I've known Greg Christopher, the author and publisher of ShadowRim, for well over a decade. He, indirectly, was the driving force that brought me to the OSR. He is also one of the more prolific and skilled creatives that I know.
I own the physical boxed set, and the value is amazing!
The Call of Cthulhu Starter Set contains books, dice, premade character sheets, maps, and enough content to keep a group busy for several roleplaying sessions.
Three softcover manuals broken into rules and scenarios to guide you in playing Call of Cthulhu. The physical boxed version also includes all the dice you need to play the game: a D4, D6, D8, D20, Percentile D10, and an extra D10 in a different color for use as a bonus/penalty die.
Learn to play in the best way possible—by playing! The special introduction “Alone Against The Flames”, a solo Call of Cthulhu scenario, teaches you the basic rules of the game and character creation as you find yourself in the rural New England town of Emberhead—but can you escape?
Three scenarios designed for 3, 4 and up to 5 players.
In Paper Chase, the search for a missing professor leads to a grizzly discovery.
Edge of Darkness sees a group of investigators fulfill the wish of a dying friend, and attempt to undo the mistakes of the past.
Finally, in Dead Man Stomp, Harlem and jazz music serve as a backdrop to the nefarious schemes of an alien god.
Player aids are an essential component to Call of Cthulhu gameplay. Each scenario has its own collection of maps, notes and player handouts. Each presented in full color, these play aids will enhance your gameplay, and help your players immerse themselves in each of the investigations.
Full confession - I'm fascinated by solo play RPGs. Not so much solo adventures, but the ability to take an OSR ruleset and embrace solo play. It's not that I lack friends or a group to play with, but gaming on demand does have its appeal.
FYI, I just ordered Flint and the Cairn Player's and GM's books in PRINT (free in PDF) - there will be a review later this summer.
This supplement for Cairn: Second Edition invites you into a symbolic, character-driven experience that preserves the unique narrative-based progression mechanics of Cairn and marries them seamlessly with a new quest-based advancement system that will make you rush home from work just to keep playing.
With a tarot deck as your compass, you’ll uncover quests, endure trials, and interpret the shifting winds of fate as you wander the vast lands of Vald. Whether you’re forging mythic skill paths or wrestling with fateful omens scrivened from the Major Arcana, every choice deepens your story. There are no rails here—only echoes, intuition, and the quiet weight of consequence.
This is not a game. It’s a guide to a solo campaign of Cairn 2e (free). No AI oracle or random table will tell you what happens next—you will. With nothing more than a tarot deck and the core rules of Cairn 2e, you’ll generate your own campaign, character arc, and fate.
Inside you’ll find:
A tarot-based quest system that powers advancement through emergent story
Four attribute-aligned skill trees, each with five tiers and tons of new upgrades, tactics, and abilities
Two simultaneous oracle systems; one that paints detail into every nook & cranny and another that forges narrative turning points—both wondrous and grim
Support tables for generating NPCs, locations, traps, encounters, and treasures from each of the 78 tarot cards.
A formidable overview of the Arcana including the basics and history of Tarot as well as universal interpretations of each.
Over 80 quest prompts matched to the numbered and court cards of the four tarot suits
Designed for solo play—but modular enough to use in cooperative or GM-less modes
Balanced for Cairn but easily adaptable into any of Cairn's cousins (Into the Odd, Knave, Maze Rats) or OSR systems
Since you've made it all the way down here, that must mean you're into this kind of thing, so just between me and you...
What if we assumed for a moment that what happens in a game is not a game. That it is real. That the lands you can discover are being terraformed as we speak. That the treasures are hiding themselves away, the monsters are readying themselves to strike, the swords are sharpening themselves against flint ready to be drawn and plunged into that which deserves them.
This is the premise of Flint. It's all real. And you can discover it all on your own.
The current Advanced Adventures MEGA Bundle on Bundle of Holding is a solid choice for OSR gamers and DMs. I'd jump on it myself, but I own it all in compiled print editions. That being said, there's a TON of adventuring for about a buck and adventure or less.
Adventurer! We've resurrected our January 2023 Advanced Adventures Megabundle featuring .PDF ebooks of nearly four dozen short, ready-to-play tabletop fantasy roleplaying adventure modules in the long-running Advanced Adventures line from Expeditious Retreat Press. These 43 short scenarios – dungeon crawls inspired by the earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons – show off the Old School Revival style: tools, not plotlines; rulings, not rules; a gamemaster who doesn't railroad players onto a prearranged script but lets them sink or swim through their own actions. Encounters aren't necessarily "balanced," and outcomes are seldom scripted. Characters who don't use their heads usually wind up losing them.
Designed for the open-license OSRIC system (the "Old School Reference & Index Compilation," a free retroclone of First Edition AD&D), these Advanced Adventures modules adapt easily to any Old School fantasy RPG such as Old-School Essentials or Shadowdark, and they fit smoothly in your ongoing campaign to let your player characters ramp from level-1 zeroes to level-10 heroes.
For just US$9.95 you get all twelve titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $70) as DRM-free ebooks, including the first ten AA modules – from #01: The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom through #10: The Lost Keys of Solitude – and we add the 2009 bestiary Malevolent and Benign I and the free OSRIC rulebook. For a list of all the modules with links to their sales pages on DriveThruRPG, see the first book entry below, "Advanced Adventures #01-10."
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $35.13, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with thirty-four more titles worth an additional $210: 33 more Advanced Adventures modules from #11: The Conqueror Worm through #43 The Warrens of Zagash, and hitting many highlights of the AA line including #15: Stonesky Delve, #23: Down the Shadowvein and #24: The Mouth of the Shadowvein, and both White Dragon Run scenarios. (For the list and the DTRPG links, see the fourth book entry below, "Advanced Adventures #11-43.") We also include the 2018 Malevolent and Benign II monster manual.
The Christmas in July Sale is going strong at DTRPG. There are a ton of titles at 30% off, as well as a few at 75% off. Today's pick is one of those 75% off games, Candela Obscura.
I've heard mixed reviews of Candela Obscura in the past, but at $5 instead of the usual $20, I figure I can take the plunge and see if I like what's presented. If I don't, I'm sure I can salvage $5 worth of entertaining from it ;)
You’re needed, investigators: join the secret society Candela Obscura to confront occult horrors from beyond, keeping hidden the true nature of magickal incursions besetting our world.
The Candela Obscura Core Rulebook is a fully detailed guide on playing and gamemastering the collaborative investigative horror tabletop roleplaying game. As an investigator of the paranormal secret society Candela Obscura, you and your circle are charged with exploring, fighting, and protecting the people of Newfaire from supernatural dangers lurking in the folds of a bustling world unaware of the occult magick simmering beneath. Candela Obscura is the very first game to use the Illuminated Worlds System as well as the first full RPG from Darrington Press, as featured in the ongoing anthology series on Critical Role.
Inside of the Candela Obscura Core Rulebook you’ll discover:
204 detailed pages
The core rules to play and create your Candela Obscura investigators and their circles.
Over 90 pages detailing the turn of the century-inspired setting of the Fairelands, and in detail the city of Newfaire and the ancient ruins beneath known as Oldfaire.
4 full example assignments for gamemasters to dive in with their players.
Over 30 example assignments to explore far-flung corners of the Fairelands and the organizations and people operating within it.
An extensive guide to preparing for and gamemastering Candela Obscura.
Immersive, in-world ephemera and notes strewn throughout the chapters—illustrations, sketches, research notes, correspondences, advertisements, maps, and more to bring the Fairelands to life.
Get immersed in Candela Obscura’s turn-of-the-century inspired setting, learn about the secret society Candela Obscura and its rival factions, and take a spin through the Illuminated Worlds System. Grab some six-sided dice and you’re ready to go!
