OSR News - Friday, April 6, 2012

Dungeon Crawl Classics Goes to the Printer - PDF's Sent Out to Pre-Order Customers!

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by Joseph Goodman. Goodman Games. Available in Hardcover for $39.99. Limited Edition Foil Cover Edition $69.99. 480 pages.

Glory & Gold Won by Sorcery & Sword

You’re no hero.

You’re an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them.

Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended you to, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword & sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you: turn the page…

Rules Set: DCC RPG, an OGL system that cross-breeds Appendix N with a streamlined version of 3E.

If you pre-ordered the game by April 1, you should have received your email to download the PDF! Also, for those wondering, here's a quote from Mr. Goodman about the production quality of the DCC RPG:

DCC RPG will be printed on 70# uncoated offset. That is a durable, heavyweight paper stock near the upper end of what most printers keep in stock. It is not the "slick" type paper that you see used in color products; it is a more textured paper. When you read RPG products that feel like they are on flimsy paper, that is typically 50# stock (which I don't use). The real test is whether you can see the blacks through the page - i.e. is a dark illustration visible on the other side of the page. With 50# paper, it is; with 70#, it is not.

As long as we are on the subject - I am also using Smythe-sewn binding. That means nothing to most people but it is the difference between a heavily-referenced RPG falling apart at the binding or not. Smythe-sewn features an adhesive binding AND sewn threads to hold the binding together. All those RPG's you bought that fell apart after a couple months of use...well, they used adhesive only. Smythe-sewn is more expensive but it is worth it.

I woke up at 2:00 AM, saw the email with the download link and spent an hour scanning through the PDF! It looks like it'll be a blast to run! Patrons, corruptions and critical-hits, oh my!!!

A New Release from Guy Fullerton!

Dungeon Module F3 Many Gates of the Gann by Guy Fullerton. Chaotic Henchmen Productions. Currently Available in print from FRP Games for $9.58. 28 pages.

Barbarous hyena-men who raid villages and kidnap girl-children? Bah! Unremarkable in our world! But when these raiders retreat safely past ancient sculptures that vaporize intruders, into heretofore unopened vaults believed to hold a weapon of primal terror, and past the gates that guard ancient treasures never beheld by man? Aye! Now these are rumors worthy of adventure! What bold souls will dare pass into centuries-old chambers protected by the Many Gates of the Gann?

Many Gates of the Gann includes complete descriptions and maps for a three-level adventure site, and is easily adaptable to most campaign settings. It is the latest in a series of modules designed for either independent or interconnected use.

System: For use with 1st Edition AD&D, and largely compatible with 2nd edition, the Basic game, the Original game, as well as the various clones and simulacra.
Format: 28 pages, saddle stitched. Retro-style detached cover with maps on the cover interior.
Author: Guy Fullerton
Artists: Stefan Poag, Andy "ATOM" Taylor, Zhu Bajie, John Larrey, Jason Sholtis.

More S&W from FGG!

The Northlands Saga 3 - The Death Curse of Sven Oakenfist by Kenneth Spencer. Frog God Games. Swords & Wizardry version available in a Print/PDF combo for $8.99. PDF only for $4.99. 32 pages. Pathfinder version avail. for the same price.

In the Northlands the laws of hospitality are absolute, to violate them is to
seek dishonor or even death. What then must our heroes do when their host asks
them to fulfill his dying wish, to face down the wight of the legendary viking
Sven Oakenfist and convince him to lift a curse laid with his own last breath?

2E Gets Itself Cloned!

Myth & Magic Player's and Game Master's Starter Guides by Tom Ryan. New Haven Games. Available for Free in PDF format. 148 and 120 pages, respectively.

1) The Player’s Starter Guide – A huge introduction to Myth & Magic. All of the races, the four iconic classes, and the most-essential rules to take your hero from the upstart trenches of Level 1 to the renown of Level 10.

2) The Game Master’s Starter Guide – GMs get a ton of monsters, magic items, traps, poisons, diseases and advice to challenge their entire gaming table! We brought it all back.. and we added some twists and turns that keep the salted veterans guessing! This very well may be the greatest GM primer to any RPG … ever! Also includes a free adventure, The Shattered Academy!

More Free Stuff!

Check out this Baroque Character Sheet that Chris The Aspiring Lich made.

Let's Keep the Free Train a Rollin'!

Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque by Jack W. Shear. Available in PDF for Free! 116 pages.

I have made a compendium of all of my Gothic Fantasy gaming bits available for free. You can download it as a pdf here from Google docs. Here's what you get in the compendium: an introduction to Gothic Fantasy, my home campaign setting, three new classes compatible with old-school fantasy games, my house rules, 44 monsters, 26 spells, 7 magic items, and more random tables that I cared to count. Much of this has yet to see the light of day on the blog. It's 116 pages, about the size of a commercial product.

And Now, a New Release from Expeditious Retreat Press!

Advanced Adventures #23 Down the Shadowvein by Joseph Browning. Expeditious Retreat Press. Available in Print for $14.00 and in PDF for $7.00. 24 pages.

Down the Shadowvein is an OSRIC(tm) module designed for 6-10 adventures of levels 3-5.

You carefully load your canoes and launch into the fast-moving waters of the underground river named Shadowvein. The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom behind you, the veracity of the map that is to be your guide into the dark unknown will soon be tested. Hopefully what is written is accurate, but if it is not, your wits, wile, and brawn should serve you well as you journey down the Shadowvein!

Down the Shadowvein picks up where The Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom left off, but it can be played by those who have not explored that module. Down the Shadowvein continues in The Mouth of the Shadowvein.

Rolling 'Em Up Old School! 

3d6 In Order by Richard Tongue. Available in Print for $12.02. 91 pages.

3D6 In Order is finally out! The new OSR role-playing game from the creator of OD&DITIES, Richard Tongue, is now available. Designed as a 'beer and pretzels' role-playing game, this book contains enough material for years of adventure, while being simple enough that a group can have a game going within ten minutes. All the standard classes are there, as well as a few other ones for fun. A one-book game – no mountains of supplements required – everything is present in this single slim volume, which contains no less than eight races, ten classes, seven spell lists, dozens of monsters and magic items. All you need is your imagination...and some dice, of course!

By the Gods, Let's Have Another Groovy OSR Freebie! 

The Lands of Ara Compendium 2011 by Carter Soles and Spawn of Endra. Available in PDF for FREE! 42 pages.

I am thrilled to announce that the Lands of Ara Compendium 2011 is now available as a free, downloadable pdf here. It contains over 40 pages of game content culled from this blog, plus top-notch illustrations and artwork by Johnathan and Daisey Bingham, Kelvin Green, and The Marg. I also want to thank Spawn of Endra for all his diligent and inspired work on the editing and layout of the voluminous material here.

A New Release from Faster Monkey!

In the Shadow of Mount Rotten by Joel Sparks. Faster Monkey Games. Available in Print for $19.99 and in PDF for $12.00. 84 pages.

A Goblin Is You!

A crafty Foot Goblin, maybe, or a vicious Warg Rider. Or a town-building Hearth Orc or a Troll Driver or a lowly Saltjack or a Goblin Eater Hob, or one of the many other Rotlander folk, striving to survive and bring glory to your home tribe in a land too harsh for humans to claim.

With three new character classes, eight different tribe types, and hundreds of hexes of dangerous territory to explore, In the Shadow of Mount Rotten gives you everything you need for adventures of a very different kind. This all-in-one sourcebook includes:

• New PC classes: Warriors, bound by martial honor and forbidden to negotiate; Shamans, sensitive to the many hauntings and spirits that lurk just behind the surface of things; and Mongers, scraping together together the means of tribal survival while dodging the blows of the haughty Warriors.
• New spells and spellcasting for Shamans.
• Reputation: You can’t level up unless you earn the tribe’s respect!
• Ransom: What are you worth to the tribe? Plus the grim results if demands aren’t met.
• Warrior’s Honor and how it varies by race and home tribe.
• Tribal lifestyles: Settlements, hierarchies, hunting and gathering, herding and enslaving, mating and child rearing, and habits of war.
• Slave gangs and indentured populations.
• Scrapper dogs, gnoll packs, ogre clans, and cannibalism.
• Hunting for meat and hides; curing and selling carcasses, skins, and furs.
• What Befalls the Tribe: A hit from a poker deck determines what boon or threat comes to the tribe to challenge the PCs.
• Gold is no good here! A simple economy based on barter, salt, iron, and bronze.
• Complete gear lists for people on the edge of the Bronze Age. New equipment, loot trade-in, regional pricing, and what happens when Rotlander gear clashes with superior Southron arms.
• Adventure locations like the tradetown Rotmoot, salt-rich Selkirk, and the Hellmouth of Goblin Knob.
• Who lives where, and how much turf each tribe needs to feed itself.
• Encounters charts for eight distinct regions, plus Oddities and the dangerous Spirit Encounters that mark the Rotlands as a haunted place.
• Caves and mining, with nine real types of cave, underground lakes and rivers, and mining possibilities from clay to gold.
• Caravans: wagons, cargos, crew, and guards.
• Bulk trade goods and contact with human realms and the orkin of Mor.
• A full-color map that stands alone or fits with the Known Realms open setting from Goblinoid Games™.

So. A Maggot God, You Say...

The Virtuous and the Vile: Morithal, Lord of Unceasing Hunger by Allen Taliesen. Clockwork Gnome Publishing. Available in PDF for $1.50. 11 pages. (an 18 page PF version, is also avail. for $3.00)

Since the beginning of time, the Maggot God has burrowed his way through the earth, indulging a hunger that can never be satiated. Morithal is an artifact from another time, a being who survived the fall of one multiverse and the birth of another. Cursed with a unending desire to consume, He Who Gnaws has hollowed out vast caverns beneath the earth and these have become the subterranean realm of the dark elves, derro, and other depraved creatures. Despite his repulsive nature, Morithal's followers are powerful and many. His cults are everywhere and each of them is tasked with a single goal: to bring about the reign of their god so that he might consume the stars and cast all the worlds of the Material Plane into eternal night.

Inspired by the works of classic writers such as H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, Morithal, Lord of Unceasing Hunger presents an evil cult that can be easily dropped into any campaign. While designed for Labyrinth Lord this book can be effortlessly used with your old school fantasy roleplaying game of choice.

The Virtuous and the Vile: Morithal, Lord of Unceasing Hunger includes:

• An overview of Morithal, his origins, myths, and other traits.
• Information on the cults of the Maggot God, their goals, and the benefits of their faith.
• New spells that embody the horrid hunger of the Maggot God.
• Two new monsters, the walking hunger and the fragment of Paranvoi, who embody Morithal's unceasing need to feed.

Nod!

Nod #13 by John Stater. Available in PDF for $3.50 (print should be forthcoming.) 115 pages.

NOD enters its third year of existence with this issue, and it's received a minor facelift.

This issue contains ...

The Evolutionary PC class - with some simple stats for using the future men as alien races in Space Princess

Abaddon and Gehenna - the third and fourth circles of Hell dedicated to gluttony and avarice respectively

Hero vs. Villain - this one featuring Zanzibar the magician and Greymalkin, the speed demon

Dual Helms - magical helms for two

Greatsword - rules to my card game of medieval one-on-one combat

Pandaemonium VI - featuring Amon, Demoriel, Mammon, Mulciber and Paymon

Shades of Red - variant red dragons

Loviatar

Loviatar #8 by Christian Walker. Available in Print for $3.50. 24 pages.

Heading west from Hex 001 the PCs will arrive in Hex 004. This month's issue is dedicated entirely to sandbox goodness. In Hex 004 the party will visit the hamlet of Dorim. While there they will able to participate in an auction to purchase an otyugh. (The citizens of the hamlet raise them in a pit.) Dorim and its environs are rife with threats. First and foremost is Constable Gantry, a murderous fellow who doesn't take kindly to strangers. There is a giant viper living in some abandoned knocker tunnels. It is cunning and intelligent from a steady diet of humans and demi-humans. PCs might also run afoul of larcenous gnomes, enraged badgers and restless nature spirits. Onward to adventure!

Loviatar no. 8 is produced in digest format with a cardstock cover. It is 24 pages long and is printed in black and white on 24 pound, bright white paper.

Time for Another Free Game!

Flying Swordsmen by Dennis Laffey. Available for Free PDF download. 112 pages.

Welcome to the home of the Flying Swordsmen Role Playing Game. Flying Swordsmen is a game of fantasy martial arts, where characters use swords, fists, spells, and more to battle other martial artists and monsters, and seek out new techniques or magic to improve their martial skill.

Players take on the role of a Fighter, Wizard, Shaman or Thief, and can customize their martial arts abilities as they advance in level. The Stunt system allows players to create the sorts of wild and crazy abilities and moves seen in Wuxia (fantasy martial arts) movies and comics.

If you've played tabletop RPGs before, then go ahead and download the free rulebook and enjoy! Flying Swordsmen is built using the algorithms of older editions of the world's most popular fantasy RPG, and takes direct inspiration from a "lost" martial arts game built on those same rules. It's compatible with older editions of the game, and like other modern simulacra, is based on the OGL.

A New Release from Pacesetter Games

I2 Beyond the Black Wall by Bill Barsh. Pacesetter Games & Simulations. Available in Print for $12.00.

Beyond the Black Wall is an adventure module for the First Edition Game, compatible with OSRIC™, and designed for a single 3rd level character. This module includes Pacesetter’s SoloSystem™ for enhanced individual play.

Your hunt for the fabled Green Flame, a jewel of unparalleled beauty and value, has led you deep into the wild. Guided by unreliable research and gut instinct you search for an ancient city that has been dead for centuries. Your only clue is that the city is guarded by a towering black wall. Somehow, you know the city must exist and that it surely harbors the Green Flame. Undaunted, you set yourself to face the horrors and dangers that lie beyond the black wall!

Sniderman Finishes his Thundarr Sourcebook!

The World of Thundarr the Barbarian by Sniderman. Available in PDF for Free! 68 pages!

In July 2009, I beganThundarr Thursday here atThe Savage AfterWorld -- taking a facet of the classic post-apocalyptic cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian and converting that creature, item, character, or adventure for use with Mutant Future. Over the years, I accumulated quite a bit of material -- enough to produce a free-to-download sourcebook of the Thundarr universe for use in your games. And, as always, it's free and available to download over yonder in the right-hand column.

I've updated the book every so often, whenever I had new material to add. However, I've pretty well covered all I can with this excellent show, as the last new Thundarr sourcebook update was back in June last year. So, sadly, I'm going to call the Thundarr sourcebook "finalized" as I will not be adding any new material to it. I have updated the file one last time -- adding a back cover sheet to it as well as an additional blank page, upping the page count to a printer-friendly 68 pages. In fact, this is the final version I used for my recent test of MagCloud's services. So if you've been wondering when Snider was going to consider this sourcebook finished, the answer is "today." Click on the cover image or the right-hand column link to download the most recent update -- and last one ever -- of the Thundarr sourcebook. Enjoy!

Mazes & Minotaurs Makes Me Happy!

Minotaur Quarterly #10 edited by Olivier Legrand. Available for Free PDF download! 105 pages.

Giant-sized (100+ pages!) issue with a mega-section on Charybdis, the Dark Continent of Mythika, including a complete gazetteer, Charybdian adventurers, creatures, magic and mythic items and an epic adventure; also includes a bonus dossier on the Middle Sea, islands & colonies and some new marine creatures!

Product Updates!

the venomous pao has issued his Revised LL/AEC Rogues Gallery. 34 pages of free gaming goodness!

V1.2 of the Adventures Dark and Deep playtest PDF's by Joe Bloch are available for Free download.

She Turned Me Into a Newt!

Stewart Robertson made a Witch for B/X D&D! Available as a Free 1-page PDF.

Eight Days Left for the Dwimmermount Kickstarter!

James Maliszewski's Dwimmermount! $40 gets you the Print HC & PDF combo, shipping included! See the Kickstarter page for other support levels!

The gates of Dwimmermount are opening. After years of rumors, it is time to discover the secrets of this legendary dungeon for yourself.

With your support we reached our essential funding target in just two days! Achieving bonus goal #1 means that each backer will get a PDF of the original campaign notes and other artifacts from Dwimmermount's development, which are being donated to the Play-Generated Maps and Documents Archive and the Science Fiction Research Collection of Texas A&M University. Your pledge now helps us work towards bonus goal #2 - a hidden sub-level of the dungeon, exclusively available to our Kickstarter supporters!

And 9 More Days for A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore!

Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark and Deep: A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore! $30 for the softcover and $60 for the hardcover. See the Kickstarter page for more info and support levels!

Adventures Dark and Deep is an attempt to explore what the world's most popular role-playing game might have looked like if its creator had been allowed to continue developing it, rather than leaving TSR in 1985.

This work is based on extensive research into Gary Gygax's public statements about his vision for the next edition of the game, using the game's 1st edition rules as a jumping off point. It's not a retro-clone, but an entirely new game with a very familiar feel.

Some of the changes and additions include new character classes such as the bard, jester, mystic, savant, and mountebank, plus scores of new spells for them. It has a new combat system that's smoother than the original and yet fully compatible with it, all at the same time. There are new monsters and magic items, including a system to allow for any sort of magic weapon to have almost any weapon power; you can have a spear of venom or a sword of thunderbolts. Plus much more.

A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore is designed to be a rules supplement suitable for use with almost any other game that's compatible with the 1st edition rules. It's completely modular, so if you want to just take one or two of the classes, or just use the combat system and some of the monsters, or take the whole thing and plug it into your game, you're able to. It's all also compatible with existing adventures and settings, so there's almost no conversion work needed.

Both projects have surpassed their initial funding goals and are working towards bonuses! Congratulations guys!

What I'm Pimping This Week!

OSRIC (A5 Printing from Usherwood Publishing.) Available in Softcover for $13.50.

This compact A5 trim available exclusively through James D. Kramer design services contains the OSRIC rules, complete with indexes.

I switched from AD&D to OSRIC, last game session. Partly because several of my players don't have their own access to the AD&D PH and I wanted them to be able to readily download the rules. And since I'm running the game at someone else's house, the less gear I have to lug around, the better!

The OSRIC A5 printing is nice and compact! It's a perfect travel-sized compendium of 1st edition gaming goodness! Here's a pic showing its size in relation to my Black Blade/Usherwood and Lulu hardcovers.

Daddy, Mommy & Baby OSRIC

 About The News

Unless otherwise noted, all links to products and files are to the individual authors sites, pertinent posts, or sales pages. I don’t link directly to files, unless that is the only link available. The OSR News is produced as a service to the community and is entirely a non-commercial endeavor on my part. I have received no remuneration for advertising or reporting on any of the items appearing herein. Occasionally, the News might feature an item, which the author has sent me a complimentary copy of, for purposes of writing a review.

As always, the What I’m Pimping This Week section of the OSR News and its accompanying blog widget, feature products which I have purchased (or items which are available for free download) and wish to support. At times, the item I'm pimping may be one which I received a complimentary review copy of, from the author or publisher. No one has asked me to spotlight their material in this section and I have received no payment of any kind for doing so.

Please feel free to send me information on any new releases, events, or other items of interest, which you would like to see mentioned.