New OSR Products at DTRPG — June 27th, 2019

Seems like June is dragging on. Which is sort of a good thing, since I like the weather, but it's painful waiting for my internet cap to replenish. Ah, the joys of Hughes.net

Something interesting this week is the reprint version of Man, Myth, & Magic, originally by Yaquinto and advertised like hell in Dragon.

Adventures

Black Label #1 -  From the people behind The Folio, comes this dual statted (1e/5e) 3rd to 5th level adventure homage to 80s B movies. 36 pages, and $14.99, but just might be worth it for the art.

In the Company of Thieves -  Odysseys & Overlords/Basic Fantasy RPG module for 2nd-3rd level characters. 9 pages, $1

Rules

Colonial Troopers: Knight Hawks -  Spaceship combat rules for OSR space game (including the rather disappointing Colonial Troopers). 80 pages plus combat map and counter sheet, $7

Odd Objects: Magic Items for OSR Games -  50 new magic items from Unbalanced Dice Games. $2.50, 65 pages.

Misc

Equinox - Apparently an Italian fanzine for something OSR. I know enough Spanish to get the gist of it, but not the specifics. 38 pages, PWYW

Friday Enhanced Map 6-21-19 -  Looks like the first level of an evil temple. Price increase to $2

A Player's Guide to Dunromin Review — Old School D&D City, British Style

One of the things about the OSR is that most of it is newer stuff, from newer campaigns people have started playing, with very few products/ideas from the old days themselves, other than the occasional kids styled nostalgia product. Very rarely do you see anything from actual campaigns back then, updated and done seriously.

This, A Player's Guide to Dunromin (there's also a GM's Guide which I will review later) by Simon Miles is one of those exceptions. Apparently it dates back to 1986, which is perhaps not old, old school, but certainly still in the late heyday of AD&D. Dunromin is actually the name of the main city of the setting, the world itself is named Barnaynia. If that name sounds funny, there's a reason for it, it's a presumably comical British pronounciation of banana, which is the shape of the world.

New OSR Products at DTRPG — June 20th, 2019

Still working on reviews of the Dunromin books. They are big. But good reads. I'm not sure I'd use the setting, but it's basically a look at someone else's game world.

Somewhat notable, the official Princess Bride RPG is now available.  Alas, it's written for Fudge, which kills any interest I have in it

Adventures

Encephalon Gorgers on the Moon -  Braineaters, I guess. As it's by Casey Christofferson, presumably it's written for 3.x and converted to S&W.  $7.99 and 25 pages.

Magical Murder Mansion - "Magical Murder Mansion is a challenging funhouse dungeon in the style of Tomb of Horrors and Tegel Manor.   Hopefully more like the former, as Tegel is just plain incoherent. $6.99, 30 pages.

Operation Shattered Bow -  Very short adventure for the OSR Special Ops game, Ghost Ops. 6 pages, $2 (that's almost Pentagon pricing...well, add a few zeroes)

SSolo2 The Endless Lair II - You really shouldn't rhyme 2 with II.  Solo adventure for 1e/OSRIC. 18 pages, $2.50

Temple of the Harpies -  Odysseys & Overlords/Basic Fantasy RPG adventure for levels 2-3. 14 pages and $1.99 and looks like one of the better in the line (as it's not just 5 rooms).

Worms -  Possibly comic horror adventure set in medieval times. $5, 18 pages.

Misc

AD&D Character Sheet for use with Unearthed Arcana -  A scan of an old '87 computer made (Mac) character sheet. PWYW.

Friday Enhanced Map 6-14-19 -  This one has a name, Shrine of the Sunken Trident. Pretty creepy looking design. $1

RPPP: 100 Strange Features of Towns -  If there's a nadir of DTRPG, it's 100 thing supplements.  $1.99

Apparently there's now a sequel to the Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan

Written by the original author, Harold Johnson. The strange catch is that it's written for Pathfinder, of all systems.

New OSR Products at DTRPG — June 13th, 2019

Has Hell frozen over? The St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup after half a century of futility. And I have had to run my furnace in June. Coincidence?

Adventures

Beneath the Temple of Edea -  This B/X adventure is full of thouls, apparently.  10 pages, PWYW

OPD7 - The Lone Lighthouse -  Full of fishpeople. 50 cents, 1 page.

Shrine of the Wolf Maidens - Rescue a wolfnapped merchant's daughter in this 2nd-3rd level adventure for Odysseys & Overlords/ Basic Fantasy RPG.  10 pages, $1.95

Vobleavira Haven Complex - This B/X Essentials module is apparently a tribute to B1 (which was a Holmes module, BTW). 19 pages, PWYW

Rules

White Box Tome - Arioth I -  Compilation of several small collections of magic items, spells, classes, etc, for White Box. $9.99 and 87 pages.

Misc

Advanced Labyrinth Lord Adventure Record Sheets - Pretty much what it says. $1

Friday Enhanced Map 6-7-19 - Looks like a keep. $1

S1 Henchmen - This is an odd product, it's a series of 10 illustrations of henchmen, but it has spots for ability scores. 16 pages, $3.99

Quick Start Character Race & Class Sheets: By the Book Review

One of the great advantages of OSR games (and by that I mean old school D&D specifically) is that characters are pretty quick to generate. Roll some dice, pick a class and race, write down some modifiers, buy some gear and you're ready to go. For those of us that have been playing games for 30+ years, you really don't even need the books anymore. But what about newer players? And games we aren't totally familiar with, as some retro clones do things slightly different? Rules can be scattered all over the rulebook.

Quick Start Character Race & Class Sheets: By the Book from James Mishler is designed to walk people through creating a character of a given class or race, all on one page of paper (or PDF). Like pretty much all his stuff, it's for Labyrinth Lord, containing both basic and advanced classes.

New OSR Products at DTRPG — June 6th, 2019

I am still digesting the Dunromin books from last week. They are apparently from some guy's 1e game from the late 80s, it's got some very subtle British humor in them. Not like Discworld, but some flavoring.

Adventures

Asteroid 1618 -  Adventure from 2007 for a space OSR game. Free, 85 pages.

Terror at Wolfgrasp Hill -  Low level (2-3) adventure for Odysseys & Overlords/Basic Fantasy RPG. 11 pages, currently 78 cents, maybe more later ($1.95? $1)

The Withered Crag - "an exploration-based module with avian and glass/crystal themes". Well, okay then. Also for low levels. 8 pages, $5

Rules

Ashdown: Xin Sourcebook for Starships & Spacemen 2e -  For the Ashdown alternate setting for S&S2e. $3.50, 42 pages

Quick Start Characters: Race & Class Sheets BTB  - From James Mishler comes this guide to quickly making by the book characters for Labyrinth Lord, both Basic and Advanced. $1.99 ($2.99 later) and 33 pages 

Misc

Back to the BasiX Issue 9 -  Sadly, this is going to be the 2nd to last issue of this excellent B/X zine. 30 pages, $2.50

Friday Enhanced Map: 05-31-2019 - Looks like a very creepy underground temple. $1

Persons of Interest: Creating Patrons and Nemeses - From Sine Nomine, a guide to creating personalities for characters. $7.99 and 33 pages.

SCAIII.2 Cavalier Attitude - This is like the 7th or 8th issue of this 1E/OSRIC zine. 22 pages, $2, includes an adventure.

The Ubix #2 - 14 pages of weird stuff in this 'zine. PWYW

The Dryad's Sanctuary Review — Slightly More Exciting than an Old Man and a Bunch of Cats. Only Slightly.

The Dryad's Sanctuary is a short adventure from Brian V. Molina, the first one from him, at least on DTRPG. Although apparently meant for OSR games, it seemingly uses a more modern conception of the dryad (rather than the old school sexy chick living in a tree), as well as stats that don't seem particularly compatible with anything, though it does seem to use the reverse reaction tables from Labyrinth Lord (where higher rolls are unfriendlier).

The basic premise is that the PCs have entered this magical wood ruled by the dryad. The only way out is to kill or negotiate with her. But first they have to find her, by wandering through the forest. And I really do mean wandering, as there is no map, the players just go to the different encounter areas by random chance (roll of a d12). Mostly. There's one area that is connected to another.

Second issue of the Dice Roll Zine now available...

Dice Roll Zine. Back to your roots gaming!
Dice Roll Zine is a 40-page, saddle-stitched, digest-sized print zine for old-school RPGs written by Steven A. Cook and illustrated by some of the best retro-inspired artists.
The second issue includes a Sorcerer class for Swords & Wizardry Complete games; 'Roll all the Dice' tables for generating fungi, plants & freaky stuff; The City-State of Kreth, a weird-fantasy city overview with history, factions, unique gear, rumors, adventure seeds, thumbnail descriptions and encounter tables for nine city districts, and more; new spells and magic items for an 'oldhammer' fantasy role-playing game; and various other cool rules options and odd things for your old-school games.

Although I would point out that to some people, "Back to your roots" involved generating random numbers via chits, as many sets of Holmes D&D had them because of the great dice shortage of 1978

Anyway, the first issue came out a couple years ago and is also available on DTRPG, but the second issue is currently only from his own store in print for $7 (though it comes with a PDF)