Codex Book Club - 01 Blood

#1

Hi all, and welcome to the first installment an ongoing book club series where we visit past issues of Codex in-depth and explore fun ways to use them!

What is Codex? Codex is the Gauntlet’s monthly RPG fanzine. Each issue is packed with awesome game material sourced directly from our community, as well as original art. Monthly issues are available to patreon members. Learn more over on Patreon.

Why a book club? I only joined the Gauntlet less than a year ago, and there’s a wealth of knowledge that I completely missed out on. I want to read through all the back issues of Codex and what better way to do so than to read it with everyone else and discuss what we like?

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This week, we’re discussing Codex - Blood, the premier issue of the zine! It contains the following:

  • Austin, TX: A Violet Crown Steeped in Blood (An Urban Shadows Campaign Setting), by Jason Cordova
  • Five Blood-soaked Magic Items for Dungeon World, by Timothy Bennett, Jason Cordova, & Daniel Fowler
  • The Blood Trancer, a Compendium Class for Dungeon World, by Jason Cordova and Ray Otus
  • Three Dozen Bloods and their Uses, a Miscellany (System Agnostic)

As Codex Blood is the original test issue of Codex and no longer available, discussion of this issue may be limited to long-time members and those of us who received a copy through the Codex Volume 1 Kickstarter. Therefore, we’re having simultaneous discussions of Issue 01 and Issue 02! Just jump to the other thread and check out Codex 02 Chrome!

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#2

Blood really is a classic, but one I still enjoy returning to look over often. Even as the alpha test issue, Blood is a perfect example of what makes Codex great. It’s very clear that the DNA of the zine is solid from how fantastic even the first issue is.

First off, check out the art in this issue. That cover is some in-your-face no-nonsense metal from Dirk Leichty, but it’s no my favorite work of his for Codex (which I’d probably award to the cover of Yellow). I’ve always been a big fan of Sean Poppe’s sketchy down-to-earth style and I enjoy his illustrations here as well. All of the artists do a good job of delivering on the single-color style that Codex has championed.

The content in this issue is imminently useful. These aren’t just cool ideas being presented here for you to synthesize at your discretion (although you certainly still could) - these are fully-fleshed DLC for your games. Jason Cordova’s writing style in A Violet Crown is just delightful - irreverent, bold, and concise, but grounded by a local’s lens. Perfect for Urban Shadows. Each of the blood-soaked magic items are textured and unique. You could shape a whole adventure around any of them. The Blood Trancer is a fun dark fantasy twist on ancestral communion. If I recall, Discern Realities was preaching the potential of Compendium Classes around this time, and this one showcases how far you can stretch them and still make them work well.

I could be wrong, but I believe I remember that the target number for Miscellany was quite a bit lower, but a ton of creative ideas were submitted and it was upped to 36 (and stayed that way). This list is so much better than what one person’s random table could ever be for the same number of items. Here the standard palette of miscellanies is established: a mix of cheeky, evocative, ethereal, and creepy.

The one thing missing from Blood that I’ve really enjoyed in subsequent issues is original games. But for a first showing and proof of concept, it is smashing.

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#3

What a great post! Thanks for the kind words. I like this series a lot. I only ever experience Codex through the lens of furiously trying to meet deadlines, so it’s nice to read something critical and reflective.

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#4

I don’t recall which Codex made me join. Yellow was the one that made me notice the zines at all, but I think it was a month or two later before I signed up. So I binged the first 6-7 issues, I think, to get caught up. A lot of things stand out in this first zine that carry forward till today: the layout is great, and I like that there wasn’t an attempt to have standard trade dress throughout. Each little section stands on its own, is easy to pick out, etc. The art is great. Sean Poppe is great, and someone I’d consider an “OSR” artist, so it was cool seeing his work here. Dirk Detweiler Leichty is amazing, and I think made his name via these zines? It’s certainly how I first encountered him. And the miscellany section is there and great.

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#5

Codex Yellow was the one that made me join The Gauntlet. I was curious about the Carcosa material in there. The quality of The Codex was already quite good at the time, but it has just kept increasing to new heights as time went by. It’s very easily one of the top magazines out there in the TTRPG world. So, congratz to everyone involved in producing this material.

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#6

Just want to remind peeps: the topic is focused on Codex Blood. If we want to have a general Codex Is Awsome thread that is totes awesome but likely should be in its own thread.

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#7

I got this when I kickstartered the Codex Volume I, and I read it immediately after getting the PDF (I’ve been a lot less conscientious with the others, so I like the idea of a book club!)

My impressions:
1.) Oh, something about Austin! We played a supernatural mystery in Austin a bit before, featuring bats, so it was pretty cool to see it. It even started with something about bats! I’ll definitely use ideas from that if my characters return to Austin. We’re playing Fate, though, not Urban Shadows.

2.) Magic items - Shroomlings. I love shroomlings, and I already ran something featuring them.

I read the rest too, but that didn’t spark immediate ideas. But I’ll probably return to the Miscellany at some point for inspiration.

And that’s what I loved about this Codex: I play none of the featured games, but it is just bursting with inspiration , and after having been a GM for a long time, I like mixing other voices with mine to stay original.

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#8

The ‘Austin Traffic’ move is something I reflect on nearly daily. It’s accurate and I very rarely get to roll anything more than a 7-9 on my commute.

I also feel Codex: Atrocities has been hinted at in this volume and then never delivered. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Ray Otus’s Blood Trancer is interesting because he later went on to create the lovely “Beyond the Black Gate” issue for his Plundergrounds Zine. It really expands on this ‘what happens to your characters after a TPK in Dungeonworld’ and I can see this compendium class being used in such an adventure or given to the players at the end.

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#9

Concerning Five Blood-Soaked Magic Items for Dungeon World:

  • The shroomlings look fun to play with. I’d probably use them as an antagonist rather than a magic item for PCs to loot - if I could come up with an insidious plot that would require a villain to access a PC’s memories and/or voice. And how precious is the cape on that one shroomling?

  • The Codex of Atrocities is a great invitation for the players to worldbuild. I’m inclined to modify the book’s move so that the player must come up with a new atrocity related to the question posed.

You could even ramp up the tension by making the Codex a book of prophecy. That way, the player isn’t just adding violence to the distant past but contributing to the carnage of the world their character lives in.

And rather than take a -1 forward, you could apply some other penalty that shows how the PC is unbalanced by the tales of atrocity, e.g. the PC’s next attack gains the messy tag.

  • Urfilga’s Despair could be the centerpiece of an adventure. The mission: liberate Urfilga from the salamanders’ cruel prison. In my head canon, the dwarves and salamanders are natural enemies: civilizations from the Depths of the Earth that are renowned for their metal-crafting.

  • I can’t quite wrap my head around the Blood Charmer move of the Carnelian Chalice, but its ability to subsume blood-based Ritual requirements is quite powerful, i.e. avoiding the nastiness that blood magic often entails. Drain the blood of my only child to make my dreams come true? How about I squirt a few drops of my own blood into this Chalice instead?

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#10

There are two delightful moves at the end of A Violet Crown Steeped In Blood. They could be widely useful, easily reskinned for different settings than Austin or different PbtA games than Urban Shadows.

  • The Basement Of The Texas History Museum is a fun set piece for any archive of supernatural artifacts that a character investigates. This move incorporates the player’s ideas into world building, gives the character a useful item, and also forces a hard choice to avoid wandering into the obelisk room!
  • The Broken Spur Icehouse. This move is just a fun role playing scene where the character discusses their troubles with the barkeep. In exchange they get a buff and some GM direction on what to do next.
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