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Saturday, March 23, 2019

The OSR News: March 23, 2019

Anthony Huso unleashes a new module into the wild. And after a long absence, Carcosa again haunts the dreams of more than one OSR blogger. Meanwhile, Dyson Logos finally gets some company in Maptime. Konsumterra of Elfmaids & Octopi posts a ton of fantastic material, per the usual, and ditto for Dungeons and Possums. All this and more in this week's News!

New Releases


Zjelwyin Fall DigitalZjelwyin Fall Digital by Anthony Huso. Available from Lulu in PDF for $10.00. 53 pages. (A full color print edition from Lulu is forthcoming. Tagged under AD&D and OSRIC on Lulu. Here's a link to the author's site for a larger version of this really, really cool cover, as well as more info on the module and playtest results. ed.)

(PDF) The Endless Fall... Sages assume Shodredh Dhachod, the Gringling Lich who conceived and constructed Zjelwyin Fall, must rest inside, dreaming his sidereal dream. But Dhachod’s wards are such that knowledge of the Fall’s location and trajectory are forgotten before they can be put to paper; so it hurtles unwatched, a spindle of otherworldly beauty, a ruby comet tracing the limits of the Astral Plane. This module is designed for five or more characters of 2nd or 3rd level who are willing to brave the terrors of planar travel!

Piracy & Privateering by Josh Peters. Published by Stellagama Publishing. Available from Lulu in Print for $19.99. 84 pages.
Piracy & Privateering
Piracy and Privateering is a system-neutral sourcebook to help gamemasters run complete space pirate campaigns. In it, you will find guidelines for setting up a piracy or  sandbox campaign. There are fully developed encounter rules for figuring out which poor unfortunate souls have crossed paths with terrible player character pirates. We have also included system-neutral rules for fleshing out encounters with ships, space stations, and other unexpected sources of adventure. There are rules for selling ill-gotten booty, for splitting up crew shares, and for holding privateer courts. We have included examples of the economics of piracy and privateering, as well as sample encounter tables for two systems. There are over a dozen NPCs for GMs to use as pirate crewmembers, merchant captains, or pirate-hunting naval officers. Finally, we’ve included eight adventure seeds to help kick off space piracy and privateering campaigns!
Straffshire: Village of Planar Fugitives (Labyrinth Lord) by Giant Space Shrew. Available from  DriveThruRPG in PDF for $8.99. 60 pages.
Straffshire is a gonzo, high fantasy setting for Labyrinth Lord and other fantasy role-playing games. In the plane-shifting village of Straffshire, mortals, fey, demons, undead, sapient animals, and other creatures from across the planes live uneasily together.

The village is surrounded by a wasteland of wild magic and caught in a cold war between a demon lord and a fey deity. Powerful magic is common, and the village’s eccentric, decadent wizards have transformed their community into a weird realm where the supernatural runs rampant.

Straffshire is packed with larger-than-life characters and locations. There is Bear, the surly, militaristic bear paladin, and Jert Breeboz, the amphibian necromancer who just wants a friend. Within the village is the Polliwog Public House, a social club where bourgeois wizards hobnob and play magical table games, and the Dunman Library, a decrepit, subterranean archive operated by an angry elemental and haunted by a ghostly warlord. Beyond the village are the Planar Wastes, an ever-changing landscape wracked by magical storms and filled with gates to other worlds.

Straffshire and its environs could be the springboard for many adventures, or the basis for an entire campaign.

Features:

  • An unpredictable setting full of magic, monsters, planar travel, weirdness, and danger
  • Detailed descriptions of the setting’s important people, places, conflicts, factions, and history
  • Tools for running adventures in the village and the magical wasteland outside its walls
  • 6 new monsters
  • 50 outrageous new magic items such as the potion of child development and the living stuffed animal
  • Numerous opportunities for conflict and adventure
PhotoThe Oerth Journal # 28. Available from the Publisher for Free. 32 pages. (Also, see this post by grodog of From Kuroth's Quill. Celebrating Greyhawk: A Fandom Renaissance - GaryCon XI Seminar. Contains the podcast of the seminar, and additional material from the seminar.
● A new Order!! … The Knights of Ulek - created by Jay L. Scott "Lord Gosumba" in his 39-year campaign!
● State of the Bandit Kingdoms - by Will Dvorak
● Trading Card Style Artwork - Jeffrey B. Garrison
● Erastoriul Ka'arndrik: Drow Sage of Erelhei-Cinlu - by Allan T. Grohe, Jr. ("grodog"")
● Rhennee Rumors Up and Down the River - by Kristoph Nolen with the Oliver Bothers
● The Great Flanaess River Adventure - by the Oliver Brothers with Kristoph Nolen
● Cultists of Tharizdun (comic) - by Mike "@GreyhawkMike" Bridges
● The Cerulean Cyst - by Carlos Lising
● The Wall - by Denis "Maldin" Tetreault
● Greyhawk Reborn - by Dave Guerrieri
● The Greyhawk Channel - by Kristoph Nolen
 
Worlds United by John Snead. Published by The Design Mechanism. Available from DriveThruRPG in Hardcover/PDF combo for $39.99, in Softcover/PDF combo for $34.99 and in PDF for $15.99. 128 pages.
What if...

The Martians really did invade Earth in 1897? And again, in 1938?


Venus really is a lush jungle planet, where dinosaurs still roam?

Psionics are a reality? Crystal Technology an everyday fact of life?

Rockets ply the spacelanes between Mars, Earth, Venus and the asteroids?

The year is 1959?

Worlds United is a setting of Planetary Romance and Pulp Science Fiction. Your characters are adventurers and explorers, people of extraordinary abilities, with drive and ambition to match. Here, the gleaming alloy air cars of Gernsback era SF are a reality; one really can sail the Martian canals, or wrangle dinosaurs on Venus; and there truly are wrecks of Martian War Tripods standing fearsomely tall in the Smithsonian – and the fear that the Octopoid Martians, unseen for a generation, are once again drawing their plans against us...

Fully compatible with Mythras, Worlds United takes you into a 1959 with rockets, rayguns, dinosaurs, and rip-roaring adventure.
The Corrupted Jungle - Adventure Compilation for #ZweihanderRPG by Peter Rudin-Burgess. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $3.00. 15 pages.
This is a series of adventures that builds into a mini campaign. The action starts with the wrecking of the Wight’s Shadow. With the characters washed up on the beach they have many adventures before them and will face many horrors in a strange land of jungle, witchcraft and mutated monsters. 
This book is organized into distinct adventures. The first is the entry point and will launch the characters into an adventure of survival. The adventure should cumulate in a confrontation with a Defiler who has returned to her homeland to exact her revenge and destroy her own people who drove her away centuries before.
Berlin the Wicked City CoverBerlin - The Wicked City by David Larkins, Lynne Hardy, Mike Mason. Published by Chaosium. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $19.99 and from the Publisher in PDF for $19.99. 272 pages. (Print version forthcoming. If you plan to get the print and want the PDF now, order from the Publisher: So you want to purchase the hardcover version, but really want to get your hands on Berlin - The Wicked City - PDF so you don't have to wait. We have you covered! When you buy Berlin - The Wicked City - PDF now, we will send you a discount coupon just before the physical book goes on sale that will offset the PDF purchase price once the hardcover version is available. ed.)
Unveiling the Mythos in Weimar Germany 
In the aftermath of the Great War, Berlin has a reputation for licentiousness. A place where anything may be had for the right price. It is both a city of hedonism and a city of business; its streets overflow with disabled veterans, prostitutes, destitute immigrants, and political agitators—all rubbing shoulders with buttoned-down businessmen, scholars, and artists. The gutters run with the blood of political assassinations, where Communists and völkisch Nationalists clash with each other, as well as with the police. Long into the evenings, Berlin’s world-famous cabarets offer music, dance, and titillating entertainment in stark contrast to the gray buildings that run on for endless miles along the sprawling city’s byways.
Into this bubbling stew, Secrets of Berlin introduces the weird elements of the Cthulhu Mythos. A hotbed of occult organizations, strange cults, and half-whispered lore. Amid the wicked air of the world’s capital of sin, the very nature of what it means to be human is questioned. And, as the city hurtles toward its inevitable dark destiny, the oppressive atmosphere pushes the sanity of investigators to its breaking point.

This book presents an overview of 1920s Berlin as it would be experienced by visitors and residents of the time. Guidelines are presented for creating investigators for a Berlin-centric campaign, as well as investigator organizations to help bind groups together. Notable personalities, key locations, and a system for generating details of the urban landscape on the fly are provided. With crime and punishment, the city’s underworld, and also its high culture detailed, the tools provided help the Keeper gain an understanding of what makes Berlin unique.

Three scenarios, spanning the history of Berlin between the end of the Great War and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, contain colorful details of Berlin and its inhabitants and may be run as stand-alone adventures or linked together to form a mini-campaign.
The Asklepios Recovery by Michael Brown. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.99. 15 pages.
A deadly global pandemic forces the authorities to quarantine a planet. In order to help, a young, streetwise doctor hires the PCs for a dangerous mission: seize a cargo of illegal drugs from an interstellar criminal for use against the plague. But the heroes find they may have bitten off more than they can chew when they must fight off both ruthless criminals and a ravenous microbe.

The Asklepios Recovery is an adventure designed for Cepheus Engine and other 2D6 science-fiction RPGs, including The Original Science Fiction Roleplaying Game (OSFRPG.)
 The Civil Serpent - Adventure for #ZweihanderRPG. Published by Sad Fishe Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 11 pages.
This scenario is released as part of the upcoming A Dark and Salient Land Campaign, the early access rules to which are available on DrivethruRPG as a “pay what you want” product. This scenario and others will be released with that product upon its completion. This product does not require A Dark and Salient Land.
Requires ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG from Grim & Perilous Studios, however.

Jabberwockies are such curious, strange creatures. Sometimes harmless, othertimes deadly, always unpredictable and searching for their next laugh or trick. A jabberwocky who has taken up residence in an old marble quarry has found himself quite the joke indeed, and has taken it upon himself to force that joke onto other, violently if need be. Will those sent to hunt him find it quite as humorous?
Visceral and Emotional Damage by Jon Hook. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.00. 12 pages.
This supplement was inspired by a subject discussed in Episode 143 of the Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast, www.BlasphemousTomes.com; thank you Scott, Matt, and Paul for such an interesting, insightful, and inspiring conversation. Keepers can use this supplement to add sanitytesting gore to combat scenes and psychological tolls to investigators who injure other human beings. The ideas in this supplement assume the players and Keeper have set their Call of Cthulhu game in a more “realistic” and gritty world, as opposed to Pulp Cthulhu which by its very nature is a more “romantic” and adventurous world.
Burger Wars! (DCC) by Julian Bernick. Published by Shield of Faith Studios. Available from  DriveThruRPG in Softcover/PDF combo for $11.99 and in PDF for $4.99. 48 pages.
An Umerican Adventure of Tasty Treachery for 3+ Level Characters 
Welcome to Oniontown! 
Oniontown is the inhabited remains of a once sizable pre-cataclysm city. For decades the Buddy O’Burger cult has claimed dominion here but now a dreadful curse and formidable rivals threaten to upset their reign and tear the city apart! 
  • Will you aid the O’Burger cult in restoring order to the city?
  • Will you side with the rival Piggy King cult, hungry to take over?
  • Will you delve into other malevolent mysteries that might be behind the conflict consuming Oniontown?
  • Will you use the conflict to grab every bit of sweet salvage you can get your mutated mitts on?
  • Will you profitably prevail the perils of the city or just become another freshly served value menu item in the Burger Wars? 
This product is compatible with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game
The Hand Hack by L. F. Barbosa. Published by Ryukan Shubbansha. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $5.00. 25 pages.
"During his reign, King Sho Shin ordered the gathering of all weapons. He also ordered the aji to make their residences in Shuri. A people with no weapons and with their lords away from home would be less inclined to start rebellions. But the people of Ryukyu did not forget how to fight. They started to make weapons from their hands."
An old-school martial arts hack for the ancient mythical east.

Five classes for gifted individuals: fighter, monk, priest, sorcerer and thief.

But if your character can not choose a class, he at least can FIGHT. Learn Ju-Jutsu, Karate or Kung-Fu and kick some kobolds' butts.

You can also easily adapt the rules for dystopic, futuristic, modern day, sword & sorcery or high fantasy settings.

If you're a fan of traditional eastern martial arts and RPGs, this is your game!

Re-Releases, New Editions, Now in Print, etc.


Psionics by Courtney Campbell. Published by Hack & Slash Publishing. Available from  DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 30 pages.
The original 1e style psionics index and compliation.
(Hi Courtney! I need blurbage man! I can't fit a decent sized picture in without it. It totally screws up my formatting! Okay, I've got this covered. ed.) 
Ahem. If you're not familiar with Courtney and his blog, Hack & Slash, you really should be. Courtney's a triple threat. He can write, design and draw and does all three damn well. He's also the best RPG theorist I know of. So, you should get this and pay something for it. Then buy everything else of Courtney's. Then follow and read his blog. Shit, I need another sentence or two. I'll just kind of type some... that's good. Ed.
The Excellent Travelling Volume Issue 1 by James Maliszewski. Published by Grognardia Games. Now Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $5.99. 32 pages.
The Excellent Travelling Volume is a fanzine devoted to Empire of the Petal Throne and M.A.R. Barker's world of Tékumel.

Issue 1 contains the following articles:

  • Additions and Changes to Alignment, Profession, and Basic Talents in EPT
  • The Shaman (a new character class)
  • Patrons (five potential NPC employers)
  • Bestiary (twelve new monsters)
  • Magical Devices (six new magic items)
  • The Hidden Shrine (a short location-based adventure)
The Excellent Travelling Volume Issue 2 by James Maliszewski. Published by Grognardia Games. Now Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $5.99. 33 pages.
The Excellent Travelling Volume is a fanzine devoted to Empire of the Petal Throne and M.A.R. Barker's world of Tékumel.

Issue 2 contains the following articles:

  • The Adventurer (new character class)
  • Sokátis, the City of Roofs
  • A Portion of the Underworld of Sokátis
  • Patrons (five potential NPC employers)
  • Lost and Found (adventure)
  • Random Tsolyáni Faction Names
 The Excellent Travelling Volume Issue 3 by James Maliszewski. Published by Grognardia Games. Now Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $5.99. 33 pages.
The Excellent Travelling Volume is a fanzine devoted to Empire of the Petal Throne and M.A.R. Barker's world of Tékumel.

Issue 3 contains the following articles:

  • Salarvyáni and Pecháni Characters
  • A Portion of the Underworld of Sokátis (continued from issue 2)
  • Demons of Ksárul and Grugánu (three new monsters)
  • On the Road (Sákbe road encounters)
  • The Tower of Wachánu (adventure)
Terror Australis - Front CoverTerror Australis - 2nd Edition - Hardcover. Published by Chaosium. Available from the Publisher in Hardcover Print/PDF combo for $47.99 and in PDF for $21.99. Pagination unknown.
Call of Cthulhu in the Land Down Under
Camels in AustraliaThe driest, flattest, and smallest continent, Australia is almost as big as the continental United States, but has a fraction of the inhabitants—six million people in 1925. Beyond the settled areas, three-quarters of the land remain relatively little known until after World War Two. Seen by those in Europe and America as one of the last great wildernesses, despite decades of exploration and incursion, it remained a place that guarded its secrets.
While the ancient and primordial character of the Australian inland lures many, it is the cities in the south and east that have become centers of population. Surprisingly modern and surprisingly British in character—it is not uncommon for foreign visitors to express astonishment when they disembark from their steamer in Sydney or Melbourne and find themselves in a great metropolis with all the modern refinements of London or New York. Ever present, though, are the modern blights afflicting cities worldwide: organized crime, overcrowding, civil unrest, and uncertainty.

This unique mix of old and new—the tension between civilization and the frontier—is what makes Australia a particularly fertile 1920s setting for Call of Cthulhu. Those Keepers wishing to challenge their players with tales of gang-related squalor underpinned by ancient Mythos threats can find ample opportunity in Australia’s urban environments. Equally, investigators do not have to go too far into the Outback to become entangled in tales of stark frontier life bereft of modern conveniences of technology, underpinned by dark shadows cast by the Ctuhlhu Mythos that seem to haunt the very landscape. And for Keepers who wish to push investigators to the very limits of wilderness survival, there is no shortage of opportunities for true expeditions into places where Europeans and Americans have never set foot.

In Australia, the investigators come face-to-face with supernatural forces that have endured for longer than humanity has existed; they can attempt to step inside the ancient legends of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia in search of mystical knowledge; they can cross swords with nefarious cults intent on diabolic schemes, or challenge unwitting scientists who haplessly threaten to achieve a similar end by probing the mysteries of the Australian land.

Brining your investigators to Australia is certain to reward your gaming group. For, as soon as they have set foot upon this ancient continent, adventure, peril, and mystery abound. Whether run as an Australian campaign, a series of one-shot games, or a protracted stop over during a globe-spanning campaign, the time spent in the Land Down Under will not be wasted!
Polyhedron Newszine V7 #1 Issue 34. Published by WotC. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.99. 42 pages.
Included in this issue:
  • Revolution! - by Bob Blake, Anita Frank, and Rex Zinn. Intrigue is afoot and the realm is threatened by civil war on the eve of invasion. Part two of a series in the land of Finnish myth.
  • On The Road to the Living City - by Jean Rabe. The first installment of a series designed to introduce the Living City Project.
  • Fun in Games - by Rick Reid. A new column. In his first installment Mr. Reid discusses a few things that make role-playing gaming fun: conventions, nostalgia, and consuming snacks.
Polyhedron Newszine V7 #2 Issue 35. Published by WotC. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.99. 42 pages.
Included in this issue:
  • And All The King's Men - by Bob Blake, Anita Frank and Rex Zinn. This also includes The Undead Bole, another chapter in the tournament module set in the land of Finnish myth.
  • Rogues Gallery - by Michael Lach. Meet the Dragon-Stalker and his adventuring friends.
  • Who Ya Gonna Call? A review of the Ghost Busters game
Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding by Frank "Mottokrosh" Reding. Published by Mottokrosh Machinations. Available from DriveThruRPG in Softcover/PDF combo for $4.99. Still available in PDF for $3.99. 28 pages.
Spelunk into a wild network of interconnected and nested magical bags.

An adventure and toolkit for Hypertellurians and all fantasy roleplaying games.

The queen has lost the crown jewels and her beloved poodle Duchess down her magical bag of infinite holding. Many have tried to enter it and retrieve her majesty’s prized possessions. Will you be the ones to finally succeed?

This adventure is bags of fun, and can be adapted to play over one or several sessions, thanks to its toolkit approach. Inside you will find:

  • 29 imaginative locations
  • 7 pre-made characters to play or use as NPCs
  • 50 thematically appropriate random finds of all shapes and sizes
  • Loads of art by Alysa Avery, Frank “Mottokrosh” Reding, and Luka Rejec 
Quiver at these haverhandy sacks holding bags of marvels!

More Free Gaming Stuff from the Blogosphere and Environs


Courtney Campbell of Hack & Slash posted On the best places to gather rare plants.

Goblin's Henchman posted Uno | an initiative system.

Anne of DIY & Dragons posted GFA18 - North American Familiars.

Beloch Shrike of Papers and Pencils posted Free PDF: Mice with Legitimate Grievances. 3 page PDF.

Brian Richmond of the Goatman's Goblet posted Dolmenwood: Notable Trees of the Dolmenwood & Their Uses.

Michael S. of Chicagowiz's Games posted HOW I DO WILDERNESS ENCOUNTERS and [THREE HEXES] LOST ISLAND AT WORLD'S EDGE.

Skerples of Coins and Scrolls kicks off a Gygaxian Democracy project with OSR: The Indefinite Train - Community Project. And posts OSR: Spell Research and Magical Industry, Part 1 and Part 2.

GREGORIUS21778 posted THE GREAT FUR: ENCOUNTERS & FEATURES.
Image result for Operation White Box
David Schirduan of Technical Grimoire made this Troika Generator & Tracker.

V. A. of Leicester's Ramble posted Gothridge Manor's Macceum Sewer re-filled!

David Baymiller of The OSR Library posted Operation White Box vs DC: The GI RobotOperation White Box vs DC: Sgt ROCK and Easy Co., and Operation White Box vs DC: Axis Villains.

Michael Kennedy of Sheep and Sorcery posted THE CITY AT THE END OF TIME.

Konsumterra of Elfmaids & Octopi posted Exilon Hex 006d100 Servants for HireOwing a Spell CasterBroken Hill Locations for Gamma Oz, and Some Relics.

Maptime


Dyson Logos of Dyson's Dodecahedron posted The Bitter Minotaur Inn & TavernEndgame of the Age of Myth, and Lair of the Octopus Sorcerer.

Adamo Dagradi of At the Mountains of Weirdness posted Zyan: so beautiful, so scary, so sad.

Warren D. of I Cast Light! posted CARCOSA: A PLAYER'S MAP (Hex Kit 2.0)

Mike Bridges of Greyhawkery posted Greyhawk Map: The Wastes.

Dungeons and Possums posted The Maps of Broodmother Skyfortress.

Reviews & Play Reports


Image result for CARCOSA lotfpDungeons and Possums posted Interview: Rich Longmore Talks Carcosa, Space 1889, and More! and Respect Where It's Due: Jeff's Gameblog and Review: Carcosa by Geoffrey McKinney.

Scott Malthouse of The Trollish Delver posted How to get started with Tunnels and Trolls.

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org posted The Pilgrimage of Hunger and Off Track: The Uncharted Swamp.

Justin Isaac of Halls of the Nephilim reviews Hawk the Slayer.

Melan of Beyond Fomlhaut reviews The Sea of Vipers.

Wizard Lizard of Underground Adventures posted Mushrooms Elves Doom - An Into the Odd Session Report. 

Timothy S. Brannan of The Other Side posted Monstrous Mondays: Monster Book Round Up, 1st Ed style.

Glen Hallstrom of Radio Grognard uploaded Great Lunden, The Midderlands And You (with Glynn Seal).

Brandon Goeringer of YouTube uploaded RPG Overview #43 Diesel Punks for the Black Hack Part I and also Part II.


Dungeon Musings of YouTube uploaded Actual Play - Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea - Thuleborg Tales - Ep1. 

ivanmike1968 of YouTube uploaded Lamentations of the Martian Princess ep #15 ~ Into the Void.

Scott Malthouse of DelveCast uploaded British Old School.

Fantastic Dimensions of YouTube uploaded Rogues to Riches, session 2: The Pastor, The Whore, and the Farmhouse.

Endzeitgeist posted Wormskin #3: Ye Ruined Abbey of St. Clewd Pt. I (OSR)Wormskin #4: Ye Ruined Abbey of St. Clewd Pt.II (OSR)Advanced Adventures: The Secret of the Callair Hills (OSR)Whisper & Venom Compendium (OSR/PFRPG), and In the Prison of the Squid Sorcerer (DCC).

And in Other News...


Erik Tenkar uploaded E305 of the Tavern Chat Podcast Designers & Makers Fireside Chat with Courtney Campbell (Hack & Slash) Round Two.

Bundle of Holding - More Stars Without Number.

Nate Trem has put out a call for a Pamphlet Dungeon Jam.

Kickstarters, Pre-Orders, etc.


The Road to Hell. Published by D101 Games. Available from the Publisher in Hardcover print/PDF combo for pre-order. £15.00.

The Road to Hell is a Halloween themed adventure for early editions of D&D/OSR using the Swords and Wizardry ruleset.
Please note this title is on pre-order, print copies will be sent out when they come in from the printers in early April, and you get the PDF copy immediately.

It’s been a rough year for professional adventurers such as yourself. Last year good Queen Bess finally passed on, and Sir Robert Cecil effortlessly paved the way for King James to come south from Scotland and take up the crown. A more prudent monarch with a considerable national debt to deal with, he immediately tightened the purse strings. So, less money for expeditions to the New World. Also, Good King James has been making friends with the Spanish, so no more licenses for pirating the Spanish and an end to dubious endeavours in Europe. He’s also no friend of witches. He even sat in on torture sessions while up in Scotland. So patrons for your line of work have dried up or in some cases lost their heads in the change of regime, and you were looking destitution in the face.

Then the architect of your downfall, Sir Robert, seeks you out and puts you in touch with an old patron. An odd fellow called Dr Dee, former court astrologer to the Queen until he fell out of favour and had to go on a grand European tour. Last you had heard Queen Bess had arranged for him to take up a post at some priestly school up North, well away from the intrigues of her court. You remember the occasional job you did for him as being some of the fantastical of your career. Not the most straightforward work, but needs must.

So, at the end of a long trek made at your own expense northwards, you find yourself outside the door of an inn where Dr Dee has paid for your lodgings, according to a letter you hold that details your current employment. It’s an ominous missive that details Dr Dee’s precarious position as Warden of Christ’s College in Manchester, and worst still that he has divined that your journey north from Chester will take you along a “Road to Hell”. Its nine in the evening, there should be music and sounds of revelry from within. It’s strangely silent. You look at each other expectantly. Someone is going to have to take the lead and open that door and go inside.

We have such sights to show you!
Some of the encounters awaiting the players in this adventure:

Headless Zombies, flesh-eating demonic assassins, all-seeing oracles, screaming mad women, cowardly men hiding in water closets, The Death and Resurrection Show, at least one bar room brawl (two, if the adventures like to pick fights), a black knight of the realm, his gang of knaves, a stone circle of menace, and a tower made of twisted flesh that writhes in agony.
Look here’s a sketch (a work in progress) of one of the monsters, the Fearcrow.

Features of the Book

  • Six Premade characters so you can pick up the adventure and play it straight away. Unlike many other OSR adventures, these characters are hardened adventurers of 5th Level. Each character will have a portrait by Peter Town (Hearts in Glorantha, Mythic Russia).
  • Black and White Illustrations by Daniel Barker (Monkey, Tales of the Reaching Moon) of the monsters that the characters will meet in the adventure.
  • Five black and white detailed maps by Golden Ennie award winning cartographer Glynn Seal (MonkeyBlood Design, The Midderlands).
  • A colour cover by Jon Hodgson (Warhammer Fantasy 1st-4th edition, D&D 4th & 5th, The One Ring).
  • The book is a 6 inches by 9 inches hardback







And That's It for This Week...



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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. One Bookshelf site links are affiliate links and may provide some compensation from that retail site.

All prices are set by the respective venues and are subject to change, or may otherwise be different from what is listed in this post.

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5 comments:

  1. A big Greyhawk charity event game is being streamed today, James: see https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10214795158252341&set=a.1038071471842&type=3&theater

    Allan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for posting this! I saw it but was trying to finish and it slipped my mind.

      Delete
  2. Ha. I was just moving everything to one place, I didn't even think anyone would notice me putting that stuff up. You're clearly subscribed.

    Kickstarters are out of control!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great round up as always! Thanks for having your ear to ground on all of these.

    ReplyDelete