On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed 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 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 that fanzines are being based upon and inspired by is Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. However, there are far fewer fanzines for its swashbuckling cousin, Pirate Borg, published by Limithron and set in the zombie-infested, isolated Dark Caribbean.
At the heart of the issue is a quartet of adventure locations. This leads off with ‘Temple of the Spider God’ by Lars White. This describes a ziggurat deep in the jungle standing at the base of a dormant volcano, infested with deadly Jaguar spiders, the spawn of the Spider God, and Shepherds of the Spider God, cultists who maintain the webs that festoon the temple inside and out. It is bright and colourful, the ziggurat depicted side on as a cutaway. This a solidly done, if simple location, that is easy to drop into a jungle somewhere in the Game Master’s campaign. However, it is yet another ziggurat location and the Game Master will need to come with a reason why the Player Pirates might want to go there. This is because there are no hooks with which to get them involved.
The second location is Alexander Jatscha-Zelt’s ‘The Cartographer’s Den’. This details Nathaniel Pellwick and his home, a wealthy shop and town house in Port Royal as it was before it was struck by an earthquake. Pellwick has a reputation across the Dark Caribbean as a master cartographer, who buys, draws, and sells maps and charts of its islands and seas. His own maps are remarkably detailed and often depict secrets and routes unknown. This has earned him the patronage and protection of the good and the bad of the port. The Player Pirates can come to Pellwick as customers and develop into a recurring contact and resource who will in turn buy from them. The location details both Nathaniel Pellwick, who he is, what he wants, and what he is currently doing, his services, what he buys, and his house from the master bedroom and other rooms on the first floor to the cellars under the house. This could be simply enough, but the description includes a plot too. Pelliwick has let slip that he has come into possession of a unique chart, but despite enquiries of several interested parties, has so far refused to sell. Some of those parties are willing to go further and hire agents to steal the map. Alternatively, Pellwick suspects a burglary and hires extra protection. As to the chart itself, the details are left up to the Game Master to decide, but suggestions include ‘The Isle of 1000 Corpses’ which follows in the issue, as well as locations in Ravaged by Storms by Golem Productions, Down Among the Dead by Limithron, and These Bloody Sales by ThisEffinGM.
‘The Cartographer’s Den’ is the issue’s highlight. It gives a setting and options in terms of how the Game Master uses it. Its only limitation is when it is set, that is before the earthquake in Port Royal, but other than that, this is flexible and easy to use.
The third adventure location is ‘The Isle of 1000 Corpses’ by Philip Reed. This is the foulest and vilest of the trio—and intentionally so. Subtitled ‘A Shocking Tale of Dark Caribbean Carnage’, it describes an island of floating corpses and body parts, undead and flailing such that it swims randomly across the region. Complete with random rumours (oddly all true) and encounters, everything on the island is made of undead, rotting flesh and rattling bones. This includes a spire of corpses that form a lighthouse, a sea turtle sanctuary that has accidently been turned into a sanctuary of zombie sea turtles(!), and a rotting whale corpse home to sailor called Jonah. Also included is a trio of ‘meaty jetsam’, the corpse raft, corpse barge, and corpse cay, sea-going corpse vessels to add to the naval combat aspect of the roleplaying game. It is inventively grim and grungy and brings an element of the Grand Guignol to Pirate Borg. However, there are no hooks to get the Player Pirates to the island and the Game Master will need to develop them herself.
This is less of an issue for the fourth and final adventure location in Tales from the Locker #1. Julius ‘kin’ Karajos’ ‘Ash Fall’ opens with an Ash meteor crashing to the earth on a nearby island, which with the revelations as the nature of ASH—created from burnt zombies—has led to an ASH rush as pirates, cultists, and Spanish miners seek to capitalise on the bounty. By the time the Player Pirates turn up, the mining site has turned into a hellhole. The soldiers accompanying the Spanish miners have turned it into an armed camp, miners continue to descend into the crater where they scrape Ash from the weird stone meteor, all are in danger of catching the ASH disease which eventually turns sufferers into undead (which can then be burnt down into ASH), and the jungle seems to seethe and regularly and violently encroaches on the camp. The scenario has a weirder feel to it than most others for Pirate Borg, being infused with Cosmic Horror a la H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Colour Out of Space’.
The four adventure locations are followed by a trio of new Classes. The ‘Ironclad’ by Thomas Zitkevitz details a warrior swathed in armour salvaged from a lost conquistador and gain benefits from it such as carrying ‘Heavy Metal’ weapons that are double the size and inflict extra damage and ‘Deflect Shots’ with armour so shiny it can reflect bullets back at their firers! Christopher Samson’s ‘Occult Sailor Master’ whose navigational ability is supernatural indicated by the symbols on his body. These can be activated for spell-like effects, for both normal and maritime play. For example, Shoals warns of hidden danger, secrets, and hidden doors, whilst at sea, guides the ship through dangerous waters, negating potential travel penalties, whilst Jolly Roger can paralyse a foe with fear whilst in naval combat, makes it easier to have enemy crews surrender or mutiny! Lastly, the ‘Tusked Raider’ by Ed Bourelle is a feral hog twisted into an anthropomorphic creature renowned for its toughness. It can be a ‘Greased Pig’ less easy to be hit in the first round in combat, an ‘Indiscriminate Eater’ that heals more if it overeats, and ‘Pig Headed’ with a bonus to resist being controlled, influenced, or coerced where it was once cowed and preyed upon. All three Classes are simple and easy to add to a campaign and give a player lots more options, playing around with the horror and the Pulp tones of the setting.
Penultimately, Tyler J. Stratton’s ‘Quartermaster’s Corner’ presents Two-Tone Heller, a ready-to-play NPC that can be added to the crew of the Player Pirates’ ship. As his name suggests, his manner can flip depending upon the circumstances from jovial leader to harsh disciplinarian. The write-up suggests Gibs from Pirates of the Caribbean or Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket. It is followed by the tables, ‘D12 Problems Among The Crew’ and ‘D20 Crew Punishments’, which would support stories that involve Two-Tone Heller, but also be useful in a Pirate Borg campaign in general.
Tales from the Locker #1 starts and ends with tables. The Old School Renaissance has its ‘I loot the body’ or ‘dx Things to find on a corpse’ tables, and Pirate Borg has its equivalent, which is ‘d10 Messages in a Bottle /on a Corpse’. Written by Ed Bourelle, this has entries such as “I be marooned on a spit of sand no bigger than a whale’s back, with a pistol, two damp biscuits, and a singing skeleton. If mercy yet sails these waters, look for the carrion gulls that circle above me. I’ll share secrets better than gold.” and ones that link to the adventure locations given earlier in the fanzine, like, “Pellwick marked a reef that no man had seen, not even the oldest salt among us. We laughed until our hull split upon it at dawn, just where his ink had dried. He even charted the graves on the beach before we dug ’em. If ye meet the man, ask him what else he’s been drawin’.” These serve as good prompts, as does the ‘Plot Twists’ at the front of the issue, also by Ed Bourelle. These provide two set-ups and then three explanations for each, in a manner similar to the Patrons format of Traveller. For example, ‘In Port’ opens with the Player Pirates in a port when one of the ships anchored in the harbour lets lose an unexpected broadside on the harbour front or another vessel, potentially even the one aboard which the Player Pirates serve. The options for hook include Deep Ones shanghaiing the ship and testing the guns, vengeful ghosts settling a grudge with the ship’s guns, and the ship’s crew mutinying. These are solid ideas which the Game Master can easily develop with the addition of some stats and so on.
Physically, Tales from the Locker #1 is excellent. The artwork is good, the fanzine is well-written, and the cartography decent. This is a good-looking affair, but that gives it a slickness that some might argue that a fanzine should not have.
Physically, Tales from the Locker #1 is excellent. The artwork is good, the fanzine is well-written, and the cartography decent. This is a good-looking affair, but that gives it a slickness that some might argue that a fanzine should not have.
Tales from the Locker #1 is an impressive first issue. The only issue is the lack of hooks for several of the adventure locations, but other than that, the content is all easy to use or add to a campaign. The star of the issue is ‘The Cartographer’s Den’, but no Pirate Borg Game Master will be disappointed by the content in Tales from the Locker #1.
