The second half of the 80s was an exuberant period for role-playing games in Italy. Despite this, discovering the existence of these publications was anything but simple: they could rarely be found, even in shops selling role-playing gre.
They might only be discovered during a [very secluded] themed event.
Primarily distributed by hand during get-togethers with other DED players, “Spell Book’ was also distributed by Tempi Futuri, a comic book shop in Florence that is no longer in business, or by Games Center in Turin, and Stratelibri the long standing Italian publisher of role-playing and table-top games. The small format, A5, is full of content drawn with extreme meticulous lines and graphics, and reveals a microcosm of topics, ranging from miniature colouring courses, to articles on hallucinogens in the Fantasy world, the creation of new, alternative monsters to outmoded dragons and goblins, and columns on botany and fantastic herbal medicine. It included graphic craziness, news, reviews, and, above all, DARK FLAVE the epic serial campaign for ADD [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons] and D8D, ‘among the most famous and beautiful that have ever been created on our planet’.
The zine sprang from an idea by the brothers Marco and Nicola Serpieri [respectively known as BONDY DONDY and Nicolotti] with Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini [il Pancia]. From the first issue on, Roberto Gigli [Rog], an expert miniature colors, Beniamino Sidoti [VORKO], and David Vaggelli, i.e. AMA Corporation completed the editorial team. Stapled in the certa and printed on recycled paper in a very amateur printing house, it came out with the first 3 issues, later collected in a book-let with a yellow cover, in 1987-88. Two more issues followed in 88, two in 1989, and a last double issue, no. 9-10, with a colour printed cover and in LP format, in 1990. From the few dozen copies of the first issue, it quickly grew into the hundreds in the subsequent issues.
Among the pages of issue no. 1-2-3, we encounter, promoted in a little square, the name of Dissonanza Assoluta a Florentine magazine of literature, poetry, and more: Solving the mystery, this was another zine created by AMA Corporation.
A note from the authors: ‘The fanzine lasted as long as the group played DSD, so Spell Book is truly a genuine zine, made by players for players’.
