Drew Meger defines Strangeness as an experience or encounter that seems to challenge or defy our underlying understanding of the real world. That seems a touch broad to me, but in practice, Meger is essentially talking about the specific sense of strangeness attached to UFO sightings, cryptids and the fog of mystical and quasi-scientific oddness that tends to surround both. UFOs and Grey Aliens and the Moth Man are concepts that feel very much rooted in the 20th century, but in a weird way, they work extremely well in the context of D&D.

The zine is mostly interested in the Greys and in portraying these aliens and building adventures around them, I can’t help but be reminded of Delta Green, where they, and the Fungi from Yuggoth that control them, work in a similar way. I would not have thought that recontextualizing alien abduction folkore into D&D would work so well, but then I was kind of dubious about Call of Cthulhu meets X-Files, and I love that game now, so really, what do I know?

The main zine is accompanied by a bit of fiction called On Tattered Wings. It’s a fun little bit of cryptids meet D&D cotton candy with some fantastic art. I love Meger’s fusion of UFOs, Lovecraftiana and D&D imagery generally, but it really comes together for me in the fiction zine.

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