced to winter there. It is customary for passing ships to carry enough wood and provender to restock any of way stations should they be forced to winter at one of them. Walrus Bay is a rough hewn place, home to territorial walruses, predatory white bears, and perhaps a man eating wendigo… Stats are provided for the various creatures and a new magic item, but no NPCs are given, but really none are needed. Where the description of the port of Haeford in Mystic Pangolin #1 was overlong, this is about the right length and feels complete without meandering…

Physically, Mystic Pangolin #2 is cleanly, tidily presented. There are nice pieces of artwork and each of the articles is pleasing to read. It does need a tighter edit in places though.

If Mystic Pangolin #1 proved disappointing, promising ill for the next issue, Mystic Pangolin #2 is a revelation. A small revelation to be clear, but all the more welcome for it, for Mystic Pangolin #2 is a huge improvement over Mystic Pangolin #1. The content is a good mix, each of the articles is interesting and readable, and above all, good enough that you would want to use it in a campaign. Behind its great cover, Mystic Pangolin #2 hides some solidly useful and gameable material.

Fanzine Focus II: Mystic Pangolin #1

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 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 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, such as The Undercroft and Vacant Ritual Assembly. Similarly, Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game has proved to be popular choice for fanzines. Mystic Pangolin though, is written for use with Swords & Wizardry, Mythmere Games’ interpretation of the original Dungeons & Dragons.

Published in the Autumn of 2014 by Blackie Carbon/Cloudstepping Media, Mystic Pangolin #1 is wholly written by R.G. Anderson and promises to deliver “Old School Fantasy Gaming” in “an ogre’s lunchbox full of goodies”. Putting aside that image, the unfortunate truth is that this first issue does not quite deliver on that claim. The problem is that the fanzine opens with a mundane article and never quite lifts itself above being pedestrian. The first of these is ‘Casks & Barrels – terminology and definitions’, part of the Down ‘n’ Dirty Dungeon Dozens series, which as the title suggests gives the twelve terms and definitions for casks and barrels—and that is it. There is no faulting the facts in the article, but there is no application, no suggestion as to how the details can be used. This is followed by ‘An Elaborate System of Curious Signs – a lexicon of hobo signs for your game world’,  which draws upon the signs used by hobos during the Great Depression to communicate amongst themselves as they rode America’s railways. The suggestion is that they can be used to form the basis of secret signs and the cant between thieves and that is a nice idea. Unfortunately the author only presents the historically used signs and does not take the time to develop any for the fantasy setting that fanzines like Mystic Pangolin is written for. This is a missed opportunity, but this does not mean that a Dungeon Master could not create some of his own, plus as written, the contents of the article could be used with the recently released Gang Busters Basic Rules or indeed with the article on hobos in Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion.

The third article is part of the fanzine’s ‘Randomizer-O-Rama’ series. Initially ‘Books & Scrolls – Alternate treasure and adventure hook’ reads very much like ‘Casks & Barrels – terminology and definitions’, essentially presenting the various ways in which the written word has been preserved, from the clay and wax tablets to scrolls and parchment. It backs these up with a somewhat convoluted table for determining the type, material and condition of the written work and another for determining a manuscript’s contents. Again, the article suffers from a lack of application and a lack of examples. There is though more substance to the fourth article, the first entry in the ‘Ports of Call’ which describes the minehead and ore port of Haeford. The small settlement supplies the nearby towns with lumber and iron, whilst also engaging in some shipbuilding. Although there are one or two pieces of nice description, the write-up of Haeford never really comes alive and never feels like a place that the player characters might visit or do little more than pass through.

Rounding out Mystic Pangolin #1 is ‘The Reliquary of Thazur Zul’, a dungeon adventure for characters of Second to Fourth Levels. Again written for Swords & Wizardry, the adventure also makes use of the Swords & Wizardry Monster Book and Roger S. G. Sorolla’s Varmints and Vermin, so any Dungeon Master wanting to adapt the adventure to the Retroclone of his choice may need to do a little extra work. The scenario has the adventurers hired by a mercantile matriarch to retrieve the head of the corpse of a rival in an effort to restore her family’s fortunes. Unfortunately the matriarch’s sons hid the head in an old tomb and access to that tomb is blocked by rival tribes of Gnolls and Kobolds. The adventure is fairly large, taking up half of the fanzine, but as written is somewhat colourless and flat, lacking the detail and flavour that might bring it alive. There is also a certain degree of artificiality to the set-up, having Kobolds and Gnolls so close together without the latter turning on the former. There is a reason given for the stand-off between the two tribes, but it does not feel enough. Ultimately the adventure is somewhat pedestrian and the Dungeon Master will need to work hard to bring it alive.

Physically Mystic Pangolin #1 is cleanly laid out, but does suffer from a surfeit of white space. It needs another edit as the writing is clumsy in places. The use of photographs and illustrations is decent though. Mystic Pangolin #1 is no longer available in print, but is available as a PDF. Mystic Pangolin #2 is currently available in print.

Ultimately, not everything is going to be great and Mystic Pangolin #1 is not great. It is again pedestrian, lacking the application and the development that would lift it above the mere presentation of facts. This does not mean that a good Dungeon Master could not take the information here and develop it into something more exciting, more inspiring, and more fun, but that would require effort that might be better directed to writing his own material.