Gobs o' Trouble Review — Odd Hobs

I really liked The Beast that Waits from Three Sages Game, it was an excellent sandbox-ish title. However, I'm guessing I was one of the few that even noticed it, since they have moved on to other game systems, with their only other OSR module being this, Gobs of Trouble. It's a very short mini-module (priced at $1).

As the name implies, it involves trouble with goblins. A small band of them has displaced a family from their farm. The party presumably stumbles across the evicted farmers and decides to help them by retaking the homestead. If they do that and succeed, they then discover that the goblins have been in turn kicked out of their lair by an advance party of hobgoblins.

New OSR Products at DTRPG — December 27th, 2018

A couple of post apocalyptic books from Lone Wolf creator Joe Devers are out, Highway Holocaust and Slaughter Mountain Run, revised from their original editions. At $9.99 they are too much for my blood, but at least are very length books (200+ pages)

Adventures

How Orcus Stole Christmas -  Presumably by charging $7.99 for 23 page adventures like this. Might not suck though, unlike most FGG stuff, since it's by James Spahn of Barrel Rider Games. Gotta have that 400% Frog God markup, though.

The City that Dripped Blood - Perhaps because they kept getting squeezed with prices like this? Another 23 pages, $7.99 adventure from Cash Grab Games.

The Sepulcher of the Burning King -  The Northlands setting from Rosethorne Publishing continues to be fleshed out with adventures, this one for 7th to 9th level S&W characters. $1.99 and 20 pages.

Rules

Examples of the Dark Arts Vol 4 -  LotFP supplement for summoned she-demons. $1.75, 16 pages.

North Pole -  New classes and such for a Santa Clausean adventure. $3, 23 pages

In the Light of the Ghost Star -  This is one of the things I hate about modern gaming. Take a neat idea (in this case, exploring Earth in the far future after the Sun has expanded to a Red Giant and shrunk down to a White Dwarf) and just write a sketch of rules and setting. 14 pages, PWYW.

RPPP#60 - Medieval Authentic Enchantment Magic -  10 pages, $2.99

The Almost Thief Review — Almost a Dungeon

S1 The Almost Thief is the first in hopefully another series of mini-modules from Mathew Kline and Creation's Edge Games. I'm not sure what the letter code means, he's gone through D,E,G, and L (with A being used for his sole full length module, Aginst the Goblins), as the subject is generally somewhat random, seemingly inspired by the piece of stock art he used for the cover.

In this module, that cover is a ghostly and somewhat sad looking young man. Which sets up the background here as well, it seems a young, would be thief (or grave robber) decided to rob a local tomb and got himself not just killed, but turned into a ghost, who is now haunting his girlfriend. She is something of a focal point for him because he broke into the tomb to recover a family heirloom, a ring to use as a wedding (or engagement) ring.

In a touch of pathos, his girlfriend hires the characters to break into the tomb and find the piece of jewelry, hopefully putting his spirit to rest. Adding a bit more and possibly some comedy, the ghost accompanies the characters.

New OSR Product at DTRPG — December 20th, 2018

Ho Ho Ho! Almost Christmas, which in retail means time to put out the Valentine's Day stuff and put the Christmas stuff on clearance (and people will be banging on the doors on the 26th wanting to buy the discounted stuff..).

Adventures

 

Claws of the Yule - Very short (2 pages) holiday themed adventure. 75 cents.

Rules

Advanced Labyrinth Lord -  The PDF of the combined edition, which if $9.99. If you want the hardback, you can pick the Orcus Cover or the  the Gorgo Cover (apparently actually a dragon) which go for $50 each.

Oldskull Half-Ogres -  Half Ogres are so passe. Half-Giants, now that's the choice of the true power gamer*. But if you feel different, here you go. $1.99 and 38 pages.

The Winter Witch for Swords & Wizardry -  New variant of the witch from the witch guy. 74 pages, $2.99

Misc

Back to BasiX Issue 7 -  Did this come out last week? Or am I losing my mind. At any rate, it's a nice B/X zine and has an interview (and some previously unpublished artwork) by Erol Otus.  $2, 22 pages.

Friday Enhanced Map 12-21-18 - Tim Hartin jumped the gun on Friday by a few hours with this nice outdoor map of what looks like a very small keep. $1

Friday Enhanced Map 12-14-18 -  Very neat little dungeon that includes a small chasm. $1

Mutant Wasteland Holiday Adventures Bundle - Bundle of all 3 Spes Magna Mutant Future products. $2.25, half off normal price.



* I had a Half-Frost Giant Cleric of Freya in my last game, so trust me on this.

Crypt of the Shadow Lord Review — Simple But Deadly Solitaire Module

Crypt of the Shadow Lord is a short solitaire adventure for Labyrinth Lord and the first product from DPC-RPG Games (which I'm guessing are the initials of the author, David Cronin). D&D actually works fairly well as a solo RPG. But what it doesn't really do is work well as a single character game. Perhaps because of this, solitaire adventures have always been rare, especially so among the OSR. (Note that Kevin Crawford created rules to address this problem).

The premise of the adventure is pretty much stated in the title. You play a 1st level cleric sent on a mission to investigate a crypt and rescue a missing farmer. It follows the basic Choose Your Own Adventure structure, you start at entry 1 and then are directed to read other numbered entries, based on your choices and your die rolls.

New OSR Products at DTRPG — December 13th, 2018

Strange week of releases. Many, many, many 'zines and assorted other stuff, and no actual adventures, more like mini-settings.

Official

GW1 Legion of Gold -  Gamma World adventure by Gary Gygax with Luke Gygax and Paul Reiche III (of Archon fame). $4.99 pdf, 38 pages, with print version now available for $11.99

GW2 Famine in Far-Go - Written by someone I've heard of, Michael Price, but also for GW. $4.99 pdf, 38 pages, with print version now available for $11.99

The Polyhedron Volume 3 #1 Issue 10 -  The old house zine. 99 cents, 32 pages.

The Polyhedron Volume 3 #2 Issue 11 - Ditto.

Adventures

Boarswood -  Mini-adventure setting for LotFP, a fictional 15th century Barony. 23 pages, $3.50

Hexplore: Borderlands -   Hex crawl it seems, but without any stats (aka system neutral. $4.99 for a whopping 16 pages, so I will be passing.

Rules

Foe Folio for B/X Essentials - 29 critters over 22 pages for B/X. $2.99 

RPPP #58: Expanded Prior History Tables -  Medieval Authentic birth tables or something. Presumably you roll a d10000 and if it's 1 to 9999 you're a peasant. 22 pages, $2.99

Misc

Castle Oldskull - Oldskull Dragons -  Like a  Rogues Gallery of dragons, I guess. $2.99 and 115 pages (though likely only 30 pages of content)

Conspiracy Theories Issue 2: Frostbitten -  From the publisher of Dark Places & Demogorgons comes this zine for their games. $2.99 and 26 pages.

Echoes from Fomalhaut #3 -  3rd issue of Gabor Lux's excellent 'zine. 48 pages, $6

Fast Locations: Old School Temples and etc Geomorphs -  What it says. PWYW

Friday Enhanced Map 12-7-18 - Oooh, this is a creepy looking cultist lair or something similarly sinister and spooky. Tim Hartin's ability to produce original and varied maps never ceases to amaze me. $1

Hydra #7 -  I forget if this was Norwegian, Swedish, or Finnish. Or maybe Danish? It's a OSR zine in one of those languages.  $2.49, 103 pages.

Old School Holiday Adventures Bundle - Basically everything OSR done by Spes Magna Games, which includes a few adventures, a couple of monster books, maps, rules supplements, and a mariachi class. $11 for a lot of stuff, basically half off

Random Encounters Map Collection Volume One - Issues One, Two, Three, and Four - Seems to be a collection of maps and descriptions for dungeons. PWYW.

SCA Cavalier Attitude 4.2:   Confusingly, this is the sixth issue of the zine from Starry Knight. $1.50, 14 pages and includes a story and adventure.

Tome of Tomes Volume Seven - List of books that could be found on a shelf. 19 pages, $3

DNH5 Carcosa — Disappointing Dungeon Crawl

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
    In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
    Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
    Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
    Lost Carcosa.

Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow," Act i, Scene 2.

DNH5 Carcosa is presumably the last module in the Hastur series from Dark Naga Games, written by L. Kevin Watson. It's a modestly priced (at least when I bought it) at $4 for a 30 page module plus illustration book, chocked with new original art. It takes up directly after DNH4 Confronting Hastur, which leaves the characters transported to Carcosa, the place from Robert Chamber's The King in Yellow.

I first came across Robert Chamber's The King in Yellow a few years before I got into Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu, in a book on UFOs by Jacques Vallee (the inspiration for the French guy in Close Encounters), who used the quotes from it to start chapters to convey the sense of other-worldliness, of eeriness, that he believed applied to UFOs and their inhabitants. If you aren't familiar with it, The King in Yellow is a series of short stories loosely based on Chambers' time in Paris, including a handful of weird stories involving a strange play and the effects it had on its readers. The play is set in Carcosa, which seems to be a city on an alien planet by a lake (the Lake of Hali), across from a neighboring city, Alar.

New OSR Products at DTRPG — December 6th, 2018

Hero Games released a ton of old stuff this week, including one of my favorites, Justice Inc

Official

The Polyhedron Volume 2 #6 Issue 9 -  99 cents for this old housezine

Adventures

BR2 Brindlemarsh -  Something involving dwarves, kobolds, and a black dragon baby. 37 pages, $5

Castle Oldskull Dungeon Encounters One -  25 encounters (not sure if a dungeon map is given) for the authors Oldskull dungeon.  34 pages, $1.99

DNH5 Carcosa - Presumably the final adventure in the "Hastur" series, this came out quicker than I expected. Basically the PCs are stuck in Carcosa and must escape. $4 and 64 pages.

SM1 Krampus for OSR -  The worst thing about Christmas is that Billy Squier song. The second worst thing is the Krampus. But if you feel different, here's an 8 page adventure involving the latter. $1

SO11 Mad Madrigan's Maze -  Something about gnomes in a maze. $5 and 20 pages.

Worldsend - Series of one page dungeons. $1 and 24 pages.

Rules

Animals Companions -  From PBE Games comes this set of rules for animal companions - acquiring them, training them, and giving them treats, plus a Beastmaster class. $4.99 and 16 pages

Dark Places & Demogorgons - Holiday Special - 30 pages of misc stuff for the Stranger Things inspired OSR game. Free.

Misc

Castle Oldskull: Order of the Scarlet Tabard -  100 henchmen. 35 pages, $1.99

Friday Enhanced Map 11-30-2018 -  Looks like a fancy temple. $1

Manual of Unknown Monsters - Would include this in rules, but it has no stats. Just art. 108 pages, $9.95

O Povo do Buraco #2 -  Brazilian fanzine for LotFP, so presumably in Portuguese. PWYW (suggested $5), 48 pages

The Iron Realm Random Fantasy RPG Solitaire Dungeon and Maze Master Guide - Whew, that's a long name for what appears to be a dungeon design guide. $11 and 76 pages.

Woodfall - Dark fantasy swamp setting that is system neutral, but also lists itself as OSR. 92 digest sized pages, $12

DNH4 Confronting Hastur Review - 30 Pages of Filler, 1 Page of Confronting Hastur's Statue

I was a fan of DNH1 The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil (so much so I apparently reviewed it twice), which was a fairly lengthy scenario involving tracking down and eliminating an evil cult that worshiped Hastur, a Great Old One from the Cthulhu Mythos. It wasn't very Hastur-ish (he's my favorite Great Old One), but it was good if you consider it a more generic evil god. Strangely though, the next two modules in the series had little to do with Hastur, or even adventuring, instead they describe sort of an alternate version of underground elves and the trading network they used.

With DNH4 Confronting Hastur, the action against the cult resumes. The PCs are once again tasked with finidng and eliminating the cult's stronghold. But in this case finding the hideout consists of simply talking to about half a dozen suspicious people. Not that the PCs determine they are suspicious, but some NPC does, simply giving them a list.

New OSR Titles at RPGNow/DTRPG — November 29th, 2018

It's been a strange week. Having to work Thanksgiving and Black Friday, then my truck breaking down (u-joint and driveshaft), days where the high was in the 20s, days where the high was in the mid 60s.

Adventures

Crypt of the Shadow Lord -  The first product from DPC-RPG is a solitaire adventure for Labyrinth Lord and a 1st level cleric. $3.99, 26 pages.

Island of Blight - Mult-system (including 1e/OSRIC) adventure. $5, 28 pages

RPPP #56 The Thing from the Cave - Medieval Authentic (TM) adventure about medieval authentic things from caves. Actually sounds like a black magician and some bandits. 13 pages, $2.49

Rules

BLUEHOLME Referee Repository -  $3.99 for 28 pages of tables from the game. (That's like more pages than the original Holmes)

Iron Pax - OSR-ish game about 1950 housewives and their daily chores. Oh wait, that's Iron Pants. This is " set in a fantasy world of colonialist dystopia." PWYW, 73 pages

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 11-23-2018 -  Another part dungeon, part cave. $1

Hydra #6 - Ongoing Swedish OSR zine. 66 pages, $2.49. (Shouldn't it be called Kraken or something? Or are they pulling a reverse Clash of the Titans)

FP1 Arrival at Fort Perilous Review — Child Friendly B2 Homage

Although personally I am more of a B1 In Search of the Unknown person, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands apparently resonated with a huge audience, as it continues to inspire homages almost 40 years later. The most recent homage is the first product from John Leeper and Grey Goblin Games, FP1 Arrival At Fort Perilous. The modestly priced ($2.20) 30 page module follows that basic setup, almost exactly, there is a lone (more or less) outpost in the wilderness that serves as a home base for low level parties to go out and explore.

The difference is, rather than one large, multi-faction dungeon to explore, there are three separate smaller dungeons, two out in the wilderness, one essentially part of the fort itself (well, right outside), each with a single faction.

Blackmoor Documentary on Kickstarter...

Yeah, I know that last early D&D documentary didn't turn out so well, but apparently this one is almost already done, so the chances of the people making it getting into an argument and bickering for the next five years is probably low-ish. Hopefully.

Looks very interesting, actually. Just the Kickstarter page is interesting.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — November 22nd, 2018

And the sale there has already started (33% off).  I wonder if eventually we will see Black Friday on Halloween?

Amazingly enough, at least at this, Gamma World 1e has made the top 10 titles on sale list.  Other notable stuff includes Beyond the Wall, BRW Games,  CoachK, Creation's Edge, John Stater,  and probably more.

Official

RPGA News Volume 2 #1 - Has to be from the early 80s. 16 pages, 99 cents

Polyhedron Volume 2 #5 - I think this was the new name for above. 16 pages, 99 cents.

Adventures

FP1: Arrival at Fort Perilous -  First adventure from Grey Goblin Games, sandboxy sounding adventure for B/X and LL.  $2.20 and 30 pages

Misc

Midderzine Issue 2 - I always want to read that settings name as Middenlands, which would be full of otyughs. $3.84, 24 pages.

RIP William Goldman

Author of the Princess Bride, which is one of my favorite novels. I first read it in college, it was sort of an in-joke thing with my friends freshman year.  The movie is good, but not nearly as good as the book, which is punctuated with jokes in parentheses.

The soundtrack is also really good. By Mark Knopfler, of Dire Straits.

Perhaps released a bit too late (as a movie) to influence D&D, but I can think of at least half a dozen R.O.U.S. references in OSR products. So I know I'm not the only fan.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — November 15th, 2018

One week from Black Friday (aka Thanksgiving) and we're getting 7 inches of snow.  Usually Winter doesn't hit here in St. Louis until the 2nd week of December, but this year we skipped Fall, apparently.

Rules

B/X Ascending for B/X Essentials -  Sounds like it's a B/X take on 3rd edition (or vice-versa). Or maybe 5th edition. But definitely not 4th. $2.99 and 65 pages

d240 NPC Careers -  Not something you'd think is OSR, but apparently is. PWYW list of careers for NPCs, with rules for skills. 7 pages

Ford's Faeries - Already mentioned, free bestiary inspired by Henry Justice Ford

RPPP #54 - Medieval College Adventures -  This is background and rules for colleges for Lion & Dragon and Dark Albion. One of my favorite historical mystery series is set at medieval Oxford (by Susannah Gregory) and they make Animal House look Sunday School.  $2.99 and 21 pages

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 11-09-2018 - Big cave. $1

Ford's Faeries, a bestiary inpsired by the art of Henry Justice Ford is now available for free

That's a long subject line.

But essentially he was the premier fantasy illustrator of his day, that being the late Victorian era to the mid 1920s.  His work for Tales of King Arthur is probably the best remembered, but he also illustrated the many "Fairy" books by Andrew Lang and a ton of other stuff

His work was a pretty big inspiration for the look of knights in armor and the look of early D&D art.

Anyway, apparently people on Google+ (which I could never figure out how to use) decided to make a monster book based on his illustrations and make it available for free

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — November 8th, 2018

Almost forgot this was Thursday. Last week was a lot of modules, this week has a lesser number but continues the (positive, to my way of thinking) trend.

Adventures

S1 The Almost Thief -  Creation's Edge is back with presumably the first in a new line of S&W modules. If like past efforts, they start at 1-3 (as this does) and each succeeding module is for one level higher.  $1.50 and 14 pages.

The Keep of the Broken Saint -  Adventure for S&W, character levels 8 to 10. 40 pages, $3.99

Tomb of the Frost-Walker -  Small (16 rooms) but apparently time consuming dungeon (10 hours?) for low level characters. $2, 11 pages.

XQ1 The Castle that Fell from the Sky - Well, wouldn't have fallen from the ground. Low-ish level module for 3rd to 5th level Oe characters. I wasn't overly impressed by the first Scribes of Sparn module, but this has a different author. $5.75 and 52 pages

Rules

I think this is a record, we've gone months without someone posting their S&W house rules.

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 11-2-18 - His recent maps fit together, this seems to be the hub. $1

The Ice Kingdoms Kickstarter for OSRIC/For Gold & Glory

Seems like a setting plus adventure(s). Personally, I dislike ice and cold weather, but if you do, or if you want something inspired by such, it seems a pretty good deal. $20 gets you several PDFs.

It's already funded with a surprisingly low total given the apparent quality.

New OSR Products at DTRPG/RPGNow — November 1st, 2018

Was busy trying to finish up RL2 The Charnel Pits of Reynaldo Lazendry for Halloween. I did, but then my internet went down. Finally came back up right as as I was going to bed. Honestly, probably not 100% finished, but most of its been sitting on my hard drive for years and I figured might as well kick it out.

Looks like I wasn't the only one, as there are a ton of other adventures released this week.

And in other news, I've been playing Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark for the PC. It is basically a Tactics Ogre / Final Fantasy Tactics tribute game. Beyond that, it's very well done.

Adventures

Standoff at Sandfell Sea Fort -  From Malrex and the Merciless Merchants comes this module for levels 4 to 7. 24 pages and $5 (mostly because he uses a gigantic amount of stock art, 92 megabytes for 24 pages...)

Campfire Tale  - for LL and a game that shall not be named.  11 pages, $1.50

RPGPP The Ladystone -  A "Medieval Authentic" about some supposed lady's naughty bits. $2.49, 15 pages.

SO10 The Pumpkin Man -  For levels 4 to 6. 20 p[ages, $5

The Dungeons of Grimhold Keep, Level One -  Low level dungeon for LL from New Realms. He sure has gotten a lot of use from that LJP stock art set.  $5.95 and 15 pages.

The Tomb of Harven Half-Skull - From BRW games comes this 3rd to 4th level adventure about the tomb of a pirate king. 10 pages, $2.49

Tomb of the Serpent Kings -  Low level OSR adventure about where Hollywood execs are buried. Free, 25 pages.

What Ho, Frog Demons - Another Slumbering Ursine Dunes modules, which always reminds me of the Raymond Chandler observation that flipness is not wit. 112 pages, $12

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — October 25th, 2016

With Halloween coming up, they are having a Halloween sale, 31% off. However, almost nothing on my wish list is discounted, so I guess not many companies are participating.

Also sort of Halloween related, apparently someone found the original, full length (or longer) version of Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (aka the basis for the movie The Thing) and Wildside Press is doing a Kickstarter to publish it.  I backed it at the ebook level, I first came across it as a kid in the 70s as part of a comic book adaption in a short lived series called "StarStream"

Adventures

Tomb of the Iron God -  I guess a new version of the overrated S&W adventure.  52 pages, $5.99

Witchburner -  Seemingly artsy adventure from Hydra Collective. $13 and 68 pages. Apparently there's a demo version for free

Rules

Pathfinder Technical Manual For Starships & Spacemen 2e -  Probably not actually rules, as it's mostly a map and a ship for players to use in that game, I guess. $3, 25 pages.

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 10-26-18 - Part cavern, part dungeon. $1

Realms Beyond — Gold Box (sort of) inspired CRPG on Kickstarter

I am terrible at embedding KSes, but anyway, Realms Beyond is a CRPG sort of inspired by the Gold Box games. At least it mentions them and the box it comes in (if you get physical) looks like one. On the other hand, it also mentions Realms of Arkana, a game which I literally threw out my window after my party died after losing all their shoes while crossing a mountain, causing damage every time they moved.

In Realms Beyond, you will find the tactical turn-based combat of the Gold Box Games, Temple of Elemental Evil and Dark Sun, the world exploration and camp management of Realms of Arkania, the interactivity and living world of Ultima, the choice-driven quests and reactivity of Fallout and Arcanum, and the rich NPC interaction of Baldur’s Gate and Planescape Torment, along with fresh new features that haven’t been seen before in the genre.

Looks mostly like Temple of Elemental Evil (the CRPG) and it will be using the 3.5 SRD, so not too old school, but IMHO, more old school than 5e

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — October 18th, 2018

Not too busy this week

Adventures

Highdark Hall -  This is apparently a gothic adventure for some gothic RPG that seems to be OSR. $3.99 and 87 pages.

Rules

RPPP #50 - Archer Class for Lion & Dragon -  Apparently no claim of it being "medieval authentic" though. 99 cents, 5 pages.

The Chaos Gods come to Meatlandia - Vivimancer Edition - Eh? $9.99 and 80 pages.

The Witch for Swords & Wizardry White Box -  $4.99 and 120 pages, which I think is almost as long as White Box itself.

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 10-19-2018 -  Looks like a small-ish dungeon that has been built into a cave passage. $1

Through Ultan's Door Issue 1 - Looks like a gonzo style 'zine. 40 pages, $5

The Book and the Spring Review — Sumerian Sandbox for First Edition

 The Book and The Spring is a mid level module for 1st Edition, though it seemingly borrows a bit from Adventures Dark and Deep, the idea of different monsters having different types of hit dice (d4 for small ones, up d12 for large ones). It's from Christopher Letzelter and his Anachronistes Press and is a bit unusual for two reasons. Firstly, it's mostly inspired by Sumerian culture, and secondly, it's split into two separate products — the module itself, and the map/supplement book.

I suppose it's also a bit unusual in the premise, which seems like the second half of the adventure (or campaign, even). The PCs are tasked with destroying an evil artifact, a book, by submersing it in a holy spring. However, the spring has dried up thanks to a magical curse by an evil king, now undead. But they can't kill him until they open his tomb, which requires finding keys.

Thankfully that can easily be ignored, since essentially you have a small sandbox setting with several sites for the PCs to explore, though three in particular are the largest and most detailed: A ruined palace, a tomb, and the ruins of a hanging gardens style structure. Each room is given a physical description, sometimes quite lengthy and often includes dimensions (which some people like but others seem to hate).

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — October 11th, 2018

Apparently we skipped Fall and went straight to Winter, with a high in the 40s.

Bought last week's The Book and The Spring. Should have a review next week. But it's pretty nice. Also started working (again) on RL2 The Charnel Pits of Reynaldo Lazendry with the hopes of having it done by Halloween.  It's surprisingly slow turning notes from your game into a module.

(Also for some reason, spellcheckers don't like charnel). 

Official

Gamma World 1e -  This is actually the only version I've played, back in the day. $9.99 for the PDF and $19.99 for the softcover. Kinda expensive given the size of the book (64 pages) but apparently includes a map.

Adventures

Murder Knights of Covendark - At first the name made me wince, but apparently they are like crow knights (a flock of crows is called a murder) so it's actually pretty clever.  For 4th level characters, 48 pages, $5.29 

SO9 Down the Wishing Well -  Single character adventure for low levels. 28 pages, $5

Rules

Jarkoon - Adventures on Planet X! -  Sword & Planet hack of S&W. 20 pages, $3

Misc

Conspiracy Theories #1 - Zine for the Dark Places & Demogorgons game of 80s horror. 28 pages, $2.99

New Free Adventure — The Beholder Contracts

The Beholder Contracts (free at DTRPG/RPGNow) by David Whiteland/DWK Games is not about the eye monsters, but more literal. It's a very interesting twist on the "person hires characters to retrieve object" trope. Apparently it was first published in the 1980s in a magazine (don't know which) but has been revised and re-laid out.

It's for 1e and makes some references to the diseases tables, but should work with most OSR games.  Very much worth checking out.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — October 4th, 2018

Fairly busy week.  The previously posted Bruce Heard kickstarter has gone live and is almost funded as I write, $7800 of the $8000 goal.

Adventures

The Book and the Spring -  This seems to be a Mesopotamian themed adventure for 1e, but it seems to be spit into the encounter book (which is $5.99 and 52 pages) and maps for $2.99 (and 36 pages)

The Hidden Hand of the Horla -  1st to 3rd level adventure for one of the many 100s of S&W house rule games. 22 pages, PWYW.  (Also, I'm not sure why a guy/company who does OD&D adventures names itself after an appendix in the 1e DMG)

Rules

Bloodbath Bunnies -  The author was trying too hard to be funny in the description and I'm not sure what this is exactly. 99 cents though and from the author of the Oldskull stuff, so the 30 pages might have 5 pages of actual content.

Blood & Treasure 2nd Edition Monsters - I was a big fan of the original B&T. But the 2nd edition was just another re-skin of S&W among the many other 100s that are out there and was a huge disappointment to me.  Still, 500 new monsters. $9.99

Cleric Turns for Labyrinth Lord - Because for some, rolling 2d6 and looking at a chart is harder than an automated PDF. PWYW

Dark Places & Demogorgons - The Ghost Hunter's Handbook -  Adds new classes and more to the modern horror game. $4.99 and 60 pages.

The Oneiromancer  - New character class for S&W whose powers revolve around dreams. Wait, that's useless you say, but sleep is one of his spells, so maybe not. Also seems to cast illusionist spells, which is a bit odd, but eh. PWYW and 5 pages.

Misc

 

Deities and Personalities of DarkMoore -  Free setting info about the DarkMoore setting.

Friday Enhanced Map 9-28-18 -  Dungeon/Temple/Cave looking thing. $1

PM6 Expert Monsters Set 2 -  Paper miniatures of the monsters from H to W in the BECMI expert set. 25 pages and $3

RPGPP#48 3 Occult Killer Antagonists - 3 apparently medieval authentic serial killers for Lion & Dragon. 19 pages, $2.99

Dungeons of the Dread Wyrm Review — Killer Dungeon That is More Smoke Than Sizzle

Dungeons of the Dread Wyrm is the 2nd module in the Dungeon Delve series, which I've until now overlooked (I don't follow social media much anymore, to be honest, so presumably missed any announcement). It's a high-ish level adventure, 10th to 14th levels, written by R. Nelson Bailey for First Edition. Apparently it was originally Kickstarted and so contains entirely new original art, which also explains the price tag of $9.99 and 32 pages for the PDF. Notably, it includes art by by the Fiend Folio guy, Russ Nicholson*.

It has no real plot, other than a dragon has been extorting a kingdom for a while now and is getting tired of it. So if the PCs would go and kill it, it would be greatly appreciated. The dragon has built a mid sized (by today's standards) 3 level, 40-ish keyed encounters dungeon to protect her wealth and herself, filled with traps, tricks, and her flunkies, wit the last level being her lair proper.

New Calidar Kickstarter coming tomorrow

Calidar being the new world by Bruce Heard of Mystara/Princess Ark fan and something that has exceeded my expectations as a new creation.

The next product will be a gazetteer about a wizard/demon infested province. The Kickstarter will be up tomorrow (and I'll update this) but the preview is up now

New OSR Products at DTRPG/RPGNow — September 27th, 2018

I've been playing Hero-U. I mostly like it, but I don't like the time limit. In RPGs and adventure games I like to take my time.

Anyway, pretty slow week, RPG-wise in general.

Official

BH2 Lost Conquistador Mine -  Boot Hill module now in print for $9.99, or PDF for $4.99. 37 pages.

Adventures

In the Depths of EldHeim -  Either German granny porn or about Dwarves.  $5, 15 pages.

Rules

B/X Essentials: Adventures & Treasure Plain Text Edition - Free

Lies & Spies X! -  S&W hack for spies. 15 pages, $2.50

Microlite78 First Edition Lite (2nd edition) - This is the art free version of the game, PWYW

Screaming Seas X! - S&W hack for pirates. 18 pages, $2.50

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 9-28-2018 - Half cavern, half-dungeon $1

History & Geography of DarkMoore -  Because "Greymoor" was already take, I guess. Free campaign setting

Terry Herc's Mega Art Pack - 100 Architecture pictures -  Old drawings of buildings. PWYW.

Malevolent & Benign II Review — Solid Monster Collection

Malevolent & Benign II is the second monster book from Expeditious Retreat Press for OSRIC/1e featuring 150 new monsters. It could be more accurately called "Mostly Malevolent" since as in most monster books, it's mostly stuff for the player characters to kill. As with the first volume, it collects many of the monsters from their Advanced Adventures line of modules, though the bulk are original to the volume.

Each entry consists of the statblock (which lists chances for treasure by name, not letter code), then "General Information" (which includes special attacks and such), then "Languages", "Physical Description", and then "Variants", though sometimes the 2nd and 4th are omitted where they aren't applicable. I have seen similar formats, but it always makes more sense to me if the physical description of the monster are first, because it helps to visualize it while reading about the attacks and such.

Hero-U on sale for 35% off on Steam

Hero U being the new computer game from the Coles, who made the Quest for Glory games for Sierra, the RPG/Adventure game hybrids.  Corey Cole also wrote a D&D adventure for Judges Guild back in the day.

It's sort of in the vein of the QFG games. It went through a lot of development, a couple kickstarters, and apparently they mortgaged their house.  I felt guilty about not buying it at full price $35, but at 35% off, it's now only $22

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — September 20th, 2018

Sigh. Just when I had enough money to get my truck's muffler fixed, I develop a problem with its brakes.  Still I do have some savings, so not that bad a time. But it's annoying living in a rural area, you are so completely dependent on having a vehicle, because even the closest store is 6 miles away with no sidewalks, so impossible to walk (or bike) to.

Adventures

Mim's Recreation Garden -  Short dungeon for low level characters. 20 pages, $5.89 but apparently illustrated.

Rules

B/X Essentials: Adventures & Treasures -  The 5th B/X Essentials book contains magic items. $3.99 and 48 pages.  (I'm not sure how turning a 2 book game into 5 books streamlines things)

Microlite78 First Edition Lite -  This is actually the 2nd edition of Microlite78 which is one of my favorite versions of Microlite. It's sort of 1e with a lot of modern improvements/changes (though some like wound points were actually old school first appearing in an early White Dwarf). This version now includes the bard and barbarian. 236 pages, $7.50

RPGPP #46 - Courtiers, Priests, Sages, and Craftsmen -  4 new classes for Lion & Dragon, but I really don't think "sages" are medieval authentic because it doesn't really seem to have been a word until the 14th century and that's almost the end of medieval times. 7 pages, $1.99

Terror Tales X! - Pulp horror hack of S&W. 21 pages, $3.50

The Eerie West X! -  Weird west hack of S&W. 19 pages, $2.50

Uncanny War Stories X! - Wasn't this from last week? But S&W rules for Weird War, I guess. 19 pages, $2.50

Misc

Back to BasiX #6 - New monsters, spells, short encounter, comic strip, and an interview with Mike Carr whose B1 is overlooked unfairly, IMHO. 22 pages, $2

Friday Enhanced Map 9-21-18 -  Neat looking underground temple complex. $1

Midderzine Issue 1 - Zine about the S&W Midderlands setting. $3.98 and 24 pages.

Rogue Genius Games having a half off stock art sale

For people who make DIY modules (like me), stock art can be expensive. I've used a lot of Rogue Genius's stuff, as they are pretty cheap to begin with and fairly decent quality. But now they've gone from $1.95 to 98 cents.

It's nice too, as you get a color and black & white version.

The main artist, Jacob Blackmon has covered a lot of the traditional D&D monsters, plus more outlandish, space, and modern stuff.

On the downside, their art comes in PDFs. I have never been able to copy and paste from them, they always appear weird in my paint program, no matter what I use.

However, I take them to Free online PDF Extractor and they come out okay

New OSR Products at DTRPG/RPGNow — September 13th, 2018

This might be short/not get posted because my router is dying. It started fizzing out last fall when the weather got cold. So I wrapped it in some plastic and put a coat on it. That seemed to do the trick until now when it's getting cold once again. (Not that cold, like 60 at night).

Hopefully I will be able to replace it soon.

Adventures

Under the Temple Crypt -  Tiny S&W adventure. 8 pages, $1

Rules

Deities, Deminities (whatever that is) & Personalities: Supplement IV -  More than you probably wanted to know about the Avremier campaign setting. 84 pages, $6.99

Eldritch Avremier Supplement III -  More stuff for the original game. $6.99 and 84 pages

Space Adventures - X -  $4 for 15 pages on how to play OSR in space? Splurge for Starships & Spacemen 2e.

SuperHeroes X - Golly, this one is 28 pages for $5!

Misc

Cavalier Attitude 3 -  14 page 1e 'zine, $1.50

Friday Enhanced Map 9-14-18 -  Still the 13th, so he posted a bit early. Looks like a keep. $1

Fifty Fiends Review — Fiendish Foes, Mismatched System

Fifty Fiends from New Big Dragon Games (Richard J. LeBlanc, Jr.) is a curious book. Firstly, because like almost all his other work, it's a ridiculously low price ($1) given the amount of content (70 pages). That includes original illustrations, albeit by the author, but he's as good as some "professional" artists who sell stock art. The other curious thing is that despite it being a book of demons and devils and chaotic neutral outsiders, it's for Basic and Expert D&D (B/X). Which didn't have demons, devils, or really outsiders at all. You had something like them introduced in the Immortals set, but they were meant to be a challenge for Immortals, not normal characters.

To me this is one of the odder, even maddening trends of the OSR — re-creating everything from 1E instead of just, you know, playing 1E. This is especially puzzling to me in the case of B/X and BECMI. Although I was (and am) mostly a 1E fan, I did enjoy BECMI because of its differences from 1E. The different classes, different spells, different monsters, different cosmology, and the consequences of its rules on the world it developed. Adding everything from 1e to B/X & BECMI makes BX/BECMI worse, not better, because they deserve to be their own thing, not a copy of 1E. But it's like 1E has cooties or something, in the eyes of the OSR.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — September 6th, 2018

Pretty solid week. Some nice looking adventures and a monster book.

Official

Dragon Mountain  -  Presumably now in print form, this is a long high level adventure for 2e/. $9.99 and $19.99 for print version

Gamma World: Referee Screen and Mini-Module - I think this is for 4th edition from TSR, the one after the Marvel Superheroes rules and is mostly AD&D compatible (but has ascending AC)/ $4.95

Adventures

Dungeons of the Dread Wyrm -  New module with original art, including by the Fiend Folio guy. The description seems a bit off, but appears to be at least a three level dungeon for high level (10 to 15th) 1e characters. $9.99 and 37 pages.

Phaunt's Tower - This low level white box adventure seems to actually be about a celebration gone wrong. $3, 27 pages

The Ruins of Uden Tice - Adventure meant for conventions. 30 pages, PWYW

Rules

FX1 50 Fiends -  50 critters from the lower planes from New Big Dragon Games (whose products tend to be must buys in my book). Curiously meant for B/X, which literally did not have lower planes, demons, or devils. Still, $1 for 74 pages.

GM1a Game Master's Screen -  From New Big Dragons so this is presumably high quality, but kinda expensive (though it also has record sheets). $10 for PDF, no print (which is what you'd think you'd want, though I suspect Lulu might have that)

Mauvolg: Supplement II -  Add on for OD&D about the setting of the same name. 84 pages, $6.99

Operation White Box (Free) - PWYW version of the White Box based WW2 game. PWYW

PC19 The OSR Hunter -  My take on a spell-less ranger. Mostly a 2e ranger with some extra stuff. PWYW

Misc

Attacks & Saves for Labyrinth Lord - I don't know what's so hard about dice, but if you find them hard, here is a self-rolling PDF. PWYW

Echoes of Fomalhaut #2: Gont, Nest of Spies - 48 page zine including a couple of scenarios (one in the Dreamlands) and misc stuff. $6

Friday Enhanced Map 8-31-18 - Looks like an underground temple. $1

Expeditious Retreat Press is having a half off PDF Sale

These things always seem to happen just after I've spent all my credit there (did I really need all that flumph stock art?). But apparently he's moving to the Netherlands for some reason (wouldn't have minded living their in the 1990s for the music) and in honor of that, is having a half off sale

He's probably been the most consistent supporter of OSRIC/1e since OSRIC existed and while the adventures are of varying quality, even the worst is still worth $3-4. 

There are also two excellent monster books, each with 100 or so critters.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — August 30th, 2018

I want to review something, but nothing I've bought lately cries out to be reviewed.  However, there are a number of new adventures out this week that look interesting...or maybe I'm just being lazy.

Adventures

Cult of the Green Orb -  Seemingly inspired by the Heavy Metal movie. 20 pages, $4

S4 The Mines of Mayhem - I have a mental picture of a mine being worked not by dwarves, but by 80s wrestlers.  This is enhanced by the author randomly putting words in his blurb in ALL CAPS.  But it seems to be a sprawling low level dungeon crawl (2nd to 4th level). 110 pages, and $20. Also comes with an illustration book.

The Sunken Fort - Mid sized (80 room) dungeon for low level characters, apparently a lead-in for a forthcoming megadungeon.  $5, 27 pages.

Rules

Five Items -  I'd rather have the 99 cents.

Knave -  Seems like a classless take on OSR, but compatible with adventures and monster books.  $2.99 and 7 pages.

Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners - Fairly in depth rules for secondary skills for NPCs. PWYW 

Misc

Black Pudding #5 -  Another issue of J.V. West's excellent fanzine. 24 pages, PWYW

Friday Enhanced Map 8-24-18 -  Last (I think) part of a giant cave complex, though it works stand alone as well. $1

Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places - Random tables for well, what the name says. PWYW

New OSR Releases at RPGNow/DTRPG — August 23rd, 2018

Was going to write a review, but got caught up in playing The Bard's Tale remastered. Then I thought "Why not review that?" But then I realized I'd need to play even more of it.

With the exception of spell points, I had forgotten how D&D-ish it was.  The Remaster seems much easier, though. Even though it offers a save anywhere system, I have no yet had any problems getting back out of a dungeon yet.

Officials

Boot Hill 2nd Edition -  This is the version I am familiar with, I think.  $4.99 PDF, $9.99 print, $11.99 Print + PDF

Adventures

Castle of Aandoran the Defiler -  1e adventure from Joseph Mohr. 50 pages, PWYW

The Mountain of Fire - Another 1e adventure from Joseph Mohr.  This one pits the PCs against his oft mentioned villain, Malcon the Lich. 5 pages, PWYW

Rules

Disruptors & Dyson Spheres -  This confuses me, as it says it's an old school RPG yet is only 2 pages. Even naval combat took up way way more than that in OD&D. PWYW.

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Roleplaying -  What it sounds like. 210 pages, $9.99

New Golems of the Labyrinth -  New golems meant for B/X (which actually had quite a different set of golems to being with) - "Cerebral, Ectoplasm, Flesh-and-Blood, Gas Metal, Leaf, Lightning Rod, Magic, Particulate, Shield, and Water Chariot Golems."  99 cents and 10 pages.

Misc

Extinguish the Sun #2 -  LotFP zine. $2, 18 pages

Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde: Color Maps -  Didn't this already come out? It;'s maps, also in print form, of the old JG world.  $9.99 PDF, $14.99 for poster + PDF

Fantastic Wilderlands Beyond: Revised Guide -  Guide for said map. 38 pages,  $4.99 PDF, $6.99 PDF+map, though it indicates that PDF is also with the PDF above.

Niti's Parade and Other Entertainments -  Free advertorial supplement about carnivals.

Random Terrain and Encounter Generator -  Joseph Bloch's foray into random table territory. Probably at least coherent, unlike most others. $9.99 and 105 pages.

RPGPP #44- Medieval Authentic Activities for Successful Medieval Authentic Characters-  Don't drink the water, use the long s, watch out for giant falling helmets, and probably more. $2.99 for 19 pages of silliness.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — August 15th, 2018

Beware the Ides of August! Or something. Slow week

Adventures

RPGPP The Dragon's Egg -  Is somehow medieval authentic despite featuring ratmen. 16 pages, $2.99

The Sorceress of Mekaloare -  3rd to 6th level adventure into another plane full of mechanical monsters ruled by an evil magic-user. 32 pages, $2.50

Rules

DarkMoore Critical Hit & Critical Fumble Tables -  I am not a big fan of them, but if you are, here you go. Free.

Magic Madness #5: Spells for OSR Games -  30 new spells. $2.50

Misc

Clipart Critters: Elder Thing 2 -  Only mentioning this because it's free.  Basically head shot of a crippled Elder Thing (only 4 tentacles instead of 5).

Dungeons in Blue - Mega Tile Bundle #2 -  Lots and lots of geomorphs. $13.39

Terry Herc's Mega Art Pack - 100 Castles - PWYW collection of images of castles

Remastered version of the original Bard's Tale now available

I actually had no idea this was in the works (I stopped following the Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter when they announced Sean Reynold's was involved. Call me petty, but I've still got a grudge against him from the last TSR days when he served as their internet enforcer, harassing people with fan material).   While probably my favorite old CRPG was Might & Magic, the Bard's Tale was up there. Early on it was pretty similar to Wizardry using a D&D-ish system.

The Bard's Tale came from about a dozen years ago, the action-RPG with Cary Elwes actually had the original BT games in it, but they were emulated Atari ST versions. This is an actual re-master and features an automap and other modern amenities and apparently some new graphics for female PCs.

It'ss available for $15 at Good Old Games and Steam .  Right now only the 1st game is in it, but they'll add the other two later

One of the neat things about TBT was you could import characters into the next game. Like with the Gold Box ones. So I can remember some of the names, even.  Murphy the Monk, Pat the Paladin, Omar the Great, Magic Max, Barry the Bard. I had a half-orc hunter (assassin) that I can't remember the name of, and presumably a warrior (fighter)

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — August 9th, 2018

I probably shouldn't do this right after work, when I'm extremely tired and slightly drunk

Also, don't forget: Big meteor shower this weekend.

Adventures

 

DarkMoore Adventures -  Apparently actually about "The Iron Dragon" Inn. PWYW, 59 pages.

Fish Something -  Another subtle title for Lamentations of the Fish Princess (er, Flame), apparently about HP Lovecraft's Innsmouth. $7.99 and 49 pages

OT1 Crypt of the Dog Witch -  Low level adventure apparently for people who don't like dogs. Evil dog god? That's impossible. $1, 13 people

RPGPP #42 At the Darkness -  Comedy adventure. $2.99 and 17 pages.

The Forbidden Barrow - Seems like a starter adventure. $2, 15 pages.

Rules 

 

James Edward Raggi IV's Eldritch Thingie -  "Look at me, look at me, look at me" in RPG supplement form. PWYW

Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition -  Seems to be a distilled, just the good parts version of the rules, plus art. $7.50 and 164 pages.

Microlight20 Comprehensive Edition (No Art) -  PWYW version of the game rules.

Random Esoteric Creature Generator -  Want to generate a completely nonsensical monster? Well, this is for you $9.99 and 64 pages.

The Little Book of Adventuring Classes vol 2 - 8 new classes (Barbarian, Ninja, Navigator, Summoner, Scholar, Runecaster, Vanguard, and Warmonger) plus some new races for S&W. $3.99 and 60 pages.

Misc

 

Friday Enhanced Map 8-10-18 -  Underground temple and cave complex. $1 for enhanced version.

The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil Review — More like Generic Evil

The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil from Dark Naga Adventures might have a rather generic name, but it actually deals with the PCs coming across of a cult of Hastur (the Cthulhu Mythos deity) and presumably foiling its plans. I a big fan of the Cthulhu Mythos (my 2nd favorite RPG is Call of Cthulhu) and incorporate Mythos themes into my own game.

Hastur is perhaps the trickiest deity of them all, because it's not entirely clear that Hastur is even a deity in HP Lovecraft's own works. Though he made mention of the name, clearly referencing Robert W. Chambers work, most notable many of the stories mentioned in the King in Yellow. But Chambers work is eerie, surreal, even sensual, perhaps best captured in Karl Wagner's The River of Nights Dreaming. But ignoring all that, August Dereth made Hastur just another squid god, like Cthulhu.

New OSR Products at DTRPG/RPGNow — August 2nd, 2018

A couple of new adventures for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Honestly, I've been underwhelmed by their past recent adventures. Basically they take a Robert Howard or HPL or CAS story, mangle it, dumb it down, and call it an adventure. I guess it depends on whether you like the original Conan stories or prefer the comic (the modules following the latter).

Adventures

The Anthropophagi of Xambala -  Aka an adventure about cannibals for AS&SH, presumably inspired by one of Howard's tackier Conan stories and apparently meant for beginner characters.  $10, 60 pages

The Beasts of Kraggoth Manor -  Maybe about a building full of ape-men? Another AS&S adventure, this time for 4th to 6th level characters. $10, 60 pages

Undead Island -  White Box adventure presumably about an island full of undead. $2 and 20

Rules

Untold Adventures Deluxe -  Because apparently we need a rules lighter version of S&W Whitebox every two months. PWYW at least.

Misc

Guild Adventures! The Dragonslayer -  My guess from the preview is that it's actually a Fighting Fantasy style system, but eh, at any rate it's a solo gamebook which I enjoy, though probably not $6.99 worth. 163 pages.

Hoard Class Treasurer -  Spreadsheet for rolling treasure for LL. PWYW

RPGPP #41 - Medieval Authentic Caravans - All about how to handle taxes and tariffs in a medieval authentic manner! Doesn't get more exciting than that, folks. $2.99 and 21 pages

The Thousand Year Sandglass Book 1 — A Gem of a Product

When I first started playing D&D in the 1970s, pretty much the only fantasy movies around were Monty Python & the Holy Grail and the two '70s Sinbad movies (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger). So the Arabian Nights has always been a big part of what is "fantasy" to me in my head, at least second hand.

The Thousand Year Sandglass (Book I) by B.J. Johnson is an Arabian Nights themed sourcebook for Labyrinth Lord (either original or advanced). It's part campaign setting, part rules, and has a number of adventures.

The setting is literally a giant hourglass. That is the whole world. I've used something similar in my game (coin worlds, each themed to a different god and culture), borrowing the idea of A. Merritt's Ship of Ishtar (in which an ancient world was accessible by a ship in a bottle). It's a good way to add an alien micro-setting to your game.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — July 26th, 2018

Should have a review of the Thousand Year Sandglass Book 1 up in the next day or so.

Adventures

DNH4 Confronting Hastur -  The 4th (and I guess last) module in the series of modules about fighting Hastur. Actually pretty decent quality, though features terrible (but original) artwork.  $8.99 and like 38 page plus illo book.
 

RPGPP #40 - Tower of the Mad Astrologer - Did medieval authentic astrologers actually live in towers? I doubt it, but it makes for better dungeons. 18 pages and $2.99

The Dragon's Secret - A new adventure from Jennell Jaquays, who designed some of the best modules/dungeons around back in the old days when she was Paul. 52 pages and $14.99, includes some S&W house rules.  (She also just released the system neutral Quack Keep setting

Rules

d20 and Roll High for 2nd Edition -  I guess correcting the "Roll high is better for combat" and "Row low is better for NWPs/Ability Checks", though I never understood why that was a bad thing. $2.49.

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 7-20-18 -  Pretty nice dungeon. $1

Friday Enhanced Map 7-27-18 - A map from the future, or maybe I'm just late and he uploads at midnight. Looks like a partially flooded dungeon. $1

Spell List Maker 2 for LL -  I'm not a spreadsheet person. But if you are, maybe this makes sense to you. PWYW.

The Quest of the Claw Comic Vol 1 -  This comes from the early 80s and is probably funnier than most of the Dragon comics. PWYW

Cut to the Chase Games having a sale on DTRPG

They've produced a number of modules for various different systems, including Swords & Wizardry.

Probably their best is the Toad God series, of which I have the first two and like (probably should review them). I think they are normally $6 and now $2.99.  Apparently they were all originally funded by individual kickstarters, so they do have original art and whatnot.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — July 18th, 2018

OBS seems to have changed how preview works as it seems to currently be disabled.

Official

Gamma World Game Rules 4th Edition -  This version of Gamma World is from 1992 and is probably the most old school D&D compatible of the bunch and is where ascending armor class was first introduced.  $9.99 for PDF, $24.99 for print version

Gamma World: Gamma Knights -  Really more of a board game than supplement. $4.99 for PDF

S4 The Lost Cavern of Tsjocanth - Presumably now updated for the print version ($9.99) or PDF + Print ($11.99). This is one of my favorite modules

Adventures

Book of Lairs: Abandoned Places - 13 monster lairs for ACKS. $3.27 and 36 pages.

The Barbarian King -  Adventure from Melan/Gabor Lux, probably one of the most original (in a good way) adventure designers in the OSR. $4 and 24 pages.

Misc

Dolmenwood Rogues Gallery Vol 1 - Some pregens for LL. PWYW

Friday Enhanced Map 7-13-18 -  Part dungeon, part cave. $1

Thief Skills Totaliser for LL - Spreadsheet or something because apparently for some it's harder to copy numbers from a table in a book than to use a spreadsheet, I guess. PWYW

Hero-U: Rogue to Redepemption finally out on Steam

I usually only mention video/computer games when they are old school related, which is the case here. Remember the old Sierra Quest for Glory Games? They were adventure games with some RPG elements and were designed by the Coles, one of whom (Corey) wrote a module for Judges Guild

Anyway, ages ago, they decided to make a new computer game, Hero-U, based on their website. Originally it was a fairly simple design, but they slowly made it more and more like the Quest for Glory games, first by using Kickstarter to fund development, and then apparently latter taking another mortgage on their home

But it's finally out on Steam. At $35, it's perhaps a bit pricier than similar games being released today, but cheaper (especially factoring in inflation) than the Sierra games back in the day.

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — July 12th, 2018

Woof, the dog days of summer are here. Not only do I have to drive to work not wearing a shirt, I have to change them a couple of times during work. Ah, the joys of working for a company too cheap to set the themostat below 85 in the backroom.

Adventures

Rememberance - Modulo 1A -  Pretty sure this is in Italian. It's a Labyrinth Lord adventure.  112 pages, $2.92

RPGP Presents 20 Medieval Authentic Supernatural Encounters -  31 pages, $3.99

Times that Fry Men's Souls -  Not sure when this came out, but the author is promoting it now. Basically seems to be a hex crawl set in Revolutionary Era NY and New Jersey, so presumably horror.  139 pages and $10

Rules

B/X Essentials: Monsters Plain Text Edition -  Free

Microlite 74: Perilous Adventures -  House ruled version of ML74. PWYW

Old School Fantasy Roleplaying Alternative Rules Bundle -  3 supplements totaling 25 pages for only $4.97

Misc

Friday Enhanced Map 7-6-2018 -  Lot of funky shaped rooms in this one. $1

Image Portfolion Platinum Edition - Matt Forsyth -  Holy crap, this is an amazing picture of a female swashbuckler type and also a picture of a weird looking female mage.  PWYW

As an aside though, I don't get why some really talented artists sell through Louise Porter Design and not direct. I mean, presumably they are giving a cut to him and DTRPG. I don't think it's art he bought and is reselling (Purple Duck does that), though maybe I'm wrong

I mean, when you buy art, you a) search for "Subject stock art" and then look at the various bits for sale. You don't generally go by company name. Also doesn't help in this case that it's in packs.

Last day (or so) for Autarch's moderately sized dungeon Kickstarter

Secrets of the Nethercity which is apparently about 240 rooms, which I would say is just a dungeon

I'm not a fan of ACKS (or rather, I think it's not particularly innovative as it's 90% BECMI with some other stuff that makes the game worse, like the weird to hit system), but really liked their previous module, Sinister Stone of Sakkara, so probably worth a look even if you don't like ACKS.

I also like their ancient inspired setting. I always thought that was a better fit for D&D than medieval feudalism (since that requires a conquered population and dominant church)

Woodfall, a dark fantasy OSR mini-setting, now live on Kickstarter

I've never been able to get the damn embed code from Kickstarter to work properly, so just check out the page for it.

Explore a dark fairytale setting, wade through a misty swamp, get caught up in the fighting between warring monster clans, discover a strange town of witches and thieves, and search for forgotten treasure.
Woodfall is a swamp belonging to a king where witches, thieves and outlaws are squatting. They have built a town on top of the swamp and have resisted several evictions. The town is a hub for black market activity and magical folk. 
The surrounding forest and swamp is a hexcrawl filled with various monster factions.

Book Content

• Approx. 100 pages of content
  
• New monsters
• DIY magic item creation system
  
• Hirelings
• Villains
• Weird shops
• A hexcrawl with 12 keyed locations
  
• Lots of random tables
• Flora and Fauna
• Rules for the setting changing over time
  
• Various random tables
• Legal system for the town
• Thieves guild
• Monster hunting content 

Looks pretty good. I am quite fond of mini-settings. Perhaps a mite expensive for the PDF at $12