GROGZINE’20 – call for submissions

Another GROGZINE, another magnificent Russ Nicolson cover creation!

The next GROGZINE which will be published in time for virtual GROGMEET next year.

I’m looking for submissions from the GROGSQUAD.

This time I want to make a bit different.

Previous GROGZINEs have featured articles and useable content like scenarios and reviews that were a homage to White Dwarf, Imagine and 80s ‘zines.

This time, I want to create a ‘peoples’ history of RPGs’, looking back at some of your home-brew creations from back in the day.

What were the worlds you created?

Who were your favourite characters?

What happened in your epic campaigns?

What were the conventions that you attended?

Who were you playing with and how did you get together?

I’m looking for articles, features, scenarios based on the ideas above: please let me know if you want to be part of the project.

It will have all the same illustrations and look and feel, but this time it’s all about your experiences. What about retro-fitting your favourite characters from back in the day to bring them into the 21st century? Or redesigning your favourite scenario to make it playable now? Or sharing the photo-scrapbook of your favourite session?

If you have an idea, or want to crawl up into the loft to discover your lost treasures, then contact me at the usual address: Dirk The Dice At Gmail dot com.

I would like to finalise content before the end of January 2020, so please contact me as soon as possible to discuss your idea.

Join us in a collective memoire of the 70s, 80s and 90s heyday of RPGs!

Dirk the Dice

Patreons who have recently joined since March will start to receive a hard copy of GROGZINE19, until they run out. Watch your doormat during September!

1D6 Judge Dredd RPG

… down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it.

He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.

Raymond Chandler

Last week, we played Judge Dredd the RPG, published by Games Workshop back in 1985, co written by former Dragon Lords editor Marc Gascoigne with Citadel supremo Rich Priestley. When I trailed this on twitter it generated a great deal of interest – more than any other tweet I’ve ever written in fact – so this is a follow-up play report for all those people who were interested in finding out what happened.

@dailydwarf came out of GM retirement, after a 35 year freeze, to deliver his own scenario Better Living Through Chemistry, as a online, dry-run ahead of its appearance at GROGMEET. It was a chance to stretch some of those muscles that have been dormant and to familiarise everyone with the rules. The scenario will also be appearing in the GROGZINE, so I’m going to avoid any spoilers here and concentrate on some of the experiences of playing rather than the details of the story.

Despite the usual setbacks that inhibit the gathering of grognards – including holidays, family commitments, the under-funding of public services creating staffing shortages, and dodgy online-gaming platforms – we managed to straddle our LawMasters to dispense justice on the streets of Mega City One.

“You’re not very good with your d6s are you?” complained @dailydwarf as I fell short on yet another zinger. Roll one on this table, five highlights from the sessions and one fumble.

“Be careful out there …”

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In many ways, Judge Dredd is the perfect RPG set up: you are given missions to resolve, your motivations are straight forward, the setting is rich yet flexible and there’s plenty of opportunity for mystery and investigation. Every session begins with the report sheet of perp activity in the sector, packed with warnings, leads and specific tasks for your patrol as it hits the streets.

There were reports of an air-ship seen in the sector featuring costumed individuals, shouting about treasure … hang on, isn’t that our cast of characters from Storm King’s Thunder?

Mega-City One

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Very quickly, we felt like Judges, and adopted our roles very diligently, as we headed out into the wasted areas of sector 170. The scenario was set in the period after the Apocalypse War when the city was coming to terms with the devastation. Our judges were clearing through the wreckage of partially destroyed blocks. It felt like coming home, as this was the classic period of Dredd stories which generated nostalgia for both the game and the comics of the early 80s.

Unlike many licensed settings, the backdrop didn’t feel constraining. The city has been generating stories for 40 years and is richly populated with characters, perps, and imagery that provided instant immersion. @dailydwarf also used a slide-show of specially adapted elements from the strip to illustrate scenes and NPCs we encountered, which made it feel like we were part of a Prog.

Get me back to TEK

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Each of our Judges had a role in the team: the grizzled Veteran, the giddy rookie, the hotshot, and I went for the Judge who had been reluctantly redeployed to the streets from TEK division. He was keen to impress upon his fellow judges the capabilities of their kit. In the first encounter he gave an impressive display of ‘high-ex’ bullets from his LawGiver to bring the ceiling down on perps. This was followed by a less impressive display as a close-ranged ricochet bullet hit one of his team members. Whoops, sorry ‘Holy Cremola!’

I’d forgotten about the levels of back up available to Judges and how they can get you out of trouble. There’s always Pat Wagons available to pick up perps, Clean-up squads, Meat Wagons, Med-squads and forensic support for those tricky investigations.

We traded one-liners as the incidents piled on us, we had some great fun with Chemical Brothers lyrics too: “Hey, isn’t that another one of those block bustin’ beats?”

Judge Crunch

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@dailydwarf provided his “Dredd-Hack” cut down version of the core mechanics. Most situations are resolved through attribute based percentile checks. Depending on your Judge’s speciality, you may have some Special Abilities that allow for some additional investigative or combat edge over the perps. The combat is crunchy, and goes something like this: roll to hit, roll location (d100), roll for armour coverage if appropriate before rolling for damage. Perps are at a disadvantage as they’re not as souped up as the Judges, but they have the opportunity to strike first with their wild-fire. Judges have to be more measured in the their approach as they need to be able to pass sentence rather than shooting indiscriminately.

There’s a reference list in the Dredd Hack, providing advice on general sentences. I thought 20 years for illegal Boinging (R) was always too steep.

Why does it have to end?

Normally, when it comes to fumbles, I always complain about the interference of the online glitches (1-D-6 passim). I’m not going to this time. Sure, it was a right-royal pain in the arse for some of the time, but most of the time, it worked fine and the confusion, over-talking etc added to the experience as it felt more immersive.

The only fumble about this experience is when it came to an end. It felt like it should be the beginning of an epic campaign. Mega City One is a great setting, the rules are serviceable, the players were switched on, so it was one of those great RPG moments when you wanted to carry on with the characters and have more adventures.

“Hey, Grim, let forever be.”

As for @dailydwarf, his inert GM skills are now awakened, we’re all in for a treat. He’s a natural.

GROGZINE Annual 2018 – Update

The GROGNARD Files 2018 Annual ‘zine is taking shape ready for its launch at GROGMEET on 11th November. Here’s a taste of what it includes

Monsters! Monsters! Monsters! Contributions from Ken St Andre and Liz Danforth

Deva – setting Pendragon in Chester from Kehaar

A wonderfully out-of-joint Call of Cthulhu scenario by Roger Coe

Better Living through Chemistry – a Judge Dredd RPG scenario from @dailydwarf

A short story from Justin Hill

What happened to Nic Novice? A collaboration with Paul Cockburn and Wayne Peters

The GROGNARD character class from Phil ‘the Dice Mechanic’

Frozen. A further chapter from The Armchair Adventurer’s memoir

A special Open Box with submissions from GROGMEET GMs and GROGSQUAD listeners

The podcast is free, but the overheads and additional projects, such as the ‘zine, are funded through the generous support of Patreons. All Patreons will be sent a hard copy, wherever they are in the world, after the launch. The printing will be limited to the total number of Patreons at the cut-off of 30th September plus 35 for contributors, GROGMEET attendees and review copies. 

If you pledge at $3.50 level and above, you’ll also get a hard copies of The Complete Daily Dwarf  Volume 2 which includes essays about Fiends, Dagon, Langford, and RuneRites. 

PDFs will be available for Patreons joining after the cut off point.

Join the GROGSQUAD and become an honorary Armchair Adventurer to access the ‘zine

GROGZINE 2017 – on PDF 


The ‘zine produced last year is now available for download on drive thru RPG on a ‘pay what you want’ basis.

Please download and donate as all proceeds will go towards the YSDC church roof fund. 

Yog Sothoth dot com provide a vital fan-function and we want to play our small part in keeping it going: so please help us raise some money to sustain the forums, podcasts, stationery coverage, odd-things recorded on obsolete formats and innovative YSDC activity for years to come.

The GROGNARD files ‘zine and The Complete Daily Dwarf – available on drive thru RPG 

The GROGZINE – Virtually delivered!

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It was officially launched at GROGMEET 2016… and now it is virtually yours!

The 100 hard copies of the first annual GROGZINE have been released into the wild. They are appearing in the nooks and crannies of the globe. They’re popping up on podcasts and appearing on  timelines.

You can get a PDF of the ‘zine by supporting the podcast at Patreon. A new ‘zine is planned for next year and new goals for the campaign will be updated in early 2017.

The podcast will always be free, but the tips cover the overheads, help us seek out new material and allow us to develop other related projects.

The ‘zine includes:

  • Great artwork from Russ Nicolson and Mark Laming
  •  A special Open Box featuring the GROGMEET games masters remembering Star Wars (WEG), Shadowrun, Boot Hill and GangBusters
  • Judge Blythy with the first instalment of The Armchair Adventurer’s Memoir
  • Ed in the dwarf-coverShed scrap-booking Call of Cthulhu
  • @dailydwarf poking in the corners of White Dwarf’s small ads
  • An exclusive RuneQuest short story by Justin Hill (his novel Viking Fire was a Times Book
    of The Year 2016)
  • A FATE accelerated scenario set in the world of Jerry Cornelius
  • Dirk the Dice talking bobbins about a PBM he played back in the day

 

PLUS – a special appearance of someone very special.

All this AND the collected works of @dailydwarf

It has been a real labour of love for The Armchair Adventurers and we are grateful to our contributors for making it happen.

Now, let’s start planning the next one!

Dirk