Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Updated Cthulhu Bestiary available

The somewhat prolific author Leonaru first produced this free supplement a couple months ago, but now has released an updated version over at Lulu. Covers a lot of ground.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—December 25th, 2014

Not too surprisingly, it's a fairly slow week.

Adventures


FN11 - Amulet of Dorian Beldor - This week's Adventures in Filbar product is a mid to high level adventure: The Amulet of Dorian Beldor begins as a race to catch a fugitive from justice and quickly escalates into a much larger problem. With over 40 pages and 8 different maps this adventure has your party stumbling onto a former city covered by a rock slide now inhabited by a large group of humanoids.  $3, 42 pages.

Hexed Places - The Bogwood - This is a hex crawl adventure set in a boggy woods. Hopefully no bigfeet.  $2.69

The Trail of Stone and Sorrow - Very short adventure (basically one encounter) from Zzarchov Kowolski, Presumably best used with LotFP as it seems set on a fantasy Earth. Pay What You want, 8 pages.

Thistle Games goes Pay What You Want for Christmas

Most notably, Dragon's Rage is an adventure that is largely statless, but has standard D&D features, and Renegade (and Renegade Corruption) which are OSR style fantasy games (not really retroclones, but more neo-clones)

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

1E Module Line on Kickstarter

I don't know how I missed this (thanks to Eric Andres for mentioning it to me), but over on Kickstarter is a new project to bring out a series of 1e folio adventures. While the art is clearly quite different (though some interior art is apparently by Jim Holloway), it will have the detached cover with the map inside like the old modules (and not something you can do at POD printers)

My Project: The Folio is a 1st Edition gaming module. It will be produced as an 8x11”, removable cover [11x17" once removed], adventure with mostly b/w interior artwork.  The final size is 30 pages of content.
Who’s it for? ALL gamers, both new gamers and old gamers as it is easily expandable or playable as is.The concept is to allow gamers a starting point for adventure that can be modified to their liking while providing excellent reference content and framework.The base mechanic will be for 1st Edition, but I’ve designed it to be readily modified to any fantasy game.
What’s in it? All original content. It has been written by myself and my OSR compatriot Mark Timm, with incredible cover art from old school masters and interior artwork by skilled black and white illustrators Travis Hanson and Michael Wilson, and even a bit of Jim Holloway because I can never get enough Holloway. We are intent on providing a polished and modern design with creatively nostalgic content that transcends a particular age. The Folio will contain a 3-D map, a Gazetteer, a monster section, a new monster unique to the setting, DM’s notes and guides, and a full adventure. 

Also very reasonably priced, $5 for a PDF, $15 for a print copy. So check it out.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—December 18th, 2014

Hmmm, a fairly busy week.

Adventures


FQ1 - Ruins of Heliopolis - This weeks Adventures in Filbar product, the first in the Filbar Quest line of adventures, meant for starting characters. 21 pages, $3

Starter Adventures - Starter Adventures is targeted toward introduing a new player into RPGs.  Inside are four short adventures for each of the four main classes, a tavern to hangout in, and a full-fledged adventure when they've got enough blood encrusted on their blades. . 51 pages, $7.99

Unicorn Now - Free adventure from the Gagmen.

Rules


Ars Goetia - Faust's Footsteps - Goetic Magick for Old School Gaming - Whew, the book is almost as long as the title, 110 pages for $5.95 As the title says, it's based on real life magic, specifically the Lesser Key of Solomon, so probably best suited (as it suggests) for LotFP.

Misc


Five Henchmen -   Five Henchmen Has writeups for Bill and Glave, the Guisarme Brothers, as well as their friends Becky Corbin, 'Little' Bill Hook. amd Hal Bard. Each one comes with their own stats, equipment, personality, motivations, and backstory. It also holds the story of how they ended up as mercenaries and part-time adventurers. Pay What You Want, 9 pages, several puns.

Mead & Mayhem -  This is a tavern and bar fighting supplement. 6 pages, Pay What You Want (suggested price $3)

OSR Oddness Bundle - Three products: Little Devils, an adventure; Fetishistic Arcana, a magic sourcebook; and Mutations Mutable which I don't know what is, exactly. $2.75, a $1 cheaper than buying all of them separately.

Darts and D&D

Darts have always been somewhat strange in D&D, they can be overpowered due to their high rate of fire, especially if weapon specialization is used. But at the same time, you think, "Darts? What can darts do?"

And yet, the movie I'm watching now on the El Rey Network, Temple of the Red Lotus, features expert dart throwers leaving a bloody trail using just darts.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Neat Dragon's Lair Video


This is not OSR news, but I stumbled across a video for the space synth song Dragon's Legend that featured video from the game Dragon's Lair (which the song samples, actually).

Back in the day, I had never made it very far in the game (it was all about memorization) so it was neat seeing the whole (or most of it) quest. Presumably the whole game is someplace on youtube, but I am a fan of the song and the guy did a good job syncing it.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Original Edition Delta: Book of Spells 2nd Edition now available on Lulu

 That's weird, after months of nothing OSR related on Lulu, on back to back days there are new items. Today, it's Original Edition Delta: Book of Spells: 2nd Edition, available in both print and pdf for $8 and $6 respectively.

A concise, comprehensive collection of magic spells for use with the "original edition" fantasy game rules (as published by Gygax & Arneson, 1974-1975). A handy supplement for both DMs and players of wizard characters. Now revised & edited with extra care for the 2nd Edition! All of the spells have been refined and polished to let their essential facets shine brightly -- bringing them in even closer alignment with the original game. It's easier than ever for DMs and players to use and remember any wizard spell at the table without slowing down the game.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

The Book of Elder Magic now at Lulu

The cover is kind of NSFW-ish, but The Book of Elder Magic is now available in print over at Lulu.

The Book of Elder Magic is a handy reference designed for use at the gaming table by players and Gamemasters alike, playing Classic, Original, and Retroclone rulesets of the worlds most popular RPG, including our own Champions of ZED. It contains over 42 pages of spells for Clerics and Magic-users including all those found in the Original 1974 Edition, and many more spells inspired by Dave Arneson and the original Twin Cities ganers and also spells adapted from Arneson's Open Game sources.

Not sure if there is a PDF version someplace, but the print version is 72 pages and costs $11.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

New OSR Titles at RPGNow—December 11th, 2014

Some pretty neat stuff this week.

Adventures

 

Barrowmaze Complete -  This is a megadungeon from Greg Gillespie. It's appeared before in two parts along with illustration and map books, but this gathers it together into one product. $40 for the PDF, $75 for the hardback, and 260 pages. I can't honestly say that's a bad deal for what you get, but it just illustrates how good a deal Dwimmermount is (which is 400 pages and $10 for the PDF, $40 for the hardback)

Food Fight - A new adventure from the Gagmen

Revelry in Torth - The third adventure from Venger Satanis, whose work is probably the closest you can get to Heavy Metal (the magazine) in terms of modules. Little pricey though at $10 for 39 pages.  Aimed at low level characters.

The Unholy Land - Hex crawl set in the Holy Land. A lot more dinosaurs there than I thought. PWYW, suggested price $2.99, 20 something pages.

Rules


By This Poleaxe - I missed this, it's a free set of rules to run skirmish level mass combat in Labyrinth Lord and similar systems.

Collectanea Creaturae: Psyche Lasher - WOTC didn't make the Mind Flayer open content and there have been countless attempts to replace them with someone similar.

Misc


FT - The Barony of Civille - Last week didn't have an Adventures in Filbar product. But they are back with a free sourcebook about a port city which may or may not be full of barbers.

The Hill Cantons Cosmology - Apparently a description of the hairstyles and makeup trends in the Hill Cantons setting. Or maybe not.  $2, 8 pages.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Time of the Dying Stars now available—PWYW OSR Fiction

From Pete Spahn of Small Niche Games comes Time of the Dying Stars, the first book of fiction set in the world (well, city) of Dolmvay, which is a setting for Labyrinth Lord

Monday, December 8, 2014

New PWYW Hex Crawl—Unholy Land

This is pretty neat:
Judea, the year 2 BCE. Sometime soon, a baby will be born that will change the course of human history. This even is heralded by the arrival of a star, an omen shining down. The expenditure of divine power has thinned the barriers between worlds and times. Monsters, demons, undead, and antediluvian creatures all stalk the deserts and hills of Judea. Kings, demons, and cults have read the signs and know the star means their doom. They will do anything to kill the prophesied child and maintain their power.
Unholy Land is an old-school hex-crawl campaign for mid-level characters taking place in Judea around the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. What better way to celebrate the holidays?
Suggested price $2.99 and has 26 pages. 

Hero Forge is live

While I don't use miniatures any more, back when I was a kid playing D&D, we did, at least for marching order.

Back then, we'd pick a miniature and then base a character around it. I remember one character that drove my DM crazy, I thought it looked like he had a toad on his helmet. So I kept pushing for him to have a toad familiar. And my DM (rightfully in retrospect) said it was just a horse ornament (I guess maybe it was a Rohan inspired figure).

Anyway, Hero Forge allows you to make your own custom figure. Pretty neat. (They seem to be overloaded right now, takes a while to load)

Friday, December 5, 2014

Gutenberg—The Catacombs of Rome


There aren't a lot of real world dungeons due to a lack of monsters, evil wizards, and dwarves (at least the type that mine). But there are a few, including the Catacombs of Rome.

The book has a number of neat illustrations useful for OSR type publications.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—December 4th, 2014

Most notably, a couple of new LotFP products this week


Adventures


A Red & Pleasant Land - Perhaps more of a setting than adventure, for LotFP.  Seems to be very much Alice in Wonderland-ish, not literally (like Dungeonland), but very much inspired by it. 197 pages, $14.99

Hexed Places - Fen Fields - Hex crawl type deal, $2.69

The Idea from Space - Low level LotFP adventure. 34 pages, $5

The Pony of Your Dreams - Mine would be a '70 Mustang w/ a 428 engine, but in this case it's a free adventure from the Gagmen. 21 pages

Rules


Blood & Treasure Monster Tome - Whole bunch of new critters for Blood & Treasure, but usable in most OSR games. It's been available at Lulu for quite some time now. 172 pages, $6.99

Fetishistic Arcana - This is about magic using minor magic items, fetishes. 25 pages, $2

Misc


Old School Character Sheet - From 3 Toadstools

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Red & Pleasant Land now available in print for LotFP

So apparently a bunch of their modules are now (or back) in print and available for sale from their store. 

I am not really a fan of their stuff, but most of them at least have well done illustrations. Definitely avoid the Seclusium of Orphone something something.

HS1 The Lost Shrine of Sirona Released

This is sort of cheating as a news item, since I made it, but I just released the first (of hopefully) a number of modules, HS1 The Lost Shrine of Sirona. It's meant for first edition and for 5-7th level characters, though I ran it for a 5th/6th level party and they found it kinda easy, but they also had 9 characters total, which complicates things.  

It's a very short, fairly simple dungeon crawl, 9 rooms and 2 pages. I've been working on a much longer (80 room) dungeon, but I wanted to release something short and simple as a test.

Edit:

Slightly updated version —  Fixed a couple typos, added AL to critters I forgot to, and added a monster xp summary in the Notes. Which as it varies from rules system to rules system, might be off, but it's more or less the 1e xp values (I also round)

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Zero Edition Ninja released

Based on the original Ninja from Dragon Magazine comes the free Zero Edition Ninja from Leonaru.

New Bard's Tale in the works?

I was a backer of Wasteland 2 (and I also wrote that character program included in Wasteland 1) and was a big CRPG fan in the '80s. One of my favorites was The Bard's Tale. Well, In-Xile is hinting at a new version

Along with continued tuning of Wasteland 2, myself and a few others at the studio are beginning to work on another RPG that has been passionately demanded of us for a while now! It’s still quite early in the process, but we will have more news on that in the New Year.

At least that's the obvious thing, though I guess it could be Neuromancer or Stonekeep.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Author looking for playtesters for high level module

Over on Dragonsfoot, an author of a forthcoming (from Pacesetter apparently) high level module is looking for playtesters

This adventure should challenge even experienced groups. Parties who charge in with guns blazing will most likely die in their attempt. Figuring out what you are up against and then figuring out how to deal with the problem are both difficult.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Second and Zero Edition Samurai released


 Although never an "official" class until OA, it was a very popular unofficial class, so much so there was one in the Wizardry game (which basically used the D&D rules) and some early D&D fiction.

Leonaru has released a 2e version and a 0e version, both free from Lulu.

Edit: And here is a 1e version.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Black Friday sales

Not a lot of stuff that is directly OSR (in my view, mimicking the TSR era D&D games), but a lot of pseudo-OSR stuff, such as 30% off of Dungeon Crawl Classics PDFs and pretty big discounts on Castles & Crusades PDFs.

If you have any interest in self-publishing, Raging Swan is having a 40% off sale. They produce a lot of  reasonably priced and very neat town maps that have a nice hand drawn look (since I guess they are hand drawn). I picked up a couple this summer for a module I'm working on (almost done).

And again, for self-publishing, Purple Duck has 40% off their stock art (which is already really cheap at $3 each when not on sale) and so does Rogue Genius (even cheaper at $1.99 when not on sale, and only $1.11 now).

Purple Duck also has a small line of Labyrinth Lord adventures on sale.

North Wind is selling the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea boxed set for $40, vs the usual $50.

Noble Knight is having a small sale. They are an out of print reseller. I remember him from the days when he just sold on Usenet.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—November 27th, 2014

A few new products and several old ones from elsewhere added.


Adventures


FP9 - The Onyx Spire - This week's Adventures in Filbar module. 16 pages, $3, and for mid level characters.

Hexed Places - The Gray Ribs - This is some sort of hex crawl type deal. $2.69

Slumber Ursine Dunes PDF - This is a hex crawl with two dungeons and some new classes for Labyrinth Lord. $9 for 66 pages.
 
The Demon's Gambit - Another mini-adventure from Creation's Edge for Swords & Wizardry. This time for character 8-10th level invading a demon's lair. 13 pages, $1.50

Rules


Basic Fantasy RPG 3rd Edition - Not sure why you'd download it from here as opposed to the website for it, but you can. Small additions but basically the same as past editions of the game.

Basic Fantasy RPG Field Guide - Basically a monster manual for above. 

Old School Monster Classes - 14 monster PC classes for Labyrinth Lord including Giant, Naga, Medusa, and Vampire. 43 pages and $4.99

The Basic Illusionist - This is not new, but new to RPGNow. Free

Misc


Secrets #1: Omens & Artifacts - Again, not new, but new to RPGNow. This is a fanzine. 24 pages, $1.99

Secrets #2: Strange Races - Second issues of the above fanzine, this one has 25 new races. 28 pages, $1.99

Small Niche Games having a print sale


Prolific (and fairly high quality) OSR publisher Small Niche Games is having a sale on its print products over at RPGNow, $4.95 gets you the PDF and softcover of most of their adventures. Good for Thursday and Friday.

Monday, November 24, 2014

AFS #6 Released



The 6th issues of AFS, a fanzine dedicated to sword & sorcery OSR gaming has been released. Costs $10 for a copy (print only)

Friday, November 21, 2014

Big Lulu sale!

No, not the waitress at the truck stop, but the print on demand store where many OSR products are sold.

HC50 gives you 50% off hardcovers, and FLASH30 gives you 30% off softcovers.

50% is about as good as it gets, actually. Usually they have a 40% off sale in December. But if you want a hard cover, now is the time.

Ends midnight on the 24th of November.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—November 20th, 2014

Back to being busy this week with a bunch of adventures.

Adventures


Bitterbark's Circus - From Joseph Bloch/BRW Games comes this adventure meant for his Adventures Dark & Deep game (which is basically just 1e with some minor house rules). 8-9th level, 30 pages, $4.95

FV1 - Jeopardy Caverns - This week's Adventures in Filbar module is meant for beginners. 29 pages, $3

The Halls of Hollow Hill - This was apparently originally for a different game, but converted to Labyrinth Lord, 2nd to 4th level. 12 pages, $2.

The Lizardmen of Illzathatch -  3rd level adventure from Shane Ward/3 Toadstools. The PCs must investigate what happened to a party of dragon slayers. Now with pregenerated characters. 12 pages, Pay What You Want.

Trial of the Guild - Another Swords & Wizardry mini-adventure from Creation's Edge, this time for levels 7-9. For some reason, the PCs want to join an adventurer's guild...if they can past the entrance test. 13 pages, $1.50

Whisper & Venom - This is a large adventure setting from Lesser Gnome. It's been available in print, this is the PDF. $12.95 and pretty big


Misc


Adventures Dark & Deep Player's Screen - 8 pages, $1.50. (BTW, Does anyone play this? I'm curious. It just seems so close to 1e, that you might as well play 1e)

Krull Wilderness Map - Annotated - Mentioned this before, this is someone's old campagin map with notes. 1 page, $2.

Silent Legions — Lovecraftian OSR Game from Kevin Crawford on Kickstarter

Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine games has another Kickstarter, this time for Silent Legions, a Lovecraftian OSR game.

Silent Legions is a modern-day Lovecraftian role-playing game, one built to support a sandbox style of gaming and the creation of your own diabolical Mythos. While compatible with the Stars Without Number game system and many other classic old-school games, Silent Legions is built to stand alone and provide you with everything you need to develop a grim world of unspeakable occult secrets and mad, sorcerous scheming.

Silent Legions is 160+ pages of specially-designed material to help a game master create their own cosmic evils and mysterious alien powers. Rather than simply recycle the traditional Cthulhu Mythos baddies, Silent Legions gives you the tools and techniques to make your own, the better to shock and dismay your players with fresh horrors that haven't already been wrung dry by familiarity. The creatures and cults the game helps you build are also fully compatible with most classic OSR games, allowing you to export them to other settings or mix and match with material you've drawn in from your other games.
It's already met its goal of $3,500.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

New Advanced Adventures module announced!

While a lot of new OSR modules are still coming out, most of them seem to be from newer people as older producers have run out of steam. So it's nice to see a new Advanced Adventures module get announced, both to see the line continue, and another 1e adventure (as most these days seem to be for S&W or LL).

Due out February 2015, hopefully.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures updated!



One of my favorite OSR games, Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures, has just gotten a free update! So if you own it, go download it. And if you don't own it, it's on sale for only $4 right now.

Monday, November 17, 2014

The Lizardmen of Illzathatch just released—New PWYW Adventure from 3 Toadstools

The Lizardmen of Illzathatch is a new adventure from Shane Ward of the 3 Toadstools blog

The green dragon Illzathatch has been dispatched by local heroes “The Shields of Atreu”, thus ending his reign of terror across the  countryside.  Only one problem remains, the adventuring party left to raid the lair of the dragon, they have not been seen since.

A OSR Module for 4 - 6 Characters Levels 3
Check it out! I've liked his past work.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Krull Wilderness Map released


No, not that Krull, but apparently someone's old D&D game world that predates the movie. I'm not sure it's worth $2, but pretty neat.

Perhaps more interesting is also a note that they will publish a mega-dungeon set in the world

Thursday, November 13, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—November 13th, 2014

Lots of bundles this week.

Adventures


FC4 - Valtarius's Retreat - This weeks Adventures in Filbar product is an adventure featuring a dracolich not surprisingly aimed at higher level characters. 19 pages, $3

Lesserton & Mor - I don't know if this is a new product or just new to RPGNow, but at any rate, it's a large sandbox adventure settting from Faster Monkey Games (ook) describing a town and a large ruins complex. $16 and 116 pages

Majestic Wilderlands Print Bundle - This is print and PDF versions of Rob Conley's Majestic Wilderlands setting as well as the adventure, Scourge of the Demon Wolf. $19.99 for print copies, which is pretty impressive given PDFs often cost as much.

Rules


Yarr! Compete + Printed Book Bundle Yarr! is apparently a pirate themed OSR game. This seems to be a bundle of a printed book of the rules and PDFs of several supplements. $9.75

Misc


Baby Bestiary Coloring Book Volume 1 - As this is statless, this is perhaps for any version of D&D, but basically it's a coloring book of D&D monsters. It's not meant for babies, it stars baby version of those monsters. 30 pages, $4.99 for PDF.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

New OSR Bundle of Holding

While certainly not as good a deal as the humble bundle stuff, the Bundle of Holding has decent deals. Right now it's OSR themed: Labyrinth Lord (basic and advanced, the versions with art), Dyson's Delves, and People of the Pit (an adventure) for $7.95, and then for $18.95, you also get Scarlet Heroes (solo OSR gaming rules by Kevin Crawford), Death Frost Doom (meh, standard Screw You LoFP adventure), Lesserton and Mor (sandbox setting?), and a trilogy of adventures I've never heard of.


Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Mischief Inc looking for playtesters for new module

Their next release is 4A A Forgotten Evil and apparently they are looking for playtesters for it.

Mischief, Inc. is looking for a few groups of playtesters for our upcoming adventure module 4A A Forgotten Evil. We are looking for groups willing to use Old School Rules, or a modern clone to test the adventure.

Player characters will be provided, as well as other playtest materials including journals designed to make feedback easier.

Non-disclosure agreements are required for Game Masters and all players, and participants will have their name listed in the Credits of the adventure.

Interested parties should contact Mischief, Inc. at info@mischiefinc.net with the Subject "A Forgotten Evil Playtest."

Please state the ruleset you would like to use, and the number of players in your group in the initial email.

**Mischief, Inc. Forum membership is a requirement for playtesting as communication with playtesters will be done through the forums**

Monday, November 10, 2014

Petty Gods Lives!

There was going to be an expanded version of this book (which details minor gods in an homage to a similar Judges Guild product, Lost Gods), but like a lot of ambitious projects, they just never happen.

Well, apparently it's back on thanks to Richard LeBlanc of Save Vs. Dragon/d30 Companion fame.

There was an open call for submissions. I entered Teptrigor, Goddess of Prudery.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Thursday, November 6, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—November 6th, 2014

Really slow week


Adventures

 

FT - Bixatel -  This week's Adventures in Filbar product. This is a free 16 page adventure setting.

Rules

 

Buccaneers and Bilge Rats - This is a Swords & Wizardry supplement about pirates. Seems pretty packed with two new classes, an adventure, and rules for firearms. 34 pages, $2.99

Misc

 

Basic Graft - This is some sort of supplement for Labyrinth Lord, I think a character class where the character grafts magical parts onto his body. Pay What You Want, 4 pages.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Tomb of Rakoss the Undying Review

The Tomb of Rakoss the Undying is the premiere product from Mischief Inc (they've since followed it up The Inheritance), a short dungeon (well, tomb) adventure meant for old school D&D and its modern clones (aka OSR). It was free, then became a pay what you want product. I don't generally review free or PWYW products, since you can just download them yourself and see. That is, unless I happen to run them, which I did just recently.

Quite a lot of space (2 pages) is devoted to the background of the tomb and setting up the adventure. It basically boils down to "an evil warlord-wizard dude builds a tomb and this old guy hires you to explore it". While part of me appreciates the detail and effort they spent, in reality, people will probably be dropping it into their own gameworlds, so it's probably better to be vague and brief.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

The Cyclopedia of Ark art Kickstarter

This is a strange Kickstarter. Earlier this year there was a free OSR product called the Player's Primer of Ark from Ravenlore Press, which was a fairly long-ish introduction to an AD&D setting, The World of Ark (which sadly is not a spaceship).

Apparently the next product in the line is The Cyclopedia of Ark, but apparently rather than kickstart that, the artist is simply kickstarting the art himself.


Friday, October 31, 2014

D101 Games having 50% off Halloween Sale (Crypts & Things)

Crypts & Things is in my top five for retro clones (or neo-clones if you prefer). It's now on sale for 50% off ($6), as are two modules for it, Tomb of the Necromancers and Blood of the Dragon, $2.50 each. I don't have either of the adventures, but I'd be tempted to buy them (alas, I have $2.01 in my paypal account, not quite enough).

edit: Now over.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—October 30th, 2014

Definitely a slow week.


Adventures


FP8 - Insignia of Bromide the Wicked - Mid level adventure in the Adventures in Filbar line. 22 pages, $3.


The Lair of Largash the Lurid - Low level adventure about a cave complex inhabited by an ogre and his "kingdom". Pay What You Want

Misc


Weapons with Weird Tricks - "twenty unique weapons designed with OSR gaming in mind". 1 page, 99 cents.

Advanced Adventures #26 Review—The Witch Mounds by Keith Sloan

 The Witch Mounds by Keith Sloan is the 26th entry in the Advanced Adventures line from Expeditious Retreat Press. Like the others in the line, it's for OSRIC, the 1st edition AD&D retro-clone, and in this case is for six to ten characters of levels three to six. There is literally no plot, it's a pure site based adventure. The Witch Mounds are the burial grounds of a Viking like culture, basically a mini-Valhalla for evil warriors who couldn't make the real one. Presumably, the PCs want to loot it.

Most recent Advanced Adventures tend to be short in terms of page count, and this is no different, at 12 pages. Sometimes that means a very small module if the author has a verbose style or there is a lot of background material. In this case, none of that is true, so you get a fairly large 2 level dungeon with just over 50 keyed entries, as well as three new monsters and a few magic items. As well as a small barrow mound complex of about 10 barrows.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

More Beyond the Wall news

Beyond the Wall being one of my favorite OSR games, I've been following the news closely over at TBP. Besides the new volume being revised slightly

-a new Scenario Pack - The Angered Fae. Someone in the village has unwittingly upset the fae, who are now causing havoc with your friends and neighbors. The heroes will have to traverse the realm of the faeries in order to settle the matter.
-a much extended Bestiary (almost 50 new monsters). We really tried to focus in on monsters that would "feel" particularly Beyond the Wall. We have also included lots of story hooks in the Bestiary to help GMs come up with quick adventure ideas that, again, "feel" like BtW.
-some new spells (13 to be precise).
-some extra rules material and advice on skills, perception and searching, and group activities and the helping rules.
-our version of a simple reaction table and using your Charisma to impress NPCs.
-some more on hirelings, including tables with prices and some suggestions about hirelings becoming Allies.
-a small, but super cool new rule regarding true names; there is a reason now to share your true name with your closest friends.

Some of those changes might not please all OSR fans (Charisma, things like perception), but on the balance it sounds good to me.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Second Edition Alchemist Released—Free Character Class

From Leonaru who brought us various first edition classes, comes the 2nd Edition Alchemist, which was from the Tome of Magic apparently.

Editor of For Gold & Glory looking for help

Not with the game (which is the 2e retro-clone), but it seems he's had a case of bad financial luck. Unfortunately, that's one of the realities of living from paycheck to paycheck that I know firsthand, when something unexpected crops up, it's a huge problem.

Monday, October 27, 2014

The Lair of Largash the Lurid—New PWYW Adventure



And from Canister & Grape (I love some of these "company" names) comes The Lair of Largash the Lurid by Michael Mills.

Largash the Lurid, scourge of the common folk and self-appointed king beneath the rocky hills, lurks deep within his lair. Who dares enter his realm to unthrone this most evil of monarchs? Can your brave party of adventurers defeat Largash the Lurid and his evil minions once and for all? This module is a complete adventure including maps, descriptive text, background information and encounter notes...
For levels 1-3

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Free 2e Ravenloft Adventure from RPGNow


RPGNow is giving away the Ravenloft adventure, RQ1 Night of the Walking Dead from now until Halloween. Okay, technically not OSR, and in some minds, not even old school, but I generally consider TSR era stuff "old school", including 2e and even Buck Rodgers.

edit: Beyond that, they have a Halloween sale, 33% off

OSR stuff includes some things from BRW Games, Dyson's Delves, various Crawl magazines, Grimtooth's Traps, Life of Rage (B/X rules for Orcs and such), Magical Theorums & Dark Pacts (I dunno, but says OSR), and probably more but I can't be bothered to scroll through 9+ pages...

Friday, October 24, 2014

Cover art for upcoming revised edition of Beyond the Wall

Looks like it could be the cover to a Lloyd Alexander book. Which fits it perfectly. No idea when the new version of Beyond the Wall will be out, but apparently it will be a free upgrade for people who have purchased the game, so feel free to buy it now, it's really excellent.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—October 23rd, 2014

Hmmm, not a busy week in terms of quantity, but the quality seems fairly high.

Adventures


FD3 - Crisis at Marstan - This week's Adventures in Filbar product.  This is for a pair of low level characters. 19 pages, $3.

FM-2 The Temple of Asibaire -  Lowish level horror themed adventure from QuasarDragon Games. 18 pages, Pay What You Want (suggested price $1.95)

Proteus Sinking - An adventure featuring a crashed spaceship full of Smurf like aliens. Pay What You Want (suggested price $2.95, 11 pages)


Rules


Player's Companion for Swords & Wizardry -  From Barrel Rider Games comes this supplement adds new classes (the Anti-Paladin and the Bard), new races (gnome, half-orc, and dark elf), expands the ability scores, adds two new ability scores (luck & appearance) and for the GM, 35 new magic items. 35 pages, $2.99

(Or you could play 1e with UA)


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

The Temple of Asibare—New Pay What You Want module from QuasarDragon Games

The Temple of Asibare is the new module from QuasarDragon Games. I guess he changed his mind on the name of it after he produced the cover.
Lying undisturbed for ages, this accursed tomb is discovered by the characters and a great evil is encountered. Will they survive this brush with darkness or will they become its latest victims. An OSR compatible module for any old school RPG or modern clone, The Temple/Tomb of Asibare is designed for character levels 2-4 or an especially harrowing first level.
This stand alone module combines elements of fantasy and horror for an unforgettable adventure of exploration and a desperate race for survival. Although not specifically designed for Halloween, it contains enough horror elements (new and old undead, a slumbering evil, a black cat, and even a dangerous maze) to make it quite applicable.
Pay what you want (suggested price $1.95), 18 pages

Warriors of the Red Planet adventure in the works

Warriors of the Red Planet is an OSR game set on the Mars of Edgar Rice Burroughs which came out recently, and now there is an adventure for it in the works. More details soon, hopefully.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Proteus Sinking—Pay What You Want Psychedelic Fantasy adventure


Psychedelic Fantasy being the line of adventures published by the author of Carcosa, Geoffrey McKinney. To me, psychedelic can mean something like that movie by The Monkees to Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, to two old hippies trying to sell records in the parking lot of a grocery store from out of their VW minibus.

I'm not sure which this one, Proteus Sinking from Bjorn Warmedal falls under, but you can see for yourself. Going by the author's name, it probably involves either Vikings or smurf-like creatures. We'll see.

Update: Sometimes you make a silly guess and it turns out to be true.

The Globonauts are bipedal slime creatures of a fluorescent blue colour. They travel through space and dimensions to find beauty and happiness,

Lesser Gnome launches Kickstarter for new Labyrinth Lord module

Too rich for my blood, but their previous boxed set was well received. Seems like a manor crawl. Those are actually some of my favorites. And it's well on its way to being funded, despite just starting.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

New 1e character sheet

There are lots of character sheets on the internet, and here is one more from someone on reddit.

Very clean looking

The Caverns of Ugard Review


 The Caverns of Ugard is a short adventure from Shane Ward of The 3 Toadstools blog, meant for 2nd to 4th level characters. If I remember correctly, it was a free download from his blog, then later went up at RPGNow as a Pay What You Want product. It's essentially a one page dungeon, 12 rooms total. It's a lair of a minotaur (the titular Ugard) and his goblin minions.

Originally it was for OSR with generic stats for monster (Hit dice, damage, armor class), but the most recent version is system neutral and statless. So I used the original version. I ran this because I needed a quick little adventure to get the party members up one more level, they were about 400 xp short of 5th level.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Hawk the Slayer gets the Rifftrax treatment

Hawk the Slayer is really one of the better movies that tried to cash in on the D&D fad.  Which is to say, it's not that good, but has some cool parts, especially if you were a kid when it came out.

Anyway, Rifftrax, which is basically the three people from Mystery Science Theater 3000 when it went off the air, is more or less a continuation of that show, sans skits and robots. They did The Sword and the Sorcerer about a month or so ago and was really funny.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—October 16th, 2014

Not terribly busy this week, but I've seen worse.

Adventures

 
A World Gone Mad - A new module from the Gagmen, so presumably uses Basic Fantasy RPG, Set in an asylum. 32 pages, pay what you want.

Broken God's Pain: A Low Level OSR adventure - Hmmm, sounds promising: Broken God's Pain, a low level OSR adventure brings challenge to your players.  No Orcs or goblins will they face.  Will they let the cult of the new god defeat them?  The old god thinks not!

But what about giant rats? Regardless, it's a big module, 64 pages and $4.50

FC5 - Leptis Magna - This week's Adventures in Filbar product. From the title, seems to be about a giant rabbit, but I don't know Latin. Apparently used in a game at Gen Con this year. For mid to high level characters, 37 pages and $3.

The Warlord's Vault - From Creation's Edge games for Swords & Wizardry, part of their mini-module line. Levels 6-8. 12 pages, $1.50

Misc


Wizardzine #1 - New magazine from the talented Gavin Norman. 50 pages, $2.50, seems to be devoted to new magic.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Taken From Dunwich Review—Not Your Grandfather's Dunwich



One of the more annoying (to my mind) things about Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is they use a lot of names from H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Taken from Dunwich, an adventure for that system (very AD&D-ish, so usable in most OSR games), is a case in point, using the name from Lovecraft story The Dunwich Horror. Just going by the shared name, you probably infer a decayed town of inbred yokels, and possibly something involving the unholy spawn of a human and a horror from beyond.

Nope, instead it's a science fiction adventure more than anything else. The people of Dunwich (a stolid Celtic village, or Keltic as AS&SH likes to call them, even though -wich is an Anglo-Saxon name) are being assaulted by beastmen (voormis from Clark Ashton Smith, renamed "vhuurmis") who carry off the townsfolk. The PCs must help the town, trail the voormis and bring back any survivors.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Monday, October 13, 2014

Revamped edition of Beyond the Wall in the works

Beyond the Wall and Other Stories is near the top of my favorite OSR games.  However, as in a lot of cases, there hasn't been much in the way of further products in the line. Well, here's some news from the RPG.net forums from the author

We have been slow lately for two reasons:

1) We have been working on a very, very large new product for Beyond the Wall. This has, obviously, necessitated more time than our earlier, free addons.
2) I am a teacher, and the beginning of the school year is very hectic for me.

The good news is that my day job has slowed down finally, and I have been ridiculously productive this week. I was going to make a facebook announcement later this week, but since you're asking, I think it is fine to break some news here.

You should expect two things to happen before the end of the year. The first is a revamped core. You will be looking at loads of new material, like a bestiary almost doubled in size with story hooks for the monsters, additional spells, a new scenario pack, and loads of new art. This is not a new edition; everything is 100% compatible with the original version. This is just extra material and typo corrections throughout. If you already own the game, your pdfs will be updated for free.

The second, and probably more exciting, is our first large supplement. I regret to say that this will require purchase, but it will be full book length. The supplement will deal with creating campaigns using Beyond the Wall's unique methods, creating magic items, new character options, etc.

After this is all out, you should expect some more freebies at a (hopefully) more frequent pace.

Inkwell Ideas having a 25% off sale

Because our main products center around maps, what better holiday to have a sale than Columbus Day?!

So now through the 15th, get 25% off any of our products using the discount code "Columbus25". (Look to enter the code on one of the later checkout pages.)
Some examples of products on sale:

 Not completely OSR, but their mapping programs are pretty slick.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Blueholme Prentice Rules updated


I started with AD&D in a game run by a friend's older brother who was in college, but another friend of mine had Holmes and DMed it, so I've played it a bunch as well.

We tried to extend the rules past level 3 with hilarious results. Since it took 1500 xps to go from 1st to 2nd, and then another 1500 to go from 2nd to 3rd, we thought that should hold up all the way from there, 1500 (or so, depending on the class) for each new level. So we quickly had 50th level characters. Eh, we were 7-8.

Anyway, a new version of the excellent Holmes retroclone, Blueholme, is now available. There were supposed to be complete rules (up to level 20), but writing a full blown retroclone to that is harder than you'd think.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Print version of The Caves of Moreau County available at Lulu



The pdf version is Pay What You Want over at RPGNow/DTRPG, but the print version is now up at Lulu for $10.

It's a pretty neat modular adventure for Labyrinth Lord

Thursday, October 9, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—October 9th, 2014

Busier than I thought this week. A lot of releases were kind of low key.

Adventures


Dwimmermount ACKS version - I don't really like ACKS, but if you do, this is for you. $10, 400+ pages

FT- Village of Tomore -  This weeks Adventures in Filbar product, this describes a home base of sorts. Free.

Sidetreks 02: The Village, vol I -  5 village locations to drop into your game, along with some random tables. 17 pages, $4.

The Dire Plight of Ugmore Schrite - Besides his name, I guess. This is a very short, 2 page module costing a curious $1.60, and no information about the system, recommended levels, or even a description.

The Hivey Coast - a mini module from Creation's Edge for Swords & Wizardry for levels 5-7. 11 pages, $1.50

Rules


Far Realms - More Spells I - Last week had a fairly expensive supplement called Far Realms, this is apparently a supplement for that. 15 pages of spells for 99 cents.

Misc


Bethorm: the Plane of Tekumel - This isn't OSR, strictly speaking, but of interesting, since Tekumel was originally an OD&D setting and it's illustrated by early TSR artist Jeff Dee.  $19.95 and 262 pages.

Dwimmermount Dungeon Tracker - I had no idea what this was, really, but since I got it from the Kickstarter I downloaded it.  Basically it's a bigger map of Dwimmermount, annotated instead of just keyed, with little descriptions of what is in each room and where certain objects are in each room. Pretty slick, actually, and then on the back of the page is sort of a highlights page, key things to do on that level. Probably not worth the $10 it costs, but pretty handy.


Sunday, October 5, 2014

Dragonwars of Trayth Kickstarter


This is one I missed, perhaps because it's for both Pathfinder and OSRIC. It's kind of weird, the plan is for 25 modules, but this Kickstarter seems to be just for six of them.

They want $8,000, have about 1/4, but only 15 people pledging, with $1000 of that in one pledge that involves Ernie Gygax DMing for the pledger..

The Randomzer hits open beta


 Not directly OSR related, but random tables can be very useful. There are a number of programs that do them, here's one more, The Randomizer. Freeware, still a bit buggy, and Windows Vista or later only, but could be useful, since you can add your own entries.

(I find the old NameMage and InnMage very useful. I think they stopped support for Windows, but still can be found on old shareware sites)


Thursday, October 2, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—October 2nd, 2014

This week is fairly busy, though I covered a lot of these already.

Adventures


End of Line - A free adventure from the Gagmen, apparently a parody of Tron

Inferno: Journey through Maleboge - Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, or a bundle. The first two books are well over 100 pages each and cost $9.85 and $12.66  and the third is 80 pages and $7.50. The bundle is $21.25. From the author of the Judges Guild module.

The Caves of Moreau County -  Pay What You Want modular adventure. Basically a bunch of different rooms and you put them together however you want to make a dungeon. Pretty neat. 33 pages.

Ud: A Midlevel OSR adventure - For er, mid level. 46 pages, $3.

Rules


Far Realms -  A grab bag of stuff for OSR games — new classes, spells, rules. 90 pages, $14.99

Brimstone Open Beta v.3 -  Based on OD&D

Inferno: Journey through Malebolge Denizens - this is the monster book for the Inferno modules. 51 pages, $4.50

Misc


0E Stock Art - Zombie Bear - Pay What You Want for a piece of art depicting, well, a zombie bear. From Jeremy Mohler who is a pretty good artist.

Mutations Mutable - I don't really get what this is, at first I thought it was for Mutant Future, but then it mentioned spells, so I don't know what. At any rate, 10 pages and a $1

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

First Edition Duelist now available (Free Osric Class)

From Leonaru, the creator of other various 1st Edition classes which bring various additional classes to OSRIC, comes the 1st Edition Duelist, a class from Dragon Magazine.

I used to play some of the classes from Dragon. I can't remember if I played a Duelist, but I played a Psionicist, a Ranger-Archer, and a Smith.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Far Realms from Harbinger Games now available

This is pretty neat, if insanely expensive. It's a bunch of rules from a guys nearly 40 year campaign:
Far Realms includes:
  • Four new PC classes, including the Nobleman and a unique look at the Bard
  • Four NPC-only classes, such as the Scoundrel and the Religious Brother
  • New hirelings, like the Healer - who can cure disease and even ward off level loss!
  • Expanded charts for developing followers for the fighter and rules to give followers to Noblemen and Barbarians
  • Alternate rules for weapon specialization and initiative
  • Detailed rules on disease and parasites
  • Maintenance costs, upkeep, and overhead
  • More than 30 pages of unique spells
  • Classic Old School-style art
On the other hand, I can't say I'm really dying to buy a supplement with detailed rules on disease and parasites...but I might be narrow minded.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—September 25th, 2014

Pretty slow week. I've been busy myself playing Wasteland 2.


Adventures

FC7 - Yellowbeard's Vein - This week's Adventures in Filbar product. 24 pages, $3, and for mid-level characters.

FM-1 Baba Smerta - Pay What You Want adventure from Quasar Dragon games.

Rules


Dragon Union - an addendum for the fantasy role playing game - This seems to be house rules for basic D&D from a guy in a Scandinavian country. Pay what you want, 36 pages.

Monday, September 22, 2014

QuasarDragon releases Baba Smerta, a mini-module

Another module from QuasarDragon games, FM-1 Baba Smerta. It's Pay What You Want like their previous one, The Stolen Child.
As night falls on the marsh and the fog blankets the land, the people of the surrounding villages lock their doors and pray that they will be overlooked by the minions of Baba Smerta. For nearly three generations they have suffered her tortures and humiliations.
When one of her raiding parties takes on the PCs, though, have they bitten off more than they can chew? Will this long reign of terror finally come to an end?
***
An OSR-compatible mini-module for any old school RPG or modern clone, designed for character levels 5-6, "Baba Smerta" is easily adaptable to other levels

Prespos has his own forums

This doesn't mean anything for most people, but if you ever visited Dragonsfoot a few years or ago or more, you probably came across a very eccentric poster named Prespos.  He was banned a couple years ago because he had this strange idea of putting 1e books online on a website (which is piracy and something you can't really admit to.

Anyway, he started his own forums.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Thursday, September 18, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—September 18th, 2014

After a few very busy weeks, things have slowed down quite a bit

Adventures

 

FO1 - Ruins of Linthar Keep - This weeks Adventures in Filbar product. 11 pages, $1.50

Rules

 

Basic Alchemist - Pay what you want character class for Labyrinth Lord

Misc

 

Narcosa - Already mentioned, it's a psychedelic setting/sourcebook

Judges Guild Inferno will finally be complete on Sept 28th...

Judges Guild was known for their hex crawls, and one of the more ambitious ones was a hex crawl in Hell, called Inferno. That only featured the first four circles...then a fifth circle was detailed in the third issue of Fight On!

Well, the original author has been working on it and will finally publish it via his company, Spellbook Games.
Inferno: Journey through Malebolge, the expansion and completion of the 1980 JG module, Inferno, goes on sale on September 28, 2014. Inferno describes an area almost 400 miles across and 1.25 miles deep consisting of the ten Circles of Dante's Hell. It features more than 70 encounter areas/dungeons with detailed statistics for more than 75 denizens (including 5 Diabolic Earls). The module will be available from DriveThruRPG; the PDF version comes as a 3-file bundle (cheaper) although each book can be purchased individually. The print-on-demand versions can only be purchased as separate books (more expensive plus printing fee plus shipping). There will also be a PDF bundle available consisting of all the Inferno files (3 Journey books, Inferno 1980 {the original JG module}, Gehenna Primer, Inferno: Bestiary, Codicil of Maladies, Gazetteer of Hell - Fire and Ice, and Gazetteer of Hell - Blood and Mire; Treasury will be added when it is published). Journey through Malebolge is completely compatible with the two current Gazetteers of Hell and the two Gazetteers now in production (available later in 2014).

I am nearly finished editing Inferno: Treasury, the essential reference for the artifacts and unique enchanted items found in Inferno; these are NOT described in detail in the text, only referenced by object name. My hope is to release Treasury on Sep-28 but that may slip a few days into early October.
Neat, but looking at the prices of his other stuff, probably expensive as, er, hell.

Narcosa now available

Sounds like a stoner version of Carcosa.....but eh, it's free.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Monday, September 15, 2014

Another Kickstarter—Slumbering Ursine Dunes for Labyrinth Lord


And here's another, solely OSR Kickstarter: Slumbering Ursine Dunes

Straight from the Hill Cantons, comes a mini-sandbox played the hell out of by six play groups and over 40 players. Run, play or splice up 50-plus pages of mayhem and weirdness in this Slavic mythic-inspired (with an acid fantasy-twist) adventure for Labyrinth Lord or a well-aged fantasy rpg of your druthers.

You will laugh. You will cry. You will crawl points and shake your fists at the heavens and shout in despair. “Why me Radegast? Why Me?!”  (Well no, you may chuckle a bit, spill your adult beverage and throw some funny dice though.)

New Kickstarter from Venger Satanis—Revelry in Torth


While I guess it's somewhat appropriate he's embraced the dark side (5e), this still falls under the OSR enough to cover here, I guess:

Draconic Magazine presents an O5R [OSR plus 5e] investigative, sword & sorcery tabletop RPG adventure set in Torth - by Venger Satanis.
Revelry in Torth takes place in a post-holocaust world (7 of the most powerful wizards created one gargantuan fireball to destroy the world in order to prevent a machine slave revolt).  The people of Torth live in cities surrounded by a desert of endless night and peril.
This particular adventure is set in the city called Aryd's End, during a time of festivity.  Several factions are making plans and hatching schemes.  No one is all good or all evil, merely shades of grey.
PCs will become entangled in a murder and the fate of Torth is at stake.  Sandbox, urban adventure, dark, Conan-esque sword & sorcery, just a hint of scifi, and very little gonzo.
This adventure will be about 21 pages long, give or take a couple pages.  For characters level 1 - 3.  Hopefully, Revelry in Torth is part one of a trilogy.  But that depends on you guys.  
Meanwhile, if you want a Kickstarter for an old school adventure untainted by 5e, there is sill Secret Machines of the Star Spawn

Gutenberg—Le Morte Darthur by Sir Thomas Malory

You've probably read this in some form or another, but this seems to be the original text, albeit translated into modern (well, 1890s) English

Friday, September 12, 2014

Advanced Adventures Compendiums 40% off

Lulu is having a 20% off sale, and they've been marked down 20%, so they are now 40% off. I have these, and they are worth every penny.

Small Niche Game launches Time of the Dying Stars: Book One Kickstarter

Basically it's a novella set in the world of Dolmvay, which was the sample city in the Labyrinth Lord corebook and then fleshed out/detailed in the Pay What You Want product Dolmvay.

Time of the Dying Stars: Book One is the first of three books set in the City of Dolmvay. It is a collection of interlinked short stories that follow the events leading up to an ancient prophecy. This novella provides insights into the city's politics, religions, and the lives of everyday citizens.

The goal is $500, if $1000 is met, there will be a sourcebook based on the novella, and if $1500 is met, then there will be a separate adventure set in the city.

The novella is planned to be PWYW, but if you pledge $10, you get pdf versions of two campaign settings, and for a $20 pledge, you get 7 adventures (which I think is the entire library of what they've published).

Thursday, September 11, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—September 11, 2014


I guess this was a busy week. Most of the products are a little odd, and/or short.

Adventures

 

Assault on the Southern Horn - 14 pages, $1.50  I have no idea what this is, what system this is for, or what, but it's in the OSR section

The Dungeon of Crows 2 - Avatar of Yog-Sutekhis - The second part of a large dungeon by Daniel Bishop. Labyrith Lord, low level, usable with DCC. Pay What You Want.

FC8 - Epistle to the Pasha of Poncetalla - this weeks Adventures in Filbar module, possibly a CHiPs crossover. For mid level characters, 20 pages,$3.

Pickled Piracy and Other Stories - Another gagmen adventure, this time free, not PWYW

Rules

 

Bestiarum Vocabulum: Freshwater Monsters and Hazards - Seems to be for Labyrinth Lord and has info on water monsters. 17 pages, $4. 

ReArm Yourself! - A supplement for Swords & Wizardry. I think this was released for a free a week or two ago, semi-munchkiny way of superpowering your grear. 21 pages, $2

Misc

 

OSRIC Referee's Screen - Various tables from OSRIC arranged fancily. 33 pages, $6, and part of the proceeds go to support the Knights & Knaves message board.

Fantastic Adventures playtest rules available

Over at Retroroleplaying is an early version of Fantastic Adventures. So far, it seems to be a more swords & sorcery variant of his Microlite 74/81 rules

Small Niche Games planning a Kickstarter...

For what, I don't know, but the head of it is warning to not buy his products right now because there will be better deals available in the upcoming Kickstarter...

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Elminage Gothic coming out next week for PC

Remember Wizardry? It was one of the first CRPGs, based heavily on D&D, and more or less pure dungeon crawling.

Well it's back, by way of Japan (where it never really went away) and with a new name, Elminage. Basically a company there had licensed the Wizardry IP and put out a bunch of new games, then dropped the license but kept making the games under a new title. Same system more or less.

Elminage Gothic (which I think is the 4th in the Elminage series) will release on Sept 18th and be priced at $9.99, with a 20% discount for the first week.

Treatise of Twisted Terrors Review


Treatise of Twisted Terrors is the first product from a new company, QuasarDragon Games (they've since followed it up with a Pay What You Want Module, PO-1: The Stolen Child). It's a monster book with 70 new creatures based on critters from folklore & myth. For the most part, not the usual stuff, either. All the obvious monsters have already been covered in monster manuals and folios, so this tackles a number of more unusual/obscure beasties. Those that have been used already have a different interpretation here.

It's not meant for any specific game, but a general "OSR" type of rules. In practice, it mostly seems to follow a 1e format: Frequency, # encountered, in lair %, combat stats, and so forth. Armor class is given as descending only. Most monsters don't have much in the way of treasure, and if they do, it is noted in the monster's description. There is also an illustration of each monster, taken from public domain sources, so the quality varies quite a bit.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Secrets #2: Strange Races now available.


In case you didn't see this on my blog roll, it's a new supplement/fanzine from Darkwater Press featuring a bunch of new player races (and other stuff) for Swords & Wizardry. $2 for PDF and $6 for print (and PDF)

Saturday, September 6, 2014

First Edition Knight now available

From the person (Leonaru) who brought us the First Edition Monk and First Edition Bard, comes the First Edition Knight for OSRIC.

Which is actually the cavalier.