OSR Heresy

Here's a very recent post I made on reddit. It addresses something I've been meaning to write about anyway, so I'm reposting it to the blog.

There's certainly some good suggestions in the thread so far. Now, one of the reasons I run 1e is because the characters are a bit sturdier than they are in B/X, OD&D, etc.

Here's the thing. Here's where I disagree with OSR orthodoxy. The idea of "combat as a fail state." The problem being, I've never in 35 years of running the game, had someone at my table who didn't like combat. Who didn't want combat! I'm sure they're out there. And yes, there are a lot of things that happen in D&D that are exciting and fun and don't require the combat tables.

But, combat is where it's at! Take every advantage you can, plan, play smart, use every advantage and strategy, be cautious and judicious, by all means, but at the end of the day who wants to play in a D&D game where you get to level five and have never killed an orc? Or, have never fought in a dangerous, fever pitch battle that you survive by the skin of your teeth and get to brag about for months or years to come? Unless you've created a super tame dungeon and some real quiet random tables, combat and combat death is going to happen and blaming the characters for being too lame to avoid it is unreasonable and undesirable. Few wanted to avoid it in the '80's and few want to avoid it now. I've never had a party play through G1 and just, you know, talk to the giants. I've never had them trick the giants into leaving, though admittedly, that would be pretty cool. G1 is a slaughterfest. And fun as all hell to run or play through.

My son is 15. He and his friends play 1e/Osric. They're also into super hard and retro video games. Like Spelunky. Ever play Spelunky? Fuck. Spelunky is hard, unforgiving and there's no save function. A lot of things can kill you with one hit and it takes skill and determination to get anywhere with that bloody game. Not every young person wants a game that hands everything to them. There are always going to be gamers who want the Hard Stuff!

Some decent death rules are desirable. Nothing as easy as, say 5e, but something more forgiving than death at 0. And make resurrection plausible by at least fifth level or so. Charge out the nose for it, use it to force quests, whatever. But once res is on the table, characters get a lot more relaxed with the idea of PC death. At that point, a TPK is what they worry about.

Old School play is probably never going to be for more than a relatively small sub section of RPG gamers. And that's okay. Get out there, talk to people, recruit people totally new to the game. Play via internet, if you've got no other choice. It isn't bad and still feels like playing D&D.

And do remember this. Three or four years from now, the players are unlikely to remember much about the time they casually dispatched the Lizard King's guards after putting them to sleep, then sneaked into his treasure room while Mr. Lizard was busy eating lunch, stole his treasure chest and coolly sauntered out of his dungeon.

What they're going to remember forever is the firefight, down to the wire, one or two PC's down, all out melee, which they won with grit, daring and a timely lightening bolt or critical hit, finally killing that bastard Lizard and looting his treasure, limping out of the dungeon and calculating how much they would have to spend on getting a fellow PC resurrected. 

The OSR News: March 1, 2019

The GM Day sale at DriveThruRPG is here and there's some damn good prices on a lot of excellent OSR stuff! Meanwhile, Dungeons and Possums is still kicking ass, Timothy Brannon brings us more witchery, James M. Spahn keeps making me want to run a Science Fantasy campaign and another OD&D supplement becomes available in Print. All this and more appear in this week's News!

New Releases

Walking the Way: A Mysticism Sourcebook [Swords & Wizardry] by James M. Spahn. Published by Barrel Rider Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $6.39. 64 pages.

Strange Gifts and Mystical Powers 

Across A Galaxy of Endless Stars

Walking the Way: A Mysticism Sourcebook for White Star brings a plethora of new options to your OSR sci-fi campaign! As heroic Star Knights and exotic Alien Mystics fight against the agents of the Void and the evil Galactic Consortium, they find new options to add to their arsenal in the latest supplement for White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying and White Star: Galaxy Edition. Inside you'll find:

• Four brand new classes! Elusive Althar meld both Meditations and Gifts, while Augumented Waybreakers meld cybernetic enhancement with the powerful Meditations.
• New Gifts and Meditations to expand the power of your Mystic character classes!
• Half a dozen paths for Alien Mystics to customize their journey towards enlightenment!
• Complete rules for building and customizing the iconic weapon of the Star Knights: The Star Sword.
• New gear, weapons, and armor!
• New Advanced Technology, like the esoteric Spirit Stones!
• New Monsters, from the adorable Gorp to the dangerous Void Serpent!
• A completely new form of Mysticism: Technomancy! 

Expand your galaxy today with Walking the Way: A Mysticism Sourcebook.

The Angel's Burial Ground - A Suburb of Infinigrad by Michael Raston. Published by Gorgzu Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.99. 31 pages.

A mountainside suburb of towers, inhabited by angels and haunted by an undying colony of scaled men. The Angel's Burial Ground is filled with gilded corpses, gangs, mysteries and ancient medical technology. All set in the sprawling fantasypunk megacity of Infinigrad.

The Angel's Burial Ground can slot into your campaign's world preexisting megacity or serve as a fully fleshed out settlement in a mountain range of your own hexcrawl. This adventure location can be scaled or tailored to your party, as NPC hit dice are variable and random throughout.

Included in the PDF are:

• Stats and descriptions of 7 local factions
• Suburb Map
• Landmark and Building descriptions of 39 locations
• Random encounter and reaction tables
• Rumour table
• Quest generator
• Bone to pick table
• Random name tables
• Angel visual quirk table
• Building interior stocking and mapping tables
• NPC relationship table

Grimtooth’s Trapsylvania (DCC Sourcebook) by Grimtooth the Troll. Published by Goodman Games. Available in Hardcover for $39.99, in Softcover for $24.99 and in Leatherbound for $100. A PDF version is available for $14.99. Also Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $11.99. 168 pages.

For the first time ever: the Legendary locations of Grimtooth’s Traps revealed! And fully compatible with DCC RPG!

For over 30 years Grimtooth’s numerous Traps books have horrified players and inspired gamemasters with hundreds of dangerous devices, deadly deathtraps and hilarious hijinx! Now Grimtooth (with a little help from kid sister Grimtina) will take you on a personally guided tour of his realm and the central hub of his vast Traps empire.

Run your own Grimtooth campaign or pick and choose locations you can use in your own single location adventures. Explore Grimtooth’s caverns, visit his Inner Sanctum, escape the Deathmaze Testing Center, attend Warthog’s School for Trolls, take a ride on Grimtooth’s Airship, tour Grimtina’s Petting Zoo or get lost in the Infinite Corridor of Hallways and many more gigantic places of doom. Each of these infamous locations include maps, descriptions, Non-player character details, scenarios, all with in-depth DCC stats and lots of art by Traps artist SS Crompton.

And can you uncover the horrendous secret that lies deep beneath Grimtooth’s caverns and back into his family’s history? It’s a great read and a useful campaign setting all in one book. What are you waiting for? Get yours today!

1988 Dungeon by Goblin's Henchman. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 20 pages.

This is an 1e AD&D adventure made in 1988. It was one of the first dungeons I ever made when I was a teenager. So, it’s about as Old Skoool as it gets … not in an OSR sense, but in a “I’ve made a dungeon who wants to play” kind of way. If you’re looking for understandable/sensible dungeon ecology, themes, plot, and balanced encounters etc., then you’ve signed up for the wrong adventure!

I'm very happy for you to pay nothing for this product; and anything given to me will only be frittered away on RPG-related wares anyway.

Escape the Noose - Adventure for #ZweihanderRPG by Brent Scanlon. Published by Nights of the Shed. Available from DriveThruRPG in Print for $3.99. 13 pages.

Can you make it out of Nuess alive, and Escape the Noose!? 

Escape the Noose is set in the context of historical events known as the War of Cologne, or the Seneschal’s War. The adventure begins with the characters finding themselves trapped in the fallen city of Neuss on the Rhine river.

Neuss was once famous for repelling previous attempts to storm her walls; however, this time her garrison is surrounded—and outnumbered—by a host of Spanish and Italian soldiers with cannons.

This adventure is designed for Basic Tier characters; however, it can be easily made more difficult for Intermediate Tier play by adding extra soldiers to encounters, increasing the rate of cannon fire at escape vessels, or increasing the difficulty rating of skill rolls due to smoke, rubble, toil and other trouble.

This adventure also contains:

• Historical background for the Siege of Nuess
• A short bestiary detailing new foes
• Adventure seeds for further escapades in 16th Century Cologne
• Nuess city maps

Adventure Location 003 - The Mountain Tollkeep by Peter Lattimore. Published by Garblag Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.99. 10 pages.

For a century the only safe land route between the two nations was to go all the way around the Great Central Mountains. The sea route wasn’t been much better, with stormy seas around the peninsula barring the path of all but the bravest captains. So when the Mountain Pass was hewn from the rock of those great peaks a short, and important, route was finally available. To ensure that this route was not abused another construction project was undertaken.

High on a mountain side where the pass skirts the flank of a massive peak sit two towers standing proud against the sky. Between them a thick wall and portcullis bar the path of anyone seeking to sneak from one land to another, for whatever purpose. The walls of this structure have witnessed many things: diplomatic envoys hell-bent on trade deals, generals on horseback with declarations of war, displaced peasantfolk hammering on it’s gates with malnourished hands.

The Mountain Tollkeep does much more than just watch the border of two countries.

This open source adventure location is a standalone scenario that is designed to fit into an existing campaign, or be the jumping off point for one.

As an open source fantasy location, the Mountain Tollkeep is a useful site for many roleplaying games, including: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Zweihander RPG and of course, Dungeons & Dragons!

This document will provide you with location descriptions, hooks to get in and out of the scenario and some potential hazards and enemies that would fit into the location well. As such this document will refer to elements that should be represented by finding the appropriate stats in which ever system you choose to play.

We hope you enjoy.

Rakehell - Issue One: The Rift of Mar-Milloir. A downloadable zine for KNAVE by Goatman's Goblet. Available from itch.io in PDF for $3.00 USD or more. Pagination unknown. (A print edition is forthcoming via DTRPG. ed.)

The Rift of Mar-Milloir will always be contested between two kingdoms, though neither will ever have the means or desire to enforce that claim with true rulership. Each year, the representative courtiers will send spies and assassins to one another’s court, to beguile, berate, and suffer further insult to see the conflict never ends. No one goes to Mar-Milloir who has a choice, it is a wretched and perfidious region of serpent-haunted mountains, wayward nephilims, and heretical holdouts who refuse the reformation of the Grand Heliopapacy of the Cathedral Tempestuous.

You have been sent here, if not to die then to profit your betters. You are a blaggard, a knave, a blackguard, a rakehell, and an out-and-out scoundrel; whether you desire such a title or otherwise.

Survive. Change your fickle fortunes. Take the Rift for yourself. Praise be to the Sun and those who have inherited its grace; with ambition enough, you will stand among them.

Bastard Sword Hargrove. Published by Mystic Beard Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.00. 10 pages.

A collection of down and dirty house rules for The Original Fantasy Roleplaying Game, I've culled these mechanics over the past 24 years from various sources for use in my home games. Now you, too, can use these rules as you see fit, for the low price of only $1 (US).

A Dark and Salient Land (Early Access) by Tyler A. Thompson, Owen L. Luetkemeyer, Tyler J. Urish. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 28 pages. (This appears to be a Zweihander thingie. ed.)

A short time ago, a Great Horde formed far to the east, from deep within the cold and savage mountains at the edge of the known world: a horde of foul, corrupted men, twisted human-beast hybrids, the dead walking in perverse imitation of life, and distorted, maddening creatures of corruption and chaos.

This horde marched westward, growing in strength and devouring all that is good and living as it went. The Empire and the other nations of men rallied a great host of their own, and engaged the forces of evil and corruption across a massive front spanning the east, a bulwark against annihilation. For years, they fought what seemed a losing battle to push back the foul tide of corruption, but through the valor, heroism, and determination of the great heroes of the lands and the stoic labor of the people, the foul host was broken, scattered, and destroyed. The Empire has at last achieved some semblance of peace, prosperity, and security within its own borders. Corruption, heresy, and the other great evils that plague humanity are still present, but are for now pushed firmly to the fringes of the realm or beaten back into hiding throughout the realm. The same cannot be said of the lands beyond the Empire’s core. Those to the east are war torn, and those beyond the final frontline are desolate and destroyed. Those to the west, while enduring struggles with corruption of their own, stand strong, but consider themselves the true heroes of the recent war and have themselves settled back into petty politicking, even as efforts to reconstruct the east have begun. Worse, the lords, priests, and academics of the land have reason to believe the host was merely a vanguard, and in time a new host will form and once again descend from the mountains. Many believe it to be unbeatable, a mere fact of existence now. Others have hope that it can be vanquished for good, if only all of humanity continues to try. What is certain is that the enemy is powerful, and grows more powerful still, day by day. When it will come is uncertain, but there is every reason to suspect it will indeed come, and just as much reason to suspect that humanity is not yet ready. The players take on the role of petty lords and their personal retinues, freshly granted title to fiefs in the Zizka Valley, a region at the border of the Empire, a final gateway to the Eastern Kingdoms and steppe tribes that lie beyond- or the final gate before the Imperial core, and mere days of travel from the final frontline of the war. A long-neglected region which has suffered greatly from corruption and waste, the players have been tasked with reclaiming the valley and establishing a defensive line, a final bulwark to buy humanity time should the evil host return and beat back the crusading forces at the frontlines. Players will be afforded little help by their Emperor, nor their neighbors; the Valley is a contingency plan, a gap stop, and not a priority in which to invest too much cscarce time, money, and resources. How much time they have before the horde is at their doorstep is unclear and depends on their contributions to the effort, the valor of the crusaders, and luck. Perhaps they have mere weeks, perhaps years, perhaps it will be vanquished before reaching them at all. All that is known is their duty, and that the fate of humanity may depend on securing the Zizka Valley.

DISCLAIMER: This represents the main rules of the A Dark and Salient Land campaign, but lacks the scenarios which will accompany the final release. These scenarios will be released on their own as they are finished at a nominal cost, and later added to this document. To support development, pay what you want. Enjoy.

Ruins & Adventures 2: Aldair's Arboretum (B/X Essentials) Published by Mesozoic Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.50. 10 pages.

This version uses the B/X Essentials rules from Necrotic Gnome

An isolated forest dwelling holds mystery, magic, and new dangers.

Encounter Location: Forest

The Ruins & Adventures series is intended to be dropped into an existing campaign as encounters and events that occur during their travels. While each one is self contained, they contain advice on how to further expand upon the events.

Contains:

• 7 magical items
• 4 new monster
• 150 DPI jpeg map (17” x 25”) for use with VTT’s

Whisper in the Crags (S&W)by Lloyd Metcalf. Published by Fail Squad Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $4.00. 15 pages.

When the winds blow in from the east at just the right angle, the Whispering Crags north of Lorview howl and moan, giving rise to dark superstition and legends. Little Lottie Fisher has a secret friend who knows more than most about the crags. That strange little girl, drawing her pictures and talking to the dark.

“Lottie has a wanderlust,” her mother Rasel Fisher often says. “Even as a babe on the road, she wandered off for two days into the forest alone. She’s a blessing and a handful.”

What dark secret await the heroes in the city of Lorview this time?

Falls Keep (S&W) by Lloyd Metcalf. Published by Fail Squad Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $4.00. 12 pages.

An old keep at the head of nearby falls fills the local tavern with rumors of the past lord of the land, Lord Venwexal. The purpose of his towers is the subject of wild speculation, late night tales, and rumors. After the lord was removed from power by a revolt, some twisted sorcery took up residence, or so the tales say. The abandoned towers have certainly fallen to the wildlands, and few, if any, survive venturing anywhere near the falls. What is sure is that the stone buildings are not standing empty, and most can agree that some powerful magic is at the heart of the unusual keep.

Gregorius21778: 50 Small-Time Vendors for a Weird, Irradiated Post-Apocalypse by Kai Pütz a.k.a Gregorius21778. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.40. 11 pages.

50 Small-Time Vendors for a Weird, Irradiated Post-Apocalypse is a collection of hawkers, hucksters, peddlers and other NPC that have something to sell in small quantities. It is all Mutant Future(tm) compatible, so the goods are from the equipment and technological artifact section of said game. A few vendors offer services instead of goods. Each one (humans, mutants, robots, mutant plants and mutant animals) comes with a very brief description and a name, as well as what is on sale for what price (or whatever else a given vendor may ask for in return). Use them on a “a few per settlement” basis in your game, or round them all up in one location for a big, colorful, post-apocalyptic flee market.

Back to the Dungeon Zine for LL/AEC V1I4 by Eldrad Wolfsbane. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 28 pages.

The freasome 4th level of the BLACK STAIRS MEGA DUNGEON!

Macchiato Monsters by Eric Nieudan. Published by Lost Pages. Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF Combo for $12.00 and in PDF for $6.00. 58 pages. (There's also a PDF upgrade bundle, which looks like it comes with a different version of the game. $10.00.)

Macchiato Monsters is a rules-light, slightly collaborative, old school roleplaying game. It is not a game about coffee.

Two years after the release of the Zero Edition, we come to you with a perfectly tuned engine for adventure, exploration and survival in all kinds of perilous , whether you're using published settings and adventures or create your own.

Key features:

• Freeform characters: emulate a classic concept, or come up with something unique and help define the world.
• Risk dice: a simple attrition mechanic for armour, gear, encounters, treasure, and story progression.
• Flexible magic: invent your spells, and keep casting them as long as you have resources - and hit points - to fuel your magic.
• One-roll combat rounds: no initiative, no battle maps, no quarter given.
• Campaign tools: a panoply of tables and procedures to prep and improvise content.
• A while lot of illustrations of monsters having coffee!

Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting Hex Map by Stephen J. Grodzicki. Published by Pickpocket Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $5.00. 2 pages.

A gorgeous full colour Hex Map (plus no hex version) for the Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting by RPG veteran cartographer John Stevenson. The Map is 14 inches by 15 inches, PNG file. The hexes are 20 miles by default (scale in the bottom left corner, beside the compass). For more pictures of the map (including close ups) check out the Low Fantasy Gaming website. Hope you enjoy!

The Merchant's Heart by Michael Palacios. Published by Three Swords and Three Ravens. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 8 pages.

*THIS ADVENTURE IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN*

*IT PROBABLY ISN'T SUITABLE FOR ADULTS EITHER*

A rich merchant is found murdered, his heart removed. Will the heroes find the murderer or will the apocalypse be unleashed upon an unsuspecting Europe?

This was a joke, a jest, a parody, a, dare I say it, lampoon that got out of hand. But it was well received. Interest was expressed. It's bad. It's kind of terrible. But it might be so terrible it's good. It's also free!

GM Screen Panels - Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe Edition by Stephen J. Grodzicki. Published by Pickpocket Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 8 pages.

8 x landscape 8.5" x 11" GM Screen Panels (4 x Colour and 4 x B&W) for Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe Edition, illustrated by Daniel Comerci. Fits perfectly in the 4 panel DrivethruRPG Game Master Screen (landscape).

Note page number references in the PDFs may change depending on the final page count of the LFG Deluxe Hardcover (due by 31 June 2019). This file will be updated if so.

An Evening’s Adventure #2: The Nixie’s Quandary by J. Published by New Realms Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.60. 6 pages.

A chance encounter with a nixie sends the party on a quest to discover the source of Briar Creek’s pollution. But the source may be difficult to cleanse and deadly hazards lurk around each bend of the river. Can your party save the nixie and her kin or will you fail to solve the Nixie’s Quandary? 

The Nixie’s Quandary is a short adventure for five to seven 1st level characters and suitable for use with Labyrinth Lord (tm) and similar Old School games. The adventure can be played independently or as part of the Evening’s Adventure campaign.

Hobonomicon #1 Published by Alephnullpublishing. Available from Gumroad for $15.00.

HOBONOMICON ISSUE #1 is planned to arise at Gary Con 2019. Gods help ye all.

Includes Art, Comics, Words, Thought Crimes and Game Mechanics by: 

Doug Kovacs
Stefan Poag
Steve Gomez
James MacGeorge
Jarrett Crader
Wayne Snyder
Clea Bennett

Make your own decisions. Elastic thought is paramount. Dig your hands into the clay of the universe and shape existence as you will.

The Hobonomicon demands it.

SCAIII.1 Cavalier Attitude by Louis "sirlou" Kahn. Published by Starry Knight Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.00. 19 pages.

Hello and welcome, adventurers and Game Masters!

Welcome to the First issue of the Third Volume of my webzine: Cavalier Attitude. As the masthead says, this zine will focus on the Old School Revival (OSR) in fantasy role-playing. The Oldschool System Reference and Index Compilation™ (OSRIC) is my personal retro-clone of choice, but I will cover other games systems as well, as interest and time permit. The zine is publishing quarterly. The first issue was published in September 2017, this is our seventh issue.

The seventh issue’s contents include the following highlights:

• Felony Murder Hobos: Law and Order in Medieval Campaigns: an article on applying legal system in your fantasy role playing campaign.
• Bard’s Corner: a feature showcasing fantasy fiction with an RPG theme, by myself and others.
• The story in this issue is entitled “Prue’s Fate".
• Magickal Menagerie: a feature wherein we provides new and unique magic items for your players, straight from the pages of my published adventures!
• Pre-generated player character: a set of six pre-generated player character ready to take on whatever your GM’s campaign can dish out. This issue features our new landscape character sheet format, which we hope you enjoy!
• An Exclusive OSR adventure, "The Blood Moon": a lycanthrope-themed OSR adventure which takes place at a ransacked farm a few short miles outside civilization, known as the Humbill House. This mid-level adventure features a set of three new lycans, the WEREWEASEL, WEREJACKAL and WERELION. It is compatible with most FRPGs and is intended for 4-6 player characters of levels 4-6.
• BONUS HANDOUT: A full-page sized handout of the map for the Humbill House farmstead for use with the BLOOD MOON adventure.
• Old School art: a showcase of art by myself and others which is features in my published books;
• Market Square: synopses and information on my recently published books; and
• The Inn: a roundup of role-playing social media posts. 

The inaugural issue of the zine is still FREE to anyone who purchases one of my modules, supplements or one-shots. It is also available for regular purchase here on this site.

This zine is sure to please discerning GMs and players everywhere! Thanks for checking it out!

Tantalus by Simon Todd. Published by MontiDots Creations: The Art of Simon To. Available from  DriveThruRPG in PDF for $6.00. 44 pages.

Tantalus can be played as part of the Highcliff Gard series or placed into any adventure where characters step through a magical gate. Designed for characters of 5th level or above, this book provides players with challenges requiring more than just brawn or spell power and introduces players to a completely new realm of existence unlike anything they have encountered before.

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

OD&D Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (0e) Pubished by WotC. Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF combo for $14.19 in Print for $12.99 and in PDF for $2.99. 60 pages.

The book you now hold in your hand represents new dimensions to an already fascinating game system. This is the third supplement to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and was produced as a result of an ever increasing demand for new material.

This book also represents a new trend in the fine art of Dungeon Mastering. As originally conceived, D & D was limited in scope only by the imagination and devotion of Dungeon Masters everywhere. The supplements have fulfilled the need for fresh ideas and additional stimulation. But somewhere along the line, D & D lost some of its flavor, and began to become predictable. This came about as a result of the proliferation of rule sets; while this was great for us as a company, it was tough on the DM. When all the players had all of the rules in front of them, it became next to impossible to beguile them into danger or mischief. The new concept pioneered within these pages should go a long way towards putting back in some of the mystery, uncertainty and danger that make D & D the un-paralleled challenge it was meant to be. Legend Lore once again becomes the invaluable spell it was meant to be. No more will some foolhardy adventurer run down into a dungeon, find something and immediately know how it works, or even what it does, By the same token, no longer will players be able to send some unfortunate hireling to an early demise by forcing him to experiment on his master's goodies. The introduction of psionic combat is bound to enliven games grown stagnant. It opens up untold possibilities for both the players and the DM, and in so doing recognizes one of the favorite topics of science fiction and fantasy writers: the unknown powers of the mind.

As with the two previous supplements, the material herein contained follows the format of the original three booklets that comprise D & D. Corrections and additions are noted, so that it can all be integrated into the original with a minimum of bother. As you will note on the title page, this supplement had many contributors. Such is the nature of the beast. D & D was meant to be a free-wheeling game, only loosely bound by the parameters of the rules. We feel that ELDRITCH WIZARDRY goes a long way toward fulfilling the original premise of danger, excitement, and uncertainty. May you always make your saving throw.

This PDF is drawn from the Original Edition Premium Reprint, which included new cover art and updated layout.

Praise the Fallen. Published by Graphite Prime Studios. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 16 pages.

There were those demented powers that wanted to return all to naught, to become one with the Ever Slumbering Void. Pantheons collided and the Heavens shattered with war. Untold cosmic powers were lost without their names ever spoken by mortal tongues. Countless legions fell. Defeated in their gambit of annihilation, they scattered across the universe. Several of the Fallen fell to this world, forever imprisoned at their point of impact...

Praise the Fallen is an OSR styled one-shot dungeon-crawl where the players explore the lair of a Fallen Angel Cult. It is designed to challenge character levels 3-4. It is a place where alignment matters and foolish decisions have consequences. It is also a place where the players may find strange bedfellows as they ultimately try to thwart the cult from resurrecting an angel of destruction.

Polyhedron Newszine V6 #1 Issue 28. Published by WotC. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.79. 32 pages.

Included in this issue:

• The Great Bugbear Hunt - by Frank Mentzer. Originally written as an AD&D® Game Open Tournament for the GEN CON® South Game Fair in 1982, Module R5 has become one of the RPGATM Network's most popular tournament scenarios. This search for the party magic-user's missing spell books set the standard for wilderness adventures.
• Adventure in the Clouds - by Jeff Martin. Need a new setting for adventures? Our cover story offers suggestions from a top-notch player and judge for developing cloud islands for campaign use.
• The Specialist Mage - by Jon Pickens. Our series of unofficial new spells for the AD&D® Game continues with new spell suggestions for the necromancer and guidelines for developing specialty magic-users of your own.

Polyhedron Newszine V6 #2 Issue 29. Published by WotC. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.79. 32 pages.

Included in this issue:

• The Camel's Nose - by Michael D. Selinker. Five vally elves and a camel must carry a sacred artifact called "The Camel's Nose" across the desert to the Shrine of Camelopardus, Camel Lord of the Burning Desert.
• The Lighter Side of Encounters II - by Skip Williams. Has your campaign grown too predictable? Add a bit of madness!
• Dungeonsongs - by David Collins, Jeff Grubb, Frank Dickos, and Jon Pickens. More music to adventure by.
• The Ecology of the Tiamat - by Michael D. Selinker. And you thought there was only one! Here's the REAL story of chromatic dragons.
• Fractured Spells - by Rick Reid, with an introduction by David Collins. For our final installment of the "New Spells" series, we present the most unofficial set of spells yet!
• The Gods of the GAMMA WORLD® Game - by James M. Ward. The stuff of which legends are made.
• The Savage Sword of Lugnut the Barbarian - by Roger E. Moore. Foolish fiction for fantasy fans.

Thousand Suns Complete Bundle by James Maliszewski, Greg Videll. Published by Grognardia Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $20.00. Includes: Thousand Suns: Rulebook, Imperio 1bis, Thousand Suns Character Sheet, Thousand Suns: Five Stars, Thousand Suns: Starships.

It is a time of wonder.

Humanity has reached the stars and created a society of glittering sophistication and diversity on hundreds of planets. Poets declaim, lovers rendezvous, and rakes duel with wits and monoblades. Colonists settle virgin worlds, merchant princes vie for emerging markets, and free traders hawk their exotic wares. The Navy rules the jumplines, putting down pirates and charting new star systems. Scientists uncover startling new truths on long-dead worlds and posit revolutionary theories dizzying in their implications. Technology advances at a rapid pace, each year improving the lot of all who accept its boons. None dare deny the bright destiny Man has seized for himself.

It is a time of upheaval.

The inhabited galaxy – the Thousand Suns – teeters on the brink of chaos. Half a millennium since the Concord, and a generation since the bloody Civil War, the dynamism that ended the Age of Warring States is sorely tested. Diplomats try new gambits, shifting their ground for an unknown future. On dozens of worlds across known space, the lights are going out again and the process of decivilization begins anew. Despots and tyrants who would rather lord it over benighted backwaters than bend their knee to even a distant authority, arise once more. At the edges of explored space, rivals – both human and alien – watch and wait.

It is a time of glory.

Victorious fleets smash enemy armadas in distant star systems. Soldiers parade through liberated planets to alien cheers. Sector governors draw up breathtaking visions of terraforming and orbital cities. New jumplines open to the heart of unexplored space, daring the bold to venture into the unknown for profit and peril. Surveyors stumble upon lost colonies and puzzle out the mysteries of inscrutable clades. Captains with blazing eyes save worlds from barbarism-and rule them as gods. Daring thieves turn new technologies to unexpected ends or sell them to shadowy cartels on the fringes of known space.

Meanwhile, bold operatives seek out these criminal plans for reprisal. Everything is possible with enough beauty, brains, or blasters, and it's all within reach of a single jump.

It is a time of adventure.

Thousand Suns is a roleplaying game that takes its inspiration from the classic literary "imperial" science fiction of the '50s, '60s, and '70s written by authors like Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, Gordon Dickson, Larry Niven, H. Beam Piper, Jerry Pournelle, and A.E. van Vogt, among others.

This is a complete game, providing all the rules you need to play under one cover, from character generation to starship combat to the creation of alien lifeforms. Also included is the Thousand Suns "meta-setting," a flexible outline of a setting, in which certain details have been provided, along with lots of lots of "blank spaces," and whose final shape and content is entirely up to each Game Master to build upon as he wishes for his campaign.

The Necropolis of Nuromen by Michael Thomas. Available from Lulu in print for $5.99. Still available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 20 pages.

The Necropolis of Nuromen is the first instalment of three modular quests designed to let the referee introduce a group of 1st level characters to the thrills of Underworld exploration as they attempt to unravel the secrets buried in the evil necromancer’s lair.

To play this adventure you also require the BLUEHOLME™ Prentice Rules or the BLUEHOLME™ Journeymanne Rules, a table top fantasy roleplaying game that emulates the game play of the original basic rule book, popularly known as the Holmes Edition or simply the Blue Book.

Slime Bugs by Jorge Jaramillo Villarruel, Scott Charlton. Updated version. Available from the authors at Google Drive for Free. Link direct to file. 27 pages.

Mutants & Mazes is what happens when you combine Dan Proctor’s Labyrinth Lord & Mutant Future. But that doesn’t mean you need to run a hybrid campaign to make use of this little adventure. You can drop this dungeon in your campaign, either classic fantasy or gonzo post-apocalypse. It can be useful for when your players need to locate a special item; just put it in rooms 3, 10, 16, 19, or 23.

Or it can be just another labyrinth or ruins to explore.

News Spotlight: Evlyn Moreau

Evlyn recently re-released her delightful RPG stuff on Lulu. Here's the link to her Lulu spotlight and be sure to check out her blog at Le Chaudron Chromatique. If you enjoy Evlyn's art, she also has a redbubble store and a Patreon.

More Free Gaming Stuff from the Blogosphere and Environs

Evlyn of Le Chaudron Chromatique posted Basic boring monsters as building blocks.

David Perry of Lithyscaphe released Quintessential BX. 35 page PDF.

Max Cantor of Weird & Wonderful Worlds posted Weird & Wonderful Blasted Lands: Tarsos Theorem Appreciation.

James V. West of Doomslakers! posted Demodyn Character Class.

Jason Zavoda of Hall of the Mountain King posted Item - The Dancing Jesters Boots of Charm and Pain. Also, NPC - The Beggar King.

GREGORIUS21778 posted WHY DOES THE MONSTER ATTACK THIS SETTLEMENT?

KingBrackish of Tomb of the Wandering Millennial posted The Woodsman's Hatchet (A Weird Magic Item) and Black Dogs (A LotFP Monster).

Ben L. of Mazirian's Garden posted White Jungle Races: Plumed Reavers & Mole Rat People.

imminentchurchengine shared this on Reddit - d200(!) level-less spells for GLOG Magic. 14 page Google doc. Link Direct to file. 

wrathofzombie of Wrathofzombie's Blog posted The Sorcerer Spell Casting for Barbarians of the Ruined Earth.

Arnold K. of Goblin Punch posted The Ruined City of Braxa / Undead Armies.

Logan Bright Works uploaded The Harrington Harrowing. Link direct to 3 page PDF.

Doug of Smoldering Wizard made a White Box FMAG Player Quickstart. 1 page PDF. 

Dungeons and Possums posted Fraternity of the Festering Wood.

Shane Ward of 3 Toadstools Publishing posted Challenge accepted! 30 minute dungeon.

Michael Raston of The Lizard Man Diaries posted The Nautilus Shrine (30 Minute Dungeon).

Konsumterra of Elfmaids & Octopi posted d100 Broken Hill Ruin Encounters and a bunch of other stuff, surely you've added this blog to your blogroll, right? I mean you have, certainly, right?

Timothy Brannan of The Other Side posted Tanith, Iconic Witch for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

Anne of DIY & Dragons turned us on to Kyle Marquis and his Hex A Day Project. You can find The Sea of Vipers here and also a 36 page Google Doc put together by David Perry here.

The blogger at The Lovely Dark posted The Anti Wizard.

Maptime

Mike Bridges of Greyhawkery posted Greyhawk Map: Lordship of the Isles.

Anna B. Meyer posted the Final 2019 Edition of her Map of the Flanaess. 

Dyson Logos of Dyson's Dodecahedron posted The Halls of Ghuldesh and Quellport and the Isle of Seven Bees.

Reviews & Play Reports

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org reviews Through the Gate of Flesh and Fight On! #14 – Citadel of the Dark Trolls.

Jeremy “frothsof” Smith of Thought Eater posted Frothcast #19: Night Below Session Recap 2.24.19. And Humpday Blog-O-Rama 2.27.19. And Frothcast #21: Five Minute Friday: Unknown Clones 1 (great idea for a series Jeremy!)

Pookie UK of Reviews from R'lyeh posted OSR & The Big One and The Other OSR: Bastion Ein Sof.

Robert Morris of Back to the Keep posted LL game - sessions 7 and 8.

Brutorz Bill of Green Skeleton Gaming Guild posted SWN Cabal Sigma Session One (part 1).

Trey of From the Sorcerer's Skull posted a review of Carapace.

Shane Ward of 3 Toadstools Publishing posted Black Hack Playtest Part Trois!

Patrick Stuart of False Machine posted The Unbalanced Creator Returns? - A Review of The Tricks of Treachery Isle.

Timothy Brannan of The Other Side posted Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Compleat Second Edition).

Endzeitgeist reviews Misty Isles of the Eld and Creature Compendium.

MODOC31 of Rolling Boxcars reviews The Marriage of Count Roderick.

Fred Daniel of White Box and Beyond posted Powers & Perils Partial Success.

Aaron Marks of Cannibal Halfling Gaming reviews Troika. 

Michael Curtis has a piece on the Goodman Games site: Adventures in Fiction: Margaret St. Clair.

Dungeon Musings of YouTube uploaded Actual Play - Scarlet Heroes - B/X D&D: Barrowmaze Beckons - Session 33.

Dungeons and Possums posted Review: Mothership RPG by Sean Mccoy.

And in Other News...

The DriveThruRPG GM's day sale is here!

Moe Tousignant of Tabletop Bellhop posted MASTER LIST OF TABLETOP GAMING PODCASTS.

The Gong Farmer's Almanac 2019 is open for submissions.

Kickstarters, etc.

And That's It for This Week...

You may have noticed the Patreon Link to the left, near the top of my blog. For $3.00 a month, you can help support The OSR News and help me realize additional plans for my work with the Old School RPG Community. Your patronage is very much appreciated!


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.

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

The OSR News: February 24, 2019

A lot of Cthulhu stuff this week, another OSR sale at DTRPG and more Fighting Foolishness is unleashed. All this and more this week in the OSR News.

New Releases

Fighting Foolishness 3: Fighting Ideas For OSR Games. Published by Unbalanced Dice Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.50. 43 pages.

Fighting Foolishness 3. Not 3 times the ideas of the first books but again 30 more ideas/abilities. The Fighter has more stuff, more stuff to make her a little more interesting. Or fun. Fun is good.

Ha ha, the foes attack and miss the Fighter. With Futility it will become even harder for them to hit her. Is trying to hit her not futile?

With my 6 swords I will use One Weapon After Another. Each round a different weapon, each round a chance of a special benefit occuring.

A dead wizard's body? My senses tell me there are uncast magic spells in it. Maybe I can put them into my sword for a bonus? Yes, let's try that with From Dead Magic.

All these characters with 7 Strength scores. Doesn't someone think there's something wrong with that? I'll move my Fighter 15 feet away and activate Weak Is Wrong. Come foes, challenge me so I can show you my power!

At last we all lie dead on the floor. But there is still a chance for us. Let us rise up as zombies and stumble to the Cleric. Zombies For Now, with it we can still make it out of this dungeon.

All this inside and more, Fighting Foolishness 3... fight the fools today!

Lost in the Wilderness by Zzarchov Kowolski. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $6.99. 25 pages.

You know what always used to tax my GM brain? Making a random wilderness encounter of a "forest: 2d4 gnolls" interesting for the 5th time in a row.

Lost in the Wilderness Is a collection of seed table encounter generators to make it much easier to generate interesting and dynamic random wilderness encounters. It is a useful tool for further lowering the prep required with a game of Neoclassical Geek Revival but its honestly pretty system neutral.

Wallwichen: Three Clusters World Book 01 by Paul Drye. Published by Baggage Books. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 22 pages.

Once, the Orion Arm was humanity's plaything, the Earth Alliance expanding by leaps across interstellar space. But as happens with all our species creates, it was destroyed through greed and lust for power and spite.

A thousand years on, space is still dark, but light sometimes flickers for a while in a little corner here or there. The dream of the Alliance dies hard, and over and over one world or another has tried to recreate a fraction of its glory, only to fail.

Enter the Three Clusters, where it’s happening again. Whether or not they succeed this time depends on you.

The Three Clusters Campaign is a "classic-style" Hard Space Opera game setting, using the PWYW Cepheus Engine rules. for which Wallwichen is the first world book. Players take on the character of merchants, mercenaries, explorers, or many others in a universe where every world is hand-crafted by a veteran game setting designer.

This introductory book is FREE and further volumes will be low-priced. Each book details one world, and all are designed to interconnect into a larger whole. Alternatively GMs can use it as a "drop-in" planet when they need a new, detailed destination quickly in their usual setting and haven't got the time to make one.

The Three Clusters setting is also OPEN for use in other works, including commercial products. See details on the Wallwichen book's copyright page.

In Vino Gigantus (Swords & Wizardry) by James M. Spahn. Published by Frog God Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $7.99 and from the Publisher in PDF for $7.99. 18 pages. (Also avail. for PF and 5e. I believe the softcover is forthcoming at $16 but there's no option on the FGG site as of yet.)

In Vino Gigantus 

An introductory adventure by award winning author and designer James M. Spahn for Swords & Wizardry and other old-school fantasy roleplaying games!

Stormridge Sanctum was once home to the the an ancient and noble line of storm giants. It floated miles beyond the sight of mortal men, witnessing the birth and death of countless civilizations. But as time wore on and decadence laid hold to the Tempestas clan, both Stormridge Sanctum and its magnificent liege lords surrendered to the decay of time and decadence.

Now a single storm giant noble remains, the haughty dilettante sorcerer-prince Clovis Tempestas II. He concerns himself only with base pleasures and none more so than his beloved stock of family wine. But his beloved wine cellar has become flooded with a foul murk and strange creatures slither between bottles of his finest family vintage. He cannot be bothered to wade into such filth himself and he has no servants remaining in his household, so he has used what little magic his grape-addled mind can recall and summoned new servants: A troupe of unsuspecting adventures who will serve -- and if necessary, die -- to save his beloved wine.

This introductory adventure can be instantly inserted into any campaign without preamble, as it opens with the player characters being the unwitting targets of a Summon Monster spell! Once summoned into the very hands of a mad and drunken giant, the player characters will find themselves exploring a realm designed for creatures ten times their size as they fight all manner of strange creature, traverse larger than life obstacles and objects, encounter other adventurers who have fallen into the clutches of the mad prince Tempestas, and even risk plummeting to their death as the very foundation of the cloud castle of Stormridge Sanctum is crumbling beneath their boots!

Can the player characters placate the whims of a giant drunk on power and lost grace? Will they survive encounters with the strange animated objects that have become twisted by decades of neglected magic beneath a crumbling castle? And just what the hell is that echoing boom coming from the eastern part of the wine cellar?!

You’ve been granted the hospitality of the storm giant prince Clovis Tempestas II, and he’s always up for a little more...

City of Brass (Swords and Wizardry) published by Frog God Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $49.99 and from the publisher for $49.99. 442 pages.
(Also avail. for 5e. The HC has not been released as of yet.)

The Sultan bids you welcome...

Good folk have vanished. Those who were once disparaged and forgotten now wield power unlike anything seen before. Rulers and sages turn a blind eye to the disturbing events unfolding around them. In every corner of the Lost Lands, the Cult of the Veiled One spreads unchecked.

Prophesizing a cleansing jihad of flames and the coming of the Burning One, the cult has erected its brazen spires in every land. What follows depends on the wit and courage of mighty heroes who must rise to the occasion and take the fight to the enemy in its very stronghold. Will they succeed, or will they succumb to the temptations of the Veiled One’s court and join in the conquest of their home world? A fabled city of wishes on the edge of an eternal flame. The City of Brass is a rich combination of sand-box style role playing adventure, planar exploration, and twisted dungeons designed to test even the most seasoned adventurers.

Adventure Begins Across Planes of Fire and Deceit 

Beginning with low-level challenges in the familiar confines of the Lost Lands, the adventure leads characters on a thrilling journey through multiple planes of existence culminating in the exploration of the City of Brass itself. The gleaming towers and floating platforms of the city hold terrors and wonders such as the Great Repository and the Minaret of Screams. Characters may choose to take a turn in the Circus of Pain, raid the floating Pyramid of Set, or join the resistance to the Sultan’s oppressive rule and lead an assault on the palace itself! A phoenix rises fully formed from the ashes of the past. The City of Brass is re-imagined for the new renaissance of fantasy role playing games, brought to you in the epic style of old school fantasy campaigns of yesteryear.

About City of Brass 

From the design team that brought you Bard's Gate and Sword of Air, the City of Brass is an adventure unlike any other. With full color art and maps, new content and new organization, the City of Brass returns bigger and better than ever! An Adventure Sourcebook for characters level 1-20. A new version for Swords & Wizardry and other OSR fantasy roleplaying gamges has been created.

So what’s new in this release compared to the original Necromancer Games Boxed Set?

This new release of The City of Brass includes all new color maps by Alyssa Faden and Robert Altbauer. Plus amazing new color art by Colin Chan, Adrian Landeros, Terry Pavlet, Michael Syrigos, C. J. Allan Marsh, and Artem Shukaev.

The original City of Brass was divided into 3 sections and has been revised and reorganized throughout with 150,000 new words of adventures and material.

Section 1: Cult of the Burning One - Now includes the following adventures

Lornedain the Secret Flame: An introductory adventure for characters Levels 1-3.
Freegate: the Brazen Spire (For Levels 4-6), giving new details to the Lost Lands city of Freegate as the characters investigate the arrival of a new cult and its magical tower.
The Sea of Baal: (For levels 5-8). Adventures in the Titian Isles, the Elemental Plane of Air and Beyond as they travel across the Sea of Baal to the continent of Lybinos!
Numeda a Caliphate in Flames: (For levels 6-9). Arriving in Lybinos the characters discover that the city of Cirtius in the Caliphate of Numeda is over-run by the forces of the Sultan of Efreet. Help free the survivors or join the Sultan in his conquest of the Lost Lands!
The Path of the Prophet: (For Levels 8-10). Rewritten from the original with new content.

Section 2: The City of Brass is now newly organized with details on factions, new locations in the Plane of Molten Skies.

Section 3: Tales of Brass features new adventure locations including:

Ard’s Sanctuary: An adventure location for 11-14th level characters.
Freeman’s Tower: An ultra-dimensional apartment complex and home base located in the lower city. Conquer the tower and live rent free under the Sultan’s nose! For 11th-14th level characters.
The Apartment of Ra Po Jejh!: An old enemy makes a surprise return. Find his phylactery and finish him off once and for all! For 16th-18th level characters!
Cathedral of the Lightbringer: The cathedral of the Lord of Infurnace’s minions serving as his consulate in the City of Brass. Steal the Sword of the Lightbringer if you Dare!

Devil's Reach by Michael Brown. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.75. 2 pages.

A world-spanning train breaks down in the middle of a desert, and with it comes the threat of a breakdown in relations between a desert tribe and the railroad operators and the smooth running of the planetary economy itself. In the face of assaults by armed tribesmen, the heroes race the clock to get the vehicle under way and avoid becoming just more bleaching bones in the Devil’s Reach. 

Devil’s Reach is a short adventure for 2D6 science fiction RPGs such as Cepheus Engine and the Original Science Fiction Roleplaying Game (OSFRPG.)

With Eyes Cast Skyward by Michael Brown. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.75. 2 pages.

Who would’ve thought that a class in telepresence would lead to danger? But that’s exactly what happens when a band of smugglers invades a science academy to find out who’s been nosing around their stash with remote-controlled drones. The heroes are on hand to stop them, but their usual methods of dealing with enemies may be useless this time as there are innocents in the line of fire.

With Eyes Cast Skyward is a short adventure for 2D6 science fiction RPGs such as Cepheus Engine and the Original Science Fiction Roleplaying Game (OSFRPG.) 

Diesel Punks: Rocket Blast by Robert Garitta. Published by Surreal Estate Games. Available from  DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.50. 25 pages.

"Send us to the Aliens!!"

Diesel Punks gave stats and background capsules for retro Sci fi classes with The Black Hac 3Ed. Rocket Blast gives you ships to take them to adventure. From the hot shipment transports/scouts to the lumbering colony ships and fighter tenders, your Universe just got bigger! This product includes rules to build your ships, earn money with them, explore, and fight! Streamlined rules for NPC ships are included as well as hard and soft sci fi options.

This product requires The Black Hack Second Edition to use.

Not responsible for any actions resulting in Kessler Syndrome.

Argonautica #ZweihanderRPG by Peter Rudin-Burgess. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.99. 23 pages.

This campaign setting was built with players familiar with D&D in mind. D&D, in all its incarnations, is well known for its rich variety of threats and monsters in its adventures. The same is true of the traditional Greek myths with a different monster or demigod on every island.

The big difference between D&D and ZWEIHÄNDER is that D&D players are used to being the world saving heroes. ZWEIHÄNDER characters are not the heroes that save the world, they are the heroes that make a difference one small tragedy at a time.

Jason and the Argonauts is a well trodden path but in this version there is no Jason. The characters, the crew of the Argo, will have to get by as best they can without their hero. The events of the quest for the Golden Fleece take place immediately before the Trojan war. After your players have completed this quest you can launch them directly into the war and use that as the backdrop to your own ZWEIHÄNDER campaign.

Axes & Orcs Compendium Volume One: Non-Human and Monster Classes by By Ian Woolley. Available from Lulu in Print for $5.50. Available from itchio in PDF for $3.00. 12 pages. (See the author's blog for info on a forthcoming A5 version.)

This is a collection of the homebrewed and modified classes for elf games I've used over the years. All of them can be found on my blog for free. You can also buy physical copies of this and my other publications here on lulu.

TOC

Halfling Druid
Moon-Rat Arqubusier
Moon-Rat Machinist
Transforming Robot
Pegataur
Skeleton
Sky-Gnome
Sphinx

Gruechute #2: The Old School Enlightenment by Pekka Rihko, Aleksi Nikula. Published by Floodhold Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 36 pages.

What comes after the Old School Reneissance? This edition of Gruechute explores the possibility of an Old School Enlightenment, a RPG revival philosophy centered on games like Twilight 2000, Cyberpunk 2020, Traveller, Runequest and Gurps. Contains ponderings on running old school games, how they should be approached as systems, and how said systems could be homebrewed more playable.

Gruechute is a roleplaying zine from Oulu, Finland.

Mini Bestiary by Larry Hamilton. Published by Follow Me, And Die! Entertainment LLC. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 7 pages.

This is a collection of creatures from my blog, campaign, and convention games.

Fours! 3d Revised and Augmented Printing by Ken St. Andre, Charlie Fleming, Jason Youngdale, Sergio Mascarenhas. Published by Trollhalla Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 10 pages.

John Wick and I were discussing the question of how much does an rpg need in the way of rules to be playable? This is my answer. I would give it to you gamers for free, but people don't value things that are just handed to them, and so I'm asking for a minimal cover price, mostly to make up for the fact that I actually paid the artist. No dice needed. Just an ordinary deck of playing cards. I believe this system would work with any other rpg. Just throw out their rules and keep the adventure. This is the 3rd iteration of the rules with some minor changes and additions from the 1st & 2d editions. If you get all 3, you can really see how a game design changes as more people get involved.

The Solo Investigator's Handbook. Published by 5E Solo Gamebooks. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $9.99. 95 pages.

5e Solo Gamebooks presents The Solo Investigator's Handbook, a 95-page supplement for Call of Cthulhu. This product is the result of months of work and extensive playtesting, and contains a full system for generating on-the-fly, immersive adventures for your investigator(s). Using paper, pen, dice, this system, and your fevered imagination, you can generate full scenarios for yourself without the need for a Keeper. This is great if you cannot find a group, or for creating little scenarios for yourself in between your regular group games.

It can also serve as a great source of adventure generation/inspiration for Keepers (possibly as they adventure through the scenario themselves - creating as they go). Even if you are not interested in the concept of solo scenarios within Call of Cthulhu, take a quick look below at the Mythos-related resources that this supplement offers.

CONTAINS:

• 50 quest hooks to get your investigator started on their dark adventures.
• 50 rumors that you may hear in the course of your travels.
• 50 clues that you might stumble upon in the course of your investigations.
• 50 random events to drop into any adventure.
• Tables of randomly generated spooky effects that an investigator might experience.
• Tables for randomly generating NPCs.
• NPC stat blocks for commonly encountered characters such as beat cops, cultists, high priests, thugs and more.
• A handy reference table listing the main characteristics of every Mythos creature from the Keeper's Rulebook.
• A system of location tables that will randomly generate locations as you travel through just about any environment - Arctic, Jungle, Urban, you name it.
• A full system for generating solo adventures for your investigator(s).
• A question/answer mechanic designed to answer questions that will guide your quest.
• An escalating mechanic (Mythos Points) that increases the intensity of the action over time.
• A list of 499 random verbs that can provide direction/suggestion for any aspect of the quest.
• Examples of solo gameplay using this system, so you can see it in action.

Voyage of Terror by Stephen J Jones. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $6.00. 35 pages.

Voyage of Terror is a Miskatonic Repository Call of Cthulhu scenario set around 1925. It takes place on a transatlantic steam liner. It features:

- an evil plan to shunt the entire liner into a hellish alien dimension

- fishy Cthulhu cultists

- 14 non-player characters to help or hinder

- 27 pages of outer dimensional horror

- transdimensional engines and Deep One variants

- outline of a new mythos fighting organisation: Section D

When the Light Goes Out by Megan Tolentino. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.95. 17 pages.

Standing forgotten on the Oregon coast, a beacon for lost sailors helps conceal a town’s secrets, and an insidious evil. The Widow’s Peak Lighthouse has been a landmark for travelers near the Witch’s Cauldron State Natural Area for nearly 150 years. Closed to the public, it’s been the source of many local legends. Recently it went up for sale, and the bidding between the locals and a reclusive millionaire was vicious. However, money won out over local interests, and members of the party have been hired to help with the restoration and study of the lighthouse. As they work to restore the building, they find more and more things that should not be.

When the Light Goes Out is a modern stand alone adventure for Call of Cthulhu, that can be incorporated into an ongoing campaign. It includes six pregenerated investigators.

DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The Cryptid Manual - An OSR Bestiary by Josh Palmer, Jodie Brandt, Eric Bloat. Published by Bloat Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in HC Print/PDF Combo for $38.99, in SC Print/PDF Combo for $28.99, in PDF for $19.99. 90 pages.

"Do you believe in creatures like Bigfoot, The Mothman, The Jersey Devil, The Pope Lick Monster, Chupacabra, Gremlins & Lake Monsters? Well you should! These things are real. They are out there, just beyond the shadows, stalking the unsuspecting. Awaiting the perfect time to strike! Don’t believe me? Then maybe you should check out the Dark Places & Demogorgons Cryptid Manual. It’s based on a stolen, partially redacted and notated Federal file and case book that is splattered all throughout with real blood stains. Still not enough? Please kid, I implore you to keep reading below. The knowledge contained in this creepy file, may just save your life!"

The Cryptid Manual is Bloat Games first exclusively Bestiary/Monster Manual type of product. However, instead of using the same monsters that find their ways into most Bestiaries, for the Cryptid Manual, Bloat Games focused on highlighting the creatures of Cryptozoology from all around the world. If you’ve ever wanted to run your players against a Big Foot, a Lake Monster, The Mothman or Jersey Devil, then this supplement will be a must have. While the Cryptid Manual was created for Dark Places & Demogorgon it can easily be used with any OSR game, with very little conversion needed by the DM.

More info on Dark Places & Demogorgons:

In Dark Places & Demogorgons, you play as high school students during the early 1980s. The town you live in has had a rash of disappearances and strange happenings. The adults seem lost as what to do, the police are as clueless as ever and aren’t helping and Reverend Phillips is on another witch-hunt. It’s up to you and your friends to figure out what’s going on and stop it from happening again! 

The Cthulhu Hack: Valkyrie-9 by Paul Baldowski. Published by Just Crunch Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $4.95. 29 pages.

You're maintenance and repair units. You've activated to find power failing and no network connectivity except for short range buzz shots to other local units.

Stabilize. Restore. Report.

Unsuccessful execution caused by a system error that precludes successful execution of subsequent statements. Database file appears corrupt (). Shellmanager database is corrupt of missing. Unit enquiry could not make a connection to the primary server. There may be a problem with your network connection. Please try connecting to the remote computer again.

POWER_STATE_UNKNOWN.

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Valkyrie-9 is a one-shot investigation, written for The Cthulhu Hack but playable with any system geared toward Lovecraftian horror. Set 100 years into the future, the investigation sets the starting point for a wider campaign setting that will feature in a future release, supported by more investigations.

The adventure includes:

a 15-page adventure, including deep background, timeline, GM guidance, non-player character write-ups and a detailed overview of the Valkyrie-9 station
a set of 5 full sheet Gamemaster Reference maps
a 6-page section of handouts and pre-generated character cards
While you need the for Core Book to handle the baseline mechanics, the investigation includes five pre-generated character archetypes with modified rules for playing as automated drone units.

Eldritch Tales RPG Referee Screen & Reference Sheets by Joseph D. Salvador. Published by Raven God Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF Combo for $9.99 and in PDF for $3.99. 10 Cards.

This product is made for use with Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing and comprises reference sheets that help to ease play at the table. Quickly find equipment prices, Insanity and healing rules, weapon damage, and other useful information. Two items found here that do not appear in the core rulebook are a "Skill Reference" list and an "Insanity Saving Throw flowchart", both of which will prove helpful and speed play at your table!

This product has 10 landscape pages:

• 1 page title/credits
• 5 color pages of tables, charts, and rules that can be used as sheets or as GM screen inserts
• 4 pages of color art to decorate the exterior of your referee screen

The Print On Demand version of this product is printed on heavy cardstock and includes a free copy of the PDF and is cut to 8.5"x11" to fit snuggly into most landscape GM screens. The vinyl GM screen available through this website is very sturdy and can be added on during your purchase!

Call of Cthulhu 7e & Pulp NPC Sheets by Joshua Certain. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 4 pages.

The keeper shuffles through his papers sweat beading on his brow. He has the scenario memorized, but he cannot remember the stats for an NPC. "I know I had this somewhere," he said as he desperately flips through the pages of the adventure. Knowing he has blown the pace of this momentus encounter by not being better prepared he resignedly says, "Gimmie a second folks I cant find my notes."

That keeper is me. I looked all over for NPC sheets for 7e. I found some 6e editions, but they didn't really fit my needs. So I made these. The set contains two Print only and two Form fillable NPC sheets. There is a two-up NPC sheet for Mooks & Minor NPCS, as well as a Major NPC sheet. I hope the rest of the CoC community can benefit from these as I have greatly benefitted from the work done by community members such as Seth Skorkowsky, The Good Friends of Jackson Elias Podcast, and the How We Roll podcast.

TLDR: COC7e & Pulp keepers, here are some NPC sheets that will help keep your game organized.

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

Palace of the Dragon's Princess by Mark Taormino. Published by Dark Wizard Games. Available from the Publisher in Print/PDF Combo for $25.00 ($30.00 International) and in PDF for $10.00. Now also available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $10.00. 40 pages.

Once upon a time, the lakeside Kingdom of Damoros was suffering from the death of its benevolent King. All hope now lay with the Princess who was set to marry the bravest knight in the land, and their union would restore the realm. However, on the wedding day, the evil Dragon Maelfesto attacked the castle by surprise and took control! The serpent drove everyone out and took the princess captive in the caverns below, wickedly enchanting the palace never to be seen again. Riches, honor and glory will be gained for those who save the fair maiden, defeat the beast and return alive from the Palace of the Dragon’s Princess! 

• 40 Pages saddle stitched
• 40 Encounters
• Removable Cover with 2 Blue Maps• 2 New Monsters
• 4 Pre-Generated Characters

Divinities and Cults: Volume III (DCC RPG) by Dan Osarchuk. Published by OSRDAN Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $6.99. 44 pages.

NOW IT'S TIME TO GO REALLY OLD SCHOOL! 

Have you unleashed the mighty power of Divinities and Cults in your game yet?

Divinities and Cults: Volume III covers the gods and goddesses of both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian Pantheons, as well as a number of Evil Cults. Like Volumes I & II, this work provides detailed tenets, special cleric considerations, magical side-effects, numerous divine tests, and custom spell lists for all 19 of them. What is more, optional rules and random tables abound, organized by divinity of course. This excellent book is compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG™!

Inside, you'll get:

• Detailed rules for playing clerics of 7 Mesopotamian and 7 Egyptian gods and goddesses, including Enki, Enlil, Ereshkigal, Ishtar, Marduk, Nanna, Utu, Anubis, Bast, Horus, Isis, Osiris, Ra, and Thoth
• Full rules for also playing clerics of 5 Evil Cults, including Apep, Dagon, Nergal, Set, and Tiamat
• 20 pieces of unique artwork by Luigi Castellani
• 7 random encounter tables, including afterlife, apsu, desert, inn, pyramid, tomb, and ziggurat
• 20 new monsters
• Other optional rules & sidebar sections
• And much more!

World of Mayhem Box Set – 6 Books + PDFs. Available from the Publisher for $200.00 ($220.00 International.) 

The World of Mayhem Box Set includes Modules #1-5, Monsters of Mayhem #1, Dice and dice bag. This is a special preorder product related to the fulfillment of the Dragon’s Princess Kickstarter which is now in production and will be shipped in November. You will get all digital products immediately. (AFAIK all of the modules have now been released, so this should be ready to ship. You might want to contact the Pub. to make sure, though. ed.)

Polyhedron Newszine V5 #5 Issue 26. Published by Wizards of the Coast. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.99. 32 pages.

Included in this issue:

• "Needle" (Part 3: "The Powers That Be") - by Frank Mentzer. At last, we present the conclusion of this epic adventure. "Needle" was the featured AD&D® Game event from GEN CON® 17 Game Fair.
• Squeaky Wheels - by Frank Mentzer. Frank takes the Network podium to address the issue of the current D&D® Came controversy in a special guest editorial.
• GEN CON® 18 Game Fair - by Fast Eddie Carmien. A guest editorial from a staff volunteer at Convention HQ.
• Where Chaos Reigns - by Sonny Scott and Michael D. Selinker. Two volunteers reveal what the RPGATM Network really does at game conventions.
• Gamma Mars - by Roger E. Moore. Need a new frontier for your GAMMA WORLD® Game? Check out our cover story for detai ls on the planet Mars!
• Unofficial New Illusionist Spells - by Jon Pickens. Can't figure out how to recharge items in the AD&D® Game? Try these new spells! The fourth of a continuing series.

Polyhedron Newszine V5 #6 Issue 27. Published by Wizards of the Coast. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.99. 32 pages.

Included in this issue:

• She-Rampage! - by Susan Lawson and Tom Robertson. For the first time, POLYHEDRONTM Newszine presents a full feature module for the MARVEL SUPER HEROESTM Game! Play one of six super-powered women out to avenge their honor. Characters are included.
• Dominion Spells - by Jon Pickens. This issue's installment of the "Unofficial Spells" series offers a whole new category of magic-user spells.
• The Thorinson Clan of Yentam - by Skip Olsen. Our cover story is another installment of "New Rogues Gallery." If you need a few interesting personalities for your campaign, try these live dwarves.
• Alignment Theory - by Robert Desjardins. This pseudo-mathematical model puts a new light on character alignment in the AD&D® Game.
• Gamma Mars: The Attack! - by James M. Ward. The Humans and Luncarians are not alone on Mars. Enter the natives!

Back to the Dungeon Zine forr LL/AEC V1I5 by Eldrad Wolfsbane, Seig and Indigo Rose. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 36 pages.

The 5th Level of the Black Stairs, Drow the PC Race.

Imperio 1bis by James Maliszewski, Robert Saint John, Greg Videll. Published by Grognardia Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $4.99. 33 pages.
(I'm not sure if the print is still avail. Check the Pub. site for info. ed.)

Imperio is an irregularly published fanzine containing original material to support Thousand Suns and other science fiction roleplaying games.

Issue 1bis is 32 pages in length and includes the following:Deep Background: The characters are employed to investigate the credentials of a young man from the planet Stavros.

The Caristoj: Details of a mysterious nomadic alien race that has recently appeared in the Thousand Suns.

The Fast Freighter: A description of a common small starship, including deckplans.

Runaway: The characters arrive at Reyes Station only to find all traffic in and out is being halted to deal with an emergency.

Random Name Generation: Tables for producing Terra Lingua names for player and non-player characters.

Allies and Antagonists: Three fully fleshed out non-player characters for use either as friends or foes.

Blades: Blades & Black Magic Book 1 by C.R. Brandon. Available from Lulu in PDF for $6.99. Still Available from Lulu in Print for $9.99. 190 pages.

Blades is the first book of the Blades & Black Magic adventure game. Unlike many high fantasy games populated with Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings, Blades & Blacks Magic focuses on humans as the characters and animals as frequent foes you will fight in a low magic setting. Blades & Black Magic is inspired by Heroic Fantasy. For a new Player or Referee to this game system, relax! It is a simple and sensible rule system; easy to learn and easy to play using only six sided dice! With this book, you will quickly start your adventures in ancient and mysterious lands. The other book to come, Black Magic, will cover sorcerers, spells and alchemy.

Ice Kingdoms Bestiary Compilation by CS Barnhart, Caleb Congrove, Chris Lites, Ryan Lynn, James Ward, and Moses Wildermuth. Published by Mad Martian Games. Now Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF Combo for $8.80, in Print for $7.10 and in PDF or $6.80. 72 pages.

Welcome travelers of the Thanelands.

The Ice Kingdoms Bestiary Compilation collects together the monsters and menaces that have terrorized the Frozen North so far.
It is a collection of fiends familiar and strange that stretch from the cold shores of Drawoh Rock to the peaks of Mount Surtur and into the depths of the dark heart of the Mournwood and beyond.
Monsters, Animals, Beasts, Men, and more lie in wait to challenge heroes and villains, wizards and warriors, those destined for greatness and those bound for doom.
This tome collects monsters from the Ice Kingdoms line of books, including The Ice Kingdoms Campaign Setting, Into the Mournwood, The Girl with the Demon Tattoos, The Lair of the White Wyvern, The Temple of Drawoh Rock, Ice Kingdoms Expansion: Expanded Bestiary, and The Fires of Mount Surtur.
The Ice Kingdoms Bestiary Compilation is compatible with most Old School Games, especially Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, and For Gold & Glory and is easily converted to many other games.

A Beginner's Guide to Tunnels & Trolls: The Necropolis of Death by Thomas H Pugh. Published by Bolt Thrower Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF Combo for $7.82 and in PDF for $5.21. 116 pages.

An evil necromancer is terrorising your town and only one person can stop him. Well no, that's not true. Lot's of people could stop him but they're not. And so you decide to take on the task...

This adventure introduces the reader to the wonderful world of Tunnels & Trolls. You will create a character and learn the rules as you play, no preparation or knowledge of the system is needed. By the time you have finished you will be ready to take your newly minted delver and subject them to any of the hundreds of Tunnels & Trolls solo adventures available.

The adventure starts here!

Beasties 2 by Thomas Denmark. Published by Knight Owl Workshop. Now Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF combo for $11.00, in Print for $10.00 and in PDF for $4.00. Available from Lulu in Print for $9.00. Available from the author in PDF for $4.00. 90 pages.

Beasties II 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, an adventure location and random encounter tables. 

This is a handy reference book to bring to your gaming table, or use for inspiration in creating adventures.

A collection of monsters, creatures, strange beings, traps, and encounters compatible with the Original Fantasy RPG and similar systems.

More Free Gaming Stuff from the Blogosphere and Environs

Michael Prescott of Trilemma Adventures released The Mouth of Spring - 2 page PDF.

Dungeons and Possums posted One-Page Setting: The Savage Tundra of the Winter King. PDF.

Martin O of Goodberry Monthly posted Counterspell.

MTZE writes about Games posted One Page Adventure #2 and One Page Adventure #1.

Tristan Tanner of The Bogeyman's Cave posted JABOM House Rules Update!!!!! 27 page PDF.

Josh of Rise Up Comus posted GLoG: Monk Traditions and Techniques. 

Olav Nygård of Triple Suns posted Sourn Monastery Murder Mystery.

Arnold K. of Goblin Punch posted The Exile. 

Konsumterra of Elfmaids & Octopi posted Structures of the Apocalypse: Part 3.

Saker Tarsos of Tarsos Theorem posted Mapping with Playing Cards Part 1: Cities.

Yami Bakura of Remixes and Revelations posted OSR: Morningstar.

Goblin's Henchman posted Tuesday Toot!! | VotE Cave Generator.

Jason Vey of The Wasted Lands posted Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Original D&D. 

Claytonian JP posted Under the Painbow. Link direct to 10 page Google doc. And this 15 page Google doc Arduin, Bloody Arduin.

The blogger at A Blasted, Cratered Land posted Wielding a Magic Sword. 

GREGORIUS21778 posted Why are the Nightmare Elves Here. 

Dungeons and Possums posted The Mushlug - A Random Advancement Class for the OSR.

Emmy Allen of Cavegirl's Game Stuff posted Sharne's Clockwork Market - Intro.

Scott Anderson of Treasure Hunters HQ posted Goblin Class for B/X.

Jorge Jaramillo Villarruel posted Slime Bugs. 19 page PDF. Link Direct to File.

Scott Malthouse of Trollish Delver posted Free OSR game: Dungeon Nights.

Daniel Dean of Basic Red posted Basic Red RPG. 6 page PDF. 

Maptime

Dyson Logos of Dyson's Dodecahedron posted The Citadel at Sabre Lake, The Portal Nexus and Adventures in Cromspoint.

Necrotic Gnome posted a sample from the forthcoming Winter's Daughter. 

EOTB of The Blue Bard posted Some WBP (world building in-progress).

Reviews & Play Reports

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org reviews The Throne of the Gods and The Beast of Briar Creek.

Jeremy from OSR News and Reviews looks at Tomb of the Lovelorn.

Michael Bacon of Buildings Are People posted Hot Springs Island Mini-review After 6 sessions.

Jeremy “frothsof” Smith of Thought Eater posted Frothcast #14: Humpday Blog-O-Rama 2.20.19.

Dungeons and Possums posted How To Get Started Playing Old-School D&D For Free.

Melan from Beyond Fomalhaut reviews Sailors on the Starless Sea. 

Endzeitgeist reviews The Wizardarium of Calabraxis, Tomb of the Iron God, Wormskin #2: Lankshorn, The Bloodsoaked Boudoir of Velkis the Vile, and Wormskin #1.

Needles of Swords & Stitchery posted Review & Commentary On Ford's Faeries: A Bestiary Inspired by Henry Justice Ford From Studio Kortex For Your Old School Campaigns.

Tamás Illés  of Vorpal Mace posted [Review] Wee Warriors Reprints, Part I: Palace of the Vampire Queen.

Jason Vey of The Wasted Lands posted Reading Original Dungeons & Dragons. 

Bud's RPG review of YouTube fame uploaded Cults of Prax (Part I) for Runequest 2nd Ed by Chaosium.

captcorajus uploaded a YouTube review: OSR Review: B/X Essentials.

And in Other News...

Alex Schroeder posted 2019-02-21 RPG Blog Highlights?

Dungeons and Possums posted Links: DriveThruRPG More Awesome OSR Sale.

Check out this old BBC clip brought to us by Old School FRP.

Kickstarters, etc.

TEYLEN'S RPG CORNER posted Crowdfunding Collection #97.

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.

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