Saturday, January 5, 2019

The OSR News: January 5, 2019

Jason Vey returns with another OD&D supplement, Science Fantasy makes more than one appearance in early 2019 and Gregorius21778 gets an entry in right before post time. All this and more this week in The OSR News.

New Releases


Supplement IX Star Wars by Jason Vey. Available from the Author's blog in PDF for Free. 41 pages.
(Ed. note: quoted from the author's blog post.)
http://www.grey-elf.com/supplement_ix_star_wars.pdfSo a discussion arose on the ODD74 message forums awhile back, about how difficult it would be to run a Star Wars game using the OD&D rules. The general consensus was that it shouldn't be difficult to do, but there was some disagreement on how to handle the Force--most people assumed Clerical magic would be the best approach. My own thought was that psionics, as presented in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry are a better, and near-perfect, approach to modeling the Force in a Star 
Wars game.
This of course led to some disagreement, as psionics in Dungeons & Dragons, at least prior to third edition, have a reputation for being confusing, arcane, and complex. The truth is, however, that like much of the older editions of D&D, psionics aren't all that difficult--they're just poorly organized. After one goes through the rules and gets a handle on them, they are actually quite straightforward.

I, thus, took it as something of a challenge to do up a full sourcebook in the OD&D style (which I have dubbed "Supplement IX," though of course numbering of fan supplements has no official ordering).
The Things Lost to Time by James Andrews. Published by Stormforge Productions. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 22 pages.
The Things Lost to Time is an OSR adventure that can easily be modified for any fantasy roleplaying game. It is an adventure for characters level one to three.

Deep in a mine is an ancient vessel. Something so ancient, it sunk under the stone like mud. A vessel alien to this world, yet here longer than most of human history. Can the players harvest its strange technological bits before being disintegrated by deadly lasers? Or will they be enslaved by the odd pink aliens which have been unleashed on the world?

This adventure requires a mouse-like mindset. Hide from the protectors of the vessel, or die. Monsters and hazards are quite dangerous, so a degree of stealth and cunning is necessary for the players to find their fortune.
 
NPC Ideas by Larry Hamilton. Published by Follow Me, and Die! Entertainment LLC. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 21 pages.
NPC Ideas has some tips for making NPCs more interesting, and includes a few tables. It ends with all the players characters and their retainers for which I still have character sheets. You can use them as NPCs in your campaign.
Hazardous Habitats - Desertlands by Tom Knauss. Published by Frog God Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $9.99. 36 pages. 
Death & Adventure Under a Scorching Sun

Welcome to the desert. You may already be aware of the scorching heat, aridity, and the 
sand, but there is much more to see and experience here. Within these pages, you will discover the tools needed to bring any desert and its people to life. The tables presented here allow you to determine the likelihood of running across a settlement during the heroes’ travels as well as generating their population, demographics, political systems, lifestyles and prevailing attitudes towards visitors. Dig deeper and you will find wilderness dressing, innovative adventure ideas focused on the biome’s unique character, and exciting locations to explore in the desert
What is the Hazardous Habitat Series?

Hazardous Habitats is a series of system-neutral supplements for any roleplaying game that offer deep exploration of specific environement. Temperature, terrain, adventure seeds, natural hazards, methods of travel and survival, and weather patterns are all detailed in an instantly insertable way for use at your table!
Perilous Realms: Starter Set by J. Published by New Realms Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $9.95. 24 pages. (Monster Pack PDF available for Free. 3 pages.)
Open sandbox campaigning for solo and group play!

Take your Labyrinth Lord, or favorite OSR, characters campaigning as you never have
 before with Perilous Realms! Explore the Barony of Mordova, visit villages, shrines, towers and castles, explore ruins, delve into dank dungeons, trek through the dangerous wilderness and more, all in an open campaign setting you can play again and again. Perilous Realms: Starter Set gives you everything you need to play an open campaign, for solo or group play, with or without a GM, including map tiles, encounter tables, quest cards, treasure cards and more!
The starter set includes:

12 Realms Tiles, which are used to create the world for your characters to explore, including encounter tables, sites and settlements;
9 Quest cards;
9 Treasure cards and
instructions and options for play.

Enter the Perilous Realms and enter new realms of adventure!
 
Obscure Adventures - Fold 'n Play OSR by Ricardo Esteves. Published by Stranger Foundry. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 2 pages.
Obscure Adventures, 
is a quickstart lite OSR game, made to introduce people to the hobby. It contains all the needed rules for combat, creating characters and dealing with threats in a single foldable sheet of paper.

The main goals were:
  1. Easy to learn mechanics
  2. Random tables to quickstart the game
  3. Classless for no optimization and analysis paralysis
  4. Character development and progression, easy to pick
  5. Easy to be referenced in a single-sheet
  6. OSR compatible 

Frontiers of Space: Aliens of the Sonora Sector by Joseph Mohr. Published by Old School Role Playing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 35 pages (reviewer reported 26 pages.)
The Sonora Sector has many different human and non human worlds. Several alien races live among the humans. Some are peaceful. Some are not. But all have personalities of their own. Meet them in this installment of the Frontiers of Space.
The Undead Cometh #ZweihanderRPG by Cody Beatty. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $4.99. 10 pages.
Seasonal Supplement Winter 2019: The Undead Cometh

The Undead Cometh is a drag-and-drop adventure that can be replayed multiple times 
with a different feel each time. This different feel is accomplished by randomly generating the environment in which the players must survive in and by the "Meta Mechanic" which adjusts the difficulty based on various factors such as the size and condition of the environ as well as the number of players in the campaign.

Included are sheets for tracking resources and hourly events, as such this PDF is printable.
 
Hexed Places - Dead Rock Spires by Mark A. Thomas. Published by PBE Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.69. 14 pages.
Dead Rock Spires takes its name from the natural pillars and buttes that rise above the barren wastes. Ancient stone piles atop many of these prominences mark the neolithic barrows of an unknown race. Sour Creek, the only water source in this rocky desert, carries a poisonous stew of chemicals that coats the rocks along its banks with black and orange crystalline deposits. The poorly maintained cart track that runs along the northwest edge of Dead Rock Spires crosses Sour Creek at Kager's Bridge, a narrow span of dried-out wood and crumbling stone. The only other point of interest in this desolate region, aside from the barrows, is Yellow Cave. Bubbling mud pots and steam vents fill its narrow, twisting tunnels, and strange mineral deposits cover the cave walls.

Hexed Places are outdoor locations and encounters based on the classic six-mile hex format and OSR sensibilities. Use these locales as a quick side adventure, to fill out your campaign sandbox, or expand upon them to create a multi-session campaign. Each includes an overview of the region, expanded one-mile per hex maps for players and GMs (PDF and VTT format), encounter and rumor tables, and descriptions of individual locations, encounters, and features within the hex. Files are available for individual download and as a single zip file.
Note: The product preview shows a selection of pages; it's not sequential. Eventually, all Hexed Places end up in a discount bundle. 
B/X Essentials: Demihumans of Dolmenwood by Gavin Norman, Brian Richmond. Published by Necrotic Gnome. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 9 pages.
In these moss-encrusted pages ye shall find two brand new, quirky, fairy-tale character classes straight from the hoary glades of Dolmenwood. Slot them into your B/X Essentials games!
  • The elf: Natives of Fairy, who may venture into the mortal world out of curiosity or a sense of adventure. The fairy elves of Dolmenwood are very different from the standard B/X elf class, both in terms of character and class abilities.
  • The woodgrue: Bat-faced goblins who once dwelt in Fairy, but are now denizens of the mortal world. They love music, feasting, and arson. 
(An expanded version of this booklet -- containing updated versions of the grimalkin and moss dwarf classes -- is available to purchasers of Wormskin issue 1.)
Mythic Fantasy: A Supplement of New Races, Classes, and Objects for OSR Adventures by Thredith Undomiel. Published by Eryssel's Journeys. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.99. 31 pages. 
Mythic Fantasy: A Supplement of New Races, Classes, and Objects for OSR Adventures offers 3 new mythical races, 5 new classes (with their corresponding subclass tag for easier character creation), 9 new weapons, and 10 new items for Labyrinth Lord™ and Advanced Labyrinth Lord ™.
Now your adventures can include:
  • Centaurs
  • Nymphs of 5 different types (Alseids, Hamadryads, Naiads, Nereids, and Oreads)
  • Satyrs
  • Amazons
  • Bounty hunters
  • Chroniclers
  • Hoplites
  • Gladiators of 9 different types (Retiarius, Secutor, Murmillo, Hoplomachus, Thraex, Provocator, Dimachaerus, Laquearius, and Sagittarius)
  • Bolos, chakrams, chobos, nets... AND MORE! 
Plus, you will also find new rules for: 
  • Having your own Amazon tribe and becoming queen
  • Your own adventurer's guild with an automatic low-level quest solver
  • Specialized tome writing
  • Sigil magic
  • Gladiator fights
  • Localized damage (i.e. where on the body does the attack hit) 
All entries and charts have been carefully formatted to resemble entries from the original LL books and to be read in the same manner as the official supplements.
Sanctum Secorum - Episode #42 Companion by Bob Brinkman, Jim DelVasto, Ari-Matti Piippo, Ian Shears. Published by Sanctum Media. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 24 pages.
A new year and the Sanctum Secorum's first companion issue to contain MCC materials!

Artifacts of the Ancients
Disruption Ray – Ian Shears (see Monsters: Gringolek)
Energy Pistol – Bob Brinkman (see NPCs: Shala Al Farûl)
Exosuit – Ian Shears (see Monsters: Gringolek)

Classes
Space Dwarves – Ari-Matti Piippo

Fiction
Encounter in a Punjar Tavern – Bob Brinkman

Monsters
Gringolek – Ian Shears

NPCs
Rocco Hawser – Bob Brinkman w/Jim DelVasto
Shala al Farûl – Ian Shears

Patrons
Ghost Smoker – Bob Brinkman (concept by Saint Karloff)

Reviews
All Heed the Dark God (Saint Karoloff) – Bob Brinkman
Secrets of the World Harvesters (Purple Pirate Games) – Bob Brinkman
 
Gregorius´Notes: On the Weird OSR Fantasy #Year 2018 by Kai Pütz a.k.a Gregorius21778. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $3.00. 27 pages.
Gregorius´Notes: On the Weird OSR Fantasy #Year 2018 is a collection of selected articles I wrote for my blog in 2018. Inside you will find a mix of encounters, monsters, modified summon spells, magic weapons, a little sidequest, an otherworldy adventure location and a short adventure to put the latter to use. All written for OSR Fantasy RPG and compatible with Lamentations of the Flame Princess(tm).

22 pages of content (the other are cover, front matter, etc.).

If my creativity does not fail me in 2019, I plan to turn Gregorius´Notes: On the Weird OSR Fantasy into an fan zine. So, stay tuned for cradles full of the children of my mind.
The Marriage of Count Roderick by Greg Stafford, Veli-Matti Pelkonen. Published by Chaosium. Available from the Publisher in PDF for Free. Also available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 10 pages.
Count Roderick seeks a bride. At the request of one of Roderick’s leading diplomats, the Player-knights join a delegation that travels on the Count’s behalf to interview eligible heiresses of Logres. What can the Player-knights learn on these errands? When Count Roderick seeks their impressions, what will they report? Over the course of these years Player-knights may witness the birth of the feud between Count Roderick of Salisbury and Sir Blains, the Steward of Levcomagus, a rival suitor to the hand of Lady Ellen of Wynchbank.

Each part of this free multi-part scenario is designed to be an incidental episode that ought not take more than fifteen minutes to play — that is, it’s not the main scenario of the year but rather a short event that occurs before or after the main activity of the year. These scenarios illustrate how marriages are typically arranged amongst the nobility in King Arthur Pendragon and provide an example of how to play a visit to a court other than the Player-knights’ own. They also offer insights into the infamous rivalry between Salisbury and Levcomagus.
BLADES     Blades & Black Magic Book 1BLADES Blades & Black Magic Book 1 by C. R. Brandon. 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.
Ruins & Adventures 1: The Welcome Repose Inn (B/X Essentials) from Mesozoic Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.50. 8 pages.
This version uses the B/X Essentials rules from Necrotic Gnome 
Driven to seek shelter from a storm the adventurers find a derelict inn with a dark secret.
Encounter Location: Road, 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:
  • 1 new monster
  • 150 DPI jpeg map (16” x 22”) for use with VTT’s
Wherefore the Heroes? by Michael Brown. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $0.75. 2 pages.
Viria stayed out of sight while her father spoke with the four travelers. Father had made it clear that when it was time to talk business, she was to stay well out of the way.

“Thank you for coming. Blessed travels,” she heard Father say, concluding the meeting. 
He spied her peeking around the door frame as he settled back behind the ornate desk. “I knew you were there, ilijja. Did you like what Bel brought you this time?”

Viria nodded as she sidled up to Father’s desk. But she must have had The Look again, for he suddenly studied her expression as he would one of his ledger sheets.

“Father,” she ventured at his silence. “Why don’t you just call the Inspectors to do what you want?”

A sad smile crossed Father’s face as he contemplated the innocent question. How to explain his distrust of the Inspectors to an eight-year-old who had always heard from him about obeying the Law?

When creating RPG adventures, the author should ask one question before writing: “Why don’t the authorities just handle this?” It’s assumed that the majority of adventures will take place in civilized areas; areas often civilized because of the rule of law. And the law oftentimes has its own agents responsible for enforcing it and keeping the public order. In real life, we don’t hire mercenaries or adventurers to redress wrongs – we call the authorities: the ones we turn to as a (supposedly) civilized society to put right what has gone wrong.

This supplement is a list of reasons why such wouldn’t necessarily be the case. They’re not only for a science-fiction milieu; with a little tweaking, they can be used for any system or genre.
d240 Dungeon Search Results from Black Earth Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 4 pages.
Your players insist on searching the empty room... Skill check... Success! ...but your  Master notes describe the room as 'empty' ...what to do?

Have no fear! With d240 Dungeon Search Results, even seemingly 'empty' dungeon rooms and corridoors can reveal overlooked or discarded objects; from the mundane to the marvellous, to the downright deadly!

A d20 and a d12 is all you require to generate one of 240 unique search results.

Add some creative and fun moments to your games of old-school fantasy with d240 Dungeon Search Results.

This product is highly compatible with OSR and was designed for use with games of first edition, Basic, or Expert rules. Feel free to adapt these rules for use with your own games. Enjoy!

Note: PDF downloads are available in both A4 and US letter sizes for ease of printing. Select your preferred file format at Checkout.

Black Earth Press is an independent design studio dedicated to producing innovative game rules and supplements, with that old-school feel.
Elfmaids & Octopi by Chris Tamm. Available from the Elfmaids & Octopi blog in PDF for Free. 32 pages.

This is a compilation my homebrew rules based on BX DnD with some elements from late 1st ed
and other editions. After running it for 6 years I've revised it and simplified it further. Will bring out more stuff for it in the future.


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


Back to BasiX - Issue #7 by Thom Wilson. Published by ThrowiGames. Available from Goodman Games in Print for $6.00. Still available in PDF from DriveThruRPG for $2.00. 22 pages.
The seventh Issue (December 2018) of the Back to BasiX fanzine, from Thom Wilson at LLC. 
This fanzine celebrates, highlights and supports one of the original roleplaying game systems of the 1980's, the Basic and Expert editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Each issue will provide or highlight content within the Holmes, Moldvay, Cook and Mentzer edited rules from TSR's Gary Gygax. 
Issue contains: Product Spotlight, Spell Review, New Magic Items, New Monsters, Two Short Encounters ("Giant Oak Retreat", "The High Crypt"), a Full page comic "Dungeon Delvers" (artist, Travis Hanson), and interview with Erol Otus (artist and author). Includes three pieces of previously unpublished Erol Otus artwork.
Cover artwork by: Matthew Ray
 
Next Issue due out in March 2019 (print and PDF)
Original Edition Delta: Fantasy Rules v. 1.05 by Delta. Published by OED Games. Available from the Publisher for Free. 2 PDF files, 24 pages.


Free, short mechanical house rules for Original D&D. Clarifies and streamlines races, classes, abilities, movement, encumbrance, weapons, combat, and multi-classing. Includes a short description of the "Target 20" system: combat and resolution with the same results as D&D, but no tables or new statistics required.

Borderlands by Greg Stafford, et al. Published by Chaosium. Available from the Publisher in PDF for $14.99 and also from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $14.99. 164 pages.
Borderlands - Front CoverThe Duke Returns to Prax!
A RuneQuest Campaign in Seven Scenarios
This is a completely remastered version of the Borderlands boxed set into a single PDF.

The original boxed Borderlands supplement contained two referee’s booklets, seven separately bound scenarios, a 17”x 22” regional map, play-aids, and inserts.

The Referee’s Handbook contains notes on referee and player functions, regional history, cultural/ecological background for the peoples along the River of Cradles, short studies of Duke Raus of Rone (holder of the Weis Domain) and his family and servitors, geographical information, magical items, and generic statistics for natural animals and unnatural monsters in the area. This book tells the referee how the land lays, giving him, or her, plenty of ammunition with which to answer player questions and elbow room by which to alter scenarios or to create new ones.

The Seven Scenarios are arranged so that they form an extended adventure when played in sequence; any of them can be used individually with slight adjustments.
  • Scenario 1: Scouting the Land
  • Scenario 2: Outlaw Hunt
  • Scenario 3: Jezra’s Rescue
  • Scenario 4: Revenge of Muriah
  • Scenario 5: Five Eyes Temple
  • Scenario 6: Condor Crags
  • Scenario 7: To Giantland!
The Encounters Book contains the individual NPC statistics used in the scenarios as well as various encounter charts. Monsters or NPCs specific to particular scenarios will be found in those scenarios. Statistics for Raus, Daine, and Daryli can be found in the Referee’s Handbook.

More Free Gaming Stuff from the Blogosphere and Environs





Maptime


Dyson Logos of Dyson's Dodecahedron posted Palace of the Sands and Dungeons of the Prince of Clubs.

Thomas Denmark of Old School DnD posted a Mystery Map - Swamp Village. 

Chaosium has a store on Redbubble and you can download a sweet Map of Balazar from Griffin Mountain, or buy a physical copy in multiple formats. Various other Chaosium stuff here as well, including the usual t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.

MonkeyBlood Design posted Black River Chambers Map 1 and Map 2.

WebwayDrifer posted some of his Hyperborea maps in the AS&SH forum. 



kanecathain of The Plague Keep has A Look At: Mothership – A Sci-Fi Horror RPG.

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org reviews The Charnel Pits of Reynaldo Lazendry, Hanson's Gap and
Praise the Fallen.

captcorajus posts a YouTube review of Advanced Labyrinth Lord.

Jeremy of OSR News and Reviews takes a look at Gobs O' Trouble!

From The Dungeon Musings YouTube channel, Barrowmaze Complete Megadungeon Overview and Review.

The TableTopTwats podcast has a review of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. 

The Detect Magic podcast has a review of Book of Lairs: People and Places.

Glen Hallstrom posted a YouTube review of B2.5 Caves of The Unknown.

kevinbirge from Multiverse reviews Epsilon City. 

Kickstarters, etc.


Teylen's RPG Corner posted the Crowdfunding Collection #90.





https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lmetcalf/whisper-in-the-crags-5e-sandw


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.

Saturday, December 29, 2018

The OSR News: December 29, 2018

Gregorius21778 continues to publish their ass off, various post-apoc items are released and re-released. Some discounted Frog God Bundles and quite a bit of free stuff from around the OSR webs, plus more this week in the News. Happy Holidays!

New Releases


Gregorius21778: Examples of the Dark Arts Vol.04 by Kai Pütz a.k.a Gregorius21778. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.75. 16 pages.
Examples of the Dark Arts Vol.04 provides new options for the Summon spell found in the LotFP Player Core Rules.

She-Demons wait to be summoned, either in their common form or in one of eight variations: the Amazon, the Angel, the Succubus, the Crone, the Mother, the Maiden, the Whore and the Fury. New sub-tables for their features are included as well as a d100 table with 91 powers arranged to match their theme.

Seven Gifts of the She-Demons may be acquired by summoning or destroying them.

Two detailed, powerful She-Demons, to be summoned or encountered: the Princess of the Cannibal Night and She who Sees wait to be unleashed onto your game world.

Nine Spells of the Cannibal Night, as the Princess is able to teach them.

All page references in this title refer to the LotFP Player Core Rules.

Have fun!
Swords & Six-Siders Companion by Steve Robertson, Brett M. Bernstein. Published by Precis Intermedia. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 32 pages.
Add new options to Swords & Six-Siders (S&SS) with this companion book.
Features:
 
  • Two new classes: Pathfinder and Cleric.
  • Notes on Alignment and Languages.
  • New options for ability checks, spells, combat, and movement.
  • Rules for Fumbles/Criticals and Special Situations/Damage.
  • Advancement beyond Level 6 without using levels.
  • Rules for Traps
  • New monsters, optional monster rules, and the Master List of Monsters.
New Race and Class Compendium for Fantasy Adventures by Thredith Undomiel. Published by Eryssel 's Journeys. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.99. 38 pages. 
The New Race and Class Compendium for Fantasy Adventures is a supplement that offers 20 new races and 5 new classes (with their corresponding subclass tag for easier character creation) for Labyrinth Lord™ and Advanced Labyrinth Lord ™. 
Some of the exciting new possibilities that are included in this supplement are: 
  • Light and Dark Aasimars
  • 4 types of Genasi (Air, Fire, Earth, and Water)
  • Tieflings
  • Kobolds
  • Aquatic species for underwater adventures
  • Goliaths
  • Half-dwarves (or Muls) 
And more!!
All entries and charts have been carefully formatted to resemble entries from the original LL books and to be read in the same manner as the official supplements.
Creatures of the Wastelands: Random Encounters by Derek Holland and the Skirmisher Game Development Group. Published by Skirmisher Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 12 pages.
Creatures of the Wastelands: Random Encounters contains 15 random encounter tables designed for use with Goblinoid Games' Mutant Future post-apocalyptic role-playing game. These tables incorporate monsters primarily from the Skirmisher Publishing book Creatures of the Wastelands: A Menagerie of Mutants & Mutations, a licensed supplement to Mutant Future, along with some from Skirmisher's Creatures of the Wastelands: Mutational Evolution and a handful from the Mutant Future core rulebook. It is fully compatible with Mutant Future, as well as Labyrinth Lord and other games that use the familiar and easy-to-use "Basic D&D" rules introduced in the 1980s.
The Sepulcher of the Burning King by WR Beatty. Published by Rosethrone Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.99. 20 pages.
Long forgotten, the Mage King Althos, Lord of the Northlands, Vanquisher of the pagan hills, Destroyer of the Aberthine Demon was once a great hero in the land. He wielded magic and a sword in powerful combination to drive out the forces of the Outer Darkness. Tempted by the magic of nature, he stole the words from the priests of the Old Gods which would enslave a Fiery Spirit, binding it to Althos’ body. He became the Burning King.
Dabbling in old magics took their toll on King Althos’ mind and, in the end, the Fiery Spirit took over and all but destroyed him. In the end, he fell to St. Garamon the Pious’ sword and was buried in a secret vault, locked away in the Northern Tier of the Rosewood Highlands.

The madness of the Fiery Spirit was such that it possesses the King even in death.

The Sepulcher of the Burning King is a Highlands Location, found at Hex 5A in the Northern Tier Hexcrawl. The Northern Tier is a sub-region of the Highlands. On the larger Rosewood Highlands map this region is just north and west of the city of Newtown, on the border between the Drummond Clan in the east and Great Oaks, the holdings of the Firbolg King, in the west. The Northern Tier covers the northern part of Hex E-4.

The Sepulcher should provide sufficient challenge and reward for a party levels 7-9, with a balanced mix of classes advised. A cleric will be especially useful as a number of undead dwell in the depths of the Sepulcher.
In The Light Of A Ghost Star by Nate Treme. Published by Highland Paranormal Society. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. Also available on Itch in PDF for PWYW. 14 pages. (Per the publisher, this will eventually be available in print.)
Earth was abandoned ages ago during the red giant expansion. Now, dimly lit by the ghost light of a dead white dwarf, it lies layered with eons of forgotten civilizations. From the warmth of Martian reactor cities, scavengers hire illegal transportation to earth to delve into its depths, looking for ancient treasures. There they must deal with ghosts, machines, and the strange life that has evolved on humankind’s abandoned home planet.

In The Light Of A Ghost Star is a rules-lite system and setting for sci-fi roleplaying. It comes with a hex crawl and random tables that can also be used with other RPG systems.

Files include the main pdf, the main pdf in spread format for easier tablet viewing, a character sheet pdf that includes the game rules on the back, and an 11x17 pdf of the sample adventure hex map.
Creature Feature Quarterly vol.1 (Black Hack Edition) by Jeremy Hart. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $4.00. 30 pages.
13 new monsters with an OSR feel for your Black Hack game. I modeled the stat blocks after TBH 2e, but all these monsters should be quite compatible with TBH 1e as well. 
In addition to the usual stats, each monster has an extensive description including lore, ecology and adventure ideas. 
As this is meant to be a DIY printed book I also included two wrap covers. One black and one white. 
Each download also contains Paper Minis and VTT Tokens of the monster.
Monsters By Hit Dice 
HD2 Protocol Imp
HD4 Unseelie Psychopomp
HD5 Arboreal Stalker
HD6 Blade Wraith, Cerberan Warlock, Lurking Glutton
HD7 Star Tyrant
HD8 Mantid Stitch Golem, Tatterdemalion Lich
HD9 Hound Of Tindalos
HD10 Twistbrute
HD12 Devourer
HD16 Enraged Fallen Celestial
The Living Building by Derek Holland, Skirmisher Game Development Group. Published by Skirmisher Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.99. 22 pages.
“Just after dawn, a village scout dashed from the forest carrying a wondrous, and perhaps even terrifying, story of a huge, circular shell with a door, a massive coiled building that sprang up during the night. And it is still growing … ”

Whether from forgetfulness, mental blockage, or intrusions of the dread “real life,” every storyteller has probably experienced that sinking, not-so-prepared feeling before a game. This sourcebook provides a remedy for the next time that happens, and includes an adventure location that is both a little pre-generated and a little homemade, is immediately expandable and adaptable, and can be replayed without seeming like a re-run, because the building changes even as the characters explore it.

“The Living Building” includes background and physical description for the title structure; a floorplan for a particular living building; problems with living buildings that can make them interesting and dangerous places to explore; tips on using living buildings in game sessions; tables for determining the contents of rooms; hazards that characters might face in living buildings; and a section on monsters particularly likely to be encountered in living buildings that includes four new creatures and three new mutations.

Material in this publication was written specifically for the Mutant Future retroclone of Gamma World and can be used as-is with it and any other sci-fi, fantasy, or post-apocalyptic games that use the "Basic" version of the OGL system, and easily adapted to other games using the same core rules. It was written by noted game developer Derek Holland and includes cartography by artist William T. Thrasher.
Escape from Yule Mountain by David Baity. Published by Sanctum Media. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for PWYW. 16 pages.
- Proceeds from the sale of this adventure are donated to Feline Lifeline -

From the mind of David Baity (author of Carnival of the Damned and the forthcoming 
Dark Trails) comes this holiday funnel adventure to bedevil and delight your players.

Across the land, scores of children are swept away during the week before the Winter Solstice, never to be heard from again. Legend has it that an ancient demon is the twisted force behind these mysterious abductions. A creature still worshipped in the darkest corners of the world, known to some as...Krampus.

The week before the solstice has come to be known as Krampuslauf. A time of judgement where, legend tells, winter's demon is allowed the freedom to roam alongside its minions. Villagers who have sinned against their neighbors leave offerings of peppermint schnapps on the doorstep, in hopes of detering the malevolent spirits from bringing harm.

While good children are rewarded by Sinterklass with gifts of candies and toys, the most unruly children are left naught but a velveteen sack of coal, a bundle of gold tinted ruten, and a warning. Those children who fail to take heed? Come the next year they vanish, never to be heard from again....

Until now.
Book of Lairs: People & Places by Simon Forster. Published by theskyfullofdust. Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF for $6.35 and in PDF for $3.18. 48 pages.

This is my fifth Book of Lairs: People & Places, written with the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System in mind, but easily compatible with other similar old school fantasy RPGs.
This book has ten 'lairs' and the NPCs that inhabit each, again on two-spreads: a double-page for the usual map/lair combination, and another double-page covering the NPCs and whatever treasure can be found.

I have used stock art by William McAusland, and a bit of my own (much poorer) efforts. You can tell which ones I did.

Just as the previous books have been supported by my loyal Patrons, this one is no exception. A special and most sincere thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years, past and present. I am humbled.

I hope this book finds a use at your table. Even if it just acts as a beer mat.

Cheers,

Simon.

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


Double Jeopardy by Paul Ward. Published by Matakishi's Tea House. Available in Print from Lulu for $14.63. Still available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $3.75. 36 pages.

Double Jeopardy is an adventure written for The Cthulhu Hack but easily convertible to any other Mythos themed game. 
Double Jeopardy is suitable for beginning investigators and new players although seasoned investigators will find much to interest them. 
The setting is 1980s Britain but, again, this can easily be changed. 
An outbreak of strange disappearances and mysterious doppelgangers lead the investigators to an undreamed of alien menace beneath the streets of London. 
Double Jeopardy is a full colour, fully illustrated adventure with portraits of all the NPCs, player and gamemaster maps, player handouts and tables and charts of major plot points and people so the gamemaster can run things with the minimum of effort.
Highway Holocaust by Joe Dever. Published by Askfageln. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $9.99. 251 pages.
The first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series.America 2033 AD.

Eight years ago the terrorist agents of H.A.V.O.C. triggered a nuclear nightmare that devastated the northern hemisphere, its radioactive aftermath claiming all but a few lucky survivors. Patiently, in scattered colonies deep underground, these survivors have been waiting for the earth to heal itself, waiting for the day when they could walk once more upon the surface of their shattered world.

That day has come …but the real battle for survival has only just begun! Highway Holocaust. You are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. A murderous gang of H.A.V.O.C. clansmen, led by the psychotic Mad Dog Michigan, are hell bent on destroying your fragile colony as it crosses the wastelands of Texas on the first stage of its life-or-death exodus to the California coast. These bike-riding clansmen are a formidable enemy: armed, cunning, and extremely dangerous, capable of launching a lightning raid at any time, day or night. You will need all your wits about you if you are to defend your people and reach your destination intact!
Slaughter Mountain Run by Joe Dever. Published by Askfageln. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $9.99. 267 pages.
The second choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. America 2033 Ad. Eight years ago the terrorist agents of H.A.V.O.C. triggered a nuclear nightmare that devastated the northern hemisphere, its radioactive aftermath claiming all but a few lucky survivors. Patiently, in scattered colonies deep underground, these survivors have been waiting for the earth to heal itself, waiting for the day when they could walk once more upon the surface of their shattered world. That day has come …but the real battle for survival has only just begun!

Highway Holocaust. You are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. From the sanctuary of Big Spring your convoy of survivors begins the next stage of its life-or-death exodus; a journey to the fortified border town of El Paso, a destination that lies hundreds of miles beyond the sun-scorched wasteland of West Texas.

In SLAUGHTER MOUNTAIN RUN your mission is to rescue Kate Norton from the clutches of your arch enemy – the H.A.V.O.C. leader Mad Dog Michigan. You have just seven days to free her and rendezvous with the colony before it runs the gauntlet of fire which protects the only mountain road to El Paso.

The Northlands Series Adventure Six Pack (S&W) [BUNDLE] Published by Frog God Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $24.99. 
The Northlands Series Adventure Six-Pack 
All six adventures in the Northlands Series now available at a deep discount! Adventure across the frozen waste of the Northlands. For use with Swords & Wizardry Complete and other old-school fantasy roleplaying games.
Hex Crawl Chronicles Six-Pack (S&W) [BUNDLE] Published by Frog God Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $19.99.
Collected together for the first time, all six volumes of of the classic Hex Crawl Chronicles, for use with Swords & Wizardry Complete and other old-school fantasy role-playing games!

When the game was invented and sold in a little woodgrain box, the author told us a required supplement was an Avalon Hill game called Outdoor Survival. This was a wilderness survival game that consisted of a hexagonal map system that players would 
travel around, trying to find their way back to civilization, all the while trying not to die of thirst or get eaten by bears. This game map was used as the first wilderness "hex-crawl" for what eventually became D&D. Later, Judges Guild took this to a whole new level with the Wilderlands series. For many years, hex crawling was just the way the game was played. This series brings that back, or supplements existing games that use that system of travel.
What a hex crawl is, literally, is a wilderness sandbox of areas, encounters and villages that players travel around in. It provides no story line, just hundreds of story hooks and possibilities.

These books provide a sub-setting in your own campaign world. They populate the world, and allow you to let your players explore that world, rather than just "travel 20 days" to the dungeon. Written by John Stater of NOD fame, each of these supplements details an area with a specific theme. Monster and NPC statistics are provided for each encounter area detailed.

Free Gaming Stuff from the Blogosphere and Evirons


Michael "Chgowiz" Shorten continues his Three Hexes series with Babel On.




Jojiro of Dungeon Antology posted The Rift Unending.

Here's a choose your adventure type game book someone passed along as worthwhile. Heart of Ice. 



Brent Ault released an "Incomplete Work in Progress" - Ruinations. 61 page PDF. Direct Link to Google Drive file. 



James V. West of Doomslakers! made some new Character Sheets, here and again here. 

Goodman Games posted a table of Winter Themed Corruptions for DCC. 


MapTime





Reviews & Play Reports






GREGORIUS21778 recommends some Good RPG Music Tracks for Great Prices.




Crowdfunding Projects




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.

Saturday, December 22, 2018

The OSR News: December 22, 2018

A new Sine Nomine release, Goodman Games does Dread and some old Cthulhu stuff gets the POD treatment. MonkeyBlood Design is back in the News and more Witches from The Other Side, plus a bunch of other stuff!

New Releases


Praise the Fallen by Graphite Prime. Available from the author's blog in PDF for Free. 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 a one-shot dungeon where the players explore the lair of a Fallen Angel Cult. It is designed to challenge low to mid-level characters. It is a place where alignment matters and foolish decisions have consequences. It is also a place where the players may find strange bed-fellows as they ultimately try to thwart the cult from resurrecting an angel of destruction.
 
Praise the Fallen is an OSR styled module compatible with most versions of the world's most popular role-playing game. 16 page PDF, (including cover and title page.)
The Codex of the Black Sun: Sorcery for Stars Without Number by Kevin Crawford. Published by Sine Nomine Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in HC Print/PDF for $29.99 and in PDF for $9.99. 152 pages.
Unleash the power of arcanotech and the willful might of eldritch Shadows on your Stars Without Number campaign with the Codex of the Black Sun. 
In this supplement for the award-winning Stars Without Number sci-fi RPG, you'll get all the tools you need to add space magic and interstellar sorcery into your campaign. Advice on how to integrate things smoothly, tables for conjuring up social attitudes toward magic, and help with the practical concerns of adding magic to your gaming table are all provided within. Everything is presented in optional and modular fashion, allowing you to add as little or as much of it as you wish into your own personal cosmos. 
Inside this book, you'll get... 
  • A history of arcane science in the Stars Without Number setting, for you to embrace or alter as you see fit. 
  • Complete rules for spellcasting, sparing readers from needing to have the Space Magic rules from the laudable deluxe version of Stars Without Number. This book is completely self-contained and can be used with no more than the free version of the game.
  • A fistfull of eldritch classes, including not only the traditional Arcanist, but also the Shadow-slaying Godhunter, the warrior-mystic Sunblades, the wandering judges known as the Yama Kings, the channels of party-boosting power who are the Free Nexuses, and the specialist Magister classes. These body-shifting Rectifiers, Shadow-summoning Pacters, and grizzled front-line War Mages all add their own talents to the mix. But that's not all; it's only fair to let the more conventional heroes have a taste of arcane power, so the Arcane Warrior and Arcane Expert classes are provided for campaigns redolent of sorcery.
  • Full spell lists for Arcanists, War Mages, Rectifiers, and Pacters, along with guidelines on developing new spells for them. The non-spellcasting heroes aren't left out either, with selections of new Arcane Warrior and Arcane Expert foci to make sure they have their own special graces. 
  • Full optional rules for arcane research and development, giving PC mages a reason to hunt down occult tomes and sorcerous dataslabs to build their library and extend their arcane power. Rules for learning and designing new spells, summoning Shadows, and creating arcanotech are all integrated with this system. 
  • Sanctums for mages and more mundane heroes, with quick guidelines and rules for building private retreats and offworld bases of adventure. 
  • Shadows, the metadimensional entities that bleed through into this world when the stars are right or the sorcerers are very wrong. A full bestiary is offered, along with tools for building your own, developing sinister Shadow Cults, and handling Shadow summoning by adventurous PCs. 
  • And finally, a rich selection of arcanotech for heroes to build, scavenge, or "liberate". 
Full rules for item creation are provided, along with advice on how to integrate them into your game. 
The Codex of the Black Sun is less system-neutral than most Sine Nomine publications, as it's designed to give both GMs and players a 152-page box of new toys to play with and employ in their own Stars Without Number games. Even so, the mechanics and content within should fit well with any other game system that shares a similar classic OSR engine, as they are compatible with the early editions of TSR's hit fantasy role-playing game.
So seize it now, bold reader! A host of possible heroes and dreadful foes await you within this book, with tools to delight both player and GM. Do not let it escape your relentless grasp!
Behind The Walls by John Large. Published by MonkeyBlood Design. Available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF for $12.02, in Print for $9.49 and in PDF for $5.06. 48 pages.
Behind The Walls

A 'The Midderlands'-compatible adventure for old school roleplaying games. Written for any retroclones or old school games.
Players Introduction 
The adventure takes place in the north of Havenland, near to the Scrottish borders by the Kelderwater lake (see Hex M09 of The Haven Isles map).
Ebeneezer Garbett, a local farmer from the mushroom-filled valley village of Otterdale, returned to the hamlet with tales of riches he had found. Now, no-one has seen him since, and he villagers are becoming ill with a strange fungal infection.
Game Master's Information 
A farmer from the small village of Otterdale has discovered the ruins of an ancient Goman fortification. Half-buried in a hillside, it has been revealed by recent torrential rains. 
Taking the gold he discovered there back to the village, the farmer is unaware that he has disturbed a dormant fungal creature known as the Mullach Dubh – a mould that grows on the dead, absorbing their memories and re-animating their bodies into a terrible half-life. 
Unaware of this, the farmer -- Ebeneezer Garbett -- returned to his farmstead and succumbed to the toxic spores that he had breathed in. However, his stories had already drawn treasure seekers to the area in search of Goman riches. These adventurers, the Eagle’s Talon Adventuring Company, disappeared into the fortress and were likewise subsumed into the fungal colony. 
People in Otterdale who had contact with Ebeneezer have begun to succumb to the spores, growing sick and then returning from death as grim parodies of their former selves. Meanwhile, the controlling colony seeks to use these new ‘workers’ to rebuild the glories of the long-gone Goman Empire.
This adventure is intended for low level play and can be scaled up or down accordingly. It should work best with 4× Level 1-4 player characters.
The Winter Witch for Swords & Wizardry by Timothy S. Brannon. Published by The Other Side Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.99. 74 pages.
Ice and Snow.

Come to lands of the Winter Witch and her cohorts, the Volva, the Warden and the deadly 
Winter Warlock. 
With this book, you can now learn the secrets of the Winter Witch, the living personification of all that makes winter the most dazzling and the most dangerous season. 
Inside you will find 
  • The Winter Witch tradition and the Winter Warlock Pact
  • The Vǫlva and Warden classes
  • New races for S&W Complete to suit the winter world.
  • 130+ witch spells
  • 100+ Warlock spells
  • 14 Cleric spells
  • 40+ Druid and Magic-User spells
  • 50+ Monsters
  • New Treasure, magic items and artifacts of powerful witches. 
All for your Swords & Wizardry games! 
Winter is here, are you ready.
Cepheus Light: Traits by Omer Golan-Joel. Published by Stellagama Publishing. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.00. 11 pages.
A Cepheus Light - or, indeed, and Cepheus Engine - character is so simple, in fact, that it can fit onto an index card. However, some players prefer to further flesh out and customize their characters. Some want to play a specialized scientist. Others want an ace pilot or an elite sniper. While Cepheus Light skills – Science and Gun Combat, respectively - cover these fields in general, they allow little specialization. Both a gunslinger and a sniper will have the same Gun Combat skill, and both a physicist and a biologist will have the same Science skill. Thus, the desire, in some cases, for further customization and for more varied and interesting character options. 
This supplement allows such customization by adding 44 Traits – special attributes and talents of the characters, providing unique specialization and other options for Cepheus Light characters. 
It is also fully compatible with the Cepheus Engine System Reference Document and other OGL 2D6 Sci-Fi games.
Back to BasiX - Issue #7 by Thom Wilson. Published by ThrowiGames. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.00. 22 pages.
The seventh Issue (December 2018) of the Back to BasiX fanzine, from Thom Wilson at  LLC.

This fanzine celebrates, highlights and supports one of the original roleplaying game systems of the 1980's, the Basic and Expert editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Each issue will provide or highlight content within the Holmes, Moldvay, Cook and Mentzer edited rules from TSR's Gary Gygax.

Issue contains: Product Spotlight, Spell Review, New Magic Items, New Monsters, Two Short Encounters ("Giant Oak Retreat", "The High Crypt"), a Full page comic "Dungeon Delvers" (artist, Travis Hanson), and interview with Erol Otus (artist and author). Includes three pieces of previously unpublished Erol Otus artwork.
Cover artwork by: Matthew Ray
Next Issue due out in March 2019 (print and PDF)

*print copies avaialble directly from Goodman Games
(domf note - new issue not yet on site.)
SO12 Return of Krampus by Louis "sirlou" Kahn. Published by Starry Knight Press. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $5.00. 20 pages.
Return of Krampus

A One-Shot Adventure
Compatible with Most Fantasy RPG systems
Recommended for 4-6 player characters of levels 2 to 4

The dwarven bairns of Kharn Deepcrag have been kidnapped!

Deep dwarves and their demonic lord Krampus are to blame.
Can you defeat these fiends before the bairns are dragged to Hell?

Ho ho ho and welcome, adventurers and Game Masters!
 
This one-shot, holiday themed adventure takes place in and around Kharn Deepcrag, a dwarven community located in a mountain fastness in the southern area of The Dales. The excitement begins when your players are confronted by a troop of dwarven warders while travelling along the snowy mountain trails of this region. These troops are out looking for invaders who attacked their community under the cover of darkness and made off with some with priceless treasures: their bairns and a sacred relic, the Hammer of Klan’garadrum. 
The invaders were a group of deep dwarves, an evil sub-race of dwarfkind that split off millennia ago, during the great dwarven civil war. These evil dwarves had fought alongside an unholy beast: a large half-goat, half-demon creature. The demon had ignored all plunder during the raid, and was instead preoccupied with scooping up children and placing them in a basket on its back. The dwarves believe the raid was an “inside job”, as the attackers knew just when and where to strike, and made immediately for the chamber where the sacred hammer was kept. The inside man appears to have been a dissatisfied young dwarven cleric by the name of Penwee, who is missing and was last seen in the company of the attackers, holding the sacred hammer. 
The warders task your players with finding the dwarven children taken captive by the demonic Krampus, defeating the fiend and his evil deep dwarf minions, and finding the sacred dwarven hammer which they stole; all before the sun rises and the children and the sacred hammer are taken down to the Hells, never to be seen again! 
This supplement contains a completely original ONE SHOT adventure, which was written as a quick dungeon delve of monsters, traps and magic in the same vein as the classic Old School dungeons of yore! Inside you will find great Old-school art and detailed maps, including a dungeon map with keyed encounters for each area and a fully detailed Old School world map of The Dales, with information for further exploration.
This adventure provides additional details on The Dales, an exciting new expansion to the author’s campaign world, and it further opens up this homeland of the small folk to adventures with you players. The Dales, along with the nations of Alderburgh, Jarlburgh, Dùn Bhriste and The Red Eagle Barony, now bring the author’s campaign world to five separate nation states to explore!
This book features 20 pages of excitement and thrills sure to be a hit with discerning GMs and players everywhere! 
As an ADDED BONUS, as a purchaser of one of my modules you also get, ABSOLUTELY FREE, a copy of the inaugural issue of my Old School RPG zone, CAVALIER ATTITUDE!!
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Fourth Edition Starter Set. Published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $14.99. Print/PDF combo Pre-Order Available from the Publisher for £22.99 (Set for Jan. 2019 release. No doubt also available from the usual retailers as well.) 132 pages.
The perfect introduction to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, this set includes: 
  • 48-page Adventure Book to teach you how to play with an introductory adventure plus 10 follow-on scenarios
  • 64-page A Guide To Ubersreik
  • 6 Ready-made Characters
  • Introduction to Ubersreik and the Empire sheet
  • Game handouts
  • Rules Reference Sheets

Diesel Punks: Aliens 2.0  by Robert Garitta. Published by Surreal Estate Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $2.50. 25 pages. 
"Send us more Aliens!!" 
Diesel Punks: Aliens gave stats and background capsules for 8 enigmatiuc races. Aliens 2.0 gives you 11 more! From the liqui-form hydrans to the haughty and mystical Beanpoles, your Universe just got bigger! Aliens for allies, enemies, marks and anything in between! 
This product requires The Black Hack Second Edition to use.
Not responsible for any characters lost in the larger Universe.
Diesel Punks: Atlantis by Robert Garitta. Published by Surreal Estate Games. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $3.00. 28 pages. 
Sometimes the call of adventure comes, not from the stars, but from under the waves!
Diesel Punks deals with a science fiction setting and that usually means space travel. What about 'aliens' coming from the Earth itself? Atlantis gives notes and rules for playing six water breathing races, each with their own biomes and biology. This book lets you not only meet the aliens but become them!
 
You can play the warlike Blue Atlanteans, the enigmatic Red Mages or the playful shape shifting Green merfolk- or opt for the stranger dwellers of the deep, the feral Abyssals and the shy Lava Miners. 
Sea folk are a part of many mythologies and media, now you can be one.
This product requires The Black Hack Second Edition to use.
 
CASTLE OLDSKULL - Oldskull Half-Ogres by Kent David Kelly. Available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $1.99. 38 pages.
Vloglok smash!
Here be best half-ogre ever. Stinkiest, mightiest, drunkenest.
You need crush? Goblinses crush into mush?
We got crushes. We got smashes.
Bah, words so boring. Vloglok go stink now
.

I do believe that says it all, but in case you need a little bit more detail … this book is all 
about half-ogres, the half-forgotten player character race half-devised by Gary Gygax (and then abandoned) in 1979. Herein you will find my own detailed campaign notes, bringing the half-ogre up to speed for reintroduction into your own old school campaign.
In addition to notes buffing up the race’s complexity gaps (concerning shamans, witch doctors, spell selections, racial interactions, level titles, name generators, haphazard composite armor, superior weapon choices, etc.), you’ll find lore and legendry that goes all the way back to the ogres of yore which inspired Gygax’s own ogres in the early 1970s: there are glimmers here of Andrew Lang, Charles Perrault, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Pinocchio, Tom Thumb, the Pentamerone, and other old fairytales which have all been incorporated into the ogrish lexicon.

It is, quite simply, the most detailed treatment of half-ogres ever!

Lavishly illustrated throughout, with rules that can easily coincide with Basic, Expert, and Advanced FPRG play. Another fine mini-supplement from Kent David Kelly and Wonderland Imprints, Only the Finest Works of Fantasy.
How Orcus Stole Christmas by Dr. James M. Spahn. Published by Frog God Games. Available from the Publisher in PDF for $7.99 (S&W version. Also available for Pathfinder $7.99 and 5e $7.00)
Someone is coming to town for the holidays 
You better watch out.. 
“How Orcus Stole Christmas!” has the characters begins at a happy village’s beloved holiday feast. The joy-filled townsfolk spotted an scary stranger arrive in his unusual sleigh. With a deep belly laugh the pillaging began… Can your party save the children from the mysterious visitor’s clutches by Christmas? 
Available for Fifth Edition, Swords & Wizardry, and the Pathfinder role-playing system. Includes festive tokens for online play and a seperate unkeyed map for players of every type.

Re-Releases, Now in Print, New Editions and the Like


Original Adventures Reincarnated #2: The Isle of Dread by Zeb Cook and Tom Moldvay. Conversion by Chris Doyle and Tim Wadzinski. Published by Goodman Games. Available from the Publisher for $49.99. Shipping Now.

An adventure for levels 3-7 
Goodman Games expands its partnership with Wizards of the Coast with the second release in the Original Adventures Reincarnated line! 
The first installment, Into the Borderlands, is already a best-seller, and this second release will transform a hit title into a hit product line. OAR 2: The Isle of Dread brings back the very first wilderness adventure ever published by Wizards of the Coast. 
This “tutorial adventure” by legendary designers Zeb Cook and Tom Moldvay was included in the D&D Expert Set and has been seen by millions of gamers. Now the 1E edition is released in hardcover form, accompanied by a 5E conversion and expansion. 
This is your chance to revisit an iconic adventure from your youth – and play it in the newest rules set with the next generation!
The Gongfarmers Almanac 2018 by Gongfarmer 's Local #282. Now available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for Free. 428 pages.
The Gongfarmer's Almanac is a Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Zine that is written, illustrated, edited and produced by the DCC RPG G+ Community. Each issue of the 2018 publication year is collected here in a single volume and offered at production cost. This product is based on the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, published by Goodman Games. Dungeon Crawl Classics and DCC RPG are trademarks of Goodman Games. All rights reserved. For additional information, contact info@goodmangames.com. Each article, art & associated material, belongs to their respective artists & authors. If you would like to include, copy or use a derivative of the work, please contact the original creator.
Dungeon Crawl Classics 2018 Holiday Module: Home For The Holideath by Julian Burnick. Published by Goodman Games. Now available from DriveThruRPG in PDF for $6.99. 16 pages.
See The OSR News: December 8, 2018 for info on the Print Edition.
A Level 1 Adventure

For generations, two tribes have exchanged gifts at a given time each winter to renew 
the bonds of their peoples. But now their presents have been stolen, and the Seekers are sent on an urgent mission to recapture the gifts before their ancient treaty is undone. To do this, they will have to venture to a place of bloodcurdling horrors, mysterious symbols, wondrous artifacts and twisted technologies. And once inside this ancient place of splendors, they'll face the greatest challenge of all- returning home alive!
Rules Set: DCC RPG and MCC RPG 
Writer: Julian Bernick 
Cover art and Cartography: Stefan Poag
The Cruel Empire of Tsan Chan by Christian Read. Published by Chaosium. Again available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF for $12.99. In PDF for $8.22. Also available in PDF from the publisher for $7.47. 80 pages.

Future History of the Cruel Empire of Tsan Chan
Being an account of the year Five Thousand and the creation of Empire
 
That cult would never die till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to revive His subjects and resume His rule of earth.
For the citizens of the Tsan Chan Empire, the facts of the events concerning the rise of the Great Old Ones are speculation. Life, fraught and terrifying, is best lived without pondering those momentous days hundreds or thousands of years ago. The Chanese have no reliable records of the times and the Kuen-Yuin who lived in that era provide no answers. The simple truth of their life is that to leave the boundaries of the Interdiction is to step into a world teeming with warfare, madness and the desires of black gods. Tsan Chan is the only place humans exist and it is cruel. It must be. 
To the scholars of the Empire, the Kuen-Yuin, the Ophidians, matters are rather clearer, although they too suffer frustration concerning the specifics. They were not there; they were hidden in the earth, or cowering in monasteries of Leng, praying to Gods that were abandoning them. 
When Cthulhu rose up again, it was the work of humans, some cult, some ancient priesthood making good on its teachings and prophecies. Throughout human history, the inevitability of this release was foretold but the consequences were debated. Some feared it meant destruction, an abattoir-era where the human race and many others were prey and nourishment. Other, were uncertain, believing the Lord of R’lyeh would teach men to laugh and revel and kill.
Those in the second camp were the most correct. Cthulhu did rise up again free from his slumber, free to make good on his antique dreams. But his ambitions were not a destroyer nor even, rightly, a conqueror. No, Cthulhu rose as an evangelist, high priest of unknowable, fabulously dangerous gods. And the shock of his presence, the power of his ministry, is today known as the Dream. 
As the Old One arose, humanity was psychically damaged beyond repair. Previously, only the most ‘sensitive’ of souls could perceive the movement and desires of Cthulhu. Unfettered, free to preach, the world itself went insane. No one knows how long it took but soon, terribly soon, after Cthulhu’s release, humanity had fallen. Infected by the alien morality of the High Priest, humans became shrieking things, immoral and barbaric, completely without scruple or the faintest notion of consequence. Society and culture fell apart until humanity simply screamed the name of its new King and converted to a blind and idiot religion they could barely comprehend.
Except for a small plateau in China, where precautions had been taken.
MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION monographs are longer works by one or more authors on a subject of import to Call of Cthulhu roleplayers. On these products the author has also fulfilled the functions of editor and layout artist; we at Chaosium have done little in the way of editorial. We found these works compelling and thought that you would enjoy them. Through the publication of monographs we can offer our most loyal fans more information more easily, and evaluate the potential of these works for eventual release to the wholesale market.
Three Scenarios Exploring Hastur, Carcosa, & The King In YellowRipples From Carcosa by Oscar Rios. Published by Chaosium. Now available from DriveThruRPG in Print/PDF for $19.99. Available in PDF for $10.95. Also available in PDF from the publisher for $7.95. 130 pages.
(See the publisher link for downloadable extras.)
O do not seek to learn or even ask,
What horror hides behind...The Pallid Mask!
--Lin Carter, Litany to Hastur
 
OF ALL THE VARIED and mysterious Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, few ensnare the imagination as easily as Hastur. The image of the silent, deserted city beside a dark, foreboding lake where sinister things lurk is one that stays with the reader. Many of us have walked the twisting streets of that dead alien city in our minds, finding our way into the tall towers to stand before an ancient throne. There sits the King in Yellow, the Lord of Carcosa, who gazes at us from behind his Pallid Mask. It is a journey many of us have taken, whether alone in our dreams or around a table rolling dice with our friends. It is a journey we are about to take again. 
Ripples from Carcosa seeks to expand upon the mythology of He Who Should Not Be Named and it gathers much of the varied material on Hastur into one place. The first chapter reviews the Great Old One Hastur and his various avatar forms. It examines the Yellow Sign, the play The King in Yellow, the Mythos tome of the same name, and the effects these things have on the human mind.
Within these pages are a trio of adventures pitting the investigators against Hastur and his human worshippers, playable as either stand-alone scenarios or as a linked campaign, called Ripples from Carcosa. Each scenario focuses on a specific time period: Roman Invictus, Dark Ages, or the End Times of the far future. Pre-generated investigators are provided for each scenario, although keepers should feel free to incorporate existing player investigators if so desired. 
Across space and time, the King in Yellow reaches out... Dare you look upon his pallid mask?

More Free Stuff from the Blogosphere and Environs


Michael Shorten of Chicagowiz's Games continues his Three Hexes seies with Sixguns and Sorcery.

Konsumterra of Elmaids & Octopi posted Strange Troops of the Monster Empire.

V. A. of Leicester's Ramble posted a 2 page PDF Old Cruik Hollow. And a 3 page PDF The Spring Barrow. 

Dungeons and Possums posted some Random Treasure Tables. 

The Great Library of Greyhawk is back online hosted by Greyhawk Online.

Maptime (In its own section again! Send me links to any maps you want to share!)


Dyson Logos of Dyson's Dodecahedron posted House of Keys - Upstairs and Ground Floor. And Black Monolith from Another Sun.

Anna B. Meyer has posted an updated edition of her incredible Map of the Flanaess.

Reviews & Play Reports


Dungeons and Possums takes a look at Matt Colleville's Strongholds & Followers from an Old School perspective.

Pookie UK of Reviews from R'lyeh takes a look at Art & Arcana.

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org reviews Fane of the Frog God.

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org reviews Cess Pit of the Bogg-Mother.

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org reviews WFRP - If Looks Could Kill.

Melan of Beyond Fomalhaut has a review of The Village and the Witch. 

captcorajus posted a new YouTube video: RPG Retro Review: T1 Village of Hommlet.

Dungeons and Possums posted a review of the recently released Advanced Labyrinth Lord. 

Tamás Illés of Vorpal Mace posted a review of WFRP4e.

The DUNGEON CRAFT YouTube channel has a review of Into the Borderlands.

Other Things of Interest


Shane Ward of The Three Toadstools has a list of OSR Actual Play YouTube Channels. 

Gardens of Hecate is a cool fucking blog.

Call of Cthulhu Part 1 - What is an RPG? from Chaosium on YouTube.

And That's It for This Week...


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