Thursday, May 31, 2018

New Dark Fantasy OSR setting in the works

Woodfall it's apparently called. Doesn't seem to be much details on their website, but the creator also sent me an Instragram link that presumably makes sense to people who know what Instagram is

Looks like there's a Kickstarter planned, so hopefully more details will emerge before then....

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

New OSR PRoducts at RPGNow/DTRPG — May 30th, 2018

Amusingly, the 3rd Edition of Boot Hill appears to be a top ten seller. There is a lack of serious wild west games.


Official (I don't know if these are new or just now in print)


B1-9 In Search of Adventure -  Perhaps one of the most radical revisions in the supermodule line, this takes the first 9 B modules and turns them into a long, but not linear, campaign. $9.99 for the PDF and $19.99 for a softcover.

FMA1 Fires of Zatal - Part of the Mesoamerican adventure series. $4.99 PDF, $9.99 in print

Poor Wizard's Almanac II -  I loved this things, they made Mystara feel alive. Until they killed it with Joshun's Almanac.  Originally digest sized, this is $7.99 for the PDF and $14.99 in print.

Adventures


Assault on Yaxley Manor -  The #33 issue of RPGPundit Presents is an adventure. 17 pages, $2.99 and allegedly "Medieval Authentic"

Inferno: City of Glasya-Labolas -  From Geofrrey Dale comes another Inferno product (originally started back in the JG days), this time detailing an infernal city.  157 pages, $5.50

Inferno: Gasya-Labolas Denizens - I guess this contains the stats for the monsters. While he claims compatibility with old school D&D it actually has little (almost more with 5e). But still an interesting product line and definitely old school. 47 pages, $1.25

Inferno: City of Glasya-Labolas Bundle - Both of the above for only $4.80

Into the Troll's Den - Not just trolls, but trolls with traps.  25 pages, $2.50

Remembrance - Modulo 1B -  Modulo isn't a typo by me, it's a module in Italian (I think) for Labyrinth Lord. PWYW and 64 pages.

Rules


0E Monsters of Jordoba 2 -  4 new monsters, including the punny "kuo-togre". 11 pages, 99 cents.

Six New Old School Character Classes - For B/X and LL. This is actually a bundle of 6 of Sharp Mountain games - Gambler, Alien Elves, Forest Gnome, Paladins of Space, Carven (think wooden smurfs) and Wanderwood (treants). $3.

Untold Adventures (Sword & Wizardry) -  My gosh! Another version of Swords & Wizardry! And this one is even lighter and easier. Who'd ever thought we'd see one of those? At least it's PWYW so you can see how it compares to the 843 other "lighter" versions of S&W.

Misc


Friday Enhanced Map 5-25-18 -  Underground cave-lake. $1.

PWYW Stock Art - Arabian Thief on Flying Carpet - Ironically, this probably violates his "May not appear in Works deemed racist, sexist, or similarly offensive works" merely by its stereotype, but it's a pretty nice piece of art.

Ghosts The Incorporeal Undead Review — This must be what a sage's treatise is like


One of the staples of the RPG industry since about 1990 or so is the "sourcebook", basically one really detailed look at one aspect of the game (or setting), be it a class, a place, or a type of monster. Perhaps because of the rules light nature of the OSR, there really has not been much of this — a few books on cities, detailed looks at witches by that guy who really likes witches, and a few general supplements on magic.

Ghosts — The Incorporeal Undead from James Mishler & Jodi Moran-Mishler is another exception. It's one very detailed look at the ghost, or incorporeal undead, as monster. In many ways it reminds me of one of the Von Richten's Guides for Ravenloft 2e, but it's written in a much more casual, breezy style (and a number of jokes). Plus it's written for Labyrinth Lord and thus the old Basic/Expert D&D set as opposed to AD&D. (As I am mostly an AD&D guy I am not always familiar with D&D monsters and their differences.)

It essentially consists of three parts: different types of ghosts, once for every hit dice from 1 to 10, unique powers said ghosts might have, and various additional rules to deal with ghosts.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — May 23rd, 2018

Bah, working on a couple reviews but can't quite seem to finish them, since I'm meh about either one. (Things are hard to review when you have no strong opinion about them and not getting paid for it).

Also somewhat notable is Boot Hill 3rd Edition is up on DTPRG. I guess it was 2nd edition we played back in the day, I'm not sure how different 3rd is. Previous editions were clunky, but worked really well in play.


Adventures


Delver's Keep -  I think it's an adventure and not just maps.  But at $9.99 and 28 pages, I'm not going to find out for sure.

Pyramid of the Lost King -  I think this actually came out last week and I missed it. But big adventure for S&W. $8, 106 pages

Pyramid of the Lost King Extra - The Howling Dolmens - Add on for above. $1 and 3 pages.

The Graydeep Marches - This is interesting, a smallish setting and 3 short adventures from Peter Schweighofer who worked at West End Games and did a lot of work on Star Wars D6. Definitely on my "to buy" list.  34 pages and $6.99

Rules


Demi-Human Adventurers -  Rules for playing race as class in S&W.  Why you'd want to, and if you did, you couldn't just use the LL rules (or other B/X clone) for free. 75 cents, 9 pages.

Non-Human Player Codex for Early Era  Fantasy Gaming -  I'm not sure what it is, sounds like it's a reference guide to the non human classes in Labyrinth Lord.  I'm not sure why you'd need this, much less pay $1.49 for it, nor do I think the B/X era is really "early", as it's basically 7 years after OD&D was first published and 3 since AD&D.

The OSR Chymist - This is a conversion of the Pathfinder alchemist class to OSR. I've read a number of Pathfinder novels and while most are dreadful, there's one series that features an alchemist that I quite enjoy and I wanted to convert that to OSR.  PWYW, 15 pages.

Misc


Friday Enhanced Map 5-18-18 -  Looks like a heart shaped cave. $1

Nod 34 - John Stater's excellent zine continue, this time focused on Persia. 117 pages and $3.99  If there's a better value (besides free stuff) in the OSR (or even gaming), I don't know it.

RPG Presents #32 - $2.49 and 13 pages for info on his fantasy campaign. Bleh, I'm starting to think I should ignore him like the Filbar guy.

Infinibadger having 66% off sale

The quality of their products is pretty good, but the price seemed a bit high for what you get. Well, now it's more than worth it.

Most notably, they have two adventures and a book of character classes.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

New OSR Products at RPGNow/DTRPG — May 16th, 2018

This weeks releases are sort of odd.

Adventures


Escape From Goblin Dungeon - I'm not a big fan of escape from prison modules. But if you are, here you go. $2, 21 pages.

Lethal Lairs: Red Dragon -  Lair for a red dragon, using BECMI rules. Which is odd, since BECMI dragons are tough, really tough. 9 pages, $1.99

Lethal Lairs: White Dragon - 9 pages. $1.99

The Darkness Beneath Dalentown -  Interesting looking adventure for 8-12 level S&W characters about a dwarven fortress that has gone to the slimes and oozes. 37 pages and $4.95. There is a free preview edition as well that is 15 pages

Wilderlands of High Fantasy: Color Maps -  The world from Judges Guild has apparently been re-drawn in great detail. This seems to be a labor of love type deal. PDF is $9.99, print poster is $14.99. Also includes PDF of the 24 page guidebook.

Wilderlands of High Fantasy: Revised Guidebook - If you just want the guidebook ($4.99), or if you want the print version ($5.99)

Misc


Ashdown: 100 Worlds for Starships & Spacemen 2e -  I'd think given the game is like what, 5 years old, you'd probably have liked this sort of thing several years ago, but eh. 12 pages, $2.50.

Friday Enhanced Map 5-11-18 - Cavern of some sort. $1

JH Illos Fantasy Stock Art Pack 1 -  About 60 different fantasy images (136 total) by Jeremy Hart for $5.95. Usually he sells them for $2 each but he has like 3-4 different variation of each image. So this is an amazingly good deal, as he's a pretty good artist. 

This pack (which I'm buying) includes "Hounds of Tindalos, Aliens (really just weird Humanoids), Assassins, Avengers, Balrogs, Barbarians, Blade Wraiths, Bleak Landscape, Bone Golem, Bruisers, Cerberans, Creepy Tentacle Monster, Cultists, Demons, Desert Environments, Devils, Dragons, Druids, Eidolons, more Environments, Exalted Inferno Mage, Fantasy Landscapes, Fauns and a Fighter with a Greatsword"

JH Illos Fantasy Stock Art Pack2 - As above, but has pictures of : Cyclops, Demons, Fighters, Flesh Golems, Gargoyles, Ghasts, Ghouls, Gladiators, Goblins, Golems, Great Scimitar Wielder, Halfling Paladin, Heavily Armored War Mage, Hobgoblin Amazon, Hooded Warrior with Greatsword, Hulking Powered Armor, Hunter, Imps, Invokers, Lepidopteran, Lemure, Lich, Living Constructs, Lizardman Magus, Marauders, Masked Sorcerers, Mercenaries, Merman, and Minotaurs.

Hydra #4 - Another issue of the OSR zine in the mysterious language (Bulgarian? Esperanto?) But priced in dollars as an even $2.49, 48 pages.

RPGPundit Presents #31: Medieval Authentic Tarot - I'm waiting for the one on medieval authentic hair care. 23 pages, $2.99

Friday, May 11, 2018

The Barbarian King Module now available

Or perhaps available again. Anyway, it's a print adventure module from the Fomalhaut guy, Gabor Lux

A 20-page adventure module for 4th to 6th level player characters, The Barbarian King pits the company against the ruined empire of the mountain barbarians... and the evil that still slumbers therein! This gloomy wilderness and dungeon scenario features deals with malevolent and ultra-powerful spirits, the burial places of a now defeated people, shadowy hosts and deadly traps.
First published in 2002 as a standalone mini-module, this edition has been re-edited for easy use, and includes illustrations by Matthew Ray, Stefan Poag and Denis McCarthy.

When I first got back into the OSR, I almost exclusively bought print stuff, but lately I've gotten lazy and just go with PDF. This (and $6) will also get you a PDF when it's eventually released.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

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

There seems to have been no spring this year, it has gone from winter/cold (having to run the furnace) to summer/hot (having to run the AC). And the armadillos are back. They are so creepy. They sounds weird, too, like Styrofoam rubbing together

Adventures


Deadly Encounters 1: Chamber of the Serpent -  From New Realms comes this low level generic adventure. $5, 13 pages

Frostbury: The Lost City - A new short adventure from Sharp Mountain Games for Labyrinth Lord, characters 3 to 6, about rescuing a halfling from said lost city.  22 pages  $2.50

Rules


Avremier: Supplement 0 -  Additional rules for OD&D, apparently the first book of five.. 84 pages, $6.99

Bestiary of the Rosewood Highlands - Compilation of the critters from the Roseland Highland modules for S&W. 60 pages and FREE

RPGPundit Presents #30: Adventures in the Twilight Realm of the Fae  - Supposedly a "medieval authentic" version of faeries and such, but I am skeptical that even existed. 21 pages, $2.99 

Misc


Appendix D: Art Pack - To be honest, this art is pretty awful. But it's also pretty cheap, like 30 images, both color and B&W versions, for $4.99, and the quick preview lets you see all of them.

Echoes from Fomalhaut #1: Beware the Beekeeper -  Fanzine from Gabor Lux and his group (I guess) about his excellent Fomalhaut setting.  44 pages, $6

Friday Enhanced Map 5-4-18 -  Underground lake and caves. $1

Monday, May 7, 2018

New Maximum Mayhem Kickstarter — Palace of the Dragon's Princess


To me, the Maximum Mayhem modules represent what Lamentations of the Flame Princess should have been: gonzo, over the top, campy even, but not pretentious or artsy. And best of all, it's for 1E/OSRIC

It's a bit pricey at higher levels ($220 for a boxed set of all 5 of their adventures plus their monster book) but $10 for a PDF isn't bad, given the original artwork

Thursday, May 3, 2018

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

One of the troubles with the current sale is I can't find anything I really want to buy. I keep looking at the Advanced Adventures stuff, but even on sale it's overpriced because most of them are crap (though maybe things have gotten better without Alphonso Warden). The AS&SH adventures are also surprisingly bad and now even the art is awful, with that comic book look.

So much else is for low levels and/or written for 0e or B/X, while characters in my 1e game are 7th-8th. Obviously I can upscale, but at a certain point it's easier just to buy a map and stock it myself.

Adventures


The Hall of the Gnome King -  For S&W which doesn't have gnomes, so I'm not sure what to expect from this.. 28 pages, $1.99

Tomb of the Lovelorn - Danish low level LL adventure, now in English. $1.95 and 19 pages, previous modules in the series are apparently discounting due to the sale, but not this.  110 pages, $10

Rules


Malevolent & Benign II -  150 new 1e monsters. The first one was a compilation of monsters from the first 20 or so Advanced Adventures modules, plus some 3e conversions, presumably this is the same. .

SR3 Knightly Tournaments -  Rules for jousting. 22 pages, $7.50

The Little Book of Adventuring Classes Vol 1 - This seems to bring 3.x style racial prestige classes (though not the actual 3.x classes) to S&W, only I guess as base classes.  "Dwarven Bloodstormer"? Ugh.  44 pages, $2.99

Warriors of the Lost Planet -  Guidelines for adapting the excellent Warriors of the Red Planet to Tekumel. Free

Misc


Castle Oldskull Mega Bundle 2 -  Millions of random tables of gibberish for only $51.73, all in very large type so each table takes 15 pages. I sometimes think these are parody products.

RPGPundit Presents #29 - The Azure Order of Wizards - I have no idea, probably makes sense if you are a fan of his. 12 pages, $1.99. I also sometimes think these are parody products.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Big May sale at DTRPG/RPGNow

Well, big in the expansive sense, not really deep discounts, seemingly only 20%. They call it a "D&D sale"

OSR participants include:  Expeditious Retreat Press (Advanced Adventures)  , Grey Fey (a bird adventure),  A. Hagen  (LL sourcebooks),  OSR Dan (sourcebooks for LL),  Dark Naga (adventures), Three Sages (a couple of nice adventures), Splintered Realms, Hawk Wolf (2e sourcebooks) ,  Gallant Knight (the aborted Adventures in the East Mark set and Mazes & Perils adventures),  Okumart (Gramma World and some adventures) and Infinibadger Press

Possibly more, but those are the companies whose work I have is on my wishlist.

One is some of James Mishler's stuff which is generally quite reasonable to begin with.

Another is Sine Nomine whose stuff I already have.  Usherwood makes OSRIC sourcebooks/adventures. And Jeff Dee's Unigames has two very short adventures which probably leave "more OSR Than thoug" types aghast at the amount of treasure, but accurately represents actual old school design.

Lastly,  Spes Magna Games is having a 25% off sale all month in honor of the guy's wedding anniversary.  He has a number of adventures and some misc stuff.