This massive tome is an anthology of the best material from Pagan News, an esoteric newsletter from the UK that ran 36 issues from 1988 to 1992, roughly concurrent to the height of the UK’s Satanic Panic. Phil Hine and Rodney Orpheus used the publication to do battle against the figures behind the Panic and Hine delivers a fantastic appendix devoted to the Panic’s history, growth and eventual collapse.

As much as that battle is central to the times, it would be a disservice to say that was all Pagan News was. PN was really a way for many types of esoteric sorts to communicate and coordinate, sort of a community hub, or even an early message board (just in published text rather than pixels). And this plays out against a backdrop of rapid social and cultural change. PN intersects willy-nilly with everything — punk, the new rave scene, “mature” comic books, queer rights and more (which, with the rise of Chaos Magick at the time and its correlation to pop culture archetypes, this perhaps makes an additional level of sense). The tone is combative, well-written and often hilarious. Even decades later!

The other day, I talked about The Occult Underground, and how James Webb argues that the esoteric set functions as an important mover and motivator for the counter culture by championing “discarded knowledge.” Delinquent Elementals certainly seems to be an example of Webb’s theory in action, bringing together pagans of varying occult interests and marshaling their energy toward common non-esoteric goals, like battling the Satanic Panic and spreading support for LGBTQ rights. And it got results.

Cover and new interiors by Krent Able. The Maggie on the cover, perhaps for being in close proximity to Bael and Stolas, makes me laugh pretty hard.

The post Delinquent Elementals (2025) appeared first on Vintage RPG.

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we chat with Phil Hine and Rodney Orpheus about Delinquent Elementals, a massive book collecting the best material from Pagan News, the zine they ran from 1988-1992. As Pagan News’ existence paralleled and lampooned the UK Satanic Panic, we talk quite a lot about that. Also on tap: a general look at the British occult scene, how pre-internet zines anticipated the internet, comic books, RPGs and the logic of invoking invoking Star Trek‘s Spock instead of some 16th century demon when you need a magical solution for a computer problem.

* * *

Delinquent Elementals is out now. Check out Phil’s site and Rodney’s site for more about their various projects.

* * *

Instagram? Old news. Join the Vintage RPG Newsletter! That’s where all the cool kids are now!

Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!

Patreon? Discord? Cool RPG things to buy? All the Vintage RPG links you need are right here in one place!

Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

Edited by the one and only R. Alex Murray.

Send questions, comments or corrections to info@vintagerpg.com.

Available on iTunes, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, YouTube and your favorite podcast clients.

The Vintage RPG illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Twitter.

Tune in next week for the next episode. Until then, may the dice always roll in your favor!

The post Delinquent Elementals appeared first on Vintage RPG.