I was talking with my usual coconspirator ( +Zach Glazar ) earlier today and we both were bemoaning the general lack of a program showcasing new and upcoming talent in the OSR, let alone current and overlooked talent. This post is my attempt to address that.
In the comments section of this post I'd like my readers to suggest products, publishers, authors and artists that they feel are overlooked in our corner of the hobby. Folks that don't get the respect they deserve. Somehow they fly under the radar.
I'd also like to know WHY you think a creator / product / publisher / artwork deserves to be highlighted. Because, you know - reasons :)
Please include links when you have them. It makes my job easier and we all know how important that is ;)
I'd like to start a series of posts, highlighting the creators in question and I can't do this without your help. The more responses we get, the sooner the series kicks off and the longer and hopefully more informative it will be.
So, get commenting!
Punch A Nazi Week - DCC Edition Coming Soon
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Given the state of current events in the United States it seems like an
appropriate time to bring back this semiannual feature of the Halls. As the
title s...
4 hours ago
ahem...
ReplyDeletedid someone almost say something? ;)
DeleteWell, it's implied that perhaps I should toot my own horn. lol
Deletehttp://FailSquadGames.com
Deletehttp://LMetcalf.com
(just sayin')
I'd like to toot my own horn, http://drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=Denis+McCarthy++&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=
ReplyDeleteI'll second Denis. He is new to the scene and deserves more exposure.
DeleteFrog God and Goodman Games are my favorite publishers. I had a chance to play MCC (Mutant Crawl Classics) at GenCon and loved it. Xcrawl is moving to DCC as well. Brendan Lesalle created xcrawl and has more than a few writing credits in DCC (and Call of Cthulhu).
ReplyDeleteFrog God has the best production values in my opinion. Artwork, physical composition, and great storylines. In particular, the Tome of Horrors line, Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms and Rappan Athuk are my favorites from FGG.
Greg Gillespie, Allen Grohe, Zach Glazar, and Brendan LeSalle are a few authors I would also like to see spotlighted.
LaSalle. I misspelled his name.
Deletehttp://www.goodman-games.com
https://www.froggodgames.com
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/ (allen grohe)
I second Allan Grohe. Having played in his version of Castle Greyhawk and interacted with him online for over 10 years, he's my go-to source when reading about my favorite setting: The World of Greyhawk (especially pre-1986).
DeleteAllan Grohe is a Greyhawk sage. I played in his game and had loads of fun.
DeleteGoodman does fantastic work as well. I know my brother thinks highly of Frog God Games, But I have not used any of their material. Something I will remedy at Gary Con I hope.
DeleteGoodman does fantastic work as well. I know my brother thinks highly of Frog God Games, But I have not used any of their material. Something I will remedy at Gary Con I hope.
DeleteThank you for the kind words! :D
DeleteAllan.
Kelvin Green! I love his art. Seen most recently in the LotFP Free RPG Day book Slugs! Has done a lot of stuff for Fight On!, some work for the B/X Companion and Petty Gods, and probably other stuff I'm not familiar with. Has a website here: http://junkopia.net/kelvinsdirtybits/main.html and a blog here: http://kelvingreen.blogspot.com/. Full disclosure: I worked on a Fight On! comic with Kelvin. But please don't hold that against him...his style is quite recognizable, unique, and fun!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah! Kelvin wrote and illustrated the LotFP adventure Forgive Us as well.
DeleteLet's see...
ReplyDeleteJason McCartan with InfiniBadger. He's written quality products for Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, and White Star. Not to mention Polyhedral Dungeon and his amazing layout work on all the official White Star Products.
Pete Spahn, of Small Niche Games. He's created a fantastic campaign setting for Labyrinth Lord with Chronicles of Amherth along with several quality sourcebooks and adventures to support it, an original game in Tropes: Zombies, and even published a novel based on his original setting. He slaves away on Brave the Labyrinth and all his products are ridiculously low priced or free. This guy's in it for the love of the game.
Richard LeBlanc of New Big Dragon Games creates B/X products that are truly original, evocative, and inspired. It's like he's tapping into 1983 and producing books that feel like they just came out of a TSR warehouse by some fresh-faced creator just off the streets.
Joseph Bloch, of BMW Games, publisher of Adventures Dark and Deep. This game is an evolution and extension of AD&D 1st edition and does a truly professional job of answer the question: "What if Gary Gygax had written AD&D 2nd Edition." Seriously, his stuff's so good, I got rid of my AD&D 2nd ed books in favor of Adventures Dark and Deep.
I second Pete Spahn. I reviewed TZE for Knights of the Dinner Table. Besides Brave the Labyrinth is doing a reboot.
DeleteI've gotta say I'm getting tons of mileage out of Guardians and Colonial Troopers from Night Owl Workshop. These little "What If Gygax et. al. had been into XXXX" games are a whole lot of fun for us. They are GREAT.
ReplyDeleteSecond Night Owl Workshop: Warriors of the Red Planet is my favorite, and they're working on a Pulp action game next.
DeleteTooting my own hoon (http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?keywords=Johua+De+Santo&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=)
ReplyDeleteI must also suggest Shane Ward (http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/6654/3-Toadstools) and Frank Turfler Jr. (https://www.behance.net/FrankTurfler)
Thank you Johua, I appreciate it
DeleteThank you Johua, I appreciate it
DeleteI'd like to bring attention of +Mario Torres [https://www.instagram.com/miseophant/]. He's done a majority of the art for my zines the past couple years. He's FAST, he can make a 16-page comicbook in a weekend, while still playing games and vending. He has a great eye for color and black & white art. Rad guy, rad art.
ReplyDeleteI'll put forward Paul Wolfe of Mystic Bull Games.
ReplyDeletehttp://mysticbull.blogspot.com.au/
He's made and contributed to a lot of great products and offers free content regularly on his blog.
Peace!
I am a fan of John Stater, creator of the magazine NOD and many games, such as Pars Fortuna, Blood and Treasure, Space Princess, etc. Everything I have read of his has been fun and inspirational. For example, Pars Fortuna is the game we love with everything (races, monsters, spells) created by interpreting the results of random generators.
ReplyDeletehttp://matt-landofnod.blogspot.com/
I second John as well. He puts out so much great stuff.
DeleteI definately concur on John Stater; he is my primary patron, and makes some awesome stuff.
DeleteI'll play along with the toot my own horn thing. http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/8395/Magic-Pig-Media
ReplyDeleteBut I'll also put forth +Mike Evans. http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/9599/DIY-RPG-Productions If you like weird stuff he's got some great things and he's blazing ahead on fulfilling his sucessful Kickstarter for Hubris a DCC setting (already got my backer pdf and I helped play test it).
I've got to give a shout out to +c.r. brandon
ReplyDeleteHe wrote a clone of The Fantasy Trip called Heroes & Other World and his supplements (mostly derived from D&D OGL) add a lot of options to play.
He only sells through lulu (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/fenwayfive) so he's not as high-profile as people who sell via OBS. And he represents a different vein of the OSR that focuses on non-D&D games.
And I've bought five HOW books from him so my money's where my mouth is.
Check out Jason Lutes, especially FREEBOOTERS ON THE FRONTIER.
ReplyDeleteI would like to nominate Tim Shorts. His very transparent posts about the Manor were invaluable when starting my own zine. Additionally Tim just quietly pumps out OSR adventure material on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteFirst, a self-plug for the Hydra Cooperative (http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/7124/Hydra-Cooperative). We've got a great set of partners (Chris Kutalik, Trey Causey, Anthony Pastores, Robert Parker, Mike Davison, and myself). Our focus is on helping our authors realize their projects in the best and most complete way possible, while making sure to provide high-quality material that's both a source of inspiration and easily usable at the table. Along with our own internal projects, we're working with Jason Sholtis on an expanded version of Operation Unfathomable, with Scrap Princess and Patrick Stuart on Broken Fire Regime (the sequel to Deep Carbon Observatory), and with David Lewis Johnson on Gathox Vertical Slum. I'm incredibly proud to be working with all these folks, and excited about the work we're putting together.
ReplyDeleteIf any of that is unfamiliar to folks, they can check out our PWYW sampler here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/191636/Hydra-Sampler-2016?hot60=1&src=tavern
That's enough about us. Here are some other folks who deserve some love:
* Gus L (http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/). Thoughtful, fascinating, and efficient rules tweaks, a slew and a half of compelling settings, and gorgeous maps/art.
* Clint Krause (http://redmoonmedicineshow.com/). The recently kickstarted Driftwood Verses is excellent, taking on a nautical campaign framework for LotFP. Clint's work is atmospheric, broody, creepy and all-around great.
* Joseph Manola (http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/). Extremely thoughtful, well-written posts, plus a really compelling OSR take on early modern Central Asia.
Infinibadger, Small Niche Games and of course James Spahn.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the chance to toot my own horn, I have a Patreon for fantasy artwork at https://www.patreon.com/rpg_art people might find useful for thei RPG titles. It's a great way to get low cost art for your published titles.
ReplyDeleteI'll toss Low Fantasy Gaming into the mosh pit of hopefuls.
ReplyDeleteWhy? It's free. It's new. Some say it's up and coming (mostly me). It's an OSR/modern rules lite d20 variant, specifically designed for (i) low magic, (ii) sandbox style play in (iii) a gritty/dangerous world.
Free PDF link: https://lowfantasygaming.com/freepdf/
Worth every dime.
I have it on good authority that self-tooting does not make you go blind, nor does it cause hairy palms. That disclaimer out of the way:
ReplyDeletehellahexi: a crunch-lite blog of weirdness, random tables, atmosphere, and occasional cartography
Of current note is that little button on the side for //the absconder//, currently in Issue #1 with #2 being written now (and learning from mistakes). I thought I'd give back to the OSR community for so much amazing content--freely shared and nearly incomprehensibly creative--so I'm giving away copies of Issue #1 for free (and postage is on me). I've got 44 copies left. It's just a little 4pp/1-sheet bifold flimsy, but if you want one, email me a mailing address to hellahexi at the gmails.
(Thank you, Erik, BTW, for the idea of a community give-back giveaway. The Tavern Membership Card was where I where I got the idea!)
It's pretty much all been covered, I'm going to second Fail Squad Games, Slater's Nod magazine, the Hydra Cooperative, LeBlanc's New Big Dragon, and a few others: Chris Gonnerman's Basic Fantasy Roleplaying System (extremely playable); Jimm Johnson's Scribes of Scarn (at least three digest sized adventures I'm aware of plus his Planet Eris rules system), and Vanquishing Leviathan's system Swords & Six Siders, so old school in tone and play it's shocking it didnt' come out in 1979.
ReplyDeleteJason Kemp of Samardan Press - vanguard of the Old School Revolution in 2d6 Sci-Fi. (see Cepheus Engine).
ReplyDeleteDont' think about David Black and Peter Reagan - what a pair of bastards.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to look at "Divinities and Cults" by OSRDAN Games (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/148743/Divinities-and-Cults-Labyrinth-Lord). Inspired by DCC RPG, and available in both DCC and Labyrinth Lord formats, it provides a new set of options for clerics and divine spellcasting.
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest Beyond the Wall - and other stories by Flatland Games?
ReplyDeleteIt's an OSR that's really caught my imagination.
It's designed to both being able to pick up for a one shot without prep and for extended campaigns.
That and Goodman Games' DCC are two OSR'S that I really love, but GG is semi-big, while Flatland Games is quite small and independent... they also have a lot of freebies for their games both on their own page and rpgnow :)
I missed this. Id love to throw my hat, and products, into the ring.
ReplyDeleteI missed this. Id love to throw my hat, and products, into the ring.
ReplyDeleteMay I blow the bugle of Necrotic Gnome Productions? Featuring my own writing (Theorems & Thaumaturgy, The Complete Vivimancer, etc) plus my and Greg Gorgonmilk's quirky fairy tale setting/zine, Wormskin.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/5606/Necrotic-Gnome-Productions