Yep! The Fantasy Trip: Melee is quite possibly the Pocket Game that proved the popularity of pocket games.The seeds that turned into GURPS in the end. If you want a quick game of physical fighting, here's your opportunity. Grab some d6 and have at it!
A classic game of fantasy combat. Create characters in just a few minutes – then send them into the arena. Winners become stronger and faster for the next battle. Losers die.
Each counter in this fast-moving game is a single warrior. Players choose weapons and tactics for their fighters, and send them into combat against men, beasts, or monsters – to victory, or death.
This is the basic combat system for The Fantasy. Trip For the basic magic system, pick up Wizard. For ready-to-use adventures perfect for solo or group play, check out Death Test. And for 40 – yes, forty! – postcard adventures, download The Fantasy Trip 2019 Postcard Contest collection absolutely FREE!
Say what you want about Dyson (and I probably have), but few come close to Dyson's skill when it comes to maps suitable for fantasy adventures (and occasionally beyond). Matt Jackson might exceed by a tad, but Dyson is by far the most prolific dungeon mapper I've seen.
Dyson's Dodecahedron is an irregularly scheduled 12-page digest-sized OSR zine for the Labyrinth Lord RPG with content easily adaptable to just about any OSR style system.
The very first issue of the Dodecahedron presents an eclectic mix of material for old school play drawn from the early days of the blog:
Pain, Wounds & The Death Spiral presents a system whereby serious injuries to a character are easily tracked and accounted for, reducing a character's abilities over time as they become more and more injured.
Obscene Eyes are horrid subterranean monsters of strange alien intelligence and disgusting appearance.
2d6 Thief Skills rewrites the classic thief abilities into a simple 2d6 chart and three core abilities - the thief's favoured skill, other skills, and climbing walls. This both makes thief abilities simpler in play and in book-keeping.
Atarin's Delve is a small dungeon adventure that can be played on it's own or inserted into any other dungeon or megadungeon. It features a bandit camp, some magical traps, and of course Atarin Darkhunter.
Polearms! explores the many varieties of "pointy and/or bladed bits on the end of a long stick" that can be covered by the basic polearm - from the classic Bardiche to the Reticulated Earspoon-Guisarme. All of course have exactly the same stats and handled by random tables.
Okay. Technically, Deadball: Baseball With Diceisn't really an RPG. But if you consider yourself a capable couch-sitting baseball manager, Deadball is the game for you.
Not only is Deadball: Baseball With Dice PWYW, but Print copies are also PWYW. Print copies can be had for as low as 4.99 - maybe less.
I have had this in PDF since it was a Deal of the Day post-Covid, and it is a blast to play, even solo.
Deadball is a fast-paced baseball dice game for one or two players that uses real statistics to bring the ballpark to your tabletop. Its elegantly simple rules are intuitive to die-hards and casual fans alike, allowing you to simulate a game between real or imaginary teams in about twenty minutes. Download the free quick start guide to see how it works.
Deadball uses real statistics that every fan knows and understands, like batting average and ERA, allowing new players to pick it up in minutes. Because the game is based directly on real, freely-available stats, you can play as any team you want.
Any. Team. You. Want.
Pit history's greatest teams against each other. Replay seasons from fifty years before you were born. Watch today's all-stars go head-to-head with the legends of the past. Any match-up you can imagine, Deadball will make real.
Don't want to play with real players? Deadball's fast, intuitive character creation system generates players, teams and leagues faster than you can say "Play ball!" The game's rules are easy-to-learn and endlessly customizable, allowing you to remake the game however you see fit.
This book contains:
Basic rules for ultra-fast play, and advanced rules for a deeper game
An introduction to baseball scorekeeping
A random player table that allows you to roll up a new team in minutes
Guidelines for creating and running your own league, including rules for new prospects, high-stakes trades, catastrophic injuries and player aging
Detailed rosters for the legendary Southern Circuit, a fictional league whose story begins here
The revolutionary Five Tool System, which allows you to create custom-designed players and watch them grow, game after game, season after season
For the dead of winter, for the dead of night, for when your team is dead in the water, Deadball is there.
A NOTE ABOUT DICE: This book does not come with dice. You can play Deadball with any standard set of RPG dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d00, d12, d20), or a dice-rolling app.
I own a physical copy of Free Trader Beowulf, and it has been a pleasure to peruse. At 7.95 for Free Trader Beowulf in PDF, it is a bargain!
Traveller! For a limited time, Mongoose Publishing is offering This is Free Trader Beowulf, Shannon Appelcline's comprehensive "system history" of the Traveller tabletop science-fiction roleplaying game, for a special promotional price.
From the author of Designers & Dragons, which told the story of the entire roleplaying industry, comes the intimate, detailed history of a single roleplaying game. This is Free Trader Beowulf tracks Traveller from its inspirations in the early '70s to its initial publication and across seven distinct editions of its original 2d6 gaming system. It tells the stories of Traveller's major publishers, its many licensees, its Long Night, and how it rose again like a phoenix. Now you can get a non-watermarked, DRM-free .PDF ebook of the complete full-color 298-page This is Free Trader Beowulf (retail value $30) for just US$7.95!
The Evils of Illmire is a dark fantasy hexcrawl adventure module for B/X D&D, Old School Essentials, and other OSR systems.
NEWLY UPDATED FOR 2025!
This 126-page zine is 8.5x5.5, with color cover and black/white interior.
A whole classic campaign in your pocket! The Evils of Illmire is a "mini-mega" hexcrawl adventure module designed to provide dozens of sessions of perilous wilderness exploration and dungeon crawling. It features an evil cult, a doomed town, a dangerous wilderness, and a variety of vile monsters. The zine aims to provide plenty of free-roaming adventure content, but with an over-arching threat that looms over the entire region.
Features:
- Tons of content jammed into 126 lavishly illustrated pages
- 19 detailed hexes, each with a unique random encounter table
- Illustrated town map with keyed locations
- Sixteen keyed one-page dungeons illustrated by Dyson Logos
- Easy weather system to tell where its storming on the map
- New for 2025! Complete hexcrawl system with mountaing climbing, weather, and a campaign calendar to track your adventures.
- Full stats provided in bestiary with nearly 100 monsters
- More than 50 new and unique magic artifacts to discover
- Bonus digital content including a custom old-school character sheet
- Artwork provided for visuals during online play or to print out
I'm a huge fan of The Witcher franchise - video games, TV series, and even comics (in digital, of course). While I own The Witcher RPG, I don't expect I'll ever run it (I own WAY too many RPGs). Instead, I read it for the lore.
In the midst of the 3rd Nilfgaardian War Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf, scours the Continent for traces of his lost love! But this is not the only tale. A million other stories play out across the vast continent and you are right in the middle of one of them!
The Witcher Pen & Paper RPG allows you to tell your own story in the world of The Witcher! Adventure across the Continent, interacting with living legends and influencing the politics of the land! Fight in the brutal and horrific Third Nilfgaardian War. Or play out your own adventure as you avoid death and dismemberment!
Featuring
9 Unique Classes: Play as Bards, Craftsmen, Criminals, Doctors, Mages, Men At Arms, Merchants. Priests, & Witchers.
A Bestiary of Vicious Monsters: Traverse the wild and hunt everything from the troublesome nekker to the hulking, hypnotic fiend.
Numerous Spells & Invocations: Call upon the chaotic magic of the Witcher world to summon tornadoes, leave hidden messages, and more.
A Visceral Combat System: Skill & tactics rule the day, and a wrong move can mean ruptured organs or more.
This digital edition includes both the full-size PDF and a Phone PDF version designed for reading on your smartphone.
I just finished playing in a 2-year-long AD&D 2e campaign run by JoetheLawyer. I realized mid-campaign that, except for my trip to Gen Con in '94, it was the only time I played 2e as a player. Go figure...
Within these pages lie the keys to open worlds of wonder and adventure! Whether you are exploring dank dungeons, forging mighty kingdoms, or questing to save the world, For Gold & Glory contains all that you need to run a complete game. Inside these covers, you will find rules to:
Create heroic characters and guide them as they advance in power.
Equip characters with everything they need to survive the perils of adventure.
Guide characters through encounters, whether through wits and skill or strength of arms.
Reward characters with glittering wealth and wondrous treasures.
Challenge all characters, from novices to veterans, with over 140 creatures both fair and foul.
For players and game masters alike, For Gold & Glory is compatible with the second edition of the "advanced" version of the world's most popular role-playing game.
Do you want to play in the Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland world but are bogged down with the massive Core Rulez? Well look no further! Neon Goons of the Toxic Wasteland is based off of Tunnel Goons by: Nate Treme! In these 10 pages you will find all the rules lite you will need to enjoy a quick slime-ridden vomit punk over the top good ole game!!!!
Looking for monsters for your campaign with a Cthulhuian twist to many of them? Look no further than the Terraric Tome. I may need to bring out my print copy in the weeks ahead and do a proper review, but damn does the Terratic Tome have an AD&D 2e feel along with a true edge to it.
This enchiridion of entities should only be used by DMs inclined towards malfeasance, sadism, and base wrongdoing.
Torn from the pages of the Books of Pandemonium, these horrific fiends -- including the grotesquely talented Curhadac, the sadistic Eremite, and the death-singing Acronical -- will test the mettle of any adventuring party.
Teratic Tome is an OSRIC-compatible bestiary featuring:
* Strange variants: Brine orc, gelatinous pyramid, and azure slime
* Undead: Ivory banshee, demimondaine, ash ghast, and verminated zombie
* New threats: Remnants, karkinoi, pontiffs, craanoi, and ingenues
* Unique entities: Baskra, Lunamic, Malchior, Pantagruel, and the Seamstress
Hey! Do you wanna adventure under Tenkar's Tavern? Written for Swords & Wizardry Light by Thom Wilson and published by Throwi Games, Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3 is priced at PWYW. Hmmm, I should run this at a convention...
Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3 for Swords & Wizardry
Once a boisterous and popular bar, Tenkar’s Tavern has recently become a place shrouded in mystery and despair. Members of the kitchen staff have disappeared and have not returned in several days. Additional hired hands have also since gone missing. An empty kitchen means unhappy customers and the barkeep Nerik is losing money! He needs outside help to solve his dilemma. Can the adventurers help find the kitchen staff or the source of the tavern’s problems?
An Adventure for three to six characters of 1st or 2nd level, designed for Swords & Wizardry TM by Matthew J. Finch.
Are you looking for new classes for your OSE/LL/B/X game or for Swords & Wizardry or other OSR ruleset? How about some mass combat rules that aren't only usable, but understandable? Rules for herbs and foraging? Maybe even alchemy? It's all here and more in Fantastic Wizardry, nicely priced at PWYW.
FANTASTIC WIZARDRY is a rule supplement for "basic" editions of "the world's first and most famous fantasy roleplaying game" and associated retro-clones. FANTASTIC WIZARDRY expands upon rules found in "basic" games by adding the following:
- NEW CLASSES! Alchemist, Arcane Fighter, Brawler, Hunter, Swashbuckler, Theurge, and Warlock!
- EXPANDED PLAYER OPTIONS! Misc. Combat Options, Exceptional Abilities, Retraining Abilities, and Mundane herbal Crafting and Foraging!
- MORE MAGIC OPTIONS! Alchemical Crafting, Overcasting, Intuitive Casting, Commoner Casting, and Finding, Binding, and Summoning Outsiders!
- ADDITIONAL GAME MASTER RULES! Strongholds, Settlements, and Demense! Hired Jobs, Missions, and Commissions!, Narrative Dice! Mass Combat!
FANTASTIC WIZARDRY is for those who love "old school" gaming but are interested in adding something new to their table!
Looking for a gonzo, Gamma World-esque RPG that riffs off the B/X rules, takes them to 11, and then rudely pukes out of the passenger side door of your car as you zoom down some abandoned highway? If so, Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland Core Rulez is the game you've been waiting for.
A gonzo vomit-punk post apycolyptic cassette futurism table top RPG. A visceral mash-up of 80s/90s pop culture mixed in a grimdark blender and barfed onto the table! Siskel and Ebert would give Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland two big thumbs down! For fans of The Toxic Avenger and all the sleazy over the top late night sci-fi/horror you can handle!
Ultra-Violent, and style matters tabletop RPG, that builds off of the “BX” rules. Half Medieval Fantasy half Sci-Fi, neon lords of the toxic wasteland is a no-holds-barred to the max game! Oozing 80's and 90's nostalgia the game features items from Ninja Stars to Fanny packs in addition to many references to the era.
In addition to being built on top of the 'BX" rules, the core rules use an ability class points system and fortune points which grants the player some flexibility in dire rolls.
The setting a post-apocalyptic Earth in which magic, mixed with the technology of the 1980’s- the early ’90s, has created the cassette futurism seen in both the Neo-Terraxx and Xeno tech, as well as the art style. Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland is over the top, bloody, random, wild, and a hell of a good time. Sit back, crack open some TAB, and roll some damage.
This bad boy has so much packed inside! The Core Rulez include:
All the rulez required to run a sick game of Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland! From character creation to combat to exploration to additional rulez, the Neon Lord (Game Master)has everything they need! Types of damage, drugs, diseases, poison, and how to play all the wasteland baddies are all included too!
Hair Style choices in character creation that can help or hinder you in your rad adventures in the forgotten future! Will you pick a Mullet or Mohawk? You decide!
11 Playable classes with 1 super secret hidden class.
Over 100 unique monsters!!!! The list spans from the Aggressive menacer all the way to Zombie!
An entire unique spell system with its unique spells and all the classics you come to expect from an OSR RPG! 121 soul-crushing black magic spells at the War Wizard's sick disposal! 41 prayers granted to the Holy Smiter by their deity. 44 Psychic Manifestations the mysterious Star Spawns can conjure up. 36 hacks the Skull Jammer can cook up on his high tech Tape Deck, plus all the other random spells or slimy dudes who cast their unique spells!
A massive section on fantastical items and all the rad treasure you can dig up in the ruins of the forgotten world or hoarded by Mutant Wasteland Warlords!
1 MASSIVE Setting to get your campaigns started!!!!
Do you want to play something like Warhammer Fantasy without all of the endless rules and need to have specific minis to put onto the field of play? Sword Weirdos might be for you.
Sword Weirdos is the fantasy sequel to the surprisingly popular Space Weirdos. "When will you write a fantasy version?" people asked. So I did. Sword Weirdos is a skirmish wargame that allows you to build stats for just about any fantasy or historical model in your collection. Your model's class and weapons determine its special abilities. With 26 classes and 54 weapons and other pieces of equipment to choose from, the possibilities are...a lot. I'm not that great with math.
You’re wondering what makes Sword Weirdos different from other games. Not much! It takes what I like from other games and mashes it all together.
Low model count: 5-10 models or so for each side.
Use any fantasy/historical minis you have.
Short but comprehensive. Everything in one 24 page zine.
Minimal tokens, but still a few because I like them.
No tape measures or rulers, all movement and ranges are measured with 5” sticks.
Uses all your RPG dice (except the d20, d20's get enough love) because dice are fun.
A points system, but you shouldn’t worry about it too much.
Alternating activations, opposed rolls, Maneuver Points, and random tables mean everyone is involved and rolling dice all the time.
Also includes:
A separate 4-page solo rules document.
A pdf with tokens, hobby advice, and a warband sheet.
If you like minis games but giant rulebooks turn you off or seem intimidating, maybe give this a shot.
New Big Dragon Games Unlimited used to be a leading provider of high-quality, old-school RPG materials. Wherin Evil Lies(also known asDragon Horde Zine V2, #1) is chock-full of classes, spells, magic items, monsters, adventure, and more for your B/X game.
Wherein Evil Lies is waiting to join your electronic collection of RPG books - priced at PWYW, it should already be there...
Part zine, part mini-splat book,
Wherein Evil Lies includes a host of evil and undead resources for classic/BX editions...
Including:
3 new classes: Deathslayer, Witch Doctor, Half-orc (Assassin)
9 new spells: fatigue, death rage, mummy's touch, ossify, revenance, wailing fear, necrotic portal, greater ossify, aura of fear
6 new magic items: equinox orb, fiendish mantle, hammer of salvation, plague mace, purity ring, stole of radiance
7 new basic psionic abilities: infuse terror, psychic vampire, destiny dissonance, aura of fear, psionic daze, crisis of breath, shadow twin
6 new monsters: atori, cackler, crypt riddler, korper, hill haunt, spawn of Chuamisi
optional rules for killing vampires
new petty god & minion: Anguia Umbra (petty god of iophilia, toxicophilia, assassins) and his chimera minion/familiar Azamus
a new adventure for 5-7 characters of 3rd-5th level: The Black Chapel
3 new d30 tables: quirks caused by becoming unhinged, methods of sacrifice, evil hooks & seeds for encounters and adventures
Sure, other books talk about hexcrawls (I've even done a video on it - What is a HexCrawl and Why Should You Run One?), some folks just don't have much experience playing in a hexcrawl, let alone running one. That's where Hexcrawl Basics comes into play - 26 pages of exactly what it says on the tin at PWYW pricing.
If you are interested in hex crawls and want to get your feet wet, grab Hexcrawl Basics and Blackmarsh to reference the concepts - both can be had for free, and they may just open your eyes.
This supplement is a guide to the mechanical methods of running a hexcrawl style campaign. It is written for OSR-style games, specifically Necrotic Gnome's Old School Essentials, but can easily be adapted to fit others. It includes methods of both traveling through hexes and exploring within a hex, clarifications on rules for getting lost, populating a hex with lairs, determining the range of monsters within the lair, and more.
Wow! Talk about nostalgia. I'm relatively sure I have a print copy of the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay on one of my bookshelves. I remember when Pete was putting this together, and he inquired about including a Tenkar's Tavern in the book - there are a few places that such a place exists in published works, and the Guidebook to the City of Dolmay may very well be the first.
Dolmvay is an excellent city setting, ready to be dropped into most any Fantasy campaign. Go ahead, have your party visit Tenkar's Tavern ;)
The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay is a FREE Labyrinth Lord™ supplement that details the people, layout, and government of the City of Dolmvay. The city is presented in broad strokes and is open to customization. It was specifically designed to give Labyrinth Lords a convenient and familiar city setting to place their adventures.
The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay is largely open content. Small Niche Games would like to encourage professional and amateur publishers to use the Guidebook as a shared city setting and set their commercial adventures within the City of Dolmvay. Labyrinth Lords (and publishers) should feel free to change, add, or remove any of the information in this book to better suit his or her own game.
The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay contains:
A breakdown of city-based adventure themes
History of the City of Dolmvay
Detailed overview of the City of Dolmvay including government, religion, commerce, and laws and punishment
Descriptions of over a dozen major festivals
An overview of the citizens of Dolmvay including a breakdown of social classes, daily life for commoners and nobles, style of dress, arms and armor, rumors and gossip, and common gestures, curses, and phrases
Layout of the city including details on architecture, street lighting, sanitation, as well as detailed descriptions of the city's wards, districts, quarters, neighborhoods, and businesses
Descriptions of dozens of factions and stat blocks for hundreds of NPCs
Descriptions of common shops and businesses, prices for food and lodging, and a dozen sample inns and taverns
Over 100 unique city encounters
Over two dozen new plants and monsters
A detailed description of the religious organization known as the Church of Law and Order including church history and doctrine, major NPCs, and new magic items
A detailed description of the Dolmvay Adventurer's Guild including training facilities, dungeons, and major NPCs
A detailed description of the city's magical sewer system including dozens of unique encounters and several sample sewer geomorph maps
Guidelines for NPC generation including common names, professions, dozens of quirks and traits, and rules for creating unique and interesting 0-level NPCs
Guidelines for random treasure determination including pick pocket tables and random tables for determining household treasures
So, you say you want to play an RPG set in WWII, where you play special forces, like the SAS or The Dirty Dozen, but you want it to use a familiar system, not too complicated, based onSwords & Wizardry? You say you want the core rules to be free,anda plethora of moderate to low-priced supplements and adventures? We've got your game right here with WWII: Operation WhiteBox. Your first hit, as they say on the streets, is free...
WWII: Operation WhiteBox is a roleplaying game of WWII special forces action designed for compatibility with the Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox roleplaying game.
In WWII: Operation WhiteBox, the player characters (PCs) play the role of WWII special forces operatives. They may be formally trained and part of an officially designated special forces unit such as the SAS or U.S. Army Airborne, or they may simply be guerilla fighters dedicated to making life hard for the German Army. They may also be covert agents working for organizations such as the SOE or OSS. Whatever their affiliation, their job is to complete missions behind enemy lines, paving the way for the next Allied advance.
WWII: Operation WhiteBox is a standalone game that uses the Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox rules as its base. In addition to standard gameplay rules, the game contains the following:
CHARGEN: This includes Attributes, Nationality, Rank, Profession, etc.
NEW CLASSES: Eight new classes including the Charmer, Combat Engineer, Grunt, Maquis, Sniper, Tactician, Wheelman, Uberlaufer, each with their own unique abilities.
GEAR AND WEAPONS: A list of typical WWII weapons and gear. Weapons are statistically grouped by function (Large Rifle, Small Handgun, Submachinegun, etc.) with some named examples to add flavor (M1 Garand, Derringer, MP40, etc.).
PLAYING THE GAME: Rules for Saving Throws, Surprise, Reaction Rolls, Movement, etc.
PERSONAL COMBAT: Rules for "theater of the mind" combat including new rules for automatic weapons, using cover and concealment, and explosives.
VEHICLE COMBAT: Rules for "theater of the mind" vehicle combat (basically the same as personal combat) and vehicles grouped and statted out (Small Truck, Medium Tank, Small Aircraft, etc.) with named examples to add flavor (Kubelwagen, M4 Sherman, British Spitfire, etc.).
GAMEPLAY EXAMPLE: A gameplay write up to show some of the new concepts in action.
COMMON NPCs AND ANIMALS: Stats and descriptions for civilians, soldiers, and common European animals.
COVERT SPECIAL FORCES EQUIPMENT: Descriptions of some real world equipment designed and/or used by special forces during WWII.
THE WWII CAMPAIGN: This chapter gives an overview of the different theaters, major events of the different time periods, and lots and lots of tips for running a WWII campaign.
SPECIAL FORCES IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER: An overview of various Allied special forces units such as the SAS, LRDG, OSS, etc., resistance organizations such as the French Maquis and the Norwegian Milorg, an German special forces units such as the Brandenburgers. This chapter also runs down how to design a special forces mission as well as the different types of missions commonly undertaken.
WWII TIMELINE: A chronological timeline of major WWII dates and events.
HISTORIC WWII SPECIAL FORCES ACTIONS: Contains a brief description of real world historical missions undertaken by units like the British Commandos, Jedburghs, etc.
RESISTANCE AT THE PONTEVILLE BRIDGE: A sample mission deep in Normandy.
MASS COMBAT RULES: Quick and dirty rules for resolving Mass Combat as well as how to incorporate PC missions into the results.
MINI-SETTINGS: Nazi Superscience, Nazi Occult, and Nazi Space elements to liven up your game!
Sometimes something is "one and done," and all you can think is - "more would have been awesome!" That's how I view The Wizard's Scroll, a zine for Swords & Wizardry, but really usable as is with any OSR game. Look at the contents squeezed into 50-some odd pages - new races, new monsters, new magic items, two whole adventures, critical hits, and so much more!
The Wizard's Scroll is priced at PWYW, so feel free to leave a tip if you find value in it.
The Wizard's Scroll is a new Swords & Wizardry fanzine. Within you will find all manner of excellent gaming material by some truly creative fans of the game.
2 Races: The Testudo (tortoise men) and Ratfolk
A Spell: Binding Familiars
An NPC for Carcosa
4 Monsters: The Skin Bag, Lightning Monk, Shield Guardian and the Abominable Beastman
7 Magic Items: Including Zum Kali’s Ancient Sword of Bone and the Claws of Carcajou
2 Adventures: The Demon-Shattered Tower (levels 2-3) and The Bandit Caves of Cyrus Blacknail (low level)
A Fantastic Location: The Wizard’s Tower
Optional Rules: Critical Hits and Basic Skills
A Recipe: How to Cook a Halfling
So put on your reading glasses (if you need them) and settle down in a comfortable chair. For the Wizards of the Scroll have cast an arcane ritual of "Read Magic" enabling the secrets of the Scroll to be read by all, for the very first time.
Kevin Crawford and his Sine Nomine publishing house are best known for Stars Without Number, Kevin's behemoth of an OSR ruleset that showed you didn't need the OGL and the 3.x SRD to create OSR-compatible material. Kevin plowed his own path, and it has worked very well for him.
In 2021, Kevin published Worlds Without Number, coming perhaps full circle, and giving us OGL free OSR rules for fantasy gaming that feel familiar to old school gamers, and continued using his popular Tag System (to enhance sandbox play).
As an alternative to WotC D&D, Worlds Without Number is an excellent choice. The Tag System should be in every GM's toolkit.
Worlds Without Number is a fantasy role-playing game, one fully compatible with the hit sci-fi game Stars Without Number. It's built from the ground up to provide gritty, hard-edged adventure in the fathomless future of the Latter Earth, a fantastic realm of time-lost sorcery, savage foes, and barbaric splendor. The cold steel in the fists of your heroes and the half-understood sorcery in their tomes must suffice to overcome the monstrous remnants of ancient alien rulers and the present depredations of ruthless lords and hideous beasts alike. The riches of lost ages await in the subterranean Deeps that once held their kingdoms, and even the heavens above are not beyond the reach of the recklessly daring.
(Note: this is the free version of WWN. If you'd like to grab the full deluxe edition with almost fifty extra pages of bonus content, head right over.)
Worlds Without Number isn't just a savage game of steel and sorcery. It's packed solid with system-neutral GM tools and worldbuilding support, with hundreds of pages of useful tools, tags, tables, and practical advice usable by any GM, regardless of their favorite setting or system. The well-loved sci-fi tools of Stars Without Number are reworked here to support fantasy gaming, whether in the provided setting of the Latter Earth or in your own carefully-crafted homebrew world. Even GMs who don't prefer the OSR-compatible game system of WWN will find more than half the book dedicated to tools they can use in the systems they like best.
So what do you get in this book?
Sword and sorcery heroes of blade, cunning, and spell. The proven OSR-compatible character creation system of Stars Without Number is redone here for a fantasy world of blade and black magic.
OSR-compatible rules, allowing you to plunder decades of existing adventure material for your play. You can even pull in Stars Without Number content, as it's fully compatible.
The Gyre region of the far-future Latter Earth, a premade sandbox for quick play. Venture forth to clash with the sinister powers that gather in the shadow of the waning rule of the Reaping King.
Worldbuilding tools crafted to the renowned Sine Nomine standard. Did you like the hundred different world tags in SWN? Then have two hundred inspirational tags to help you build ruins, courts, communities, and wilderness points of interest. Grab a wealth of tools for building histories, societies, governments, religions, and geography, all written with a keen eye toward producing good, playable content for your adventuring group.
Adventure creation tools to soothe the pangs of a working GM, with guides for building adventures out of combat, exploration, social, and investigative challenges. Use the tags you picked in the worldbuilding section to speed up your creation of a good night's gaming.
Faction rules for fantasy worlds, with dark cults, fierce lords, grasping abbots, and greedy merchants all serving to keep your world in motion even when the PCs aren't on the scene.
Nominally written for Swords & Wizardry, Hack! Firearmsshould be suitable for ANY OSR game (and possibly, with some tweaking, 5e. Written by the same team (Straycouches Press) behind the CRAWL! Zine for the DCC RPG. Do you want to bring firearms into your OSR game or run a S&W Western campaign? You've got what you need right here.
Hack! Firearms! is a supplement compatible with the Swords & Wizardry rules. It features simple firearms rules, an adventure tool-kit for introducing firearms to your campaign and whole bunch more!
Basic and optional rules for Firearms.
Different eras of firearms and their stats.
An adventure tool-kit for adding guns to your campaign.
The DOOM of the DARK is coming...
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The Black Casket of Night has indeed been opened beneath our feet, soon,
only days will remain!
I have been posting here and there about ‘Doom of the Dar...
Jackson, IL: Am I Evil? NPCs of the Satanic Panic
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Last week, I talked about running two different 80s-style teenage horror
campaigns. My Sunny Valley, OH game with Dark Places & Demogorgons and my
curren...
Free GM Resource: 1shotadventures
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[image: Free GM Resource: 1shotadventures]
I came across this blog consisting of adventures written by J.C. Connors.
The adventures are for a variety o...
Jonstown Jottings #106: Marsh Attacks!
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Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition,
the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but
for ma...
Music Monday - Go Monkey Go
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This one is a blast from the past. Released in 2000 and performed by Devo,
Go Monkey Go is a tribute to Mojo Jojo, the primary antagonist of the Power
Puff...
The Singing Lake
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By Nicole Mattos, Icaro Agostino, Davide TrammaAngry Golem GamesOSELevels
2-4 After being denied recognition as the supreme lord, Severo cursed the
region,...
Dungeon Crawler Carl (book review)
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This was a fun read if not particularly meaningful. It takes place in an
RPG world that works like a televised tournament, similar to The Running
Man and...
d100 Worst Weird Inn & Guest Rooms
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My current map with player exploration of my D&D5.5 game
Yellow is where players been and exploration has been fun
While we had 3 clerics nobody really imv...
The Great Nobility of Harry Potter
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I am of the view that there is no pursuit that is more noble and no task
that is more worth doing than writing novels. Call me romantic; call me
delud...
Circuits and Rallies
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I'm back from holiday! I guess coming back to familiarity after a few weeks
of novelty got me thinking.
Sometimes you repeat the same stuff over and over...
AD&D's Demi-Foot Forward...
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AD&D's demi-humans are primarily known for their multiclassing abilities.
After all, what adventurer doesn't occasionally dream of casting spells
from th...
Adventures Dark and Deep (Lite)
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This arrived for me today, a PoD hardback via DriveThruRPG.
Including postage, it cost me about $40 yankeebucks, so about $65 Kiwibucks.
I got it purel...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode XIV
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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...
Moldvay Basic D&D now Available in Print
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Just a quick note that (finally) Moldvay Basic D&D is available in POD from
DTRPG – previously, only the Cook/Marsh …
Continue reading →
Abstraction in My Liege,
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I think the aspect of *My Liege,* that could potentially put off the most
people is its lack of accounting granularity. It does not track Court
wealth in...
SoloDark: Four Drunk Priests
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Dabbling into some solo play using SoloDark. Rolled up the party last
night. 3d6 down the line and pick the best class for the results. It was
tragic.
ht...
Consolidated AD&D Weapon Characteristics List
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Having spent the last few days down a research rabbit hole, I ended up
compiling a chart of AD&D weapon characteristics, adding some "missing"
entries an...
Referee Sabotage
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It is an old saw that players are bad at executing their plans. Imagine
this common scene: the party have some big job that requires planning;
perhaps robb...
The March 1636 Lantern is Published
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Okay, The March Lantern is available. Those fast on the draw may have
noticed that I mistakenly published it as free access for 56 minutes. I
was just so ...
Gary Con 2026 Registration
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Silver Badges get to register for events at Noon Central today (February
21, 2026). Somehow I thought I failed to register for running games this
year and ...
On a Happy New Year
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We are about to experience the most social upheaval since industrialization.
What will that look like in sixty years?
Sinless is starting it's third yea...
Mutants and Wizards
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Heya folks, long time no see.
I've just started working on something new called Mutants and Wizards. It's
going to be an OSE/OSR post-apocalyptic game t...
Ten Friggin Hill Cantons Wizards
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10 Wizards of the Hill Cantons
#
Name
Description
1
Magister Dobromil the Cauterizer
Specializes in magical “cleaning” of reality leaks. Wears fou...
Rob Kuntz at Lucca Comics & Games 2025
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If you are planning a trip to Europe (like right now) and wish to catch up
with me in person, make sure to book a detour via *Lucca Comics & Games*,
...
How do you do piracy… in SPACE!?
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Interstellar space travel in Iridium Moons was always going to be a form of
hyperspace jump like in Star Wars or Traveller. Simply because it’s the one
for...
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...
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 ...
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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?
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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
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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
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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 ...
