Tales from the Magician's Skull No. 3

Tales From the Magician’s Skull is a fantasy magazine dedicated to presenting all-new sword-and-sorcery fiction by the finest modern crafters in the genre. These stories are the real thing, crammed with sword-swinging action, dark sorceries, dread, and ferocious monsters — and they hurtle forward at a headlong pace.

Issue #3 features fiction by William King, Joseph McCullough, John C. Hocking, James Enge, Violette Malan, Howard Andrew Jones, Sarah Newton, Terry Olson. The magazine is edited by Howard Andrew Jones and published by Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games, with layout by Lester B. Portly.

Each story is lovingly illustrated by industry stalwarts, and issue #3 continues the amazing high standards of art from the first issue.

Here are the stories in this issue:

The Face That Fits His Mask, By William King He could change in mid-spring, tear out the man’s throat, feast on his bones, drink his blood. The beast of the change gibbered in the back of his mind, begging to be unleashed. His fingers splayed, his nails began to lengthen….

By That Much, By Joseph A. McCullough “You claim not to know me, and that is probably best for you, but do me a last service. If you can, gather what remains of my body and give it a suitable place to rest.”

Tyrant’s Bane, By John C. Hocking Someone in the garb of a royal guardsman came out of the stairwell. His blue armor was covered with blood and there was a fist-sized hole in his cuirass through which Benhus could see the wall behind him. There was a sword in each hand and, as he advanced, the dead man lifted both weapons.

Five Deaths, By James Enge The heavy stone door moved easily upon its hinges; Morlock pulled it open and stepped through cautiously. Lernaion was about to follow when there was a sudden bodiless screaming and the door slammed shut.

The Forger’s Art, By Violette Malan His head wore a surprised look when it landed a few feet away. The body slumped to the ground, pumping out blood onto the grass. “Why do people always talk too much?” Parno wiped his sword clean on the dead stranger’s tunic.

The Second Death of Hanuvar, By Howard Andrew Jones Hanuvar twisted, parried a blow that would have caved in his skull, and lost his balance. He saw the pit yawning, and the flame more than twenty feet below.

The Wizard of Rememberance, By Sarah Newton The memnovore towered over him, its mouth distending into a translucent sleeve of slime. Acid burned Suven’s flesh, and he screamed. In the demon’s larval embrace, he prayed for oblivion.

Appendix: Game Statistics by Terry Olson In each issue, we present an appendix of game statistics for the various creatures, spells, and items described in each issue. All of these stats are for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game system.