ZineQuest. The Kickstarter event where you put greenbacks into a machine and monster drawings come out. Instead of my usual reviews, this is an unethical, unaccounted-for hype engine with little to no measured critique — pure energy.
Not familiar with Stratosfiend #1? Let’s hand the mic to Sean…
A new tentacle and sorcery zine for the DCC RPG.
Portals and warp gates have been opening all over the earth and giant aliens have been pouring out. Players will quickly find out that some of their own have been aliens the whole time, and that humans from distant stars have also shown up to help quell the madness.
But wait, this is issue #2?
We'll catch you up real fast. It focuses on the Cosmic Dispatch, from where the Elevator God was born. The enemies and npcs are elevator-related, they could be cultists, they could be actual elevators, in some cases they're pirates, and in others they are TREXES.
Orbital Intelligence
PDF Backer level: $8
Physical Backer level: $15
Elevator. Going sideways.
Alright, let me put a big ‘ole explicit warning on this preview. Ready? Ready.
Jesus fuck, this zine is something else. There’s a belief among many creatives that everything is already out there in some form—it’s the rearrangement, the twists of our expectations, and the context makes new creations unique and valuable.
And Christ, the universe is elevators. How very original, and unexpected, and bonkers. Getting cut in half by an elevator or being trapped inside like sardines is a real fear and combining that with the claustrophobic horror of cosmic void. That’s very fresh.
And that’s not including the bat god made of solar panels and satellites or the god whose skin is Earth. And the armies of future-humanity, pouring forth, like retreating castle-hands, abandoning realities like concentric walls of a fortress, until your world—the one with your characters—is the last one left.
What’s the product?
Terror of the Stratosfiend #2 is a 72-page, 5’’ by 8’’, full bleed, stapled bound zine with more monsters, weapons, and spells than its many-limbed limb-beasts made of limbs can carry.
Playstyle. It’s OSR with a grungy, gonzo flair that you’ll want to digest over multiple sessions. There are monsters and class options in here you’ll want to experience at higher levels and god-like patrons, so ornate, a few run-ins will be the only way to fully appreciate their scope.
Genre/Setting. If the Jim Henson company and John Carpenter decided to make a live-action movie of Palladium Robotech with only a bombed-out morgue for a prop department—they'd have made this world to the acclaim of Rifts fans.
System. Again, it’s Dungeon Crawl Classics. Expect a hostile OSR world of evading combat when necessary, bootstrapping solutions together, and watching your characters play chicken with body horror as they try to talk their way out of situations with sentient monsters.
The Zine’s Design
My favorite games are Fiasco and Pendragon. My favorite of OSR products are things like Operation Unfathomable and Old School Essentials, so how did Sean lure me into a preview of Terror of the Stratosfiend? I was never a Rifts or Robotech guy. (If Rifts or Robotech were your jam, waste no time and back it now.)
There’s no reason for me to—wait, what is that? Is that a page of Stratosfiend #2?
Oh wow, look at that layout. And that art. Oh look, there’s another and another. There’s a crumb trail of these. Nobody should leave pages this good, just lying on the ground. I’m going to follow this trail. One. Two. Three pages.
Oh, and a cover of the zine. That’s cool. There doesn’t appear to be an adventure in this thing (not without a stretch goal). And there aren’t any significant physical world descriptions, like a map, it’s all told through the classes, monsters, and gear (a great way of showing not telling.)
Oh, hey, I think the trail ends here. There’s a slip of paper that says they might make a version for Troika!? Man, I might back this on principle.
Elevator door closes. The lights go out.
Wait. What? No! God! Sean, you monster. What have you done? You and your damned door magic.
Who’s on this project?
Writing. Sean Richer. (Stratosfiend and Necrotic Edifices of Iron and Moon)
Editing. Jarrett Crader & Fiona Maeve Geist (Mothership, Hivemind, Troika!, and many others)
Layout. Glynn Seal, of Monkeyblood Design & Publishing (ENnie award winning cartographer for The Midderlands)
Cover. Niklas Åkerblad (Devolver and amazing cover art, worth a look.)
Art.
2headedgiant.com (Stratosfiend, The Fellowship of Convenience, and Anatolia’s Finest)
RabidBlackDog (Bestiary illustrator, known for Cyberpunk 2077 and fantasy book covers)
James Everett Jackson (Bestiary illustrator, known for old school fantasy illustrations)
Shane O’Neil (Bestiary illustrator, Stratosfiend, known for 3D art style)
Sam Mameli (Troika!, Phantasmagoria, Bakto’s Terrifying Cuisine)
Andy Hopp (Con on the Cob, Low Life, known for bringing the trippy fantasy)
Who should back?
You should back if:
You are a fan of Palladium Robotech, Rifts, Warhammer 40k, or pray at the cinema alter of Rob Bottin, David Cronenberg, or Peter Jackson pre-LOTR.
Want a way to shake-up your already gonzo, grim-weird Dungeon Crawl Classics game with some seriously rich lore and cosmic entities.
You’re hungry for classes, mutagenic spells, monsters, and sentient weapons.
You shouldn’t back if:
You’re looking for a setting of expository histories, maps, and space opera senate bodies.
You’re looking for a hard sci-fi setting like The Expanse with rules on gravity or spaceships.
If tentacles of sentient steel cable, dismemberment, and basically every space horror is painful or triggering to anyone at your table. Have a conversation with them if you’re not sure, maybe check out the first two installments of Stratosfiend (1 and 1.5) to learn more.
It won’t cost an arm and a leg to back a game about losing multiple arms and legs.