The Gary's Appendix Index

In 2018, Luke Crane, then the VP of Community at Kickstarter, came up with a new idea for supporting small-press RPG publishers: Zine Quest. The concept was simple: each February, RPG designers would create 'zines, by which Crane meant small, one-color digest-sized booklets, not necessarily fanzines. Fans could then seek out all the zines during the month. The individual zines would have much more of a chance to shine, and not just get lost amidst the huge waves of projects moving through Kickstarter every day. The initiative was wildly successful: 9th Level Games' Zineography #1 (itself a 'zine!) records 99 successful projects in February 2019, raising a median of $2,455.

Zine Quest 3 predictably ran in February 2021. That year there were 378(!) funded projects, raising a media of $2,634. One of those projects was "Scoundrels" by Jeffrey Jones, which offered three 'zines covering "Denizens", "Crime", and "Optional Rules". The first two booklets detailed 200 universal NPCs for use in crime RPGs, while the third translated rules from Blades in the Dark SRD (2018) for universal usage. Jones' Kickstarter came in just under the median at $2,050 from 137 backers, which was exactly the sort of success that Zine Quest was meant to enable. Jones had his zines produced and mailed by June 2021, which was exactly the sort of turnaround that Zine Quest was meant to enable.

Jones followed up later in the year with a second Kickstarter, for Journey into the Madlands (2021). Even absent the support of Zine Quest, it was another zine, but the postapocalyptic OSR booklet got out of hand, becoming a 60-page megazine. And that brings us to Gary's Appendix. Jones' original plan was to produce a fantasy bestiary. But shortly before the Kickstarter, he decided to turn it into a 'zine that did have some bestiary entries but also featured other sorts of articles. The bestiary reprinted monsters from the OSE OGL, but with additional notes on mythology, folklore, and other background that hadn't been included in the minimalist OGL entries. The other articles tended to focus on GM support. The whole thing was published under the umbrella of Old-School Essentials (2019), a retroclone of B/X D&D. Sort of. Jones' main goal in using the OSE brand was to tie Gary's Appendix into the OSR movement, but most of the articles could be used with any game system (even those OSE-statted bestiary entries, which had plenty of universal ideas).

There was one other influence, as suggested by the 'zine name: the appendices of Gary Gygax's original AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979). As Jones said in the initial Kickstarter for Gary's Appendix: "Gary wrote and collected a vast amount of information, rules, and guidance. Its haphazard nature and perplexing subjects makes it as fresh today as when he penned the work almost fifty years ago. We do not have the audacity to believe that we can produce a work that matches that evergreen classic. Indeed, we draw inspiration from the past works of the gaming giants with no attempt to reproduce it." Gary's Appendix thus contains many "odds & ends", which included most of the GM-focused articles. They're GMing articles that can inspire those GMs lucky enough to stumble upon them.

Jones has been supported in Gary's Appendix by Zac Goins, his "right-hand man". Goins has produced content for all of the issues, but also deals with many of the technical aspects of Kickstarter as well as North American distribution, which happens through World of Game Design, a design and services company where Goins is the Creative Director. (International distribution is done by Jones through Lulu.)

The first Gary's Appendix Kickstarter ran from August 2 to August 30, 2022. It raised $7,727 from 545 backers, with books going out in November. There were some kinks along the way, such as initial shipments of Lulu books that were missing pages and a stock-art cover that was also used by another designer for another Kickstarter shortly thereafter. Jones persevered (and decided to only use original, non-stock art for his later covers) and the ongoing 'zine has kept to his planned schedule of about three releases a year.

Meanwhile, Jones' small-press publisher, RPG Ramblings Publishing, also continues to produce other content, including releases such as as the Cortex-based Scoundrels of Brixton setting (2023) and the OSE-based Journey into the Madlands setting (2024), which were based on his earliest Kickstarter releases.

Gary's Appendix Issues

1. (November 2022)
2. (March 2023)
3. Horror & Supernatural (September 2023)
4. Sword & Sorcery (February 2024)
5. Slimed! (April 2024)
6. Dragons (pending)

About the Game System

Gary's Appendix is labeled as an Old School Essentials 'zine. But, Jones notes that he's not really a "single-system, single-genre guy" (as also evidenced by his past Kickstarters). Though the bestiary stat blocks in Gary's Appendix are indeed OSE, the magazine as a whole is of good use for an FRPG.

Obtaining the Magazines

All of the issues of Gary's Appendix remain available at DTRPG and the RPG Ramblings store. New issues of the 'zines also continue to be Kickstarted, with older issues being offered as add-ons.

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This index is © Copyright 2024 by Shannon Appelcline. It is released under a cc-by-4.0 license, allowing reuse with attribution. Background image is Catacombs of the Flayed Minotaurs by Dyson Logos, released for personal and/or commercial use. Support Dyson's Patreon.