Friday Feature: The Stronhold and a GIVEAWAY!

A little over a week ago I received The Stronghold, a new zine on the gaming scene created by none other than +Boric Glanduum of The Dwarven Stronghold.  Boric and I have been going back and forth about him putting out a zine.  And I've been nudging him in that direction as much as I could.  I was so glad when he told me he was going to go ahead with it.

Then Boric goes out and gets +Jay Penn to do the cover.  And +Jim Magnusson to do the interior art.  Boric went all out for his premiere issue.  And after these past couple of years I can say I am a zine connoisseur.  And The Stronghold is damn good. 

It's your standard zine size, 24 pages, card stock cover.  I like that Boric utilizes all available space, including the interior of the cover. 

Boric added a cool thank you card with it.  And in between my damn fingers that got in the way, I received the 2nd copy of issue #1.  There is a lot in these 24-pages.

Found Items is the first article you'll find accompanied by a d30 table.  I like it when folks make a simple thing interesting.  Or take a look at it in a different way.  Boric's writes about mundane items and as I look at the list, I think of all the cool things a player (that I) could do. 

The Vat of Variance is his next offering.  An artifact of dubious powers and outcomes.  I can see humanoid cultures warring over this.  This artifact will fit well within a DCC campaign.  And Jim added his first piece of art for this article.

Then we move along to my favorite piece in the book, The Mimic.  Boric introduces a bevy of new mimic types and sizes.  I've always been a huge fan of mimics, but this article gave me a shit-ton* of ideas.  I immediately considered using his mundane random table and using the result to have what the mimic would appear to be.  Yeah, cool.

Missives from the 'Hold is next.  A finger in nose piece.  I believe this was written after a few weirdly connected comments on Google+ on night.  This is the only place you'll find a rand nose picking table.  You might find this useful in future games.  Although the 'thumb' result sounds painful.

Next is are Treasure Tables.  Boric creates a parcel of treasures.  It's very interesting how he does the write-ups.  Streamlines the horde.

Lastly is Rkoa, a nasty NPC gnoll to add to your campaign.  I love that he chose gnolls.  They are like the red-haired step child of the humaniod races.  It was good to see the gnolls getting a little love by Boric and Jim added another piece for this article.  

In addition with Rkoa, there is Chot Lake.  Boric has a short write-up and a cool map. 

On the back cover he does a small bit about being a "Patron" and those of us who are involved in Patreon.  He gave a batch of us a nod, including myself, +Simon Forster, +matt jackson, +Dyson Logos, +Jim Magnusson and +Erik Tenkar.  This is what the OSR is about.  Creating cool stuff and then helping out someone else.

The Stronghold is a welcome addition to the zine community.  Boric has worked his butt off and it shows. 

Okay now to the giveaway portion of this post.  I want to share The Stronghold with one lucky person.  But there is a twist.  I'll be sending you the "Boric Special".  What's the "Boric Special"?, you ask.  The "Boric Special" is you'll get two copies.  Boric often forgets he's got a subscription or that he ordered something from a couple days before and ends up ordering a second copy.  So I thought it only fitting my giveaway should be 2 copies to one person.  All you need to do is comment below and let me know you want "The Boric Special".  It sounds a little dirty and I am sure it will be by the end of the day.  This giveaway is open for tomorrow only and on Saturday I'll randomly pick a winner.