Your Numenera Starter

The setting of Numenera is expansive one, potentially taking the adventurers into space, into other dimensions, and even deep under the sea, but always exploring the mysteries, secrets, and technologies of the past. Its detail lies in these places to be explored rather than the core setting of the Steadfast, as described in Numenera Discovery, the core rulebook. This also leaves plenty of space for the Game Master to add her own content and as described in Numenera Destiny, the players and their characters to make it their own by building and supporting a community. As open as the setting is, what it means is that Numenera does not have a ready starting point and it is perhaps in danger of overwhelming the prospective player or Game Master with just how expansive a setting it is. A solution then would be to provide a starting point. Somewhere small with a limited scope that is in no danger of overwhelming either player or Game Master and then builds from this basis with a story that will eventually take the players, their characters, and the Game Master out into the wider and more wondrous world of the Ninth Age. This is exactly what The Glimmering Valley does.

The Glimmering Valley is published by Monte Cook Games and everything that a Game Master and her players need to start their first Numenera campaign. A starting point, some plots and some storylines, some mysteries and some locations to be explored, a threat, and above, a place to call home. It does all this, but it also does something else—it keeps things limited. It does this in several ways. First, it restricts the Character Types available to the core three in v Discovery, that is, the Glaive, the Nano, and the Jack. The others, the Arkus, the Wright, and the Delve, from Numenera Destiny, do become available later in the campaign when it is possible to transition into one of the new three. Second, it limits the Special Abilities available to the Player Characters, as many of those with more overt effects, such as ‘Bears a Halo of Fire’ or ‘Wears a Sheen of Ice’, would be decried as sorcery, whilst those for which there is no training or reason for it, like ‘Works the Back Alleys’ or ‘Fuses Flesh and Steel’, are simply deemed inappropriate. The abilities available to the Player Characters in The Glimmering Valley tend towards skills and the mundane. Third, it grounds the campaign in the Glimmering Valley, a narrow valley some twenty-five miles long, with the minor settlement of Neandran at the head of the valley, and a larger settlement, Ketterach, at the bottom of the valley. The Player Characters have grown up in Neandran and like the majority of the other villagers, have never travelled more than a few miles into the surround forest, let alone as far as a metropolis as Ketterach. The Player Characters know almost everyone in Neandran and certainly have a relationship with many of the village’s notable figures—all of whom are detailed. Fourth, it applies Clarke’s Third Law, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ assiduously. This is because the inhabitants of Neandran look upon the strange things around them and found elsewhere in the surrounding forest as magic rather than technology. Once the Player Characters reach Ketterach and the wider Ninth World, they are likely to discover that this is not the case and so have a revelation. It means though, that playing through The Glimmering Valley is going to be a very different experience to that of a standard Numenera campaign. And for any Numenera veteran, it means roleplaying a very different outlook.

So why do all this? Simply, simplicity. What The Glimmering Valley wants to do is avoid any possibility of overwhelming the prospective player or Game Master with a wealth of detail. To that end, it limits choices for the players, gives their characters a clear outlook on the world, and shifts the setting to the fantasy of its science fantasy rather than the science. Effectively, the world in which the Player Characters begin is akin to the fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons with the medievalism, and what they discover in end is the highly technological and weird world of Numenera. In addition, the last chapter in the book is specifically ‘The Player’s Guide’, provided to inform the players about the world in which their characters live in. When given a copy, this greatly aids the players’ knowledge about the setting and enables them to establish relationships with the NPC.

As the campaign begins, the nature of the dream that for generations the inhabitants of Neandran has changed. Just slightly, but enough to pique the interest of the Player Characters and they wonder why it has changed. For the Game Master, there is initially the same information she gives to her players and then descriptions of its various locations, flora, fauna, and more. There is strangeness all about—strange objects that protrude from the valley floor and walls, the infinite house of the local witch, a point in the river where the water flows into the air, a glade of six-foot square, translucent blue cubes in which can glimpsed some strange creature, and stairs which go up to nowhere. Some of these lead deep below and into the sides of the valley into highly detailed complexes, into what are effectively ‘science dungeons’. They are unlike any other dungeon in each case, in one case, more a puzzle that the Player Characters need to work out with their fingers, though there is guidance on using a more mechanical, rules-based for those playing groups who dislike puzzles. These complexes will take time to explore, but the campaign does allow for that time and even projects of the Player Characters’ own. Accompanying these are a number of encounters and more, including the movement and growth of factions into the Glimmering Valley. These include the arrival of biomechanical nomads, the rise of the machines, and even an invasion of ‘Skeksis’-like aliens! The movement and growth of all of these is slow at first, but becomes more apparent later in the campaign. This does allow time for the Player Characters to explore, learn, and prepare.

The campaign is supported with a bestiary and chapters for each of the factions. There is advice for the Game Master throughout, with the sidebars used extensively for references and stats. However, what The Glimmering Valley does not do is set the Game Master up as well it does the players. The set-up for the players is very good, preparing them for the campaign and telling them everything that they need to do so. For the Game Master, there is not this same level of information and consequently she does not learn anything about the event-based aspects of the campaign until she gets to the relevant chapters. There is no overview for her prior to this when there really should have been. Whilst The Glimmering Valley is good in its way as a starter campaign for the players, it is less so for the Game Master. There is not the step-by-step process for the Game Master as there is for the players, so it is not as suitable for the first time Game Master and certainly not as suitable as the author necessarily intended. For all the simplicity of The Glimmering Valley, the campaign needs more effort than it really should to set up for a first campaign.

Physically, The Glimmering Valley is very well done. Both the artwork and the cartography are as excellent as you would expect for a supplement for Numenera, and the book is well written.

The Glimmering Valley is a good first campaign for the players, taking both them and their characters from positions of relative unawareness about the world to realising how big and how different it is by having them make discoveries and uncover dangers and face them. There is a genuine sense of growth and progress to the campaign which will all lead to the characters being prepared for the wider world, as well as both their players and the Game Master.

Quick-Start Saturday: Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure

Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she can still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

—oOo—

What is it?

Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is an introduction to Tales of the Old West, a historical roleplaying game set on the American frontier using the Year Zero mechanics.

It is a sixty-four page, primarily black and white book with colour maps.

The quick-start is nicely illustrated with some decent maps.

How long will it take to play?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure can be played through in a single session, or two sessions at most.

What else do you need to play?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure requires multiple six-sided dice. These should be divided between two different colours.

Where is it set?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is set in and around the town of Carson’s Folly, a hunting and trapping town in Colfax County, New Mexico.

Who do you play?
There are five ready-to-play Player Characters given in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure. They consist of an African American fur trader, a Caucasian grifter, a Native American Ranch Hand, an Irish Settler Homesteader, and a Mexican Cibolero Tracker.

The diversity of the ready-to-play Player Characters reflects the efforts of the authors to make the setting as accessible as possible, without resorting to stereotypes. This is balanced against the need to make the game fun. There is no general advice and certainly mention of the X-card that might be appropriate given the genre.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has four attributes—Grit, Quick, Cunning, and Docity—and a single stat, Faith, plus several skills. Faith need not be religious faith, but can instead be a firmly held belief. Examples include ‘I want to make my father proud’ or ‘I will find myself a family on the frontier’ or ‘the Lord is my shepherd’. He also has two Talents, a big dream, some gear, and some background. Of the four stats, Docity is the ability of a character to learn.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure and thus Tales of the Old West, uses the Year Zero engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a Player Character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to a combination of attribute and skill. The pool of dice consists of ‘Trouble’ dice and standard dice. There will always be ‘Trouble’ dice in the dice pool, up to five. A single roll of a six on either die type indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome and allow the Player Character to perform stunts. In combat, these might be to inflict extra damage or inflict a critical injury, but the players are free to create other effects as well.

If no sixes are rolled, the action fails. If ones are rolled on the ‘Trouble’ dice, these have no effect unless the player decides to ‘push’ the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice that did not roll a one or a six. However, if there are any ones remaining after the roll has been pushed, they trigger a check on the ‘Trouble Outcome Table’. There is a ‘Trouble Outcome Table’ for conflict and physical situations and for social and mental situations. The effects vary depending how many ones have been rolled.

For example, if a Player Character has generated two ones in a conflict, the outcome might be “You stumble, slip or trip. Lose your next slow action.” or “Your attack is underpowered, or your action is weak. Lose a 6 from your pool of successes.” This is a pleasingly random set of effects, and it is a pity that there is not a corresponding set of tables that can be used when a player rolls multiple successes, if only as inspiration.

However, it costs a point of Faith to trigger a Pushed roll and in roleplaying terms, it should ideally tie into the Player Character’s Faith statement as this is a way of gaining Experience Points, but it need not do. Faith can also be spent to negate the effects of ‘Trouble’ dice, on a one-for-one basis. In Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure, a Player Character starts play with four points of Faith, but they can go up to ten. It is possible for a Player Character to lose his Faith and be Shaken.

How does combat work?
Conflict in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure uses the same core mechanics and allows a Player Character to act twice per round. This is either a fast action and a slow action, or two fast actions. A Slow Action might be ‘Shoot’, ‘Melee Attack’, and ‘Mount’, whilst a ‘Fast Action might be ‘Quick Shot’, ‘Aim’, and ‘Draw Weapon’. The conflict rules cover social situations as well as fist fights, shootouts, and of course, duels. The latter covers the face-off at the start of the duel followed by the duellists going for their guns. Along with a ‘Critical Injury Table’, the rules are fairly compressive and cover most situations in the accompanying situation.

What do you play?
The adventure in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is ‘The Last Cibolero’. A ‘Cibolero’ is a Mexican buffalo hunter and the scenario is all about buffalo hunting. The Player Characters are involved in the fur and trapping trade, but like the rest of the townsfolk, do not hunt the herds of buffalo indiscriminately and this is the issue at the heart of the scenario. When the New Mexico Mercantile Cooperative, a well-backed outfit working out of Santa Fe, moves into the town to take as many hides as it can, it sets up a tension between the locals and the outsiders. As first one Cibolero and then another is found dead, this tension ratchets up and civility breaks down until the town is on the verge of open conflict...

The scenario includes four maps and floorplans. These are all well done. Besides the scenario, there is background information upon the local area and the town of Carson’s Folly and its inhabitants. The Game Master can develop more stories based on some of the secrets and wishes of the inhabitants with some effort.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure are easy to prepare, especially if the Game Master has any experience with the Year Zero engine. The scenario itself is quite straightforward and overall, it requires relatively little in the way of preparation.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure are a solid introduction to both its setting and its concepts, which are very easy to grasp as everyone is familiar with the Wild West, although the included scenario, ‘The Last Cibolero’, will be unfamiliar and unlike almost any tale of the Wild West seen on screen.

Where can you get it?
The Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is available for purchase here.

The Kickstarter campaign for Tales of the Old West can be found here.

Friday Fantasy: The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh

The poor village of Hendenburgh stands in the middle of the Kryptwood, an ancient forest steeped in legend and history. For years, the Kryptwood has encroached upon the village, covering the walls of its whitewashed cottages with ivy, but pulling the tendrils of the evergreen climber from the walls of their homes is something that the villagers can easily handle, whereas the most problem thing to beset Hendenburgh is one that they are ill-equipped to deal with. Murderous demon hounds haunt the Kryptwood, ripping apart anyone who dares enter its reaches and even snatching lone villagers from the streets of the small settlement. An attempt to drive the spectral hounds from the Kryptwood, led by Ulvar the Poacher, resulted in failure and the death of several villagers. The demon hounds and what they are, are just one of the dangers and secrets to be found in and around the village of Hendenburgh. Highwaymen lurk in the forest, ready to pounce on Hendenburgh’s misfortune; a coven of witches wants everything to be returned to normal; the old silver mine stands abandoned, infested with monsters that drove out the miners and sowed the seeds of Hendenburgh’s poverty; a Bridge Troll has gone on strike after a drunken pixie failed to pay the toll; and at its heart, the Tomb of the Tyrant, the last resting place of the Kryptwood Tyrant, a despot who ruled the region a thousand years ago.

This is the situation in The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh, a scenario published by The Merry Mushmen, best known for Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition and A Folklore Bestiary, as well as the fanzine, Knock! An Adventure Gaming Bric-à-Brac. Funded via a Kickstarter campaign along with Raiding the Obsidian Keep, it is designed for Player Characters of Second to Fourth Level, it is adaptation and expansion for use with Old School Essentials of an earlier scenario, Hounds of Hendenburgh, written for use with the microclone, Cairn. It is essentially, a hexcrawl with multiple locations—some twenty-four of them, occupying half of the hexcrawl’s forty-eight hexes—and multiple, often interlinked plots. These plots will pull and push the Player Characters across the Kryptwood, ultimately to the scenario’s three big locations. These are the ‘The Infested Silver Mine’, ‘The Ancient Villa’, and ‘The Tyrant’s Tomb’. As written, it is also linked to Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow, the first adventure module published by The Merry Mushmen. Thus, it can be run, if not as a direct sequel, then as the next scenario in the Player Characters’ adventures. Alternatively, it can simply be dropped into a Game Master’s own setting and used without any links to Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow.

As with Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow, this is another digest-sized scenario which comes as a thick seventy or so page booklet in a wraparound card cover. The trade dress echoes that of classic TSR, though the artwork is more cartoonish. The cover has been purposely distressed and inside are maps of the three main adventuring locations in the Kryptwood, all done in a white on blue style that again echoes classic modules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. The cartoonish style of artwork continues throughout in a duotone of blue and grey, depicting the sense of gloom and horror that pervades the region—and the adventure.

The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is a very traditional in terms of its design. It begins with the ‘classic village in peril’ set-up in which Hendenburgh and its inhabitants are endangered by a major threat, that is, the demon hounds. Added to this are a handful of other, lesser threats—a band of highwaymen, the cause of the silver mine being abandoned which has led to the region’s decline, the village pastor having been defrocked for heresy, and so on. Understandably, the villagers are rightly worried about the danger that the demon hounds represent, but these are not their only concerns. There is the winsome and inappropriately young wife of the senile Lord of Hendenburgh, who wants to restore the village’s fortunes, but is also fascinated by the new learning, and regards the attacks by the demon hounds as peasant superstition, blaming them on a particularly vindictive badger. The pastor could be of great help to the Player Characters, but has become a spiteful drunk after being denounced by his flock! The town miller is in deep mourning for his wife, killed by the demon hounds, so no grain is being ground for flour, and thus there is no bread being baked, whereas in fact, his wife has run off with the highwaymen! The blacksmith cannot work out why the Widow Winstaple reviles him so, despite him loving her very much and having dosed her tea with a love potion he acquired from the three witches in the woods. These NPCs—and in fact, all of the NPCs in The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh, because there are also many to be found across Kryptwood Forest as well—are really great. Not only will interacting with them garner the Player Characters knowledge, but it will also create some great roleplaying between the players and the Game Master.

Beyond the limits of Hendenburgh, Kryptwood is rife with yet more encounters and locations. There is the aforementioned coven of witches and their squadron of flying monkeys, a fashionably employed hermit, that troll bridge with the striking troll, the Highwaymen and their louchely charismatic leader, and even ‘The Thirsty Sprite’, a tavern deep in the woods that caters to pixies and other creatures. Then, of course, there are the scenario’s three main adventure sites, ‘The Infested Silver Mine’, ‘The Ancient Villa’, and ‘The Tyrant’s Tomb’. These are not large, but they are highly detailed and they will keep the Player Characters busy for multiple sessions. They are also dangerous, if not outright deadly, and any party rushes into unprepared will find its numbers potentially severely depleted. These three locations, as well as the witches’ coven, are where the horror elements of scenario come to the fore. For make no mistake The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is a horror scenario. Primarily that horror is folkloric and gothic in nature, but ‘The Infested Silver Mine’ feels like the film Alien as well. There is a touch of whimsy too, such as the drunken Pixies and bored Ogre bartender at ‘The Thirsty Sprite’ or the reluctant, but fashionably employed hermit. The combination is reminiscent of Hammer Horror film with a touch of bawdy grubbiness that will make the Game Master want to cast the scenario’s many NPCs and villains with their favourite character actors.

The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is also very well supported and organised. It breaks down the various factions in the scenario, gives a handful of hooks to get the Player Characters there, provides tables of encounters for all of the main locations, and at the end lists what will happen to Hendenburgh once the Player Characters have left. This includes if they do nothing as well as the possible consequences if they get involved. Appendices list all of the scenario’s NPCs, new magical items, and potential retainers and/or replacement Player Characters. Again, these are all very good, the magical items in particular being unique and interesting in each and every case, such as a Clockwork Canary that attaches to the belt and sings whenever poisonous or explosive gas is detected or the Agoniser, a dagger that can inflict excruciating pain sufficient to paralyse temporarily the person stabbed!

Physically, The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is very well presented. The writing is succinct and laid out in an easy to grasp style, whilst the artwork is entertaining throughout. The cartography of the various buildings and caves and dungeons in the scenario feel slightly grubbier than in Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow, but are still not as detailed as they could be. This will not hinder the Game Master running The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh, but none really help their locations come to life either.

The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is a great horror hexcrawl, brimming with flavoursome detail and plot, populated with a fantastic cast of NPCs that the Game Master is going to enjoy roleplaying, and rife with adventure possibilities. It is a genuine joy to see how well this is designed and put together, but at the table, The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is going to be so much fun to run, let alone play.

Mapping Your Jungle

Given the origins of the roleplaying hobby—in wargaming and in the drawing of dungeons that the first player characters, and a great many since, explored and plundered—it should be no surprise just how important maps are to the hobby. They serve as a means to show a tactical situation when using miniatures or tokens and to track the progress of the player characters through the dungeon—by both the players and the Dungeon Master. And since the publication of Dungeon Geomorphs, Set One: Basic Dungeon by TSR, Inc. in 1976, the hobby has found different ways in which to provide us with maps. Games Workshop published several Dungeon Floor Sets in the 1980s, culminating in Dungeon Planner Set 1: Caverns of the Dead and Dungeon Planner Set 2: Nightmare in Blackmarsh; Dwarven Forge has supplied dungeon enthusiasts with highly detailed, three-dimensional modular terrain since 1996; Loke BattleMats publishes them as books; and any number of publishers have sold maps as PDFs via Drivethrurpg.com. 1985 Games does none of these. Instead, as the name suggests it looks back to the eighties and produces its maps in a format similar to the Dungeon Floor Sets from Games Workshop, but designed for use in 2025 not 1985.

Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread is a box of terrain geomorphs, some forty-six sheets of them! Each sheet is of light card, covered in plastic so that it works with both wet and dry erase markers, and marked with an eight-by-ten grid of one-inch squares. All of the sheets are depicted in full vibrant colour. Some are also marked in dotted lines which indicate lines where the Game Master can cut and sperate buildings, ruins, trees and flowers, threats and monsters. Some sheets depict single locations, locations, or monsters, such as a ziggurat, parts of a broken statue, plateaus with caves and sinkhole, the upturned hull of a ship caught up in some trees, a inn, city buildings, and even a giant serpent. Others depict a series of hide tents, one large and several small, a handful of ruins, sections of undergrowth and some cages, a pair of pterodactyls, four patches of quicksand, and several monkeys and leopards, and last, but not least a tyrannosaurus rex, some velociraptors and some turtle warriors, and some pteranodons. Which sounds all great, but there is more to each of these sheets, and that is because each is double-sided.

Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread does not simply reprint the same locations, objects, and creatures on the other side. In some cases, it reprints the same location or object, but with a change in status. Most commonly, the ziggurat, the broken statuary, and ruins are depicted again, but covered in vines. Empty animal cages are full on the other side, burning tents are shown blackened and smoldering, areas of quicksand have people trapped in them and screaming on one side and empty on another, and the insides of buildings are revealed, for example, the upturned hull of a ship turns out to house a tavern. Similarly, many of the reverse side of the monsters and creatures are different, in the case of the creatures showing them at night, their colours muted, whilst the monsters on their other side are blighted or even undead. Which begs the question that every Game Master is going to want to ask after perusing the contents, which is, “Are my players ready to face a zombie tyrannosaurus?” Thus simply flipping the counters and locations over doubles usefulness of the Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread as well as helping to keep parts of a location or encounter secret until the game Master Master is ready to reveal them.

Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread is obviously designed to work with a fantasy setting such as that for Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, or any number of retroclones or fantasy roleplaying games. Indeed, Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread was actually designed to support the first two chapters of the Tomb of Annihilation for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, whilst its companion set, Dungeon Craft: Fallen Kingdom supports the other chapters in the campaign. However, there are no game stats in Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread and it is an entirely systems neutral gaming accessory. Given its jungle locales, Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread would well with a Pulp sensibility, whether that is Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos or Achtung! Cthulhu. It would even work with some Science Fiction roleplaying games and miniatures wargames rules, especially those that inches for their movement scale. All of this can be done flat on the table or used with the BattleMap: Jungle City. This is a large twenty-four-by-thirty-three inch map which provides a grid onto which the various locations, objects, and creatures can be placed.

Physically, Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread comes in a sturdy which also contain a single introduction and instructions sheet. Beyond that, the rest of Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread is all maps that can be easily adjusted with the addition of the various terrain pieces and marked up and wiped clean as necessary.

Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread is a fantastically themed ‘Lost World’, ‘Valley of the Dinosaurs’, box of maps and geomorphs. For the Game Master using miniatures and wanting to take her campaign into the jungle where secrets and dinosaurs remain hidden, Dungeon Craft: Jungles of Dread is simply a good choice.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley

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 The Valley Out of Time.

The first volume in the six-part series, The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley takes you into ‘The Valley Out of Time’. Published by Skeeter Green Productions, it is written for use with both the Dungeon Crawl Classics RolePlaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, ‘The Valley Out of Time’ is a ‘Lost Worlds’ style setting a la X1 The Isle of Dread, and films such as The Land that Time Forgot, The Lost World, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, One Million years, B.C., and others, plus the artwork of Frank Frazetta. Combining dinosaurs, Neanderthals, and a closed environment, it is intended to be dropped into a campaign with relative ease and would work in both a fantasy campaign or a post-apocalyptic campaign. It could even work as a bridge between the two, with two different possible entries into ‘The Valley Out of Time’, one from a fantasy campaign and one from a post-apocalyptic campaign.

The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is the second entry in the series. Published following a Kickstarter campaign, like the first issue, it opens with a list of hooks and motivations to get the Player Characters into the Timeless Valley, whether that is to search for a rare item or McGuffin, ending up in the valley via random gate or teleport, simple discovery of the vale between two mountain chains, or a previously closed off valley suddenly being opened by gods or the like, for reasons which will become clear. The eponymous scenario, ‘Exploring to the Valley’ begins with the Player Characters travelling across the valley. Having encountered a tribe of Urmanoids, the Neanderthal-like species native to the valley, and helped fend off two attacks upon their camp, first by a giant lizard and then by a pack of Dinychus attracted by the first attack, in the scenario in The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley, the Player Characters continue their travels in ‘Exploring to the Valley’. They spot a more-like figure in the distance, obviously more technologically capable. If they follow her, they will discover that she is a scout for a group of hunters from a tribe of Urman proto-humans. The Player Characters have the option to watch or participate in the hunt and then interact with the Urman, or even attack them.

Unfortunately, ‘Exploring to the Valley’ is not a scenario, but rather an extended encounter—and a frustrating one at that. The problem is that it focuses too much on the combat and not enough on the interaction, and although it introduces the female scout, she is only used as a lure to get the Player Characters to the encounter. As a whole, this is fiercely underdeveloped in terms of interaction and thus of opportunities for the Player Characters to learn anything about the surroundings and the Timeless Valley. As a consequence, there is no real pull or push for the Player Characters to do anything but wander around, and hope that something happens to them. This lack of development is compounded with the inclusion of not one, but two further encounters, neither of them designed to be run in conjunction with ‘Exploring to the Valley’. ‘A Cat-astrophe in the Grasslands’ is an encounter with a Pakthara, or giant sabre-tooth cat, whilst ‘Conventional Wisdom says RUN!’ is an encounter with a Strigoso, or giant owlbear. Both are for parties of high-Level Player Characters and thus highly unsuitable to be run with ‘Exploring to the Valley’, which is intended to be run with Player Characters of Second to Fourth Level.

As with The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley, the remainder of The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is dedicated to three appendices. The first, ‘Appendix A: New Monsters’ gives full write-ups for the various monsters and creatures which appear in the adventure, including the Drumahen, or giant bison, that the Urmans are hunting, as well as the Urman themselves. They are joined by the Gorge, or giant stirge, the Naga, Royal Cap giant fungus, and the Strigoso. These are all nicely detailed. The second, ‘Appendix B: Random Encounter Tables’ gives random encounter tables for the jungle, grasslands, and hills of the Timeless Valley. This followed by the stats for the encounters themselves, some sixty or more entries. This takes up half of the issue, and if the ‘Appendix A: New Monsters’ is added to that, almost two thirds of The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is devoted to just monsters.

The third and penultimate entry is ‘Appendix C: The Timeless Valley’. Where the previous article in the series in The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley suggested ways in which the Player Characters could be brought to the Timeless Valley, in this issue, it actually look at the Timeless Valley as a setting, but not in a way that is actually useful. It opens with “What is the Timeless Valley? Where is the Valley? WHO is the valley? Why is the Valley? All good – if somewhat silly – questions.” These are anything other than silly questions. They are very good questions, they are very pertinent questions, because in answering them, they provide the fundamentals of the setting and from those fundamentals can be created stories and plots and motivations. It then continues with, “The Judge needs to integrate as much or as little background as necessary to keep the players interested in the area. Here at SGP, we think that the valley is ripe for exploration, conquest, just plain killin’ new critters. Whatever motivates the players and keeps the campaign going is why it’s here.” Which begs a number of questions. First of which is, if that is what Skeeter Green Productions thinks, why is it avoiding every single opportunity to support it? Why does The Valley Out of Time not have a background or setting? Why does The Valley Out of Time not include anything that would support Player Character motivations? And why does Skeeter Green Productions think that fundamental basic questions about a setting that it wants its customers to buy and play are silly?

That said, ‘Appendix C: The Timeless Valley’ does actually provide some background. It provides the history and the legend of the Timeless Valley and explains how it came to be populated with dinosaurs and other great beasts, and has its technological development slowed. It is a good introduction to the setting and well written, but it comes with one big caveat. This is that it is a possibility of a background. So not the actual background to the Timeless Valley? What then is the point of it except as piece of fiction, because there is no reference to it elsewhere in the fanzine and certainly no ideas are given as how such a possible background relates to the current state or geography of the Timeless Valley expect for the dinosaurs and the lack of technological development.

Physically, The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is well presented, although the artwork does vary in quality. As with The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley, this issue continues its ‘Partwork’-like structure.

The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley is ultimately, an exercise in frustration. Its content is for the most part undeniably good, and that is because the various monsters and beasts are all given good write-ups and the stats in the encounter tables are useful. The rest leaves the Judge to ask the question, “Yes, and?” because what the issue fails to do is develop the Timeless Valley as a setting and present suggestions as what the Player Characters might do or go. The lack of an overview of the Timeless Valley as a setting, let alone a map, leaves the Judge with the parts of setting, but not the actual setting itself. This is compounded by the lack of a proper scenario, one with an actual plot and something that the players and their characters can learn or gain from in playing. All of which is exacerbated by the last thing in the issue. Two pages which are left blank as ‘GM Notes’. Literally, blank pages instead of actually addressing the fundamental problems of The Valley Out of Time and The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley as a playable setting. As a consequence, The Valley Out of Time: Exploring the Valley completely fails to live up to its title. It is all about the monsters and nothing about exploring the valley.

Whether The Valley Out of Time is an actual setting or the parts of a setting that the Judge has to design and assemble herself remains to be seen.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Silam No. 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 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 Silam.

Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku and Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao were published by Wizards With Laser Rifles following a successful Kickstarter campaign. It presents a whole new setting for Dungeons Crawl Classics, including a Character Funnel adventure, three new Classes, and a brief introduction to the setting. All of which is preceded by an excellent map of the setting. ‘A Brief History of Silam’ provides the overview of the setting, one which is divided by attitudes towards magic. In the wake of the Glass Wars, The Three Powers arose in Silam to prevent the country sliding into civil war between the Lawful and Chaotic use of magic by Clerics and Wizards, an alliance between Neutral Wizards and Druids providing a balancing force between the two. The Three Powers built Spikes, subterranean bunkers where members could train, live, and protect themselves. After almost five hundred years, the young Queen Budhi initiated The Shattering which destroyed The Three Powers and then execute any magic-using member of her court and those that had participated in The Shattering. Over two decades later, a powerful cleric rose to usurp the queen—and almost succeeded. Great walls were erected between the lands of Queen Budhi and those held by the supporters of the cleric. Since then, a cold war between the Crown of Nicsa and the Tribe of Lliram has divided Silam as much as the walls.

The background has a particular effect upon the role of spellcasting Classes. Wizards cannot be Neutral and the background requires the use of the Druid as a Class. Unfortunately, one of the problems in Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is that it does not include a version of the Druid Class. Instead, it refers to other sources, ones that the Judge may not easily have access to. The Cleric worships not gods, as such but personifications of impulses such as ‘Protect’, ‘Change’, ‘Sleep’, and so on.

The Silam setting also does not use the Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling Race as per Dungeon Crawl Classics, although it does use as ‘Race as Class’ in introducing three new Races. These are the ‘Slate’, the ‘Icaron’, and the ‘Lorph’. The Slate is a tall, long-limbed humanoid with slate-like skin that gives an Armour Class bonus when not wearing armour and with ‘Metasig’s Touch’, grants them a Charge Die in combat. This can be rolled to create a ‘Defensive Field’ that gives a bonus to Armour Class or a ‘Melee Modifier’ that gives an attack modifier. The Slate can switch between the two from one round to the next and if the Charge Die rolls high enough, the defendant will also be stunned. A Slate’s Luck modifier applies to a single weapon also. The ‘Icaron’ is short and has bat-like features and vestigial wings. They have Echolocation with enclosed spaces and various Thief-like abilities, such as ‘Backstab’, ‘Climb Sheer Surfaces’, ‘Hide’, and ‘Sneak Silently’. Like the Halfling, the Icaron can also pass points of Luck to his allies, but the generosity of the Icaron means that he expects nothing in return. However, the universe gives back, actually returning some points of Luck afterwards! Lastly, the ‘Lorph’ are green-haired, brown-bearded, have wood-like finger and toenails, and are particularly indulgent. Their connection with the god of consumption, Haus, gives them the Forest Walk spell and they have the Charm Person spell which they can use on woodland creatures. Innately magical, Lorph can use both Cleric and Wizard spells, their use is subject to mercurial magic. However, their connection to both magic and Haus means that gaining too much magical power is dangerous and his ‘heart-seed’ can burst, causing him to transform into a tree and take root! A full list of the spells known by the Lorph is also included.

The second half of Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is dedicated to the Character Funnel, ‘The Spike of Dosku’. The Character Funnel is the signature scenario of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, one in which the players take control of four Zero Level Player Characters and attempt to have them survive an adventure or dungeon. Any Player Characters that do, gain sufficient Experience Points for them to be able to pick a Class and become First Level. To that end, Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku does include a table of occupations appropriate to the Silam setting. ‘The Spike of Dosku’ begins in the village of Hearth, in the lands of the Tribe of Lliram. Forces from the Crown of Nicsa are putting the village to the sward and the flame and whilst the Player Characters are led to a possible route out of the immediate conflict, it is through an abandoned Spike. The adventure is thus through a small training Druidic School of Magic. The Player Characters could rush through to the end, the route being relatively direct, but it pays for them to explore as they will need to gain every advantage if they are get past the very tough—especially for Zero Level Player Characters—guardian protecting the other exit from the Spike. In between, there are some entertaining encounters, like a drunken gargoyle barkeeper who is furious at having been bound to work behind the bar, a Soup Construct with a chip on its shoulder, and a giant Moss Spider that will either eat the Player Characters or leave the Spike as their lifelong companion! ‘The Spike of Dosku’ is a sold Funnel, playable in a session or two, and very nicely detailed.

Physically, Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is very well produced. The maps are nicely done and the artwork is excellent.

The problem with Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is that the setting itself feels slightly muddled. It is not quite clear what the relationships between the different factions are and what some of them want. This then makes it difficult to impart the conflict and tensions present in the setting to the players and thus provide some basic motivations for their characters. However, get past that and Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku provides a well presented set of Player Character options and a very enjoyable Character Funnel. Overall, Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku is a good introduction to the setting that hopefully Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao will build upon.

[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.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Legends of Uganda Issue #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 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 Legends of Uganda.

Legends of Uganda Issue #1 was published in August 2023 for Gen Con. Published by Sanctum Media, this a collection of lore and legends from the Republic of Uganda. Of course, there have been sourcebooks and supplements dedicated to Africa as a setting, such as Nyambe: African Adventures for the d20 System and Between Sand & Sea: Mythic Africa for Ars Magica—both from Atlas Games, but such titles tend not to be written by authors indigenous to the region. This is not the case with Legends of Uganda Issue #1, which is written by Ugandan game designer Ashraf Braden. This first issue details five legends and their stats, some weapons, and lastly a much needed pronunciation guide. It begins with an introduction from the author, explaining a little bit about his background and how he is drawing upon his country’s history in writing the fanzine, but also highlighting the difficulties in writing the fanzine, let alone bring it to print. Primarily this is due to a lack of access to the means, but he also makes clear that his publishers have been very helpful. Hopefully, this will continue and perhaps even encourage others from different cultures to contribute towards content for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics?

The first entry in Legends of Uganda Issue #1 is the ‘Kakondo’, one of numerous monsters detailed in the in the fanzine. Like many of the monsters detailed in the fanzine, it both hunts and haunts at night and it does so without being seen, but its presence is felt. This is as a supernatural presence, and once close to its victim, it paralyses him, inflicting terror and draining Personality. The ‘Lukwata’ is a sea serpent who took up residence in Lake Victoria, basking by day on an island called Ssese, and becoming the bane of fishermen of all three nations which border the lake. The ‘Lukwata’ can impale, cut, and slash with its gill-ridges and slash with its whiskers. The ‘River Elemental’ is a variant upon the Water Element, but specific to the rivers of Uganda. The ‘River Elemental’ is incredibly fast and can not only engulf and drown its victims, it can also drag debris within itself. This includes branches and scrub and uprooted trees and buildings, but where the creature gets fun is that this debris can include creatures like a swarm of fire ants or a Nile crocodile, and there is a chance that anyone struck by the River Elemental is also attacked or struck by the debris!

The final monster described in Legends of Uganda Issue #1  are the ‘Abasezi – The Night Dancers’. These are cursed cannibals who attend funerals unbidden and mark the graves before coming back to steal the bodies at night and return home to consume them. Because the curse is hereditary and family-based, outsiders have to carefully vet their would-be in-laws to see if they cursed. This is made difficult by the fact that the Abasezi look and act normal during the day. Each band of Abasezi has its own special ability, liking casting Sleeping Stones or Anthropophagus Healing. In comparison, to the entries in the fanzine, the Abasezi are nicely creepy, yet still relatable.

In addition to the actual monster descriptions, the author provides the legend those stats are derived from. For example, ‘Kamila’, meaning ‘swallower’ is a River Elemental sent as punishment by Nalubaale, the ‘mother of gods’, for anyone who annoyed her. The legend relates how Kamila would drown houses and their occupants at the command of Nalubaale, but was defeated by a fisherman by trapping it in house. Stats for ‘Kamila’ are also provided alongside the generic ones as well. 

In between are descriptions of African weapons, complete with associated Mighty Deeds. The ‘Yakoma’ or ‘sickle sword’ which has a sharply curved blade that can be used hook and tear, but primarily to pull an enemy off-balance and trip him. The ‘Panga’ and its larger counterpart, the ‘Ejambiya’, have heavy blades which can dismember limbs, and are much feared, whilst the ‘Fishing Net’ is used to entangle. All of these weapons have their own tables for the results of the Deed die. 

The only Class in Legends of Uganda Issue #1 is the ‘Bachwezi’. They are nomadic cattle keepers, again moving about at night, unseen, but heard as their voices and whistles carry, whilst leaving behind the remains of campfires. Descended from gods, in game terms they have higher attributes, prefer to have others fight for them, are Chaotic in Alignment, and by expending Luck, can turn invisible. Other powers include the ‘Soul-Bind’, the ability to rip a victim’s soul from his body and put this soul-form to work, whilst the victim remains magically asleep, and Telepathy. Use of these powers require the expenditure of Luck, and their effects can be increased by expending further Luck. They also regain Luck each night. However, all of these abilities are negated if a Bachwezi is exposed to sunlight, and even light stronger than moonlight imposes a penalty to actions. Stats are provided for the Bachwezi as NPCs or monsters, but this a much more powerful Class by usual Dungeon Crawl Classics standards. However, it remains to be seen if it is more powerful in comparison to other Classes that could appear in the pages of future issues of Legends of Uganda. 

Physically, Legends of Uganda Issue #1 is a plain, simple affair. The artwork is black and white, consisting of what looks like traditional depictions of the various monsters described in its pages.

If there is an issue with Legends of Uganda Issue #1, it is that in places its content does run into each other with little to delineate between one article and the next. Also, the fanzine is often written in a more personal style than is expected and the switch back and forth between that and a more objective style is slightly disconcerting.

Legends of Uganda Issue #1 really is a fascinating read, an opportunity to read about the monsters and legends of another country and not only that, but have translated into game terms—and all that by an indigenous author. Legends of Uganda Issue #1 brings a different voice and a different culture to Dungeon Crawl Classics and so widens it scope. It is more than welcome and hopefully more issues of Legends of Uganda and more voices will follow.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVI] Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3

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.

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 is another fine looking issue of the fanzine published by Blind Visionary Publications. As with the previous issues, it continues to provide long-term support rather than immediate support for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. This is not say that none of its content is not of use or even useless, for that is very much not the case, but rather that it requires a bit of effort upon the part of Judge to work it into her campaign. In fact, all of content is detailed, interesting, and worth reading. Published in August, 2021, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, where the previous issue, Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1 strayed into the territory of the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, both Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 2 and Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 have stuck to a very similar format and remained in the territory of Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 opens with ‘Dor Nyvs’. This is a new Patron, one that is of the five Archomentals of the plane of earth and as much an individual entity as part of the landscape. It is described as being a surprisingly active patron rather than simply accepting the sacrifices and devotion of its worshippers. Its Invoke Patron spells include effects such as ‘Buoyant Pumice’ which reduces the target’s mass, doubling the encumbrance capacity, and if actually unencumbered, quintupling his jumping distance, ‘Tectonic Folding’, which causes the earth and stone to fold around the targets, inflicting damage and potentially entrapping them, and with ‘Timeless Stone’ turning the target into stone for a number of decades equal to the spellburn spent. Dor Nyvs actually allows its worshippers to choose a lesser effect than the one rolled, whilst its patron taint first pummels the spellcaster and anyone nearby with hot pumice and then subsequently forces the caster to take on aspects of the elemental plane of earth. Its spellburn causes a caster to cough up pebble and silt, weep crystal shards, and so on, whilst its spells consist of Find Familiar, Life and Death of Stone, Summon Minion of Dor Nyvs, and Earth’s Cradle. Of these, Life and Death of Stone enables the caster to feel the pain of stone—living or dead, and even heal it; Summon Minion of Dor Nyvs summons an earth-related minion or two; and Earth’s Cradle enables to sink into the earth, move through it, and listen to his surroundings. Overall, nicely thematic, although the idea of its being an active patron is not explored beyond its mention.

‘Cullpepper’s Herbal’ continues the regular feature begun in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1. Here there is a guide to creating concoctions and herbal restoratives, which includes descriptions, flowering times, astrology, shoots, and more. This time the entries are all fungi: Death’s Head Agaric, and Red Agaric, all illustrated and all very nicely detailed. In all cases, the individual parts of the mushroom are broken done and their use explained, such as the cap of the Red Agaric being poisonous unless boiled twice, and then very tasty in a stew, the stalk being useful as a thickener in stew, as a glue, and can be boiled down to make a covering for footwear that is waterproof, and the gills, if dried, work as an emetic, but good for flushing parasites out of the bowels! Not all of this information is necessarily going to be useful, but it great detail for a herbalist Player Character or NPC.

‘Rites & Rituals Part III’ continues the expanded use of magic and rituals in Dungeon Crawl Classics, begun in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1. Rituals are more powerful than normal spells, and their inherent power, unlinked to any god or deity, means that anyone can cast them. What this leads to is the creation of standardised rituals to achieve the same objective, but which are different from one cult or organisation to another. ‘Rites & Rituals Part I’ in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 1 explained how they work, whilst cleric-related rituals were detailed in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 2. ‘Rites & Rituals Part III’ suggests ways in which they can used to enhance game play and add roleplaying scenes and adds two more sample rituals. These are Homunculi Servant and Sky Citadel, extending the range available.

The monster detailed in Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 is the ‘Tentacular’. This is a weird combination of feline and tentacular monstrosity, essentially cat plus the Eye Tyrant of Greyhawk Supplement IV. It has the head and body of a cat, but instead of legs and tails, it has tentacles. It also has a beak through which it draws the souls of its victims and food. An Adult Tentacular has different powers in each of its eyes, such as being able to spot arcane spellcasters with one eye because they radiate a red aura, shoot blasts of corruption, or fires a beam of energy that rends armour in two! The Tentacular preys on wizards in particular, even needing to feed on their souls to undergo the change into a juvenile and into an adult. It is a fanatically, horrifyingly detailed write-up of a weird and wondrous creature, but the lengthy article does not suggest any ideas as to how the creature might be used in a game.

The companion piece to ‘Tentacular’ is ‘Tentacular kin – Fuzzies, Steelies, and Beakies’, inspired by an image which originally appeared in The Dungeoneer, Vol. 1, No. 2., accompanying the article, ‘Fuzzies & Steelies’ by Jennell Jacquays. If the Tentacular is the fanzine’s answer to the Beholder of Dungeons & Dragons fame, then as Fuzzies and Steelies were described as ‘beholderkin’, then it made sense for the Tentacular to have its own. These are the mutated result of a young Tentacular consuming the soul of a corrupted wizard or soul-eater. All three creatures live up to their singular names, the Fuzzie being a ball of stiff fur, the Steelie having a shell of hardened fur, and a Beakie a sharp beak capable of biting through armour and breaking bones! The Fuzzle and Steelie have sting attacks and can wield weapons with their tentacles, whereas the Beakie does not and instead has a sonic attack which can either be sleep-inducing purr or a piercing yowl. These are nice additions, but the article does not develop any of the three creatures beyond this.

In between, ‘You, Too, Can Gongfarm!’ offers a means of an Elf, Dwarf, or Halfling only rolling occupations particular to their races when creating Player Characters for a Character Funnel, the signature game style of Dungeon Crawl Classics in the players roleplay multiple Zero Level characters in the hope that some survive to advance to First Level. It is short and simple. Rounding out the issue is Joel Philips’ ‘Onward Retainer’. This continues the comic strip about the retainer in the fantasy roleplaying games begun in the first issue. It is nicely drawn and is a reasonable enough read, though not as funny as it is trying to be. Lastly, ‘Word Wyrms’ is another two pages of word puzzles. Great if you like word puzzles, otherwise, very much not. Unlike in previous issues, there is no editorial, just a listing of the contents on the back cover.

Physically, Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 is well written and the fanzine as a whole, has high production values. The artwork is good throughout, and the front cover again echoes the illustration from the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, by Dave Trampier, which is based on the Street of the Knights on the Greek island of Rhodes. This is an illustration that the fanzine will return to again and again for its front covers.

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 picks up where Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 2 left off. It is a very good-looking third issue, but none of the content is immediately useful or applicable to a game and the Judge will need to work it into her campaign. The other issue is the lack of application and the lack of advice on how to use any of the content, all of which would have made the fanzine of more immediate use. Tales from the Smoking Wyrm No. 3 contains good solid material, but it may not make to the table until after the Judge has decide what she wants to do with it.