Monday, November 25, 2019

New OSR Products at DTRPG — November 24th, 2019

This will be the third year I will have worked retail on Thanksgiving (formerly known as Black Friday), so will be a busy week for me.

However, doesn't seem to be that busy in RPG land, as there is almost nothing released this week.

Adventures


The Isle of Forgotten Gods - Adventure inspired by Mesoamerican mythology. $5, 36 pages.


Misc


Friday Enhanced Map 11-22-19 - Looks like an underground base of some sort. $2

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Gangbusters B/X Edition — More like Gangbusters White Box Edition, by way of Eldritch Tales

Back in the early '80s, TSR branched out from D&D into other genres - Star Frontiers for Sci-Fi, new editions of Boot Hill and Gamma World, Marvel Superheroes, Top Secret for Espionage, and Gangbusters for 1920s crime in the vein of The Untouchables. Although I owned it, Gangbusters was the one I never actually played or ran, presumably because by the 1980s the cops & robber thing was sort of passe.

It featured a fairly simple d100% system, with 4 ability scores and a few derived ones, like hit points and driving skill. It had levels, and you could spend XP to improve ability scores and gain skills (which were also d100% based).  It sort of had classes in the sense that characters had a job and some of these had some special abilities.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

New OSR Products at DTRPG — November 17th, 2019

Hmmm, not exactly a busy week, a couple of PWYW adventures, though, so those are worth a look.

Adventures


Stairs of the Immortal: S&W: Gnomes of the Northwest -  PWYW 18 page Gnome adventure for Swords & Wizardry.

The Palace of Al Karam - OSRIC adventure from Joseph Mohr. PWYW, 25 pages, 9th to 12th level.
 

Misc


Ashdown for Starships & Spacemen 2e -  A setting for that game. $3, 53 pages.

Dungeons in Blue: Just Geomorphs 17 and 18-  $3.49 each

Friday Enhanced Map 1-15-19 -  Looks modular, with exits/entrances all at the same spots on the map. $2 

Hex Flower Game Engines - An Overview -  I still don't grok them, but hexes are old school or something. PWYW

Monday, November 11, 2019

New OSR Products at DTRPG — November 10th, 2019

Awaiting the first snowfall of the year, early this morning. Oh wait, it's not January. Er, the first snowfall of Winter? Oh wait, it's not even Winter yet.


Adventures


CH2 The Final Dream I: The Temple of Zeus -  This is confusing, because it seems to be the second in a series of modules, the first being The King's Castle despite that not being CH1 and this saying The Final Dream I.  The preview looks interesting enough, though. $10 and 33 pages.

Four the Hard Way -  Apparently adventures for Gangbusters B/X, but they have to be awfully sketchy to fit in 6 pages. $1.99

OWB16 - Wunderwaffle Launch - Defeat the Axis's new weapon, the flying pancake in this Operation White Box adventure.  $4.99 and 37 pages

Misc


Friday Enhanced Map 11-08-19 - Either a small keep or a large inn. $2

Race & Class Hex Flower Generator -  I don't get what this is, but it's PWYW so you can see for yourself

The Northern Tier Color Map - For the Rosewood Highland setting from Rosethrone Games who have produced a number of interesting adventures. Free.

Three Hexes Zine #1 - About hex crawling. 7 pages, PWYW

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Temple of the Bear Review — Bears and Bores

Sharp Mountain Games has put out a lot of mini-adventures for Labyrinth Lord over the last few years, and being a person that finds short-ish adventures the most useful, I've bought most of them. They tend to be a bit formulaic and can be a mixed bag, but once in a while there's one that's exceptional and they are cheap enough ($2.50). Temple of the Bear is perhaps the most generic of the bunch, although it's aimed at a somewhat higher level (7th) than the previous.

Originally SMG's modules were centered around a town of Adela, but recent ones have moved, this is in a village named Fastholme. Basically the place has been beset by animal attacks (bears) and recently a farmer's son has been kidnapped. There's no real detail about the town, only about a half-dozen townsfolk who are are given half a paragraph of background each. But presumably the PCs will investigate, with the mayor offering 4,000 gp. That's not a princely sum for 7th level, but it's better than the miserly amount many other modules offer.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Last Two Days for the City of Solstice Kickstarter

Only about halfway there, so it may or may not make it. It's a first edition city setting from Charles Rices who wrote a large number of OSRIC products in the early days of OSRIC

The City of Solstice is a low-magic fantasy campaign set in an ancient city, now ruled by the forces of evil. The PCs in the campaign are members of the Vigilant, the city watch. Imagine if “The Untouchables” were set in a fantasy city, rather than 1920’s Chicago. In addition to the Star Society, there are gangs, petty crime, and corrupt guards to deal with, along with every sort of crime you can imagine: murder, prostitution, drugs, and theft.


There's a free (PWYW) quickstart guide on DTRPG which is interesting.  On the flip side, it seems almost radically different from most fantasy settings and might be hard to incorporate into an existing game. I like stuff I can drop into my world. And getting PCs to play cops, even fantasy cops, might be a tough sale.

Monday, November 4, 2019

New OSR Products at DTRPG/RPGNow — November 3rd, 2019

More stuff than I thought, given DTRPG had some problems this week.

Adventures


SO15 Headman's Revenge - From Starry Knight comes this Halloween (oops, too late now) adventure. $7.50, 44 pages and for mid level parties.

Rules


Gangbusters B/X Version - The original Gangbusters was something of an odd beast, with classes and levels but using a d100%.  64 pages, $4.99 and also in softcover for $14.99

Planet Eris Gazetteer -  I still cannot spell that word correctly 35+ years later. But this is for the OD&D Planet Eris rules set and the unfortunately named Empire of Spam. 64 pages, $5.99

SM2 Dullahan -  Aka the headless ghost rider. $1.50 and 12 pages.

Streets of Blood - Rules for playing anarcho-punk vampires in an OSR vampire game. $1.50 and 20 pages.

The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Space Tradition - $2.99 and 64 pages.

Misc


Friday Enhanced Map 11-1-19 - Looks like an alien base in a cavern. $2

Lowcountry Crawl Vol 1 - Random tables and stuff for a hex crawl. Wow, never seen that before. $5 and 30 pages. 

Starships & Spacecraft - For Stars Without Number and presumably other OSR space games. $2.95