Reviews from R'lyeh: Swordfish Islands LLC

Showing posts with label Swordfish Islands LLC. Show all posts

Sunday, 4 May 2025

[Fanzine Focus XXXVIII] Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3

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.

The Beyond the Borderlands trilogy of fanzines is different. Beginning with Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1, this is a systems neutral regional hexcrawl inspired by B2 Keep on the Borderlands, most recently implemented by Goodman Games’ Original Adventures Reincarnated #1: Into the Borderlands. The setting for the Beyond the Borderlands, like B2 Keep on the Borderlands before it, is the edge—or just beyond it—of the civilised lands, the frontier outside of which lies untrammeled wilderness, barbaric tribes, and Chaos run rampant. Here a solid fortress has been established as the last outpost of civilisation, to provide a degree of protection to travellers making the journey beyond and against the possibility of an incursion from the ghastly Goblins, horrible Hobgoblins, obnoxious Orcs, grim Gnolls, and more, which lurk just out of sight, ready to strike…

In contrast to B2 Keep on the Borderlands, what Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 did not do was take the Dungeon Master and her players into that den of evil which so threatens the Keep, the Caves of Chaos! Instead, it detailed a similar, but much smaller area, The Bloody Ravine, a sharp valley whose walls are pockmarked by cave entrances, beyond which many different tribes of Humanoids find their home. Notably, it detailed only six caves rather than the ten of the original short. What then of the remaining four? They are not detailed in either Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 or Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3—and nor do they need to be, since The Bloody Ravine is complete as written. Which begs the question, does the Beyond the Borderlands trilogy really need a third issue and if it does, what does it add to the reinterpretation of the classic setting Basic Dungeons & Dragons?

Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 brings the trilogy to a close with not another set of mini-dungeons as per the series’ inspiration, but what is the equivalent of a mega-dungeon for the trilogy. This is the Shifting Maze, a six-level dungeon that is a small part of the Chaosphere, a dimension of unreality that strikes fear into most who hear about it. It is presented in cross-section rather than the isometric style seen in previous issues. Each level has four entrances and eighteen rooms which are not only generated randomly at the start, but since this is the Shifting Maze, is generated randomly again whenever the Player Characters leave the dungeon and come back in again. The method of creating this by drawing cards from an ordinary deck of playing cards, turning the play of Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 from a dungeon crawl into a ‘cardcrawl’. The suits of the card determine the room type—Spades for monster rooms, Clubs for trap rooms, Diamonds for empty rooms, and Hearts for safe rooms. The two cards from each of the four suits are used to mark the entrances, whilst eighteen cards are drawn for each level and arranged on the table however the Game Master wants. A token is used to mark where the Player Characters are in the level and as they proceed through the level, cards are turned over and resolved. If there is an encounter, it has to be resolved before the Player Characters can move onto the next one. When the Player Characters leave the dungeon or proceed down to a lower level, the cards on the table are collected, the deck is shuffled again, and new cards drawn.

The six levels consist of the Fetid Tunnels, home to giant rats, jackalopes, and Kobolds, as well as a young Wyrm hiding from poachers; the Crumbling Mines where the Firebug Queen holds court; Mushroom Lake where hostile frogmen make sacrifice to an ancient Kraken; an Elven Mausoleum still protected by undead vassals; the Sibilant City, an ancient Elven city overgrown by plants and taken over by snakes; and the Duke’s Domain, ruled by the Lords of Chaos. Each level has a two-page spread of its own. This includes three tables. One for the passages, one for random encounters, and one for specific locations. Plus, there are game stats as necessary.

The nearest there is to a fully detailed NPC in Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 is Mr. Beatley Coins. He wanders the dungeon with things to sell and coins with which to buy. This includes rumours as well as standard goods. His inventory includes all manner of creature body parts that when consumed, provide a particular bonus. For example, the Spider Gland can be consumed to gain the ability to climb smooth walls and shoot webs for several hours, whilst a Frogman Intestine improves the consumer’s Wisdom and makes them immune to poison, but break wind loudly every hour! This is all part of a pleasing and very decently illustrated section of magical items. In some ways, this is the best part of Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3.

Physically, Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 is well presented. it needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is excellent. There are no maps, so the isometric cartography of the first two issues is not repeated here. Which is a shame.

The Beyond the Borderlands series is intended to be a trilogy, inspired by B2 Keep on the Borderlands and presenting a simple, stripped back means of revisiting the classic scenario for Basic Dungeons & Dragons. In exploring the frontier fortress of Stronglaw Keep and the surrounding Wicked Palovalley, this is exactly what Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 and Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 do. Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 takes the trilogy beyond the Wicked Palovalley and away from Stronglaw Keep and in the process away from B2 Keep on the Borderlands. Effectively, the inspiration for the trilogy ended with Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 and Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 has nothing to do with B2 Keep on the Borderlands. Although it is not a bad dungeon, Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 is a part of the Beyond the Borderlands trilogy in name only.

Saturday, 26 February 2022

[Fanzine Focus XXVII] Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2

Published by Swordfish Islands LLC (but also available in PDF from the author), best known for publishing Swordfish Islands: Hexcrawl Adventures on Hot Springs Island, the first part of a trilogy detailed the last bastion of a civilisation on the frontier, Stronglaw Keep, and the surrounding Wicked Palovalley. What was particularly noticeable about Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 was that all of its maps were presented in isometric format, which when combined with their bright, vibrant colours, make them leap off the page. This feature is continued in Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2, which when combined with spare nature of the text makes the descriptions and details given nicely accessible and easy to run from the page.

Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 takes both Dungeon Master and her players into that den of evil which so threatens the Keep, the Caves of Chaos! Or rather, it does not. For in Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2, the Caves of Chaos become The Bloody Ravine, a sharp valley whose walls are pockmarked by cave entrances, beyond which many different tribes of Humanoids find their home. Traditionally the Caves of Chaos have always been presented from right to left with the head of the valley to the left. Here, it is turned ninety degrees, so that when the Player Characters enter the valley, it is more obvious that they are ascending its dangers. The Game Master is given simple rules for handling the Alert Level from one cave to the next, starting at ‘Off Guard’ to ‘Can’t be Surprised’ and comes with a trio of Adventure Hooks, two out of the three potentially leading to the doom of Stronglaw Keep!

One big difference between the Caves of Chaos and the Bloody Ravine is that there are only six caves instead of ten. These consist of the Kobold Lair, the Bugboar Quarters, the Goblin Labs, the Hynoll Chambers, and the Owlbear Den. Notably missing from the range are the Orcs and the Minotaurs, though Hobgoblins can be found in the Goblin Labs. Two of the caves—Rockfall Range and the Empty Cave—are left undetailed and unmapped, currently under construction. If the Player Characters explore these, they will lead to random locations. The other caves are each given a two-page spread, with an Encounter Table, behaviour notes, and a list of potential loot on the left, and individual room descriptions on the right. Most rooms are given no more than a couple of sentences’ worth of description. That does not sound very much, but it should be enough for the Dungeon Master and her players to get a feel for each location. Each of the six cave networks is sufficiently different from their inspiration. For example, the Goblins of the Goblin Caves are under the thumb of both Hobgoblins and a Troll—who normally lives in what would be the Ogre’s Cave—and often plays marbles with the Goblins! The Goblins farm Mushrooms, who do try to run away, and then mash and distil them in a potent spirit. Another difference is the length of the Encounter Table for each cave, which adds flavour and detail and suggests that there is a lot going on in each cave. Despite all that though, the map of each cave feels exactly like its inspiration, but brought to live in three dimensions and little details.

At the head of the Bloody Ravine is the infamous Chaos Temple. This is noticeably different in that it is not as such an active Chaos temple. Rather, it has the feel of an abandoned temple that has been taken over by another Chaos faction. It has a weird, creepy feel and a tense atmosphere, all succinctly captured in just a two-page spread and all very much different to previous iterations of B2 Keep on the Borderlands. Also very different is the addition of the Elven Catacombs below the Bloody Ravine, which is full of skeletons and other undead threats, but there is plenty of treasure to be found. However, the map is not as easy to navigate or read, and its design is drier than that of the other caves in the Bloody Ravine.

Rounding out Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 are write-ups for forty-eight of the NPCs and monsters encountered in both Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 and Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2. The stats have been stripped back to a minimum and are actually written for use with Dungeon Reavers, a Micro Retroclone designed to handle Dungeons & Dragons-style play, which is also included in the issue. What this points to is that the Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2—and thus Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 before it—can not just be played with the included Dungeon Reavers, but other Micro retroclones too. The language and terminology of Dungeon Reavers is still that of Dungeons & Dragons, so a gaming group can still play through this fanzine trilogy with the retroclone of its choice. Every entry is accompanied by a thumbnail illustration which matches the style of the maps. They include monsters and inhabitants of Stronglaw Keep, as well as possible NPC Hirelings and even potentially, replacement Player Characters. The illustrations are fiercely cute!

All of the maps in Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 are presented in isometric format, which when combined with their bright, vibrant colours, make them leap off the page. The writing needs an edit in places, but everything is well organised and packs a lot of information into relatively limited amounts of space. The format of the two-page spread used for each location and mini-region makes the contents of Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 very easy to run from the page. If there is an issue with Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 as a physical object, it is that like Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1, the issue lacks a sturdy card cover.

The Beyond the Borderlands series is intended to be a trilogy, but together Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 and Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 provide everything that the Dungeon Master and her gaming group needs to explore the Wicked Palovalley and climb the slopes of the Bloody Ravine to descend into the various caves along its walls. That does not mean that Beyond the Borderlands is totally complete, for there are dungeons yet to be detailed, but the contents of Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 and Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 are sufficient to play through a solid campaign inspired by B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The third issue will be worth waiting for though and not just for the as yet undetailed dungeons. Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3 will be taking a leaf out of Original Adventures Reincarnated #1: Into the Borderlands and include the author’s version of B1 In Search of the Unknown. That will be worth the wait, but in the meantime, Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 caps a charming and engaging take upon the classic B2 Keep on the Borderlands.

Sunday, 3 January 2021

[Fanzine Focus XXII] Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry.

Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 is a fanzine of a different stripe. Published by Swordfish Islands LLC (but also available in PDF from the author), best known for publishing Swordfish Islands: Hexcrawl Adventures on Hot Springs Island, it is a systems neutral regional hexcrawl inspired by B2 Keep on the Borderlands, most recently implemented by Goodman Games’ Original Adventures Reincarnated #1: Into the Borderlands. It is the first part of a trilogy which will explore the overland region in this the initial issue, then the underground areas in the second issue, and lastly provide the bestiary for the previous two issues. The setting for the Beyond the Borderlands, like B2 Keep on the Borderlands before it, is the edge—or just beyond it—of the civilised lands, the frontier outside of which lies untrammeled wilderness, barbaric tribes, and Chaos run rampant. Here a solid fortress has been established as the last outpost of civilisation, to provide a degree of protection to travellers making the journey beyond and against the possibility of an incursion from the ghastly Goblins, horrible Hobgoblins, obnoxious Orcs, grim Gnolls, and more, which lurk just out of sight, ready to strike…

The setting for Beyond the Borderlands is the Wicked Palovalley. Here Stronglaw Keep defends the Western Kingdoms against invasions from the monstrous forces of the Wicked Palovalley. It is presented as a six-by-six, thirty-six hex hexcrawl, divided into six different regions, each one with its own theme, content, rumours, and random encounters. The issue begins though with a description of Stronglaw Keep, which stands at the mouth of the Wicked Palovalley. Stronglaw Keep is an independent outpost, a last settlement of civilisation, the law—rigidly enforced upon pain of death or banishment, and the Church of the Holy Sun. Stronglaw Keep itself is delightfully presented in a vibrantly colourful isometric style, easy to read and use, and accompanied by two sets of thumbnail write-ups. The first provides simple descriptions of each of Stronglaw Keep’s eleven locations—though there are twelve, whilst the second lists the ‘Loot and Stuff’ to be found at each of the first eleven locations. This provides a little more detail, whether the Player Characters are looking for tools, to make a purchase—whether of goods or services, or purloin an item of vale or two. The possibility of the guards reacting to any theft is covered in a short table. Lastly, the Notice Board lists twenty rumours, events, and employment opportunities which can serve as a spur to the Player Characters to adventure and the Dungeon Master to create adventures.

Supported by a simple set-up—the Player Characters come to Stronglaw Keep, introduce themselves, pick up a job or two, and then go explore, and some simple travel, weather, and encounter rules, the bulk of Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 presents the six six-hex mini-regions of the Wicked Palovalley. From the Keep’s Domain to the Scarlet Forest, each is presented in a two-page spread. An isometric map of the mini region is presented on the left-hand page, along with a table of rumours and a table of encounters, whilst write-ups of each the six hexes are presented on the right-hand page. Each write-up includes a short description, plus two or three bullet points which provide further details. So in the Sludgy Bog, there are rumours of a carriage full of supplies which never reached the hunting camp and the bog is said to be inhabited by a monstrous people, and any brave adventurers which put foot into the squelchy swamp, they might run into Slug-Leeches or Frogmen, and perhaps follow a trail of shells to a reclusive Sea Witch or find a former keep, flooded, but still with stairs leading down into the water…

All of the maps in Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 are presented in isometric format, which when combined with their bright, vibrant colours, make them leap off the page. The writing needs an edit in places, but everything is well organised and packs a lot of information into relatively limited amounts of space. The format of the two-page spread used for each location and mini-region makes the contents of Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 very easy to run from the page. If there is an issue with Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 as a physical object, it is that it lacks a sturdy card cover.

The twelfth location in the write-up of Stronglaw Keep is a ‘Mysterious Cave’. It is simply left as that, awaiting the publication of Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2 to be fully detailed. This is not the only such location left undetailed the next issue of the fanzine. These include the Bloody Ravine where the infamous Caves of Chaos are located, the Flooded Shrine, and the Caves of the Unknown, a randomly generated, mythic underworld. Now of course, the descriptions of these underground locations were always going to be in the second issue of the fanzine, and then the bestiary in the third issue, but that cannot prevent a sense of deprivation in the reader and potential Dungeon Master, not in the sense of not having that information, but in not having that information and in not being able to bring it to the table and run it right now.

So Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 is not complete, but it will be with the publication of first Beyond the Borderlands Issue #2—when the Dungeon Master could supply the stats of the monsters and NPCs herself and thus run both the region and its dungeons—and then Beyond the Borderlands Issue #3, when the Dungeon Master will have the official stats. In a sense, Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 is delivering the promise of a full scenario, one that is inspired by B2 Keep on the Borderlands, but richer and despite the lack of dungeons or stats, has much more going on than B2 Keep on the Borderlands ever did. The vibrancy of the colours used in Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 evokes a Saturday morning cartoon sensibility to this take upon B2 Keep on the Borderlands, as if it was an adventure written with the Dungeons & Dragons television series in mind. Beyond the Borderlands Issue #1 is the beginning of a charming and engaging take upon the classic B2 Keep on the Borderlands, but will definitely leave the Dungeon Master wanting the second and third issues to be complete.