[Fanzine Focus XXXVII] Scout Magazine #I

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a non-professional 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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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, Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay, and Swords & Wizardry have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Old School Essentials.

Scout Magazine is a fanzine that comes packed with content that the Game Master can add to her Old School Essentials or change how it is played. This is no matter whether she uses the basic rules of Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy or the advanced options of Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy. Although specially written for use with Old School Essentials, it is easily adapted to the retroclone of Game Master’s choice or even added to Dolmenwood, the setting and retroclone also published by Necrotic Gnome.

Scout Magazine #I was published in July, 2023 by PBenardo. It includes four new Classes, over thirty new magical items, an array of new rules, and articles that explore crime, criminal activities, and punishment. The four Classes start with the Necrourge, something somewhere between the living and the dead, able to walk silently through crypts, strike enemies for an Energy Drain attack that increases the Necrourge’s Strength, hold its breath for an hour, pass as Undead with other Undead, use necromantic scrolls, and possesses all of the resistances and susceptibilities of the Undead, whilst retainers and mercenaries are reluctant to enter its employment. It is an underwhelming start for the fanzine, as the new Class is not that interesting and does not offer a great deal of game play except possibly in campaigns where darker and more evil characters are the norm. The same is true of the second Class, the Crone, but it has more game play to it. The Crone can give herself an illusory appearance once per day, but to do anything else, she must gorge on the fresh remains of humanoid creatures daily in a ‘Cursed Feast’. This is a disturbing sight for anyone watching, including humans, demihumans, and humanoid monsters, and retainers who witness it, have to make a Loyalty check. The ‘Cursed Feast’ restores the Crone’s ‘Bag of Souls’, from which she can cast reversed versions of the Divine spells from the Cleric’s list. Each spell Level cast costs a number of points from the ‘Bag of Souls’. The total number of points in the ‘Bag of Souls’ is equal to the Crone’s Level. Effectively then, the ‘Bag of Souls’ acts as a spell point mechanic for the Crone. Add the Crone’s ability to temporarily enchant items and create a Coven at Ninth Level and whilst a dark, chaotic Class, there is flavour to it that enhances the game play. The Crone also lends itself as the basis for good NPCs.

There have been many variants of the Merchant as a Class, but the version in Scout Magazine #I is all about people. The Merchant gains more rumours than other Classes, learns extra languages, and as a salesman, gains a bonus when bargaining, buying, and selling. He also has the Appraise skill and can join a merchant guild network and eventually open a branch of the guild. Hiring and shipping is cheaper and easier as a guild member. The interesting element of the Class is that the Merchant can build long term relationships with his retainers. The more Levels a retainer gains in a Merchant’s employ, the more his morale improves and beyond that, his Hit Points! This version of the Class does a good job of widening the gaming potential of the role.

Similarly, the Swashbuckler is not a new Class, although this version is. The Swashbuckler can retreat without incurring an Armour Class penalty and replaces his Strength with his Dexterity as you would expect for attack rolls and damage. Thieves tends to be loyal to the Swashbuckler more so than other retainers and if the Game Master is using the optional parrying rule for Old School Essentials, the Swashbuckler doubles his Dexterity bonus for to parry. If an attack against a Swashbuckler misses, he can riposte, though this is at a increasing penalty for each failed attack in a Round. Swashbuckler skills include Climb Sheer Surfaces, Hear Noise, Move Silently, and Pick Pockets. This version of the Swashbuckler is decent enough, more thief or pirate than musketeer.

The ‘Magic Items’ section does a nice line in named and interesting weapons. For example, Sword +1, Lifegiver is a cursed weapon sword said to have belonged to a selfless saint that is a -2 weapons versus humanoids, but increases its damage die against undead, and can revive someone if they have not been dead for more than a single Turn, but this costs the wielder permanent points of Constitution. There are not just swords described, but also daggers and longbows, and more, as well as miscellaneous items like the Crown Of Spell Absorption which has an empty slot for a gem and when there is a gem placed in the slot, it absorbs spells, the more valuable the gem, the more Levels of spells it can absorb, or the Scoundrel’s Rabbit Foot, said to have belonged to a disreputable outlaw, which enables the owner’s player to ask for a single dice roll to be made again once per day, but also gives the entire party of Player Characters a foul presence, makes them look like criminals to non-Chaotic retainers, and secretly, shift’s the owner’s Alignment to Chaotic. Many of these items are more complex than the average magical item, but then there is more depth and detail to what they can do and how they can make play interesting.

The ‘Optional Rules’ offer a wide range of additions to standard play of Old School Essentials. They start with ‘New Class Abilities’. These are for Classes for both Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy and Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy, so ‘Race as Class’ and ‘Race and Class’. For the Barbarian Class, the ‘Berserker’ ability adds the Constitution bonus to Armour Class, whilst also adding a movement bonus, can inflict ‘Brutal Blows’ at a cost of Armour Class reduction, and ‘War Cry’ forces a Morale check on the enemy when committing a charge attack. For the Ranger, ‘Ambusher’ grants an attack and damage bonus on surprised creatures, ‘Pass Without Trace’ removes movement penalties in difficult terrain and means a Ranger leaves no trace of his movement, and the alternative ‘Tracking’ rule accounts for both the Ranger’s Level and the age of the tracks. Not every Class is given new options, but what is given here expands the Classes in interesting ways.

‘Useful Rulings’ provides quick solutions to common situations, such as clearing a jump, curses, diseases, ability drain, hunger and thirst, and more. There is even a quick and dirty guide to handling insanity for settings influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos. In such a setting, a Player Character who fails a saving throw against madness is forever touched by the mythos. If failed, the Player Character suffers nightmares and sleep deprivation, but gains the capacity to better understand and even use knowledge and powers related to the Mythos. The number of times a Player Character can fail a saving throw versus madness is equal to his Wisdom bonus. Unfortunately, the rules do not clearly explain if a Player Character can go insane, so they are a bit too quick and dirty.

‘Dirty Deeds’ takes the Player Characters to the black market where they can buy goods from shady dealers. The latter have to be found first and the effort runs the risk of the Player Characters being ratted out to the authorities. It includes a list of dusts, oils, and tinctures, hemlock dust, peace lily compound oil, and rainbow cactus tincture, some of which a shady dealer might have for sale and if not, another shady dealer might have others. The list restricts itself to poisons and drugs, so it is limited in scope and there is no discussion of possible other goods or even services that a shady dealer might have for sale. Nevertheless, useful for the Thief and the Assassin Classes—and other ne’er-do-wells, as well developing the seamier side of towns and cities in the Game Master’s campaign. The last article in the issue complements this one. ‘Designing Poisons’ enables the Game Master to expand or design the range of poisons available in her campaign. It uses a pair of templates to help the Game Master to create deadly poisons and paralytic agents. It is fairly simple to use and all the Game Master has to do is add colour and detail to the various concoctions.

Should such ne’er-do-wells, though, get arrested and thrown in gaol, ‘Crime And Punishment’ is there to settle the matter. Determining the judgement is a simple matter of rolling two six-sided dice, the lower the result the more severe the punishment and if the player rolls nine or more, his character goes free. The roll is modified by the severity of the crime—the article includes a long list of them under its ‘Code Legal’, plus bribes and skill of the legal representation. The roll determines the judgement and there are suggested sentences for every number, from eight down to minus one. The former may result in a fine, short sentence, or confiscation of arms, whilst the later definitely results in execution. The system is short and dirty, but serviceable.

Physically, Scout Magazine #I is tidily presented. It is very lightly illustrated.

Scout Magazine #I provides the Game Master and her players with a lot of new content. Some of it, such as the Necrourge and Crone Classes have limited use, whilst all of it is optional. Much of it will add detail to a campaign, but some cases, such as the new and alternative Class abilities and the ‘Useful Rulings’, this means adding extra complexity to game play. Overall, a decent collection of new options for Old School Essentials, but the Game Master will want to pick and chose what she does want to use.