[Fanzine Focus XLIV] The Beholder Issue 9

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. 9 was published in November 1979. After the editorial page, mostly administrative in nature this issue, the first article is ‘Games Day V’. This is a report on the event which took place on Saturday, October, 20th 1979 at the Royal Horticultural Hall and provides a snapshot of the hobby’s public events in its early days. There were demonstration games on PET mini-computers, including being able to explore a dungeon (which is described as pretty dull) and play a Star Wars game (popular); the ‘D&D Comp’ was a quiz followed by a speedy mini-dungeon, the prize being a copy of the then new Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, signed by E. Gary Gygax; and oddly, a Frisbee demonstration (this was during the Frisbee craze of the time) as well as Tiddlywinks games! Events like Games Day showcased the hobby and show how much Games Workshop built the hobby back in the day.

Keith Andrews’ ‘Quest Dungeon’ is the first of two adventures in the issue. It states that it is not a fully fledged dungeon, but rather intended to be added to a larger complex as a quest location. Designed for six First Level Player Characters, the quest is for them to retrieve a staff belonging to the Thor-worshipping Patriarch Galberra which has been stolen. The staff is located in a dungeon, two miles northwest of the temple. The dungeon is terrible—linear, random, and the prefect example of a zoo-style dungeon. It opens with a cavern with winged goblins, followed by a trap room of two statues staring at each other which animate and attack if the Player Characters if the statues’ eyeline is broken, then a corridor of changing colours that heals the Player Characters, and so on. The last encounter includes a scene of torture and none of this makes sense because there is no explanation as to why the staff was stolen. A terrible dungeon to run in an afternoon and definitely not a good one to add to a larger complex.

Surprisingly, there are two reviews sections in The Beholder Issue No. 9. One is a very positive one-page review of Starfleet Battles. This was ‘Task Force Game #4’, the pocket or microgame version published in 1979 in by Task Force Games before the Starfleet Battles Designer’s Edition was released the same year. The reviewer prefaced the review by stating, “I consider this to be the best non-roleplaying game for a very long time, so this review may be slightly biased!” He described the game as being highly realistic, with the outcome of games being determined by player choice and skill rather than random dice rolls. Overall, the review gives a good feel for the game and of course, is very positive. The other is ‘Mini Reviews’, a page of thumbnail descriptions of various roleplaying games that the readers might want for Christmas. The games include Chivalry & Sorcery (“the ultimate in “realism”), RuneQuest (sadly out of print, but very good despite the “absurd barbarian ducks”), Gamma World (mostly an arms race), Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship (has more of an aim to the game than Gamma World, but everyone has the same aim), and Superhero 2044 (“Buy this game! For a little light relief (or even a rare serious game) nothings is better.”). The weirdest description is saved for Traveller. “Players send characters through “space academy” and then send them out into the universe to make their way. Everywhere they go they will find the problems of drugs, frauds, frame-ups, galactic mafia groups and other nasties. The usual course of action is to get involved in all this, and most games turn out as bank robberies, space-jakings [sic] and various other delightful crimes. All great fun!” The combat system is described as disappointing and the rules for spaceship battles as being particularly awful. This is a surprisingly negative reaction to the world’s most venerable Science Fiction roleplaying game and whilst this is before there was much in the way of background for Traveller’s setting of Charted Space, was this really how it was played back then?

In between, Keith Andrews’ second contribute to the issue is in a new column called ‘The Ideas Page’. This is a collection of tricks, traps, and useful ideas, such as driving iron spikes into the heads of statues to sabotage them should they animate; placing a pit or drop behind a door spiked shut that an adventurer has to break down and will then fall into the pit or drop; set smoky fires to drive recalcitrant monsters out of their lairs; let monsters use Molotov cocktails as well as the Player Characters; and since the Player’s Handbook lists the prices of several birds, bring them along in the dungeon to test potions with. Plus, canaries can be obviously used to detect fumes or gases and others set into rooms to set off traps. It is obviously cruel and turns dungeon exploration into a procedure.

Following them is ‘INFO’ which combines elements of ‘The Ideas Page’ with a Classified Section. Nigel Proudfoot suggests replacing the Saving Throw versus Poison or die mechanic with an ongoing damage effect and keeping Saving Throws versus ‘delayed action’ poison effects like paralysation a secret to keep a player from knowing when his character can act. The magic items such as M. Hankin’s Carpet of Welcome and Sean Longmore’s Bracers of Polymorph are nicely inventive and detailed. The Carpet of Welcome is perfect for the villain as it makes anyone who steps over it susceptible to his suggestions—as per the spell, whilst the Bracers of Polymorph let the wearer change shape three times per day, but there is a chance that he will change into a random monster!

‘DM’s Corner’ discusses how to design and run a living dungeon rather than a zoo dungeon. The latter is random, whilst the former is not as it has to be designed as an ecological system where the monsters live, work, and survive and the system as a whole will react to the intrusion and activities of the Player Characters. The article makes clear that this requires not just more work to design, but more work to maintain. It is a good introduction to the concept and a good starting point to anyone wanting to create and run more than simple dungeon hack.

The issue of fanzine has just two monster entries, surprisingly. The first is Alan Bell’s ‘Gnobbleknoll’, a living hill that casts Control Weather, forcing passers-by to take shelter in the cave in the hill, which of course, is its mouth! Those captured can hack their way out, but this requires a lot of damage to be inflicted and there is a limited air supply. The second is the ‘Reaper Skeleton’ by A. Whitcombe, a scythe-wielding skeleton that has a chance to lop limbs off and if it kills an enemy will whisk their body off to serve a demon or devil. Of the two, the ‘Gnobbleknoll’ is the more entertaining, though the idea of idea of a living hill is ridiculous (but then so is a living island).

The second and main adventure in The Beholder Issue No. 9 is ‘The Pagoda’. This details a strange pagoda built over an ancient burial ground by a hostile nomadic sect and is designed for a party of four to ten Player Characters of Third or Fourth Level. The pagoda has six storeys with balconies on the upper five watched over by black ravens capable of  casting Darkness and is home to a sect of Fighters, Monks, and Assassins led by the vampire, Sihng-ai, and a religious speaker, a Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User. Below the pagoda are the Undertombs (also identified as the ‘Underchambers’), the original tomb complex built into a network of caves and also occupied by the sect. Given the fact that it is located in a pagoda, the scenario has a slightly Asian feel to it, but the design does not belabour this or fall into cultural stereotypes. It is otherwise a decently done evil temple with enough flavour and details that it could be worked into a campaign with a moderate amount of effort. What lets it down is the cartography which does not make clear the means of access between different floors of the pagoda, though the Undertombs has a clean and open style that is identifiably that of The Beholder.

The issue dips its hand into the ‘Magic Jar’ and this time pulls out a single ring, one supposedly not as powerful as listed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. However, the Ring of Amplification has the potential to be still powerful. It has multiple clasps and each clasp can hold a gem. If a gem with possible magical properties is placed in a clasp and a Mending spell cast on it, the Ring of Amplification will enhance it. For example, an agate ensures restful, safe sleep. When amplified, it grants immunity to Sleep spells, reduces the amount of sleep needed per night, and grants slow healing. Beryl wards of foes, so when amplified can detect enemies nearby and imposes a penalty to attack the wearer! A Ring of Amplification can have up to five clasps and the article describes some thirty different effects for different gems. Even with two clasps this is still a powerful magic item and with more? It is clever idea and one that a player would really want for his character because of its customisation feature, and that makes it both powerful and desirable.

Physically, The Beholder Issue No. 9 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. 9 is another solid issue of the fanzine, made all the more remarkable by the fact that the editors are publishing it on a regular, monthly basis. ‘The Pagoda’ is probably the standout content in the issue, but the reviews and the ‘Games Day V’ recap are fascinating views from the beginnings of the hobby.

Tactics & Tales (Part II)

13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide is not the companion volume to the 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook. Published by Pelgrane Press, it is instead a direct continuation, literally picking up with chapter eight following on from the character seven at the end of the 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook. Together, they make up the core rules for 13th Age Second Edition, the ‘Fantasy 20’ or ‘F20’ roleplaying game derived from different editions of Dungeons & Dragons which combines the crunch of epic battles with narrative or story-telling aspects for grand adventures where the Heroes are special because of their individual ‘One Unique Thing’ which sets them apart from the inhabitants of the Dragon Empire. They are true heroes, each linked to two or three of the Icons, the great powers of the Dragon Empire in 13th Age, whose influence over the story can be positive or negative, depending upon the nature of the relationship. The 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook contains everything necessary for the players, including rules for character creation, the place of the characters in the world and their relationships with the Icons, the great powers of the age, the core mechanics, and combat, plus a fantastic example of play and character creation. The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide contains everything else, including a description of the Dragon Empire, the setting for 13th Age, advice on running the game, a bestiary, a treasury, and an introductory scenario.

The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide starts with a description of its setting, the Dragon Empire. This is located at the centre of a large disc-shaped land surrounded by ocean and consists of the Land, the Underworld, and the Overworld. Seven cities line the shore of the stable Midland Sea, enabling easy travel between them, and each associated with one or more of the Icons. For example, Axis, the City of Swords, is home to the Emperor, but also has links to the Archmage, Crusader, and Great Gold Wyrm, whilst Glitterhaegen, the City of Coins is linked to Prince of Shadows, the Emperor, and the Dwarf King. It dips in and out subject matter, highlighting interesting elements of the setting, such the fact that the magic that causes the calmness of the Midland Sea forces monsters onto the nearby shores; that nobody likes to live too near the Imperial roads because they are haunted; and dungeons claw their way out of the earth and roam the land until stopped! Particular attention is paid to these dungeons as they are important and potential adventuring sites in a campaign, but for the most part, the write-up of the Dragon Empire is described by the authors as being ‘half-designed’. This is intentional as it leaves room for the Game Master to add her own details. There is a gazetteer which adds more specific details, whilst still leaving room aplenty for the Game Master’s own input.

This even applies to the history of the Dragon Empire with just a whole two pages devoted to it; or rather to the 13th Age and the past twelve Ages. Each Age began, rose and prospered before collapsing due to some catastrophe, and was replaced by a new Age. Each Age is associated with particular Icons and some Icons my appear in some Ages and not others, and so on. The overall description is brief at just two pages and so the Game Master may want to refer to one of the best supplements for the first edition of the roleplaying game, The Book of Ages.

Campaign advice discusses various topics—campaign identity, the ten-arc structure for the shorter campaign, customising the Icons to fit the campaign, and some examples. Campaign identity offers up a few other suggestions beyond the classic ‘Heroes on a Mission’, but clearly states that the ‘Forbidden Theme’ of a bait and switch theme to an Icon should never be done. The ten-arc structure is tailored to the maximum of ten Levels that a Hero in 13th Age can achieved, essentially one arc per Level, this replacing the Ten-Session Campaign concept from 13th Age First Edition. Customising the Icons to fit the campaign is intended to be a collaborative process between the Game Master and her players, starting with the Game Master selecting the Icon to her campaign’s main focus, whether as patron or villain, the players adding the Icons they want to see, and the Game Master deciding on the involvement of the unnamed Icons. This is supported by examples from each of the book’s authors. For example, ‘Servants of the Court’ sets up the Elf Queen as the primary heroic Icon with more powers and purviews than the Heroes suspect as she was also the Prince of Shadows with a combination of Archmage and Diabolist as the Icon villain. Of the other Icons, the Dwarf King had died whilst killing the Orc Lord; the Priestess championed civilisation whilst propping up a weak Emperor and was also the Dawn Captain, prophesised to die and become the Crusader; and both the High Druid and Lich King were involved elsewhere. These four examples actually better explain the concepts the customising process than the advice itself, showing the flexibility of the Icon roles in a campaign, whether that is in the 13th Age or a previous Age.

13th Age is played out in arcs, each consisting of three or four combat scenes or battles leavened with narrative scenes in between. The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide discusses in detail how to design battles per arc, primarily adjusting them for the Level and number of Heroes. There is an optimal balance for the Monster Level versus the Hero Level, but the advice suggests ways in which this can be adjusted up or down, usually to fit a narrative. This might the Game Master wants the Heroes to wade through one or two hordes of monsters before they confront a bigger threat at the end of the arc, but there is plenty of scope to vary this or just simply balance all three or four of the battles that make up an arc. The advice also covers balancing the roles of monsters on the battlefield, such as archers, blockers, casters, troops, and so on; fighting a single monster type versus a single monster; ways making an encounter unfair and thus more challenging; and even making the battlefield itself dangerous as well as adding traps.

The process of designing a battle is not complex if the Game Master decides to use the suggested optimal Monster Levels, simply choosing the appropriate foes and their roles from the bestiary. However, the process does involve a little bit more arithmetic if the Game Master wants to create a battle where the Monsters Levels are not optimised to make a battle less challenging or more challenging. Fortunately, the designers have worked out the adjusted values beforehand and provide them for the Game Master in a handy table. That said, the Game Master should probably stick to the optimised Monster Levels for the first few battles and tinker with the battle design on subsequent ones. The process is pleasingly supported with a lengthy example of a Game Master designing multiple battles across the whole progress of the Heroes for First Level to Tenth Level.

Having discussed how to fit the monsters into arcs and monster roles, the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide devotes half of its pages to talking about its monsters. The monster stat block is kept streamlined and as well as an explanation of the various monster abilities, there are lists of the monsters themselves by Level, strength (standard, mook, double strength, and elite), and Role. In comparison to other fantasy roleplaying games, one obvious addition to a monster stat block for 13th Age is that of an Icon symbol, indicating a specific link or relationship between a monster and an Icon. These can be positive, negative, or mixed, and not all of the Icons in 13th Age have relationships with the monsters in the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide, but where they do, it enables the Game Master to tailor encounters and battles to the Icons featuring in her scenario or campaign. It is followed by more guidelines on tinkering with monsters, this on adjusting the stats of an existing monster or designing one from scratch.

The actual bestiary itself runs from Dire Rat, Giant Beetle, and Wolf to Wraith, Wyvern, and Zombie, including Demons, Dragons (notably the chromatic ones rather than the metallic ones, since the Heroes are more likely going to be fighting the former, Ghouls, Goblins, Kobolds, Oozes, Sahuagin, and Stirges, it is for the most part, very much a classic ‘F20’ style bestiary. The only new addition is the Hungry Star, but there are plenty of variations within many of the monster entries, and many have sections titled ‘Icons’, ‘In Play’, ‘In Your Campaign’ and ‘At Your Table’. For example, the Kobold entry has stats for the Kobold Recruit, Kobold Hero, Kobold Warrior, and Kobold Archer. The ‘In Your Campaign’ entry asks lots of the questions of Game Master as to the character of Kobolds in her campaign and notes that several variations appear in the 13th Age Bestiary and 13th Age Bestiary 2. The ‘Icons’ entry for the Ettin suggests that if one head has been swayed by the Diabolist, the other has been influenced by the Three. ‘In Play’ for the Otyugh states that it lives in filth and slime near the entrance to enemies’ caverns, so that it is close enough to alert the enemies if it attacks the Heroes or it joins the enemies if they are fighting the Heroes, before stating that, “Oytyughs were more common in an ancient age, when adventurers were so poor they used 10-foot poles to turn over dung heaps in search of loot.”

Some monsters get extended entries, for example, the Dragons. This makes entire sense, since as their entry notes, they are the Heroes of the monster world! Besides standard abilities, they are tough and have their own personalities, and they have dragon-ticks and campaign abilities. A dragon-trick can be used once per turn, such as its godlike reflexes that let a dragon reroll initiative or its magnificent scales to force a player to reroll an attack against its Armour Class. In comparison, campaign abilities like humanoid form or spells are intended to be used when appropriate rather than in every single battle that a dragon appears. Demons and NPCs are treated in a similar fashion adding further flexibility.

The treasure chapter divides its items into two types. These are one-use items and true magic items which are essentially alive, have their own personalities, and need to be attuned to. One-use items are typically potions—healing and resistance—and runes that apply bonuses to armour or a weapon or spellcasting, and there is a guide to their discovery per Hero Level. Similarly, the availability of magic items is tracked according to the Hero Level and by the tier of the campaign—Adventurer, Champion, or Epic. The personalities of magical items are reflected in quirks, quips, and quiddities. Quirks push the wielder of a magic item to act a certain way, such as dressing nicely at every social occasion or spouting puns; quips are phrases or comments that a magic item wants to hear its wielder say or a phase it wants the wielder to do; and a quiddity is its personality, effectively turning a magic item into a mini-NPC. A true magic will typically have one or more of these and they add individuality to each and every item. In many cases, magic items have more interesting mechanical effects than they do in other ‘F20’ roleplaying games and many are also linked to particular Icons. For example, the Boots of Elvenkind are linked to the Elf Queen and Prince of Shadows and require a skill check for the wearer to move quietly, but the player rolls twice an uses the higher roll, and in game needs a Quip such as ambiguous smile or mouthing the word ‘silent’ in Elvish. The list of magic items and also of wondrous items, is not extensive, but it is more than sufficient multiple arcs and campaigns, especially when it comes to weapons, since these are not listed by sword or spear or mace, but by the magical effect, so that weapons can be tailored to the campaign and the weapons wielded by the Heroes.

The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide is rounded out with an introductory adventure, ‘A Bad Moon & The Wrong Stars’. It takes the classic ‘F20’ set-up of a ‘village-in-peril’ and gives it the 13th Age twist along with plenty of room for the Game Master’s input in form of Icon links and the details of the village. That village is Longmeadow, built on some ancient ruins. The Heroes are escorting a scholar of past Ages to Longmeadow when they are attacked by strangely dressed Elves. Investigation, again tailored to the Icons, will reveal the presence of a Living Dungeon nearby. This is the site of the adventure’s climax and what is interesting here is that the dungeon design is tiny at just four locations. In another ‘F20’ roleplaying game this would probably not be enough, but in 13th Age each room is battle, so a big encounter that all together with the fight on the road makes up a whole arc. In story terms, the play of this Living Dungeon, as much as it is in 13th Age, is not about lengthy exploration, but about getting to the action and the exciting bits. Each of the locations and the battles is detailed, some quite extensively so. Overall, ‘A Bad Moon & The Wrong Stars’ is a good introduction to the play of 13th Age and its key setting feature of Living Dungeons whilst having a lot of flexibility for the Game Master to adjust it to her players and their Heroes.

The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide comes to a close with an array of appendices. These include a guide to using content from 13th Age First Edition, more options for the Game Master, a price list (if the Game Master and her players want to track Gold Pieces in their campaign, though 13th Age usually avoids this), tables for Game Master, a list of 13th Age First Edition resources, an excellent combined glossary and index, and more. All very useful.

Physically, the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide is well written and an enjoyable read, though there is less input and commentary in this book than their was in the 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook. The artwork is suitably heroic for the Heroes and monstrous for the monsters and all together, very good.

Despite its origins in two earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons, it takes some adjustment to both play and run 13th Age since its combination of crunch and story is quite structured. The 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook eased that process for the player and the Game Master, whilst the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide does the same specifically for the Game Master in helping her in the process of setting up and running battles, arcs, and campaign.

Friday Fantasy: Haunting of Beggar’s Creek

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek opens with the Player Characters traveling along Towers Track, one of the roads leading to Four Towers, the guild-dominated city known for the dungeons that extend deep under the city and Delver Halls, its distinctive district home to the delver companies, the groups of professional treasure-hunters who live off what they can recover from the depths. The countryside either side of the road is lightly wooded and dotted with small farms, but what catches their attention is the body of young man on the road. There is blood encrusted around his nose and eyes as well as on his face, and his bluish-white skin, feels cold to the touch. There is no obvious cause of death and no obvious sign of a scuffle. The nearest settlement is Beggar’s Creek, just along the road, a town best known for Beggar’s Bridge which crosses the creek and the large inn, the Muggin’s Rest, which caters to the townsfolk, the farmers and farmhands, and the frequent travellers on their way to Four Towers.

The scenario is a murder mystery, almost a cliché in its backstory and its set-up. The Player Characters are not suspects themselves and once they have been directed to take the body to the nearby cemetery for burial, they are free to do what they want. They could walk away, continue their journey, and leave it at that—and that is the scenario’s biggest weakness. It really does rely upon the players’ curiosity and that of their characters. If they remain and investigate, the Player Characters will discover that their discovery was not the first and the bodies of several men have been found on the road in similar circumstances. Worse, their spirits have been seen prowling the area at night and the locals are worried, including the owners of the Muggin’s Rest. So, the question is, what is killing the men and causing their spirits to walk at night instead of passing on?

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek mixes a mini-sandbox with some decent interaction and investigation with a big dollop of horror thrown in. There is a surprisingly large cast of NPCs to talk to and question, a few locations to visit—none of them overly detailed, and a distinct difference in tone between day and night. By day, it is bucolic, tinged by the locals’ concern at the curse which seems to have beset the area. By night, ghosts and worse walk, perhaps leading to situation wherein the owners of the Muggin’s Rest, their family, guests and patrons, as well as the Player Characters, all find themselves under siege by the undead! This is only one possible climax to the scenario, but it is one that can be used to push the plot behind the scenario to a conclusion, especially if the Player Characters have not resolved it by then.

There are not a lot of moving parts to Haunting of Beggar’s Creek, but they are enough to keep the Sage busy and most of them will require more preparation than most other scenarios for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. This mostly consists of a lot of NPCs and ideally a map and a floorplan. The scenario would certainly benefit from a map of the area around the Muggin’s Rest and Beggar’s Creek, and whilst the Sage will need to draw one herself, she will probably find it easier to find a floorplan of an inn to represent the Muggin’s Rest. These are perhaps the only omissions from Haunting of Beggar’s Creek.

Physically, Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is decently presented and well written.

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is a thoroughly likeable and engaging scenario, a classic set-up in terms of fantasy and horror roleplaying. It does need pulling apart a bit to make clear all of the clues and a fair amount of preparation, but once done, this player-driven scenario will provide a good session or two’s worth of solid play.

Friday Fantasy: Drink Deep from the River of my Hate

Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.

In Drink Deep from the River of my Hate religious fury and war comes to the Borderlands. Following his  exile from Paradise, the archon Invidian the Fallen has sworn to take his revenge upon the High One and his followers wherever they may be. This has drawn him to the Auxen Vale where there is both a Temple of the High One in Auxen Village and the Holy Brothers Monastery also dedicated to the High One. With him is a band of marauders known as the Unbelievers. Whilst some of them fight for him because of his reputation and his desire to kill all and any worshippers of the High One, others simply fight for him because they can indulge in their own murderous desires and take their share of the plunder. Ahead of their progress across the Borderlands rumours have spread of burned shrines, sacked temples, murdered priests, and slaughtered villagers, giving rise to fear in many and a loss of faith in some. Now those fears have materialised in in Auxen Vale and Father Montaine, the priest of the Temple of the High One in Auxen Village, has sought out the help of mercenaries and adventurers in the defence of the vale and village.

This then is a classic village-defence scenario, not quite The Magnificent Seven, more the malign quartet. The Player Characters need to survey the area, perhaps find some allies (there are some potential allies, but they are far from willing), and reconnoitre the enemy and its activities. To that end several locations are detailed across the vale, including the village of Auxen itself, the monastery, the nearby woods, and the ruined keep where Invidian the Fallen and the Unbelievers have made their camp. None of the NPCs or creatures who live in Auxen Vale are given stats, nor are there any stats included for Invidian the Fallen and most of his acolytes and followers. The Sage will have to provide those. However, stats are provided for his chief lieutenant, Agada the Seer, a fiend-worshipping diviner who takes pleasure in torturing and killing priests of the High One. She is quite vile!

Unfortunately, the NPCs are the cause of a big problem with Drink Deep from the River of my Hate. Or rather, the number of them. Including its leaders, there are over seventy members of the Unbelievers. This is a lot of stats to provide and a lot of NPCs for the Sage to control. Fortunately, most of them are raider wildlings, and except for the major assaults on the village, the Unbelivers will not be operating together, but rather in smaller warbands. Ideally, the Player Characters need to picking these separate warbands off, one-by-one, so as to reduce numbers they will be ultimately facing in the assault on the village.

The nature of the scenario means that it works better with some set-up time, so as to lead the Player Characters into its events. That set-up should ideally also involve the Sage creating some maps for the various locations, including at least the keep where the Unbelievers are based and the village. The Sage may also want to add a hook or two to involve the potential other allies for the villagers.

Physically, Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is decently presented. The map of the Auxum Vale is nice and clear and the scenario is well written.

Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is a classic set-up in terms of fantasy roleplaying and it is a well done, player driven scenario. However, it is underwritten in places and needs development—not too much, but a little more than it should—to make it easier to set up and run. 

Friday Fantasy: Trip the Light Fantastic

Trip the Light Fantastic is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Trip the Light Fantastic is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. Like One Bad Apple before it, Trip the Light Fantastic confronts the players and their Heroes with one of the changes in Shadow of the Weird Wizard in comparison with traditional fantasy roleplaying games.

Trip the Light Fantastic starts out with a cliché and gets better. It starts with a village seemingly abandoned, apparently mid-activity, when the Player Characters come upon it. The village could be any number of the ones that have been settled in Borderlands and although the village can be one that the Player Characters have never been to before, the scenario works better and is likely to have more of an emotional impact if the village is one that the Player Characters have been to before and know some of the inhabitants. This might be because the Player Characters live there or because they have simply visited it before, but either way, it requires some degree of set-up upon the part of the Game Master. There are odd signs about like lots of small footprints dotted about and the milk being spoiled in addition to the missing people and livestock. The clues point towards a nearby grove of trees where the Player Characters are swarmed by Atomies, tiny faeries, that play pranks upon them and steal items from them, and if the Player Characters follow them, they find themselves elsewhere and in another realm. Then the scenario proper can begin!

The Player Characters find themselves in a faerie realm. It is heavily forested with faces in the bark of the tall trees and glowing motes drifting softly providing light under the canopy and seems like an otherworldly idyll. There appears to be no way back and so the Player Characters will need to search for one in addition to searching for the missing villagers. Fortunately, a stranger says that he will offer them a means of returning to the mortal realm in return for undertaking a number of tasks for him. These include things such as fetching the mirror from the bottom of Starry Pond or freeing Old Man Time from the witch. There are five of tasks, four of which are at set locations, whilst one can be encountered randomly at the Game Master’s choosing. There are another six locations within the realm not associated with the tasks that the Player Characters have been set, including a stair into the clouds that will fling the Player Characters randomly across the realm, a wishing well, and a sword in a stone. There is a sense of whimsy to the place as you would expect for a faery realm, but a darkness too. An old hag steeps in her bad luck and tormenting any she captures with her resentments, including an old knight whom she keeps chained up under the watchful eye of a carnivorous tree, a quartet of Poweries that wear blood red caps that like to refresh the colour of said caps with the blood of their dinner guests, and the discovery of the fate of the missing villagers. There is a definite streak of cruelty and darkness to many of these encounters , but some humour too, such as the bird that the Player Characters have been directed to rescue singing every time someone comes near waking up the Ogre holding him captive in the process like a bad version of Tweety and Sylvester (just give the Ogre a lisp to highlight the comparison)!

Physically, Trip the Light Fantastic is decently presented. The map of the faery realm is nice and clear and the scenario is well written.

The only thing Trip the Light Fantastic is perhaps missing is a random encounter table and again, the Game Master will need to provide the stats for all of the monsters as well as setting up the village so that the players and their characters have a connection to it. The scenario is will likely take longer to play than the previous scenarios, probably two to three sessions. Overall, Trip the Light Fantastic is an entertaining mini-sandcrawl through a dark amd whimsical mini-realm filled with mini-quests and mini-encounters.

Friday Fantasy: Eye of the Serpent

Eye of the Serpent is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Eye of the Serpent is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.

Eye of the Serpent shifts the action of the previous two scenarios—One Bad Apple and Friends in Need—from a rural location to an urban one. The Sage can set the scenario in the city of her choosing, but the city of Westport is suggested as being suitable. Of late, the members of minor and formerly benign cult, the Followers of the Silver Road, have been making a nuisance of themselves, including engaging in odd pleasures, buying up rare and expensive crystals, recruiting the young, wealthy, and influential, and daubing their mark all over the city. Whether because of the lure of treasure that the city’s temple must surely hold, to rescue a recent recruit at the behest of his family, or a local constable wants to know what is inside, but lacks the authority, the Player Characters are hired to break into the temple. The Player Characters are free to investigate the cult and ask questions about it round the city and even visit the temple during the day.

The action, then, will take place at night. The Player Characters will have to sneak in at some point and explore the grounds of the temple and its buildings. These are far from extensive and similarly, neither are the warrens beneath temple. The cultists are not a danger to the Player Characters, except in numbers, whereas the cult leaders are definitely a danger. As with other scenarios for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the Sage will need to supply the stats from the core books. Once the Player Characters have found the entrance to warrens and climbed down, it will quickly become obvious what type of threat they face. They do represent quite a challenge to the Player Characters as they are likely to encounter quite a few of them in the warrens and a stand up fight is likely. There are some magical traps too, but the Player Characters will be decently rewarded if successful.

With multiple possible motivations, the ending of Eye of the Serpent can play out in different ways. The Player Characters might find themselves being hunted as thieves for breaking into the temple and stealing valuables; praised for rescuing a child; or hunted by the cultists still alive. The scenario includes a few notes which cover these possibilities, though the Sage will need to develop some of these possible plot threads.

Physically, Eye of the Serpent is decently presented. The map of the temple in particular is done in vibrant colours and with the pagoda at its heart, it has a slightly exotic feel that shifts to unworldly once the Player Characters enter the warren below.

Eye of the Serpent is short and sharp and direct. It can be prepared with ease and run within a single session. Its handful of motivations give different ways of involving the Player Characters whilst the possible different consequences, which do need to be worked into a campaign, are a surprising consideration. Otherwise, solidly serviceable.

[Fanzine Focus XLIII] The Beholder Issue 8

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.

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.

[Fanzine Focus XLIII] Guide to Grunts

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.

Guide to Grunts: Inspiration for Creating Fantasy Armies and Soldiers is a systemless sourcebook designed for fantasy games in general, rather than a specific roleplaying game. Which means that it will work with many Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games. Released following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is designed and published by Gonzo History Project, better known as James Holloway, the host of the Monster Man podcast, who also published The Magonium Mine Murders.

Guide to Grunts: Inspiration for Creating Fantasy Armies and Soldiers is a companion volume to the highly regarded Pamphlet of Pantheons: Guide to Creating Fantasy Myths and Religions. Where the latter helped the Game Master create pantheons, gods and deities, and religions, this supplement helps the Game Master create units and soldiers for fantasy armies. There are plenty of supplements that do this for fantasy roleplaying, often helping the Game Master create military units modelled using the same stats and details as a Player Character in Dungeons & Dragons, and then, providing rules to have them clash on the field of battle. Guide to Grunts is different and does not that do that.

Instead, Guide to Grunts: Inspiration for Creating Fantasy Armies and Soldiers focuses upon the ways and wherefores of a military unit. Who and what the unit members are made up of, why they fight, how they are paid, what is the unit’s obligation, whether they are conscripts, and so on. It defines the nature of the officers that lead the unit and what the unit is like, how it is equipped, and how it is led. It then asks what daily rations the unit is given and what its members consider to be a special treat, how they get paid, and what happens when they get hurt. If the unit has camp followers, the Game Master can define them, and if currently stationed somewhere, what its camp or fort is like. The first thirteen tables together give the Game Master prompts that when answered, help her create interesting military units, but without any stats. The process consists of rolling a few dice and asking how each element fits together to make narrative sense. The author admits that the inspiration for the entries is the European Middle Ages, but they are flexible enough to apply to other settings inspired by other periods of history or fantasy settings. What the tables do not cover is magic or the more fantastical elements of a setting. That is left up to the Game Master decide on her own, since every world is different.

What is interesting here is not just the nature of a military unit, but the fact that it exists in a world and is a creation of that world. As the author points out, “…[M]iltaries are social and political institutions.” So, who and what the unit is, what it is asked to do, and more can do something unexpected and that is ask questions and suggest ideas about the world and background to the unit. Of course, the Game Master is probably going to be adding a unit to an existing world, rather than creating a unit and building out to create a whole world, but that still leaves questions that in answering, the Game Master can make her setting more interesting and more coherent.

What is interesting here is not just the nature of a military unit, but the fact that it exists in a world and is a creation of that world. As the author points out, “…[M]iltaries are social and political institutions.” So, who and what the unit is, what it is asked to do, and more can do something unexpected and that is ask questions and suggest ideas about the world and background to the unit. Of course, the Game Master is probably going to be adding a unit to an existing world, rather than creating a unit and building out to create a whole world, but that still leaves questions that in answering, the Game Master can make her setting more interesting.

To help bring the unit to life, the fanzine has tables for random encounters and patrols so that the Player Characters can run into the unit during play. This is not the only way in which the Player Characters can run into a military unit. It can be part of a Player Character’s background and so there is a table for his military experience, who his old comrades were, what souvenir he has of his time in service, and what sort of soldier he was. Tie this into a specific unit created using the previous tables and the Player Character has even more background.

This supported by fully worked examples showing how seemingly disparate results from the tables can be worked together to create a coherent unit and suggest some story hooks. Some of them have NPC descriptions too. And again, the examples can be used as is or as inspiration for the Game Master. Plus, there is advice from start to finish on how to use the tables and interpret the results. As the author points out, the tables are much looser and less structured than in the previous Pamphlet of Pantheons: Guide to Creating Fantasy Myths and Religions, and the results thus more open to interpretation and harder to work with. The point though, is to create military units with backgrounds and cultures that whilst not necessarily weird or odd, are anything other than clichés and add to the world even before the Game Master applies numbers.

Physically, Guide to Grunts: Inspiration for Creating Fantasy Armies and Soldiers is clean and tidy. It is lightly illustrated with lightly cartoonish artwork which suits the tone of the fanzine.

Guide to Grunts: Inspiration for Creating Fantasy Armies and Soldiers is not quite as useful as Pamphlet of Pantheons: Guide to Creating Fantasy Myths and Religions and it is not as easy to use. It requires more input from the Game Master who has to be more inventive because more specifics have to be created. Yet just like the previous fanzine, with a few rolls of the dice, the Game Master can use Guide to Grunts: Inspiration for Creating Fantasy Armies and Soldiers to develop her campaign world and help bring to life.

[Fanzine Focus XLII] The Beholder Issue 7

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. 7 was published in October 1979. It is the post-DragonMeet II issue and the editors noted that nobody approached them at the event to point out the ‘deliberate mistake’ hidden in the previous issue. They do explain what it was, but you really have to know your Dungeons & Dragons spells to have spotted it. The issue is also the much-heralded ‘SUPER MONSTER ISSUE !’. To that end, its contents start with ‘The Super Monster competition results’. Some seventy-five entries were received and some twenty of those are printed in the first third of the issue. The article leads with the winners. First place went to Peter M. Bright for the ‘Relkor’, a distorted human head with spider’s legs that gnaws off the head of its victims and then shoves its legs into the neck to control the body with the head on atop the stump. It can attack in surprise by leaping from the neck and it keeps its treasure below the neck. Dave Davies won second place with the ‘Stone Creature’. It is an ogre-like creature that can switch back and forth between a flesh form and a stone statue form and then use stealth to pick off its prey. (The issue’s editors suggest buffing it with a stealth ability.) The ‘Bleeder’ from Peter Williams is a version of the Rust Monster that feeds off the iron in blood and so when it bites and feeds slowly off its victims, they also suffer anaemia. These three definitely deserve their top three placement, because the rest are pretty much of a muchness. For example, the ‘Greebly’ by Andrew Whitcombe is a cold- or dungeon-dwelling ape that hates fire; James McRobert’s ‘Firefly’ is an insect so hot that its breath ignites into a jet of flame; and the undead ‘Singing Shadow’ by Martin Stollery can make any sound, throw its voice, and form into any shape.

‘Dragonmeet II’ is a convention report by the editors on the London-based convention and barring the fact that the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition was on sale for the first time, there was little to enjoy at the event. They complain that other Dungeon Masters can be nasty when it comes to running the game. Both editors played part of G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King and it resulted in a total party kill, whilst the ‘D&D competition’ was described as absurd, with both a Paladin and an Anti-Cleric being in the same party, suggesting that the party should open a door was taken as the player’s character going through the door and almost dying, monsters that were actually other monsters, and arbitrary rulings. It just shows you that not every convention game was guaranteed to be good back in 1979, just as it is not today.

‘The Goblin Complex’ answers the fanzine’s readers’ request for a dungeon after the wilderness adventures of the previous two issues. It sets out to be what it calls a ‘coherent’ design with rooms that have a purpose and monsters that have reasons to be there and potential consequences to the actions of the Player Characters. In other words, this is not a ‘zoo’ dungeon with the underground complex being populated at random. It is suggested that the dungeon be run with miniatures and floorplans and gives some answers to questions raised in the playtest, such as “How far does the sound of a battle travel?” and “How easy is it to get up after being knocked down in heavy armour?”. It is designed for a party of six Player Characters of Third Level. The background to the dungeon is that after successful riads by Goblins from the mountains, retaliatory action against them has forced them to flee and many bands have dug refuges into the mountain. The scenario describes one of these. The Dungeon Master is warned that the Goblins will act intelligently, will surrender if forced to (rather than dying in a suicide charge), and will ransom prisoners—though the Hobgoblins are more likely to sacrifice them to their god, ‘Gax’. There is the occasional bit of tactical advice too as to what the Player Characters’ best course of action is, such as using the Cleric spell of Silence or the Wizard spell Sleep to ease their entry into the complex unannounced. It is a serviceable dungeon that in places does undermine the intended coherency such as the Hobgoblins wanting to sacrifice captives (though the Player Characters could persuade Goblins to ransom them instead, potentially leading to a squabble between the Goblins and Hobgoblins), there being pet giant scorpions and tigers, martial arts Hobgoblins, and even a (young) Black Dragon being effectively the last room in the dungeon. It is still playable and its design intent is obvious and well meant if not quite clearly carried through.

There is no playtest report of ‘The Goblin Complex’, but instead, the ‘Play Test’ is about an adventure set in a samurai castle. Only a page in length, it depicts a brutal raid on the castle to capture the Samurai King that ultimately goes wrong. The write-up does not outstay its welcome, but without the context of the adventure itself, it lacks context.

The publication and availability of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition mentioned previously in ‘Dragonmeet II’ leads to ‘The… AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide – A Precis’ by co-editor, Guy R. J. Duke. It provides an overview of then the new book and notes rules chances such as the Monk now attacking on the Cleric/Druid table rather than the Thieves table, praises the ‘secret’ section on magic for the Dungeon Master, which expands the rules for magical research, potion concoction, scroll preparation, and more. The precis is less enamoured of the appendices randomly generating dungeons and wilderness as experienced Dungeon Masters are less likely to want them, but found that the alphabetical listing of the monsters with their attack and defence modes, Hit Dice, Experience Point rewards, and so on, to be very useful. Duke concludes by saying, “I can only advise you to buy the Guide as you can. The hardback version is well produced with impressive illustrations and a few jokes to relieve the overwhelming impression that the book has.” He continues, “Indeed, who can afford not to buy the Guide; it was guaranteed as a sell-out since its very conception. Those who don’t move with the time will be left far behind. The Dungeon Master’s Guide is not a thing to miss out on. Compared with the primary rules and its additional booklets of Greyhawk etc. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is superior and above all cohesive.” Here then, what you have is that shift away from what Dungeons & Dragons was, which was rough and modular, to more coherent, singular point of reference, as seen through the eyes of a player and commentator.

The last article in the issue is ‘Magic Jar’, a collection of new magic items. The entries in the article include Fazzan’s Howling Skull, a magical skull which can be set as a surveillance device and which will howl and cause fear if any intruders are detected; the Cursed Illusion Sword which will make its wielder think it is a Dancing Sword; and a Ram Head of Terrible Destruction, a tough skull of a ram that if applied to a battering ram is more effective than a Horn of Blasting! These are all suitable additions to setting with a lot of magical items.

Physically, The Beholder Issue No. 7 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. 7 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.