Bundle of Holding - Advanced Adventures MEGA (OSR/OSRIC Adventures)

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.

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Deal of the Day - A Magical Society: Silk Road

The whole "A Magical Society" series of releases from Expeditious Retreat Press is a goldmine for GMs of all sorts. I have a complete collection, some of them in print, and all in PDF. They are essential reading for planning and running a campaign that lives and breathes.

Today's Deal of the Day is A Magical Society: Silk Road for $12 in PDF until tomorrow morning (usually $30). Commerce, trade routes, and more.

A Magical Society: Silk Road is a 160 page supplement detailing great overland trade routes. Borrowing extensively from the caravans of Central Asia,

A Magical Society: Silk Road covers a variety of topics: what factors engender great overland trade routes, what elements accompany the existence of silk roads, and how do caravans function on the road (with consideration to terrain). Due to general unfamiliarity with Central Asia, an entire chapter is dedicated to the historic Silk Road with maps detailing the major trade destinations. And last but not least, there is a trade system with over 1,000 trade goods, giving ultimate tools for economic simulation.

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Deal of the Day - A Magical Society: Beast Builder

The complete "A Magical Society" series is top-notch, even if it is well over a decade old. Today's Deal of the Day is A Magical Society: Beast Builder. Normally A Magical Society: Beast Builder is 30 bucks in PDF, but until tomorrow morning at 11 AM Eastern it is marked down to $12.

A Monster Builder like nothing ever seen before…

A Magical Society: Beast Builder is 224 pages packed with information that helps you make your own monsters. In the tradition of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe and A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture, A Magical Society: Beast Builder gives you the tools you need to make your own campaign specific monsters to challenge and excite your players while adding to the depth and realism of your campaign world.

Chapter One: Monster Concepts and Functions— Monster concepts and functions drive what a monster is and even more importantly, what it does. This chapter discusses common concepts such as creature hierarchies (juvenile, adult, elder etc.), additive abilities (like the vrock’s dance of ruin), mythological inspiration and other monster building aspects.

It gives advice on creating a good concept based upon the function of a creature. Every monster has a concept and a type (such as giant, vermin, etc.), but more than that every monster has a function; the part of the monster that answers the question “What does it do?” I outline the 20 most common functions such as grappler, caster, disabler, energy attacker and PC killer, and how such functions play out in the game. Under each function, you’ll also find a list of the creatures from the SRD as well as creatures from Monster Geographica: Underground that possess that function.

Chapter Two: Monsters and their Environment— Every monster has a place in your world and every place has its monsters. This chapter is simply stuffed with useful information about environment, ecology, biology, and behavior that will help you completely customize every creature to suit your needs. We all know that statistics alone don’t make a great monster. The best monsters are ones with a rich place within your world and this chapter will help you give your new creation a fitting background.

Chapter Three: Monster Statistics— Although a great background is a must for a great monster, statistical accuracy is just as important. This 19 page chapter discusses every bit of the monster stat block and gives you the information you need to insure your great fluff isn’t let down by poor crunch.

Chapter Four: Type and Subtype— Continuing the statistical break-down of creatures, type and subtype is analyzed in chapter four. I give advice about determining subtype (just what is an aberration anyway?) as well as breakdown on ability scores based upon the SRD monsters. You’ll find that although the rules say one thing, the execution often shows another when it comes to ability scores.

Chapter Five: Templates— Worthy of their own chapter, templates are great additions to any GMs bag of tricks. This chapter gives you information on the main 14 template (such as archetypal, greater, half, and planar-aligned) themes as well as seven main ways of acquiring a template. It finishes with a template-only version of chapters four and seven, giving you all existing information so you’ll have more options when designing your own templates.

Chapter Six: Bits and Pieces— Bits and pieces is a short chapter filled with campaign oriented monster parts. In a magical world filled with hostile monsters, holistic magic plays its role and the remains of fallen foes can often be used against those who lived. This chapter helps think of monsters from yet another perspective.

Chapter Seven: Special Attacks, Special Qualities, and Conditions— This huge chapter provides you with 600 special abilities taken from all the creatures in the SRD and all the creatures in Monster Geographica: Underground. Each of these abilities has been broken down to component parts to demonstrate useful guidelines when using them with any CR creature. For example the balor’s death throes SA/SQ is now tied to a creature’s HD, instead of being a straight 100 points of damage. Every SA/SQ has its source monsters (the monsters that possess that ability) listed as well. Once you jump into this chapter there’s no turning back; there’s simply so many cool things you could do when making your monsters you may not want to move onto the next chapter.

Appendix I: D20 Mechanic Table— A single table showing the d20 mechanic. You’ll be surprised how useful this is when deciding monster hit percentages and saving throw percentages. It’s much easier than just doing it in your head.

Appendix II: Editing Checklist— Every monster should face the checklist! A short outline-format editing checklist that covers the most common dangers/errors of d20 monster creation.

Appendix III: Random(ish) Monster Generator— And last but not least, a random(ish) monster generator is provided for when inspiration has simply gone dry. Don’t expect the most sensible results, but anything can happen! This is particularly useful if you want to make creatures for the hordes of chaos.

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Bundle of Holding - Advanced Adventures MEGA (OSRIC/AD&D 1e)

When I returned to the DM's seat 11 years ago, I wanted to use a familiar system. So, I used AD&D 1e, but with the OSRIC rulebook, which is simply a much easier-to-reference version of 1e. I also purchased a number of Advanced Adventures from Expeditious Retreat Press, and I was very pleased with the content I received from Mr. Browning and Company. A few years later, I was able to snag the first score or so in hardcover collections. Seriously, good stuff.

One of the current bundles over at Bundle of Holding is the Advanced Adventures MEGA Bundle:

For just US$9.95 you get all twelve titles in our 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 $35.79, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with thirty-four more titles worth an additional $210: all 33 remaining 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 Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

OSR Good Ol' Gaming Sale - Select Titles 75% Off - Hundreds at 15% Off or more

RPGNow is running a sale with 15% off (or more) on many OSR titles in PDF and the six pictured above are virtual "must haves" at 75% off.

Let's peek at the six titles above, shall we?

Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King  $6.99  $1.75

A Level 1 Adventure 

At long last, the first adventure ever published for DCC RPG is now available! This is the updated second printing that was first released at Gary Con 2014. It features a fresh edit and several new pieces of art! 

High above the windswept moors and darksome woods, the village of Hirot is under siege. Each night, as the sun sinks beneath the western mountains and the candles burn low, a devil-beast stalks the village streets, unleashing its savage fury on the living. From warlord to pauper, crone to child, no one is safe. 

Defeating the immortal hound will require more than mere blades or even spells. To slay the beast, the characters must delve into the mysteries of the land and its Savage Kings. Only then, armed with relics forged from a bloody past, can the most cunning and courageous of adventurers challenge the hound of Hirot!

The Monster Alphabet $11.99  $2.99

An A-to-Z Reference for Classic Monster Design 

What foul beasts slosh and gibber in the furthest reaches of your skull? Unleash your demons with the Monster Alphabet, a compilation of monster design elements keyed to letters of the alphabet. 

A is for Android, B is for Breath Weapon, C is for Crossbreed! Game masters of any rule system will find inspiration for creating strange, new abominations: random tables of traits, powers, and lore; awe-inspiring illustrations by your favorite fantasy artists old and new; and rolling handfuls of dice directly on monster generation diagrams.
The entries are accompanied by fantastic art from classic fantasy illustrators and are compatible with all fantasy role playing games.  

Featuring a foreword by noted designer Frank Mentzer! 

Rules Set: Systems-neutral, designed to be used with any RPG

Malevolent and Benign $10.00  $2.50

Evoking the early days of roleplaying, Expeditious Retreat Press is pleased to release Malevolent and Benign, a new 1e monster book with 150 new creaures and more than 85 illustrations in this 128-paged tome, compatible with the first edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game!

Malevolent & Benign II $10.00  $2.50

Evoking the early days of roleplaying, Expeditious Retreat Press is pleased to release Malevolent and Benign II, a new 1e monster book with 150+ new creatures and more than 75 illustrations in this 110-paged tome, compatible with the first edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game!

Castles & Crusades Players Handbook 7th Printing $20.00  $5.00

We’ve moved to the 7th printing of the Castles & Crusades Players Handbook. A pillar of the table top RPG industry, Castles & Crusades embodies the spirit of the old-school gamer with the easy to use modern mechanics. The Players Handbook has all you need to get started in a wild ride of adventure! 

It’s easy to learn attribute-based rules system allows players to choose among 13 archetypal character classes and 7 races to create their characters. Spells, equipment, fast-paced combat rules, and all essential information needed to play a game of Castles & Crusades is in this book.

Codex of Aihrde $19.99  $5.00

The World of Aihrde, (Codex of Aihrde/map) is your storyboard. Its vibrant mythology, and an unfolding history, makes the World of Aihrde an unparalleled fantasy setting. With a wealth of playable material, Aihrde is like a tapestry unfolding, one that you can make your own! 

Rich in adventure hooks, Aihrde is like no other on the market today. It infuses character generation with an energy unique for its genre, and arms the game master with material that is both fixed and malleable. 

The world of Aihrde spins upon an earth-like axis of ancient civilizations where good and evil have struggled for countless years. It is a world that bears the markings of its past; where ancient evils slumber, stained with the power of eldritch wizardry; where gods dwell in bejeweled halls of wonderment, worshiped by men and women of all creeds; where dragons live in great dens of heaped treasure; where the new stands upon the ruins of the old in beds of ancient glory. 

The Codex of Aihrde includes everything you need to get started adventuring in one of the most expansive game settings you'll ever enjoy. 

The Codex is presented in two parts: 

Part 1 The Andanuth (roughly 102 pages): Here we learn the story of Aihrde, from its uttermost beginning to the present age. It follows the journey of All Father, the creation of the gods and the world. We learn who the gods are and how they interact long before the coming of the dwarves and man. The story covers the creation of these people and more and all their long journeys and travails from their arrival to the realms of the day. The Andanuth is generously sprinkled with stories and tales of gods and men, dwarves and goblins, war and peace. You'll not wonder what happened before...you'll know. 

Part 2 The Almanac (roughly 170 pages): In part 2 we dive into the particulars of the gods, the people, countries, places and realms of Aihrde. There are over 50 gods outlined for play, a dozen peoples including all your favorites (dwarves, elves, men, halflings, gnomes, orcs, goblins, giants, trolls, dragons and more). Each of 30 plus realms are intimately detailed with history, government, economy, military, present rulers and other specific information. Beyond that we have terrain that is detailed as well. 

Appendices: Several Appendices cover extra material such as detailed time line, calendar, weather patterns, languages, and flora of Aihrde.

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PWYW - The Obsidian Sands of Syncrates (Adventure for Levels 7-10)

As OSRToday mentioned, Expeditious Retreat Press has put the Advanced Adventure The Obsidian Sands of Syncrates at Pay What You Want pricing, which means you can effectively download it for free and if you like what you see, you can put a tip in the tip jar.

It's also a good way to peek at a company's line of releases and decide if you want more. Personally, I have the three printed volumes of adventures for Expeditious Retreat Press, covering adventures 1-30 and it's a great "go to" collection for when have limited time to prep. The adventures are universally well done.

Expeditious Retreat is Running a 50% Off Sale on PDFs For 48Hrs - Save Joseph From the Dreaded Space Pirates!

Joseph Browning, he of Expeditious Retreat Press, purveyors of Old School Goodness, are running a 50% off PDFs sale over at RPGNow. Best I can tell, it applies to everything that isn't free (free stuff is half of fee, which remarkably is still free!)

Save him from the Space Pirates in his dream, that gave him a choice of torture of a PDF sale. My players would have opted to have Joseph tortured, but at the DM I'd be going for the PDFs myself.

(somehow i grabbed a buggered link - fixed now)

Free Game of the Week - Worlds Apart

Maybe you remember me posting about Worlds Apart over the weekend - I did. It is currently reside in the Free Game of the Week spot on the left side of this page, so consider this a reminder if your haven't already grabbed a copy.

What is is? A fantasy RPG on a water based world with the Traveller OGL rules as the engine. Pretty neat.

From the blurb:

Four islands composed the sultry chain, floating upon a bright blue sea under a tropical sun, each island gradually decreasing size as the eye passed from north to south. They were mountainous, etched with deep valleys, and covered with lush foliage. Greysolt surveyed the chain as best he could with his spyglass, taking the longest time upon the southernmost island, covered in a hazy steam of warm clouds. The crew of The Dromedary remained silent as the Captain surveyed what no other voyagers had ever seen. Each held different thoughts in the silence: thoughts of receptive natives, thoughts of fresh water and fresh fruit, thoughts of spices unknown to the civilized world, thoughts of slaughter and pillage.

The crew was a motley sort, a dozen or so hardened men and women in their late 30’s. Each had another life behind them; some, several different lives. They were unreliable in the mainstay, but rock-solid in a clutch. They bickered and feuded as they worked, helping each other make The Dromedary move, breath, and live. Their ship was not just a thing of wood and artifice, it was a collection of elemental powers: it was a voyager ship.

Greysolt declared the all clear indicating an isolated cove to drop anchor, and the crew jumped into action. Several went into the hull to tend to the elementals bound within eldritch machinery, but most headed towards their cabins, gathering various equipment for the coming landing. The cove beckoned, the unknown called.

The Dromedary calmly pulled into the bay and slowed to drop anchor. Two dinghies plopped into the water, and their crew descended into the rocking ships. Crossbows ready, the small craft rowed to the black sand shores. Behind the shores a seemingly impenetrable wall of vegetation dazzled in a multi-colored display. Now, to heed the call…

Welcome, traveler, to Worlds Apart! Brave the Forever Sea in a fantasy game of trade and exploration. Take the role of soldier or sailor, entertainer or scholar, dweomercraefter or drifter. A thousand thousand islands populate the world and riches, adventure, and danger lurks upon every shore!

Expeditious Retreat Press is Giving Away Free Adventures in PDF

You read it right. Joseph Browning, the main man behind Expeditious Retreat Press, is giving away free PDFs of his Advanced Adventures line for OSRIC (usable with the OSR ruleset of your choice with minimal work).

So, how do you get in on this deal?

1 - Go the Joseph's Sorcery & Super Science Blog.

2 - Follow the Sorcery & Super Science blog via Google Friends Connect if you haven't already done so

3 - Let him know in a comment on the post linked here (and above) which singular aventure you would like to get (there are 25 to choose from - he has it linked on the post).

simple, aint it?

The Tavern is an Old School Blog. Joseph is giving away an Old School Adventure of choice to those who simply ask.

Match made in heaven if you ask me.

Time to unleash the hordes of drunken (and sober) Tavern patrons!

Worlds Apart - Traveller Based RPG From Expeditious Retreat Press (Free and Pay Versions)

Joe Browning has released Worlds Apart, a Traveller "Powered" RPG. Unlike many of the games using the OGL, which are D20 based, Joe went with OGL Traveller to build his latest game's engine.

At it's simplest, its a fantasy themed pirate RPG setting, with Dwarves and Elves (no halflings or gnomes - the shame). Well, actually not pirating, but I could see privateering happening in the setting.

AS far as I know, this is the first game that isn't Traveller using the Traveller game engine, including careers and tours (and possible death) during character generation. For this reason alone I want to give it a try.

I'm working my way through the paid with art version of Worlds Apart, and I like what I see so far. I need to see how well he's integrated magic spells ("Talents") into the Traveller engine. I'm very intrigued. I'll review it when I'm through the rules, but I wanted to bring it to your attention, especially with the free version of the Worlds Apart rules being released (and practically the whole art free package being released to the OGL) alongside the paid.

From the blurb:


Four islands composed the sultry chain, floating upon a bright blue sea under a tropical sun, each island gradually decreasing size as the eye passed from north to south. They were mountainous, etched with deep valleys, and covered with lush foliage. Greysolt surveyed the chain as best he could with his spyglass, taking the longest time upon the southernmost island, covered in a hazy steam of warm clouds. The crew of The Dromedary remained silent as the Captain surveyed what no other voyagers had ever seen. Each held different thoughts in the silence: thoughts of receptive natives, thoughts of fresh water and fresh fruit, thoughts of spices unknown to the civilized world, thoughts of slaughter and pillage.

The crew was a motley sort, a dozen or so hardened men and women in their late 30’s. Each had another life behind them; some, several different lives. They were unreliable in the mainstay, but rock-solid in a clutch. They bickered and feuded as they worked, helping each other make The Dromedary move, breath, and live. Their ship was not just a thing of wood and artifice, it was a collection of elemental powers: it was a voyager ship.

Greysolt declared the all clear indicating an isolated cove to drop anchor, and the crew jumped into action. Several went into the hull to tend to the elementals bound within eldritch machinery, but most headed towards their cabins, gathering various equipment for the coming landing. The cove beckoned, the unknown called.

The Dromedary calmly pulled into the bay and slowed to drop anchor. Two dinghies plopped into the water, and their crew descended into the rocking ships. Crossbows ready, the small craft rowed to the black sand shores. Behind the shores a seemingly impenetrable wall of vegetation dazzled in a multi-colored display. Now, to heed the call…

Welcome, traveler, to Worlds Apart! Brave the Forever Sea in a fantasy game of trade and exploration. Take the role of soldier or sailor, entertainer or scholar, dweomercraefter or drifter. A thousand thousand islands populate the world and riches, adventure, and danger lurks upon every shore!

Sorcery & Super Science! Super Saturday One Day Sale

Thanks to The Underdark Gazette for pointing out Expeditious Retreat's one day sale on it's Sorcery & Super Science line.  At a buck a piece,  I'm grabbing a few myself.

And a happy 40th to the ERP man himself.  Joe, enjoy the day!

Free Adventure From Expeditious Retreat

Advanced Adventures #10:  The Lost Keys of Solitude is free thanks to Joe Browning thru this monday.  Normally 7 bucks, the man is just giving it away.  Do him a favor and grab yourself a copy.

See, if you followed his blog, you wouldn't need me to tell you ;)

Mini Review - Tome of Tomes, Volume One - (Systemless / OGL / OSR)

This is one of those pleasant surprises that makes me say "Why didn't I think of that?"  The answer in this case is that I doubt I would have come anywhere close to putting together the excellent piece of work Joseph Browning did with Tome of Tomes, Volume 1.

Now, technically this is aimed at the Old School, D&D rooted rules and clones, but there really is no reason this couldn't work just as well with 3.5 / Pathfinder or even Tunnels & Trolls.  Any fantasy based RPG that has folks with dangerous weapons and spells looking for loot should find this right up their alley.

Joe does a great job not only detailing the details of the tomes in question (size, weight, author, materials, value, fields of study and the like) but he also gives each tome a paragraph that deals with background and other fiddly bits.  These books live and breath.  I would have loved to have had some of these in my 12th level wizard's study back in the day.

A hundred books for three bucks.  Hard to beat that.

My personal favorite?  Beardless Ladies - Kinda like a Playboy for Dwarves.  I suspect there is a copy hidden in the Tavern's Privy ;)

From the blurb:


Books in fantasy games have always been sources of mystery. We're all familiar with the sight of the magic user's eyes lighting up like a 5-year-old at Christmas when one is found. This work provides 100 tomes for your gaming pleasure, ranging from the magical to the mundane, from the common to the unique. Never again will you be at a loss to describe that recently found libram.


Tome of Tomes is a compilation of books that could be found on a sage's shelf or on the shelves of a city library. Each tome is described and classified according to field of study and special knowledge category (if applicable).