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 how 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. As new fanzines have appeared, there has been an interest in the fanzines of the past, and as that interest has grown, they have become highly collectible, and consequently more difficult to obtain and write about. However, in writing about them, the reader should be aware that these fanzines were written and published between thirty and forty years ago, typically by roleplayers in their teens and twenties. What this means is that sometimes the language and terminology used reflects this and though the language and terminology is not socially acceptable today, that use should not be held against the authors and publishers unduly.
The Beholder was a British fanzine first published in April, 1979. Dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, it ran to twenty-seven issues, the last being published in July, 1981. It was popular and would be awarded ‘Best Games Fanzine’ at the Games Day convention in 1980. After the final issue of The Beholder, the editors would go on to release a number of anthologies which collected content from the complete run of the fanzine such as Beholder Supplement Glossary of Magic, which collected many of the magical items which appeared in the fanzine and collated them into a series of tables for easy use by the Dungeon Master, and Fantasie Scenarios – The Fanzine Supplement No. 2, the first of several scenario anthologies.
The Beholder Issue No. 8 was published in October 1979. The editorial notes that the range and number of articles in the issue grows (though there is increase in page count), such as ‘Developing Campaign’ replacing ‘DMs’ Corner’. It also notes that the number of Dungeons & Dragons fanzines on the market continues to grow, pointing to the increasing popularity in the United Kingdom of Dungeons & Dragons at the time such that its fans want to get involved in the hobby beyond simple play. Both editors—Michael G. Stoner and Guy R.J. Duke—point out that The Beholder, “…[I]s the only British D&D ’zine to appear each month and always on time, while containing highly commended articles. Plus, of course, we are the cheapest ’zine around.”
The actual content begins with ‘The Anti-Paladin’. The article comments that the sub-class never seems to reach ‘official’ status, but the version here is exactly what you would expect. The Anti-Paladin can Detect Good, is immune to disease, emanates Protection from Good in a ten feet radius, can affect commands undead if he was two Levels lower, gains extra benefits from wielding an Unholy Sword, and can gain a Nightmare as a mount. Honestly, there is nothing outstanding about this version. More interesting is the ‘Monster Summoning’ article which presents a family of the Beholder, Genus Occulus. They are all descendants of the Globular Fungus, of which the Beholder itself and the Eye of Darkness are the most recent additions. The Globular Fungus is a fungus, immobile, but with a single tentacle with which it lashes out and attempts to implant spores. Its evolutionary descendent is the Eye Eater, a bulbous eye which moves around by leaping on its tentacles and then attacking its prey’s heads and sucking out of all of its vital matter through the eyes, whilst the Scuttling Orb which has spider’s legs and five eyes round its body from which can cast spell-like effects. The Eye of Darkness is the Chaotic equivalent of the Beholder, but has more teeth and does not radiate heat or cold. In addition, its touch causes Level Drain and it hates light. Originally submitted by A. Shellard, these add some variety to the concept of the Beholder and do that thing that many monsters in Dungeons & Dragons are designed to do, which is to surprise the Player Characters! There is some invention here and some coherency by making them an evolutionary family.
The actual content begins with ‘The Anti-Paladin’. The article comments that the sub-class never seems to reach ‘official’ status, but the version here is exactly what you would expect. The Anti-Paladin can Detect Good, is immune to disease, emanates Protection from Good in a ten feet radius, can affect commands undead if he was two Levels lower, gains extra benefits from wielding an Unholy Sword, and can gain a Nightmare as a mount. Honestly, there is nothing outstanding about this version. More interesting is the ‘Monster Summoning’ article which presents a family of the Beholder, Genus Occulus. They are all descendants of the Globular Fungus, of which the Beholder itself and the Eye of Darkness are the most recent additions. The Globular Fungus is a fungus, immobile, but with a single tentacle with which it lashes out and attempts to implant spores. Its evolutionary descendent is the Eye Eater, a bulbous eye which moves around by leaping on its tentacles and then attacking its prey’s heads and sucking out of all of its vital matter through the eyes, whilst the Scuttling Orb which has spider’s legs and five eyes round its body from which can cast spell-like effects. The Eye of Darkness is the Chaotic equivalent of the Beholder, but has more teeth and does not radiate heat or cold. In addition, its touch causes Level Drain and it hates light. Originally submitted by A. Shellard, these add some variety to the concept of the Beholder and do that thing that many monsters in Dungeons & Dragons are designed to do, which is to surprise the Player Characters! There is some invention here and some coherency by making them an evolutionary family.
Traveller is one of the few other roleplaying games to be covered in the pages of The beholder. In D. Parrington’s ‘Traveller additions’, he presents expanded details of missiles from Traveller and its starship combat board game, Mayday. It describes mainly light and medium missiles and breaks down their Drive type, Technology, and what they can be fitted with. Stand missiles are light, medium missiles are so large that a ship’s turret needs to be modified and can only be fitted with a single missile. Warhead types run from minifusion to fission and fusion onto gravity bomb and antimatter bomb. There are stats for several starships—a thousand ton ‘E’ Type Cruiser, two hundred ton ‘C’ Type Corvette, one hundred ton ‘G’ Type Gun Boat, and thousand ton ‘T’ Type Transport—as well as heavy weapons like the Gasers, Plasma Bolts, Tractor Beams, Pressor Beams, and (magnetic field) Inductor. This is very much for the group that wants more detail for starship combat in Traveller. The weapons and ships are easier to use than the rules for missile construction which need to be worked through and experimented with to get right.
If you are bored with traditional Dungeons & Dragons Races, the eponymous ‘Leprechauns’ is the suggested option. The Leprechaun is cheeky, mischievous, and often annoying, with a love of wine. The Leprechaun can pick locks, has magic resistance, turn invisible once per day and cast the Ventriloquism Magic-User spell once per day. They tend to make better Thieves and Illusionists. They do not have high Dexterity or Intelligence, but low Strength and Constitution, and they must have either a Neutral or Chaotic alignment. Leprechauns are not an obvious choice, and the annoying aspect of their personality could grate very quickly.
In between, editor Guy R.J. Duke writes ‘Ficklemice’, a cartoon strip about dungeoneering mice. It is a bit cramped and a bit difficult to follow easily. Dave Richards’ ‘Snitch’ is a cartoon strip that is much easier to follow, but again is cramped. Quite literally called ‘Space Filler’, a very tiny article suggests that when selling magical items, Player Characters should not get list price and that if the item is desirable enough, the buyers who were successful might turn on the players. To which the answer is, well, yes. Similarly, ‘fearful phantasms ?’ suggests a way around an Illusionist or Magic-User casting a spell like Phantasmal Force or Polymorph Self in order to cause fear. The first is to ask if the Player Characters has seen the cause of the fear itself, sufficiently enough to be able to emulate it, and then ask if the target seen the same seen the cause of the fear? It also allows for some gradation in terms of that fear effect. Again, it is good advice. The discussion of Illusions continues later with ‘Thoughts on Illusions’. It tackles similar issues with Phantasmal Force as ‘fearful phantasms ?’, though in broader play rather than just in causing fear. The advice given is intended to prevent the players such spells by using them beyond their limits and if applied should do so.
The dungeon in the adventure is ‘Rala’s Block’. This is a four Level dungeon whose Levels ascend, built into a giant featureless stone block atop a hill by the ex-dungeoneer, Rala, to test and kill off younger dungeoneers. There are no exact guidelines as what Level Player Character the dungeon is aimed at, though it does say that a careful First Level Player Character could survive what is a challenging ‘death trap’ type dungeon. However, a mid-Level Player Character is probably better suited. This is a good mix of puzzles, traps, and monsters, though more of the first two than the last one, but this is very much a dungeon for dungeon’s sake. Which makes sense, since it is a test of sorts—but mostly a death trap for Rala’s amusement.
A. Shellard also contributes ‘Expressing Alignment’, which attempts a more accurate measurement of a Player Character or NPC’s alignment. It is plotted on a set of concentric circles with Neutral in the centre and the other alignments mapped onto the edges of the circle. The closer to the edge a character’s Alignment is, the more rigid or stronger it is. The diagram is also designed to allow easier movement that reflect radical changes in Alignment without going through true Neutral all of the time. The suggested system does complicate the Alignment system, so very much a case of a group needing to decide whether they wanted to adopt is as part of its house rules.
Penultimately, ‘INFO’ addresses some of the queries raised by the fanzine’s readers. Probably the most notable one is whether there were going to be future issues of another fanzine popular at the time, Underworld Oracle. The update and what the editors know is a bit gossipy, but it highlights the community that existed at the time around creators and editors of fanzines. Lastly, ‘Developing Campaign’, which provides ‘optional systems for your campaign’, ‘1. Archaic Colleges’ is a way in which Magic-Users can learn their spells. It is written to address this difficulty because the then newly published Advanced Dungeons & Dragons does not. In an advanced civilisation, the article’s solution is to establish colleges of magic that government can tax. There have been whole articles and supplements devoted to this subject in the years since this fanzine, but for the arcane spellcaster this is more loosely structured, enabling the Player Character or NPC to continue studying magic on a day release basis—or rather adventure release basis! Study, go adventuring, earn Experience Points sufficient to go up a Level and hopefully find enough treasure to fund learning a few more spells. This would have been reasonable solution in 1979 and more so if the other Classes had not entirely dissimilar ways and costs of gaining abilities as Levels were acquired.
Physically, The Beholder Issue No. 8 is slightly untidy in places, but readable. The layout is tight and that does make it difficult to read in places. Both illustrations and cartography are reasonable.
The Beholder Issue No. 8 notes a marked shift to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which should no surprise given that the cost three books were then just available. It still some of the preoccupations as with Dungeons & Dragons though—Alignment, particular spell effects, character advancement, and so on—exacerbated by the publication of the then new rules. There is nothing truly outstanding in the issue, but its solutions to various issues and problems would have been read with interest and thought about and discussed, which is ultimately the point.
is interesting to read because it is a good snapshot of the hobby in 1979 and what the preoccupations of its players were. Notably more monsters and ways in which to test or surprise the players and their characters, and the eager anticipation with which the next big release from TSR, Inc. was expected. This is a solid issue, not necessarily great, but not bad either. It is interesting to see how the hobby occupies the attention of the editors and how much time they would have needed to devote to both it and the very regular releases of the fanzine.
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