OSR News From The Underdark Gazette – Saturday, May 8, 2010

John Eric Holmes (1930 – 2010)

J. Eric Holmes, the editor of the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set has died.  Allen Grohe of Black Blade Publishing posted to forums yesterday, that he received a note from Mr. Holmes’ spouse, which confirmed the date of the Doctor’s passing as March 20, 2010.

Mr. Holmes was a former Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine and the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction. A bibliography of Mr. Holmes’ works, may be found on the Dragonsfoot forums, here.

 

A well known Edgar Rice Burroughs enthusiast, Mr. Holmes wrote two ERB Pastiches, Mahars of Pelucidar and Red Axe of Pelucidar, which are highly regarded by the ERB community. He was the guest of Honor at the 1993 ECOF convention (Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship.)

Mr. Holmes still inspires DM’s today and supplements based upon his highly regarded version of Dungeons & Dragons, are available for download on the web:

• Meepo’s Holmes Companion (a direct link, as I don’t know the homepage for this one.)
• The Holmes Blue Book Companion.
• The Holmes Treasury.

Farewell, Mr. Holmes. And Thanks!

New Releases

Starships & Spacemen from Goblinoid Games is now available in Hardcover for $27.95. In case you missed the news last week, you can get a pdf version from RPGNOW, for $4.95 and a perfect bound copy from the GG Lulu store, for $17.95.

Issue #2 of Oubliette has been released. The 50 page pdf is available from RPGNOW  for the price of $2.00.

“34 jam-packed pages including: a 9 page adventure, new rules, original fiction, reviews, artwork and more ...

Plus:  2 free sheets of stand-up, full-colour figures to supplement the adventure and 12 pre-generated character sheets.

Written for Labyrinth Lord, but also ideal for use with any Basic/Expert/Advanced original or clone, with little or no adjustment required.”

 

Free Downloads

Paul Fini of The Warlock’s Home Brew has created The City Guide Booklet. Available to download in pdf format. As Mr. Fini wrote:

“The new city guides are created to help with sandbox campaign note taking and planning of various towns and cities that the characters may explore.”

This is a nice resource and one I’ll be using. Thanks, Mr. Fini!

Roger of the Roles, Rules and Rolls blog has released Varlets and Vermin 1.0, a collection of low level monsters available to download in pdf format. Thanks, Roger!

Events & Happenings

Joe the Lawyer has turned us on to a Vintage RPG con: Fal-Con. The convention will be held in Middletown, CT, this fall.

In Other News

I Hit It With My Axe: Episode Eight: Don't Tell Us, Right Now!

JB at B/X Blackrazor is putting the finishing touches on his soon to be released B/X Companion. He’s put out a last call for artwork submissions, which you can check out here.

 

Tony Dowler from the Year of the Dungeon blog has opened a store, which features original art pieces of his micro-dungeons.

Michael Curtis, author of The Dungeon Alphabet, Stonehell and the blog, The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope, has started a blog for his Labyrinth Lord campaign: Archive of the Rotted Moon.

Don’t miss the latest Gaming Goodness, coming from the Lord of the Green Dragons blog: Scottsz has posted Part 7 of his WG4 Cold Text File and Grendelwulf is now on part 21 of his Armies of Oerth series.

Pacesetter Games is looking for artists. Here’s the link to their Guidelines page.

Inkwell Ideas has a new online Inn/Tavern Generator, which you might find useful.

What I’m Pimping This Week

Eldritch Weirdness Compilation – Books Three to One by Matthew Finch. Black Blade Publishing. Available in Saddle-Stitched Print for $9.00 and in PDF for $3.50.

I reviewed this item last week, so I’ll just reiterate, that I really, really think it’s groovy!

A great resource for your gaming pleasure and What I’m Pimping This Week!