Vacant Ritual Assembly (VRA) is what I call a fanzine. Fanzines associated with the Role-Playing Game date back to the beginning of the hobby and really are an indication that what we do is a hobby and not just a game we play. The content of fanzines across the decades range from quite amateurish to quite professional. Fanzines have given the careers of various talents a boost (Paul Jaquays - Dungeoneer) and helped keep the creative spirit of the hobby fresh for over 40 years. Some of the early fanzine's such as Alarums & Excursions have become legends in the hobby.
VRA is from the mind of Clint Krause who has also authored a game or so (Don't Walk in Winter Wood) and has some very good Youtube videos devoted to gaming. The cover illustration is art from Ryan Sheffield (Ritual Abuse Tarot). Mr. Krause is self publishing under the name Red Moon Medicine Show. Mr. Krause indicates that VRA is an outlet for material he has created for his home Lamentations of the Flame Princess OSR campaign and each issue gives more material from that campaign as well as some inspirational references he calls "Evangelism" (lists of songs, books and other creative influences) and most issues contain an interesting interview.
I find most of the game aid material published by the big houses these days of good quality with excellent art, but also rather vanilla in flavor. I like vanilla and I buy what I consider a lot of these game aids. I also like fresh original flavors that don't seem like places I've been to before. The small press, independent and self publishers sometimes produce material as good as anything from the big guys and it's often unlike anything else in content.
Mr. Krause has described the Lost Wood (detailed in issue 3) and the setting around it as inspired by the woods he knew as a boy growing up and the stories he and his friends made-up about the wood. Inspiring us to draw on our own experiences and convert them into something fantastic for gaming through the use of our imagination is something he does particularly well. Each of us has stories to tell. Sometimes creating the fantastic for our game is just a matter of learning to draw on our experiences and stories in a way that fits into the shared fictional game world and adding a little imagination.
Vacant Ritual Abuse (issues 1-5) is available in .pdf from drivethrurpg.com.
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