OSR News from the Underdark Gazette - Sunday, December 19, 2010

Welcome to the Mutant Future!

Featuring Errata corrections and more original art, Mutant Future: Revised Edition By Daniel Proctor, Ryan Denison has been released by Goblinoid Games.  In Hardcover for $33.95, Softcover for $23.95 and in PDF for $6.95.  A no-art free PDF is also available. 

Enter a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland filled with mutants, ruins, and radiation! You can take the role of an android, mutant human, mutant animal, pure human, and even a mutant plant! Seek wealth and ancient technological artifacts. Enter vast underground complexes, and avoid killer robots!

Blog Spotlight: Dysonlogos' A Character for Every Game.


I had a real Homer Simpson D'oh moment this week, as I discovered that my OSR radar had somehow managed to overlook Dysonlogos and A Character for Every Game. You've probably seen Dysonlogos' work, his distinctive maps in particular. You can check these out in his Dyson's Delve series of posts, where you can download the 9 so-far released levels of his mini-mega-dungeon in PDF. And be sure not to miss Mutant Omega, a supplement for Mutant Future, posted today. Maybe some character sheets? And if its geomorphs you're looking for, here you go.

There's a ton of good stuff to read, like this series of posts on Elementals. And who couldn't use an NPC Rat Cultist Class? Be sure to check out the 400 Characters page.

As the old school gaming scene grows larger, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with everything going on. But, A Character for Every Game is well worth adding to your reading list!

New Releases

In Broad Daylight by Jeff Herman. Art by Jeff Dee. Monkey House Games. Available in Print for $13.95 and in PDF for $6.95. 85 pages. 


A famous fashion model disappears before a crowd of thousands. Was it a publicity stunt? A hoax? A kidnapping? An assassination? Her agency needs heroes to find out, but what else aren't they telling you? Find out in this exciting new adventure by Jack Herman for V&VTM and Living LegendsTM! With illustrations by Jeff Dee


Free Stuff!!!

Greg Christopher has released the public beta of his Errant RPG. Errant is Greg's OSR Fantasy RPG, which features several departures from more traditional OSR games. The Production values of the 80 page PDF are very professional and while I haven't had a chance to do more than skim through the rules, what I've seen has piqued my interest and inspired me to add Errant to my holiday reading list. 


Candlemarc's Atlas of Riverbrook is available for download at Dragonsfoot.

Trollsmyth turned us on to some free taverns. 

Evan of In Places Deep has made some more maps!

ckutalik of Hill Cantons has a house-rule compilation for you to check out. Also, his Medieval Miniature Battle Rules, Swords & Shields. 


Nod #6 is now available in PDF as a free download! Per Mr. Stater, the print version will be along shortly! 

The Free PDF of Swords & Wizardry Whitebox has been updated to the 3rd edition and you can also get the new Word File, here (direct link to the Word file.)

Review Round-up


Kilsern of Random Encounters has a review up of The Phoenix Barony.

tavisallison of The Mule Abides has some interesting things to say about his recent Dungeon Crawl Classics playtesting experience. 


Tenkar of Tenkar's Tavern has a Mini-review of the  Swords & Wizardry Complete Rulebook.

Tim of Absolutely Mental has a review of the Swords & Wizardry Complete Rulebook. 

And Higgipedia of Gaming All Over The Place also has a review of the Swords & Wizardry Complete Rulebook.

Podcasts & Videos

Save or Die Podcast Adventure #16: All out of Bubblegum!

Events & Happenings

The Goblinoid Games forums have Moved! Folks are reposting some older resources, to the new space, so it's a good time to check up on stuff you may have missed.

Jeff Rients of Jeff's Gameblog has some Winter War news. 

In Other News

Scottsz posted another installment of his Cold Text File series, over at Lord of the Green Dragons. 

Time Brannon of The Other Side has worked up a Houri for Basic D&D.

What I'm Pimping This Week


Swords & Wizardry Complete Rulebook by Matt Finch. Art by Rick Sardinha. Frog God Games.

In 1974, Gary Gygax (1938-2008) and Dave Arneson (1947-2009) wrote the world's first fantasy role-playing game, a simple and very flexible set of rules that launched an entirely new genre of gaming. In the year 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (holder of the "Dungeons & Dragons" trademark) released the "Open Game License," which allows third parties, like us, to use various intellectual properties historically associated with the Dungeons & Dragons game - although not the actual trademarked name itself, and with specific terms and restrictions.

This book is an unofficial, "re-stated" version of the original Gygax & Arneson rules (0e), created using the Open Game License. This original game consisted of a boxed set of three booklets: Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. Four supplements were also written by Gary Gygax, Rob Kuntz and others between 1975 and 1977, containing options for expanding the game with new rules. Collectively, all those booklets are often referred to as "0e," standing for "zero edition," and we mention the "Original Game" from time to time in this book, as a reference point. Swords & Wizardry re-describes selected rules from all seven of the Original Game booklets, taking some and leaving some. In general, Swords & Wizardry adopts class, monster, and spell rules from all the supplements, but sticks to the simpler combat mechanics from the boxed set and the first supplement only. Tim Kask, the first editor of the Dragon Magazine(TM), the first employee of TSR, Inc., and the editor of Supplements 2-4 for Original Dungeons & Dragons (TM), has more to say about that in the Foreword.

The Swords & Wizardry rules are extremely short, compared to the multi-paged rule-libraries required to play most modern role-playing games. Yet this game contains within itself all the seeds and soul of mythic fantasy, the building blocks of vast complexity, the kindling of wonder. "Edition Zero" is so powerful because it's encapsulated in a small formula, like a genie kept imprisoned in the small compass of an unremarkable lamp. Take this framework, and then imagine the hell out of it!

And the Assault on the Temple of the Frog continues - More from Matt Finch:

I just got news from Bill that all the softcovers are shipping today. And by that, unfortunately, I mean all of the softcovers Bill had, not all of the orders. People who ordered yesterday or on Wednesday may not have their copies shipped until next week because we sold out by the time Tuesday's orders were processed. A rush order for the second printing had already been sent to the printers almost as soon as we saw what was happening with sales on the book (Saturday or Sunday I think), and those should be in very shortly. He is also down to only three shipping boxes, and placed a rush order on those, too, so they should arrive around the time of the softcover delivery from the printers and permit the second printing of softcovers to go out.

About the News

"Unless otherwise noted, all links to products and files are to the individual authors sites, pertinent posts, or sales pages. I don’t link directly to files, unless that is the only link available. The OSR News is produced as a service to the community and is entirely a non-commercial endeavor on my part. I have received no remuneration for advertising, reviewing or reporting on any of the items appearing herein. Please feel free to send me information on any new releases, events, or other items of interest, which you would like to see mentioned.

"As always, the What I’m Pimping This Week section of the OSR News and its accompanying blog widget, feature products which I have purchased (or items which are available for free download) and wish to support. No one has asked me to spotlight their material in this section and I have received no payment of any kind for doing so."