There are airships in Grapes of Wrath, and other reasons it's a Final Fantasy game
This is about my first Zine Quest entry for 2024
A mysterious man with a checkered past returns to his homeland after a period of exile to find it ravaged by evil, larger-than-life forces that are pillaging the country. In desperation, he joins up with like-minded individuals that form a party to travel across the continent seeking salvation. But when they reach their destination, they find that evil exists there too, and they must use all their strength and knowledge to defeat the abstract personification of the wicked forces plaguing their land.
Man, I love The Grapes of Wrath.
I’m gonna level with you, I thought this book was awesome since I first read it in my junior year of high school. But I also remember immediately likening it to a Final Fantasy game, so much so that I recall saying something about that connection in class. My mind may have concoted this next part, but I feel like it actually happened: my teacher, Mr. Raftery (who was incredible!), responded with a stern rejoinder along the lines of “you should spend more time with literature and less time with video games.” A real Mr. Feeny moment!
As great as Mr. Raftery was, he was wrong about that one (if he even said it!). Because connecting this classic novel to what was, even then, my favorite series of games helped me appreciate it so much more: the harrowing journey, the desperate circumstances, the idea that the whole world was against our characters but they were going to give their all to triumph. This is classic JRPG material. And that’s before you even dive into Steinbeck’s more philosophical tendencies, like his belief in an “oversoul” that connects all living creatures (Steinbeck would have really vibed with Aerith).
And lest you think I was joking with my post title, there also literally is an airship in this bad boy. From Chapter 8: “Grampa would a whacked ‘imself so hard he’d a throwed his hip out — like he done when he seen Al take a shot at that grea’ big airship the army got.” I damn near dropped the book when I read this line. It’s as if John Steinbeck was winking at me from the past. A freakin airship!!
If you’ve followed my TTRPG projects before, you know I have a certain “brand.” I like to make pop-culture mashups that are part game/part media criticism, whether it’s mining the connections between the earliest power metal and the earliest D&D modules or exploring the similarities of two iconic teen shows of the ‘90s, Power Rangers and Saved by the Bell. Those have been my Zine Quest projects for 2022 and 2023, and for 2024, if you couldn’t tell, I’m back at it again.
Dustland Saga: The Road of Wrath is my go at porting a Steinbeck-style narrative into a JRPG setting. I’m making this happen by way of Fabula Ultima, the “TTJRPG” that released in the United States last year to huge acclaim. I really dig FU (weird acronym!) in both spirit and mechanics; it truly feels like it delivers on the goal of being a tabletop version of a console game you can play with your friends, capturing the most fun parts of both experiences. As I dived further into Fabula, it felt like the perfect way to close a loop that began in Mr. Raftery’s class almost 25 years ago.
The way I’ve been thinking about it (and what I told my playtesters): Dustland Saga is like an inverse Final Fantasy VII. It’s a story of the desperate circumstances that would drive people to leave their homelands for Midgar (circumstances exacerbated by the capitalistic ghouls in Midgar themselves!), and what happens when they get to Midgar and see that, largely, it’s a holding pen for the exploited. But since Dustland Saga is a Steinbeck-inspired hero’s journey, our party’s going to fight back. Time to rage against the machine.
Dustland Saga: The Road of Wrath is on Kickstarter now, and will be raising funds for the next two weeks. If you’ve previously enjoyed my zines or my JRPG observations, I think you might get a kick out of this, and I’d surely appreciate you giving it a look. Full-color PDFs are $10, and printed books are $18 (this is the first time I’ve gone full-color!) Click that link, see what you think, and back if you’re able/interested. And thank you as always for reading my very niche stuff!
