ZQ1: Capsule reviews
Dragon & Warrior, by Orion Canning
The pitch: a JRPG-inspired fantasy adventure game based on Jackson Tegu’s “Silver and White.”
Why I backed: I playtested “Silver and White” and loved it.
What I received: A slim zine with a color cover. The low-res background image detracts from the sharp title and logo.
How it works: A GMful game that splits out responsibilities for the protagonist, antagonist, npcs, and world.
The players can switch roles periodically.
What I thought: Although the game is mechanically artful, the design goal seems to be to produce very generic d&d
videogame fiction. I respect the craft involved, but I don’t feel compelled to try it out. I am also leery of the
jrpg-style stylized combat, which is even more regimented than that of Ryuutama. JRPG combat has very
limited options because computers can’t handle freeform creative input the way a pen-and-paper RPG
can. Putting JRPG combat in pen-and-paper RPGs seems like abandoning one of the medium’s core
strengths.
What I’m going to do with it: Pass it on.
Exodus, by Erika Sheherd
The pitch: trans angels on the run in a fascist dystopia.
Why I backed: I don’t know.
What I received: A slight B&W zine with a purple cover.
What I thought: This is a Belonging Outside Belonging game. Premise-wise it has some similarities to Dream Askew,
though obviously it is tightly focused and has the road trip element. The writing is clear and stark, the
author’s vision is strong, the art is dark and moody. Although it is short and simple without mechanical
innovation, this is a tight design and a successful product.
What I’m going to do with it: Keep it.
Fall of Magic: Songs from the Axe and Fiddle, by Ross Cowman
The pitch: An expensive expansion for Fall of Magic.
Why I backed: I already own Fall of Magic…
What I received: A very small zine. A new player coin. A case for both made of scraps from Fall of Magic scrolls.
How it works: Four alternate storylines to play out on the big Fall of Magic map.
What I thought: Very light - there’s not much here. Then again, rules-wise there’s not that much to Fall of Magic itself, beyond the scroll. The variants are reasonably interesting. One is mundane and pastoral and never leaves Barley Town. Another remains in Karst but scenes can take place elsewhere, stories told to a great machine.
The Fan Favorite: A Masks Zine, by Linda H. Codega et al.
The pitch: An anthology of resources for Masks.
Why I backed: I haven’t run Masks but I’ve played and quite like it.
What I received: a professional-looking zine with a glossy cover and lots of nice art.
What I thought: Inevitably, some entries in the anthology are more successful than others. It contains a surprising amount of fiction (which I’m not in the market for), and I wasn’t quite sold on the new playbooks. But the table of adventure hooks has a lot of good stuff, and I liked Leah Libresco Sargeant’s “In Cold Pursuit” module enough to consider running it.
What I’m going to do with it: Keep it.
The Lesser Key to the Celestial Legion, by Don Stroud
The pitch: A DCC zine for generating fantasy religions and messengers of the gods.
Why I backed: Aesthetics, plus a little bit of the author’s reputation.
What I received: An A4 black-and-white zine with a cool cover.
What I thought: This book is mostly random tables to generate messengers of the gods and various aspects of religion. There are some rules for playing a cleric and growing a religion. I like the art and design quite a bit. The art is a nice mix of good public domain pieces (though some are a little low-resolution) and evocative new art. The DCC-specific rules content isn’t useful to me, but I knew that going in. Ultimately this zine highlighted for me the ways in which religion, culture, and setting are all intertwined. The random tables are creative, but they exist in a vacuum without a strong cultural or aesthetic base. As a result, they won’t fit any particular setting, yet they also don’t strongly inspire me to create a setting to fit the tables.
What I’m going to do with it: Pass it along.
Love Letters from the Baker House Band, by Meguey Baker et al.
The pitch: Gaming-related materials from kids who hang out playing games at Meg and Vincent Baker’s house.
Why I backed: Abiding love of the Bakers’ games.
What I received: Small stapled zine.
What I thought: Like a gaming blog in zine form. Most of it is not game material per se, but criticism, art, etc.
What I’m going to do with it: It was lovely to read, but I will likely pass it on.
Obachan Panic!!!, by Vincent Chang
The pitch: Grannies save the world.
Why I backed: I have no idea.
What I received: An extremely stylish two-tone pink-on-purple zine on fancy paper. Two cardstock sheets with paper dolls
for PCs.
How it works: PBTA with only one basic move ala World of Dungeons (there are special moves, though). Engage in
weird grandma behavior to take a penalty now but bank points that can be used to activate superpowers
later.
What I thought: Great art and quite funny. Unexpectedly multicultural. Includes several adventures. Has some
interesting variations on PBTA standbys (e.g. special moves that use different target numbers than the
standard set). Commits the cardinal PBTA sin of not including all the player material in the book, but I am
feeling forgiving.
What I’m going to do with it: Probably not going to get this to the table anytime soon but it’s a fun read and a nice artifact, so I will hold onto it.
Other Magic, by Jesse Ephraim
The pitch: Real world folk magic for RPGs
Why I backed: General unknown-armies-ness
What I received: A fairly ugly B&W zine
How it works: Covers Braucherei (Pennsylvania dutch magic), brujeria, hoodoo, Ozark magic, and zagovory (slavic
magic), with a mix of background info and specific spells with some generic OSR game effects. Finishes
with some instructions on making your own folk magic traditions for RPGs.
What I thought: Very cool. I am fairly up on occult weirdness but I was not familiar with much of this material. Makes me
want to do some occult Americana gaming.
What I’m going to do with it: Keep it.
RPG Design Zine, by Nathan Paoletta
The pitch: A zine on how to design RPGs.
Why I backed: reputation of author
What I received: A hideous zine with a green cover. Much of the zine is done collage-style with clippings from other RPGs.
What I thought: I really enjoyed this. Drawing from trad, Forge-era indie, and OSR games, this is a smart and accessible
guide to how Paoletta (who got his start in the Forge era) thinks about game design well over a decade
after the Forge ceased to be a center of RPG theory. I have read or played every game cited with only
one or two exceptions, and it’s fascinating to see what Paoletta pulls out from these texts and how he fits
them into a bigger picture. The zine successfully sets out a framework for thinking through and building
out a game design. The highest compliment I can give this is that it makes me want to get back to work
on my half-baked ideas.
What I’m going to do with it: Keep it.
Tomb of Black Sand, by Jacob Hurst
The pitch: An adventure from the swordfish islands folks.
Why I backed: reputation of creators.
What I received: A slim black hardcover with a painted cover. One of the nicer objects I received through Zinequest. One
caveat - I won’t pretend to have any kind of design knowledge, but I really didn’t like the choice to use a
courier font throughout. Normally I don’t notice fonts much, but this bothered me enough that it detracted
from both the cover and the text inside.
What I thought: An OSR adventure set in the titular tomb, where the Big Bad is busy trying to transcend
mortality and just wants to be left alone. Layout and information design are generally good, with map
cut-outs and key points bolded. The ordering of information could be improved - things are often
name-dropped before being introduced. There are some fun encounters, most notably one with three
werewolf brothers trying to rescue their banshee sister (who is quite happy where she is). I quite like the
book’s suggestion of running the Tomb as a one-shot where the characters wake up while being prepared
for sacrifice and have to escape. Taken as a whole, however, the adventure feels thematically unfocused
to me. I think it would have benefitted from doubling down on either the star-crossed lovers or the
depression/self-loathing elements.
What I’m going to do with it: I don’t think I’m going to run it, so I’ll pass it along.
Tome, by Adam Vass
The pitch: System-agnostic fantasy RPG material
Why I backed: To be honest I’m not quite sure. Maybe the cover art.
What I received: The stapled zine with color cover, and a black and white mini-zine called “Volume.”
What I thought: A collection of well-put-together but somewhat generic fantasy RPG material. Nothing in it really grabbed my imagination.
What I’m going to do with it: Pass it on.
Two Apocalypse World Zines, by Vincent Baker
The pitch: Extra playbooks for AW2e in one zine, and a pg-13 version of AW called Burned Over in the
other.
Why I backed: I’m a simple man. I see Vincent Baker, I pay the monies.
What I received: two stylish zines, one in B&W + red, the other in B&W + grey.
What I thought: I’ve basically seen all this material already from the Bakers’ patreon. The extra playbooks have mostly been around for a while. I remember playing a Quarantine many years ago. I am mostly done with Apocalypse World, having played quite a lot over game’s long life, though I am still curious to try the Waterbearer.
What happened at Wyvern Rock?, by Drew Meger
The pitch: A zine on using “high strangeness” (i.e. UFOs and cryptids) with D&D.
Why I backed: The author’s handmade woodcuts depicting UFOs in medieval settings.
What I received: a thick zine with a brown cardstock cover and thick paper, plus a smaller zine of
in-character fiction entitled “On tattered wings.”
What I thought: Although this zine basically does what it promised (UFOs in D&D) it didn’t work for me.
The author starts by identifying the problem with strangeness in fantasy: the stuff that is strange to us just
isn’t that strange in fantasy stories. But the zine doesn’t offer any real solutions. Instead, it just adds
some strangeness from our world (UFOs and cryptids) into fantasy gaming. As a result, the grey aliens
(the focus of the zine) just read like another species of monster trying to take over the world - not so
different from, say, mind flayers. The three long-form encounters described in the zine do put a little flesh
on the idea of strangeness. These early grey incursions are more baffling or silly than dangerous, and
belie the greys’ malevolent intelligence and planning. Still, I can’t say that “high strangeness” really does
anything that can’t be found in the regular old Monster Manual.
What I’m going to do with it: Pass it on.
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