[Fanzine Focus XLI] Cursed Scroll #1

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. A more recent Old School Renaissance-style roleplaying game which right from the start of its appearance began being supported by fanzines, is ShadowDark, published by The Arcane Library. One such fanzine is Cursed Scroll. This is not only a fanzine for ShadowDark, but since it is actually published by The Arcane Library, it is the official fanzine for ShadowDark, fulfilling a similar role as Carcass Crawler does for Necrotic Gnome of Old School Essentials.

Cursed Scroll #1 carries the subtitle of ‘Shadowdark Zine Vol. 1: Diablerie!’. Published in December 2021, the theme for the inaugural issue is all things demonic and diabolic, and this includes both a mini-hexcrawl and a mini dungeon as well as three new Classes, new monsters, and spells. All of which is linked, so that the Game Master is provided with a complete mini-setting and campaign that can be run as is, added to her campaign, or pulled out and used separately. The setting for Cursed Scroll #1 is ‘The Gloaming’, an ancient forest of black trees, moss strewn standing stones, and fog-shrouded marshes, but worse, demons that hatch from the region’s dark marrow trees, forcing inhabitants to cower behind wooden palisades, warily watching for diabolic incursion and waiting for the Knights of St. Ydris to ride forth from Greywall Priory and strike down the demons and dismiss from this blighted mortal realm, as is their mandate. ‘The Gloaming’ is a hexcrawl covering an area of seventeen by eleven hexes, thirty-four by twenty-two miles, roughly seven-hundred-and-fifty square miles. It has tables for rumours and encounters and in ‘The Gloaming Hex Key’, gives detailed descriptions of twenty-five locations across the region. These include crazy Uncle Grigor, a witch who wades barefoot through the bogs collecting leeches for treatment and pickling and who might take on an apprentice who shares the same love of leeches and leechcraft; Victoria, a maternal werewolf who has recently lost her cubs and from her Bone Cave is now plotting to turn the children of a local village into a new pack of werewolf cubs; and the Mud Pit where Ixidian, a swamp dragon, who writhes in the murk and the mud of a deep ravine, greedily awaiting the next sacrifice thrown to him by cultists that have made camp nearby and prey on nearby passing travellers.

Two notable locations include Greywall Priory from where the small order, the Knights of St. Ydris, attempt to put an end to the demons that threaten the region and Bittermold Keep, the former seat of the Bittermold family, its stone walls long melted by the slime which bubbles up deep from under the ground from a shrine dedicated to the primordial ooze, Mugdulblub, poisoning the minds of those it does not melt. These are both expanded in different ways. For the Knights of St. Ydris, there is a new Class, whilst for Bittermold Keep, there is a complete mini-dungeon. ‘The Gloaming’ has a mouldering, muddy feel of a land gripped by lurking horror and foreboding. ‘The Gloaming’ is deigned for First Level Player Characters.

The Knights of St. Ydris is the first of thee Classes in the issue, a cursed knight who follows St. Ydris in embracing the demonic to fight the unholy. Notably, three times a day he can undergo ‘Demonic Possession’ to increase damage done and from Third Level, can lean Witch’s spells. The version of the Warlock Class is radically different to that normally seen in Dungeons & Dragons-style gaming. They are howling warriors and doomspeakers for their patrons, such as Shune the Vile, Mugdulblub, or The Willowman. Each of these grants random Patron Boons, and it is these that the influence what a Warlock can do. For example, Warlocks of Almazzat can temporarily gain advantage on melee attacks and initiative, whilst those of Titania can temporally hypnotise creatures, learn to wield a longbow, and gain protection against hostile spells. The Warlock is not a straightforward Class to play, but requires effort upon the part of both player and Game Master to bring the relationship between Warlock and Patron to life. The Witch Class is more traditional, being described as a cackling crone with milky eyes that can see portents, but also gains a familiar and potentially, the ability to teleport to the familiar once per day, as well as having its own set of Witch spells. All three Classes have their own set of titles that vary according to Alignment, a table of Diabolic Backgrounds, and for the Warlock, descriptions of the Patron options.

The Witch spells are a good mix. For example, Bogboil transforms an area of ground into a boiling, muddy bog of quicksand; Broomstick enables the Witch to fly; Cat’s Eye lets her see invisible creatures and secret doors with eyes that have turned to slits; and with Curse, she can instil curses such as horrible boils and warts, a constantly shrill voice, always losing at gambling, an irrational fear, and so on. Most work better with the Witch Class rather than the Knights of St. Ydris, and a player with a Knight of St. Ydris character may want to work with the Game Master to select the spells that he thinks is appropriate.

Many of the monsters in Cursed Scroll #1 can be found in ‘The Gloaming’ or ‘The Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub’. They include the Marrow Fiend, the wolf-like demons that hatch from the area’s marrow trees; Howlers, cannibalistic Halflings with sharpened teeth; and the Tar Bat, which an oil tar that it will set alight by flying into open flames and potentially doing more damage. Also included are stats for two of the Warlock’s possible Patrons, Mugdulblub and The Willowman.

The last entry in Cursed Scroll #1 is ‘The Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub’. This is a one-level dungeon for First Level Player Characters, the squelchy, acid-scarred dungeon below Bittermold Keep. The factions in the dungeon include devolved members of the Bittermold family; Howlers, Halfling cultists dedicated to Mugdulblub, whose leader is happy to let all dissolve if it will defeat the Bittermolds; vengeful Catfish mutated by Mugdulblub who are annoyed about being sacrifices; and Mugdulblub himself, who considers only the survivors worthy of worshipping him. The dungeon comes with rumours, but the Game Master may want more to get her players and their characters involved. The dungeon itself is clammy and muculent with barely a dry surface and plenty of sludge and mud underfoot. It is good for a mini-campaign as part of ‘The Gloaming’ hexcrawl, but can be run separately. Whether run separately or as part of the hexcrawl, the dungeon should take two or three sessions to fully explore.

Physically, Cursed Scroll #1 adheres to the style of ShadowDark. Thus, it is clean, tidy, and laid out. The illustrations and cartography are also good.

What is a so good about Cursed Scroll #1 is that it is a complete package, a mini-supplement all of its very own. That means that it is also easy to drop into a campaign and easy to add to. For example, the more recent Dark Visions and The Tower of Six would work well with this. Cursed Scroll #1: Shadowdark Zine Vol. 1: Diablerie! is a good first issue packed with playable content for ShadowDark.