Monday, September 29, 2014

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Far Realms from Harbinger Games now available

This is pretty neat, if insanely expensive. It's a bunch of rules from a guys nearly 40 year campaign:
Far Realms includes:
  • Four new PC classes, including the Nobleman and a unique look at the Bard
  • Four NPC-only classes, such as the Scoundrel and the Religious Brother
  • New hirelings, like the Healer - who can cure disease and even ward off level loss!
  • Expanded charts for developing followers for the fighter and rules to give followers to Noblemen and Barbarians
  • Alternate rules for weapon specialization and initiative
  • Detailed rules on disease and parasites
  • Maintenance costs, upkeep, and overhead
  • More than 30 pages of unique spells
  • Classic Old School-style art
On the other hand, I can't say I'm really dying to buy a supplement with detailed rules on disease and parasites...but I might be narrow minded.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—September 25th, 2014

Pretty slow week. I've been busy myself playing Wasteland 2.


Adventures

FC7 - Yellowbeard's Vein - This week's Adventures in Filbar product. 24 pages, $3, and for mid-level characters.

FM-1 Baba Smerta - Pay What You Want adventure from Quasar Dragon games.

Rules


Dragon Union - an addendum for the fantasy role playing game - This seems to be house rules for basic D&D from a guy in a Scandinavian country. Pay what you want, 36 pages.

Monday, September 22, 2014

QuasarDragon releases Baba Smerta, a mini-module

Another module from QuasarDragon games, FM-1 Baba Smerta. It's Pay What You Want like their previous one, The Stolen Child.
As night falls on the marsh and the fog blankets the land, the people of the surrounding villages lock their doors and pray that they will be overlooked by the minions of Baba Smerta. For nearly three generations they have suffered her tortures and humiliations.
When one of her raiding parties takes on the PCs, though, have they bitten off more than they can chew? Will this long reign of terror finally come to an end?
***
An OSR-compatible mini-module for any old school RPG or modern clone, designed for character levels 5-6, "Baba Smerta" is easily adaptable to other levels

Prespos has his own forums

This doesn't mean anything for most people, but if you ever visited Dragonsfoot a few years or ago or more, you probably came across a very eccentric poster named Prespos.  He was banned a couple years ago because he had this strange idea of putting 1e books online on a website (which is piracy and something you can't really admit to.

Anyway, he started his own forums.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Thursday, September 18, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—September 18th, 2014

After a few very busy weeks, things have slowed down quite a bit

Adventures

 

FO1 - Ruins of Linthar Keep - This weeks Adventures in Filbar product. 11 pages, $1.50

Rules

 

Basic Alchemist - Pay what you want character class for Labyrinth Lord

Misc

 

Narcosa - Already mentioned, it's a psychedelic setting/sourcebook

Judges Guild Inferno will finally be complete on Sept 28th...

Judges Guild was known for their hex crawls, and one of the more ambitious ones was a hex crawl in Hell, called Inferno. That only featured the first four circles...then a fifth circle was detailed in the third issue of Fight On!

Well, the original author has been working on it and will finally publish it via his company, Spellbook Games.
Inferno: Journey through Malebolge, the expansion and completion of the 1980 JG module, Inferno, goes on sale on September 28, 2014. Inferno describes an area almost 400 miles across and 1.25 miles deep consisting of the ten Circles of Dante's Hell. It features more than 70 encounter areas/dungeons with detailed statistics for more than 75 denizens (including 5 Diabolic Earls). The module will be available from DriveThruRPG; the PDF version comes as a 3-file bundle (cheaper) although each book can be purchased individually. The print-on-demand versions can only be purchased as separate books (more expensive plus printing fee plus shipping). There will also be a PDF bundle available consisting of all the Inferno files (3 Journey books, Inferno 1980 {the original JG module}, Gehenna Primer, Inferno: Bestiary, Codicil of Maladies, Gazetteer of Hell - Fire and Ice, and Gazetteer of Hell - Blood and Mire; Treasury will be added when it is published). Journey through Malebolge is completely compatible with the two current Gazetteers of Hell and the two Gazetteers now in production (available later in 2014).

I am nearly finished editing Inferno: Treasury, the essential reference for the artifacts and unique enchanted items found in Inferno; these are NOT described in detail in the text, only referenced by object name. My hope is to release Treasury on Sep-28 but that may slip a few days into early October.
Neat, but looking at the prices of his other stuff, probably expensive as, er, hell.

Narcosa now available

Sounds like a stoner version of Carcosa.....but eh, it's free.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Monday, September 15, 2014

Another Kickstarter—Slumbering Ursine Dunes for Labyrinth Lord


And here's another, solely OSR Kickstarter: Slumbering Ursine Dunes

Straight from the Hill Cantons, comes a mini-sandbox played the hell out of by six play groups and over 40 players. Run, play or splice up 50-plus pages of mayhem and weirdness in this Slavic mythic-inspired (with an acid fantasy-twist) adventure for Labyrinth Lord or a well-aged fantasy rpg of your druthers.

You will laugh. You will cry. You will crawl points and shake your fists at the heavens and shout in despair. “Why me Radegast? Why Me?!”  (Well no, you may chuckle a bit, spill your adult beverage and throw some funny dice though.)

New Kickstarter from Venger Satanis—Revelry in Torth


While I guess it's somewhat appropriate he's embraced the dark side (5e), this still falls under the OSR enough to cover here, I guess:

Draconic Magazine presents an O5R [OSR plus 5e] investigative, sword & sorcery tabletop RPG adventure set in Torth - by Venger Satanis.
Revelry in Torth takes place in a post-holocaust world (7 of the most powerful wizards created one gargantuan fireball to destroy the world in order to prevent a machine slave revolt).  The people of Torth live in cities surrounded by a desert of endless night and peril.
This particular adventure is set in the city called Aryd's End, during a time of festivity.  Several factions are making plans and hatching schemes.  No one is all good or all evil, merely shades of grey.
PCs will become entangled in a murder and the fate of Torth is at stake.  Sandbox, urban adventure, dark, Conan-esque sword & sorcery, just a hint of scifi, and very little gonzo.
This adventure will be about 21 pages long, give or take a couple pages.  For characters level 1 - 3.  Hopefully, Revelry in Torth is part one of a trilogy.  But that depends on you guys.  
Meanwhile, if you want a Kickstarter for an old school adventure untainted by 5e, there is sill Secret Machines of the Star Spawn

Gutenberg—Le Morte Darthur by Sir Thomas Malory

You've probably read this in some form or another, but this seems to be the original text, albeit translated into modern (well, 1890s) English

Friday, September 12, 2014

Advanced Adventures Compendiums 40% off

Lulu is having a 20% off sale, and they've been marked down 20%, so they are now 40% off. I have these, and they are worth every penny.

Small Niche Game launches Time of the Dying Stars: Book One Kickstarter

Basically it's a novella set in the world of Dolmvay, which was the sample city in the Labyrinth Lord corebook and then fleshed out/detailed in the Pay What You Want product Dolmvay.

Time of the Dying Stars: Book One is the first of three books set in the City of Dolmvay. It is a collection of interlinked short stories that follow the events leading up to an ancient prophecy. This novella provides insights into the city's politics, religions, and the lives of everyday citizens.

The goal is $500, if $1000 is met, there will be a sourcebook based on the novella, and if $1500 is met, then there will be a separate adventure set in the city.

The novella is planned to be PWYW, but if you pledge $10, you get pdf versions of two campaign settings, and for a $20 pledge, you get 7 adventures (which I think is the entire library of what they've published).

Thursday, September 11, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—September 11, 2014


I guess this was a busy week. Most of the products are a little odd, and/or short.

Adventures

 

Assault on the Southern Horn - 14 pages, $1.50  I have no idea what this is, what system this is for, or what, but it's in the OSR section

The Dungeon of Crows 2 - Avatar of Yog-Sutekhis - The second part of a large dungeon by Daniel Bishop. Labyrith Lord, low level, usable with DCC. Pay What You Want.

FC8 - Epistle to the Pasha of Poncetalla - this weeks Adventures in Filbar module, possibly a CHiPs crossover. For mid level characters, 20 pages,$3.

Pickled Piracy and Other Stories - Another gagmen adventure, this time free, not PWYW

Rules

 

Bestiarum Vocabulum: Freshwater Monsters and Hazards - Seems to be for Labyrinth Lord and has info on water monsters. 17 pages, $4. 

ReArm Yourself! - A supplement for Swords & Wizardry. I think this was released for a free a week or two ago, semi-munchkiny way of superpowering your grear. 21 pages, $2

Misc

 

OSRIC Referee's Screen - Various tables from OSRIC arranged fancily. 33 pages, $6, and part of the proceeds go to support the Knights & Knaves message board.

Fantastic Adventures playtest rules available

Over at Retroroleplaying is an early version of Fantastic Adventures. So far, it seems to be a more swords & sorcery variant of his Microlite 74/81 rules

Small Niche Games planning a Kickstarter...

For what, I don't know, but the head of it is warning to not buy his products right now because there will be better deals available in the upcoming Kickstarter...

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Elminage Gothic coming out next week for PC

Remember Wizardry? It was one of the first CRPGs, based heavily on D&D, and more or less pure dungeon crawling.

Well it's back, by way of Japan (where it never really went away) and with a new name, Elminage. Basically a company there had licensed the Wizardry IP and put out a bunch of new games, then dropped the license but kept making the games under a new title. Same system more or less.

Elminage Gothic (which I think is the 4th in the Elminage series) will release on Sept 18th and be priced at $9.99, with a 20% discount for the first week.

Treatise of Twisted Terrors Review


Treatise of Twisted Terrors is the first product from a new company, QuasarDragon Games (they've since followed it up with a Pay What You Want Module, PO-1: The Stolen Child). It's a monster book with 70 new creatures based on critters from folklore & myth. For the most part, not the usual stuff, either. All the obvious monsters have already been covered in monster manuals and folios, so this tackles a number of more unusual/obscure beasties. Those that have been used already have a different interpretation here.

It's not meant for any specific game, but a general "OSR" type of rules. In practice, it mostly seems to follow a 1e format: Frequency, # encountered, in lair %, combat stats, and so forth. Armor class is given as descending only. Most monsters don't have much in the way of treasure, and if they do, it is noted in the monster's description. There is also an illustration of each monster, taken from public domain sources, so the quality varies quite a bit.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Secrets #2: Strange Races now available.


In case you didn't see this on my blog roll, it's a new supplement/fanzine from Darkwater Press featuring a bunch of new player races (and other stuff) for Swords & Wizardry. $2 for PDF and $6 for print (and PDF)

Saturday, September 6, 2014

First Edition Knight now available

From the person (Leonaru) who brought us the First Edition Monk and First Edition Bard, comes the First Edition Knight for OSRIC.

Which is actually the cavalier.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Solo OSR adventure Kickstarter—Castle of Blackwood Moors



You never really know what to make of Kickstarter projects. On the surface, this looks fairly interesting, a solo module for old school RPGs
I am author and creator of "The Castle on Blackwood Moors", a fighting fantasy/Lone Wolf - style book series that is to be released in February 2015.
The Fighting Fantasy books of ages past always had a 'dark' feel to them and this book is no different. The inhabitants of the castle are viscous, hungry and will do everything in their power to put an end to your life. There will be monsters to fight and treasures to grab! Be careful which skill you choose, since choosing the right one could mean the difference between life or death!
What else is unique about this series of gamebooks? If you like any table top game that uses 3d6 for character creation (Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, Swords and Wizardry etc) you can use this book as a solo adventure!

On the other hand, with only 14 backers it has $980 raised already. I'm skeptical when most of the money is only coming from a couple of people, and the creator has never backed any projects...

Inkwell Ideas launches mini-website for OSR monsters

They recently released monster cards for Fate & Dungeon World but also apparently stats for LL (both regular and AEC). I think I covered these, at least the OSR versions.

Anyway, they've put up the stats and pictures up on their website.

While it's mostly the usual, there are some new-ish monsters, and ones taken from the Tome of Horrors, though they seem to be almost direct conversions of the Pathfinder stats

Thursday, September 4, 2014

New OSR Products at RPGNow—Sept 4th, 2014

This is what, the 3rd or 4th busy week in a row?

Adventures

 

FT - Antioch - Kingdom of Nirack - This week Adventures in Filbar product. Free!

Grandpappy Cromdar's Whizbang Zoo -   This seems to be a large, 126 room dungeon adventure for characters level 1-5. The description makes it seem quite eccentric: "22 new beasties, from readily edible Sleemaks to 3rd Reich Gongwarped Fishermen. 126 dungeon rooms, from septic tanks to animatronic museums. Thousands of gold in treasure, from press-a-penny machines to taxidermy prizes."  48 pages, $5.

Little Devils - Quickie module. 8 pages, 75 cents

No Salvation for Witches- Just when you thought LoFP couldn't get more pretentious, they've started using titles based on adult themed acronyms (NSFW in this case). $10

PO-1 The Stolen Child - A high level PWYW adventure involving attacks by extraplanar elves

Winds of the Ice Forest - A low level PWYW adventure from Random Order Games, the one that produced Howler.  If it's anything like that, it's nicely written and illustrated.

Rules

 

Across the Realms Encyclopedia of Adventure #3: New Abilities for Classic Classes -  Hoo boy, they are really trying for the longest product title, aren't they? This is basically a new skill system, 8 pages, $2.95

OSS1 - The Noh-Cha Classbook - Want to play a half-horse, half-cat creature in Labyrinth Lord? Probably not (I'm guessing this is for people into My Little Pony), but if you do, then this book is for you. 17 pages, $2.

Treant - Want to play a walking, intelligent tree? Probably not either (and if I did, I own PC1: Tall Tales of the Wee Folk), but here you go, a Labyrinth Lord class from Barrel Rider games. $1.

Misc

 

Table Scraps Issue 1 - A very short OSR 'zine. 2 pages, 79 cents.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Second part of Castle Triskelion released



From the good folks at & magazine.

Kevin Crawford releases "how to" OSR module

It seems like everyone is releasing OSR modules. Even I am dabbling with making one. Well, the ever helpful Kevin Crawford has released a sample, how to module, complete with everything you need, except (and this is a pretty big catch), Adoble Indesign

Details on his google plus

(hat tip to Im Back at reddit)


Monday, September 1, 2014

North Wind planning a Kickstarter campaign in October



To fund 3 adventures for their game, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

From their Facebook page
I've been receiving some requests on the status of our next three adventures, which will be launched simultaneously through a single Kickstarter campaign. They are _Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes_ (Jeff Talanian), _Beneath the Comet_ (Ben Ball), and _Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess_ (Joe Salvador).
All three adventures are written. I would not launch the Kickstarter without this at the least. One has been completely edited (_Beneath the Comet_). _Ghost Ship_ is being edited by Dave Prata as I write this. I am working with Joe Salvador on a little content editing for _Forgotten Fane_ right now.
Cover art by Charles Lang is in for _Ghost Ship_. As you fellows saw, progress is being made by Val Semeiks on the cover for _Forgotten Fane_. Peter Mullen is working on the cover for _Comet_. John Bingham is working on the interior illustrations. Mark Allen did an illustration, too, and it's gorgeous.
Maps. They are complete for _Comet_ and the pencil maps for _Ghost Ship_ and _Forgotten Fane_ are complete and scheduled to be digitally inked.
A lot is done, but there is more to go. If progress continues at the current pace and no major stumbling blocks are encountered, I'm planning for an October KS launch. I leave you with the illustration by Mark Allen. This is called "The Ruined Fane of Apollo," which is part of the early set-up for my _Ghost Ship_ adventure. Happy gaming!

D4 Mazestone Dungeon Review

Magestone Dungeon is the 4th in the line of Dungeons of Dazegoneby, mini-modules for Swords & Wizardry, from Creation's Edge Games. This line started about a month and seems to be their first foray into OSR stuff. It's a short module, only 11 pages, and only 7 keyed locations/encounters which takes up about half the PDF, with another page describing prisoners in the dungeon.

Although I'm not a fan of Swords & Wizardry, but I couldn't help being lured in by the blurb for this module: The king’s wizard is dead. His legendary mazestone has been stolen. The good news is its been located in the castle’s dungeon. The bad news is the maze has escaped, along with the monsters it contained). The low price, $1.50, sold the deal.