ZiM026 Interview: Anthony Zinni

Anthony Zinni is raising funds for A League of Dark Few, a collection of three zines designed to help run city-based campaigns focused on secret guilds and mysteries. He was kind enough to answer some of my questions:

Questions: Give us the elevator pitch of your project.

Answer: City campaigns have always been tough to run. The League of Dark Few Saga is a zine series designed to help GMs run them from the perspective of a guild member, giving players a home and a reason to engage with the city more deeply than just a stop-off between dungeons. Designed for both DCC and Shadowdark, and easily adaptable to any OSR system.

Q: Is this your first ZineMonth project or have you done it before? If it's your first, talk a bit about what inspired you to give it a shot this year. If you've done it before, what's something you've learned from previous crowdfunding projects that you may be doing differently this time, or, if you're not doing anything differently, talk a bit about your previous projects.

A: This will be my third ZineMonth project, and the most ambitious yet. After getting my feet wet the past two years, I am finally opening my project up to international shipping this year. I also learned in past years that I hadn't been offering enough in my projects. The first year was a simple zine, and in the second year I introduced some short adventures and add-ons. I was pleasantly surprised by how many more people were interested in a larger-scale package, so this year I have tailored my project to that learning. This year, I will be offering a base two-zine package, with a third short adventure I will give away for free and make available as a print add-on. I also have some fun accessory add-ons for the project, themed to my setting, that I will reveal later.

Q: Finally, tell us something about your current project that really excites you but the average backer may not be aware of. Maybe a twist to an old trope, a new way of presenting something, or maybe just something you've never tried before that you're using this as an opportunity to try out.

A: I am really excited about my project this year because I plan to continue the series with future zines centered around the League of Dark Few, including a new city to place the organization, a mystery adventure I have been drafting, and a free digital city encounter tool with an accompanying bestiary. In my personal game, I've been working hard to develop tools to make running city encounters easier and more fun for the DM, and this zine series, when completed, will be the product of that work.