OSR News from the Underdark Gazette - Thursday, November 10, 2011

Pre-orders! 

Crypts & Things by Newt Newport. D101 Games. Pre-order.

There's 22 days left to get in on the Pre-order. The Goal has already been met! Woo-hoo and congratulations Mr. Newport!

Crypts & Things is a Swords and Sorcery game based upon the class/level based Old School roleplaying game rules from the late 1970s, with the rules modified to emphasise the genre in play.

Its a game where the players play Barbarians, Fighters, Magicians, and Thieves struggling to survive in the dying world of Zarth. Looting long dead cities, tombs and battling Serpent Men and their demonic allies. It is a world where action and exotic adventure is the name of the game.

It takes its inspiration form the works of Clark Ashton Smith, HP Lovecraft, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard and the gaming material of the early British role-playing publications of the 70s-80s.

It is 150 pages long and is copiously illustrated with black and white pictures.

Right now, $10 will get you the PDF. $30 will get you a Softcover and PDF. $40 will get you a Hardcover and PDF. There's some higher tiers, with additional goodies! And those prices include shipping! The first module, Blood of the Dragon will be sent out if the Pre-order exceeds its goal (and it has.) See the page for further details.

I'm getting this! S&W based? Check! Uses Akrasia's Houserules? Check! Gets rid of the Cleric? Check! Not that I'm Anti-Cleric, but I really like the idea of having a more Swords & Sorcery oriented version of the game, all prepped up and ready to run! The Hyborian Age calls, as always. Maybe I'll finally get around to writing that Conan supplement/hack that's been on my mind for a while. Or, at the very least get some use out of my Mongoose Road of Kings book.

See the video flip-thru will provide some more info. And here's a PDF preview. 

Delving Deeper RPG Boxed Set pre-orders! $39.95 ($49.95 after November 15, 2011.) The sets will be shipping the week of November 20th.

Delving Deeper RPG closely emulates the rules of the earliest version of the world’s most popular roleplaying game. Go back to a time when every weapon did d6 damage, clerics could cast no spell at first level, only fighters could use magic swords, and if you wanted a locked door opened you had to bash the thing in! It is difficult to imagine in a world where multiple, weighty tomes comprise the rules; but this single, small book contains all you need to build a campaign that can span decades of real time! If you’re tired of trying to find the rule for determining whether your fighter is left-handed and is able to swim and just want to kill some goblins, have we got a game for you!

This Boxed Set Contains everything you need to play:

• Volume One: Forging a Hero
• Volume Two: Codex of the Divine and the Arcane
• Volume Three: Index of the Fiendish and Malign
• Volume Four: Vault of Treasures
• Volume Five: Delving Deeper and Blazing New Trails
• Robert Conley’s, Blackmarsh Campaign Setting
• Alchemical Synergy: A S&W:Whitebox Player’s Guide for Delving Deer RPG
• A set of nine dice (3d6, 2d10, 1d20, 1d12, 1d8, 1d4)
• A pad of 25 digest character sheets.

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. The last word I have on the cut-off date for pre-orders is that FGG is taking them through Thanksgiving.

I mentioned Tome of Adventure Design a few weeks ago, but thought I'd include it again, with the latest round-up of pre-orders.

Adventurer Conqueror King by Alexander Macris, Greg Tito, Ryan Browning, and Tavis Allison - Autarch. Hardcover Pre-Order $39.99. Softcover Pre-Order $29.99. Pre-order PDF for $14.99.

Adventurer Conqueror King is a complete tabletop RPG that supports all the goals characters in our campaigns have set for themselves. Whether it's dungeon crawling, guiding a caravan through the wilderness in search of profit, or commanding a nation-state, this system satisfies our needs better than any other game we know (and that's quite a few).

The latest news on a release date I could find, was this quote by Tavis from a forum post, made about a month ago:

We expect a release date in December, and should have done a better job saying so! Kickstarter now requires you to say when the project will ship, which I think is a good idea.

According to the Kickstarter page, they're less than $400 away from meeting their third bonus goal, the initial goal having long since been met!

And the Next Pair of Major Releases from Lamentations of the Flame Princess Goes to Print!

Aside from this link and this link, I'm going to Let the Pictures do the Talking.

Both Isle of the Unknown and Carcosa are expected to go on sale in early December. Here's a quote from Mr. Raggi, on prices:

Assuming no "surprise, this cost more than planned!" from the printer, Carcosa will be 32,11€ and Isle of the Unknown 22,94€ (+ VAT or shipping depending on your territory).

Well, now. This News post is just getting started and already my gaming budget for the rest of the year has been spoken for, if not exceeded!

Go to Hell!

Nod #11 by John Stater has been released! The PDF is available for $3.50. Print is forthcoming.

Just in time for Halloween, NOD 11 arrives with the beginning of a five part hex crawl set in the scariest place in creation - HELL! Also, four new races for your underground adventures, a sinister new class - the demonologist, four new demon lords to bedevil your players and some tips on sprucing up the most under appreciated mega-monsters in gaming, the titans. 140 pages

She's a Witch!

Darker Paths 2: The Witch by Joseph Bloch. BRW Games. Available in PDF for $5.00. 20 pages.

This witch is not a sexy nature-worshipper. Nor is she a misunderstood and unjustly persecuted healer and herbalist. This is the witch of the Brothers Grimm, the Malleus Maleficarum, and Medieval folklore. It features approximately fifty new spells such as Hand of Glory, Blight Field, Candle Magic, and Masse Noire, plus full descriptions of spells that are shared with other classes, so players will have everything they need at their fingertips. Cover art and an interior character illustration is by veteran OSR artist Jason Sholtis.

The witch can be used as either an optional player-character class or an NPC class in any campaign that uses rules 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 witch!

And, While We're Visiting Joe...

ADD Bestiary V1.1 by Joseph Bloch. BRW Games. Available in PDF for FREE. 237 pages.

"What if?"

Some of the most intriguing works of fiction have stemmed from those two simple words. What if Hitler had won World War 2? What if the Roman Empire had never fallen? What if John F. Kennedy had never been assassinated?

This work represents just such a "what if" scenario, if perhaps one with less weighty historical consequences. What if Gary Gygax had not left TSR in 1985, and had been allowed to continue developing the world's most famous fantasy role-playing game?

We will, unfortunately, never know the answer to that question, because he did leave TSR in that year, and others took over the job of designing the second (and subsequent) versions of the game. After that unfortunate episode, he was understandably reluctant to give any advice on how he would have carried the game forward.

However, he did leave behind hints as to the direction he would have taken the game. New character classes. Streamlined combat. New spells and magic items. Consolidated and re-worked monsters. We don't have many specifics, but we do have a fair number of "big picture" ideas. All of these have been taken as inspiration for ADVENTURES DARK AND DEEP™.

Bear in mind that the author has no special insight into Gygax's mind on this subject other than what he himself wrote publicly, and certainly the game should not be taken as having any sort of official stamp, either from his estate or the corporations that have taken the game in new directions. All that has been done is to collect the hints he did leave, use them as inspiration, and take off in a wholly different direction than that which happened "officially."

ADVENTURES DARK AND DEEP™ is not a "retro-clone." It does not set out to re-create a particular set of rules from decades past, as do some other games (not that there's anything amiss in doing so!). Rather, it is a new creation, unique unto itself, and does not attempt to recreate any set of rules that has gone before. The game and its materials are compatible with other games that are based on the original and Advanced versions of the world's most popular role-playing game.

The Bestiary gives game masters full descriptions of more than 800 creatures to use in your game. All creatures are broken down by broad categories to make finding a creature "on the fly" a snap; wilderness/dungeon, waterborne, prehistoric, and extra-planar.

NOTE: This is a free pdf version, and the rules are not in a final state. The game is currently in an open playtest, and your comments and input are more than welcome at http://www.adventuresdarkanddeep.com.

All three volumes of Adventures Dark and Deep are now updated to V1.1 and all three Open Playtest versions are available for Free Download.

More From Robert Pinnell

Fate of the Forgotten Keep by R. C. Pinnell. Available in Print for $8.00 and in PDF for $3.00. 28 pages.

Designed for characters of levels 4 to 8. It can be used with either Advanced or Classic rules with some modification. Long forgotten by order of the Queen, a map to the keep on the southern border suddenly appears one day, tempting the characters to go there and find out why the Queen of long ago ordered it closed.

A New Release from DwD

Maidens of Moordoth by Bill Logan. DwD Games. Available in PDF for .50 cents. 3 pages.

Maidens of Moordoth is a low-level 1-sheet adventure designed for Labyrinth LordTM but easily usable in any old school fantasy role-playing game. It provides all you'll need for a full night or two of play.

The elders of the village of Moordoth are the keepers of a grim secret. They vowed to take it to their graves, but a pack of ghouls and the wailing haunts of six lost maidens seem to command otherwise. The characters are hired by the town elders to put a stop to this madness. The characters will soon learn that all is not what it seems as they unravel the secret of the Maidens of Moordoth.

Zine = Old School

Loviatar #4 by Christian Walker. Available in Print for $3.00. 24 pages.

When the humans' colony ship was intercepted by the enigmatic Masters, the robots in the cargo hold were put to use by the aliens. The Masters had already failed miserably with their intelligent, talking wolves so perhaps the humans' robots could be turned into effective spies. The humans quickly discovered the deception and now an uneasy relationship has emerged. This GURPS article presents more background on the human zoo, as well as detailed descriptions of two robots.

Abel Artone, recently deceased, has had his nap interrupted by the lovely Mora, a bariaur Indep. Mercykillers are prowling the area, so Mora leads a wary Abel to a kip shared by herself and two other faction members. The kip - located inside a petrified giant - provides scant protection against a determined Segreant Gev and his Red Death bashers. This is an article for Planescape, with plenty of maps and stat blocks to help you get your extra-planar freak on.

Finally, we have some X-plorers on tap. Micah is a cold, barren planet orbiting a dim, tired star. The planet would be deserted were in not for a university that attracts a variety of scholars and off-world clients. The planet - with its mostly intellectual population - is at risk of being undone by a rising tide of criminals and corporate agents. An intrepid team of X-plorers would find their skills in great demand. This article offers a detailed planetary description, as well as a map and special rules for characters hailing from Micah.

Loviatar No. 4 is a 24 page digest. It has a cardstock cover and is printed in black and white. This issue offers fan support for GURPS, AD&D 2e and X-plorers.

And How About Some Stars Without Number?

Darkness Visible: Espionage Campaigns for Stars Without Number by Kevin Crawford. Sine Nomine Publishing. Available in Print/PDF Combo for $19.99 and in PDF for $9.99. 96 pages.

Discover Sights of Woe 

Rain-slick streets beneath an alien sky. Untraceable mail on a private terminal. A man in a shabby coat who is always watching. Poison in a glistening needle. From the distant ages of humanity's dawn to the far end of the Silence, espionage changes only its tools. A useful lie is eternal.

With this book, GMs and players are equipped with everything they need to run campaigns of interstellar intrigue and covert action. New backgrounds, training packages and equipment options will kit out your starfaring spies, and the history and context of interstellar espionage will help you plan your adventures in a cosmos in dire need of your help.

GMs are given special help in assembling an espionage campaign, with tools for the cooperative creation of enigmatic intelligence agencies and long-hidden Perimeter outposts. You'll also find concrete, step-by-step techniques for building complex spy adventures and sinister plots, complete with detailed support material to keep your focus on the fun.

Look inside to find...

• The history of interstellar spying in the Stars Without Number universe.
• Details of the hideous maltech cults that threaten the very future of humanity.
• A system for cooperatively creating intelligence agencies for your campaign and handling exploits against their nefarious rivals.
• 36 new tags for flavoring your cults, all of which can be used as world tags as well.
• Over 200 new adventure seeds, each one keyed to a different aspect of an espionage agency.
• NPC, scheme, and method tables for fleshing out conspiracies and dark plots.

Ooh! Mutant Future!

Creatures of the Tropical Wastes by Chris “Outlander” Van Deelen. Skirmisher Publishing. Available in PDF for $5.99. 62 pages.

Do you need more monsters and mutations for your postapocalyptic, sci-fi, or fantasy game? If so, Creatures of the Tropical Wastes is what you are looking for!

Fully compatible with Mutant Future - as well as Labyrinth Lord and other games that use the familiar and easy-to-use "Basic" role-playing game rules introduced in the 1970s - this collection includes:

• A Foreword by Derek Holland, author of several licensed Mutant Future sourcebooks.
• 50 new creatures, including the mysterious Ahas Folk, the insidious Egret Puppeteer, and the fearsome War Baboy.
• 30 new mutations, including numerous Plant mutations.
• Official Mutant Future Poison and Radiation Tables for convenience of reference.
• Original illustrations by fantasy artist Sharon Daugherty

The Latest From Knightvision Games


Winter's Herald by Jim Baney. Knightvision Games. Available in Print/PDF combo for $6.00 and in PDF only for $1.99. 24 pages.

Labyrinth Lord Adventure Module for 4-6 5th Level adventurers Icemoor is a land beset by winter at the top of the world. For years at a time snow blankets the tundra, ice grips the trees, and storms batter the coast. A pale sun shines weakly on the peoples battling for survival against their foes and the very elements. An ancient menace has reared its ugly head once more and threatens the entire world with its icy grip. Can the heroes survive in a frozen landscape where villains and monsters use the extreme cold as their weapons?

Spellcraft & Swordplay Now Available in Print

Spellcraft & Swordplay Basic Game by Jason Vey. Elf Lair Games. Available in PDF for Free and in Print for $7.00

Since Spellcraft & Swordplay was released on Lulu in 2008, almost 800 copies have been sold. Now, we present a free PDF introductory "Basic Set," akin to those games in the legacy which S&S honors. Containing a streamlined (but complete) version of the rules and character progression to level 3, this 48-page book is a perfect introduction to the new class of old school, ideal for introducing new players to the game, or for just having an extra set of rules at the table!

Spellcraft & Swordplay Core Rules by Jason Vey. Available in Print/PDF combo for $30.00 and in PDF for $6.50.

Join the new class of old school!

Hordes of slavering orcs close in. You're tired, battered and bruised, but far from beaten. You grip your heavy sword tightly, and blink at the sweat in yoru eyes. You're all that stands between the goodly folk of the village, and a curtain of eternal night. And going quietly isn't your style. 

Between these covers lies everything you need to begin grand adventures of dark and gritty fantasy, high epic fantasy, or even fairy tale fantasy. All you need is some imagination and a few friends, and you're off! Inspired by the very earliest days of the hobby, Spellcraft & Swordplay uses a rules-light system that allows play in a fast, loose and cinematic style. It evokes the spirit of the old school, while providing some character customization not always present in other old school games.

Explore ancient ruins, rescue captive princesses, slay dragons, and build your own legacy of adventure and excitement with SPELLCRAFT & SWORDPLAY! 

Spellcraft & Swordplay Monstrous Mayhem by Jason Vey. Available in Print/PDF combo for $15.00 and in PDF for $5.00.

The New Class Strikes Again!

 After awhile, goblins cease to be frightening, gold loses its luster, and underground dungeons, ruined cities and ancient temples ceace to be an attraction. Your players want new sights, new adventures, and new threats to challenge their skill, might and wits.

Fear not! For those Referees who need to give their game that spark of something new, we present MONSTROUS MAYHEM, the first sourcebook for Spellcraft & Swordplay! Within these pages you will find a new Elite Path, rules for hedge magic and legerdemain, mass combat, underwater adventures, thug rules, a host of new monsters, and more! With all of these additions, Monstrous Mayhem is sure to become an invaluable resource for players and referees alike!

There's a Dungeon Bastard in All of Us

Have you met Bill Cavalier, yet? Here's a taste:

More Stars Without Number

Infinite Stars #2 ed. in chief Omer Golan-Joel. Available for Free Download. 18 pages.

An OSRIC Adventure

Orcs' Nest by Matthew James Stanham of Silver Blade Adventures. Available as a Free PDF Download. 20 pages.

I Want a Whole Book of These

One of your maskier cities... from Zak S. at Playing D&D With Porn Stars.

So. Need Some Hexcrawling Help?

How about 58 pages of Judges Guild style Random Hex Generator Tables? Wilderness Hexploration Document. From Jedo of the New York Redbox site, available as a free PDF download. 

Look What Brendan of Untimately Done Gone and Did!

Why, it's an OSR Search Engine! Complete with Cool Embedding Code, that you can see over on one of my left-hand columns! Works splendidly! And you know what's super-cool? When I type AD&D into the search engine, Google doesn't automatically change it to D&D!!!!!

Something I Missed, During the Hiatus

Small But Vicious Dog by Chris Hogan. 36 page PDF available as a Free Download. Available in the Small But Vicious Sidebar at Chris' Blog.

Remember that ill-advised B/X-WFRP hack I wurbled about a couple of months back? Done (apart from the last few magic item and monster descriptions).

All the other WFRP-ish goodness - drugs, diseases, insanity, mutation, gunpowder, chaotic magic, dorfs with mohawks, hot pies, giant angry puffins and so forth - is in there. Heck, I've even included rules to model that special WFRP "gods hate you; failure is law!" atmosphere.

Pocket-Mods

Pocket Full of Peril D1, D2 & D3 - Dyson's Delve Levels One Through Nine edited by Fenway5. Available as Free PDF Downloads.

Noble Knight is Having a Sale!


Everything is at least 10% off! At Least!

The LotFP Grindhouse Edition is 28% off! $35.96 + shipping. And if you buy the print edition from Noble Knight, you get the PDF as well!

So, I bought it, very early this morning! Been meaning to for a while. But, I've been under a Geas.


Noble Knight, being the swell guys they are, have already shipped my physical copy! And they've also emailed me the PDF, which I've spent the morning investigating.

I highly recommend this game!

Which means...

What I'm Pimping This Week

Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role Playing : Grindhouse Edition by James Edward Raggi IV. LotFP Publishing.

Mystery and Imagination, Adventure and Death

Beyond the borders of civilization, beyond the influence of manipulating politicians, greedy merchants, iron-handed clergy, and the broken masses that toil for their benefit, the ruins of ancient civilizations call to those bold enough, and desperate enough, to escape the oppression of mundane life. Treasure and glory await those courageous enough to wrest it from the darkness. But the danger is great, for lurking in the forgotten shadows are forces far more corrupt than even civilization. The price for freedom might be paid in souls.

LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing presents a sinister and horrific twist on traditional fantasy gaming and provides you with all the tools needed to create and run a long-lasting campaign tailored to your specific vision. Simple enough for a beginner – with material intended for those that have never before played a role-playing game – yet meaty enough for the veteran, this is a complete game in one box. Included in this box:

The Grindhouse Edition includes never-before-seen spells, magic items, and introductory adventure, as well as a revised layout and over 100 new pieces of fantastic art that will transport you into the nightmare world of LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing!
(order 5 or more copies, a group discount applies - each box will cost just 24,37€)
(Warning: Explicit Imagery! Recommended for ages 18+)

Contents:

• Tutorial Book (96 pages) Introducing the Basics of Role-Playing
• Rules and Magic Book (168 pages) A comprehensive reference for playing the game
• Referee Book (96 pages) Tools for campaigns and adventure
• 7-piece Dice Set
• Character Sheets

Artwork by:
Rowena Aitken
Aeron Alfrey
Tomas Arfert
Dan Berger
Johnathan Bingham
Nicole Cardiff
Christina Casperson
Ernie Chan
Dean Clayton
Ramsey Dow
Laura Jalo
Daniel Lapham
Vincent Locke
Eric Lofgren
Rich Longmore
Peter Mullen
Russ Nicholson
Jason Rainville
Cynthia Sheppard
Book Back Cover Background
Amos Orion Sterns
Filip Stojak

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.

Please feel free to send me information on any new releases, events, or other items of interest, which you would like to see mentioned.