New Releases
Misty Isles of the Eld by Chris Kutalik. Art by Luca Rejec & Cecil Howe. The Hydra Cooperative. Available in PDF for $12.00. Print forthcoming. 104 pages.
Come visit the acid fantasy mini-sandbox of the Misty Isles, a hellish pocket plane that's brutally displaced a bucolic paradise. Marvel at its massive grub-ridges, shake at the body horror of its protein vats—and watch as your players dynamically unleash the Anti-Chaos Index through their own in-game actions. Misty Isles of the Eld is a stand-alone sequel to Slumbering Ursine Dunes and Fever-Dreaming Marlinko.
What's inside its 104 pages:
Four dungeons. The Vat Complex (with its menacing sealed off-west wing, body-horrific industrial process and pocket dimensions), the flying god-prison Monument Five, the meth-fruit Plantation House and Colonel Zogg's Pagoda Bunker.
Full “extra-planar” pointcrawl. The wilderness crawl spreads over one main isle and two smaller islets subdivided by massive, movable grubs.
An “Anti-Chaos Index.” Through their actions the players shape the very reality of the Isles. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst, but always for the weird.
A slew of new otherwordly monsters.
A large collection of bizarre technological Eldish artifacts and treasure. Includes a random generator for miscellaneous artifacts picked up.
A new psionicist player class, the Psychonaut, with a soft scifi twist. Including its own powers and mutations.Mechanized Men of Mars by Thomas Denmark. Night Owl Workshop. Available in Print for $8.99 and in PDF for $2.99. 32 pages.
The Mechanized Men of Mars is an adventure for Warriors of the Red Planet, a roleplaying game in the tradition of classic style RPG's, also known as original edition, OSR, or retro-clones. Warriors of the Red Planet captures the "Sword and Planet" genre of science fantasy romance, inspired by the works of Burroughs, Vance, Moorcock, Kline, and other novels, movies, and comic books where an earthman goes to another planet and discovers he has unique abilities. There are strange creatures, weird science, power hungry warlords and of course beautiful space princesses.
This adventure takes place on Barsoom, the alien world described in the genre defining book A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. But, it has been written in a way that it can easily fit into any science-fantasy world that combines lasers and swords.
This adventure is compatible with the Original Fantasy Roleplaying game and related systems.Beasties by Thomas Denmark. Night Owl Workshop. Available in Print for $9.99 and in PDF for $4.99. 84 pages.
A collection of monsters, creatures, strange beings, traps, and encounters compatible with the Original Fantasy RPG and similar systems.
The Quarrymen by Duncan McPhedran. Art by the author and Dyson Logos. Zorathan City State. Available in PDF for PWYW. 16 pages.
Beasties is a fantasy bestiary supplement compatible with the original fantasy roleplaying game and subsequent editions, and other “OSR” games that follow in the mold of the original like Colonial Troopers, Guardians, and Warriors of the Red Planet. More than just a manual of monsters this book includes ready made NPC’s, traps & tricks, a mega-dungeon adventure synopsis and random encounter tables.
This is a handy reference book to bring to your gaming table, or use for inspiration in creating adventures.
For years there have been legends of a lost ancient complex hidden deep within the town quarry, and it seems that the local quarrymen have now stumbled upon an entrance to it. Long thought lost to the ages, little about it is known for sure, although rumours are now flying through the town.
Sixty-six quarrymen took the opportunity to enter the complex opening and take a look around, but they have all since disappeared.Mirrorshades by Norbert G. Matausch. Matush Manhunt Publications. Available in PDF for $3.00. 76 pages.
Mirrorshades uses David Black's The Black Hack rules and takes them for a ride into hardcore cyberpunk territory. Using Mike Evans' Cyber-Hacked as a foundation, the Mirrorshades rules present a complete, stand-alone game.
HS3 Incursion of the Chain Devils by Jeremy Reaban. Art by Jacob E. Blackmon,Simple, super-flexible, customizable, fast-playing, robust and in-depth.
- Choose between 10 different character classes
- Play a netrunner and hack into hostile computer systems
- Build your own cyberdeck
- Use our complete rpg drug creation system
- Design your characters' cyberware from the ground up -- simple and easy
- Use 20+ random tables to flesh out your game world
Alex Schomburg, Karl M. Available in PDF for PWYW. 15 pages.
Three nights ago, strange lights and screams were heard from the local temple of Ishtar. Grotesque humanoids, wearing tattered clothes and wrapped with chains, emerged from the very walls, causing murder and mayhem within.
Can the PCs save the temple of Ishtar from the incursion of the chain devils?
H3 Incursion of the Chain Devils is a module for 4-8 characters levels 5th to 7th using the first edition advanced rules of the world's first and still most popular fantasy role playing game. It can be used with any older edition of the rules set or modern retro clone, though other editions likely need higher level characters. In any event, magic weapons are a must. Thieves and even clerics are not.
As with previous entries in the HS line, the focus is firmly on combat. There are 20 rooms and likely 8-10 encounters. Most of the monsters are backward converted from third edition and full write ups are provided.The Cthulhu Hack by Paul Baldowski. Just Crunch Games. Available in PDF for $2.50. 42 pages.
(Note: the subject matter of this module is slightly suggestive)
The Cthulhu Hack is a tabletop role-playing game in the tradition of the Original 1970s Fantasy Roleplaying Game, based on the hugely popular modern OSR clone The Black Hack.
The Cthulhu Hack summons and binds the fast play potential of the original (just a little bit), adding in new elements to handle an investigation and deal with the sanity-shattering shock of facing Things Best Left Unknown. It uses The Black Hack's elegant Usage Die mechanic to emulate the dwindling investigative resources available to those intrepid sorts willing to put their lives and reputations on the line in pursuit of the Unmentionable and Unthinkable.
Includes Lovecraftian monsters and a Mythos 101 for those unfamiliar with the original tales.
For a thorough and balanced review, check out The World According to CARP.
Mike Hill - "The bottom line is that I will actually play this game. I download a lot of projects that never make it off the hard drive."
Made using The Black Hack: This is a standalone product, including the Open Game License material of The Black Hack.
File includes two character sheet files - both A4. One provides the basic character sheet, the other an extended version on two sides with room for a character portrait, notes and Last Will and Testament.
A Hack of Class by Brett Slocum. Weird Realm Games. Available in PDF for $1.00. 12 pages.
This supplement contains seven lightweight classes for The Black Hack: Assassin, Bard, Druid, Illusionist, Monk, Paladin, and Ranger. The also includes spell lists for druids and illusionists. It has been a pleasure to create these. I hope the reader can have fun with them.Eastern Expeditions: The Samurai (Delving Deeper/0E) by Joseph D. Salvador. Raven God Games. Available in PDF for PWYW. 12 pages.
Bring the samurai to your original edition games! The samurai has been represented in role-playing games from the days of the earliest edition but has been plagued by imbalance and inaccuracies. The Eastern Expeditions™ line aims to address these issues.Eastern Expeditions: The Ninja (Delving Deeper/0E) by Joseph D. Salvador. Raven God Games. Available in PDF for PWYW. 12 pages.
Eastern Expeditions: The Samurai provides a complete character class based decidedly in the historical Japanese warrior, as well as Japanese weapons and armor suitable for a samurai’s use. The class is written for the Delving Deeper RPG, but with minor modifications could be used with any “old-school” RPG, including the advanced editions of the original fantasy game, Swords & Wizardry, and OSRIC!
This product is designed to be printed in booklet format.
Bring the ninja to your original edition games! The ninja has been represented in role-playing games from the days of the earliest edition but has been plagued by imbalance and fallacies. The Eastern Expeditions™ line aims to address these issues.
Eastern Expeditions: The Ninja provides a complete character class, as well as Japanese weapons, armor, and equipment suitable for a ninja’s use. The class is written for the Delving Deeper RPG, but with minor modifications could be used with any “old-school” RPG, including the advanced editions of the original fantasy game, Swords & Wizardry, and OSRIC!
This product is designed to be printed in booklet format.The Eight of Wands: A Class Hack for the Black Hack by Warren L. Denning. I Cast Light. Available in PDF for $1.00. 14 pages.
Eight alternative character classes inspired by the 5th edition of that classic RPG, but designed for use with David Black’s The Black Hack (and other OSR systems) to extend its class options beyond the core four of Warrior, Thief, Cleric, and Conjurer. Included are class descriptions for the:
Barbarian whose rage and skill with two-handed weapons allows better criticals and heads to roll;
Ranger a resourceful fighter with command of the forest and mastery over beasts;
Smuggler with luck to spare and ability to move goods and people for gold and gain;
Poisoner whose tinctures, oils, and powders can be use to confer a variety of player-defined effects on friend and foe;
Paladin whose devotion to their ideal allows them to gain magical ability and alter their allies' position in initiative;
Druid who can call forth the power of lightning and transformation in defense of their territory then escape untraceably;
Sorcerer who uses their bodies vessals for living spells which change as a result of the caster’s heritage;
& the Warlock whose pact allows them to not only ask weapons, familiars, and favors of their master, but permanently alter their character sheet- for a price!The Black Hack: Cyber-Hacked! by Mike Evans. Art by Alex Mayo. DIY RPG Productions. Available in PDF for $2.00. 19 pages.
The Black Hack: Cyber-Hacked! takes the awesome OSR rules created by David Black for The Black Hack and uses them to create a OSR-style cyberpunk system. Simple rules for hacking, cyberware, car chases, drugs, and guns are included.
Wolf-Packs and Winter Snow by Emmy Allen. Dying Stylishly Games. Available in PDF for PWYW. 156 pages.
Which class will you choose to be when running in the shadows and doing jobs for the local Fixer? Will you be The Street Meat, The Martial Artist, The Street Rat, The Mechanic, The Face, or The Psychic? Do you have what it takes to survive a run through a corporate Acrology to obtain secret plans? Let's roll some dice and find out!
Blood spilled on the snow. Stone-tipped spears brandished against thedark. The howls of wolves echoing across the tundra.
This is a time before writing, money, walled settlements and the many other comforts of civilization. The ice-age wilderness is harsh, and filled with dangerous beasts. In dark forests and the depths of caves, there exist other, stranger creatures; mad beasts that are the products of magic.
The ice age is coming to an end. Retreating ice-sheets reveal tracts of land unseen for millennia with each spring, and in their wake leave the environment in turmoil. As the snow withdraws, modern humans follow, and every year new tribes of humans enter the Neanderthal‘s ancestral lands. Against this backdrop, magic begins to emerge as a force in the world. Driving the rise in art – jewellery, cave paintings and figurines - that will fascinate later historians, some humans begin experimenting with the supernatural, learning to shape the wild forces of the world into controllable spells and items of power.
Strange Prehistoric Roleplaying
Included in this book is everything you'll need to run or play in games set in the fantasy ice age. Inside, you'll find-
- Quick character generation, with classes for human hunters, skilled experts and magicians, and for the race of Neanderthals.
- Optional rules to play as lurking mutants, unnatural morlocks, orphaned children, mystics worshipping strange powers, or cannibalistic wendigos.
- Systems for food, weather and sickness that drive home the struggle for survival.
- Quick, dirty, brutal combat.
- Rules for gathering and leading a stone-age tribe.
- A magic system that combines familiar Vancian casting with the dangers of experimentation in a time before spellbooks.
- Guides to running a game of exploration in the wilderness or deep underground.
- Systems to create unique monsters on the fly.
Planetary Display by Roger Thorm. Antherwyck House Games. Available in PDF for $1.00. 1 Page.All in a rules system that will be familiar to any fan of the OSR. Stripped down, streamlined, and customized to match the stone-age setting.
A planetary display map form to use with any role playing game. The map sheet displays a truncated icosahedron (buckyball or soccer ball form) with geometricized latitude and longitude gridding to enable mapping locations anywhere on the face of the world.
Layout is for a science-fiction system, but this is equally usable with any game system wanting to have an abstracted global map.
Re-Releases
The Excellent Travelling Volume by James Maliszewski. Back issues #1-4 available again in print. $9.95 to North America. $11.95 to the rest of the world.
Some Free Downloads
The Rod of Seraillian by Carl Sargent. Remastered by Kellri. Available in PDF for Free. 68 pages.
Kellri has also posted some Stars Without Number resources.Here's my re-mastered version of the 5th Pelinore module from GameMaster Publications - Carl Sargent's Rod of Seraillian. It's for 1e AD&D characters of levels 7-9. Enjoy!
The Glog: Alchemy + Oozes by Arnold Kemp. Available in PDF for Free. 18 pages.
D100 mildly plausible backgrounds for Old school Characters by Shane Ward. Available in PDF for Free. 1 page.
The Black Hack Open Game Content. Website by Bruno Bord based on The Black Hack by David Black and Peter Regan. Available in HTML for Free.
A Collection of Presentations Cartographical in Nature by Matt Jackson. Available in PDF for Free. 14 pages.
The Tomb of the Whispering Worms: A Descent into Madness for Swords & Wizardry by Mark L. Chance. Map by Matthew Lowes. Available in PDF for Free. 7 pages.
Mentalist: TBH Class by Jeff Call. Available in HTML for Free.Other Stuff
Hiring Hall Retainers and hirelings for old school dungeon crawling, a generator by Ed Allen.
Reviews
The Trollish Delver reviews The Black Hack.
Diogo Nogueira gives a review and play report of Escape from the Purple Planet.
The Disoriented Ranger reviews Wolf-Packs and Winter Snow.
The Disoriented Ranger reviews Wolf-Packs and Winter Snow.
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.
I have received no remuneration from any publisher, for reporting on their releases, nor is such a requirement for a product to be included in these posts. At times, an author or publisher may send me a complimentary copy of an item, for purposes of review. This is not a requirement for a product's inclusion in these posts.
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.
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