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Friday, July 4, 2025

Bundle of Holding - His Majesty the Worm



I see His Majesty the Worm Bundle as an aspirational purchase. I doubt I'll play it as is, but I hope to find parts that I can use with other OSR rule sets and future campaigns. For those purposes, 14.95 is a bargain.

Adventurer! This His Majesty the Worm Bundle presents His Majesty the Worm, a megadungeon-crawling fantasy roleplaying game from Josh McCrowell at Rise Up Comus. The Underworld blasphemes the earth under the City at the center of the world. You and your guild-mates have personal quests that compel them to step through the gate into those lightless depths. If you fulfill your quests, you can finally retire. Until then – in the cycle of descent, exploration, return, restock, rest – all that protects you is your Bonds of loyalty, rivalry, mentorship, and even love. Play them to the hilt, and you might survive

His Majesty the Worm page 26Eight years in the making, His Majesty the Worm reimagines the traditional dungeon crawl in a highly playable structure that spotlights the necessities of Underworld exploration: food, light, time, and the allies who keep you alive. Use tarot cards to generate the City, Underworld, characters, and monsters, and to run an action-packed Challenge system that ensures all players have interesting choices throughout every round of combat. With this .PDF rulebook you'll see why the Exalted Funeral His Majesty the Worm hardcover sold out in three hours.

Pay just US$14.95 for our Worm Collection (retail value $58) with DRM-free .PDF ebooks of the complete 411-page His Majesty the Worm rulebook, along with the cozy halfling-village game Under Hill, By Water and its travel expansion Walking Holiday.


Thursday, July 3, 2025

Free RPG - The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules (WEG D6)



A Quickstart that is 80+ pages long? Based on WEG classic D6 system? An official Planet of the Apes RPG? Holy crap! I'm gonna dive into The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules and see how the WEG D6 System holds up. I'm expecting a perfect fit :)

Return to the world where Apes rule over a dwindling human population.

In a world turned upside down, civilized apes sit at the top of the evolutionary ladder, ruling over a population of primal humans. But this dominion will not go unchallenged. Wayward astronauts arrive to lead an uprising, questioning this madness and the events that led to this topsy-turvy, backward future. Political intrigue, societal conflict, and fantastical, dangerous mysteries abound on this planet ruled by apes!

This Quickstart is just the beginning of your journey across a planet controlled by apes. This download allows you a glimpse of what's in store for you by letting you play pre-generated ape characters. In addition to adventures and rules for playing pre-generated simians, the complete Role-Playing Game of the Planet of the Apes Core Rulebook will allow your players to create their own characters. Just choose an ape and then choose an archetype to play. With the former quota system abolished, any ape can have any career. And gorillas,  orangutans, and chimpanzees are just the beginning. You can also assume the roles of mute tribal humans, two factions of mysterious mutants, and the most dangerous creatures of all— the so-called “astro-nauts”!

Instead of playing within one character group, you might want a more diverse gaming experience. You can even run adventure parties comprised of apes, mutants, and humans working together! Utilizing the Magnetic Variant of the world-renowned West End Games D6 game system (D6MV), the Core Rulebook also contains rules and statistics for the following: 

  • More gear, weapons, and vehicles, including spacecraft.
  • Twenty-four character templates to choose from!
  • New Character Quirks, Motives, and Remarkable Abilities.
  • Heroic Stun Rules.
  • Mysterious mutant Psionic Powers.
  • Keep track of fear, terror, and tensity with Psychometrics and Mental Trauma rules.
  • Statistics for a variety of fearsome Foes, awesome Allies, and mutated Monstrosities.
  • Environmental Zone Effects allow you to quickly drop your apes into any hostile environment!
  • Random episode hooks and easy episode generator tables help you create your own adventures on a planet where apes evolved from men!
  • For the whole experience, go to www.planetoftheapesRPG.com and get your stinkin’ paws on the Core Rulebook for the Role-Playing Game of the Planet of the Apes today!

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Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Free OSR - ShadowSpark Skeletal Foes (ShadowDark)


I've known Phil Reed for a decade or more, and I've been following his creative works for even longer. Phil's ShadowSpark Skeletal Foes for ShadowDark is a short PDF priced at PWYW pricing, and could work with other OSR games with minimal conversion, IMO.

Without a doubt, skeletons are one of my favorite types of monsters in any fantasy RPG. These animated dead are a wonderful foe for the heroes since they can wait around for decades (sometimes centuries) without any need to eat, drink, sleep, or the other requirements that living creatures possess. After all, no one need question how the skeletons were surviving in the dungeon all these years without access to food. They stand around and wait for the action.

In many RPGs, skeletons are treated as a single monster with one stat block. Combine that with their low power level and skeletons in most fantasy RPGs don’t give me enough variety, so I enjoy working up new types of skeletal foes for most systems.

This work expands on skeletons in the core game, presenting four new options that GMs may use to throw something other than the basic skeleton at the adventurers. 

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Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Fanatical Bundle - DCC RPG Adventures Bundle - For as Little as Free!



I NEVER call these various bundles that I highlight "Ridiculous"! Then again, I've never covered a bundle from Fanatical before, as they primarily deal with computer games. The value offered in the DCC RPG Adventures Bundle is just that - Ridiculous!

For FREE (not even PWYW), you can snag the DCC RPG Quickstart Rules, the DCC Adventure Starter (goes from levels 0-2), the Character Record Folio, and the DCC Reference Booklet. It's a great, free introduction to the DCC RPG. Tell your friends ;)

For $15, the DCC RPG Adventures Bundle includes 30 PDFs. It includes the above, the Dying Earth setting, several Dying Earth adventures, the Goodman Games Dark Tower reprint (and DCC/5e conversion worth the price of admission on its own), Crypt of the Devil Lich, Tome of Adventure Vol 1 (contains the first 7 adventures published for the DCC RPG), Grimtooth Traps books and more. Phew!

Don't pass on this one. Delivery is through DTRPG.

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Monday, June 30, 2025

Humble Bundle - Roll Big or Go Home RPG Mega-Bundle


I can't believe the number of A-List RPG titles in this Roll Big or Go Home RPG Mega-Bundle. Sure, there is much that some would consider chaff, but 57 titles for 40 bucks (or 38 titles for $25 or 19 for $15) is simply an unheard-of discount.

Here are some titles you might find interesting: (for $15) Power Rangers, Castle Falkenstein, The Dr Who Starter Set, RuneQuest, Symbaroum - and at $25, add in GI Joe, The Witcher, Rifts for Savage Worlds, Homeworld, Kobolds Ate My Baby!, Trinity, Basic Roleplaying, Dr Who Roleplying, Vaessen, - and at $40, add in Avatar Legends, Transformers, Modren Age, Cyberpunk Red, Apoc World, Deadlands with SWADE, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Call of Cthulhu, Night's Black Agents, DragonBane, and much, much more. Phew.

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Gather up your party for the ultimate TTRPG adventure with the Roll Big or Go Home RPG Megabundle. This legendary 50+ title bundle is jam-packed with rulebooks, auxiliary resources, soundtracks, and more for you to enjoy. Help Aang bring elemental balance to the world in Magpie Games’ Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, use your best chrome to smoke Corpos in R. Talsorian Games’ Cyberpunk RED, and roleplay as a robot in disguise in Renegade Game Studios’ Transformers Roleplaying Game. Play the best games from the best publishers within our biggest TTRPG bundle ever! Plus, a portion of your purchase helps support Extra Life.






 

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Free OSR - The Metallic Tome (Modren Day OSR Sourcebook)


I had to check. I have a hardcover copy of the Metallic Tome on my bookshelf :)

So, what is The Metallic Tome? It's a modern-day OSR sourcebook harkening to the days of mosh pits and hair metal. And it's priced as Pay What You Want (PWYW) pricing.

Pollution chokes our seas, nuclear war has destroyed our cities, and worst of all, guitars are illegal. Surveillance satellites monitor our every move. Conformity is the law! There is only one thing that can save us: METAL.

Metallic Tome is a sourcebook for old-school role-playing games set in the modern day. It's inspired by heavy metal music. Created by the reprobate who wrote the Teratic Tome.

Features include: 

  • New character alignments, including Awful Good, Chaotic Player, and Neutral Vague
  • New starting equipment, including department store mannequin, 4 scorpions in a shoebox, and an audio cassette recording of Nuclear Assault's "Survive"
  • New Cleric spells like Necrotic Blasphemous Desecration, Interval of the Devil, and Party Hard
  • New Magic-User spells like Power Word Mosh and Air Raid Siren
  • Strange new foes, including asbestos elementals and nuclear dragons
  • Wondrous magic items, such as the Brigandine Loincloth and the Revolver of Lordly Might
  • Random tables to pad out the last few pages

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Saturday, June 28, 2025

Free OSR - Prison of the Hated Pretender (Low Level Adventure)



Prison of the Hated Pretender is a classic adventure from the OSR's Gus L. Priced at PWYW, it is a Platinum Best Seller at DTRPG with an excellent 4.8-star rating.

A sculpted tower's blank eyes stare down from the lonely in dry hills beyond the last withered turnip fields, the doorway in its eternally screaming mouth beckoning daredevils and foolish fortune hunters.  Haunted, shunned and anathema -- spending a night in The Prison of the Hated Pretender will certainly give you bragging rights in the coast's dusty hamlets, and if the rumors of ancient gold within are true enough to buy passage to a less wretched land.

Prison of the Hated Pretender is an introductory adventure for 4-6 characters levels 0-1. This new 2020 edition updates and streamlines the 2012 adventure (originally published on the Dungeon of Signs blog) and adds suggested guidance and playstyle notes to assist new Game Masters unfamiliar with the principles of classic play. It also includes conversion notes and statlines necessary for playing the adventure in both the classic (Basic) and most recent (Fifth) editions of the game.

A review of the original Prison of the Hated Pretender:

"As an introductory adventure this is great. The setting is a classic one. The monsters are wonderfully different. And there are hooks and mysteries. WONDERFUL hooks and mysteries. [...]  The mind races to find excuses to use this adventure. That’s a good supplement." -- Bryce Lynch, Ten Foot Pole"

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Friday, June 27, 2025

Free OSR - The Count, the Castle, & the Curse (Low-Level OSR Adventure)


I get the most use out of low-level adventures, because it's rare that my campaigns get above 6th or 7th level. The Count, the Castle, & the Curse is for levels 1-3, and it is priced at PWYW, just up my alley.

An invitation from a Count whose name you’ve never heard. From a Castle in a land unknown around these parts. And a Curse which plagues him, pleading for each of your aid—by name—in exchange for an offer too tempting to ignore.  

By next morning a horse-drawn carriage awaited each of you. The dark horses stood silent, their black eyes seeing everything and nothing. The sharp-collared driver shifted on his bench, mumbling to himself. You climbed in anyway.

The carriage lurched forward the moment you clicked the door shut.

The Count, the Castle, & the Curse is a tabletop roleplaying game adventure designed to be run in one single four-to-five hour session intended for player characters of low level (1-3) in which they must escape the Count and his haunted Castle before midnight, using their wits, skills, & perhaps a brooding Curse inside them to escape before their Stress Level climbs too high.

Designed to be used with most d20-focused rule systems in mind such as Shadowdark RPG. This adventure features several alternative rules to better suit the gothic horror themes presented within.

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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Free OSR - Temple of the Beggar King (OSE 9th-Level Adventure)


High-level adventures for old-school D&D are rare to find these days. Or any day. Let alone priced at PWYW. Temple of the Beggar-King fills that niche for OSE.

Temple of the Beggar-King is a level 9 Adventure for Advanced Old School Essentials. It requires Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy to play.

One-thousand years ago the royal guard of Leon III, the King of Kings, set out into the desert to find and destroy the stronghold of the mad prophet of the eastern wastes, the Beggar-King. Into the desert the royal guard, the hand of Leon, marched. It is not known what they encountered, just that they, and the Temple of the Beggar-King, have been lost to time ever since.

Temple of the Beggar-King is an exploration of the strange, often involving a dark interpretation of Buddhist themes and ideas. This adventure involves both elements of horror and violence, as well as high weirdness. It’s aim is to both horrify the players and leave them curious, to draw them deeper and deeper into it’s ensnaring mystery. Some Referee discretion is required as to whether or not this adventure would be appropriate at your table.

It will likely take several sessions to complete and involves the exploration of the ruined temple of an ancient cult. After ascending the Beggar-King has become entombed within it and has become something far stranger and deadly then his dark enlightenment would suggest.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Kickstarter - Port Mirror (ShadowDark/DCC RPG)


Port Mirror is a 0-Level gauntlet/funnel adventure for Shadowdark and the DCC RPG.

I've known Matt De Micco for several years, thanks to NTRPG Con, and I'm a fan of the work he does in our hobby. Port Mirror is his latest Kickstarter, and it is a funnel for ShadowDark and the DCC RPG. I'm a $15 backer.

Port Mirror is the first installment of the Wythmail setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics and Shadowdark. Judges and Game Masters can easily run the adventure in either game system, as stats are provided for both. Play in the setting of Wythmail, or add the town and adventure to your own existing campaign. The adventure features:

  • A 31 page adventure with 17 pieces of original art and maps.
  • Several new monsters like the fiendish cockroach, river reaver, and the Haeyer turtle. 
  • NPCs that you can add to your existing campaigns like Jake, a mastiff war dog, you can befriend and add as a companion.
  • An introduction to Wythmail and its 21-god pantheon with added material for Haeyer (the god of the sea, discipline, and hardwork) and Vorkalth (the god of disease).

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Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Free RPG - Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine - Quickstart

It was Free RPG Day this past Saturday. I no longer pay as close attention to it as I used to, but some of the releases DO make it into PDF format.

Chaosium has released the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine - Quickstart for Free RPG Day 2025. This quickstart includes three adventures in different genres to highlight the system's flexibility, and is well worth the price of "free." 

Powering some of the most influential and celebrated roleplaying games of all time, Basic Roleplaying is presented here in an easy-to-use, intuitive, and accessible quickstart. The system is at the heart of Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, and many other popular games. This quickstart gives you an easy entry point into the Basic Roleplaying world. 

The Universal Game Engine

Basic Roleplaying is an ideal beginner’s game, but also appeals to those who wish for clear, concise rules that are easy to explain in play. Characters are based on what they can do: defined by skills and abilities rather than abstract roles or classes, and they advance by using their skills successfully in play. 

Inside you’ll find: 

Core rules for adventuring, conflict, and combat.

Rules for creating characters from a variety of settings. 

Three complete adventures spanning three settings: swashbuckling France, a hostile alien planet, and a ruined temple devoted to an evil god.

This standalone product is an excellent introduction to Basic Roleplaying-powered games, and introduces the fundamentals of the system in an easy-to-use format. With this quickstart, worlds of wonder and imagination await!

Free RPG Day

Chaosium’s offering for Free RPG Day 2025, the BRP Quickstart is a quick and easy entry point to Chaosium’s robust line of products, from Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, Age of Vikings, and more! Inside these pages are the core of the BRP system and three sample adventures with ready-to-play.

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Monday, June 23, 2025

Kickstarter - His Heinous Harvest - A Survival Horror Mega-Adventure (OSR & ShadowDark)

Persevere through the vile backwater “Colony of Dripwater” in this intense mega-adventure. Designed for characters ranging from levels 1-4.

I've known The Wonkee for several years, thanks to NTRPG Con, and it's been exciting to watch him grow as a creator. I am excited to be a backer of His Heinous Harvest (I'm in at the Great Harvest - Collectors Bundle level - 90 bucks)

Trekking far beyond the borders of civilization, hunting after a thief who has stolen the property of a powerful wizard, to the isolated puritanical “Colony of Dripwater”. The respite granted from reaching the colony quickly proves itself to be less than fruitful. The dwindling stragglers of this decimated population fuel the horror of their shared reality through the use of a magical deliriant, “Giggle-Tar”. The entire community has become enslaved to the tar, propelling an endless cycle of hyper-psychosis that devolves into ritualistic gang warfare and tribal terror tactics each night. Slammed by an unforgiving wave of comprehension as the source of Dripwater's corruption is revealed, each character must confront primal horrors alien to human understanding, discovering for themselves exactly what life is worth. Finding a thief within this village of nightmarish lunacy proves no easy task, as each turn unearths clues to problems best left buried. The deeper one digs, the more clearly it's revealed that the forsaken community above is only a reflection scratching the surface of the corruption that grows beneath the colony. Will the party be able to recover the vengeful wizard's property, or be reaped within His Heinous Harvest? 

A monstrous mega-adventure for 4-8 Player Characters spanning 1st through 4th Level, compatible with Shadowdark RPG & Oldschool Dungeon Crawlers. (Ages 18+)

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Sunday, June 22, 2025

Kickstarter - Temple of The Sheep God (ShadowDark Adventure)

 


Here's the part where I talk about connections. I've known Ian McGarty for about a decade. He's very creative, a truly loyal friend, and quite often a pain in the ass. That pretty much sums it all up ;)

Temple of the Sheep God is a ShadowDark adventure by Ian McGarty. It's part sandbox, part dungeon crawl, and 100% Silver Bulette. $It's 25 for print plus PDF.

This adventure for the Shadowdark RPG takes place in a dangerous 24-mile hex filled with remnants of past battles, where players encounter various creatures and challenges. The setting includes a temple dedicated to a sheep god, featuring unique encounters, treasures, and magical items. The Temple of The Sheep God is an adventure for Shadowdark for characters levels 2-4. The characters have a chance to explore the grasslands around an ancient temple that has gained some new inhabitants. This adventure has a dungeon containing more than 20 room locations. All locations are extensively mapped and filled with exciting puzzles and encounters. 

The book contains maps, art, and original monsters and encounters, including the deadly Boggle!

The temple features various unique rooms with magical items and challenges.

Rooms include the Mushroom Cave, the Infernal Coop, and the Rare Cheese Sanctum, each with distinct creatures and treasures. ​

Players can find items that enhance abilities or provide unique effects, such as the Rod of Life and the Ring of the Rams-head.

At this point, this project is in the final layout touches, most art is in and ready to go, and is otherwise print-ready. The final product will be about 50 pages of perfect-bound 8.5 x 5.5 sized digest, like the Shadowdark core book. 

This product will be printed in the USA and distributed from the beautiful NH mountains with as much child labor that ice cream can buy.

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Saturday, June 21, 2025

Free OSR - Machinations of the Space Princess QUICKSTART



I always reveal my connections with products or projects I highlight, and the Machinations of the Space Princess QUICKSTART! is no exception. James 'Grim' Desborough, the author and main man behind MSO, is both a friend and a creative partner, as we do a monthly livestream together (along with Ryan David) over on Rumble (Inappropriate Characters: Rerolled).

I actually playtested the new Machinations of the Space Princess rules, and they ran fast, were fun, and I would definitely play again? Did I mention the Quickstart is free?

Welcome Spacefreaks!
We're relaunching our successful Machinations of the Space Princess old-school swords-and-scifi game, and you're invited!

For the timebeing this is FREE and includes a psychedelic and surreal space adventure of time-loops and cosmic pizza, as well as quickstart rules so you can try out the game for yourself, as well as pregenerated characters in case you want to start some trouble right away!

This is also the start of our forthcoming Machinations-Media project, which will present a monthly 'zine supporting the worlds of Machinations of the Space Princess over the course of a year. More details on that forthcoming soon!

Lastly, this is our first full attempt at finding ethical ways to use AI, strong human oversight that aims to use AI to assist the disabled and neurodivergent in completing projects and achieving a little independence, or helping older creators to keep working and earning.

We hope people will be supportive of this aim, and the use of AI in this context, helping, rather than replacing human beings.

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Friday, June 20, 2025

Free OSR - B/X Frontiers (Modern/Sci-Fi Rules)



It's not often that B/X, or any OSR system for that matter (they are all 98 %+ compatible, you know), gets the Modern or Sci-Fi Era treatment. With B/X Frontiers, that's precisely what you get in toolkit form - use what you need, tweak what you like, and ignore what doesn't work in your game. Did I mention B/X Frontiers is FREE? 

This system combines the simplicity of old-school B/X systems and uses them for fast-paced, gritty, modern, and future adventures.  At only 51 pages, this rules set is the perfect launch point for your own non-traditional B/X games, allowing for light rules that can easily be expanded upon to fit your own vision.

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Thursday, June 19, 2025

Deal of the Day - Clement Sector Roleplaying Game Core Book


Looking for a
Traveller-style game WITH a complete setting all in one neat package? Look no further than today's Deal of the Day, the Clement Sector Roleplaying Game Core Book. It's on sale for $7.50 until tomorrow morning (usually $25).

Clement Sector Third Edition is the ultimate version of one of the fastest growing space opera games out there.  Powered by the Cepheus Engine, this book contains everything you need to run a Clement Sector game.  This new edition contains all of the setting information you need as well as an entire rules set.  

Clement Sector contains a history of the sector and humanity's expansion in the sector.  It has detailed maps showing all 16 subsectors of Clement Sector as well as subsectors from the nearby Ariel and Tranquility Sectors.

Clement Sector also details the Zimm Drive, the method of stellar travel in this setting, and showcases six commonly seen starships.  Deckplans, art, and statistics are provided for the Rucker-class merchant ship, Luxury-class yacht, Trailblazer-class scout, Atlas-class freighter, Starlight-class merchant, and Farragut-class destroyer.  This book also contains the detailed character generation for which Clement Sector is known as well as a handy NPC generator.  

Clement Sector is also filled with campaign and adventure seeds to allow you and your players to jump straight into the action.  

Welcome to the ultimate edition of Clement Sector!  Adventure awaits you!

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Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Deal of the Day - Organic Towns (System Neutral)



I have always found urban adventures / urban sandboxes challenging to run effectively. Urban environments need to breathe and have a life of their own. Today's Deal of the Day - Organic Towns solves those issues. Usually, it is 24.99 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning, Organic Towns is on sale for $7.50.

"I've really enjoyed the entire Organic Towns PDF! I have an ongoing campaign with a player-run town, and I've just been pulling a bunch of the great ideas out to bolt onto my existing setup. The random event tables are gold and gave me a ton of new pieces to work with." ~ Kickstarter Backer #545

After weeks of travel and adventures, the party returns to town to discover… Nothing. Literally nothing is different since they left. Hmmm…

We can do better than that.

Organic Towns is a system neutral supplement GMs can use to create, grow, and run towns that feel alive. This system will help you run interesting, memorable, and constantly changing settlements while making your life as a GM easier.

Featuring drop-in mechanics that can fit any fantasy tabletop roleplaying game, Organic Towns includes dozens of random tables and over 100 unique buildings and upgrades to make your settlement one-of-a-kind. Your town will be a living, breathing, changing world that is simple to manage. Create an immerse roleplaying experience for your gaming group with Organic Towns.

Organic Towns utilizes a population-based “Settlement Points” system that provides a framework for Settlement Leaders to spend resources to construct buildings, raise armies, and trade with other settlements. Settlement leaders manage construction, decide what to trade for, and roll for monthly event tables. Every choice has consequences as the settlement can fall prey to high crime rates, predatory bandits, rioting, starvation, plague, dehydration, and more.

This 144 page system neutral supplement allows GMs to:

  • Construct 100+ Unique Buildings and Building Upgrades
  • Take Dozens of Settlement Actions and Trade Actions
  • Build Unique Military Units and Ships
  • Monitor and Manage Settlement Resources, Crime, Morale, Food, Water, Housing, and Population Growth
  • Track Everything on an Easy-to-Use Settlement Sheet

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Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Humble Bundle - Goodman Games Monsters, Traps, & DM Tricks



Damn! Goodman is offering a HUGE bundle of stuff. Let me pull out my favorite picks: Grimtooth's Ultimate Traps Collection, How to Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck, Grimtooth's Oldschool Traps, Tome of Adventure Vol 1 & 2, Adventurer's Almanac, GM Gems, PC Pearls, Dungeon Alphabet, Cthulhu Alphabet and the Monster Alphabet. Phew! This is well worth the money!

I would forgo the physical book at $40 and grab the $30 Goodman Games Monsters, Traps, & DM Tricks Bundle.

Teach an old Dungeon Master new tricks with our most epic DM bundle yet! Surprise your companions and foes with new techniques, traps, and tactics from hot books and guides. Create your own original campaigns, get inspired by How to Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck, and gain access to a limited-quantity supply of Grimtooth's Trapsylvania hardback books! Get everything you need to embark on an epic journey together, and help support The Trevor Project with your purchase!





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Monday, June 16, 2025

Deal of the Day - Adventure Anthology for Shadowdark


ShadowDark was part of many conversations that I had at NTRPG Con. Some of the discussions centered on whether or not ShadowDark is OSR (I've been part of similar discussions about the DCC RPG and Castles & Crusades in the past). My answer has always been the same - if players leave the session feeling like they played an Old School RPG, then it's close enough for me - kinda like horseshoes ;)

The Adventure Anthology is a collection of adventures for ShadowDark (but can easily be used with the OSR system of your choice. At 220 pages (and 22 adventures within those pages), The Adventure Anthology for ShadowDark is a steal at $5.99 (usually 19.99). But don't wait - this is a Deal of the Day, so the price is only good until 11:00 AM Tuesday morning (June 17th).

22 adventures

220 pages

PDF and Full size B&W hardcover (8.5″ x 11″)  

The book consists of twenty two short, sharp, independent adventures, designed for low prep, improvised play. Each adventure has a hook/rumours, core scenario, random encounters, NPC details, and B&W illustrations. Nineteen have hand drawn maps. The settings are common locations such as cities, forests, mountains, underground, etc, for easy insertion into your sandbox campaign. They're suitable for PC Levels 1-7 and generally run around six to ten hours of session time.

Originally written for Low Fantasy Gaming RPG, the adventures tend to be lower magic, with a sword & sorcery bent. There are some references to the people and places of the Midlands of Argosa, but these are easily swapped out for your favourite setting.

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Saturday, June 14, 2025

Review - Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3 (PWYW OSR Adventurr)

 


Looking for a short, low-level distraction for your group? Maybe something to run at a gaming convention in a 3 to 4-hour time slot.? Look no further than Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3 from Throwi Games.

I ran Under Tenkar's Tavern this morning at Central NY Con. With character generation for a party of six characters (using Swords & Wizardry Light), we brought the first level of the dungeon to a successful conclusion in about 3 1/2 hours. Objective achieved and fun had by all.

I would expect the full 3 levels to play out in about two sessions in a home campaign, with enough story hooks to keep your group coming back for more.

Priced at PWYW pricing, I'd give Under Tenkar's Tavern 4 1/2 beer steins. It's short, sweet, and easy to prep, and the price is right :)

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Friday, June 13, 2025

Bundle of Holding - Fantasy Age 2e



The first time I saw the system that became Fantasy Age was the adaptation of Dragon Age from console RPG to TTRPG, and I was impressed with what I saw and read. A very playable, not too crunchy, classic-feeling fantasy RPG.

I haven't checked out Fantasy Age 2e yet, but I am tempted to after I return from Central NY Con early next week...

Adventurer! This all-new Fantasy AGE 2E Bundle presents the 2023 Second Edition of Fantasy AGE, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game based on the Adventure Game Engine from Green Ronin Publishing. With the easy-to-learn, flexible Fantasy AGE system you can create a character in minutes, pull off heroic stunts, cast worldshaking spells from 19 mix-and-match arcana, and fine-tune your campaign with optional Peril, Daring, Fortune, and Horror rules. And if you know other AGE system RPGs like The Expanse, Dragon Age, Cthulhu Awakens, Blue Rose, and Modern AGE, you already know how to play Fantasy AGE – all the basic systems are the same.

Techno-Fantasy supplement for Fantasy Age Second EditionFor just US$19.95 you get all seven titles in our Fantasy AGE 2E Collection (retail value $88) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete full-color 290-page Fantasy AGE 2E Core Rulebook, plus the Second Edition Game Master's Toolkit, the VTT Token Pack, and the free Quickstart; Technofantasy; and three 2E adventures: Lair of the Horned Giant, Menace of the Grave Warrens, and Return to the Valley of the Whispering Titans.

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Thursday, June 12, 2025

Deal of the Day - Brink of Calamity (OSRIC)


Today's Deal of the Day is Brink of Calamity, a 180-page campaign and setting for OSRIC, AD&D, and OSR. It's a (potentially) year-long hexcrawl, covering levels 1 to 6. Typically, 14.99 in PDF, until tomorrow morning, Brink of Calamity is marked down to $6.

The town of Warnell, straddling a trade route that crosses two great forests, seems at first like any other backwater on the borderland of civilization, but menace and mystery lurk beneath the surface: a rash of disappearances from the shanties outside the town walls, a ruthless drug cartel operating with impunity while the town watch are powerless to stop them, and marauding bands of brigands and slavers ravaging the countryside. Rumors point would-be heroes and fortune seekers to the enigmatic sanatorium and casino outside of town that draw strange and wealthy travelers from far-away lands, to the abandoned (and reportedly haunted or cursed) old salt mines, to a remote mist-shrouded logging camp with an unsavory reputation, and deep into the trackless primeval forest where the xenophobic elves have forbidden all trespassers. While these locations likely hold death and destruction for the careless and foolhardy, they may also hold the keys to drawing this afflicted town and its hapless inhabitants away from the brink of calamity.  

A First Edition fantasy campaign adventure for 4-20 players with characters of levels 1-6, compatible for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st Edition), OSRIC, or other old-school style fantasy roleplaying game rules and utilizing the concepts and rules additions found within The Heroic Legendarium.

This book, years in preparation and playtesting, presents a complete ready-to-play campaign in a book that covers an 8,000 square mile wilderness map with 30+ detailed locations, a detailed town (plus two detailed villages), five dungeon areas with 16 combined levels and several mini-dungeon lairs, 7 new monsters, 4 new magic items, 140 named & detailed NPCs, extensive rumor and random encounter tables, dozens of potential plots and character interactions, and notes for further expansion. Enough to easily fill at least 20 sessions of play. Includes a revised and expanded version of the previously-published (award-winning) Melonath Falls dungeon together with over 150 pages of never-before-seen new material. 

Note to buyers: If you are purchasing the print edition please buy the print+pdf bundle (which costs the same as buying the print edition alone) so that you can print out extra copies of the maps for use during play. Due to the limits of POD formats the maps are bound into the back of the book rather than in a separate booklet so if you only have the book you will have to flip back and forth to the back of the book during play which would be a hassle. 

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