I'm well known as a Kickstarter Junkie, but I have been trying to cut back on my intake. I'm currently only backing two open Kickstarters - trust me, that's me cutting to the bone.
Inn To The Deep Deluxe Edition is a collection of four awesome ready-to-run dungeon adventures for low to mid level characters, contained in a sturdy box along with some other goodies! The box's contents include:
• 5 saddle-stitched books ranging in length from 36 to 60 pages.
• 6 11"x17" battle maps for 25mm-32mm miniatures, folded twice so as to fit in the box.
• 6 player handouts.
GM-friendly The adventures are written with brevity and designed with bullet point descriptions and a clear, user-friendly layout. Room descriptions are presented on the same spread as relevant map locations, dispensing with the need for the GM to flip back and forth between pages.
Annotated Maps The AMAZING maps are annotated with notes on saving throws, NPCs, monsters, and traps! Even the direction doors swing open is on there!
The Bog Inn The dungeons are all linked by The Bog Inn, a ramshackle establishment that caters to adventurers and hirelings. PCs can return to the inn after their adventures to savor their victories, replace dead hirelings, and find new adventures. Each time the PCs visit the Bog Inn, the referee rolls on a table to see what changes have taken place since their last visit, and to see what is happening at the very moment they enter!
Replayability Most dungeon rooms have at least one random element, including number of monsters present, surprise occurrences, and when certain events will occur. Each time the referee runs a given dungeon, it will play out differently from the previous time!
Flavor Inn To The Deep takes its inspiration from the British adventure modules of the 1980s. That means quirky and often deranged NPCs and monsters, lashings of dark humor, and the ever-present spectre of a TPK!
Wind Wraith is a toolkit that you can use to generate your own fantasy post-apocalypse ocean world, complete with scattered islands, factions, ships, and ancient arcane machines. Play as the descendants of the survivors of a great flood, explorers in a fallen world, as they build and upgrade their ship and crew. Attempt to unravel the mysteries of the past and survive with limited resources. Wind Wraith was made for the old school essentials rule system but can easily be converted to many other rule systems.
Inspired by Yoon-Suin, Wind Wraith is a generative setting toolkit. This means every game master will generate their own unique flooded world with the book. This is achieved through a pipeline of random generation tables that begin with broad brush strokes and gradually zoom in to a micro scale. Also included are quick-start rules and detailed pre-generated islands so you can start playing right away.
Some people do these conversions on the fly, based on feel. Others like to have it spelled out for them. I'm in the former category myself, but if you are in the latter, today's Deal of the Day - Content Conversion Guide Second Edition (Pathfinder / 5E / P2E / OSR / DCC / d20 3.5 / AD&D 2e) is the guide for you.
If you've ever wanted to take adventure content from one system and use it in another, this book has been designed to be of invaluable help.
With full support for 3.x and AD&D 2e, you can easily convert decades-old campaign material for use with more recent rules systems, or vice versa.
Return to the realms of Greyhawk, Mystara, Planescape, Al-Qadim, Dark Sun, Kara-Tur, Birthright, and even Hollow World, or explore them for the very first time, in the rules system of your choice!
Extend and enhance the options available for settings that have been republished, but much more sparsely than the hundreds of sourcebooks and adventures that are available over the decades for older systems. Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, and more: if you liked the material that is available for 5E, you'll gush at the opportunity to delve into hundreds of sourcebooks that have come before.
Relive, or relish, HUNDREDS of ancient sourcebooks, adventures, and options, in the modern rules system of your choosing.
Take the hundreds of first-party, and thousands of indie, adventures and sourcebooks that have been published for P1E and other older systems, and use them in 5E or another supported system of your choice.
Convert any content, from any of the supported rules systems, into any of the other rules systems.
Only with the Content Conversion Guide: Second Edition.
Knave 2e is today's Deal of the Day (usually 20, marked down to $8 in PDF). Play it as is, or use it for inspiration with the RPG of your choice.
Knave 2e is an exploration-driven fantasy RPG and worldbuilding toolkit, inspired by the best elements of the Old-School DnD movement.
This edition expands on the intuitive core of the original game, featuring elegant, modular subsystems for hexcrawling, dungeon delving, potion making and downtime activities, all in a 80-page digest-sized hardcover lavishly illustrated by Peter Mullen. The book features:
A world-class GM's toolkit. Roll and combine results from 75 d100 tables to rapidly generate dungeons, overworld regions, cities, monsters, items, spells, NPCs and factions, or just scan the pages for inspiration. These are especially useful for people who enjoy playing RPGs solo.
Intuitive, unified d20 mechanics that allow new players to make characters and start playing in minutes. Ability scores, armor, and difficulty ratings are placed on a 0-10 scale, yet remain compatible with the adventures and monsters from the last 50 years of fantasy roleplaying. The rules can also effortlessly switch between player-facing and GM-facing rolls.
A slot-based inventory system that makes tracking what you carry both easy and mechanically meaningful. If you take enough damage, wounds can begin filling items slots, forcing you to drop gear, treasure, or weapons.
Classless character generation that lets PCs draw from multiple archetypes at once. Any PCs can cast spells, call down miracles and use any weapon or armor. Their effectiveness is only restricted by what abilities they choose to improve and how they fill their limited item slots.
A d6 Hazard Die system that condenses tracking encounters, clues, weather changes, fatigue, torch burn, and resource depletion into the roll of a single die.
A utility-focused magic system that empowers PCs to alter the world in creative ways with 100 level-less spells. Also, a huge spell generator for groups who want chaotic, randomized magic.
A relic-driven divine magic system in which PCs complete missions for deities to gain their blessings. Generate new deities including their domains and symbols.
A monster-hunting alchemy system where PCs can hunt down magical creatures for their special abilities and then refine them into potions.
Downtime activities where PCs carouse, gamble, recruit hirelings, and build bases.
A tactical warfare system that resolves mass battles in minutes.
Straightforward GM and player principles for getting started running an old-school style game.
Designer commentary that explains the reasoning behind the rules.
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.
While not NEW new (as the West Marches Campaign Playstyle Guidebook was released in PDF in mid-May of this year, and in that time has gone Platinum for sales, the Print on Demand just went live, and both print and PDF are discounted this week.
PS - I ordered the print plus PDF and will try to get a review up in the next few weeks.
This handbook is your guide to running and playing in a West Marches-style campaign.
Inside, you’ll find clear, practical advice on preparing sessions, running the game, and embracing character-driven storytelling.
The West Marches method of play is perfect for modern lifestyle gaming with busy schedules and full calendars.
Designed to be system-agnostic, this book works with any RPG and helps GMs and players alike focus on exploration, discovery, and meaningful consequence.
Whether you’re just starting out or ready to level up your game, this handbook will walk you through the process step by step.
Note: The POD is now LIVE (4th of July) and will be on SALE this first weekend. Enjoy!
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.
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+)
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.
Here I am at NTRPG Con, when I should be shopping the vendor tables, and instead I'm searching Kickstarter for OSR releases. Have no fear - I'll be shopping the vendor hall tomorrow. Today, I am looking at an OSR zine Kickstarter - Fantasy RPG Zine Double Feature - Delver 18 and Runes 7.
Now, I am familiar with Delver Zine, having snagged an issue (or three) in the past, and I was pleased with what I had. I've yet to catch a copy of Runes (it's for ShadowDark, so I should snag it), but I expect it will be of the same high quality.
Print plus PDF is 13 bucks (the pair is 24). I expect I'll be backing this Kickstarter when I'm home from NTRPG Con...
The Fantasy RPG Zine Double Feature will offer up two zines for GMs and players, every other month, for a total of 12 issues per year.
Delver magazine (zine-format, 5.5 " wide x 8.5" tall) is for GMs and Players of OSR fantasy RPGs such as Old-School Essentials, Swords & Sorcery, and Basic Fantasy RPG. Runes is an identical zine-format that focuses on the Shadowdark RPG.
Both issues provide OSR content for GMs and players looking for a return to the style and feel of classic dungeon crawling; each zine provides a mix of random tables, new magic items, new spells and much more. Further, each issue provides an article of interest and an adventure complete with room descriptions, maps, NPCs and new creatures and notes for the GM on running the adventure.
I've said this before, and it bears repeating - I'm a sucker for settings. I rarely use any as written, but for inspiration, I find myself constantly adding to my collection.
Gods of the Forbidden North: Volume 2 details the underworld, which is an often overlooked setting. I may need to snag a copy for this reason alone. At over 500 pages, there is a huge amount of gaming material within, earning an excellent 4.7 stars with 17 ratings.
Gods of the Forbidden North is a massive, three-volume mega-adventure series written for the Old-School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy tabletop role-playing game by Necrotic Gnome. It details a campaign setting, a wilderness hex-crawl, a sprawling underworld connecting to multiple entrances on the surface, and most importantly, an enormous megadungeon.
Volume 1: The first book covers the arctic frontier's settlements, cultures, religions, and its vast wilderness regions. It includes 1 urban starter quest and 5 low-level dungeons.
Volume 2: The second book details the underworld below the continent's surface, plutonian settlements, 4 mid-level dungeons, 1 urban investigation adventure, and 1 high-level dungeon.
Volume 3: The third book explores the last undescribed hex on the wilderness map (hex 10.02) that contains the legendary Castle Thar-Gannon megadungeon, its upper and lower halls, 3 mysterious towers, and 3 vast dungeon levels. It also includes the Cyclopean City of Chaos, with 23 unique tower dungeons, plus the secret entrance into the Tesseract of Time.
The 532-page second volume is designed for a heroic party of 6-8 adventurers to begin at 5th level and reach a minimum of 9th level by the book's conclusion, although most parties will hit 10-12th level if all underworld encounters are exhausted. Though the mega-adventure was originally designed as a sandbox campaign, it also supports episodic adventure path playstyles, as well.
This second volume begins with the heroes returning to Kangkul after dealing a fatal blow to Ashuraga in the Tower Vartoriak. In “Diggers of Dul’ghuun,” the adventurers rest in a popular tavern called The Beating before heading off on their next adventure, but while therein, a small group of ravenous undead emerge from the tavern’s cellar and attack the patrons. After the party destroys them, they discover a tunnel into the caverns below the establishment. The heroes reach the massive stone doors of an ancient dwarvish citadel called Mimnohgrod and must explore its depths to determine how this attack occurred.
In “Children of the Green Light,” the heroes venture back to Valkengard to sell the treasures they’ve obtained in Vartoriak and Mimnohgrod. Lady Thora visits the adventurers. She has a new lead on her missing son, Itarus, who vanished after being kidnapped by the Graven Wolves in months past. Thora hires the heroes to find her only surviving family member. This urban investigation takes the party across multiple city districts and eventually into the Valkengard sewers where they uncover a heinous plot by a noblewoman (and secret Magoth cultist) named Lady Moranna. If the adventurers act quickly, they might rescue Itarus from the sinister woman’s clutches and eradicate the cult’s underground operations.
As the party wraps up their previous quest, they learn vital information concerning a long-standing nemesis: the infamous crime boss, Yagha-Shahn. In fact, the heroes discover an arcane means to enter the Nol’ocuul Syndicate’s headquarters. Seeking to settle old scores, the adventurers activate the Shadow Door and step inside the Tower of All-Seeing Eyes where they face extreme peril. If the party emerges victorious, they have permanently crippled the syndicate’s operations in Titherion, slain Yagha-Shahn, and taken his fabulous wealth (gold and jewels beyond measure)!
Obtaining Fire-Eye’s notes on a secret smuggling lane into the underground, the adventurers may decide to finally journey into the legendary “Malgorgia the Endless Underworld.” This staggeringly huge subterranean network of caverns, tunnels, and waterways crisscrosses the full breadth of the Forbidden North below its frigid surface. Within its shadowy depths, the heroes might find the secret entrance into the “Green Dome of Foranadoth,” the “Black City of Morgathaur,” the perilous “Malum Hateus,” and the “Brass Temple of the Magoth.” The stalwart companions also get the chance to recover both halves of the Tabot of Law, fight against two more members of the Tarngrak, as well as eradicate their ruthless foes within the Cult of the Magoth. The party might even discover secret pathways into the lower dungeons of Castle Thar-Gannon.
I have a genuine fondness for OSRIC. Upon my return to active gaming, when I was thrust into the DM's seat on short notice, I opted to run OSRIC. AD&D 1e is my system of choice, and OSRIC is the clone that cleans up 1e and puts it into an easy-to-reference volume. That worked well with Rob Conley's Blackmarsh (Free OSR Sandbox).
The 2006 retro-clone of first edition AD&D, rewritten and reorganized for 2025! OSRIC 3 is easier to learn, with more examples of play. This is the beginning of a new product line for Mythmere Games, to include adventure modules and much more!
OSRIC 3.0 is a tabletop fantasy roleplaying game that sweeps you back into the days when roleplaying was an art, when rules were simpler, and when epic adventuring was at its height — this is the game of the 1980s!
OSRIC is a “retro-clone” of first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.* This release is geared toward the 20th anniversary next year. Originally published in 2006, OSRIC has spawned thousands of adventures, sourcebooks, and zines — many of them distributed for free.
"For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year.” So wrote Byzantine historian Procopius of the year 536 A.D., the year the first of three catastrophic volcanic eruptions in Iceland would drop global summer temperatures by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius and herald the beginning of the coldest decade on record in 2,000 years. Migrations of Germanic, Hunnic, and Slavic tribes have swept aside and now pick over the remains of the Western Roman Empire, sacking Rome itself and establishing a network of “barbarian kingdoms” across the west. Crop failure, famine, the Justinian Plague will devastate a fractured Europe for the next hundred years. Of all the time periods called the “Dark Ages,” this is surely - both literally and figuratively - the darkest.
This historical context is interwoven with both “authentic” medieval folklore and the classic elements of 19th- and 20th-century fantasy fiction found in your typical Appendix N. This ‘Dark Year’ and all of its tumultuous events provides players and Judges a compelling backdrop upon which to project historical fantasy adventures. While based upon historical context, these are works of fiction: liberties have been taken where doing so would be entertaining. Weave fiction and fantasy as you please, and above all: Fight On!
This book contains 95 pages of rules for: expanded character creation, cultures, languages, soubriquets, mass combat, social status, equipment, estates & strongholds, trade goods & services, crime, punishment & trials, medicines, poisons, and retainers - - everything referees and players could want to set their old-school fantasy role-playing campaigns within a 6th century Europe historical fantasy setting.
A bit of an OSR Kitchen Sink of a supplement, Tarnhelm's Tome of Wonder is a collection of optional rules for the OSR ruleset of your choice. New classes, new magic, psionics, super powers, and much, much more. Make sure this is in your toolbox, and use what you like and ignore the rest.
Tarnhelm's Tome of Wonder: An Original Edition Toolkit is large collection of optional rules and subsystems for the original 1974 (0e) version of the world’s most popular tabletop fantasy roleplaying game (and modern clones), with a selection of new monsters, treasures and ideas for dungeon and wilderness hazards tossed in for good measure. Many of the optional rules are modern renditions of the better house rules the author used with his Original Edition games in the 1970s. This volume may be considered a revised and greatly expanded edition of our free Tarnhelm's Terrible Tome (from 2014) presented entirely as optional modules instead of as a supplement revising the game.
Tarnhelm's Tome of Wonder is full of options -- some of them mutually exclusive as they provide different ways of doing basically the same thing. It's a toolkit for an Original Edition Referee to select from to use as written or as a starting point for homebrewed material that better fits their needs.
Section I provides many optional rules and systems for Backgrounds and Talents, Heroic Characters, Psychic Gifts, Variant classes, Combat Stunts, Mobs, Hit Point Powered Magic, Common Magic, Divine Intervention, Funerals and Tombs, Mooks, Property and Finance, Psionics, Death and Dying, Encumbrance and Movement, Allegiance (replacing Alignment), Wound Points, and about 40 more!
Section II covers the “endgame” where PCs run their own domains and provides two systems: one simple and one more complex. Basic rules for mass combat are also provided.
Section III has more monsters (mythos monsters and human cultists) and guidelines for NPC adventuring groups.
Section IV provides over 18 pages of new treasures, including some designed for use with some of the optional rules in Section I.
Section V talks about “hazards” for both dungeons and wilderness areas.
Section VI provides two different system for mutations -- one simple, one complex. Although these guidelines are mainly intended for Referees to mutate monsters, these rules can work for mutated player characters.
Section VII gives a selection of comic book style superpowers designed to work with the Original Edition. While brief, experimental rules for superpowered PCs are included, this section is really for the Referee to model comic book superheroes should the PCs ever encounter any.
Section VIII gives some simple rules for firearms of different eras.
Wow! Return to Fel'Valashar [Swords & Wizardry] was written for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day way back in 2017. I kinda forgot that was a thing for a couple of years, even if I was the one to think it up. I'm curious what the flavor is now - a particular system, or maybe an OSR Appreciation Day...
Written in celebration of Swords and Wizardry AppreciationDay 2017, Return to Fel’Valashar picks up where Dungeons of Fel’Valashar left off. In this book is a collection of mini dungeon adventures with a small region called Fel’Valashar that they take place within. Each of these adventures is written in such a way that they don’t have any ties to each other or to Fel’Valashar. This means you can easily drop them into your own world with no fuss.
Includes:
Details of the south-western region of Fel’Valashar.
Okay, everything I've read about Pestilence at Halith Vorn is that it is one of those rare modules/adventures - rave reviews across the board and written for that sweet spot for the party, where their powers are coming into focus but aren't overpowering just yet. This looks to be a fun one, not just to play in, but to run.
An Adventure for six to eight 4th to 6th-level characters:
In the days before the rise of the Jade Empire and the rule of the serpent men, the enigmatic axolittians reigned in Halith Vorn and there built their cities amongst the reeds in the swamps and caverns below. They mastered sorcerous arts and paid homage to devils and terrifying elemental beings. In the end, their serpent men slaves rose up and rebelled against their rule, driving the axolittians into the lower caverns; there they lingered on, slowly degenerating to a primitive and base level. In turn the Jade Empire was cast into ruin, and the former slaves of the serpent men occupied parts of the once great city. Finally came the Cultists of Thul, worshipers of disease and inheritors of serpent man sorcery, enemies of civilization and the Baron in Longfelt, searching for a weapon of great power...
This is an adventure of warring cults and lost civilisations. This module presents a time—and exploration-focused site that can be used with existing Gunderholfen campaigns or slotted easily into any other milieu. It consists of 300+ keyed areas detailing a disease-afflicted and doom-laden village under assault by corrupted, power-hungry cultists; a hex-crawl region; and a main adventure site of ruined temples, tombs, a five-level dungeon, and two planar complexes.
Review:
"I’m a big fan of this. I wish I could better convey all that makes it work. The factions, the cultists proper. The interactivity and variety of types of things to do and explore. It’s really all of the components integrated as a whole, working together to bring something more than the sum of its parts. Design.
Generally, I think, I might find one adventure a month or so that is not terrible or even good. Then something like this comes along; something that is not just good but is F*$&ING GREAT." Tenfootpole.
The Companion Expansion (not to be confused with the B/X Companion) is an add-on for OSR rulesets with new classes, new spells, new creatures, new magic items, and more. Did I mention it was PWYW?
Presenting additional creatures and magical items for fantasy roleplaying games for basic- and expert-level players and gamemasters, including 7 additional character classes (bard, druid, gnome, half-elf/half-orc, half-ogre, illusionist, scout), expanded experience tables up to 36th level, two additional types of magic (druid and illusion) and additional magic-user and cleric spells (90 in all), over 130 new or additional creatures, dozens of new or additional magic items, and a complete treasure generation system!
Also includes expanded spell lists for three free "retro-clone" rulebooks and expanded combat, saving throw, and other tables. Use these rules to expand your campaign in the WORLD OF STRONGHOLD or wherever your games are set! Note: this free download version does not contain art. Print version available at www.barrataria.com.
Cavern of the Creeping Terror is an OSR adventure, loosely based on "The Glus from Deltora Quest, the arctic horror of The Thing, and Grendel’s mother’s lair from Beowulf". I can reference two out of three (Deltora Quest is new to me). For PWYW, I've added Cavern of the Creeping Terror to my collection of Ready-To-Go adventures.
Undead frost pirates, mad imprisoned fae, and a pile of loot guarded by a monstrous slug...
A third level OSR adventure featuring a three-tiered, 22 cavern dungeon adaptable for fantasy roleplaying systems with a light horror aesthetic. Includes:
A system neutral bestiary
A horde of loot for greedy adventurers
Possibility for diplomacy, betrayal, and a seaside village on the precipice of destruction
Inspired by Beowulf, The Thing, and Deltora Quest.
"This adventure delivers that evocative style over and over again...This one has the spirit of D&D..."
It has been over 20 years since Necromancer Games first unleashed the Tome of Horrors, and our philosophy has not changed... everybody needs more monsters! Necromancer Games has always been known for its monsters, and with the Tome of Essential Horrors, we would like to introduce those unique and mysterious creatures to your Old-School Essentials table.
This beast of a book contains over 100 monsters and brings classic monsters from Frog God Games and Necromancer Games to OSE referees and players. Each entry includes a full OSE stat block, classic black-and-white art, and an interesting encounter that highlights the creature.
The Tome of Essential Horrors contains all you need to gleefully exceed your players' expectations. Can the heroes escape the clutches of the witch tree, the riptide horror, or the cave fisher? Will they survive the pyrolisk’s conflagration gaze? We cannot guarantee a TPK every time, but you’ll have buckets of fun trying!
Blood & Treasure is the fantasy role-playing game for people who want to spend less time arguing over rules and more time playing! Compatible with most old school games but not shy to dip into the new school, it keeps the rules simple and the play quick. Includes easy to learn rules of play, including mass combat and naval combat rules - All the information you need to create fantasy characters from one of seven fantasy races and one of thirteen fantasy classes - Over 600 magic spells - Rules for building strongholds and running a domain - helpful guides to creating dungeons, wilderness, cities and other dimensions for your adventures - over 400 monsters and scads of magic items. Desert the edition wars and play a game with Blood & Treasure!
A Proxy for Certainty
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I continue to work with chatGPT, which hasn't reduced the quality of my
writing in the slightest, whatever persons might say about the program or
the con...
Free GM Resource: Freep!k Icon Generator
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[image: Free GM Resource: Freep!k Icon Generator]
Last week I mentioned a *secret project* and while I'm not going to divulge
the project yet, I am bringi...
The Other OSR: Mythic Bastionland
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*Mythic Bastionland – Before Into the Odd* starts by committing a cardinal
sin. It does not tell the reader what it is. It is clearly a roleplaying
game a...
HHQ4: Cleric's Challenge (1993) - second copy
-
From the web:
Pommeville is a sleepy little town that seems like a good place to stay for
the night. That is, until the town's dead rise from their grave...
Nashorn #2
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Nashorn No.2
This is another model I printed quite a while ago on my Ender 3. Compared
with similar prints from my Mars Pro, the FDM layer lines stand ...
First Steps – Descent into Madness
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By Nickolas Z BrownFive CataclysmsOSRLevels: "Low to Mid" Deep within the
Sunken Fort is a stairway. This stairway leads into an unknowable and
chaotic und...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2025 Planning
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We are just a few weeks away from October and I am still trying to decide
how I'm going to do the challenge this year. I've listed a few possible
themed ch...
The line has been crossed
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I hope all you fuckers enjoyed your Blue Sky. It is coming. You reap what
you sow.The right to free speech is a hill I will die upon.Slight update:
Anyone...
Mythic Feasts
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What makes a Feast? Three things, as you’d expect.
*Ceremony *- How is the official purpose of the feast observed?
*Spectacle *- How is the host showing o...
Building A New World For My Convention Scenarios
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For the last few weeks I have been streaming on Friday night from 8:00 pm –
10:00 pm on Twitch. I had an idea a year or so ago to make a campaign world
set...
On Manon Quarterly Kickstarter Youtube!
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Check it out. I talk about Sinless, canceling, and the future.
https://www.youtube.com/live/YmEnK8-sh6M?si=MnBE1E6dS4xaUJTN
www.kickstarter.com/projec...
Red Ochre & Ruins: The OSL Returns...
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Well, there's an Open Supplement License for Epoch, allowing those so
inclined to publish original content for the game. Interested parties can *visit
ou...
Zock Bock Radio return engagement
-
German AD&D superfan and podcast host Settembrini (who already had me on
his show a couple-three years back) recently completed a two-year-long run
thro...
Un-American Activities
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I am halfing prices for all False Machine books held outside the U.S.A.
This discount will last until sales the the U.S. are re-started, OR until
the ...
Grozz keeps gettin' graphic...plus, a Soldier!
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I hate to start out posts by just lamenting my lack of posts...
BUT...man, I'm really having a tough time working regular blogging back
into my schedule,...
Greyhawk News You Can Use - Harvester 2025 Edition
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I’m well-overdue for another Greyhawk news roundup, and a recent post by
/u/talktoh in /r/Greyhawk prompted me to complete catchup on Greyhawk news
for the...
Random Links & Notes for 8/29/2025
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- 9 and 30 Kingdoms talks a bit about mapping. I'm okay with players
mapping or not mapping. It's up to them, as long as their characters can do
it. If the...
Tomb of the Blind and Deaf Dead
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So the cat is out of the bag thanks to Tobias Schulte-Krumpen, who posted
the above image to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess facebook group. I
...
Eyes of Idola, Part 2
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This is Part 2. Here is Part 1.
*Concept 1: Entering the Dungeon*
Descending the stairs into B1, the party reach rooms that are dark,
crowded, flooded, a...
The 'I Want' PC
-
Readers who do not live in the dank earth beneath rocks with only woodlice
and earthworms for company will no doubt have heard of something called *K-Pop
D...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode X.
-
This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
GM Companion for Shadowdark
-
Let's talk about Mr. Chubby Funster. Greg. If you go on RPG DriveThru and
check out the Shadowdark section you'll see he had three books in the top
ten....
Rulings, Not Rules: A Foundation, Not an Oversight
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There's been a lot of discussion over the years about how Original Dungeons
& Dragons handled (or didn't handle) the common situations you'd expect in
a ...
How I Run OD&D Combat
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Link to discussion
Over the years I’ve settled on a way to run 0e/OD&D/White Box combat that
keeps the action moving and is pretty simple, while covering...
A long overdue hobby update!
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Welcome back to the Vault everyone! 2025 is going by in a blur; I last
posted in February, almost started a post in March and now it's the end of
May. W...
Pulp: Adventure Location: Trindade & Martim Vaz
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History is fractally interesting. Start examine any event, or following any
citation, and interesting facts emerge. But some places, for whatever
reason,...
Playing at the World 2E V2 Arrives
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With the release of its second volume, the second edition of *Playing at
the World *is finally complete. The two books combined total well over
1,000 ...
Blogs on Tape season 6 has begun!
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Hi everybody! Its been a minute. How are you? Everything is awful all the
time? Horrors never cease? You’re being driven mad by the weight of the
unfathoma...
Articulations
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Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
Writing playlists for all occasions
-
Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
-
Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
-
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
It's been a bit
-
Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
-
A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
Clean Your Room
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Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
Steve Jackson Interview
-
James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
-
Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
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When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
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*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Fiction in Airhde
-
On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
-
I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
The Withered Crag available now
-
I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
-
The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
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We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
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I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
-
The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
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This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
-
Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
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Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
-
d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
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Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
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A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...
