The OSR News - Oct. 26, 2018

New Releases

Threshold # 21 Specularum edited by Allan Palmer, Giampaolo Agosta, John Calvin, Francesco Defferrari. Art by Justin Pfeil, Damon Brown, Giampaolo Agosta, William McAusland. Cartography by Thorfinn Tait, Allan Palmer, Giampaolo Agosta. Available in PDF for Free. 260 pages.

The twenty-first issue of the Mystara Magazine, featuring the bustling capital city of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos - Specularum!

World of Jordoba Player Guide by Matt Finch. Published by Uncle Matt's RPG Studio. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $6.99. 50 pages.

The World of Jordoba is the masterpiece swords & sorcery campaign setting written by ENNIE award-winning author Matt Finch. Jordoba is an ancient world populated by strange peoples and stranger monsters, physically fraying into the depths of the oceanic multiverse. Ruination has spread across the world, and the civilizations of the Sea of Khoramandu are pushed back to the very coasts. And yet, humankind has risen from worse threats in the past eons of its existence. Scattered villages remain in the wildlands, and new barons carve out freeholds in the wilderness, their names scribed upon new maps. Great wizards make sorties into the very shadows beyond reality, seeking forgotten lore and undiscovered frontiers of arcane scholarship. It is a world where unnatural things survive from ancient times, where nameless gods have turned their unfathomable intentions, and where even civilized regions must literally be re-explored. This is … the Weirdling world of Jordoba!

Shards of Urfklin by Peter C. Spahn. Art by Luigi Castellani. Published by Small Niche Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $2.99. 12 pages.

WhiteBox One-Shots SciFi is a line of short planetary missions, space operations, and other science fiction encounters designed for compatibility with White Star: Galaxy Edition™.
Someone is hiding aboard your ship. It’s probably the fugitive the Galactic Consortium was searching for back on Cala Lo’taris. Can you find him before you reach the next starport and avoid being implicated in his crimes? Or will you try to profit from the sale of his stolen crystal shards?

Shards of Urfklin is a short, event-based White Star: Galaxy Edition™ adventure designed for three to six characters of 1st-3rd level. The adventure begins aboard a luxury starcruiser named the Cala Lo’taris, but the action quickly moves to the characters’ own starship.

Shards of Urfklin includes one (1) new alien race and two (2) new alien creatures for use in your White Star setting.

Shards of Urfklin also offers a plot hook for the Heart of Varrul setting sourcebook due out in the last quarter of 2018. 

Witchburner by Luka Rejec. Published by The Hydra Cooperative. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $13.00. 68 pages. A 34 page free edition is also available here.

Witchburner is a novella-length rpg adventure. It's an intimate, tragic adventure of witch hunting in a town huddled between rivers and mountains and forests one wet and cold October. 

Over 64 pages it delivers a mostly system-neutral adventure with: 

• A brief description of the town with an ill-labelled map. Scrawl on it.
• A detailed breakdown of how to run the social investigation adventure.
• Simple rules for time, alcohol, love, fear, the mob, and, yes, torture (I mean, it's witchburner, after all).
• A breakdown on how to adapt OSR stats for play on the fly.
• A few random encounters.
• Some "inexplicable witchcraft related phenoma".
• A tracker for 30 key NPCs.
• A massive, watch-by-watch breakdown of a whole 30-day month (October, if you're asking. The 31st is not included).
• An even more massive breakdown of the aforementioned 30 townspeople (NPCs), their houses, treasures, secret lore, and household, giving you about 100 different NPCs.
• An appendix with some stuff, including suggested music.
• And a little art. 

What people have said: 

"Everything has this sense of horror ... these are people who survived [war] and can easily wind up burned to death by the party." —an editor. 

"This is amazing. I started to read it over my morning coffee and couldn't put it down. I've never been so immersed by an RPG module before. The detail of the villagers, the town, the history, the weird, all awesome ... I would totally read a novel in this setting." —a patron.

This work was made possible with the gracious support of the Heroes of the Stratometaship, Luka's Patreon (WizardThiefFighter).

What Ho, Frog Demons by Chris Kutalik, Luka Rejec. Art by Luka Rejec. Published by The Hydra Cooperative. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $12.00. 112 pages. (ed. I think this will be available in Print as well, sometime in the near future.)

Weighing in at 112 pages of pure Slavic/Vancian/Moorcockian acid fantasy, What Ho, Frog Demons is the fourth stand-alone, mini-sandbox adventure in the Slumbering Ursine Dunes series. Fever-Dreaming Marlinko was an experiment in reforming the city setting book: sloughing off the tedious bits and cranking up the most adventurable qualities. What Ho, Frog Demons is a similar experiment: what happens when you rev up a regional setting book really high for pure play at the table.

What's inside its novella-length pages: 

Two "Saturday Night Special" Dungeons. Experience the two-bit Tomb of Horrors of the deadly trapped hell of the Frog Demon Temple or the escalating schlock-horror of the Manor of the Beet God. Both designed to be easily slottable for a few sessions of manic play in your home mangled campaign.

Full Hexcrawl. Want to run your players through the Weird-infested environs between the Dunes, Marlinko, the Misty Isles and this product? Well here's a full hexcrawl of all of Marlinko Canton, the most feverish of the Hill Cantons. 

An “Infection Index.” Much like the Chaos Index of previous adventures which brought an ever changing and escalating sandbox, the Beet God Manor will crank up over and between sessions.

A slew of new monsters and a random frog demon generation system. 

A whole rural carousing system.

An entire Bucolic Slavic Village generation system.

D.A.M.N. Magazine -- Spring/Summer 2018 published by Mystic Bull Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in Print/PDF combo for $15.00 and in PDF for $10.00. This is the Fisher Cover as shown. An alternative Poag cover is also available, here. 116 pages.

This issue of D.A.M.N. Magazine features the following DCC RPG goodness:

• The Balmorphos Dungeon: The Demon Snake of Balmorphos: First part of a multi-part mega-dungeon by Daniel Bishop!
• Portal to the Plane of Probability: First published adventure by Cory Gahsman!
• Cannibal Tiger-Women of Tsaru: The spiritual successor to the God-Seed Awakens! by Paul Wolfe. Why am I using so many exclamation points?!
• Badass gaming articles by Eric Hoffman, Lee Murphy, Ari-Matti Piippo, and Daniel Vance.
• The very first DCC RPG comic, The DAMNed, by Jason Sholtis!
• Artist Spotlight: Feliks RK Pyron
• Third Party Spotlight: Thick Skull Adventures and Divinities and Cults by Dan Osarchuk!
• And all the regular features. 

Hearts in Glorantha 7 published by D101 Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in Print/PDF for $13.11 and in PDF for $6.50. 48 pages.

Our 10th Anniversary Issue, featuring 48 pages of Myths, Articles, and Scenarios (13th Age Glorantha and for RuneQuest 2) in softcover A4 format. 

This issue: 

• Pavis Boxing Association A RQ3 Hero Cult by Leon Kirshtein.
• How A Rubble Runner Destroyed the Crimson Bat at The Battle of Iceland. A short tale by Lev Lafayette and Erica Hoehn.
• Strange Broos. A very strange RuneQuest Classic encounter with scenario seeds by Scott Crowder.
• Boatduck’s Lunch. Stewart Stansfield details what’s on the Duck menu.
• Snipbeak. A Duck with Lunar sympathies for RuneQuest Glorantha by Stewart Stansfield.
• Who Gets to Speak. Ian Cooper, Line Editor for HeroQuest, talks about what makes HeroQuest so unique among role-playing games.
• Orlanth, Heler and the Dragon. An Orlanthi Myth told by Stuart Mousir-Harrison.
• The Beard of Lhankor Mhy. An adventure for 13th Age Glorantha by Guy Milner.
• Heroic Tales. Two scenario seeds, each with three possibilities, by Newt Newport.
• The Temple of the Golden Gorp. A Short Adventure for RuneQuest Classic by Newt Newport.

Scorchfire by Malrex. Published by The Merciless Merchants. Available from DriveThru RPG in Print for $10.00, in PDF for $5.00 and in a combo for $12.00. 18 pages.

This adventure is dedicated to my county--Sonoma County, CA and all the families that lost their homes, family, friends, and pets to the Tubbs Fire of 2017. #SonomaStrong!! From the ashes, we shall rebuild! 

Your party successfully emerges from whatever dark hole you were conquering (or fleeing from) to be greeted by fire-swept terrain; a burning hell! A wildfire leaves a blackened and charred landscape. Ash storms blanket the smoldering remnants of charred trees and smoke blurs vision. Is the nearby town unscathed? Any survivors? Is there safe passage through the raging inferno? The adventure isn’t over….it just begun.
An OSR adventure for Levels 7-9.

The Complete Vigilante Hack - Kickstarter Edition by Eric Bloat, Jodie Brandt, Kickstarter Community. Art by Bradley K. MCDevitt, JESHIELDS, Tamas Baranya, Peter Saga, Jacob Blackmon. Published by Bloat Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $9.99. 36 pages.

Thanks to the enourmous generosity of my Kickstarter Backers, I can now offer you what was once a one-time Kickstarter Exclusive: The Complete Vigilante Hack! 

The Complete Vigilante Hack collects: The Vigilante Hack, A City Full of Sinners, Sanctuary Asylum, Hacking The Hack and Community content. 

The Complete Vigilante Hack is based off of The Black Hack by David Black

Note: This is a PDF only product.

The Tricks of Treachery Isle by Kingtycoon Methuselah. Published by Game of the North. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $7.30. 73 pages.

Nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted on Cormorant Isle! And yet you find that you must rely on dangerous strangers if you hope to leave the Isle alive. Who are these tricksters and what is the secret that they will kill to keep hidden?

An Old-School style adventure module with a Halloween theme.

Fighting Foolishness: Fighting Ideas for OSR Games - Published by Unbalanced Dice Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in Print for $9.99, PDF for $2.50 and in combo for $12.49. 33 pages.

The first of a new series, Fighting Foolishness, follows in the steps of the Magic Madness series. Inside are 30 ideas: abilities, skills, etc... . What they are to you is how you classify them. Add a couple to an individual Fighter(not just the vanilla Fighter, any Fighter) and you have something new to play with. Combine a bunch of them and make a new fighting class. Award them to the good player... or bad. Choices, choices for you to make. 

Summon your ancestors with Ancestors Appear to heal you before for mano vs who knows what combat. 

Reach for something you do not want to with Blade Of Ignoble Existence. A new low may have been reached but you may win the fight! 

Prepare to smack the right enemies with Damage Of Death. Blows against many, just hit them and they will fall. But, they must be ready. 

A good jump makes the Leap Blow what you've always wanted. Let your weight make the hit that much more powerful. 

No One Shall Fall, a speech must be made but our fighting will be so much better as long as no one falls. 

At last your fighter can become stronger with Strengthening Blows. I will not cut you but when my biceps bulge bigger you will feel a greater blow. 

Finally, will my god listen to me when I use War God Strengthen Me? My foe seems so much stronger then me, let my power be equal to his! 

All this inside and more, Fighting Foolishness... fight the fools today!

Bogey of Brindle by Lloyd Metcalf. Art by Lloyd Metcalf and Raven Metcalf. Published by Fail Squad Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $6.00. 38 pages.

The celebration of Firstfeast is upon the good folk of Westwego, and just as the smell of cakes and pies are warming up, you find yourselves among the bootlegging goblins of Brindle.

Can you save Westwego? 

What about the celebration? 

What about the hooch!?

WitchPig the Midderlands Card Game by Glynn Seal. Published by Monkeyblood Design. Available in Print/PDF combo from DriveThru RPG for $14.00 and in PDF for Free. 72 cards.

WitchPig - The Midderlands Card Game.

Designed as a fictitious card-based gambling game in the roleplaying setting for The Midderlands, also available from monkeyBlood Design & Publishing. 

WitchPig Craze Sweeping The Haven Isles
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The card game of WitchPig is sweeping across the Haven Isles. The gambling game, which is said to be esoteric and shrouded in hidden mysticism, is frowned upon by those of a theological persuasion, and it is deemed a ritual device of devils, witches, and warlocks. 

The Witchfinder General, Lord Tolbein Moorcock of the Grand Malefizhaus in Great Lunden, has issued an order to all witchfinders that anyone found playing the game should be arrested and investigated for their possible allegiances to devilry. 

For use as a game prop or actual card game.

Hidden Hand of the Horla by R. J. Thompson. Art by Dyson Logos, et. al. Published by Appendix N Entertainment. Available from DriveThru RPG for PWYW (limited time.) 22 pages.

A 1st - 3rd level adventure for use with Gateway To Adventure and other Original Edition Fantasy Role Playing Games. 

Legends tell of the Hand Mage's Tower that once stood at the edge of the realm. Within the Hand Mage experimented and hoarded his magical treasures. The tower stood for many years until one day it mysteriously vanished. Rumors spread that the mage had offended the gods and had been eradicated from existence, or else had made a pact with a demon prince and was now paying his due. Whatever the case, the tales became legend and all but the oldest elves were unsure if the tower had ever existed at all. Now the tower has reappeared where it once stood. Will you dare to enter the ancient tower in search of riches and magical secrets?

Star Crawl by Jonathan Snodgrass. Published by Tuesday Night Fiend Club. Available in Print from Goodman Games for $15.00 and in PDF from DriveThru RPG for $10.00. 112 pages.

Ready to escape the shackles of terrestrial campaigns? Star Crawl is here to take your games across the cosmos! This book is packed to the gills with useful rules and tools for sci-fi gaming in the DCC style!

Star Crawl's 112 black & white pages include: 

• Six new classes and guidance on taking DCC & MCC characters into space
• All new Race Template rules, including twelve character races
• New weapons, armor, and equipment with rules for customization
• Bestiary of aliens & monsters
• Quick tables to help create new worlds and stellar encounters
• A full 0-level funnel: The Promethean Adventure! 

While features of this book can be applied to any game system, Star Crawl is designed for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics and Mutant Crawl Classics RPGs.

The Peasants' Fell Bargain by Martin Buinicki. Published by Gaming Honors. Available from the publisher in Print for $10.99 ($19.99 with the battle map and extras, a separate battle map for $4.99.) and in PDF for $7.99 ($9.99 with a PDF of the battle map and extras, the PDF of the battle map is $2.99.) 28 pages.

Lord Stenorian needs your help! He offers you a deal too good to be true: find his son, hiding somewhere in his ransacked house, and he will make your wildest dreams come true.

But the Stenorian manor holds terrors and secrets kept for centuries. When you learn the truth, will you keep your half of the fell bargain? 

New Editions & Re-Releases

The Black Bestiary for The Black Hack Second Edition by Mark Craddock. Art by James Shields. Published by Cross Planes Game Studio. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $2.99. 16 pages.

Do you enjoy THE BLACK HACK SECOND EDITION but wish you had more Monsters to add to it?

THE BLACK BESTIARY includes 53 additional Monsters such as Aliens, Apemen, Beastmen, Creeps like evil clowns and slashers, Cryptids like sasquatch, Dinosaurs, Equines like nightmares, Experiments like chimera, Ogres, Ratmen, Weirdos like skull-faced sorcerers and turtle martial artists, and Winged Warriors like gargoyles.

Tomb of the Iron God by Matt Finch. Published by Uncle Matt's RPG Studio. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $5.99. 52 pages. A 5e version is available in PDF for $6.99.

A temple destroyed by divine wrath... An ancient, imprisoned evil and a powerful idol. Mysteries abound in the tombs below the temple of the Iron God, protector of the dead. Discover the dreadful fate of the Iron God's priesthood and the reasons behind their downfall in this intriguing adventure designed for low-level characters. Tomb of the Iron God covers a large catacomb area on two levels, with 58 keyed locations and six new monsters. This is a Swords & Wizardry (0e) dungeon crawl for four to five characters of 1st or 2nd level, by ENNIE-award winning author Matt Finch.

Reviews

Dan Domme of I Failed My Save has a review of Neoclassical Geek Revival.

Frederick Foulds of Arcana Obscura has a review of She Bleeds and Obscene Serpent Religion 2.

Tenkar of Tenkar's Tavern has a review of Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana.

The Mixed GM has a review of Liberation of the Demon Slayer.

Jacob Aphenaeus of Sheep and Sorcery has a review of Through Ultan's Door.

Ben from Questing Beast has a YouTube review of Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana.

Bryce from tenfootpole.org reviews Murderknights of Corvendark and The Sunken Fort.

Anthony from The Blue Bard reviews Through Ultan's Door.

Needles at Swords & Stitchery reviews Through Ultan's Door.

Pookie from Reviews from R'lyeh reviews Operation Unfathomable.

ENDZEITGEIST at Nerd Trek reviews The God That Crawls. 

Needles at Swords & Stitchery has some things to say about the World of Jordoba Players Guide.

Follow Me and Die! has a review of Hidden Hand of the Horla. 

Some Other Things of Interest...

Aos of Metal Earth has been posting previews of his work on BX Mars.

I recently became aware of Heimat Der Katastrophe. If you're interested in the idea of having some retro style, ambient music for your games, this will be right up your alley. Each of their releases has the tracks available for listening and you can buy the digital albums
(the one pictured is €3) or their complete catalog for €51.10. It looks like they offer physical copies as well, on cassette, but those look to sell out quickly. I was impressed with the samples I listened to. Definitely worth checking out.


And check out Tim Shorts' Patreon for some Micro-Adventures. 

Timothy Brannon discusses his S&W coven of Witches.

Here's an LotFP Cheat Sheet from Red Dice Diaries and a site to generate your own Cheat Sheets!

TitoRPG has some info about witches. Raggi or one of his writer's could do something truly weird and horrific with this.

Konsumterra of Elfmaids & Octopimade a table - d100 Dungeon Sex Shop Stock.

Blue Sword Games has some pretty maps!



About The OSR 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. 

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. Some of the links, such as to One Bookshelf sites, are affiliate links and may provide some compensation from the pertinent site. 

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

Another Thrilling Episode of Conan and the Cheap DM

It's been about six years, since Conan last faced off against the Cheap DM and I think it's time for another confrontation! I'm curious to see what might have been put on the web, since last I posted one
of these.

Okay, here's the deal. You want to run a Hyborian Age campaign, 'cause who hasn't at least toyed with the idea, right? But, you don't want to shell out any money. Maybe the new Conan hotness doesn't do it for you. Maybe you've already got the system you want and fuck it, D&D Can do anything, anyway!

What you need is campaign material. Maps, maybe a gazetteer, some info on the Hyborian gods, a timeline, some inspiration, etc.

Can we find everything we need online? For free? Without resorting to piracy, mind you. That would make it too easy.

Not to worry! The Cheap DM has fought this battle before and emerged triumphant!

Some Main Resources

Let's visit Jason Vey’s Classic Edition Fantasy Resources Page. If you want to use OD&D, or something close to it, then his supplements, The Age of Conan and The Secrets of Acheron, as well as a DM screen for the set will be of use! These feature rules for running an OD&D campaign in the Hyborian Age and the main focus is on adapting the game to Howard’s setting, including overhauling the magic system. There’s not a lot of info on the milieu itself, but there's some race info and a little info on the gods. Contains an excerpt of Howard’s essay The Hyborian Age.

A good start, but we're not done yet. 

The Hyborian Age page, by Thulsa comes next. This site has gods, demons, a gazetteer and maps! Plenty of maps! Not to mention magic items, famous sorcerers and other personages. The rules are d20, but easy enough to toss, amend, or mutilate. The site also reproduces Howard’s The Hyborian Age essay It's an old site and a few of the links to elsewhere are dead, but the majority of it, including the really important stuff, are still there.

  

I still haven't gone through this site, but the Conan Wiki has a Gazetteer and more. The Age of Conan Wiki might also have some useful stuff.

If you're not a Howard purist, then the Hyborian Age Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe has all kinds inspirational material. It’s rather large and contains a ton of Marvel Pictures! 

Hyborian War is an archive of an old Play-by-Mail game, which contains Kingdom Reports and what-not, which you may find useful. The various kingdom reports have some detailed maps of the regions and are in pdf format.

Here's a direct link to a PDF titled Hyboria by Rowan Walking Wolf, which takes the most important setting info from Thulsa's site and puts it in a handy 64 page document. It says it's "for use with Saga & other fine roleplaying systems" but at a quick glance it looks to be completely system free. The gazetteer, races, personalities, gods, etc., are all here as well as a B&W map. Probably the best setting material source I've found on this particular adventure, beating out xoth.net thanks to its format and ease of use.

Maps

A google image search will turn up tons of maps and other imagery. Here's a few that caught my eye.

Here's a 25 MB map of the Hyborian Age by someone named Sapiento on Deviant Art.

Here's another map. I think it's a copy of the Mongoose one. Large.

A direct link to another map. 

Some old Marvel maps, by Crom! From The Dork Review.

This one hosted at Cap'n's Comics is pretty damn cool!

A small map of Arenjun City of Thieves at xoth.net by Matthew Finch?!?

Other Useful Conan Stuff!

The Wikipedia page for the Hyborian Age has some useful info.

Dragonsfoot # 13 has an AD&D Conversion of Thulsa’s Tower of the Elephant adventure.

Here's a Conan inspired adventure for The Black Hack - The Black Sword of Shem.

Dr. Skull's Conan Cult has campaign notes and modules from a Mongoose Conan campaign.

A few Hyborian Age houserules from the Hyborian Tales blog.

There might be something useful in the Free RPG Day offering from Modiphius. Also, their Quickstart for the game.

the venomous pao hosts several BoL Hyborian Age adventures, written by G-Man.

Here's a direct link to a PDF called Nations and Peoples of the Hyborian Age - A larp resource on the cultures and countries in Hyboria.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Revolvy, but there's a Hyborian Age page with quite a few articles that look pretty in depth. 

And if you're interested in REH scholarship, The Cimmerian is well worth perusing.

Some of REH's works are in the Public Domain. Here's many of his writings, featuring Conan, et al.

And if You Haven't Chosen a System, yet...

There's always ZeFRS – The Retro-Clone of the rules from TSR’s old Conan RPG by David Cook. You can download it for free here.

Or, the free version of Barbarians of Lemuria, might just hit that sweet spot, system-wise!

And We're Done!

There you go! Everything we need to run the Hyborian Age and then some!

For those willing to expand their means of acquisition and hunt second hand type sources, I might recommend looking for some of the old Mongoose Conan releases, which are no longer available for purchase since they lost the license. Their Road of Kings supplement is what I would probably use first and foremost if I were going to run Hyboria. That and maybe a heavily houseruled S&W. Though, Advanced Labyrinth Lord with Human Multi-Classing allowed and an edited spell list would work. Maybe LotFP? If I were willing to spend the time and energy on a blatant copyright violation, I'd do a source book. I kind of feel like Gorgonmilk has dropped the ball, here! ;)

The Vancian Nullifier

The Vancian Nullifier - Longsword +1, +2 vs. Vancian Casters AL: N
Languages: Common, Dwarven - Read Magic
Minor Power: Detect Magic at Will
Major Power: +2 to Saves vs. any Vancian Cast Spell

Special Purpose: Slay Vancian Spell Casters
Special Purpose Power: Spell Nullification
Int:14 Ego:14

Appearance: The blade of the sword has a light, electric blue hue, with a hilt and cross guard of intertwining purple and black metal strands, wrapped in white leather. The pommel is a smooth, blue stone of indeterminate type, which is warm to the touch and throbs obscenely when the Detect Magic power is utilized. Deeply etched Dwarven Runes adorn both sides of the blade and these will spit blue sparks when in the presence of a Vancian spell caster.

History: The Vancian Nullifier was created by a dwarf, when the world was young and the dwarven people were beset by spell casting enemies. The sword remembers battling elves in its early days, but doesn't have a very clear recollection of anything beyond five hundred years or so, ago. It has a serviceable, if archaic knowledge of dwarven society and a spotty grasp of dwarven history.

Powers: With a successful hit upon a Vancian spell caster, the sword will sever the psychic binding of 1d4 spells from the target's memory. These are determined at random.

Healing spells and other beneficial magics will only work upon the wielder if a saving throw is failed.

I Swear Upon Your Death

I Swear Upon Your Death - Bastard Sword +2
Alignment: LN
Minor/Major Powers: None
Special Purpose - Vengeance

Special Purpose Powers - Wielder need not sleep, drink, or eat and Regenerates 1 HP per Turn. Wielder is immune to 1st and 2nd level Illusion/Phantasm (Type) Spells. Geas (upon wielder.)
Int:13   Ego:13

This Bastard Sword appears as an archaic, well made blade with a slightly reddish tinge to the steel and a handle wrapped in blood red leather. The pommel is a smooth green stone, half recessed. A few sigils adorn the blade, near the hilt and a read magic will reveal the following: I Swear Upon Your Death.

To all appearances the sword will appear to be nothing more than a +2 weapon and will function as such. Unless and until the phrase written upon the blade is uttered with hatred, intent and a specific individual in mind. At which point the sword will awaken, be able to communicate by empathy and the Special Purpose powers will activate. The sword will be relentless in its intent to slay its target and will Geas the wielder, if it feels he or she is dallying.

Upon the consummation of the oath, or a condition of irrevocable failure, the sword will disappear, placing itself near a recent battle site or large treasure hoard.

The OSR News - October 18, 2018

With the impending G+ apocalypse and my own, as well as others', return to blogging, I think a case can be made for a revival of my OSR News series. So, I'm doing it. If you have any new Print and/or PDF releases, feel free to send me a link. While I don't usually list individual blog posts, I do make exceptions for adventures, reviews, maps, or more involved random tables. I sometimes include an occasional review of my own as well. 

New Releases

Through Ultan's Door Issue 1 by Ben L. Art by Huargo. Available from the Publisher in Print/PDF combo for $9.00 and in PDF for $4.50. 36 pages.

Go through Ultan's door in this inaugural issue into the Ruins of the Inquisitor's Theater, a 30 room dungeon replete with oneiric puddings, delicate shadow puppets, giggling white swine, and much more. This zine contains everything you need to launch a D&D campaign in the Zyan, flying city of the dreamlands. The issue is printed on deluxe paper, and comes with a detachable cover that has a map printed on the interior by Gus L., and a separate card for encounters. Brought to life with stunning art of Huargo and brilliant layout of Matt Hildebrand, it is an object that may itself have come from beyond the veil of sleep. 

The zine ships on Fridays. When you purchase a print copy, you will be emailed a zip file of the PDF of the zine when the order is fulfilled.
36 page interior + standup cover with map on interior + encounter card +PDF

Murder Knights of Corvendark by Glynn Seal. Art by Glynn Seal, Steve Punter. Published by MonkeyBlood Design. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $5.21 and in Print for $9.77. Combo for $11.72. 48 pages.

A location and adventure for old school roleplaying games.

 Written specifically for Swords & Wizardry, but usable with any retroclones or old school games.No one knows from where they came. All feathers and spite. Their vile beaks spit angry screeches, and beneath their wing beats, acrid miasmas swirl. 

Within the subterranean caverns beneath Wychington — on the shores of Lake Grimwater — a small part of a region from long ago, or maybe a time yet to pass, has come into existence. Malign and abhorrent half-men, half-crows inhabit this harrowing place. Standing menacingly, clad in the darkest armour, or on their pitch-black wings protected by lighter, piecemeal leather armour, they murder men and feast on their flesh. Strangely resentful of their barely-feathered gods, they despise other living creatures for taking their breaths. 

Since the coming of this otherworldly realm, the Grimwater Lake region has been plagued by the atrocities of the ‘harpies’ — as they have been incorrectly named — regularly raiding the surface lands. None have been ravaged more so than Wychington, a small town on the northern lake edge at the mouth of the Lesselling River.   

This is Corvendark, and under the sign of an inverted, five-skulled star, the Murder Knights dwell.

It is now that heroes are needed. Who will destroy this menace, or send them back whence they came?

The Lord of Wychington, Corben Truss, has sent out word of the need for aid and assistance to any that will heed it. Maybe, just maybe, that is you?

This adventure is intended for low level play and can be scaled up or down accordingly. It should work best with 4× Level 4 player characters with access to plenty of healing.

Totally Random Tables by Venger As'Nas Satanis. Art by Glynn Seal, Bojan Sucevic. Published by Kort'thalis Publishing. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $2.00. 13 pages.

A couple years ago, I started coming out with these completely random d6 tables on my Draconic Magazine website/blog. They were fun to do and, because they were only 6 results deep per table, I could come up with wild, funny, thought-provoking, or stupid-on-purpose entries every month or so. 

Once I had 30 of them collected, I decided that was a good point to self-publish what I had, sharing my gonzo d6 tables with the gaming world. 30 d6 tables... who knows how many invididual results that actually comes to. I don't have a doctorate in advanced mathematics or anything... but it's quite a few. 

Totally Random Tables can be a challenge for those who want to test their Game Mastering mettle. It can be inspirational for GMs looking for spontaneous ideas. Or it can inject your game with a travesty of gonzo the likes of which even Hunter S. Thompson has never seen. 

Ideally, you'll be using this in your utterly irresponsible and horrifyingly inappropriate mash-up game of Crimson Dragon Slayer, Alpha Blue, The Outer Presence, and Blood Dark Thirst. 

Enjoy, 

Venger As'Nas Satanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing 

The Witch for Swords & Wizardry White Box by Timothy S. Brannon. Art by A.E. Short, Anna Marine, Luigi Castellani, Larry Elmore, Earl Geier, William McAusland, and Bradley K McDevitt. Published by The Other Side. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $4.99 and Print/PDF combo for $9.99. 120 pages.

"Witches are far more complex and far more wonderful than you have been told.

But for this wonder we serve the Goddess."
- "Old" Gezzie, Crone of the White Witch Tradition

A complete set of rules for the witch class for the Swords & Wizardry
White Box RPG. Inside you will find: 

• The Witch Class
• The White Witch tradition
• 183 witch spells
• 76 brand new spells
• 18 monsters
• New treasure and magic itemsAll for your Swords & Wizardry White Box old-school games.

The Book and The Spring - Encounters & Sourcebook by Christopher Letzelter. Art by Ian Baggley,
Christopher Letzelter, Matthew Ray, Del Teigeler. Published by Anachronistes Press. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $5.99, in Print for $14.99 and in Print/PDF combo for $17.98. 52 pages.

Dungeon Delving In The Desert! 

PC’s get more than they bargained for when they undertake a quest to destroy a recently-captured tome of black magic. Standing in their way are an unforgiving desert, a cursed and ruined city, an ancient tomb, and a dried-up spring. Oh, and lots of unexpected foes and tricky situations, of course. This adventure features many challenging scenarios for 4-8 PC’s of 4th through 7th level. Designed for use with 1st-Edition and OSRIC rulesets, this module is easily adaptable to 2nd-Edition, Adventures Dark and Deep, and similar rulesets. The module consists of two volumes - this Encounters sourcebook, and a Maps & Supplementsbooklet:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/253077/The-Book-and-The-Spring--Maps--Supplements, featuring a multi-location, challenging quest in a Mesopotamian-style setting.

The Book and The Spring - Maps & Supplements. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $9.99 and in Print/PDF combo for $11.98. 36 pages.

Blood & Treasure Monsters II by Jim Stater. Available in Print from Lulu for $19.99 and in PDF for $9.99. 200 pages.

Blood & Treasure is the fantasy role-playing game for people who want to spend less time arguing over rules and more time playing, and the new 2nd Edition continues this tradition. 

In this volume you get over 500 monsters drawn from folklore, fantasy and mythology. Eight of these creatures can be used as player characters with the help of the Blood & Treasure 2nd Edition Rulebook. You also get encounter tables that combine these new monsters with the monsters from Blood & Treasure 2nd Edition Monsters.

Mudwarren Alley By Evlyn Moreau. Available from Lulu in Print for $2.02 and at the author's blog in PDF for Free. 36 pages.

Surprise! I found back all the files of the Void Beaver dungeon we crafted on G+ a loooong time ago and I assembled everything together.

This was originally a initiative by Karl Stjernberg and Jfur Moonpoison.
Karl drew the cover and the map while Jennifer assembled everything together and edited the text into something gameable. I then contributed more than a dozen illustrations.

Enjoy and beware of the Void!

Cosmic Crawl By Evlyn Moreau. Available from Lulu in Print for $4.45 At the author's blog in PDF for Free. 36 pages.
and in

A cosmic map composed of 12 locations, each locations contains a description and events and discoveries random tables.

Doodle Maps - First Series by Evlyn Moreau. Available from Lulu in Print for $4.32 and at the author's blog in PDF for Free. 28 pages.

A doodle map with 40 locations. Each location contain a description and a set of encounters and treasures random tables. This is the first map of a series of nine maps that forms a 3x3 grid of maps.

Pollute the Elfen Memory Water by Michael Raston. Published by Gorgzu Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for PWYW. 19 pages.

A fantasypunk shadowrun set in Infinigrad. Much of the details within were generated using the The Blasphemous Roster. 

Included in the PDF are:

• Client and Job Description.
• Facility Random Encounter Table.
• A Random Weird Flower Table.
• NPC statistics.
• Facility Map and room descriptions.
• Leopetera Banks Suburb Map.
• Elfs that use worms and milk to retain/abuse their memories. 

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2018 Halloween Module: The Corpse That Love Built by Stephen Newton. Art by William McAusland. Published by Goodman Games. Available in Print/PDF combo from the publisher for $9.99. Available in PDF from the publisher for $6.99. Available in PDF from DriveThru RPG for $4.82. 16 pages.

A level 2 adventure for DCC RPG – specially themed for Halloween horror!
The perfect October release! 

The town of Portnelle is living in a state a fear. Several citizens have been abducted – some never to been seen again, while others are found as corpses, often with missing limbs. 

When a senile town priest warns that he’s received a vision that the geriatric recluse Dr. Lotrin Von Geisterblut is behind the abductions, there are many who do not believe the accusations. However, when the town is set upon by wicked fiends foretold in his vision, attitudes quickly change, and swords are raised. Perhaps it’s time to storm the castle after all… 

This level 2 adventure is a story of Gothic horror which pits the characters against monstrosities created by an ancient madman. Will the characters be able to survive the macabre horrors found in the laboratories that spawned The Corpse that Love Built!

ZA7: Temple of the Ice Gods by Joseph A. Mohr. Published by Dragonsfoot. Available from Dragonsfoot in PDF for Free. 37 pages.

Strange lights and sounds have been heard in the skies over the Barbarian Lands north of Zanzia. Long ago the Ancient Dunars settled this continent. It has long been believed that buried somewhere beneath the ice in the arctic wastelands of the Barbarian Lands there might be clues to their existence and why they disappeared so long ago. This adventure is a possible sequel to ZA5: Flayers of the Mind. It is for six to eight characters of 8th to 10th levels of experience.

ZC2: Barrowmar: City of Adventure by Joseph A. Mohr. Published by Dragonsfoot. Available from Dragonsfoot in PDF (presumably) for Free. Zip file. Pagination unknown. 

Welcome to Barrowmar, the capital city of the the land of Zanzia. This download contains all the information a DM will need to bring the city to life, and includes the main city resource, a map pack and a separate supplement of shops and businesses. This download can be used to supplement the "ZC1: The World of Zanzia" campaign resource, plus the Zanzia adventures (indicated by the 'ZA' code), which are all available here on Dragonsfoot.

Library Generation Tables by Larry Hamilton. Art by Daniell F. Walthall. Published by Follow Me, And Die! Entertainment LLC. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $1.00.

In the following pages you will find ideas for creating descriptions of various types of volumes, the libraries that house them, the librarians, a few relevant magic items, and a new creature. These tables can be used in order from front to back, or just pick from the tables that suit you. There is a page with a d30 table to assist in quick generation and has 30 sample titles. The title generator is a guide, and does not suggest exact names or authors. There are many excellent random name generators one can use for authors. Add in your list of random names and the species, peoples, nations, and locations from your campaign world to make your own book titles with authors. If you use a published campaign setting use the names and places from that setting.

Adventure Module A1: Beginner's Luck by Aaron Frost. Published by Shattered Pike Studio. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for Free. 42 pages.

"A Beginning Adventure for Ten Year Olds of All Ages" 

This short adventure was designed for kids, or to help new players learn about role playing games. The characters find themselves chasing after a master thief within the tomb of Feargus the Drowned. 

The adventure includes printable geomorph dungeon tiles so that the tomb can be mapped out as the characters explore. There are also printable double-sided magic item "loot cards" with game stats for the weapons, armor, and items. 

Links to two audio tracks that can be played during the course of the adventure are also included. This adventure requires The Black Hack by David Black to play.

Monster_N_Treasure Challenge by The Gamers on MeWe. Ed. by Mark Hunt. Available from DriveThru RPG for Free. 20 pages.

This is a collection of Items shared by the gamers on MEWE! We hope you find a use for it in your games! 

City of Illanter: Kellerin's Rumble by Malrex. Art by Jack Holliday, Peter Temesi, Maciej Zagorski, Jlonnee, Rick Hershey, V-shane, Robert Hemminger. Published by The Merciless Merchants. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for PWYW. 27 pages. 

Congratulations!! Someone in your party won/found/bequeathed a deed to a warehouse inside the protective walls of Illanter, City of Broken Swords. Another bonus, while visiting said warehouse, you are invited to the mysterious Kellerin's Rumble, an annual gambling event. Your group is the talk of the town! Gossip and rumors are flying around the city about the event....and YOU. Let the games begin! 

Jarkoon: Adventures on Planet X! by Simon Washbourne. Published by Beyond Belief Games. Available from Lulu in Print for $9.84 and from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $3.00. 20 pages.

Astounding! Amazing! Incredible! Non-stop action using familiar rules! Who wants to read through reams of text just to get to the action? No-one right? These rules assume you know how to role play. They assume you know about “Golden Age” comic book space fantasy adventures. (Sword & Planet rules through a retro lens). They assume you know how OSR products work. There, it’s done. You know how to play already. Just get on with it. Ray guns set to kill! Flash! Bang! Zoom! 

Dungeon Zine 6 Arcadia by Konsumterra at Elfmaids & Octopi. Available for Free in PDF. 3 pages.

Echoes From Fomalhaut #03 by Melan. Available in Print from the Publisher for $8.00. PDF available at a later date. 44 pages.

A 44-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with artwork by Stefan Poag, Denis McCarthy, and more. This issue contains... 

* The Great Wheel: A mighty 50’ wheel rolls through the wastelands of Fomalhaut, destroying all in its path, and followed by a ragged host of raiders, fanatics, desperate camp followers and wily opportunists. What purpose drives this great device, and who are its followers? 

* Terror on Tridentfish Island: A sword&sorcery module set on a formerly wealthy resort island, dotted with ruined pleasure palaces, enigmatic caverns, and the relics of a bygone age. 17 keyed locations plus two mini-dungeons. 

* Monsters of Wizardry: a collection of monsters adapted from the excellent CRPG, Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant. 

* Erillion, East: an article describing the eastern half of the Isle of Erillion, from the city of Baklin to the island kingdoms of the Northmen, and from gloomy highlands to enchanted forests. 

* Also... a detailed fold-out GM’s map of the Isle of Erillion! 

Please note that your print order also makes you eligible for free PDF copies of your ordered items when they become available (should be a few months after the print edition). PDFs will be delivered via RPGNow to your regular e-mail address, unless you request otherwise.

White Box: Vigilant of the Midnight Gourd by James M. Spahn. Art by Jeff Freels. Published by Barrel Rider Games. Available from DriveThru RPG for $1.00. 4 pages.

White Box: Vigilant of the Midnight Gourd puts a dark twist on a modern Halloween classic, reshaping it into a terrifying and twisted class for use with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR roleplaying games. 

Children who wait in the pumpkin patch sometimes receive strange gifts and become known as the Vigilant of the Midnight Gourd. Entice new followers to your dark master with sweet treats, stand sleepless and untiring in the pumpkin patch, and cut down those who would dare doubt the existence of the dark gourd that is your master with this 10-level class! 

Swords & Wizardry, S&W, WhiteBox, and Mythmere Games are the trademarks of Matthew J. Finch. Barrel Rider Games is not affiliated with Matthew J. Finch or Mythmere Games™. This product is compatible with the rules of Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox rules. 

The Oneiromancer by Vance Atkins. Published by Leicester's Rambles. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for .99 cents. 5 pages. 

An arcane student of sleep- and dream-manipulation, the Oneiromancer dwells in the unreality of the unconscious, effecting dream manipulation, recuperative spells, augury and the potential manipulation of outcomes... 

New Editions and Re-Releases

The Black Hack Second Edition by David Black. Art by Karl Stjernberg, David Black, Sean Poppe, 

Jeff Call. Published by Gold Piece Publications. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $6.00. See the publishers website for Print info. 126 pages.

Black is Back!

New expanded Second Edition rules now include a wealth of extra material and tools for every Black Hack GM. The main rules still only take up 30 pages, but the full edition adds over 90 more pages of NPCs, monsters, dungeons, traps, magic items and much more.

The Black Hack is a super-streamlined roleplaying game that uses the Original 1970s Fantasy Roleplaying Game as a base, and could well be the most straightforward modern OSR compatible clone available. If speed of play and character creation, compatibility, and simple - yet elegant rules are what you yearn for. Look no further!

The Black Hack is a fast playing game and the rules can be picked up in minutes.

Print copies of The Black Hack Second Edition may be ordered from the Squarehex website and will ship directly after the Kickstarter copies have been sent to backers.

Labyrinth Lord (Pumpkin Spice Edition) By Daniel Proctor. Published by Goblinoid Games. Available from Lulu in Print for $26.15 (HC).

 All of the great Labyrinth Lord you've come to love for the last ten years...now in pumpkin spice! 

Take a sip, and role a save vs. poison! 

2018 Pumpkin Spice Edition for a limited time!! 

Gamma World (1e) by Gary Jaquet, James M. Ward. Art by David C. Sutherland III, David A. Trampier. Published by Wizards of the Coast. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $9.99, Print for $19.99 and Print/PDF combo for $21.99. 63 pages.

Can you survive in a world gone mad? A world where civilization as we know it has been

destroyed in a cataclysmic holocaust? What is left in this world? Find out and encounter such bizarre things as mutated plants and animals more terrible than you can imagine, radiation wastelands that stretch as far as the eye can see, and fearless machines gone uncontrollably beserk . . . 

This is the setting for a GAMMA WORLD™ campaign, with players taking on the persona of an individual character somewhere in this forbidding locale. In a quest for survival and in search of a better future, the players adventure across the land, enduring hardships and encountering dangerous obstacles and mysterious foes - never knowing quite what to expect. The result is a game which can go in many directions, but which will be challenging and fascinating no matter what the outcome. 

The GAMMA WORLD™ Set includes all the basics needed to set up your own "world": game booklet (packed with terrible mutants, as well as guidelines for creating additional ones of your own), a large campaign map (designed to be easily modified by individual gamemasters), and a full set of polyhedra dice. The only other things necessary are a good imagination and a spirit of adventure! The GAMMA WORLD™ rules are also suitable for use with the ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONSTM rules.
The GAMMA WORLD challenge awaits you - are you ready? 

This digital edition includes the PDF version of the book, and a ZIP file containing printable JPGs of the campaign map. 

Note on the print edition: The maps and other elements have been added as bonus pages in the print book. If you plan on using the map at your table it is recommended that you purchase the "Multiple File Formats + Softcover Color Book" combo and print the digital version.

The Class Hack - Second Edition by Mark Craddock. Art by James Shields. Published by Cross Planes Game Studio. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $2.99. 20 pages.

Do you enjoy THE BLACK HACK SECOND EDITION but wish you had more classes to add to it? 

THE CLASS HACK SECOND EDITION includes 16 additional Classes inspired by the Original 1970's Fantasy Roleplaying game for the THE BLACK HACK OSR SECOND EDITION. 

Add the Assassin, Acrobat, Barbarian, Bard, Cavalier, Dragonborn, Druid, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Monk, Orc, Paladin, Ranger and Tiefling Classes to your campaign.

The Chaos Gods Come to Meatlandia-Vivimancer Edition by Wind Lothamer and Ahimsa Kerp. Art by Wind Lothamer. Published by Knight Owl Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $9.99. 80 pages.

All the inexplicable madness and gruesomeness of the original version, updated and improved to blend perfectly with the gross horror of Gavin Norman's masterpiece, the Complete Vivimancer. 

Still compatible with all OSR systems, just as bloody and horrific as before, and even more insane than ever! 

More bards than you can handle--including the Chaos DJ, Raconteur, and Nexus Bard!
Kaldanes! 

Meatimals, Meat Men, and Meat Mechs!
Worms Galore!

Some Misc. Other Stuff!

Saker Tarsos of Tarsos Theorum has a Rambunctious Apocalyptic Outlaws generator for you. As well as one for Disreputable Wasteland Wizards. 

Lawful Neutral of Unlawful Games has a D100 Post-Apocalyptic Loot table here. 

D. G. Chapman of The Graverobber's Guide has an adventure for you: The Witch's List.

Jay Murphy of The Vanishing Tower has a Travelling Sorcerer Random Generator. 

Michael Raston of The Lizard Man Diaries has an Automated Dungeon Room Generator. 

Trey at From the Sorcerer's Skull has a Sword & Planet Character Name Generator. 

Some Reviews from the Blogosphere

Tamás Illés from Vorpal Mace reviews The City That Dripped Blood.

Bryce Lynch continues reviewing stuff at Tenfootpole.org!

About The OSR 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. 

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. Some of the links, such as to One Bookshelf sites, are affiliate links and do provide compensation from the pertinent site. 

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