My Son, the Grognard

So, a couple of weeks ago we decided to put the Greyhawk campaign on hold for a little while and explore some other RPG's. After some discussion, we decided to give 5e a try with the starter box set.

I've never played or ran 5e and Brisco had no experience with it, either. I was looking forward to running it and seeing what my son thought. While I did tell him I thought the game needed some judicious houserules, I said that all in all I thought it was decent, from what I've seen.

I didn't want my own preferences to unduly influence him. For all I knew, he might really like 5e and it could be a good game for him to run for his friends. It's the new hotness, after all. Thus far he's been running OSRIC for his high school crew. They meet about once a month or so and he runs them through a module. He hasn't started an actual campaign with them, which I think is fine. I started in a similar fashion, with my friends and I getting together, taking out our character folders and assembling a
team for whatever adventure one of us was running. Kind of a nebulous, ever shifting world that might resemble Greyhawk one week and ancient Scandinavia, the next.

I've been talking about a lot of different games during our conversations. Rolemaster, OpenQuest, Stormbringer, DCC, various super hero games and so forth. I think giving him information and opportunities to explore different games is a good thing. Hell, I'd even be willing to run 3e for him.

No one else, but I'd run it for him.

So, the 5e session went fairly well. We got past the first part. My son ran two of the pre-gens and I ran the other three as NPC's.

I think the first assault on Brisco's Old School sensibilities was the cantrips. After working an AD&D MU up to 13th level, all that "Phew-Phew" repetitiveness was a bit... dull and uninspired.

The second was the dying rules, which he found irritatingly coddling.

"We can houserule all that if you want to do an actual 5e campaign," I assured him.

The session ended and the next week, I was prepared to continue the adventure.

Alas, Brisco informed me he wasn't interested in 5e, didn't care for it at all and said, "Let's go back to the Greyhawk campaign."

"Are you sure? You know a lot of what you didn't like can be houseruled."

"No, I didn't care for it at all. I didn't like the way it played. I prefer 'To Hit' charts and the way AD&D works."

Swear to Gygax.

"Okay, I'm good with that."

The OSR News - Nov 2, 2018

An old school offering from The Scribes of Sparn and a new release from Lamentations of the Flame Princess kicks things off this week. Further down, there's one hell of an enticing library/dungeon. We've got some non D&D old school, with something for Traveller fans and a new, or re release, or something for Aftermath! up on One Book Shelf. There's a lot more on offering this week as well and I'll end this intro by pointing out the very last item, a rather intriguing free PDF by the name of Tenebrae

New Releases

The Castle that Fell from the Sky by Steve Robertson & Jimm Johnson. Published by The Scribes of Sparn. Available from Lulu in Print for $9.80 and in PDF for $5.45. 52 pages.

Even in the far gulfs of space, the struggle of Law against Chaos, Good versus Evil is eternal. But wherever evil is not extinguished, it will revive to exact vengeance on those who would keep it at bay...

...On the fringes of the realm, where civilization wanes and adventures begin, rumors are whispered of a castle that fell from the sky. Some say it has poisoned the land where it fell and nought but death can be within its walls. Some say creatures, foul and dangerous, have gathered at the dark fortress. But others, the treasure seekers and thieves who haunt the local taverns, scoff at such dire warnings and view them only as a thin ploy to keep adventurers from winning the vast treasure that surely waits within. To your ears have come these very rumors— and more: you have learned the location of the fallen sky-castle!

An adventure module for characters level 3-5. Compatible with 0e, 1e, B/X, Original, Classic, and Advanced fantasy wargame systems and retroclones.

The Punchline by Zzarchov Kowolski. Art by Journeyman1029. Published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Available in Print from the Publisher for 18.70€.  Available in PDF from RPGNOW for $7.99. 32 pages.

DEAD CHILDREN AND OTHER LAUGHS 

Life is funny they say. It’s full of suffering and misery, confusion and ignorance. The life of those in a small alpine village has suddenly become far more full of those terrible things. Children are missing while tales of black magic and deviltry strike panic into the hearts of parents. 

If their life is just a miserable joke then it should come as no surprise when you hear THE PUNCHLINE. 

The Punchline comes to you from Zzarchov Kowolski (Going Through Forbidden Otherworlds, Scenic Dunnsmouth) and and brought to life by the gruesomely beautiful illustrations of Journeyman1029 (Emerald Alley, OSR2). 

A killer clown filled adventure suitable for low level characters for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role-Playing and other traditional role-playing games. 

Standoff at Sandfell Sea Fort by Malrex. Published by The Merciless Merchants. Available from DriveThru RPG in Print for $10.00, in PDF for $5.00 and in a Combo for $12.00. 24 pages.

Eerie lights? Strange noises? Ships are sailing blind into the rough shores of the Bay of Saurvorn. Why is the light out at Lokrom’s Beacon? Will the party find clues to a murderer? Or is there something more sinister at stake.
An OSR adventure for Levels 4-7. 

One of many monthly modules by Malrex's Modules on Patreon. This adventure has been edited and layout re-worked. It involves an adventure in a bay OR the seashore with a lighthouse and a old sea fort with several new monsters and magic items.

Starship Geomorphs by Robert Pearce. Available in PDF for Free. 185 pages.

The Starship Geomorphs book is finally complete and ready for download. I can safely say after three years of putting this project together the itch has been thoroughly scratched. If you have any constructive criticisms please comment below. I'm not opposed to revisiting this sometime in the future if the situation warrants it. In the meantime I'm going to take a short break and get back to some smaller, less intense projects. Thanks for your patience, I hope you find it worth the wait.

Basic and Advanced Magazine by Edward Kann. Available from Lulu in PDF for $3.21. 53 pages.

BASIC and Advanced Magazine is an OSR zine dedicated to house rules and homebrew content. This quarterly magazine contains house rules, quirky character classes, new spins on old monsters, magic items, and short encounters or mini dungeons. 

We have decided to exclude RAW (Rules as Written) reviews and materials as there are so very many articles and blog posts already available to support that side of the hobby. 

We are interested in hearing about your own house rules, homebrew creations, off beat character classes and creative monsters and magic items. Information on how to submit a simple pitch of your material is included in the first pages of this edition. 

Over time we hope to add many other voices to the material contained herein but every journey has to begin somewhere. I have done my best to include a wide range of my own fun homebrew material for this first issue.

Campfire Tale by Mark Craddock. Published by Cross Planes Game Studio. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $1.50. 11 pages.

Campfire Tale is designed as an introductory adventure for 1st to 3rd level characters for The Black Hack Second Edition and Labyrinth Lord. It can easily be in corporated into an existing campaign.

RL2 - The Charnel Pits of Reynaldo Lazendry by Jeremy Reaban. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for PWYW. 12 pages.

RL2 - The Charnel Pits of Reynaldo Lazendry is the second level of the dungeon of Reynaldo Lazendry. It's meant for the 1st advanced edition of the world's oldest fantasy role-playing game, but can be used with most classic editions with no problem. 

The second level details Reyaldo Lazendry's experiments in studying life and death...and undeath. 

(It's meant to be something of a Halloween adventure)

Slave-Drones of the Fantas-Ti-Plex by Reid San Filippo & Steve Bean. Published by Shield of Faith Studios. Available in Print from Lulu for $11.99, in Print from Amazon for $11.99, in Print/PDF Combo from DriveThru RPG for $11.99 and in PDF from DriveThru RPG for $4.99. 40 pages.

AN ODD UMERICAN 0-LEVEL FUNNEL ADVENTURE FOR EXPERIENCED JUDGES

WELCOME TO THE FANTAS-TI-PLEX! A lovely underground dystopian complex ruled by the ever beneficent Autocrat. Here all drones live in peace and prosperity, because the Autocrat says so. I mean, why would any of the drones doubt him, EVER. It is a perfect place to barely live and no one would EVER want to leave, right?

Slave-Drones of the Fantas-Ti-Plex is an alternate style 0-level funnel for Umerica—the gonzo postapocalyptic science-fantasy setting for the DCC RPG written by Reid San Filippo. Unlike a regular 0-level funnel, where players start with three to four 0-level PCs and try to keep one to two of them alive to level up, in the Slave-Drones of the Fantas-Ti-Plex players have only one 0-level PC to traverse a dystopian underground facility and each time that PC is killed, their consciousness is uploaded into a fresh, new copy of their physical body. Of course, each time they respawn the process goes perfectly without any flaws or mutations popping up, right? ...right? I’m sure it will be fine.

This product is compatible with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game

Adventure Framework 34: Carnifexum by Stephen J Grodzicki. Published by Pickpocket Press. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $1.00. 10 pages. 

Welcome to $1 Adventure Frameworks! 

$1AF makes sweet mini adventures - or more accurately what I like to call "Adventure Frameworks" - stand alone, drop in adventure 'skeletons', made to facilitate sandbox style play - for $1. 

Each adventure framework is set in a generic medieval or ancient fantasy location, with enough meat to enable the GM to improvise details and adapt to player choices.

System wise, these adventures use the Low Fantasy Gaming RPG (an old school/modern mix d20 based game; free PDF - Link), but are easily adapted to any d20 system.
So what do you get for your dollar?

Adventure Framework 34 Carnifexum consists of:

• A downloadable, bookmarked PDF (7 A4 pages, excluding cover & credits, in both parchment and white backgrounds).
• The Core Adventure (in this instance, gladiatorial games held in Melek, City of Shackles) that will occupy 3-8 hours of session time with Minimal Prep.
• Rumours & Hooks suggestions.
• Quality B&W Illustrations.
• A professional hand drawn map. 

But don't take my word for it - google 18 Halls of the Dwarf Lord and 16 Delecarte's Carnival of Wonders to download two free examples.

RT2 Adventures in Fun World by Jo Kreil. Published by Great Scott! Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $3.99. 35 pages.

A HIDEOUTS & HOODLUMS Adventure Module for Hero Levels 3-5. What could be more fun than an amusement park? Maybe an abandoned amusement park, sinking into a swamp, filled with deadly danger? That makes it the perfect setting for a hideout that the heroes can explore and loot! And what does Mr. Mesmer want with the park...? 

This module contains background information, Editor's notes, plus maps and exploration keys. It provides a complete adventure for play of HIDEOUTS & HOODLUMS (2nd edition), and it can be used alone or as the second of a series of expedition adventures which also employs HIDEOUT MODULE RT1 (Palace of the Vamp Queen).

Caravans & Trade by Larry Hamilton. Published by Follow Me, And Die! Entertainment LLC. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for PWYW. 23 pages.

Considerations for handling trade, caravans, and trade routes in RPGs with several tables to assist the GM.

B1 The Ruins of Grimhold Keep by J. Published by New Realms Publishing. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $5.95. 15 pages.

Once a dwarven stronghold guarding the Great Trade Road, Grimhold Keep has fallen into ruin. But within the shadowed structures and crumbling towers monsters lurk and treasure waits to be claimed! 

B1 The Ruins of Grimhold Keep, is a dungeon adventure for 4 to 6 characters of 1st to 3rd level. Once a dwarven stronghold guarding the Great Trade Road, the keep has fallen into ruin, but the remains of the towers and ruined structures may conceal lost wealth and lurking danger. Based on the Universal Adventure module of the same name, the adventure includes 9 Adventure cards, each with a thumbnail map, description and notes, 9 Encounter cards, with full stats, 9 Event cards, 9 Search cards and 18 Treasure cards. Written for Labyrinth Lord (tm) and similar RPGs, the adventure can be played solo or with a group, with or without a GM. The adventure is highly re-playable and the cards can be combined with those from other adventures to create your own adventures. Gather your party and delve into the depths of Grimhold Keep in search of gold, glory and adventure! 

B2 The Dungeons of Grimhold Keep, Level 1 by J. Published by New Realms Publishing. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $5.95. 15 pages.

Once a dwarven stronghold guarding the Great Trade Road, the Grimhold Keep has fallen into ruin. Rumors claim, though, that an extensive network of tunnels and chambers exists beneath the ruins. Home to all manner of horrors and traps, the dungeons are also said to house the hoarded wealth of marauding bandits and monsters. Only a brave party of adventurers can survive the dangers to discover the truth.

Enter the depths of Grimhold Keep in search of gold, glory and adventure. But beware, the denizens of the dark depths are a danger to all who dare to enter their domain. And there are rumors of a new power rising, one that bears the symbol of the crowned skull. 

B2 The Dungeons of Grimhold Keep, Level 1, a dungeon adventure for 4 to 6 characters of 1st to 3rd level. Once a dwarven stronghold guarding the Great Trade Road, the keep has fallen into ruin, but legends tell of an extensive network of chambers and tunnels beneath the keep. Based on the Universal Adventure module of the same name, the adventure includes 9 Adventure cards, each with a thumbnail map, description and notes, 9 Encounter cards, with full stats, 9 Event cards, 9 Search cards and 18 Treasure cards. Written for Labyrinth Lord (tm) and similar RPGs, the adventure can be played solo or with a group, with or without a GM. The adventure is highly re-playable and the cards can be combined with those from other adventures to create your own adventures. Gather your party and delve into the depths of Grimhold Keep in search of gold, glory and adventure!

The Stygian Library by Emmy Allen. Published by Dying Stylishly Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $4.00. 71 pages.

The Stygian Library is a creepily genteel dungeon set in an infinite extradimensional library. Each expedition generates its route as it explores, resulting in new locations being discovered with every visit. Included within: 

• Systems for generating locations within the library, including Entrance Foyers, Map Galleries, Tea Rooms, Planetariums, Calculation Engines, Phantom Databanks, Paper Beehives, Phantom Pumps, Jarred Brains and the Sheol Computer.
• 40 monsters tailored to the Library, including Lantern Bearers, Skeleton Crew, Origami Golems, Guardian Shades, Lost Souls, Ink Elementals, Animate Spells, Archivist-Liches, Infernal Merchants, Escaped Fictions, Educated Rodents, Conceptual Wells and the orders of Librarians themselves.
• A system for searching for specific knowledge within the library's depths, as well as 30 unusual books and the secret knowledge they contain.
• Tables for generating treasure, dreams, rumors, and various other useful details.
• A unique class of Mummified Sages, post-human academics who've dwelled in the Library for decades or more.

It's a big spooky library full of dangerous knowledge, spiritual automata and ghost-fueled computers. 

The Tomb of Harven Half-Skull by Joseph Bloch. Published by BRW Games. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $2.49. 10 pages.

A hundred years ago, the pirate king Harven Half-Skull was buried with his ill-gotten booty in a secret tomb. Your band of adventurers have a map that claims to show the final resting place of the pirate king, and you're off to claim his loot. But the dead do not rest easy... 

The Tomb of Harven Half-Skull is an adventure for 3-6 characters of level 3-4, and is a classic dungeon crawl designed to be completed in a single gaming session. 

Written for the Adventures Dark and Deep™ rules, The Tomb of Harven Half-Skull can be played with most Basic and Advanced compatible rule sets with little or no conversion needed. 

New Editions and Re-Releases

Tomb of the Serpent Kings - Deluxe Print Edition by Skerples. Art by Scrap Princess. Available from DriveThru RPG in print for $2.70 and in PDF for Free. 25 pages.

People keep asking for "beginner" dungeons. Everyone can name "classic" dungeons - Tomb of Horrors, Barrier Peaks, The Temple of Elemental Evil, etc. - but in order for those adventures to make sense, there needs to be some sort of introduction. 

It's like all the adventures we have are Bach concertos. People keep writing amazing works of staggering genius, but someone needs to write a book on how to play the piano. 

I had the same questions, and since I couldn't find anything satisfactory, I decided to write the kind of dungeon I would have loved to find. I wanted to write the best basic old-school dungeon for new players that I could, and I also wanted to show the design process. And since people keep refereng to it, I figured I'd put up a fancy print version. 

Tomb of the Serpent Kings is designed to be easy to adapt to your system of choice to create an old-school dungeon-crawling tomb-robbing experience. 

The PDF is free and licensed under Creative Commons NC-BY-SA. Hack it, share it, translate it (there are French, German and Spanish translations available on my blog).

If you want a fancy print version, buy the print-on-demand copy. It's sold at cost - I don't make a cent off it. If you'd like to support me, consider adding Kidnap the Archpriest or Epochrypha: a Book of Speculative Ages to your order.

The Race Hack Second Edition for The Black Hack Second Edition by Mark Craddock. Published by Cross Planes Game Studio. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $1.99. 9 pages. 

Do you enjoy THE BLACK HACK SECOND EDITION but wish you had more Racial options?

THE RACE HACK Second Edition features 19 Races in the tradition of the Advanced Version of the World's First Role Playing Game and it's 5th Edition version, as well. 

It includes Aasimars, Apemen, Catfolk, Centaurs, Dragonborn, Dwarves, Elves, Gargoyles, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Halflings, Humans, Lizardmen, Minotaurs, Orcs, Ratmen, Sasquatches, Tieflings, and Wolfmen.

Aftermath! Asteroid Cybele: Australia's Wild West by Stephen Dedman. Published by Fantasy Games Unlimited. Available from DriveThru RPG in PDF for $8.00.

With the asteroid strike on Earth by Asteroid Cybele, orderly civilization came to an end. Now, twenty years later, some organization has been restored in limited areas of the globe. Regions of former nations have reorganized and attempted to restore some semblance of secure and orderly lives for citizens.

A complete guide to Western Australia after the ruin with a full campaign to get characters started in adventuring in this post-holocaust environment. In addition to the basics about the region twenty years after the ruin, you will find:

• A history of the ruin and its effects on Australia
• A detailed look at pre- and post-ruin Australian culture, including history, cuisine, language (with slang terms), laws and customs, popular activities, and much more.
• Forty-four detailed communities with maps, some with pre-ruin photographs.
• Eleven interconnected adventures to begin any campaign.
• Appendices covering technology, weapons, vehicles, and a “catalog of finds.”

Some Reviews from the Blogosphere

Chris Kutalik of Hill Cantons fame talks about What Ho, Frog Demons! 

Needles of Swords & Stitchery has some comments on the Codex Germania. 

Frederick Foulds of Arcana Obscura has a review of Sounds of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Bryce of tenfootpole.org reviews Through Ultan's Door. 

Tamás Illés of Vorpal Mace reviews Obscene Serpent Religion. 

Trey From the Sorcerer's Skull has some comments on What Ho, Frog Demons!

Needles of Swords & Stitchery has some commentary on Tomb of the Iron God.

Jeremy Friesen of Take On Rules has a review of Witchburner.

Misc. Free Stuff! 

Soren of the Weird blog has this LotFP Character Sheet that's pretty snazzy!

Ricardo Esteves made a Brawler for the Black Hack (Direct Link) And an Outlander (Direct Link.)

This is an older post, but Timrod of Cave of the Dice Chucker has some nice Hommlet maps.

GREGORIUS21778 has 10 Demons from Hell, LotFP style.

Tenebrae by Unusual Existence. Art by K. Yani. 32 page PDF (Direct Link.)


About The OSR News

Unless otherwise noted, all links to products and files are to the individual authors sites, pertinent posts, or sales pages. I don’t link directly to files unless that is the only link available.

I have received no remuneration from any publisher for reporting on their releases, nor is such a requirement for a product to be included in these posts. At times, an author or publisher may send me a complimentary copy of an item, for purposes of review. This is not a requirement for a product's inclusion in these posts. Some of the links, such as to One Bookshelf sites, are affiliate links and may provide some compensation from the 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.

The OSR News - Oct. 26, 2018

New Releases

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What people have said: 

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

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

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

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

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

What's inside its novella-length pages: 

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

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

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

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

A whole rural carousing system.

An entire Bucolic Slavic Village generation system.

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

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

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

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

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

This issue: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note: This is a PDF only product.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can you save Westwego? 

What about the celebration? 

What about the hooch!?

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

WitchPig - The Midderlands Card Game.

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

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

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

For use as a game prop or actual card game.

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

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

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

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

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

Star Crawl's 112 black & white pages include: 

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

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

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

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

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

New Editions & Re-Releases

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

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

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

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

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

Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pookie from Reviews from R'lyeh reviews Operation Unfathomable.

ENDZEITGEIST at Nerd Trek reviews The God That Crawls. 

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

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

Some Other Things of Interest...

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

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


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

Timothy Brannon discusses his S&W coven of Witches.

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

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

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

Blue Sword Games has some pretty maps!



About The OSR News 

Unless otherwise noted, all links to products and files are to the individual authors sites, pertinent posts, or sales pages. I don’t link directly to files unless that is the only link available. 

I have received no remuneration from any publisher for reporting on their releases, nor is such a requirement for a product to be included in these posts. At times, an author or publisher may send me a complimentary copy of an item, for purposes of review. This is not a requirement for a product's inclusion in these posts. Some of the links, such as to One Bookshelf sites, are affiliate links and may provide some compensation from the pertinent site. 

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

Another Thrilling Episode of Conan and the Cheap DM

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

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

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

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

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

Some Main Resources

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

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

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

  

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

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

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

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

Maps

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

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

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

A direct link to another map. 

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

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

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

Other Useful Conan Stuff!

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

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

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

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

A few Hyborian Age houserules from the Hyborian Tales blog.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And We're Done!

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

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