Tenkar's Tavern: 2025-08-17

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Kickstarter - Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain #2: Malkova Wilds (OSR - Various Flavors)

I think I've known Paul Wolf since my first NTRPG Con in 2014. My, how time flies!

In any case, Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain #2: Malkova Wilds is a hexcrawl zine that comes in various OSR flavors: OSE, ShadowDark, DCC, & OSRIC. With that many choices, finding a system that comes closest to your actual game at your table is a breeze.

Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain #2: Malkova Wilds is $9 in PDF and $14 in Print, plus PDF (shipping for me was $ 3, and yes, you can add issue #1 when checking out).

Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain #2: The Malkova Wilds is a continuing hex-crawl campaign simultaneously published for the Shadowdark RPG, DCC RPG, Old School Essentials / Basic-Expert RPGs, and OSRIC 3 RPG.
It's a planned 40 to 56-page book packed with adventures, a city crawl system, encounter tables, monsters, magic items and more. It will (hopefully) include a detached color cover that features a beautiful full-color hex map of the Malkova Wilds!

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Sunday, August 17, 2025

Kickstarter - Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain #2: Malkova Wilds (OSR - Various Flavors)

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