OSR News from the Underdark Gazette - Sunday, October 2, 2011

The Catch-Up Reporting Continues, with more recent New Releases!


A New Release from my Favorite OSR Designer


Tome of Adventure Design by Matt Finch. Frog God Games. The Hardcover is available for Pre-Order for $42 and comes with the PDF, which you can download immediately. The PDF alone is $21. Here's some words from Matt on the subject (follow this link for directions to a free preview PDF:

At long last, my Tome of Adventure Design (originally the Adventure Design Deskbooks) is up and ready for sale at Frog God Games. It's a quarter century worth of tables and a couple of places where I fleshed out some "Notes to Self" that were in the 3-ring binders along with the tables. People who have seen Deskbooks 1 and 2 know how it's presented -- the Tome of Adventure Design (ToAD) contains books 3 and 4 as well. The tables are what I think of as "deep design" rather than being short and weighted toward normal results as you have to do in a book of tables designed for rapid use during an adventure. This book is for when you're working ahead of time. There are a couple of exceptions - the first internal "book" can be used to generate the general concept of an adventure pretty quickly, either based on location, mission, or a villain's objective.

It's system neutral (for the D&D family, anyway, some of it uses concepts that were abandoned in 4e). So it's totally usable with AD&D, OSRIC, Original D&D, 2e, all the retro-clones, etc., etc. 

The pdf is available immediately, and if you are pre-ordering the book you get the pdf right away. 

It's 300 pages of tables and 7 pages of index (I worked hard to get a really good index).

Matt also mentioned that the binding is Sewn in 16 page signatures and the estimated cut-off date for pre-orders is December 1. Parts one and two, which were previously released, as mentioned above, were, in a word, Fantastic! I Will be buying this, just as soon as the Judges Guild gods, release me from their Geas.


Usherwood Publishing send more OSRIC Goodness Our Way!

OSRIC - A5. Editor in Chief Stuart Marshall. Available in Softcover for $13.50. Usherwood Publishing. 408 pages.

The 2.2 edited version, also available through Stuart Marshall and Black Blade Publishing as 8.5x11 trim size. This compact A5 trim available exclusively through James D. Kramer design services contains the OSRIC rules, complete with indexes.

Ok. Gotta get a couple of these for the table. That way, my players will have a good reference, I can use my Lulu HC while DMing and my Black Blade/Usherwood copy can stay safe and sound on the bookshelf, away from the grubby, cheeto-stained paws of players, only to be brought out on special occasions, like Summoning the Dark Gods of Gaming, or mocking lesser RPG's.

Usherwood Adventures Expansion for OSRIC by James Kramer. Usherwood Publishing. 118 pages. Available in Hardcover for $41.99, Softcover for $11.99 and in PDF for $7.50.

This OSRIC expansion material includes; new character race options (dragon hordling, 2 new half-orcs, and the magically-gifted sarngoch), new character class options (Jack-of-All-Trades, Vermean Bard, and Vermean Monk), 28 new monsters, new magical armor, weapons, and miscellaneous magic items, and new take on psionics. Inspired by the Usherwood Adventures campaign setting, the material contained in the Usherwood Adventures Expansion for OSRIC is completely setting-agnostic, and easily adaptable to your campaign world. 122 pages of new material, much of it never published previously, illustrated with original line art by Peter Szmer and Hugh Vogt, and only to be made available in this publication.

I Love Purple Worms! 

The Purple Worm Graveyard by Tony Dowler. Planet 13 pub. Available in Print/PDF combo for $6.00 and in PDF for $4.00. 12 pages.

It is said that when the largest and most ancient of purple worms know that the time of their death is near, they make their way through rock, earth, and water to the legendary Purple Worm Graveyard.

The graveyard is said to lie somewhere in the barren Rockspyre mountains, but its exact location is unknown. Now and then an adventuring expedition sets out on a hunch or clue seeking the graveyard. Most return empty-handed and dispirited. Some never return.

But a few, just enough to keep the legend alive really, come back with whispered tales of subterranean fields littered with a fortune in purple ivory, unguarded and ripe for the take.

The Purple Worm Graveyard is a short dungeon crawl adventure that's best for levels 1-4. The adventure has 15 entries and is designed to provide a variety of challenges for a new adventuring party or one-shot game. It's got fabulous treasures, cunning monsters, dangerous traps, and ancient mysteries for players to discover and explore. It's written using the Labyrinth Lord rules, but will work with any dungeon crawl adventure game.

Original Edition Delta

Book of War by Daniel R. Collins. An Original Edition Delta Fantasy Game Rules Supplement. Available in Print for $10.00 and in PDF for $5.00. 24 pages. More info Here.

Finally! Mass combat in a miniatures game that's fast, elegant, fun, and statistically representative of core D&D combat. At 1:10 scale, your familiar high-level monsters, heroes, and wizards can take part. Built around easy conversion rules that you can use on the fly during a standard D&D game when you need it -- with a history of billions of computer-simulated battles to make sure powers and prices are reasonably balanced. Includes simple rules for castle & ship-based battles. To arms!

Mass battle rules have been on my mind of late! I'm looking forward to checking this out!

There's Less Than 25 Left and Now Shipping!

David Bezio's X-Plorers Limited Edition Boxed Sets. Brave Halfling Publishing. Available for $30.00.

In the year 2,222 AD Earth, Venus, and Mars are united under one government, the United Corporate Nations (UCN). The UCN is a political engine composed of representatives of thousands of powerful corporations. Far beyond our solar system lies the “Reaches”, a densely packed cluster of stars, many with habitable worlds very similar to Earth. The UCN is looking for both habitable planets and those ripe for resource exploitation. Such a vast and new galaxy breeds nothing but trouble. Who better to handle such trouble but the galactic troubleshooters – X-plorers!

X-plorers is a “what if?” game. In this case, what if the fathers of the role playing hobby were more into science fiction than fantasy when they wrote that first set of official rules back in 1974? What if that game was about humans expanding and exploring their universe, instead of delving into deep dungeons to kill monsters to earn treasure? These are the questions X-plorers attempts to answer. 

Everything you love about X-P is in here – we’ve just cleaned the text up a bit, given it a new layout, adorned it with new art by Steve Zieser and Pete Mullen, ship deckplans by Matt Jackson and added a few extras to make this edition as easy-to-use and as helpful to gamers as possible. In fact, we are calling it, “Dave Bezio’s X-plorers!” This is going to be (IMHO), the quintessential, grab your raygun, put on your bubble helmet, kill the bug-eyed aliens and take their stuff game!” Fans of X-P will not be disappointed.

The Free no-art version of X-Plorers may be downloaded from RPGNOW. Also, the bookmarked PDF, for $5.95 and the Print on Demand/PDF combo version may be found here, for $12.95.

From Hill Cantons

Hill Cantons Compendium by Chris Kutalik. Available in Print for $7.50 and in PDF for Free. 30 pages.

Being a Collection of Player Options and House Rules Various and Sundry for Classic Fantasy Role-playing Games Old and Dear.

Christian Writes Zines

Loviatar # 3 by Christian Walker. Available for $3.00.

The gritty streets of Baldur's Gate call! In this issue you'll meet some violent toughs who lurk along the miserable neighborhood of Pigeon Street. They call themselves the "Murder Boys" and they live for a good scrape with rivals. They are affiliated with a mysterious cleric of Mask, who urges the gang on to greater acts of violence and intrigue. 

Next, we return to the cold, dreary city of Santa Fina to visit with Barnabus and Persephone. Together, the pair of Nosferatu form a small, yet dedicated, covenant of the Circle of the Crone. They are largely left alone, except for would-be ghost hunters that frequently invade the abandoned casino where they dwell. 

After, read about the wolves of Antissa. The Masters thought that talking, genetically-engineered wolves would be the perfect tool with which to spy on their human test subjects. The aliens underestimated the wolves' independent nature and refused to comply. 

Finally, Abel Artone is dead. He doesn't really mind, though. He's laying in the grass, staring up at the great spire at the center of the Outlands. All is well until he hears hooves approaching...
Loviatar No. 3 is a 24 page digest. It has a cardstock cover and is printed in black and white. This issue offers fan support for Pathfinder, GURPS, World of Darkness and AD&D 2e.

A Second Release from Die Cast Games.

The Kingslayers by Martin Britt. Die Cast Games. Available in Print for $13.50. 40 pages.

If you like those classic adventures like The Tomb of Horrors or The Temple of Elemental Evil that had a tendency to kill off a few characters, then you will love DMing this adventure. Game design is by Martin Britt and it contains 19 pieces of new art by Jason Braun. It has the old-school look and feel with a thick cardstock cover that is "loose" from the interior book and can be used as a DM's screen. The main maps for the adventure are printed on the inside of the cover. It is 40 pages long and is just $13.50 plus shipping.

Two Recent Releases from Knightvision Games

GT3 Into the Fardeep by Jim Baney and John Feldman. Knightvision Games. 28 pages. Available in PDF for $2.99.

The path of the delver leads deep into the ancient Bitter Root Mountain. Deep in the heart of the dwarven mine, Kharnos Dzin, a secret is unfolding. Will the adventurers find the trail of Gilban Pembrooke, the famous dungeon delver? What dark motives lie hidden from the light? Great dangers and the chance for great rewards await those who enter the FarDeep... 

GT3 Into the FarDeep is the third and final adventure in the Gate series, in which the PCs must find and rescue a famous adventurer well past his prime. Knightvision Games invites you to explore the mysteries of the FarDeep and chart your own course to high adventure!

ST1 Temple of the Horned Goddess by Jim Baney and John Feldman. Knightvision Games. Available in a Print/PDF combo for $7.00 and in PDF for $1.99. 28 pages.

The mining village of Hardin's Point is in desperate need of some help. They have been constantly harassed by strange creatures from the jungle. Several adventure and mercenary parties have journeyed into the jungle to take on the threats but have yet to return. Mining operations and trade have almost come to a standstill. Do you have what it takes to find the source of the attacks and end the threat.? 

Temple of the Horned Goddess is a Labyrinth Lord/AEC adventure. Designed for 4-5th level characters, the adventure can be placed in any generic fantasy setting. Created by Knightvision Games 

This Module includes: 

• Over 25 pages spanning overland and dungeon encounters
• Map for the Village of Hardin's Point
• Overland maps of the surrounding jungle and the Skinks lair.
• Detailed maps of the Temple of the Horned Goddess
• New monsters to challenge the PCs
• New magical items and weapons

Stay Tuned! More News is on the way shortly, taking a look at recent Free Downloads!

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 or reporting on any of the items appearing herein. Occasionally, the News might feature an item, which the author has sent me a complimentary copy of, for purposes of writing a review. 

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. At times, the item I'm pimping may be one which I received a complimentary review copy of, from the author or publisher. No one has asked me to spotlight their material in this section and I have received no payment of any kind for doing so. 

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