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.