Elder Tunnels

Elder Tunnels is a role-playing game magazine that was published by Peryton Publishing starting in 2008. Originally its main focus was the fantasy role-playing game Tunnels & Trolls (T&T) published by Flying Buffalo; later, it embraced other games.

Publication history

Tunnels & Trolls was first published by Flying Buffalo in 1975, shortly after the release of Dungeons & Dragons by TSR. T&T underwent several revisions. After Fiery Dragon Productions released version 7.5 in time for the game's 30th anniversary in 2008, Tom K. Loney and Christina Lea gained permission from Flying Buffalo to publish materials compatible with and for use with T&T. They subsequently created the magazine Elder Tunnels to focus on T&T; the first issue was published by Peryton Press in 2008.

Content included contributions from Tunnels & Trolls' creator Ken St. Andre, as well as independent writers of T&T material produced in cooperation with St. Andre and/or Flying Buffalo, such as Brian Penn, Michael Eidson and David Crowell, as well as other game designers such as Scott Malthouse (who as part of Rebellion UnpluggedTemplate:Sndwhich bought the T&T intellectual property in 2023Template:Sndhelped design Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age, the first new version of T&T since 2015). Staff illustrators included Jeff Freels, Mike Hartlieb, Régis Moulun, and Simon Tranter.

Between 2008 and 2012, the first seven issues focused on T&T before the magazine then ceased publication.

After a publishing hiatus of seven years, Peryton Publishing released three more issues between 2019 and 2021. These issues shifted the focus to other gaming systems, including scenarios for Monsters! Monsters!Template:SndKen St. Andre's monsters-based derivative of T&TTemplate:Snd as well as Jerry Teleha's Stay Alive! modern action rules for T&T-style play, and Quick Ass Games System. These issues also featured content for use with Peryton Publishing's in-house game systems, including Crawlspace and Spacers.

In July 2021, Webbed Sphere purchased Flying Buffalo, which included Tunnels & Trolls, and terminated all licenses granted to third party publishing companies, including Peryton Publishing. In response, Peryton Publishing removed the T&T name and brand from their previously published materials, and could not use the game name or content in future publications, including Elder Tunnels.

Reception

In Issue 4.3 of the French games magazine Casus Belli, Patrice Greille identified Elder Tunnels as an excellent prozine, and called it "absolutely essential for anyone interested in T&T."

In October 2011, Scott Malthouse, one of the staff writers of Elder Tunnels, noted in his The Trollish Delver website the release of the Halloween 2011 issue of Elder Tunnels is "packed to the brim with awesomeness."

Thomas Grimshaw, in his Alchemy Gaming Blog, reviewed the premier issue (Winter - Spring 2010) of Elder Tunnels in July, 2012, admitting up front "Peryton Publishing now has 6 issues of the Elder Tunnels zine under its belt and, in my opinion, they just keep getting better and better," before analyzing the individual adventures in the first issue:

The first issue was a little hit and miss from my point of view. I absolutely loved the "Wuthering Depths" adventure written by Tom K. Loney. It had depth and an atmosphere that really drew you in as the GM reading over his notes. Stephen Butka's effort, "The Sorcerers Chimney" however left a lot to be desired."

In August 2012, Grimshaw favorably reviewed the Halloween 2010 issue of Elder Tunnels:

Balancing horror and high-fantasy can be a difficult task. Even in surreal, pan-dimensional warp spaces like the many worlds of Tunnels and Trolls it's a delicate balance. Many of the classic tropes have already been explored in depth by most gamers, either through the classic fiction that most of us will have read or, through popular culture.... Pick it up now, read through it within the next week and, your next session can really bring some bite to the table. Not only will the players not be expecting you to run such a scenario but, to their credit, the two GM adventures included in this issue don't read like horror at all... Until your players are already up to their necks in it that is.

Game designer and editor Dan Hembree of The Lone Delver Games, writing in his web blog on October 26, 2012, "The Lone Delver", complimented the Halloween 2012 issue: "This is their annual Halloween issue, and it's a good one," and "[a]t only $5.99 for the pdf it's quite a bargain."

As of June 2026, several issues of the magazine have earned Copper Best Seller rank at DriveThruRPG.

External links

• "Elder Tunnels". http://www.perytonpublishing.com/elder_tunnels.htm.