[Fanzine Focus XXXI] Zine of Wondrous Power Volume 01, Issue 01

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 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 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. Same fanzines though are not written for a specific roleplaying game or roleplaying games, but are instead about roleplaying and the hobby.

Zine of Wondrous Power Volume 01, Issue 01 was published in September 2019, originally by Highmoon Press, but now by Lightspress Media. It comes with the tag line, “Play / Design / Create/ Discuss Roleplaying Games” aims to provide short essays, small games, new rules and settings, fiction, and ideas, emphasising roleplaying games as a hobby and art form. The issue does include some gameable content in the form of ‘1d6 Items Found in the First Room of a Dungeon, Six out-of-the-ordinary items found right as adventurers enter a dungeon to fuel further adventures.’ This is a table of items to be found in a dungeon and so would work with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition as much as it would Old School Essentials or The King of Dungeons. There are some entertaining items on the list such as a burning lamp still found gripped in the hand of a dead adventurer which is actually fueled by the wielder’s life force or the constantly talking skull of a goblin which promises to guide the Player Characters to where the goblin tribes have hidden their hoards of gold and gems. These are inventive, seriously play affecting items that will influence and change how the opening scenes and more are likely to be played out as the Player Characters begin their exploration of the dungeon… They are all systems agnostic so easily adapted to the rules systems of the Game Master’s choice. However, this table and its contents are not only the issue’s only games content, but they do also feel like afterthought, tucked away at the back of the issue.

The bulk of Zine of Wondrous Power Volume 01, Issue 01 instead very much focuses on t0he ‘Discuss Roleplaying Games’ part of that tag line with the lengthy, ‘31 Days Thinking About Games’. This is inspired by #RPGaDay, the annual event first run by David F Chapman in 2014. Throughout the month of August, Chapman asks a question—or in more recent times sets a prompt—intended to encourage people to think and discuss roleplaying games and their ideas and thoughts about them. In the almost a decade since it began, Chapman has asked over two hundred and fifty questions. ‘31 Days Thinking About Games’ in particular, is inspired by #RPGaDay2019. Rather than asking questions, Chapman posed prompts, beginning with ‘First’ and ‘Last’, but taking in terms as diverse as ‘Space’, ‘Ancient’, ‘Guide’, ‘Vast’, ‘Love’, and more along the way. ‘31 Days Thinking About Games’ collects the author’s answers.

The author begins with ‘First’ and his first Gen Con, reflecting upon his time there, and it is a subject he returns to, not as an attendee, but rather experiencing Gen Con 2019 vicariously through social media. He highlights the similarity between this and his last experience, in games such as Dungeons & Dragons, but focuses on the changes between the two, how much was unfamiliar to him—cosplay, the role of Critical Role, yet comes to conclusion that this is a good thing. In response to ‘Mystery’ he discusses its role in fantasy games, how the role of the Dungeon Master made him powerful because she held all the information that she could reveal to her players little by little almost as if they had to earn it. That was the past, whereas now he disagrees with this method and wants to see how the players and the characters use the information they learn. For ‘Guide’ he suggests that the role for Game Master is similar to that of the tour guide, drawing parallels between the roles after having done research on how to become a tour guide. This is more interesting in discovering what the role of the tour guide is, because as gamers, we have a good idea of what the role of the Game Master entails.

Elsewhere ‘Door’ allows the author to explore a little of the city of Cincinnati with its stairs that go up hills to nowhere, castle tower-like water towers, and doors on the side of hills and wonder what it would be like as a setting for Changeling: The Dreaming, a roleplaying game that is a personal favourite. It would be fascinating for the author to follow up this one entry in the fanzine with articles dedicated to a version of Cincinnati for Changeling: The Dreaming, or indeed, an urban fantasy RPG. There are some lovely memories too, such as for ‘Surprise’ when a player flummoxed the author by running away from an encounter with a dragon and working out how to get the player involved in the adventure, and for ‘Love’, how a love triangle played out in a campaign. These memories are the longer pieces in the fanzine and given the range of prompts that the author is responding to, the entries can be hit or miss, but these are certainly the most engaging.

Physically, Zine of Wondrous Power Volume 01, Issue 01 is decently presented. The layout is clean, tidy, and very lightly illustrated. The wraparound cover is thematically appropriate.

Zine of Wondrous Power Volume 01, Issue 01 is a ruminative affair that does not really offer very much for the casual gamer. There are some nice ideas in here for Changeling: The Dreaming, for example, but this a personal fanzine about a gamer coming out of the ‘deep freeze’—the long period when a gamer is not playing—and finding his way back into the hobby. What makes it interesting is that it is inspired by a global roleplaying event, that is, #RPGaDay. The responses of most participants are posted online to be lost to the churning morass of social media. Consequently, it is rare to see such responses written and even in a small way, recorded for posterity. Zine of Wondrous Power Volume 01, Issue 01 records the almost random thoughts of a gamer coming back to the hobby and responding to what he finds. In doing so, Zine of Wondrous Power Volume 01, Issue 01 captures an experience that many a gamer goes through, but rarely write down.

A Motley Ordeal

Changelings are those who were abducted by the Faerie, underwent a great ordeal whilst in Arcadia, and returned changed, their eyes open to the Magic of the world, partly fae, but still human enough to want to tell a story that is theirs. The Gentry, the Faerie, have not forgotten the children they abducted and made into their families, twisting them into roles they could play in the same story over and over, and so send Huntsmen through the Hedge of thorns that separates the mortal realm from the Faerie to recapture what is theirs. Forever on the run, the Changelings have seen the beauty and the horror of both worlds, can see the fantastic which hides behind a mask everywhere they look, and as much as their memories draw them back to the mortal realm, they are forever separated from their pre-abduction lives by their time in Arcadia. Hunted and both blessed and cursed by what they endured, Changelings band together in Motleys, providing each other solace and support in the face of shared memories. Each Motley is part of a Court, which provides defence and support in a region or freehold, each Court having a seasonal aspect—Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter—and there will be one of each within a freehold.

This is the set-up for Changeling: The Lost Second Edition, the roleplaying game of mortals kidnapped by the fae and returned to the mortal realms published by Onyx Path Publishing as part of the ‘Chronicles of Darkness’. It is also the set-up for Hearts on Trial, a jump-start and introduction to Changeling: The Lost Second Edition, presenting a preview of the rules for both Changeling: The Lost Second Edition and Chronicles of Darkness, rules for creating and playing changeling characters, extra Contracts, and a complete adventure which comes with five pre-generated player characters.

Both Changeling: The Lost Second Edition and Hearts on Trial uses the Storytelling mechanics. This means rolling dice pools of ten-sided dice, with results of eight, nine, and ten counting as successes. Rolls of ten allow rerolls as long as a player keeps rolling ten. Anything more than five successes counts as an exceptional result. Under certain situations this grants a character a beneficial condition, such as Informed or Inspired. Penalties reduce the number of dice that can be rolled, but never below a single die. This last die becomes the chance die and only a ten counts as a success on the chance die—and cannot be rerolled—whereas a roll of a one on the chance die counts as a dramatic failure. Alternatively, a player can have his character voluntarily fail and gain a point of Willpower (this differs from Changeling: The Lost Second Edition wherein it grants Beats, used to advance a character’s traits and powers, but omitted for ease of play in this jumpstart). Willpower is also gained when a player roleplays his changeling’s Thread or Needle, when a character fulfills an Aspiration or resolves a Condition—beneficial or bad, which might be Frightened, Oathbreaker, Wanton, and so on. Willpower can be expended to add three extra dice to a dice pool, to increase a character’s Resistance to an effect, and use certain abilities.

Hearts on Trial covers combat, objects, and building equipment in a smart fashion, along with entering into Goblin Contracts and acquiring Goblin Debt (the danger being that acquiring too much and the changeling with transform into a Hobgoblin), making oaths, and the dangers of entering the Hedge, before moving onto character traits. Characters themselves are mechanically defined by nine attributes—Composure, Dexterity, Intelligence, Manipulation, Presence, Resolve, Stamina, Strength, and Wits—and skills in three categories—Mental, Physical, and Social, all ranging between one and five. Similarly, they have Merits (the equivalent of advantages and disadvantages) which are rated on the same scale. Characters also have a Needle, a Thread, a Seeming, a Kith, and a Court. The Seemings are Beast—clever, wary, crude, and aggressive; Darkling—silent outsiders with a love of riddles; Elemental—alien forces of nature transformed into living plants, bonfires, storms, and so on; Fairest—adored whose judgement carry great power; Ogre—blunt and ugly, heroes and bullies; and Wizened—busy finding solutions to crises and vexing issues. Needle is a character’s personality like Daredevil or Teacher; Thread his motivation, like Revenge or Friendship; and Kith what he was transformed into by the Gentry, such as Brightone, a passionate changeling with shining soul who cannot help but attract attention, and Playmate, a loyal changeling whose healing power makes him a steadfast companion.

Changelings also have a true face—or Mien—showing their fae nature, which they hide behind a Mask of human appearance. All fae creatures can see through the Mask, which does not work in the Hedge. Their Wyrd represents his power and how much fae magic he can draw from, whilst his Glamour is drawn from strong human emotions—literally harvested from them if the changeling is close enough, and actually powers his fae Contracts and tricks. For example, the Autumn’s Fury, a Contract which can only be made by members of an Autumn Court, either causes heavy rains and heavy winds which can affect everyone around the changeling who invokes the Contract, or storms that strike with lightning. This costs the changeling either two or three points of Glamour, with the lightning strike needing an attack roll. Every Contract has a Loophole. So for Autumn’s Fury, the changeling lifts a metal pole into the air and points it at his foes.

Having presented the mechanics and the background to Changeling: The Lost Second Edition, the jump-start presents the eponymous adventure, ‘Hearts on Trial’. It takes place on South Street in Philadelphia, a bohemian district of the city where the motley has found a home in the Nevermore freehold after having escaped from their durance in Grandmother, Grandmother’s Cabin where she molded them into the ‘perfect’ family. In Nevermore, they are in the middle of a negotiation with a rival freehold when a young girl taunts them with riddles and hints at things that the motley might have left in the Hedge. Getting through the Hedge is a challenge in itself, but then the young girl decides to hold her own special court at which the members of the motley are her very special guests… 

Hearts on Trial is just four scenes long and so does feel somewhat short. Nevertheless, it presents some solid opportunities in terms of roleplaying and action for the changelings and their players, whilst the Storyteller will have fun portraying the young girl and playing with the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and candyland imagery that runs throughout the adventure.

Hearts on Trial comes with five pre-generated changelings. They include a Wisecracking Vizier, who played the black sheep in Grandmother, Grandmother’s household and who is now a tinkerer; a Cheerful Diplomat who was Grandmother, Grandmother’s golden child; a Bellwether Beast who was many creatures in Grandmother, Grandmother’s household and has now become an urban legend; a Relentless Constable who was a wooden doll for Grandmother, Grandmother, but full of fury whilst becoming the fashionista she once was; and a Restless Skater, forever the forgotten middle child. Each is given a full character sheet, a full page of background, and an explanation of their Seeming, Blessing and Curse, Kith Blessing, Mantle—Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and unaligned, and both Needle and Thread, as well as Contracts known. 

Physically, Hearts on Trial is well presented and well written. It is also decently illustrated with some really nice pieces of artwork, all done in green tones. Overall, this is a nice booklet which will sit well alongside the Storyteller’s other Changeling: The Lost Second Edition books.

If there is an issue with Hearts on Trial it is two-fold. First, there really is not a means of creating changeling characters in its pages as is claimed on the back cover. Second, it includes a high number of different terms—Needle and Thread, Seeming, Blessing and Curse, Wyrd, Glamour, and more—that not only the Storyteller has to learn, but also teach to her players. Perhaps a cheat sheet might be useful for the Storyteller to prepare prior to running Hearts on Trial? Get past this though, and mechanically, Hearts on Trial is quite straightforward and easy to grasp, whilst also giving its players some nicely detailed pre-generated changelings which come with plenty of roleplaying hooks in terms of their background, their Needle and Thread, Seeming, Blessing and Curse, and so on. Overall, Hearts on Trial presents everything a Storyteller and her players needs to begin a Changeling: The Lost Second Edition chronicle—rules, characters, and set-up—along with a demanding scenario. Or at least give them a taster.