I Read Games reviews are me reading games when I have nothing better to do, like read a module or write or play a game. I don’t seriously believe that I can judge a game without playing it, usually a lot, so I don’t take these very seriously. But I can talk about its choices and whether or not it gets me excited about bringing it to the table.

I was going to start layout for Bridewell today, but instead a pre-release copy of Fantastic Medieval Campaigns by my friend Marcia B of Traverse Fantasy arrived on my doorstep, and so I cancelled everything to have a read of this beautiful hardcover book. If you haven’t heard, Fantastic Medieval Campaigns (hereafter FMC) is an effort to reorganise and clarify the original three books published published by Gary Gygax in ’74. It’s a challenging book to write about, because if you aren’t already familiar with the rules inside it, I can’t imagine you’re likely to be buying it; and the rules have been pored over by fifty years of wargamers and roleplaying gamers, and so I have only a little to say about the rules themselves. I’ll start elsewhere though.

This book is a beauty. Square-format, hardcover, with gorgeous paperstock coloured separately for each chapter of the book, and a warm, soothing pastel palette, it looks amazing on your shelf and even better on your coffee table (the rainbow block colouring looks excellent enough that I wish I could have it spine facing in on my bookshelf). The layout is big, chunky and retro, consistent and happy to let the words have space, and this generosity of page count brings with it clarity of structure and intent. The monochrome art is by an all-star cast, but is charming, sketchy and janky in a way that feels true to the source material (special mention goes to the exceptional maps by Gus L). All in all an exceptional effort from a largely one-woman show.

The text is split into the original three sections that came in separate booklets and two appendixes, concluding with a short postface that provides a thesis statement for the whole project. Throughout we have a dry reading of the original text, rearranged and with a gentle editorial touch, with Marcia’s sly humour slipping through at regular intervals (the recurring typographic balrog joke deserves an award for best in-joke). I can’t overstate the value in the rearrangement (it has an index!!!), but more important is the editorial touch: Light enough at the beginning that a side-by-side reading might be difficult to differentiate; examples of Marcia’s voice and that of her artists shine through piecemeal initially (such as the delightfully bizarre Red Queen’s Catacombs). By the end, Marcia’s voice is more insistent.

FMC communicates more clearly than reading the original booklets that the included combat rules are second-grade dross and should be ignored in favour of the first appendix, Chain of Command. I think that incorporating these rules directly into the text of the first three chapters would have communicated that better, although Marcia explains herself well in the first appendix and her fidelity to the original text in that regard is admirable. Subtly, the case is presented that Chain of Command is an essential aspect of the ruleset, and lays bare the fact that this is a miniatures war game intended to not only be played as heroes but also the allies they command, in a much more transparent fashion than I previously realised. This brings to light a number of misadventures that the hobby has undertaken over its history, releases like DL7: Dragons of Glory, Battlesystem, and Birthright, and it repositions the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons in my esteem as the edition most faithful to the spirit of the original 1974 version of that game.

FMC also communicates to me something more palpable: Despite the beauty of the book in my hands, Dungeons and Dragons was a DIY project from the beginning. Marcia’s interjections (like the implication that the hydra was a kitbashed tyrannosaur on Gygax’s field) remind me of the suggestion that the owlbear was based on a Japanese figurine bought at a garage sale. The leaps and gaps present in the text, even with Marcia’s thoughtful reordering (it has an index!!!) and targeted appendices make it clear that this was not and never will be a complete game, but rather a springboard for your dive into roleplaying as a hobby. It clarifies why Gygax felt the urgency he demonstrated when he released the first edition of the game, minimising and excluding players of earlier and parallel versions to capitalise on his accidental DIY success. More wistfully and hopefully, it makes me imagine a world where, instead of following the example of wargames-in-an-envelope, the hobby had followed the path of DIY zine culture that sprung up at the same time: I imagine what we could have had, a history of disposable punk DIY aesthetics.

Marcia’s postface is placed in the second appendix, as a gesture to the fact that in this second appendix she suggests options not present in the original text, and hence that her own voice as a game designer shines through the strongest. I think, however, overstates how much space she succeeds in placing between her and the earlier text, although not as a game designer, but rather as a writer: Where reading the original texts is an exercise in blinking and refocusing each turn of the page, Marcia’s dry wit and familiarity with the history of the hobby as it came to be, brings more (admittedly academic) joy to the material than Gygax could ever conjure. I don’t think the presence of her editorial voice here is a bad thing at all, after all, this entire project is effectively (and I’m projecting a little here, but not a lot) an opportunity for Marcia to avoid reading those books and read something better instead. I want that too.

In game design, I consider a lot the perspectives that we bring to our design. I often see the perspective of popular culture (those that bring Lucas-esque and other worlds to our modules and systems) and those that borrow from the direct legacy of Gygax (everything published by WoTC for 5e in the pejorative, but also innovators on that legacy like Gus L in the approbatory). I see in some of my favourite modern authors, like Luke Gearing and Ben Laurence, the perspective of a novelist bringing a fresh and new angle on how we might arrange and describe the worlds we play in. And I see in some, like Luca Rejec’s work, the perspective of a visual artist. Zedeck Siew brings a poetic perspective to bear on the field of roleplaying game design; something I’ve seen alluded to by others, like Brad Kerr of Wyvern Song. But what Marcia does in FMC is to come at game design from the well-informed, accurate but still subjective perspective of works of history. It’s a unique voice, and I cannot but welcome any fresh approaches to game design that come my way. It’s akin to a translation in many ways: It’s not the original authors voice, but sometimes it communicates new things and clearer.

I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t familiar with the original rules are likely to be buying this, but if you aren’t familiar with them, and you’re interested in them, this is assuredly a much better place to start. If you’re interested in running those original rules, this is also probably the best place to start, as all the hard work has already been done for you. Has Marcia persuaded me to run the ruleset? No. I’ve failed to run them multiple times before, and they’re interesting as a historical artifact more than they are as a viable playstyle for me. But nevertheless, I go back and read those original books regularly, and FMC will definitely replace the originals for me, as they’re clearer, easier to locate information in (it has an index!!!), and more enjoyable to read. Fantastic Medieval Campaigns is an exceptional work, making sense of a hash of rules split over many books and supplements, bringing a much needed lightness of touch to the proceedings.

I’ve stated my biases here, but as a remarkable insight into diy elfgame history, I couldn’t recommend it more.

8th of September, 2023

Idle Cartulary