Why You Should Buy In The Hall of the Third Blue Wizard

Probably anyone who stumbles on this corner of the internet is already familiar with David McGrogan's site and work, and is thus aware that he recently brought a 'zine into print called In the Hall of the Third Blue Wizard.  Likely most visitors here backed the project on Kickstarter.  But for those of you who weren't aware, didn't back it, and haven't considered purchasing it, you really SHOULD.

I wrote up a big long thing about the way projects like this support developing writers, give them an outlet, and add a new publisher to a landscape that is in dire need of them, and those are good reasons to support a project like this and buy the zine, but I deleted all that shit because the main reason to do so is the content.  The content is first rate and there is a lot of it.  The artwork, while sparse, is striking - a favorite for me is Fresco With Orcs by Joel Sammallahti (I also really like The Transmuter by Luca Vanzella).

The fiction is good and ranges from really funny (Thirteen Dwarves, The Chevrelier) to exciting (She Who Came Once to Oldgraves) to unique (The Beloved and Oft Counted Tale of the Marvelous Birth).

The RPG content is first rate and there is plenty here to pick and chose from even if you don't use any of it wholesale.  The NPCs in Offspring of the Siphoned Demon, for example, are wonderfully unique and would be a lot of fun to run, and could be dropped in to a lot of places where there is worship going on.  The puzzle dungeon of A Turn of Fortune is something I think my players would probably eat up if I ran it for them - they love puzzles, more about that soon, hopefully... And there's plenty more, all of it good.

For those of you familiar with the divine madness of the Grand Commodore blog, Moonrhythm Mire by Dave Greggs will not disappoint.  The influence from Jung's Red Book is evident and expertly handled, the characters are inspired (as is the writing) and each part complements the others to form a really quite perfect whole.  Still, there are parts here you can snag if you don't prefer to use the entire thing - the example four man Underwater patrol make for an intense and frightening encounter if presented and used correctly.  Each is a unique villain in their own right, and combined they make for a very nasty surprise for overconfident adventurers indeed (as my players found out when I lifted them from this adventure and used them in one of mine).  And as outré as these guys are, they are among the more pedestrian of the terrors waiting in the mire.  There is a certain poetry to this adventure as well - I'll call out as just one example the use of the phrase "The moon appears, the ghosts dance" which acquires a sort of haunting (no pun intended) rhythm through repetition as one reads through the timeline near the end.

Moonrhythm Mire would make the cost of admission worth it all by itself, but honestly all the material here is quite good, and you WILL find things you will want to use.  You will find In the Hall of the Third Blue Wizard in both pdf and print version at Noisms Games.  Do yourself a favor and pick it up.