Horror Sale - I6 Ravenloft (1e)

I remember first seeing Ravenloft in 84 (it was released in 83). It was an exciting change of pace from the other adventures I was running then, and the Ravenloft setting that was released later became one of my favorite settings in the 2e era.

Until the end of October, I6 Ravenloft (1e) is on sale for 4.19 in PDF on DTRPG.

Under raging stormclouds, a lone figure stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of castle Ravenloft. Count Strahd von Zarovich stares down a sheer cliff at the village below. A cold, bitter wind spins dead leaves around him, billowing his cape in the darkness. Lightning splits the clouds overhead, casting stark white light across him. Strahd turns to the sky, revealing the angular muscles of his face and hands. He has a look of power - and of madness. His once-handsome face is contorted by a tragedy darker than the night itself.

Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind's howling increases as Strahd turns his gaze back to the village. Far below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd's face forms a twisted smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came - all according to his plan. He, the master of Ravenloft, will attend to them.

Another lightning flash rips through the darkness, its thunder echoing through the castle's towers. But Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind - or perhaps a lone wolf - fills the midnight air. The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.

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Free RPG - Vaesen - Nordic Horror Roleplaying

I'm not sure how long Vaesen - Nordic Horror Roleplaying will be FREE in PDF (it's normally 25 bucks in PDF), so snag it while you can. It's a perfect gift for yourself this Halloween. ;)

Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark. They know to fear it.

Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is written by Nils Hintze and based on the work of Swedish illustrator and author Johan Egerkrans. Vaesen presents a dark Gothic setting steeped in Nordic folklore and the old myths of Scandinavia. The game mechanics utilize an adapted version of the awardwinning Year Zero Engine.

Key features:

· Ten ready to use archetypes let you create a character in minutes – or use the included life path tables and let the dice decide.

· Quick and flavorful rules for combat, investigations and horror.

· Rules for developing the player characters’ headquarters during campaign play.

· A detailed gazetteer of the Mythic North setting and the town of Upsala.

· A core of bloodcurdling vaesen to encounter, all beautifully illustrated by Johan Egerkrans.

· An introductory Mystery called The Dance of Dreams.

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Humble Bundle - Eerie Comics Collection by Dark Horse

I only managed to snag 2 or 3 issues of Eerie over the years, and the content was, mostly very good. Sure, some clunkers were in there, but there was also some work by artists and writers that would make huge names for themselves in mainstream comic books.

18 bucks gets you 30 volumes, which is over 130 issues of the classic Eerie Comic run. Perfect reading to get one in the mood for Halloween ;)

Looking for some macabre reading for the spookiest season of the year? Fix your gaze upon this massive Eerie archive from Dark Horse, collecting over 130 issues of the long-running horror comics magazine! Featuring terrifying tales and astonishing artwork from legends like Gray Morrow, Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, Neal Adams, and Joe Orlando, this Eerie library is for everyone who loves strange and twisted tales of terror, fantasy, and science fiction. Lose yourself in the Eerie Archives, and help support the Hero Initiative with your purchase!

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Bundle of Holding - GURPS 4e Horror Starter

I am far from a GURPS expert. It's likely been 30 years or more since I've run a GURPS campaign of any length. That being said, GURPS supplements are damn universal and systemless. At the very least, they are inspirational for use with other systems.

There are two GURPS themed Bundle of Holding available right now.

GURPS 4e Essentials includes the following for 19.95 in PDF:

• GURPS 4E Basic Set
• GURPS Template Toolkit 1
• Adaptations
• How to Be a GURPS GM
• GURPS 4E GM's Screen

GURPS 4e Horror includes the following for 14.95 in PDF:

• GURPS Horror 4E
• Creatures of the Night 1-5
• Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Horror 

Not a bad deal for Halloween ;)

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Bundle of Holding - DCC RPG Horror (7 Goodman Games Titles for 9.95)

While I find the DCC RPG interesting, and very playable at conventions, I have consistently found the value of the various DCC RPG adventures to have value beyond the DCC game. I've been converting DCC adventures to Swords & Wizardry on the fly for years.

DCC Horror is a current bundle at Bundle of Holding. You get 7 DCC RPG Horror Adventures published by Goodman Games for 9.95. That is what I call    "a bargain" ;)

Adventurer! This DCC Horror Bundle presents spoooky .PDF ebooks for Dungeon Crawl Classics, the Goodman Games tabletop fantasy roleplaying game. Though many DCC modules present sword-and-sorcery scenarios of gold and glory, in 2015 Goodman branched out (oozed out?) to produce annual horror scenarios – often tied to Halloween – that throw standard DCC fantasy characters into nightmarish pocket dimensions, Cthulhoid laboratories, Frankensteinian towers, abomination-haunted coffin ships, and cursed wedding receptions. Slip any of these digital adventures (for character levels 0 through 6) into your regular campaign as a trick, and with the right attitude everyone will eat them up like a treat.

Note: These modules require the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Core Rulebook, which is not included in this offer.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror module The Web of All-TormentFor just US$9.95 you get all seven titles in our DCC Horror Collection (retail value $42) as DRM-free ebooks, including the zero-level "funnel" campaign kickoffs Creep, Skrag, Creep! and They Served Brandolyn Red, the low-level adventures Shadow Under Devil's Reef, The Corpse That Love Built, It Consumes!, and The Web of All-Torment, and the level-6 module The Sinister Sutures of the Sempstress.

Deal of the Day - Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing (Swords & Wizardry)

Sometimes you find a game you are just itching to run. Eldritch Tales is one of those games for me. Its what you get when you cross the comfort of Swords and Wizardry with the horror of Call of Cthulhu. I really need to hack some of this into Swords & Wizardry Continual Light.

Until 11 am Eastern, October 2nd, 2020, Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing is half off -  a mere 3.49. Do it! Your players will alternatively thank you and curse you ;)

Aeons before man arose from the primordial mire, ancient creatures descended from the stars or stepped through dimensional passages to inhabit the Earth. Whilst many of these Old Ones have since passed into inactivity, the secrets they carried with them have been shared with man and now terrible cults haunt the fringes of modern society. These ancient terrors thus still menace mankind and, if the prophecies are to be believed, the Old Ones shall return to reign again over the Earth!

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing in an OSR rule set with its roots in the Original version of the world's favorite RPG, but instead of exploring musty dungeons, characters in Eldritch Tales investigate Mythos horrors in the 1920s! The setting and background are based on the cosmic horror tales of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other members of his writing circle. 

Within the pages of Eldritch Tales you will find four character classes representing many classic pulp archetypes, occupations, rules for insanity, spells, monsters, esoteric tomes, artifacts, a starting scenario, and setting material, as well as advice on using Eldritch Tales with other White Box games. This game is compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR games.

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Deal of the Day - Kuf (OSR Modern Day Horror)

 A modern-day horror RPG built on an in OSR chassis? I think I may need to Frankenstein this :)

Kuf is normally a 9.99 but until tomorrow morning its on sale for 4 bucks.

Kuf is a Gnostic modern day horror RPG that is built on top of the rules light Knave OSR-system, modified with extended rules for stress and harm to support a more gritty mode of play.

The characters are weirdos and outsiders who are pulled into a maelstrom of terrifying events.

Includes rules for gaining experience from studying magical texts and interacting with strange beings, ritual magic and how to travel beyond the barrier that keeps us trapped in this world.

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New Release - Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing (S&W)

Wow. Simply wow. I just started looking through the Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing and it is a beauty. Art? Spectacular. The layout is clean and the table of contents are bookmarked.

System-wise, Eldritch Tales is built of the Swords &Wizardy White Box rules you already know with some twists. Attribute feats are checks against one of the ability scores. Basic difficulty gives a 50% chance of success on a d6. High ability scores make that a 4 in 6 chance. More difficult situations will adjust the chance of success downward. Class skills can give bonuses. Simple and effective.

There are four classes: the Antiquarian, the Combatant, the Opportunist, and the Socialite. It covers the range of what you need and the optional Occupations allow further specialization.

Wait. What about insanity? Wisdom is not a dump stat here.

Contacts are the game juice that players can use to move things along. They also add depth to the characters and the campaign. It's a great touch and could easily fit into an urban fantasy campaign setting.

I personally like the Random Occupations Table. I think it adds depth to the characters.

Alright, only six chapters in thus far. More later, likely a full review, once I digest this fully. But damn does it look good this far.

Aeons before man arose from the primordial mire, ancient creatures descended from the stars or stepped through dimensional passages to inhabit the Earth. Whilst many of these Old Ones have since passed into inactivity, the secrets they carried with them have been shared with man and now terrible cults haunt the fringes of modern society. These ancient terrors thus still menace mankind and, if the prophecies are to be believed, the Old Ones shall return to reign again over the Earth! 

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing in an OSR rule set with its roots in the Original version of the world's favorite RPG, but instead of exploring musty dungeons, characters in Eldritch Tales investigate Mythos horrors in the 1920s! The setting and background are based on the cosmic horror tales of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other members of his writing circle.  

Within the pages of Eldritch Tales you will find four character classes representing many classic pulp archetypes, occupations, rules for insanity, spells, monsters, esoteric tomes, artifacts, and setting material, as well as advice on using Eldritch Tales with other White Box games. This game is compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR games.

Yep, that's an affiliate link above.

Bundle of Holding with Halloween in Mind - Bundle of Nerves +3 (Savage Worlds Horror, Silent Legions and More)

Silent Legions is +Kevin Crawford 's entry into the horror genre using an OSR styled ruleset. Savage Worlds is, well, Savage Worlds. This offering includes the Horror Companion for Savage Worlds.

Two games, three books, 40 bucks worth of gaming for $10. A pretty good deal.

At approximately double the price you add in the Rippers storyline for Savage Worlds, Shadows of Esteren Book 0 - Prologue and Book 1 - Universe and Accursed. A $60 value for about 20 bucks more.

My only disappointment is that it lacks any Call of Cthulhu in the bundle. That being said, Bundle of Nerves + 3 is a very good bundle for the price.

Are There Any "Legit" Old School / OSR Horror Settings?

Ravenloft was NOT a horror setting, no matter the trappings. It was more of a "horror fun house".

Tainted Lands for C&C looks like Ravenloft with a different set of paints.

Midnight (for 3e) is a dark setting, not horror.

Is there a horror setting for Old School gaming that I've missed?

New Bundle of Holding - "Bundle of Tentacles (Cthulhu Heavy)

I really like Call of Cthulhu - maybe one day I'll get to run another session or two ;)

That being said, there is a lot for me to like in the current Bundle of Holding:

I've always wanted to check out Trail of Cthulhu. Sure, it's only the Player's Guide, but it should be enough to let me know of the system is for me.

The Cubicle 7 CoC books always tempted me in the past, are there are two in this collection.

I almost pulled the trigger on Eldritch Skies over the summer - now I can get it for cheap ;)

About $15 bucks gets you everything pictured and no watermarks dirtying up your PDFs.

Bundle of Holding - October Horrors: Collection 1 of 3

Not as exciting to me as bundles, but I'll probably still get it (just very unsure what I'll actually use).

You can get our core collection of four DRM-free .PDFs -- Don't Rest Your Head, Dread, Kingdom of Nothing, and Murderous Ghosts -- a US$37 value -- for a price you set yourself. Pay more than the current average to get four bonus titles, including D. Vincent Baker's brand-new version of Murderous Ghosts, appearing in the Bundle of Nerves for the first time anywhere: Northampton State Hospital. And we'll be adding more bonus titles to the Bundle of Nerves as the week goes on. (Oh boy, will we be adding bonuses.) If you buy now, you'll receive them automatically on your download page. Never worry about missing a book!

Another "Pay What You Want" RPG - The Void (Lovecraftian Sci-Fi Horror)

The Void released back in early August, but I missed it back then. I've always been interested in a sci-fi horror RPG - kinda looking for a CoC meets Star Trek. Not sure if this one even comes close to fitting that bill, but the price couldn't be better.

From the blurb:

The Stars Were Never Meant For Us

2159 AD. It is a good time to be alive. The nations of Earth still exist, but they have become more civilized, and humanity has expanded into the rest of our solar system. But, alas, it is not to be our time. Something approaches, a thing on an orbit from far away. Seemingly a mysterious shard of dark matter, this object is known in obscure prophecy as the Chthonian Star. It is awakening things long thought lost or dead, things that have slumbered awaiting its return. The Unified World Council sends out special teams of sanctioned Wardens, whose job it is to ascertain the new threats to human life, to learn everything they can about them, and fight them wherever they are found.

The Void is an original Lovecraftian hard sci-fi horror setting.

The Void Core:

Designed with accessibility in mind. A short overview and introductory adventure can have you playing within an hour.
Uses simple but satisfying d6 dice pool mechanics.
Introduces exciting new rules to ratchet up the survival horror.
Gives Characters many options for diversity and customization.
Provides an exploration of our fully colonized solar system in the near future – and the things that threaten it.
Created by the award-winning team that brought you CthulhuTech.

Anyone Get in Some Horror Roleplaying Around Halloween?

I had the idea in the back of my mind to run a One on One session of Call of Cthulhu with my wife for Halloween, but due to the real life horror of Hurricane Sandy that never came to be. Not sure it would have in any case, as I was still looking for a one on one scenario for CoC.

Still, I've always wanted to do some horror related roleplaying around Halloween. The closest I ever game was in college, running some Ravenloft adventures, but I'm not really sure you can count Ravenloft as horror. CoC does mind games to the players themselves when properly run and I'm not sure that Ravenloft / D&D / D20 can support such.

In any case, for those that somehow have missed Call of Cthulhu over the years, here's the link to the CoC Quickstart. It's not too late to squeeze in some horror into your RPG play time ;)

Can D20 / OGL / OSR Be Used for an Effective Horror Campaign?

I know its the day after Halloween - so shoot me!

The thing is, I was thinking of effective horror gaming and it occurred to me that is hard to accomplish using most of the D20 / OGL / OSR rules.

Here's my reasoning: D20 is based on level. Skills and Hit Points increase with each level. Higher level characters by nature of the rules have less to fear. That is why Ravenloft never really satisfied my taste for "Horror Gaming". It felt almost campy. My players were never really afraid, at least not more so than in any other level appropriate adventure. Annoyed maybe that they were yoked to the Demi-Plane of dread, but scared? Nope.

Call of Cthulhu and such are skill based. There's no bucket of Hit Points to save your ass. A more skilled investigator may have a few tricks to pull out of his hat, but it's still very easy to die within the framework of the rules. Also, CoC is less geared to campaign play, which assumes some character survival to move the plot along.

D20 / OGL may be able to do effective horror at low levels, but even in a game like LotFP Weird Fantasy, higher levels will by nature of the rules be less scary.

Can D20 / OGL do an effective Horror Campaign? I'm leaning heavily on the side that the game is built against it, but maybe some of you can or have prove(d) me wrong.

Gaming Music Review - Transylvania (Nox Arcana) - Monolith Grpahics

In general, I'm not big on music in my RPGs.  I generally find it to be distracting in my D&D sessions, even the soundtracks that are supposed to be evocative of sword fighting and such.  Yeah, I know the soundtracks from Lord of the Rings do a decent job, but again, I would find them distracting during gaming.

Horror gaming, however, lends itself to atmosphere.  Music is probably the most effective way to get your group into the mood for a nice nerve-racking Call of Chtulhu session.  The Transylvania - Nox Arcana album from Monolith Graphics does a surprisingly good job at setting that mood.

I say surprisingly, because as I stated earlier, I'm not big on music in my games and never used it in the past.  This album I think I could use.  CoC, Ravenloft... maybe even a Chill session.  Hmm, or maybe not Chill -  the camp factor is a bit high there.

I'm surprised that Monolith didn't release this just prior to Halloween.  They kinda missed a built in promotion by nearly 3 weeks.  Still, it's good.  Is it worth the 10 bucks?  If you asked me 3 weeks ago, I would have told you to have this playing as the Trick-or-Treaters made their rounds.  Now, unless you have a horror game session coming up, its kinda outa place.

It's al in the timing.