The Underdark Gazette is Closing on January 2, 2012!: OSR News from the Underdark Gazette

Let's Talk Some New Releases, First!

Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer by Joseph Bloch. BRW Games. Available in PDF for $5.00. 20 pages.

The necromancer is a master of death and the undead; his spells are centered on dealing with crypts and tombs, creating and treating with the undead, as well as emulating some of the powers of the undead at higher level.

The Necromancer is an optional character class suitable for either PC or NPC use, with details on more than 75 new spells. It is suitable for use with any RPG compatible with the basic or advanced versions of the world's most popular role-playing game.

Take your campaign down a darker path with the necromancer!

A New Release from DwD!

Dark Times in Brighton by Bill Logan. DwD Studios. Available in Print for $12.99 and in PDF for $7.50. 54 pages.

Dark Times in Brighton is an adventure for four to six characters of 1st - 2nd level. Although designed as a Labyrinth LordTM compatible product, It is easily compatible with most fantasy RPG systems. In addition to the adventure itself, contained within these pages are details of Brighton and its people, a town that could easily become an important part of your character's careers as adventurers.

The town of Brighton exists in the north, at the source of the Daakencraags where the Darkenwolde Forest shades the winding Brother’s River. The legendary adventurer, Richan Thatcher (along with his party of adventurers) carved the place away from a once mighty goblin kingdom. It has prospered for many long decades, until now.

Townsfolk are disappearing from the surrounding countryside. Goblins are on the march once more. If that wasn’t enough, a terrible blighting disease has infected the waters and not even the curative magics of the Temple of the Winds can thwart it. This is indeed a very dark time for Brighton.

Too old to do anything about it himself, Thatcher has sent out a call to any adventurers who will swear their swords to his mighty town and its innocent people.

Are your players hero enough to face down a growing goblin horde? Are they brave enough to fell the mighty goblin shaman, Vir-Kayik? Are they clever enough to find the source of the blight and cleanse the town’s water source? Are they the light to end these dark times in Brighton?

A New Release from Johnny Rook!

Of Hunger and Lies by Dominick Pelletier. Johnny Rook Games. Available in PDF for $10.00. 44 pages. This hasn't shown up on the publisher's homepage or Lulu Storefront, yet. It is available at RPGNOW. The link will take you to the publisher's RPGNOW page, but the item will not show up unless you're signed in, as the adult content filter is turned on for this module.

This is an OSRIC and 1e/2e-style compatible adventure module designed for 4-8 characters of levels 5-8. Mature Readers only.

A creature stalks the streets of Westgate Town, feasting on the humble lower class citizens. The locals believe the monster to be a werewolf and hire both a famed werewolf hunter and a party of adventurers to seek out and defeat the beast before it strikes again!
But, things take a turn...

Can you solve the grisly mystery and save the folk of Westgate Town or will the killer continue to subsist on hunger and lies?

This 44 page game module includes:

• A large area of Westgate Town to play in, covering over 190 ground and upper floor locations!

• Numerous NPCs! Every NPC who lives and works in the area mapped is named and given skill classifications!

• The first full description of a Westgate Setting Deity and Avatar!

• "Free-form" presentation allowing PCs to investigate Westgate Town at their own pace and direction!

• Three new magical items and a new spell!

• Two old monsters revised for the OSRIC game system and four new monsters!

• Eight 8.5x11" maps! One GM-only map and seven maps useable by both the GM and players!

I Can Kill You With My Mind!

OSRIC Psionic Combat by Don Dickerson. Dragoneer Publishing. Available in PDF for $4.99. 32 pages.

This rulebook expands your Osric RPG to include psionic combat. This psionic combat system is fast to run, easy-to-understand, and seamlessly integrates into the Osric combat round. If you're currently using another old-school psionics combat system, you'll be delighted to find this one is MUCH faster and simpler, and you won't have to contrive wisdom and charisma scores for monsters! Also, psionic ability and attack / defense scores for old-school monsters remain unchanged -- the monsters may be used as-is!

Also included: 4 optional rules if you want to retain an even more old-school feel, combat examples including non-psionic victims, and the Psionicist class.

If you're looking for a Psionic Combat System that is easy-to-use simultaneously while the fighter swings his sword, this rulebook is for you!

More From the Frog God!

Spire of Iron and Crystal by Matt Finch. Frog God Games. Available in Print/PDF Combo for $11.99 and in PDF for $4.99. 32 pages. Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder versions, but the Pathfinder Print is SOLD OUT! (Kudos Guys!) This is a re-release of one of the most celebrated OSR modules published in recent years!

Another of the Saturday Night Specials series, this module takes the players to a long lost tower. Deep in the wilderness stands the legendary Spire of Iron and Crystal, a bizarre structure of twisting iron and four enormous crystals that seem to grow from the very ground itself. The fabled riches of the Spire have never been plundered, for no entrances have ever been found.... until now. Your party of adventurers has discovered the long-hidden secret of entering the Spire.

An adventure for 4-6 characters level 5-6. Tournament scoring and characters are included.

Death in Painted Canyons by Kenneth Spencer. Frog God Games. Available in Print/PDF Combo for $11.99 and in PDF for $4.99. 32 pages. Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder versions.

The party should include a mix of abilities, especially characters with investigative and survival skills. It would be helpful, but not necessary, if at least one PC has some knowledge of the Painted Canyons, or at least some experience with desert survival. Also, a PC or companion with the outdoor abilities would be helpful, but is not needed. If your party lacks investigative skills, there are clues as to the criminal conspiracy in the gnoll encampment, or you can just drop that aspect of the adventure and run it as a stand up fight. Parties lacking survival skills or desert experience can hire a guide at Salt Springs for 3 silver shekels (gp) a day. There is a hidden secret behind all the events of Death in the Painted Canyons; a great deal of combat can be expected, and those attempting this adventure should be prepared for a vicious battle before resolving the plot.

Star Frontiersman for Free and Now on Lulu!

Star Frontiersman #17 ed. by Larry Moore. DwD Studios. Available in print for $7.65 and as a free PDF download. 86 pages.

What's That You Say? You Want, Nay, Need More Star Frontiers Goodness? Behold!!!

The DwD Lulu Storefront has print versions of not only Star Frontiersman, but the Star Frontiers Remastered productions!!!

Alpha Dawn, the old modules, all kinds of Awesome, Awesome Gaming Stuff to Buy!!!!!!

Of course, you can still download all these Star Frontiers PDF's for Free!

And Now, Some Free Stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OSRIC Player's Guide by Stuart Marshall. Art by Steve Robertson. Published by Ye Old School Stock Art. Available in PDF for Free. 180 pages.

The editor/artist is going to do a print version, eventually. Worth picking up for the art alone!

The House Rules!

Supplement LXXXVI: Outland by Jeremy Deram. Available for free PDF download. 32 pages plus covers.

This was inspired by the work of Jason Vey, Jimm Johnson, and includes many of my favorite house rules by OSR dudes around the globe. It represents the vision of my personal "perfect D&D" (although that's certainly a moving target, and there's always room for more!)

More Gaming Goodness from the Warlock!

The Warlock's Digest of Dungeon Dwelling Denizens from The Warlock's Home Brew. Available in PDF for FREE! 16 pages.

I've been working on trying to keep the GM's side of the table a bit less cluttered these days. I love the digest sized books or smaller for quick look-up reference. I needed a quick guide for monster stats so I didn't have to flip through books for AC, Experience, Damage, etc.

So....

I've put together The Warlock's Digest of Dungeon Dwelling Denizens, a no frills old school monster statistical reference in digest format. It lists the stats onlyfor all the monsters published in the Swords & Wizardry Core rules with a couple others monsters that I've used in my campaign thrown in. It sports ascending and descending armor class so it should be helpful in most old school style games.

Grimoires! I Love Grimoires! I Love Saying Grimoire! I Love Spelling Grimoire!

gloriousbattle posted the link to his Grimoire of Ancient Zethistan. 24 page PDF available for Free.

With Thanks to Havard of Havard's Blackmoor Blog!

Codex Immortalis Vol. 1 & 2 by Marco Dalmonte. Available in PDF for Free. 210 and 186 pages, respectively. As Havard reported:

The Codex Immortalis is the definite collection of Mystara's Immortals. My friend Marco wrote these years ago in Italian, but thanks to Mystara enthusiast and Piazza member, Mortis, this two volume pdf is now available for free download for the first time in English.

Not only are these books packed with information, but they are also beautifully presented. Now I know what I will be reading this weekend! Go here to see how you can download them for free.

New From Dragonsfoot!

The Village with No Name by Robert James. Available in PDF for Free. 19 pages.

Along the road in a distant location is a village with no name but with citizens under siege by a gang of evil rogues, adventurers and rubes. Who will confront these men and their leaders? And what twist of fate awaits the PCs?

The Village with No Name is an AD&D 1st Edition Adventure for a party of 1st-to-3rd level adventurers. It is the ﬁrst instalment in a multi-part series of adventures. It can be played separately or as part of the larger series.

It's Full of Stars!

Infinite Stars: The Stars Without Number Fanzine Issue # 1 ed. by Omer Golan-Joel. Available in PDF for Free. 15 pages.

A Fanzine for Stars Without Number(TM), Traveller(TM) and other Science Fiction Role-Playing Games.

Issue #1, August 2011

So! Have You Heard About the Old School Renaissance? Spain's Old School Renaissance, That Is!

For instance, there's Aventuras en La Marca del Este an Old School RPG and it's associated blog. James Maliszewski blogged about this game and posted some pictures of the rather cool looking boxed set, here. And here. A very, very cool looking boxed set!!!

The blog for the game clocks in at 581 followers, making it the third or fourth largest OSR blog, out there, so far as I know! Another Spanish Language RPG blog is El Dado Inquieto, whose author has written a module for the game mentioned above and provided an English translation!

Swamp of Sighs by El Dado Inquieto. Available as a Free PDF download. 10 pages.

Austrodavicus, of There's Dungeons Down Under fame, provided aid with the translation and clued me in on this one, back in August.

Now, if we can get an English translation of that cool looking Aventuras en La Marca del Este we'll be all set!

Dude is Spending Some Serious Time on Reviews!

Bryce Lynch of Tenfootpole.org has posted a slew of reviews! Informative, critical, useful reviews! I'd consider it a personal favor if everyone check them out, commented and encouraged him to continue!

A Very Useful Resource!

Check out this Dragonsfoot thread Matthew James Stanham of Silver Blade Adventures has going! Wow! That's a lot of really cool stuff!!!

And In Other News

John Adams has restarted his blog, Confessions of an RPG Publisher.

ChicagoWiz is once again collecting donations for Toys for Tots!

If you haven't met the Dungeon Bastard yet, drop by and watch some vids!

ConstantCon now has its own blog!

What I'm Pimping Right Now

OSRIC - Editor in Chief - Stuart Marshall.

There's several options for Print versions, but so long as it's still available, I recommend the Black Blade/Usherwood Publishing Hardcover which is available for $26 and is absolutely fantastic! Contact the publisher for shipping costs, since as far as I know, their site is still not processing Paypal correctly and is misquoting shipping charges as well. Available for Free Download, as well.

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.