Fanzines & Creativity

The Amateur Hobby Press
The Gongfarmer's Almanac describes itself as "A Free and Unofficial Zine for DCC RPG" and is a continuation of a traditional form of amateur press that predates the original role-playing game. Often referred to as "fanzines" such newsletters and digest sized periodicals have been popular with hobbyists interested in wargames and science fiction and fantasy literature since the age before the internet. Such printed correspondence provided the hobby with a means to share news and ideas and to establish contacts with others who shared a similar interest. Although less prevalent today perhaps, they do still exist.
The Gongfarmer's Almanac is has been around a few years, I have compilations of the Almanac from 2016, 2017 and 2018. Each compilation contains the volumes from that year and includes additional material that can be used with the old school inspired Dungeon Crawl Classics Role-Playing Game (DCC RPG) published by Goodman Games. Included are additional character classes, adventures, rule suggestions, interesting character sheets, maps and artwork, monsters, patrons and deities, all tailored for use by the DCC RPG player.
The booklet pictured above, Volume #5, 2019 of The Gongfarmer's Almanac, is devoted to playing a weird western (Mythos inspired) version of the DCC RPG. The volume includes some setting specific rules for adapting the DCC system to an old west setting and for playing a more horror style of game. New character classes include the Gambler, the Occultist and the Gunslinger and eight others. New rules introduce Madness and a Poker Deck for adding spell like effects to certain new player character classes. In true DCC RPG tradition a zero-level funnel is included to get things started.
Grassroots creativity, a do-it-yourself approach and shared enthusiasm for the hobby is evident on nearly every page of The Gongfarmer's Almanac. It brings to my mind memories of by-gone amateur publications in an era of self publishing of hobby related content meant to be freely shared and enjoyed. In many ways the internet continues to serve a very similar function, but for me there is something nice about the physical copy held in my hands. The Gongfarmer's Almanac is aimed precisely at one particular game, but a quick search will turn up other amateur zines, both digital and print available "at cost", that support our hobby interests and promote the sharing of our collective creativity.
And if you are not familiar with the term "gongfarmer", a quick web search will inform you. Hey, it's what I had to do!

Chainmail & ODD

Understanding White Box through the lens of Chainmail
Volume I of the Little Brown Books lists the Chainmail miniatures rules among the  "Recommended Equipment" for White Box D&D play. It should probably be mandatory and therefore included in the box itself. I did not process the Chainmail miniatures rules in 1977 when I acquired the original edition of the first role-playing game, nor did I see Chainmail for a number of years after that. Therefore, I devised my own interpretation of how to play this new game. I imagine it was just so for many who came to D&D in those days.
Gary Gygax is listed as a co-author of both the original fantasy role-playing game and Chainmail and one may presume the earlier Chainmail product may inform a complete understanding of the Little Brown Books. The subsequent D&D game perhaps represents a certain evolution of thought on the part of Mr. Gygax as he explored the fantasy game and may shed some light on how one might play the new fantasy game.
Taking the turn sequence as an example, we find that in Chainmail both sides roll a die with the higher score choosing to move first or second (after observing the enemy moves). After each side moves in turn, both sides execute artillery fire, missile fire and then melee, in that order. Since magic spells such as fireball and lightning bolt operate much like artillery in Chainmail, I assume we can fit it into the turn sequence after moves and before missile fire.
Magic spells in Chainmail are not the same as in ODD/ White Box. Each type of caster, Seer, Magician, Warlock, Sorcerer and Wizard in order of increasing power, has the ability to know a number of spells and a two-die casting mechanic is (optionally) used to determine the success, delay (it goes off next turn) or failure of each attempt to cast a known spell. Wizards may more reliably cast spells than those magic users of less power as indicated by having greater chances for the spell to actually go off and to take effect without delay. Spells are rated according to complexity and the more complex spells are more difficult to succeed in casting.
In the Chainmail mechanics of magic use and spell complexity we can see the early thinking of the author regarding magic in the fantasy game. Some magic users have greater power than others in terms of knowing more spells and in terms of having the ability to cast them more reliably. The magic spells themselves vary in terms of complexity. Both concepts will be represented with the term "level" in the subsequent D&D rules.
Alignment is a term that appears in the Little Brown Books, but not in Chainmail, however once again we can see a progenitor to this concept in the Chainmail Fantasy Supplement's "General Line-Up" table. The table lists the terms Law, Chaos and Neutral, which are used to categorize the fantastic creatures available for battle along opposing sides, Law verses Chaos, with the possibility that Neutral forces may show up fighting for either or both these sides.
Many of the game concepts such as the forces of Law and Chaos have their antecedents in popular fantasy literature. Chainmail specifically mentions Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions in connection with true trolls and Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone in the section on Magic Weapons and figures combining elements of the "hero" and "wizard". The fantasy supplement to Chainmail and its later cousin, D&D can be seen as game engines to assist players in further exploring the characters and themes they enjoy from popular science-fiction and fantasy stories.
Morale, movement, the effects of terrain, charging, the number of attacks per turn, figure facing and more, all of which shows up in the Advanced game rules, each has their beginnings here in the Chainmail miniatures rules. To be sure, much has been changed and added through the various editions of the world's most popular fantasy role-playing game rules, but the Chainmail miniature rules helps me to understand where it all began and informs how the White Box may be played.