Editor extraordinaire, Ignatius Ümlaut, has informed me that issue #16 of the flagship fanzine of the Old School Renaissance, Fight On!, is now available in both print and digital forms. Dedicated to the late, great Dave Trampier, this 128-page issue includes excellent contributions by a wide variety of writers and artists – from Dave Hargrave and Tim Kask to Peter Mullen and Cameron Hawkey, not to mention Sean "Stonegiant" Stone, Oakes Spalding, Simon Bull, Gabor Lux, Kevin Mayle, Evlyn Moreau, Calithena, Paul Carrick, Sophie Pulkus, J. Blasso-Gieseke, bät, Attronarch, Philipp H., Settembrini, Robert S. Conley, Idle Doodler, DeWayne Rogers, Rick Base, Dyson Logos, Jon Salway, Becami Cusack, Tony A. Rowe, Prince of Nothing, Jasmine Collins, Anthony Stiller, Allan T. Grohe Jr., Will Mistretta, Steve Queen, Zhu Baijee, Thomas Denmark, and many, many more (including yours truly).
It's this "ecumenical" approach to old school gaming that, in my opinion, distinguishes Fight On! Its contents are incredibly diverse, representing everything from the groggiest of grognard takes to more new-fangled, "old school-inspired" approaches. Not every article is going to appeal to everyone – and that's OK. Fight On! reminds me of what Dragon was like during my youth, when each issue was a grab-bag of the unexpected, some of which I could immediately use and some of which I only came to appreciate later. That's as it should be. Speaking only for myself, I know only too well how easy it is to get trapped inside my own head, limiting myself to my own comfortable ways of thinking. Fight On! shakes me out of my complacency, offering me ideas and imagery that I might otherwise not have considered. I have no doubt that it'll do the same for you.
Thank you James! Your contributions have been wonderful from the beginning of the 'zine to now, and we greatly appreciate the shout out! Looking forward to seeing more from you in Issue 17, dedicated to DCS III!
ReplyDelete" 'Fight On!' reminds me of what Dragon was like during my youth, when each issue was a grab-bag of the unexpected, some of which I could immediately use and some of which I only came to appreciate later. That's as it should be. "
ReplyDeleteAmen to that. "Fight On!" stimulates my imagination.
curious what dave hargrave has to say, as he passed in 1988.
ReplyDeleteFrom the sounds of it, they published some material from Hargrave that has never been in print before.
Deletewe keep hearing rumors...
DeleteThe folks at Emperor's Choice have all of Hargrave's old material, and they gave us some things for issues 16 and 17 that have never been seen before in print!
Delete"Ecumenical" is a good term for it, although Fight On! is still very focused compared to the old gaming mags I still pine for. Space Gamer, Shadis, early White Dwarf, Challenge for much of its run, Adventure Gaming - they were so broad in terms of genres and games and did so much to introduce me to what was available out there in the days before the internet came along. It's true that you were even more likely to find content you couldn't use/didn't care about in any given issue, but I found that encouraged developing more varied tastes rather than putting me off on purchasing the mags.
ReplyDeleteHello! This is Calithena. We have gotten closer to that standard in some issues than others, but we are DEFINITELY open to the whole broader earlier scene - we even published a Bushido article - so if people have stuff they shouldn't hesitate to send it along!
DeleteBeen looking forward to this one. Even submitted a drawing, unfortunately didn't win. Can't wait to see what's in it. Thanks for keeping us posted!
ReplyDeleteTrampier fans should especially take note of this issue, as the Kask interview sheds some new light upon his days at TSR, and subsequent disappearance from the scene.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's the statted characters from "Wormy"...
Hopefully you enjoyed them, Tom!
DeleteAllan.
At only eight dollars it's a steal, think I... and then I see that Lulu wants the entire purchase price again to ship it to me. I ordered it anyhow, but, man, eight bucks to ship a magazine? And it'll arrive in "16 to 18 days?"
ReplyDeleteNo reflection on Fight On's quality, of course, but yikes.
As someone who has recently sold a lot of similar sized paper based materials (like softcover Earthdawn rule books), I've had to pay $5.86 of discounted postage only (so probably $6.35 retail)...so if they have to spend $1 for good packaging, it isn't revenue enhancement to hit for $8.
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