Magazine Madness 30: Parallel Worlds Issue #06

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The sixth issue—and it is the sixth issue and not the correctly numbered fifth issue—of Parallel Worlds was published in February 2020. As with previous issues, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, films, and more. Previous issues placed an emphasis on everything else—books and films in particular—rather than gaming, and although that emphasis remains, with Parallel Worlds Issue #5, the magazine began to strive for a more balanced mix of content. It also became better organised, continuing the colour-coding of the various sections, so that the issue’s interviews are together and its tabletop content is together, but just arranging the order of articles in different sections so that they flow thematically from one into the other and so give a touch of continuity in places. The articles also got more interesting and informative, resulting on a far more readable issue which covered horror and Science Fiction, roleplaying communities, films and books and computer games. In the case of Parallel Worlds Issue #5, this countered the issue that the magazine does not support the tabletop gaming hobby very well. This continues with Parallel Worlds Issue #6, which has a Science Fiction theme.

Parallel Worlds Issue #6 opens with the first interview in the issue. This is by Marc Cross with the leaders of ‘South London Warlords’, the long-running wargames club. This is part of the ‘Know Your Community’ strand, highlighting communities dedicated to tabletop gaming. In the case of the South London Warlords, it highlights their activities in making the hobby of wargaming a welcoming one, and in particular, the staging of Salute, the one-day wargaming event. At the time of the review, both it and the club have been running for fifty years, and this interview was nicely timed before the then next event. The wargaming strand continues with Rob Sawyer’s ‘BattleTech – Faster, My Giant Stompy Robot’. Written and published to coincide with the release of the computer game, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, this gives a history and overview of the now forty-year-old intellectual property which developed from the single robot combat game into a franchise that has supported numerous board and miniatures games and supplements and sourcebooks for both, collectible miniatures games, collectible card game, over one hundred novels, numerous computer games, and a Saturday morning cartoon. The lengthiest piece in the magazine, it is not wholly comprehensive, since it really only explores the original situation in the Successor States, that detailed in the original boxed set and supplements that followed, rather than the later period with the coming of the Clans and subsequent events. Nevertheless, it provides a very good introduction to the setting and even includes one or two facts that that are new to this longtime BattleTech fan.

If ‘BattleTech – Faster, My Giant Stompy Robot’ is relevant today because 2024 is the fortieth anniversary of Battletech, Chris Cunliffe’s ‘Play Safe’ is equally as relevant today because it explores the still topical issues of how to handle consent at the table in roleplaying. He makes the point that as roleplaying games have evolved and focused more on story in the last few decades, it has been accompanied by more mature and more difficult content that not every player would want to see included in what is their play. As a response, there has been a rise in the number of safety tools available which a Game Master and her players can deploy to establish the subjects and areas that they do not want to experience or explore. The X-Card is perhaps the most well-known, but not the earliest and not the most nuanced. The earliest perhaps are the ‘Lines and Veils’ introduced by Ron Edwards in 2004 in Sex and Sorcery, a supplement for the Sorcerer roleplaying game, so they date back two decades now in 2024. However, there are issues with those too, and consequently Cunliffe explores other options as well. In the process, he provides the reader with a range of choices so that he can decide which one toolset works best for him and the rest of his group. This is a solid introduction to the subject and very useful.

Christopher Jarvis’ review of the board game Lifeform is decent, but given the fact that it is inspired by the film Alien, feels as it should have been reviewed in Parallel Worlds Issue #5. The ‘Mini of the Month’, this time written by Angus McNicholl about an Authorised Bounty Hunter miniature sculpted and manufactured by Corvus Belli for the Infinity Science Fiction skirmish game, continues be an uninteresting space filler. At worst, it could be reduced to a single page in future issues, at best, it could be cancelled as a regular feature and its space devoted to almost anything else that would undoubtedly be actually interesting.

The first of two Thinkpiece articles in Parallel Worlds Issue #6 looks at the lack of female representation in various media, primarily genre media. ‘Creative Equality’ by Jane Clewett and Ben Potts looks at their role in Science Fiction, fantasy, and horror, how they have broken ground, like Mary Shelley with Frankenstein or Shirly Jackson with The Haunting of Hill House, but progress in their representation has been limited, despite for example, female writers having won the Hugo award for best novel several times in the last few years. The same situation applies in video games too, with more video game protagonists being male than female still despite the greater number of players being female. It is a disappointing article to read and a pity that Parallel Worlds is not around today to return to the subject to assess the situation four years on.

The second Thinkpiece connects to the first piece on TV & Film. In the Thinkpiece, ‘Think Bigger: Megastructures’, Thomas Turnball-Ross explores the history of the megastructure in Science Fiction, which of course, began with Larry Niven’s Ringworld. Since then, megastructures have been a feature of the Halo series of computer games, films such as Pixar’s WALL-E, and more. Not just ringworlds, but also Dyson Spheres, arks, and the Stanford torus. Numerous different media are mentioned here, such as Ian M Banks’ Consider Phlebas and Elite Dangerous, but you wish that each was given a clear and proper illustration so that the reader has some idea of what they look like. Otherwise, this is a serviceable introduction to what it describes as a civilisation’s ultimate manifestation. Indeed, one of the tropes in Science Fiction for megastructures is for them to have been abandoned and the identity of the builders lost, but rediscovered as part of their exploration. That goes all the way back again, to Niven’s Ringworld. This is a companion piece to Allen Stroud’s ‘The Big Dumb Object’ from Parallel Worlds Issue #5, and there is some crossover between the two.

There is another purpose for the megastructure discussed in the following article by Jane Clewett. In ‘Why Watch… Babylon 5?’, she asks whether one of the biggest Science Fiction television series of the nineteen nineties worth watching after almost three decades since it was first broadcast. The series really was groundbreaking in terms of its characters, the sweep of its plot and character story arcs, the presentations of its alien species, and the use of computers to create its special effects. The latter look dated now, as does its attitude to LGBT issues, but then that was not its fault and it did at least hint at their inclusion. So that is not really a fair criticism. The megastructure in the series is Babylon 5 itself , a giant space station built to facilitate and foster peace between the galactic powers, and is a character in part itself. The article does a good job of selling the series and making clear that it is worth checking to see if the potential watcher will enjoy it.

The ‘TV & Film’ articles in the issue continue the discussion pieces of ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ from Parallel Worlds Issue #03, ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’ from Parallel Worlds Issue #04, and ‘Let’s Talk About... Joker’ ‘from Parallel Worlds Issue #05. Those articles were two-handers, but in Parallel Worlds Issue #06, it becomes a three-hander between Allen Stroud, Ben Potts, and Jane Clewett. Together, they discuss Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Numerous controversaries have been and gone since the release of the third and final part of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, so the divisive nature of this film—and the trilogy in general, has faded into memory. So it is interesting to return to the divided opinions prevalent at the time and see them discussed in a courteous and enjoyable manner. Each of the three contributors has a very different opinion.

For the books strand, Connor Eddles provides a solid overview and history of the Amazing Stories pulp Science Fiction magazine in ‘Pulp Pioneers’, Ant Jones reviews The Blackbird and the Ghots and Catching Light in ‘Self-Pub Review’, and Jane Clewett delves into ‘the luminaries – chose your social media adventure’. The first two of these are quick and breezy, whereas the third uses Susan Dennard’s The Luminaries, a six-month long adventure presented via a series of choices on Twitter to direct the story, as a springboard to examine the state of interactive fiction. This covers books like the Fighting Fantasy series and television programme such as Black Books’ ‘Bandersnatch’, before ultimately returning to the starting point, unsure of whether the publication of the original ‘choose your own adventure’ story will work in print as well as it did online.

Tom Grundy’s review of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Ruin follows, whilst in ‘The Mysterious Case of Dentra Rast’, Allen Stroud returns to the fiction he wrote at the time of his work on the Elite Dangerous Roleplaying Game involving the character Dentra Rast and see what happened next. What did happen took place in another game all together, EVE Online, and is quite surprising. An interesting article for fans of both computer games. Lastly, the issue is rounded out with a short story also by Allen Stroud, ‘Lost at the Wedding’, which is quite enjoyable.

Physically, Parallel Worlds Issue #6 is cleanly and tidily presented, and on the whole, it is a bright and breezy affair. Unlike in previous issues, there is less of the stretching of the content to fit the pages, so the magazine feels fuller and tighter. However, that does not apply to ‘Mini of the Month’.

Parallel Worlds Issue #6 has a lot of enjoyable and interesting content benefiting from its strong Science Fiction theme, in particular the article on BattleTech and safety in gaming stand out. The latter in particular, feels timely and actually connected and relevant to the gaming hobby, something that gaming articles in previous issues did not usually achieve. Overall, Parallel Worlds Issue #6 continues the improvement begun in Parallel Worlds Issue #5 and it is beginning to become a magazine that you want to read.

Magazine Madness 29: Parallel Worlds Issue #05

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The fifth issue—and it is the fifth issue and not the erroneously numbered sixth issue—of Parallel Worlds was published in the autumn of 2020. As with previous issues, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, films, and more. Previous issues placed an emphasis on everything else—books and films in particular—rather than gaming, and although that emphasis remains, Parallel Worlds Issue #5 strives for a more balanced mix of content. This, combined with more interesting and informative articles, results in a far more readable issue which covers horror and Science Fiction, roleplaying communities, films and books and computer games. It also feels better organised, continuing the colour-coding of the various sections, so that the issue’s interviews are together and its tabletop content is together, but just arranging the order of articles in different sections so that they flow thematically from one into the other and so give a touch continuity in places. If the fact remains that Parallel Worlds does not support the tabletop gaming hobby very well, this is at least countered by the interesting articles in Parallel Worlds Issue #5.

Parallel Worlds Issue #5 opens with ‘Priya Sharma – The Nicest Person in Horror’, an interview by Allen Stroud with the multi-award-winning author of British Fantasy Awards and Shirley Jackson Award, renowned for her short stories. Priya Sharma, does indeed, come across as a nice person, answering the interviewer’s mix of standard and more interesting questions with enthusiasm. Although short, the interview is informative and intriguing enough for the reader to find out more. However, Allen Stroud’s second interview with Elsewhen Press manages to be both long and feel longer. It explores the independent publisher’s process of selecting and developing a book and bringing it to print, along with some advice for aspiring authors. Where the interview with Priya Sharma was intriguing enough for the reader to want to find out more, this is not the case with this second interview. Not only is it less personal, but it also does not focus enough on the books published by Elsewhen Press beyond showing their covers.

The third interview inaugurates ‘Know Your Community’, a new feature in Parallel Worlds, highlighting communities dedicated to tabletop gaming. The first interview is with Dean Henry and Anthony Wright, two administrators of ‘The Dungeons & Dragons Community Group’ on Facebook. Although brief, it allows the pair to explain how they run and moderate the community they have created across various platforms as well as their policy of avoiding toxic issues which can arise in such communities. Overall, a decent start to what will hopefully be an interesting series of features focusing upon different gaming communities.

‘Aliens – Are They Out There?’ by Tom Grundy is the first to explore the theme that runs through the issue. In this ‘Thinkpiece’, he explores the question of the likelihood of there being extraterrestrial life out there in the universe. He works through the problems raised by the question, looking at the equation formulated by astronomer Frank Drake to estimate how many rocky planets there are in the Milky Way galaxy and the ‘Fermi Paradox’ which asks, if there is intelligent life out there, then where is it? The article cannot, of course, answer the question, but instead it raises numerous questions and highlights how much we do not actually know. The result is a thoughtful piece that gets the issue’s theme off to a good start.

The theme is continued by Allen Stroud’s ‘The Big Dumb Object’. The term is surprisingly modern, barely a few decades old, and describes an alien object of immense size. Stroud points to Larry Niven’s Ringworld and Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama as classic Science Fiction stories with Big Dumb Objects at their heart, but pushes the concept into other genres too, for example, pointing out that in the fantasy genre, the Big Dumb Object tends to be stationary. In roleplaying, the Big Dumb Object is best used as a mystery—just as it is in fiction—and be something to explore and be revealed to the Player Characters. It is another thoughtful article that is let down by some strange decisions. First, the article is part of the magazine’s ‘Generic Adventure Module’ series, but whilst generic, it is not a module. It is an examination of the idea and it might be used in roleplaying, not a module that can be picked up and run. The series title is misleading. Then, whilst it talks about how the Big Dumb Object can be roleplaying, it only looks to film, television, and books as inspiration. In other words, it ignores the format the article is intended for. Surely, there must be roleplaying adventures or settings which have Big Dumb Objects which could have been mentioned here, but there are none. There is, of course, A Doomsday Like Any Other, the 1986 scenario published by FASA for use with its Star Trek: The Role Playing Game,which is a terrific adventure involving a ‘Doomsday Machine’ like the planet killer encountered by the USS Enterprise in the episode, ‘The Doomsday Machine’. Lastly, the author mentions that there is actually a ‘BDO adventure module’ available to download from the publisher’s website and adapt to the Game Master’s system and setting of choice. Why not include it in the issue? There are certainly articles which could have been replaced and the issue could have been all the better for it.

‘The Big Dumb Object’ is the first of the three entries in the issue’s ‘Tabletop Games’ section. Christopher Jarvis follows it with a review of ‘The Quacks of Quedlinburg’, the Kennerspiel des Jahres award winner of 2018 and Allen Stroud’s entry for ‘Mini of the Month’. The latter is surprisingly good and not the typical waste of space that previous entries for ‘Minion the Month’ have been. Here the author expresses his love for the Genestealer Cult armies and his frustration at discovering that Games Workshop no longer supported them. That would change, subsequently, but in the meantime, the author builds his own, so there is a pleasing sense of story to this particular entry in the magazine’s regular feature. The Genestealers also being heavily inspired by the Xenomorphs of Alien means that the short article continues the issue’s theme.

‘Finding Jin Yong’ is the first of two entries in the issue’s Books section. Here Jane Clewett asks why the bestselling Chinese author of ‘Chinese Lord of the Rings’ is so little-known outside of China. Ultimately, the issue may well be that Jin Yong was too prolific an author and the length of his Condor trilogy too much of a commitment for publishers. That said, the first few books have been published in English and if the reader is ready to make the commitment to a long-running wuxia fantasy epic, they can easily be found. The article forms a good introduction to the genre and the first of the books, so again this article nicely hooks in the reader into wanting to know more. The other entry in the Books section is ‘The Infinite Hex Crawl’ by Anthony Perconti, which looks at Jorge Luis Borges’ ‘The Library of Babel’. This is a good introduction to a fascinating story which describes an infinite library whose shelves are filled with every iteration and every variation possible of every book ever written. The nearest roleplaying parallel is Dying Stylishly Games’ The Stygian Library, but this article suggests that there is more than enough in the short story which could be adapted and developed to a roleplaying situation. Or at least, simply provide a fascinating read.

The ‘TV & Film’ articles in the issue continue the discussion pieces of ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance ‘from Parallel Worlds Issue #03 and ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’ from Parallel Worlds Issue #04. The series consists of two-handers between Tom Grundy and Jane Clewett in which they talk about reactions to and thoughts on a particular film. For Parallel Worlds Issue #05, the film is Joker, directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix. The film divided audiences and so it is between the authors here. The other ‘TV & Film’ entry continues the issue’s theme. In ‘Alien: How Ridley Scott Reinvented Science Fiction’, Sam Long looks at the seminal Science Fiction horror film and its effect upon the genre, and how it has been replicated and imitated since. The article neatly places the film in the context of the period of its release and its genre, and the comparisons it draws with those other imitative films, such as John Carpenter’s The Thing and Pitch Black are more interesting than its look at the wider film franchise as it develops. Overall, this is a good introduction to and overview of what is now regarded as a classic Science Fiction film and a classic horror film.

The alien—and Alien—theme of Parallel Worlds Issue #05 comes to a close with Richard Watson’s ‘Alien Isolation’, which looks at how the 2014 computer game managed to capture the feeling of being stalked by and facing a Xenomorph, with few means to stop it and most obvious thing to do being to run and hide, scared and alone. It really sells the virtues of the computer game as a horrifying experience, one of being alone and being prey. However, its inclusion highlights a missed opportunity. If Alien can be explored via the medium of computer game, why not others? Certainly, at the time of the release of Parallel Worlds Issue#05, there had been games based on it, including a board game from Leading Edge Games in the nineties and then more recently, Alien: The Roleplaying Game had been published in 2019. Then there are obvious imitators such as the MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game,published in 2018, which would have been worth examining as a part of the issue’s theme. This is disappointing in its lack of scope. ‘Alien Isolation’ is the first of two entries in the ‘Video Games ‘section. The other is ‘Space Engineers’ by Louis Calvert. This is a Science Fiction computer game of engineering, construction, exploration and survival in space and on planets. Its focus is on building spaceships, space stations, planetary outposts, and so on, and then travelling to explore planets and gather resources to survive and build. The article brings to life the fun of playing the game and the joy of the community built up around its play, as well as charting its ongoing development. The issue is brought to a close with ‘The Purpose’, a decent piece of ‘Original Fiction’ also by Louis Calvert.

Physically, Parallel Worlds Issue #5 is cleanly and tidily presented, and on the whole, it is a bright and breezy affair. In places though, some of the articles feel stretched as their layouts could have been much tighter, an issue that hampered the first three issues.

With the fifth issue, Parallel Worlds continues to improve the magazine in terms of content and writing. The issue contains some excellent articles that are genuinely interesting and informative, that make the reader want to discover more. Above all, there is more in the issue that is actually enjoyable to read. Hopefully, Parallel Worlds Issue #5 is a sign of better things to come.

Magazine Madness 17: Parallel Worlds Issue #04

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The fourth issue of Parallel Worlds magazine was published in the winter of 2020. As with previous issues, beginning with the inaugural issue, Parallel Worlds Issue #01 published in 2019, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, films, and more. Unlike like later issues, for example, Parallel Worlds Issue #21 and Parallel Worlds Issue #22, this fourth issue is a fairly unbalanced issue, with relatively little, direct gaming content in favour of focusing on computer games and films. Further, the standard of writing is better, which when combined with its selection of interesting articles and brevity serves to make it overall an engaging, even sometimes thoughtful read. Of course, Parallel Worlds Issue #04 is readily available in print, but all of the issues of Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day of classic White Dwarf, but here and now.

Parallel Worlds Issue #04 opens with its editorial from Tom Grundy, briefly mentioning the importance of escaping into the fantasy of a new book, film, or video during the winter, before giving an overview of the issue’s contents. It is followed by the first of several articles in the issue dedicated to computer games. This is the issue’s ‘Interview’ with Julian Gollop, designer and programmer of the classic, turn-based strategy games, Laser Squad and UFO: Enemy Unknown. Timed with the then release of Phoenix Point, this is a relatively short piece which looks back at the creation process of UFO: Enemy Unknown in particular and how that has developed with the then new game. It would have been useful perhaps if there had been some more information on the designer’s earlier titles, perhaps to give context for younger readers, but otherwise an enjoyable read. Aliens are the subject of the second article dedicated to computer games. In Louis Colvert’s Thinkpiece, ‘Why Aren’t Aliens In Video Games More… Alien?’, the author explores the role and expectations of the alien in our most modern form of fiction—the video game. Drawing from a number of different titles, Halo and Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee in particular, he notes how the design of the aliens have been used to reinforce and subvert the expectations of the players. In Halo, the size and speed of the aliens often reflects what expect of the animal world—larger aliens are slower, hit harder, and take more damage, whereas with the smaller ones, the reverse is true. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee has alien creatures which are human-like in all but appearance, meaning that in telling a story around slavery it can draw parallels with our own history. Ultimately, the near familiarity of how these aliens act is how we are best able to interact with them in game.

Under ‘Video Games’, Parallel Worlds Issue #04 continues its computer game strand with Ben Potts’ ‘Anthem: The game that nearly was’ examines the perceived failure and difficulties of Bioware’s Anthem, drawing parallels in terms of development with Destiny and Destiny 2 and highlighting the anticipation for the game following its 2017 demo versus the disappointment upon its release. That was in 2019 of course, and Anthem can be seen as a failure now, since development on the game ceased in 2021. Nevertheless, the article is another interesting read, and contrasts nicely with the piece that follows by Thomas Turnbull-Ross. ‘Lambda Cubed: The continuing mystery of Half-Life 3’ sets up and then explores the anticipation, even then a decade old, for the eagerly awaited, but yet to appear, third part in the Half-Life series from Valve. Even several years on from the article, fans will have to be satisfied with a sequel of sorts, Half-Life: Alyx, though that, of course, is unlikely. Consequently, this article has not really dated!

The ‘TV & Film’ articles in the issue open with ‘Star Wars Rebels: A Love letter To The Fans’ which examines the animated series and how it fits into Star Wars canon. Exploring the links to what is now known as ‘Legends’, but which was previously known as ‘The Expanded Universe’, the article highlights how much fan service it delivered, how it delved into and developed the lore, and some of the stories it told. It is clear that its author, Louis Colvert, is a fan, and he very much sells the series. Fans of Star Wars Rebels will enjoy the article, whilst anyone else should be intrigued enough to want go and watch it. Next, Jane Clewett provides thumbnail reviews of various genre films, such as Us, Midsommar, and It Chapter Two in ‘2019 in horror cinema’, which are decent enough. More interesting is ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’, which is a follow on from Parallel Worlds Issue #03 and its ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’. This is a discussion piece, a two-hander between Tom Grundy and Jane Clewett about their reaction to the film and their thoughts about it. This article is shorter, but it highlights the odd nature of the film and disparity of its story elements.

The issue includes three entries under the ‘Tabletop Games’ label. First, ‘We Found a Body’ launches the first in a series of ‘The Generic Adventure Module’ which explore particular plot types which can be added to a game. In this case, Allen Stroud adds a corpse and accompanying mystery. Graphically, it suggests that this is for a modern game, but the article is broad enough to suggest otherwise, in turn examining ways in which the body can be introduced, forensics applied, suspected questioned, and the death investigated. This is all from a point of setting up a good story and whilst it could have been more detailed, the advice is sound and the article lays the groundwork for future articles to come. It is followed by Christopher Jarvis’ review of Zombie Kidz, which is given high praise. The trio is rounded out the ‘Mini of the Month’, this time by Allen Stroud. The regular article, this time devoted to ‘Grak, warlord of the Clan’, an orc miniature that he purchased at Gen Con UK, benefits greatly from being a page in length rather the two in earlier issues, but is very much a nostalgia piece, since the convention and the miniature date from 1995.

Ant Jones and Tom Grundy follow up Allen Stroud’s ‘Diamonds in the Rough: Read Adventurous!’ on self-published novels in Parallel Worlds Issue #03 with ‘Self-Pub Review’, a trio of reviews of three self-published books. These are all good and sound interesting reads from the reviews. With half of the article devoted to its award winners, Allen Stroud’s ‘Fantasy Con Glasgow’ is never given sufficient space to make the event come alive or sound interesting as other entries in the ‘Events’ department in previous issues managed to do. Rounding out the issue are two pieces of short, ‘Original Fiction’. They consist of ‘Lazaraki Chronicles’, a horror piece by Connor Edles, and a Science Fiction piece, ‘Red 14’ by Ben Potts. These are decent enough.

Physically, Parallel Worlds #04 is printed in full colour, on very sturdy paper, which gives it a high-quality feel. Unlike in previous issues, it not does suffer from a lot of empty space and the articles are compact rather than stretched out. Consequently, the issue does not feel as empty as was the case with the first three issues.

Parallel Worlds Issue #04 is the best issue yet. It has more content, the less interesting articles take up decidedly less space, and there are more interesting articles to read. ‘We Found a Body’ is good, as is, again ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’, and also ‘Star Wars Rebels: A Love letter To The Fans’. Yet as much as there is more interesting content in the pages of the issue to read, it is unbalanced. The tabletop gaming content does not come off as a poor second or third so much as a poor fourth or fifth. Three articles, one of which is a review (and compare that to the fact that three books are reviewed to one game) and another a nostalgia piece about a twenty-five year old miniature, compared to four computer game articles and three film and television articles, all lengthier articles, do not feel enough for magazine which was at the time being pitched to sell in game shops. ‘We Found a Body’ is a good start, but Parallel Worlds needs more gaming content to balance everything else out. In the meantime, Parallel Worlds #04 is still a decent read.

Magazine Madness 16: Parallel Worlds Issue #03

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The third issue of Parallel Worlds magazine was published in September 2020. Like with previous issues, bringing with the the inaugural issue, Parallel Worlds Issue #01 published in 2019, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, films, and more. Much like later issues, for example, Parallel Worlds Issue #21 and Parallel Worlds Issue #22, this third issue is fairly balanced issue, with relatively little, direct gaming content. Further, the standard of writing is better, which when combined with its selection of interesting articles and brevity serves to make it overall an engaging, even sometimes thoughtful read. Of course, Parallel Worlds Issue #03 is readily available in print, but all of the issues of Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day of classic White Dwarf, but here and now. 

Parallel Worlds Issue #03 opens with its editorial from Tom Grundy, making the point that the value of Science Fiction, horror, and fantasy lies in its ideas and that in addressing and discussing these ideas, suggesting that in doing so, this is actually the highest form of conversation. It is an interesting stance, especially given the dismissive way in which genre content is often treated. Grundy does not take the idea any further, which is a pity. The issue then introduces a new addition, ‘Feedback’. This is the magazine’s letters page, the replies either complimentary or discussing the ‘Thinkpiece’ article ‘Ruling the World 20 – The sci-fi assumption of ‘Government Earth’’, in Parallel Worlds Issue #02, which examined the notion of the ‘global’ or civilisation-wide government. This opens up the magazine a little, making feel less like it exists in a vacuum.

The issue’s interview is with Carsten Damm, previously the developer of the fantasy roleplaying game Earthdawn—now thirty years old in 2023—and now the founder of the German publisher, Vagrant Workshop. This is quite a lengthy piece, exploring the interviewee’s beginnings as both a roleplayer and a designer, how he moved from writing in German and then English for Earthdawn, and then back again for his own content. In addition to learning a little about the publisher’s roleplaying game, Equinox, and more about growing up as a gamer in Germany. One issue with the hobby is that for obvious reasons it is dominated by the English-speaking market, so it is always interesting to hear from another gaming market and culture. The interview is a good start to Parallel Worlds Issue #03, although it is the roleplaying content in the issue.

Parallel Worlds Issue #03 has two articles devoted to wargaming. The second is the ‘Mini of the Month’ by Thomas Turbull-Ross and is definitely the less useful of the two, and probably the least interesting of the two. The figure is the Isharann Soulrender figure from Games Workshop’s range of aquatic elves and it is easy to see why the loves the figure with its lantern hanging from its helmet like an angler fish to be able to see under the sea, its man-catching polearm, and swordfish companion, but difficult to see why it warranted a double-page spread devoted to a single figure and some fiction. The first and infinitely more useful is a discussion on how to get into the miniatures hobby by ‘Wargaming on a Budget’. Written by Allen Stroud and Connor Eddies, this suggests ways and options in which a prospective player can begin wargaming with limited funds, tracking the money spent as they suggest the rules to choose, where to buy models on the cheap, what tools are needed, and so on. The budget is £70—and that includes choosing a free set of rules and opting for the skirmish level of wargaming, that is, twenty or so figures to a side. The article does gloss over the various options in terms of rules, and it might have been useful to look at the relative benefits of each, especially since there is some money left from the budget at the end of the exercise. After all, why include photographs of the Frostgrave line if it is really only going to be mentioned in passing in the text? Overall, a good guide and the most useful article in the issue.

The miniatures and wargames articles are divided by a review by Christopher Jarvis of the board game, Space Base, which at four pages feels too long. The issue is not the words, but the photographs which do not much to the review. Anyway, had the review been cut in half, there could have been room for another review or more content. For the Events article, Jane Clewett takes the reader to ‘FrightFest – Twenty Bloody Years’, to celebrate the longevity of the biggest horror film festival in the United Kingdom. This is an enjoyable piece, which not only tells us what the event is all about, but also what it is like to attend. It sounds like a fantastic event to attend if you are a fan of the horror genre, but Frightfest also showcases thrillers and other genre films too, so it may well be work checking out to what is being shown at the next event.

The two computer game-themed articles suffer from the same issue as the miniatures articles—one good, one not so good. The first, ‘Homeworld’, by Allen Stroud, explores the history and the story of the Homeworld real-time strategy computer game with its combination Star Wars-like space opera and Battlestar Galactica-like story. It places the series in context of the computer games of the late nineties and its genre and game type, which thankfully in the modern age is made all the more interesting because its three entries and extra content are readily available. Further and with the benefit of time, the article is also useful as a primer for Homeworld: Revelations, the roleplaying game from Modiphius Entertainment. Either way, it is a solid introduction to the series. ‘Terraria – The Success of Simplicity in Modern Gaming’ by Richard Watson is the not as interesting counterpart to ‘Homeworld’. Terraria is a two-dimensional, side-scrolling sandbox which is hugely popular given its relative price and despite there being any number of multi-million dollar titles which a player could choose to play instead. A relatively short article, it nevertheless takes too long to get to what the game is about, concentrating instead on updates and what the game is not. So it never fully sells the game and the fact that it is fun to play.

In comparison, the articles on books are uniformly good. Allen Stroud’s ‘Diamonds in the Rough: Read Adventurous!’ examines the joys and dangers of reading self-published books. It highlights the difficulty of picking your way through the innumerable genre titles available today to find the proverbial diamond in the rough, providing some pointers as to what to look for—reviews, blurbs, cover designs, price, and more. It is backed up with quintet of recommendations as a starting point. They include dystopian future, tales of epic fantasy, space opera, and others, all useful pointers. This is followed by a trilogy of book reviews—Tade Thompson’s Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Rosewater, Beyond Kidding by Lynda Clark, and Duchamp Versus Einstein—by Allen Stroud, Louis Calvert, and Tom Grundy. These three reviews are surprisingly succinct and to the point, with little in the way of wasted space—not always the case with other articles in the issue.

Penultimately, ‘TV & Film’ completes a two-part article dedicated to Star Trek begun on the previous issue. In the first part of ‘Keeping Trek’ by Ben Potts looked at the origins and history of the franchise, all the way up the earliest films. Here he picks up with Star Trek: The Next Generation and explores the franchise over the course of numerous series, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager, and Enterprise, and to a lesser extent, the films of the nineties and noughties. It comes up to date for for the first two seasons of Star Trek Discovery, but does not give them more than a passing mention. Essentially, this continues the solid introduction begun in the first part, turning the two-part series into an overview primarily intended for the casual or uninitiated would be fan of Star Trek as there is nothing here that the dedicated fan will not already know. As with the first part, it highlights some of the issues of the various series as well as some of the issues too. It pays particular praise to Star Trek: Deep Space 9, especially in its capacity to tell more interesting and often longer stories, whilst acknowledging the parallels with Babylon 5.

The other ‘TV & Film’ article in Parallel Worlds Issue #03 is ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’, which is a noted departure in format for the magazine. Together, Tom Grundy, Allen Stroud, and Beth Faulds discuss and give their opinions. There is room here for the trio to agree and disagree, the discussion good-natured and everyone has room to give their opinion. This is a solid format with little wasted space here, and hopefully, future issues will return to it to discuss other genre television or film. Lastly, the issue is rounded out with a short piece of horror fiction. ‘Erden Foe’ by Mehzeb R. Chowdhury is a short piece of Lovecraftian military fiction which nicely rounds the article off.

Physically, Parallel Worlds #03 is printed in full colour, on very sturdy paper, which gives it a high-quality feel. As with both Parallel Worlds #01 and Parallel Worlds #02, it does suffer from a lot of empty space and just too many of the articles do feel stretched out. More concision when it comes to the layout and perhaps there might have been room for more content. 

Parallel Worlds Issue #03 swings widely in tone and content. Once again roleplaying does come off a poor third in comparison to other types of gaming, too many articles feel stretched, and it does not yet escape the feeling that there should be more to it. One board game and one miniature review does not feel as if it is enough in comparison to several books. Yet there are good articles to be found in the pages of the issue. ‘Wargaming on a Budget’ is useful and informative, as are ‘FrightFest – Twenty Bloody Years’ and ‘Diamonds in the Rough: Read Adventurous!’ because they help the reader do things, whilst  ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ is spirited and engaging. All four articles are ones that might bring the reader back to the issue to follow up on that help or read again, whereas the others, less so. Overall, Parallel Worlds Issue #03 is still just a bit too light, but there are sections worth reading.

Magazine Madness 11: Parallel Worlds #02

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The second issue of Parallel Worlds magazine was published in September 202o. Like the inaugural issue, Parallel Worlds #01, published the year previously, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, and more. Unlike later issues, for example, Parallel Worlds #21 and Parallel Worlds #22, this second issue is very much about games, and that is not necessarily a bad thing if something interesting is said about them. Where that was not always achieved in Parallel Worlds #01, the second issue is more balanced, which when combined with its selection of interesting articles and brevity serves to make it overall an engaging, even sometimes thoughtful read. Of course, Parallel Worlds #02 is readily available in print, but all of the issues of Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day of classic White Dwarf, but here and now. 

Parallel Worlds #02 opens with an interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, the author of the Shadows of the Apt fantasy series and the award-winning science fiction novel, Children of Time. It touches upon his choice of publishers and how alien spiders are, but it also explores his love of roleplaying, mentioning that he is the Dungeon Master for a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition campaign and also that Shadows of the Apt fantasy series arose from a roleplaying campaign of his own. It is a fairly light piece to start the issue with and although a couple of years old, is intriguing to persuade the reader to check out Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fiction.

Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is the subject of the first ‘Tabletop Games’ article in Parallel Worlds #02. ‘Box Half Full: Why D&D is so revered and popular’ by Ben Potts is the counterpart to Connor Eddles’ ‘Box Full of Knives: Why Dungeons & Dragons needs to step away from its wargaming roots’ in Parallel Worlds #01, and by far, very much the superior article. In his article, Eddles made the point that Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is a ‘box full of knives’, that its mechanics are too focused on delivered the means to kill things and take their loot and not enough on providing the tools to provide stories. Yet whilst the points in his article are not without merit, Eddles completely failed to do anything to counter them. Fortunately, whilst Ben Potts both acknowledges Eddles’ points and accepts that many of them are valid, he points out the value of the shared history and storytelling to be found in Dungeons & Dragons, how that can be passed from one generation to another, how Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition has moved in terms of representation and diversity (but remember this article was written in 2020, so the roleplaying game is still on that path), how the sexism of fantasy artwork has been ditched, and how the rules have been streamlined. The article also acknowledges that the origins of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition do lie in wargaming and medieval history. Overall, this article is everything that ‘Box Full of Knives: Why Dungeons & Dragons needs to step away from its wargaming roots’ is not—balanced, interesting, and informative. ‘Box Half Full: Why D&D is so revered and popular’ does not shy away from the issues with Dungeons & Dragons, but it explores and explains them as well as highlighting the changes made to make Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition a better game.

This followed by a second ‘Tabletop Games’ article, this time a review by Christopher Jarvis of Star Wars: Outer Rim. Published by Fantasy Flight Games, this is the board game of scoundrels engaged in smuggling, bounty hunting, scams, and more as they attempt to turn themselves in legends. This is a decent review which clearly captures just how much the reviewer had playing the game. The third of the ‘Tabletop Games’ articles is the second entry in the ‘Miniature Of The Month’ series, here ‘Miniature Of The Month: Uthred Steelmantle’. Written by Connor Eddles, this looks at a more modern figure, this time a Stormcast Vanguard for Warhammer 40,000. Accompanied by a piece of short fiction, this still feels like page filler rather than being anything interesting. Connor Eddles’ other contribution is ‘Beneath the Waystation’, a piece of ‘Original Fiction’. It is a decent enough short slice of Science Fiction horror. The other review in the issue is ‘Review: Dragonslayer’ by Allen Stroud. This is of Duncan M. Hamilton’s Dragonslayer, and is not wholly positive. 

Tom Grundy’s ‘Thinkpiece’ is titled ‘Ruling the World 20 – The sci-fi assumption of ‘Government Earth’’, which examines the notion of the ‘global’ or civilisation-wide government—including star spanning governments, how the world might get there, and the difficulties associated with doing so, primarily with how a country identifies itself. Numerous options are discussed, such as colonies pushing for independence from home governments, governments existing across multiple worlds, having a ‘mega-United Nations’ across multiple star systems and worlds, and more. The article does suffer from a lot of blank space and it would have benefited from a bibliography listing the various works of fiction, films, television series, and games where the various forms of government appear. Certainly some application and some pointers for the reader would have helped.

In Parallel Worlds #01, with ‘Events’, Allen Stroud took the reader on a guided tour of the United Kingdom’s biggest gaming convention with ‘UK Games Expo 2019’. In Parallel Worlds #02, he takes us to another convention, very different in nature to UK Games Expo—the 77th annual World Convention of Science Fiction. Attended by many of the biggest names in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, this is an even bigger event with its emphasis on Science Fiction and fantasy and fiction all culminating in the Hugo Awards. Stroud does point out that the event was not with its issues, but again captures the scale of the event, highlighting the number of attendees, the breadth of stalls and exhibitors present, and the array of events staged across the weekend. Supported by numerous photographs, ‘Dublin 2019: an Irish worldcon’ brings the event to life and really makes the reader want to attend, which again, post-COVID in 2022 will be a whole lot easier.

The other ‘Video Games’ article is Thomas Turnbull-Ross’ ‘Beyond the Screen: Are games becoming less immersive?’ which examines both whether games are becoming easier to play at a cost of immersion and whether their sense of escapism is being lost with the shift to social-focused gameplay. It is a lengthy piece which examines numerous online games and their communities, pointing to plenty of examples, before concluding that both issues are true, but not totally.

Lastly, Lastly, ‘TV & Film’ launches a two-part article dedicated to Star Trek. The first part of ‘Keeping Trek’ by Ben Potts looks at the origins and history of the franchise, all the way up the earliest films, with Star Trek: The Next Generation saved for the second part. The article is definitely for the casual or uninitiated would be fan of Star Trek as there is nothing here that the dedicated fan will not already know. For the casual or would be fan this is a solid introduction to the series from the sixties and to an extent, the films of the late seventies and early eighties, which whilst not ignoring the era poor portrayal of its female characters or some of the sillier plots, does highlight how the series was socially and inspirationally ground-breaking, as was the technology, and there were some great stories too.

Physically, Parallel Worlds #02 is printed in full colour, on very sturdy paper, which gives it a high-quality feel. As with the first issue, it does suffer from a lot of white space and one or two of the articles do feel stretched out.

Parallel Worlds #02 is better than Parallel Worlds #01—and that is how it should be. The issue has a better mix of articles, even if roleplaying does come off a poor third in comparison to other types of gaming. It does feel as if there should be more to it though. For example, one board game review or one book review or one miniature review just does not feel enough, especially given how much space is devoted to them, whilst other articles could have been improved with bibliographies all of their very own. Overall, Parallel Worlds #02 is a light, perhaps just a little too slight in places, enjoyable read.

Magazine Madness 10: Parallel Worlds #01

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The inaugural issue of Parallel Worlds magazine was published in September 2019. It contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, and more. Unlike later issues, for example, Parallel Worlds #21 and Parallel Worlds #22, this first issue is very much about games, and that is not necessarily a bad thing if something interesting is said about them. Unfortunately, that is not always the case in Parallel Worlds #01, but the issue contains some interesting articles and they do possess a degree of brevity which makes the issue as a whole a quick read. Of course, Parallel Worlds #01 is readily available in print, but all of the issues of Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day of classic White Dwarf, but here and now. 

Parallel Worlds #01 opens with an interview with Isaac Childres, the designer of Gloomhaven, one of biggest—quite literally—boardgames published in the last few years. It is quite a lengthy piece and nicely captures the designer’s enthusiasm for creating and playing games. What is interesting in the piece is the discussion of the influences upon the design, which include Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, and it includes a range of illustrations which should intrigue the reader to take a closer look at Gloomhaven. The other board game-focused piece in the issue is ‘Tiny Epic Mechs’, part of the magazine’s ‘Tabletop Games’ series of articles. Christopher Jarvis’ article is actually a review of the arena-set game of ’mech combat published by Gamelyn Games as part of its Tiny Epic series, which packages big games in small boxes and thus delivers greater game play than their size readily suggests. In comparison to the other games in the line, and there are plenty of them, Tiny Epic Mechs, is short and punchy in its game play and does not necessarily lend itself to telling an epic story. Nevertheless, the review is informative and again, should point the reader in the direction of the line.

Unfortunately, these decent articles are followed by a pair of frustratingly bad and unhelpful articles, both by Connor Eddles. In ‘Box Full of Knives: Why Dungeons & Dragons needs to step away from its wargaming roots’ he complains that Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is a ‘box full of knives’, that its mechanics are too focused on delivered the means to kill things and take their loot and not enough on providing the tools to provide stories. There is some validity to the argument, but the author completely ignores how far Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition has come in supporting both roleplaying and storytelling in its rules in comparison to the Dungeons & Dragons of 1974 and even the Dungeons & Dragons of the year 2000. Likewise, he complains that Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition has too many rules and not enough tools, and again, he ignores how far the game has come. Admittedly, in either case, it is not as far as other roleplaying games, but the shift is there. Further, he ignores the then reality of the situation with regard to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and Wizards of the Coast, that in 2019, there was no real possibility of the world’s premier roleplaying game necessarily going in the direction he wants. Despite stating that a proper critique of the system that is Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition requires the reader to go back and look at where it all began, he completely fails to do so. Similarly, whilst stating that, “This article may look like yet another hit-piece on the 5th Edition of D&D (often referred to as ‘5e’) but accusation would only be half correct.”, never fully addresses the other half that is not a ‘hit-piece’, never really offers concrete or helpful solutions, and ultimately the piece reads like a wishful whinge that Dungeons & Dragons was different.

‘Call of Cthulhu – Intermediate Frustration: The Call of Cthulhu Starter Set’ is not so much a review of the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, as a review of Connor Eddles’ experience of running it and his impression of it. The review is profoundly uninformative and unhelpful. It does not tell the reader what is in the starter set and it does not give any context to what is in the starter set and it ignores who the starter set is for, instead complaining that its cover is reminiscent of Scooby Doo, that one of the pre-generated Investigators has a silly name, and that adventures are written in what is to him a heavy style that he does not use. Of these three issues, he has a point about the silly name—Nevada Jones—for the pre-generated Investigator, but of the other two, they are dubious points upon which to base a whole review, and whilst the author is entitled to his opinion, the result, as in his previous article, is unbalanced and uninteresting.

The coverage of Lovecraft continues with ‘H.P. Lovecraft, 100 Years On’ by Ben Potts, but not before Allen Stroud fills up two pages with a ‘Mini of the Month’ which looks at a thirty-year old miniature of an elf from Grenadier. Despite needing an edit, Ben Potts’ article is balanced and interesting, serving as decent introduction to the author, his works and his failings, and gives both context to his writings and his influence. Especially if the reader knows nothing about H.P. Lovecraft.

Allen Stroud’s ‘UK Games Expo 2019’ takes the reader on a guided tour of the United Kingdom’s biggest gaming convention. It captures the scale of the event, highlighting the number of attendees, the breadth of stalls and exhibitors present, and the array of events staged across the weekend. Supported by numerous photographs, the article brings the event to life and really makes the reader want to attend. This of course, was pre-pandemic, and so they would have been unable to until UK Games Expo came back in a much-reduced capacity in 2021. Hopefully, it will return in 2022 and be as good as this article describes it was in 2019.

‘Call of Demons’ by Allen Stroud both continues the issue’s Lovecraftian theme and presages the issue’s coverage of video games. It brings the horror of the Mythos to a virtual world in a short and enjoyable piece of would-be military action. The first of the articles on video games is both the longest in the issue and the longest. Tom Grundy’s ‘Promising the Stars: The three biggest space games of the 2010s’ examines the promise and expectations of the three big, spacefaring computer games of the tweenies. These are Elite Dangerous, No Man’s Sky, and Star Citizen, and all three are explored in some depth and detail, looking at their high points and their low, and seeing whether they have delivered. The truth is that none of them quite have, and they remain in various states of playability, from the complete No Man’s Sky to the yet to be fulfilled Star Citizen. The author makes the case for each one and again makes the reader want to investigate more. Perhaps the article could have suggested the ways in which to do so, but otherwise, this is an enjoyable article.

The second article about video games in Parallel Worlds #01 is by Thomas Turnbull-Ross. ‘Two Knights & their Hollow Souls’ is a comparison of two games, Dark Souls and Hollow Knight, drawing together the similarities of their worlds, their lead characters, and their game play. It is not quite as interesting as the previous article, but nevertheless, a good read. Rounding out the issue is Allen Stroud’s ‘Review: Blood of an Exile’, a decent review of the first book in the fantasy trilogy by Brian Naslund.

Physically, Parallel Worlds #01 is printed in full colour, on very sturdy paper, which gives it a high-quality feel. It does suffer from a lot of white space and one or two of the articles do feel stretched out.

Apart from the misinformative misfires from Connor Eddles, Parallel Worlds #01 is a solid, first issue. It sets out what its aims are, that of the exploration of the parallel worlds of our imagination, and then takes the reader there in a range of mostly informative and interesting articles.

Magazine Madness 7: Parallel Worlds #22

 The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Parallel Worlds feels a little old-fashioned. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it supports the gaming hobby with content for a variety of games. So an issue might include new monsters, spells, treasures, reviews of newly released titles, scenarios, discussions of how to play, painting guides, and the like… That is how it has been all the way back to the earliest days of The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it can be purchased, if not from your local newsagent, then from your local games store. Just like The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines could be back in the day. However, Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day. 

Parallel Worlds #22 promises, as with previous issues, ‘The Best in Escapism’. It offers a mix of scenarios and support for various roleplaying games as well as interviews with creators and reviews of a number of books and games. Once past the editorial from Chris Cunliffe—less interesting than that in the previous issue—Parallel Worlds #22 opens with an interview with Science Fiction author, Peter Hamilton. Short but informative, this only focuses on his new book. A longer piece might have explored more of his previous works, which would have been interesting. Other media is thrown under the spotlight in Sam Long’s Thinkpiece, ‘The Pay-off’. Subtitled, ‘When character arcs… aren’t’, this both celebrates the adroit handling of pay-offs in the stories of films, in particular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and laments their poor handling in a number of films and television series. This also includes the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the author includes the work of Zack Snyder and the DC Extended Universe too. The series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is placed under a similar spotlight in ‘Let’s talk about…’ by Ben Potts, Chris Cunliffe, and Sam Long. Both it and ‘The Pay-off’—which covers Wandavision—are good pieces, but do rely very much upon the reader having watched either and thus have access to Disney+. Not everyone will have and so spoilers abound.

Ben Potts engineers a crossover between gaming and other media with ‘The New D&D Movie – What We Want To see’. This looks at the forthcoming Dungeons & Dragons film and speculates what traps it needs to avoid and suggests what it needs to include to really shine as a film adaptation of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. So of course, no chainmail bikinis, racial stereotypes, love story, or planar travel, but definitely split the party, include iconic monsters, keep it medieval, and more. It is of course, tongue in cheek, but there is no doubt that we want to see a Dungeons & Dragons film which puts the previous ones behind us and very much to shame.

In terms of gaming, Parallel Worlds #22 continues its support for the roleplaying games Black Void and Chivalry & Sorcery. For the former, there is a preview for the forthcoming supplement, Under Nebulous Skies, which showcases a new character background, the Djinn-Kin. This is all decently detailed, with some variation built in, and presented in a way that it could be added to the game straight off, and comes with an excellent illustration. For the latter, the designer of Chivalry & Sorcery, Stephen Turner, presents ‘Leganti, the Capital of Solda’. This details the ‘City of the Silver’ and its long history, its layout and districts. It is a serviceable description in just a few pages and a reasonable addition to a Chivalry & Sorcery campaign.

In terms of gaming, the most interesting article in the issue is ‘We Played… Cyberpunk RED’, R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s 2045-set iteration of 1990’s Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. (developed from the earlier Cyberpunk 2013). It provides an overview of the setting and the campaign run by Angus McNicholl, one built around the Night City Police Department, for his three players. All four participants are given space to give their opinion on both the campaign and Cyberpunk RED as a game system, their opinions on the former wholly positive, whilst on the latter, their opinions are less effusive and more nuanced. In general, they agreed that the rules and combat system of Cyberpunk RED’s Interlock System were playable, they also said that the game had too many attributes and too many skills, and that perhaps the system was not as gritty as they were expecting. Overall though, the combination of the game set-up and feedback is engaging and informative.

The world of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls receives not one, but two articles in Parallel Worlds #22. The first, by Thomas Turnball-Ross, ‘The Worlds of the Elder Scrolls’ examines the setting as a whole through the many computer games which have been set there over the years, whilst the second, ‘Skyrim in 2021’ by Ant Jones examines the ground-breaking computer roleplaying game and asks if ten years on, it is still worth playing despite its flaws. The issue with the first article is that it lacks a degree of context and whilst it is liberally illustrated, it is just with images from the various computer games. It would have been better if covers from the various computer games had been used as illustrations and a timeline included. The second article benefits from a better focus and actually makes this player want to go back and play again.

Reviews in the issue cover the Swords & Sorcery roleplaying game, Beyond the Black Sea, the Civilisation-style time travel Science Fiction board game, Anachrony, the novel Rachel’s Story (author Leigh Russell was interviewed in Parallel Worlds #21), and Byrony Pearce’s novel, Raising Hell. These are decent, though as with the earlier article on computer games, the covers of the items being reviewed could have been shown. Lastly, the issue is rounded out with ‘No Kisses Goodnight’, an enjoyable piece of fiction by Toshiya Kamei.

Physically, Parallel Worlds #22 is professionally presented and written. The layout is clean, strong, and easy to look at, and in general is easy to read. The previous issue, Parallel Worlds #21, did feel as if it needed more gaming content that would appeal to a wider audience, the focus on Black Void and Chivalry & Sorcery, perhaps a bit too narrow. Especially given that the magazine is sold in gaming stores. ‘We Played… Cyberpunk RED’ does expand it a little, just not enough. Similarly, the handful of reviews does not feel enough either, whether of roleplaying games or novels. Again, more of those might increase the appeal to a wider audience.

Parallel Worlds #22 is an enjoyable read, but two articles involving the Marvel Cinematic Universe and two articles involving The Elder Scrolls is two too much in either case. Certainly the second article in either case could have been bumped to Parallel Worlds #23. The best gaming article in the issue is ‘We Played… Cyberpunk RED’ and surely that could have been paired with something else, a review, a scenario… It seems as if the magazine missed an opportunity there to bring the reader further into that roleplaying game and perhaps set up a regular format, that of, ‘We Played…’ with content the reader can use. What this means is that as before, there are a few good articles within the issue and it needs to build on those to bring readers back to it on a regular basis rather than their simply checking out an issue to see if there might be something good in its pages, because ultimately, Parallel Worlds #22 just has its fingers in too many worlds to really get a handle on them and its gaming content is neither mainstream nor interesting enough for the reader to be either useful or adaptable.

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An Unboxing in the Nook video of Parallel Worlds #22 is available here.

Magazine Madness 4: Parallel Worlds #21

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

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Parallel Worlds feels a little old-fashioned. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it supports the gaming hobby with content for a variety of games. So an issue might include new monsters, spells, treasures, reviews of newly released titles, scenarios, discussions of how to play, painting guides, and the like… That is how it has been all the way back to the earliest days of The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it can be purchased, if not from your local news agents, then from your local games store. Just like The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines could be back in the day. However, Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that Parallel Worlds has reached the grand old age of twenty-one—and these days, that is no magazine achievement for a magazine, gaming or otherwise.

Parallel Worlds #21 promises ‘The Best in Escapism’. It offers a mix of scenarios and support for various roleplaying games as well as interviews with creators and reviews of various books and games. The issue opens with editor Chris Cunliffe’s editorial lamenting the challenging nature of differing opinions and expressing them online, but highlighting that actually, through differing opinions you can discover new things, and that to some extent, the magazine is a vehicle for that. The first content in the issue is ‘Farsight – An Interview with Dario Pesce and Francesco Lucenti’, the Venice-based designers of their new roleplaying game, Farsight, and their company, Lightfish Games. As entertaining as the interview is, it actually focuses very little upon Farsight, the Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition evolved roleplaying game, recently published following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Whether talking about themselves and their influences, this is still intriguing enough to make the reader want to check out the roleplaying game itself.

The actual gaming content in the issue begins with a scenario for Black Void, the roleplaying game of esoteric fantasy set in and around Llyhn the Eternal City, a dystopian cosmopolis and trading hub at the epicentre between the Cosmos and the Void. Here, Living in filthy alleys and shanties among beggars, slaves and the casteless, humanity is very much at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Llyhn, a city inhabited and ruled by eerie beings from faraway worlds, bizarre sapient entities and otherworldly Daimons from beyond the Veil. However, there are factions in the city who want this to change, for humanity to rise beyond its meagre existence, of which the latest is ‘The Cause’, a movement to unite humanity and work to improve its conditions. In Joel Lonergan’s ‘Offers Too Good’, the Player Characters are present at a recruitment drive for ‘The Cause’ and even if they decline to join, they get an offer of a job—join and find out exactly what the leaders of ‘The Cause’ want. The scenario is short and will pose a moral dilemma for the Player Characters, but really feels like a set-up to something bigger.

Stephen Turner, the designer and publisher of Chivalry & Sorcery, Fifth Edition, adds to the world of the Dragon Reaches with ‘Languages of the Dragon Reaches’. Again short, it explores the linguistic development of the setting and provides two scripts—Tadarn Runes and Bethrin Script, both of which Game Master can use to add flavour to her Chivalry & Sorcery campaign. The world’s most popular roleplaying game in the world comes under the spotlight, or at least an aspect of it, in ‘The Three Pillars of D&D Part 3: Exploration’ by Ben Potts. Previous entries in the series examined social interaction and combat, and if they were as decently done as this third and final part, then both are worth tracking down and reading. This article identifies the key elements of exploration in Dungeons & Dragons—travel and puzzles (and traps), and suggests ways in which they can be made both challenging and interesting to play. It also examines how Short Rests and Long Rests work in the game and points own how clunky they are and how they impede one character Class and not another. However, solutions are suggested as are ways in which both Short Rests and Long Rests—Short Rests in particular, can be made to be exciting and interesting without the Player Characters necessarily losing the benefits of either. In examining the way in which Dungeons & Dragons is played, this article feels old fashioned in that similar articles of its ilk have been written again and again over the years, but of course, looking at the various previous editions of the roleplaying game, rather than the current one. This does not in any way make it a poor article and any Dungeon Master running a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition game will find this an interesting and informative article, full of suggestions and advice that will either help her run a better and more fun game, or perhaps confirm that she is already implementing both and making her game better and more fun.

Editor Chris Cunliffe’s ‘From Tabletop to Desktop’, part of Parallel Worlds’ ongoing ‘Games Master Class’ series treads ground much touched upon by Wyrd Science – Session Zero, that of the shift of play around the table to play online precipitated by COVID-19. He explores his own problems in making that shift, as well as those of his fellow players, plus the changes in terms of preparation, socialising, and interaction within the game itself. In particular, more preparation is required, conversation and interaction are more focused, but does not flow as well as they would around the table, and play time is not just much slower, but also more tiring. This does not mean that gaming online is impossible, in fact, mechanically, it is much, much easier than it was a decade ago… However, for many gamers, it is the only roleplaying possible, but it is possible and it is very much easier than it once was. What one advantage it does omit is that online gaming brings people together, not just from the next town or nearby big city, but from around the world. (For example, I regularly game and chat with players who are not just ten miles away, but hundreds and even thousands of miles away.) Another development that the author ignores is that of virtual conventions. Still the article is informative and warns the potential online player and Game Master of the issues he and she will face when taking the next step into the virtual world, though perhaps it could have highlighted the benefits a bit more and perhaps included the experiences of others who have made the jump.

The remainder of Parallel Worlds #21 is devoted to reviews. They include reviews of Sentinel Comics – The Roleplaying Game, Land of the Rising Sun—the historically inspired adaptation of Chivalry & Sorcerery, Fifth Edition, and The Dark Peaks: Deep Maw. The problem with the first two reviews—the review of Land of the Rising Sun in particular is definitely underwritten—is that they focus just a little too much on the artwork than the text, so that they are drawn out, perhaps taking up space for another review or even a series of thumbnail reviews which might have broadened the appeal of the magazine and made it more useful. In comparison, the review of The Dark Peaks: Deep Maw is more focused and more engaging. Similarly, the reviews of A Hole in the Sky, an audio book by Peter Hamilton and the Young Adult space opera novel, Kitara, by Gideon Marcus, do not suffer from that problem.

Perhaps the least interesting articles in Parallel Worlds #21 are saved to last. ‘Moving to Dystopia: Why an Established Crime Writer is Turning to Dystopian Fiction’ is an interview with Leigh Russell about why she is making the aforementioned shift, whilst ‘Rules of Succession: Appreciating Crusader Kings III’ is about Chris Cunliffe’s experiences with the computer games Crusader Kings II and Crusader Kings III. The latter is interesting from the roleplaying experiences it offers, but again feels too long, whereas the former is short, with extra artwork making it both longer and more of an infomercial than an actual interview.

Physically, Parallel Worlds #21 is professionally presented and written. The layout is clean, strong, and easy to look at, and in general is easy to read. In places, especially in the reviews, the artwork does overpower the text, but overall, this is a good-looking affair.

The problem with Parallel Worlds #21 is that it simply needs more content which will attract gamers and readers to come back to it and content that a Game Master can bring to her table. This is not to say that the issue lacks good content—for example, ‘The Three Pillars of D&D Part 3: Exploration’ and ‘From Tabletop to Desktop’ are both informative and useful, and the scenario, ‘Offers Too Good’, is a good introduction to Black Void. However, too many articles are strung out and the issue lacks content that would attract a wider audience, perhaps the addition of a scenario or article aimed at larger fanbases for different games who might pick up the issue and then appreciate the rest of the content might have helped. This is in addition to generic content too. Of course, it is difficult to take in the swathes of roleplaying titles being released from one month to the next, but there could have been more reviews too, which again, could have appealed to a wider audience.

There can be no doubt that roleplaying magazines have a hard time surviving in contemporary times, but Parallel Worlds #21 does not make it easy for itself by having too much content which does not support the hobby and which is too light. There are a few good articles within the issue and it needs to build on those to bring readers back to it on a regular basis rather than their simply checking out an issue to see if there might be something good in its pages.

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An Unboxing in the Nook video is available here.