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Into the Unknown - Book 1: Characters

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Into the Unknown is an Old School game that seeks to blend the Basic & Expert rules and style of play of the '80s with the current 5th edition ruleset of the world's most popular roleplaying game.

This is Book 1, the player's guide holding everything you need for character creation.

What does the Game have?

The game is divided into five digest-sized booklets, optimized for use at the gametable:

  • Book 1: Characters holds all you need to quickly create a new character (52 pages)
  • Book 2: Playing the Game has all the essential rules for players to get going (28 pages)
  • Book 3: Magic is strictly for those players whose characters are spellcasters (54 pages)
  • Book 4: Running the Game has everything a Game Master needs for running old-school games (85 pages)
  • Book 5: Monsters holds a selection of ready-to-use critters, complete with morale scores and treasure types (65 pages)
These are all laid out and edited to be as quick to scan and find what you are looking for at the table as possible- no more getting bogged down by looking things up in play!

How is this different from B/X or 5e?

Into the Unknown is based on 5th edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game and is fully compatible with it to the extent that you can easily create a 5th edition character and use him in a game of Into the Unknown and vice versa, without any conversion.

What sets it apart from 5th edition is that this is a "non-advanced" version that hearkens back to the "B/X" version of the game. It has been simplified in many places to speed up things such as character creation; "race-as-class" is back; so are old-school mechanisms such as morale, reaction rolls, 'random encounters', 'gold for XP' and henchmen.

For players used to 5e, Into the Unknown is easier and runs faster, and is an excellent game for exploring the old school style of play or introducing new players to the game.

For players used to running B/X, Into the Unknown is an opportunity to explore the latest edition of The Game without losing that Old School style of play you have been used to.

Additionally, the game offers a clear and structured approach for Game Masters to quickly and easily build a sandbox and run open-ended hexcrawl wilderness adventures, with simple and seamless mechanisms for time tracking and resource management to add a sense of pacing, tension and urgency to your old school dungeon-crawling games.

It also comes with plenty of advice on how to play the game in the Old School style, and a toolbox for how to houserule your game into something that fits your game table.

If you like the modern rules but would like to run more Old School games, this is the game for you!

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Reviews (5)
Discussions (16)
Customer avatar
Cédric F February 01, 2023 2:17 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Is there any hope of seeing the companion one day?
Customer avatar
Bryan A November 21, 2022 12:01 am UTC
PURCHASER
Love it. The only thing I'd do differently is to add a Half-Orc or Orc class with a Barbarian Rage ability
Customer avatar
Daniel V April 04, 2022 2:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm interested in purchasing the pdf+print bundle, but one of the reviews mentioned those small books were perfect bind instead of saddle stitch.
Is there a way to get the books in saddle stitch instead? Perfect bind would make books of this size too delicate to flip through...
Reply
Customer avatar
albert R October 14, 2022 12:14 am UTC
PURCHASER
I've had these books since released and I can tell you that they are all intact with a few years of handling at the table.
Customer avatar
Angela J W August 18, 2021 10:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any word on the companion?
Customer avatar
Carl H March 11, 2021 10:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
In what book can i find the ability modifiers?
Cant seems to find them in the character book.
Reply
Customer avatar
Anders H March 11, 2021 11:58 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi Carl,

They are found in book 2.
Reply
Customer avatar
Carl H March 11, 2021 12:57 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you Anders!

Customer avatar
sebastien H March 09, 2021 6:02 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hello, I have started translating your books into French. Would you allow me to publish this translation in French? with or without royalties ...
Reply
Customer avatar
Anders H March 10, 2021 12:24 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi sebastien.

Write to me at:
b 9 anders @ gmail . com

and let's talk more about it.
Reply
Customer avatar
sebastien H March 15, 2021 4:23 pm UTC
PURCHASER
mail send :)
Customer avatar
Wesley A November 06, 2020 1:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
Just ordered these and am very excited. How compatible (or easy to convert) are these with OSR or AD&D? I’m using Basic D&D with my 9 year old but could definitely see switching to this. I’ve got a big stack of Dungeon magazines I don’t want to go to waste though.
Reply
Customer avatar
Anders H November 06, 2020 9:46 am UTC
PUBLISHER
The main compatability is with 5e. I'd say it is a bit easier to convert OSR stuff to ItU than regular 5e, since it has fewer moving parts. Book 4 also has rules for how to quickly convert from TSR era D&D to ItU.
Reply
Customer avatar
Wesley A November 06, 2020 8:43 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Sounds great. Looking forward to them coming in. Thank you.
Customer avatar
Chris M August 24, 2020 6:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The Soft Cover print on demand version of these booklets, are they printed with a spine, or are the saddle stitched like the original Basic and Expert D&D books?

Personally I'd prefer Saddle Stitched for nostalgias sake, but I don't think DriveThruRPG offers that option no?
Customer avatar
Charles N December 05, 2019 1:48 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any news on when/if we might see some of the minor fixes required? Such as the missing text for the Halfling's Durable ability?
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael B January 20, 2021 7:20 am UTC
PURCHASER
I agree, some typos and stuff should be fixed by now, but aren't. For the Durable ability, we used the PHB's Durable feat. It sets the minimum recovered HP from using HD at rests to twice your CON bonus (for each HD used).
Customer avatar
J.T. D November 06, 2019 5:07 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any chance we might get a PDF and/or Print edition that puts all the material together into one product?
Reply
Customer avatar
Anders H November 25, 2019 12:27 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
More likely, there will be a Player's Guide and GM's Handbook sometime next year.
Customer avatar
Steve E July 23, 2019 9:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi there, great game! Looking forward to Book 6...any planned release date?

And do you envisage a setting book in the future? Thanks
Reply
Customer avatar
Anders H September 25, 2019 7:06 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi Steve,

No planned release. I took a well earned break from anything to do with this after publishing over the summer. I imagine I will look more into it over the winter.

And yes, a setting book is also in the works. Planning to do it as a 'zine, and make it a bit more modular than your regular setting.
Customer avatar
David J July 01, 2019 2:10 am UTC
The review that lambastes the author for perceived spelling errors by continually using the expression "grammer" (among other spelling foibles) is simultaneously sad and hilarious.
Customer avatar
Joel B May 30, 2019 6:22 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Great product: really, really love the simplicity and elegance.

Question: have you created a character sheet? I can't seem to find one in the Complete Game bundle.
Reply
Customer avatar
Denis L May 31, 2019 3:10 am UTC
You can find it here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YGHSmrcUayZlSKVGhxyLuyuEy3C0Sowb
Reply
Customer avatar
Joel B June 11, 2019 2:26 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks! These are great.
Customer avatar
James A May 27, 2019 1:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Doh! Sorry for wasting your time with that question..but I appreciate the reply!
Customer avatar
James A May 26, 2019 4:05 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Loving this system! But I noticed on page 14 weapons permitted for Druids are not listed.
Reply
Customer avatar
Anders H May 27, 2019 10:42 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi James,

They have simple weapon proficiency, as per the priest class in general. Clerics have more on top, which is why they get a mention in the class feature.
Customer avatar
George F May 23, 2019 2:14 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Do you have an estimated time of release for books 4 & 5? I've decided to jump all in to get these but would like to wait for all five books to be available.
Reply
Customer avatar
Anders H May 31, 2019 8:12 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi George,

If you send me a mail at b9anders@gmail.com with your customer number, I can set you up with an early bird coupon to cover the difference between what you paid and the bundle cost that came after you bought, if you like.
Reply
Customer avatar
George F May 31, 2019 11:21 am UTC
PURCHASER
No need. I was patient and waited a few day and snagged the complete Print+PDF bundle.
Thanks!
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Product Information
Platinum seller
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52
Publisher Stock #
O5R-1-1-001
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5.31 MB
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File Last Updated:
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This title was added to our catalog on May 23, 2019.
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