[Fanzine Focus XXX] The Electrum Archive Issue #01

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM 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. Not every fanzine is dedicated to particular roleplaying games.

The Electrum Archive Issue #01 begins a Science Fantasy roleplaying game delivered in the  fanzine format, inspired by films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, books like Dune and The Book of the New Sun, computer games such as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, settings like Dark Sun, Wormskin, and Through Ultan’s Door, and roleplaying games such as Cairn and Maze Rats. Written and published by Emiel Boven and the Cult of the Lizard King, it  explores the world of Orn and its people, descended from those who were transplanted to the planet by an ancient starfaring civilisation known as the Elders. Knowledge of them was lost when their ships fell from the heavens and buried themselves in the surface of the planet long ago. Gold and silver are so abundant on Orn that they are worthless, instead the main currency is drops of Elder Ink, a magical substance that was left behind by the Elders. Further, when vaporised and inhaled, Elder Ink expands the mind and allows the user to enter the Realm Beyond, a parallel dimension inhabited by spirits, and tap into its magical energy, thus enabling Warlocks to cast their spells. Ink can also be used to power a variety of ancient constructs like golems and airships. Trade across Orn is handled by ancient Merchant Houses feuding with others in a desperate search for former glory and power, whilst their trade networks are barely recovering from the fungal parasite known as Bone Spores. Fortunately, the Order of Ilsaar works to keep the networks free of infection. Meanwhile, hidden below Orn is the Sunless Princedoms, a network of an expansive network of tunnels and caves where the insect-like Irr are locked in a cold war over control of their ancestral city and the Twin-Souled Emperor, ruler of the ancient City of Nol, claims they are a spirit from the Realm Beyond born into human flesh. Adventurers known as ‘inkseekers’ venture out into the decaying world beyond the cities ruled over by scheming Merchant Houses to look for Elder artefacts and ink.

A Player Character has five attributes—Agility, Archive, Body, Mask, and Spirit. Archive represents information, literacy, and insight, whilst Mask is both charisma and stealth. These range between one and eight, but typically start between one and six. He also has a Background and an Archetype. Backgrounds provide Talents, Attribute bonuses, and languages, whilst Archetypes grants specific features. Backgrounds include Archivist, Houseborn (member of a minor Merchant House), Muscle, Nomad, Cultist, Performer, Scavenger, and Worker. The three Archetypes are Fixer, Vagabond, and Warlock, and each has different features. The Fixer has Skills such as Swift or Network, gaining one of these at each Level or mastery in one of the previously selected Skills. The Vagabond has Manoeuvres, such as ‘Focus’, which enables a vagabond to attack and ignore an opponent’s armour, or ‘Shake It off’ which enables him to shake damage off. The Vagabond can choose more Manoeuvres at later levels, but all Manoeuvres require the expenditure of Grit, of which the Vagabond has only a few points. The Warlock can learn spell names from the spell spirits of the Realm Beyond, initially randomly, but then by crafting them. Once known, spellcasting costs Drops of ink and how any one spell works is very much open to interpretation. Creating a character is a matter of rolling for attributes and then selecting Background, Archetype, and equipment.

Inaxx

Background: Warlock

Archetype: Cultist

Attributes

Agility 2 Archive 4 Body 3 Mask 2 Spirit 6

Hit Points: 3

Talents: Religion, Spirits, Rumours

Feature: Spell Names

Spell Names Known: Blade of Diminishing Cosmos

One possible issue with The Electrum Archive Issue #01 is that it offers limited options in terms of character types. The Fixer has plenty to choose from in terms of Skills and ways to improve them, but it is difficult to make one Vagabond different from another. So perhaps the Vagabond could have the option to take a Talent in a particular weapon and then Mastery? Whilst the Warlock has plenty of flexibility in terms of his spells and no two Warlocks are likely to possess the same spells because they are all random, could the Warlock learn more Talents? Ultimately, the issue is that as with fighters and warriors in many other retroclones, the Vagabond does feel underpowered in comparison to the other Archetypes. 

Mechanically, The Electrum Archive Issue #01 is simple. For a character to undertake an action, his player rolls a ten-sided die and succeeds if he rolls equal to or under the appropriate attribute. Advantage and Disadvantage works as standard, which can be gained from the situation or equipment, or in the case of Advantage, from a Talent. Combat is simple and deadly, a roll against a weapon’s Speed value to attack before an opponent and an attack always striking an opponent. Instead of rolling to hit, a player instead rolls damage, which is reduced by the Armour Value of any armour worn. The rules allow for critical hits, dual-wielding, aiming, and stunts. If a character’s Hit Points are reduced to zero, he is at Death’s Door, there is a fifty percent chance that he will die immediately and a fifty percent chance of falling unconscious and dying later unless healed. If that happens, the character will awake with a Scar, which can be physical or spiritual.

Experience Points are awarded for finding treasure—ink drops, completing goals, learning about the world, establishing relationships, and surviving being at Death’s Door, but the number awarded is rolled randomly. Equipment is carried across the body in slots, including backpack slots, and weapons, armour, and ammunition have a usage die rolled after each combat, whilst Torches and Lumen Pods are used up on certain Exploration Events, rations on Travel Events, and tools and gear when they are used. The currency is Drops of Ink, a worker earning one Drop per day, whilst ‘inkseekers’ can search for more. The equipment list includes membrane masks, Inkdrinker Blades (a dagger which expands to three times the size and damage when fed Drops of ink), and Moonlight Rifles (recharges faster at night). Lastly there are rules for travel and exploration.

More than half of The Electrum Archive Issue #01 is dedicated to detailing the world of Orn and the first issue of the fanzine includes a separate map of the known parts of the planet, done as a point crawl rather than a sandbox. It begins with a short history and an overview of the regions, people, languages, and religions before explaining the nature of Elder Ink and the Realm Beyond. In terms of factions, it covers ‘The Blind Bank’ which stockpiles Elder Ink and influence, guarded by the eerie Stillsingers, and sponsors expeditions to both recover more and investigate the nature of Elder Ink; the merchant House Uvri, militarising because its cynical head wants to regain control of Ilsaar, the city it built up, but lost to the Order of Ilsaar, the monks who work prevent further infections of Bone Spores; and the Children of the Moon, a cult which believes that the Elders are watching them from Orn’s moon, waiting to return and judge everyone. The cult believes that inhaling ink and interaction with the Realm Beyond are both a sin.

A good third of the fanzine—and most of the background—is devoted to detailing six of the regions given on the map. These are ‘The Electrum Sea’, ‘The Mirall Delta’, ‘The Rift’, ‘The Ruinlands’, ‘The Spirit Roads’, and ‘The Spore Wilds’. Each includes a box of travel options, descriptions of its major locations, and then tables of plot hooks and encounters, for a total of four pages each. For example, ‘The Spirit Roads’ is where the Veil between Orn and the Realm Beyond is at its weakest, spirits bend and warp the laws of physics, rocks float in formation, and the great city of Nol stands at nexus of pilgrim routes, but the entire region is walled off and can only be entered by the Soulgate in its southern wall. Nol, the City of Sorcerery, is the largest in the world, once ruled by the Consortium of Nol, consisting of representatives of the city’s various spirit cults, now ruled by the Twin-Souled Emperor, whose Sorceror-Knights have been cracking down on anyone who challenges the Emperor’s claim. The Masked Apostates, consisting of disaffected members of the spirit cults, is in open rebellion.

Elsewhere, a monastery to St. Shebol sits atop Lifthold, a large floating rock formation, and houses the largest library in the world, and the Plain of Jars is a vast field scattered with thousands of burial jars, attracting unsavoury spirits and warlocks scavenging for secrets and treasures. Each of the locations is described in sufficient detail to pique the interest of the Seer—as the Game Master is known in The Electrum Archive Issue #01—and the plot hooks and encounters more than make up for the lack of a starting scenario. Rounding out the fanzine is a decent bestiary, an NPC generator, a ‘I Loot the Body’ table, and information about the dread Bone Spores. Lastly, there is a bibliography, which is surprisingly comprehensive.

Physically, The Electrum Archive Issue #01 is a lovely looking book. The artwork is excellent throughout, the writing engaging, and the cartography decent. One excellent inclusion is a full example of play, two pages long and far more than roleplaying games from actual publishers usually include. For a small roleplaying game/fanzine, The Electrum Archive Issue #01, its inclusion is a marvel.

The only thing real wrong with The Electrum Archive Issue #01 is that you wish there was more of it. This first issue of the fanzine is a roleplaying game in its own right and it has everything that the Seer and her players need to get playing, barring the lack of a scenario (but then the author is upfront about this), and yet this world is so intriguing that you want to learn more and explore more. From the moment the cover to The Electrum Archive Issue #01 and the basic background were available, it sounded fascinating and rife with possibilities, and there can be no doubt that this inaugural issue delivers on both the fascination and the possibilities. The Electrum Archive Issue #01 is a stunning first issue, opening up a weirdly inky, baroque, and alien planetary romance to our exploration. Electrum Archive Issue #02 is coming in 2023 and Reviews from R’lyeh is disappointed that it has to wait.

The Other OSR—DURF

DURF: An Adventure Game For Brave Adventurers is a rules-light dungeon-fantasy roleplaying game in the vein of games like Knave, Troika!, and Into the Odd. In fact, it is inspired by and draws from those roleplaying games in terms of its design. For example, it uses an Inventory Slot mechanic for both the equipment carried by the Player Characters and the casting of magic from Knave, and employs the three attributes, deadly combat, and absence of Classes commonly found in the lighter micro-clone designs emanating from the Old School Renaissance. The result is a generically light, retroclone-derived roleplaying game which emphasises the risky nature of combat, simplicity of rules and play, and the need for preparation prior to setting out on an expedition, whilst also adhering to reduced bookkeeping, quick character generation, and a simple advantage system. DURF is also intended to be hackable and purchasers are encouraged to alter and adapt as is their wont.

DURF includes rules for creating Player Characters, straightforward rules for handling most situations, opposed rolls, and combat, spells and spellcasting, NPCs and monsters, and magical items. Where possible, individual elements of the rules are kept to just a single page, and even when placed across two pages, the rules and their supporting content—for example, spellcasting and the spells themselves—are constrained to a page each. It makes everything all very accessible. There is no adventure in the core rules, but given that DURF is a rules-light dungeon-fantasy roleplaying game and Old School Renaissance adjacent, finding a ready source of dungeons and adventures should not be too difficult.

A Player Character in DURF has three attributes, Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower, initially rated between one and three. They can go as high as eight. A Player Character also begins play with one Hit Die, which is rolled to determine if wounds suffered are fatal. He also has a number of Inventory Slots, and begins play with two Supplies, which can be swapped with common dungeoneering equipment during play, a dagger, three random Belongings, and some gold. A Player Character can be created in mere minutes.

Dirk the Dice

Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Willpower 1

Slots 12
Supplies 2
Gold 90
Spells: Drain Life
Belongings: Dagger, Light armour, Tonic of Health


Mechanically, DURF uses a simple roll of a twenty-sided die whenever a player wants his character to act. An appropriate attribute is added to the result and if the result is fifteen or more, then the Player Character succeeds. Opposed rolls are simply determined by the highest result. Instead of Advantage and Disadvantage mechanics of rolling extra twenty-sided dice, DURF uses Buffs and Breaks, rolls of six-sided dice. Individual Buffs and Breaks cancel each other out, but if a Player Character has one or more Buffs, only the highest is counted and added to the player’s roll, whilst if the Player Character has one or more Breaks, only the highest is counted, but is subtracted from the player’s roll. Buffs can be gained from any number of factors, but a Player Character can gain a Buff by Pushing himself. The downside is that the Player Character takes Stress and this fills an Inventory Slot. This can only be done when a Player Character has an empty Inventory Slot.

Combat is fast and employs opposed rolls. This is Strength versus Strength in mêlée combat and Dexterity versus Dexterity in ranged combat. The winner inflicts damage equal to the weapon he wields. Armour reduces this damage, but is damaged in the process. A roll of twenty is a critical hit and inflicts double damage, whilst a roll of one means the weapon is worn and inflicts less damage until repaired. Any damage left over is suffered as Wounds. When this happens, the player rolls his character’s Hit Die or Hit Dice and if the result is less than or equal to the number of Wounds currently suffered, then the character dies. Whenever a Player Character acquires a new Level, his Hit Dice also increase by one, and consequently increase chances of his survival.


Spellcasting in DURF is available to any Player Character. If a Player Character knows or learns a spell, he can cast it. This requires a roll against his Willpower and causes Stress, further filling the Player Character’s Inventory Slots. A roll of one indicates a Blunder, the accompanying table giving a number of entertaining options, including gaining twenty pounds (potentially weight or gold) or a small gnome turning up, ringing a bell as he shames the Player Characters. Accompanying the rules is a selection of twenty spells, which include the familiar such as Levitate, Charm, and Turn Undead, but also the more interesting, like Grasp of Yahzahar which enables the caster to grab his opponents and pin them with shadowy hands.

Rounding out DURF is a guide to creating NPCs, hiring Hirelings—probably a necessity given the deadliness of the mechanics and game play, rules for converting monsters from the Old School Renaissance, and some sample NPCs/monsters, like the Echo Gecko, Dragon, and Eelfolk. The Game Master will definitely need to adapt or create some more. Lastly, there is a selection of magical items and rules for their use.

What distinguishes DURF is its Inventory and Slot management rules combined with the Stress mechanics. DURF is likely to become a roleplaying of resource management as each player manages what his character can carry and then, if he can cast spells, how far he is willing to exhaust himself, gain Stress, and literally choose between what he can carry and what he can cast. This is not new, having been seen elsewhere in the Old School Renaissance, but DURF is a roleplaying game whose designer admits his influences. In roleplaying game designed to be one of purely ‘dungeon-fantasy’, they are notable though.

Physically, DURF is cleanly, tidily laid out. The roleplaying game is well written, easy to read, and quick to learn. It is lightly illustrated in a comic style.

If DURF is missing anything, it is a scenario. Not necessarily to see how the game is played, since the rules are very light and easy to understand. Nor is it to see what the world of DURF is like, since there is no world implied, since DURF is meant to be a rules-light dungeon-fantasy roleplaying game and we know what such a world is like from Dungeons & Dragons and its numerous iterations. Rather, the point of having a scenario or dungeon in DURF is to get to the point where the Game Master can start running DURF and her players can start playing it. DURF is obviously designed so that it takes minutes to create a Player Character, so why not make it minutes to start play after that?

Overall, DURF: An Adventure Game For Brave Adventurers is what you want in a micro-clone. Rules light, quick to play, deadly where it counts, and open to tinkering and development if the Game Master wants too.

—oOo—

Lair of the Gobbler: A Dungeon for Low Hit Dice Adventurers (1-2 HD) is the first official adventure for DURF. It is not part of the core rulebook, but is available to download. It details an eight-room dungeon location in a hill in the Barrenmoot Swamps, which the Player Characters will discover is where a missing chef is being held. The complex has a muddy, sodden feel to it, its locations nicely detailed and flavoursome. As per DURF’s remit, it is very easy to prepare and the Game Master should be able to run through it in a session or two.