A Fistful of Gold Pieces
From the Wild West of RPGs to globe trotting comic capers, plus some magazine chat, because that's how we roll...
Well, I should be eating arancini right now but seeing as our flight has been cancelled and our holiday is in peril, you lucky people are getting a gazetteer this week after all. Anyway, first world woes aside it’s probably just as well as there’s some great stuff to shout about and the time to do that isn’t something I’ve had much of lately.
What spare time I have had though has been spent diving back into the history of RPG magazines. Much like the games they revolve around it’s all too easy to not look beyond the likes of White Dwarf in its 80s heyday and the various titles, Imagine and the inventively titled Dragon and Dungeon, produced by TSR.
Much as they live fondly in our memories it’s also not hard to think what we lost out on by the standard bearers for the hobby being essentially in-house organs and what effect that has had down the years.
But of course these were just the tip of the iceberg and in their shadow there’s an incredible number of often short-lived but much loved titles, such as Arcane or Adventurer, that burned briefly and brightly and one of these in particular caught my attention this week, Interactive Fantasy.
Published by James Wallis and edited by Andrew Rilstone, this British magazine only lasted four issues but was an attempt in the mid 90s to push roleplaying games forward from some of the endless circular arguments that had bedevilled its first two decades. That a lot of the features within could easily have been written now, some 30 years later, tells you how well they succeeded in that but nonetheless there’s some great articles in those first four issues.
Whilst we have touched on it occasionally Wyrd Science was never really set up to cover RPG theory, my aim was also to approach the subject on a more cultural level, if that makes any sense, but it is something I’ve occasionally thought of doing as a spin off zine (tentative titles have included The Red Thread and The Augean Stables, i’ll leave you to figure out the why’s of those), god knows we could do with it.
Anyway if you’re interested, and you should be, all four issues of Interactive Fantasy are available as a bundle from DriveThruRPG for pennies and seriously if you’re into RPG theory (or just good and occasionally spiky writing about games) grabbing the lot would be one of the most worthwhile purchases you could make this week.
We’ll be returning to the subject of gaming magazines in more depth at a later date, but that does lead nicely into this week’s regular plea to buy a copy of Wyrd Science, or even our epic 3 issue bundle, as I like to say each issue sold staves off the grim inevitability of us starting a YouTube channel and no one really wants to see my mug gurning out of a screen.
Right, on that note i’m off to check SkyScanner to see if we can get the hell out of here and I’ll leave you to delve deeper into the rest of this week’s Gazetteer. Till next time, ciao bellas!
John xxx
BANDES ON THE RUN
With a Kickstarter campaign currently running for two new adventures for Swedish RPG The Troubleshooters (see below) we thought it would be nice to share Luke Frostick’s interview with Krister Sundelin, the game’s creator, from issue 4.
Inspired by Franco-Belgium comics (or Bandes Dessinées), The Troubleshooters throws you into a world of sophisticated spies, comic criminal capers and jet-setting hi-jinx and offers up a brighter, more optimistic take on the detective game genre.
Read it online now for free here…
THE TROUBLESHOOTERS: GHOSTS & THIEVES
Hopefully you’ve just read our feature on The Troubleshooters so I can skip the lengthy explanation and get straight to the action here. If for some reason you’ve glossed over that then you’ll just have to imagine an RPG based on comic books like TinTin and Spirou, where glamorous spies, kind hearted cat burglars and dastardly criminal conspiracies engage in car chases, (PG13) shootouts and all kinds of other mischief as they pursue each other around the globe.
More than most other genres of RPGs, creating scenarios based around on investigations and mysteries can often require a lot more work from GMs, and so published adventures are always welcome. Which is exactly where this new Kickstarter campaign comes in, with two new hardback books, The Ghost Knight and The Great Champagne Gallop, on offer.
Both scenarios exhibit the light touch that The Troubleshooters aims for, in The Ghost Knight an ethereal presence haunts an Alpine castle that has been recently renovated into a ski resort, whilst The Great Champagne Gallop, sees its players embroiled in a web of feuds and intrigue around the inheritance to the Vraïe family fortune. Think Knives Out meets Scooby Doo with a touch of gallic flair (via Sweden) and you should get the idea.
So if you enjoy putting on your deerstalker and going in search of adventure but you’re tired of dealing with yet more crazed cultists trying to raise ancient gods from their abyssal slumbers then this could be just what you’ve been looking for.
Campaign Ends: September 19th
TALES OF THE OLD WEST
The Wild West as a setting has a slightly curious place history in RPGs with the two, in many ways, inextricably linked from the very beginning of the medium. Indeed around the same time as Wesley et al were playing their Braunstein games in America, a group of Brits had created their own skirmish ruleset, Western Gunfight, a game which Jon Peterson has posited as a solid contender of being the first RPG.
Gygax was, of course, himself deeply influenced by the Westerns of his youth -you don’t need to be a Marxist professor to see how a rich seam of manifest destiny runs through Dungeons & Dragons’ explorations into its (allegedly) unclaimed wilderness- and in 1975 even co-authored TSR’s Wild West set RPG Boot Hill.
Despite this pedigree though Wild West set RPGs have tended to remain in fantasy’s shadow, and its notable that the most successful, such as Chris Spivey’s Haunted West, Call of Cthulhu expansion Down Darker Trails or Karl Druid’s peyote party Frontier Scum have all leaned more into the notion of the ‘Weird West’ to encourage role-players to pull on their cowboy boots.
All of which makes Tales of the Old West stand out. Created by Dave Semark and Matthew Tyler-Jones of the Effekt podcast, the game promises to be a straight up historical take on life on the edge in 1870s America, a time “blessed by opportunity, cursed by hardship, and riven with conflict and struggle.”
Of course, historical settings come with their own baggage and in recent years the sheen has definitely come off the Wild West’s sheriff’s badge as its grim reality, for both the expansionist Americans but especially for those whose lands were being or had been stolen, has become more widely acknowledged.
Thankfully that is something the campaign is upfront about, how well “two white boys from England” handle that remains to be seen, but they are at least going into it with their eyes open and promising not to sanitise any of the era’s more bloody and uglier elements.
Anyway to transport us there the game makes use of Free League’s Year Zero engine, something Semark & Tyler-Jones have plenty of experience with having worked on the ALIEN RPG and produced scenarios for the likes of Vaesen and Coriolis. They’ve also assembled a posse of award winning names such as Gareth Hanrahan, Mari Tokuda, Andrew EC Gaska and Jonathan Hicks to help develop the game.
We have to admit given the choice the Year Zero engine is probably our go-to system these days, simple enough to pick up in minutes, easily adaptable to different genres and works well for both one shots and campaigns. And despite -or indeed because of- its many issues this is a period of American history that in the right hands provides countless opportunities for both thoughtful and action packed roleplaying scenarios to be explored, so definitely one to keep an eye on.
Campaign Ends: October 3rd
Finally a collection of things, both interesting and inspiring, gaming related and not, found down the back of the internet’s sofa…
Near namesakes Weird Walk are back with another of their special one-off zines, this time titled Cromlech and focused on their “favourite megalithic monument, the enigmatic dolmen known as THE DEVIL’S DEN…” Instant order for us here.
Sticking with the more strange and esoteric the wonderful Clint Marsh, editor/publisher of the incomparable Fiddler’s Green has just put a new zine, As If, up for pre-order. Sub-titled “Punk Magic and the Art of Self-Invention”, it’s based on a piece Clint wrote for the first issue of Fiddler’s Green and reappears here complete with art from Seán Fitzgerald and a lovely looking copper foiled cover.
An interesting piece (from 2015!) we read this week on Greg Costikyan’s “anti-Soviet roleplaying game” The Price of Freedom. Controversial back when it was released in the 80s and still capable of generating discourse today. (Hat tip to Malcolm Craig for unearthing this as part of his ongoing research into post-apocalypse RPGs, of which more on that hopefully later).
Sticking with Costikyan if you haven’t yet do take the time to read his essay, I Have No Words & I Must Design, originally written for issue 2 (I think) of Interactive Fantasy (see Unboxing above) and available to read on his own site.
Lore seems to be the thing on a lot of minds at the moment and Ben Lawrence, creator of Through Ultan’s Door, has had some interesting thoughts on its application, uses and pitfalls as regards to RPGs.
For a while now it feels like every time we read about some new scientific breakthrough you can hear the hands of the doomsday clock ominously ticking louder and louder in the background. Thankfully whilst I’m sure they’ll find a military application for it soon enough the news that scientists have found a way to teach some kind of gel how to play ancient video game Pong is, on the surface at least, not one of those occasions.
Some of you may remember the name Geoffrey Golden from the The Devastator, anyway he’s currently developing a superhero dating sim and has been logging its travails through his newsletter. This week’s one is worth dipping into as it touches on the devastating effect that tech platforms have had on creators (and indeed major publishers) since they took over our virtual lives.
Leder Games (Root, Arcs, Oath etc) are looking for people to expand their various IPs in all kinds of new directions. Personally we want an Oliver Postgate style Root series, but anyway more info here.
Modiphius have put their Space 1999 RPG up for pre-order, a game that feels designed to be absolutely irresistible catnip to a certain section of middle-aged British men and baffling to almost everyone else.
Chaosium have announced the shortlist for their Basic Roleplaying Design Challenge, with each entry picking up a cheque for $500. Three though will be walking away with two grand and it’s up to you to now pick the lucky triad, info here.
If you’ve read our latest issue (and I know a lot of you haven’t - sad face emoji) you’d know how much we love Isaac William’s Mausritter RPG and the vast amount of third party content that has been created for it. Anyway you can never have too much of a good thing and so starting this weekend they’re hosting a pamphlet adventure jam over on Itch, a great chance to grab some new scenarios or have a crack yourself.
We’re big fans of this new Goblin typeface from Type Mania, and we suspect you’re going to see it a lot in OSR style RPG zines over the coming months and years…
There’s a lot of interesting parallels to be made between wrestling and RPGs, especially Actual Plays, but anyway if we loved this feature on wrestler Dimitri Alexandrov, AKA ‘Death Match Jesus’, well worth a read.
We’re also very big fans of Oz, the loveable four legged friend of Ian from Ferris Games. Unfortunately one of our favourite hounds has had some shit news this week and will be needing a lot of extra care and attention, so if you’re looking for some interesting minis, scenery or the likes to spice up your games do check out the Fenris store this week and grab yourself something.
And finally, on heavy rotation in the Wyrd Science office this week has been the haunting self-titled debut album from Tristwch Y Fenywod. If you’re looking for something to soundtrack your next Neo-pagan folklore inspired session then look no further.
Sorry about your hols, hope you get something sorted soon. Thanks for the hat tip re IF, I've only got one issue so it'd be good to see some more. Steve Darlington and I published some theory twentyish years ago, from a range of sources. It's all still online at ptgptb.org, and the French version is so going here https://ptgptb.fr/.