I think this is the best rules-lite system of D&D 5e that I have seen.

I always focus on refining and simplifying rules for the sake of speed and elegance... This is a great example of excellent game design mixed with clear writing.

This is based upon the 5.1 SRD PDF, so anyone can edit or modify it. I highly recommend buying the print version, or (at the very least), checking out the $1.00 PDF. The author clearly knows what he is doing!

Excellent work,

• Dr. Bull

I've now tested bugbears and borderlands a few times. My group has mostly played 5e, after a bit of editing this game has been very fun. It is quicker to play than standard 5e, characters come together faster, combat is a bit faster, but slightly more deadly. I wish I could get Izengrim and the creator of "into the borderlands" to team up on a new "B/X 5e" Izengrims simplicity combined with "Into the unknown" running the game book is, perhaps, better than playing 5e. In either case I've been using bb&bl as my intro to d&d game.

This is a cool book for a cool system, but it is plagued by too many conflicting rules.

The mechanics are neat, and the character options and the whole structure of customizing your character are fun. I like how there is the structure and flavor of classes, but great freedom with what options you pick from your class for exery XP instead of just being locked in to one advancement sequence.

But there are places in the book where the rules contradict one another. Sometimes a similar table has entries for the same item with completely different rules. And in one case, the entry for medium armor says it costs 500 gc, and then 25 gc in the next sentence.

If some of the editing is cleaned up I would rate this higher for sure.

The printed book seems to be missing pages, for example it shows page 51 as having maneuvers in the pdf, but no such section was added to the printed book. Is the combined printed manual up to date?

This is a fun tweak on a retro-clone which adds some nice twists for newer audiences. Definately worth checking out.

The book emulates the layout and design of AD&D's core books as well, which is great for nostalgia. I do think I'd have liked to have seen what could have been done if they'd charted their own course for layout and design, though.

It's a great little system... purchased it for reference material as it is a solid system.

It's a great little system... purchased it for reference material as it is a solid system.

Bugbears and Borderlands (1$, 148 pages) is a fun RPG which is a mix of Basic D&D and Fifth Edition. For the adventure, I used A Quick Guide to Dungeon Building (free/pay what you want at DriveThruRPG). To create my solo engine, I added a chart to Witch and Knave. I created five characters. The PCs heard about an abandoned temple and travelled across a flat treeless region. They came to a lake and they could see the temple on an island. They did not see a boat, but Fizz the lizardman found one underwater. He took out all of the rocks and it floated to the surface. They used the boat and were soon at the abandoned temple.

The first room was an armory which had one axe. The second room had a floor made up of moving grates. Four of the PCs made it across, but Shroom, a shroomling, fell through it to the next level down. The other PCs jumped down to join him. This new room had a low ceiling. In the fifth room they found a long sword. In the sixth room – a +3 bow with arrows. In the eighth room they encountered three wolves. The two druids were not able to make friends with them (bad rolls of the dice). The PCs were forced to kill them, but the PC Minos the minotaur went down. He was healed one turn later. In the ninth and tenth room they encountered lizardfolk. Fizz had a chat with them.

The eleventh room was a trap. Acid squirted out of holes and Shroom took damage. The next room was The Room of Depression. The PCs weretiger and Tiefling had to drag the other three out of that room (ugly crying, how embarrassing). The last room was The Room of Confusion. Somehow, they all made their saving throws. They then went through a door which led to a passageway. It turned and went up. They were able to climb up because of the metal rungs. At the top they discovered that the lake water was being magically held in place. The moved through it and swam to the surface back to the boat. Soon they were back on their way looking for a good place to spend the night. Give this a try!

For the past few days, I have soloed my way through Falkrest Abbey (44 pages, 50 cents, at the moment, at DriveThruRPG). This adventure is for Old-School Essentials, but I used the Chromatic Dungeons Basic Rules (85 pages, one buck, same place). I used Magic the Gathering cards along with a yes/no/maybe oracle as the solo engine. I used five player characters that were included in Chromatic and I created a cleric to join them. Here are the highlights of the adventure.

On the first day they wandered around the City of Ravnica to find a quest and hear rumors. On the second day, they left the city, found the Boros Legion Guild Castle, talked to some NPCs, and spent the night at Jora’s Last Inn. On the third day, they travelled through the Lune mountains (no encounters were rolled). At dusk they found the abbey. In no time at all they were in combat with three bandits and later an Icescale Viper. They also killed a flayed zombie and started acquiring loot. They also had to deal with a wight. The cleric turned him and they decided to go in a different direction. The cleric found some more undead to turn and they found an unstable room. In another room they found a skull circle and a portal. They destroyed the circle and the portal vanished (Oops!). Next, they found a ghost who sent them to kill the wight. So, now they had to go back to the wight. Raven the wizard damage him for two points of damage (his only spell – magic missle). At this point, they started talking to the wight. He says that he can help the PCs kill the ghost if they accept and complete a quest from the god of death. After the incantation, they get the quest – steal a silver goblet from the Shrine of Life (back at the city). They spend the night in the wight’s chamber.

On the fourth day they backtrack and spend the night at the inn. On the fifth day, Nasir the thief attempts to steal the silver goblet by himself. He gets caught, he is found guilty, and he is put in jail. The PCs decide that this is a bad sign. They give up on this quest. It is time to find a new one. They sell their loot in the city. The value of their loot is 943 gold pieces. All the PCs survived!

Give this fun RPG a try!

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/monstrous-mondays-twilight-fables-5e-osr.html

NOTE: This review covers both the 5e and OSR versions of this book. They are 99% the same content except where noted below.

There is a chill in the air here in Chicago. I have a flannel shirt on and my mood ever shifts more and more to Halloween. A Halloween bestiary would be nice and thankfully Izegrim Creations has just the thing I need.

Twilight Fables

I swear the Kickstarter for this had just ended and I got my DriveThruRPG notification that the hardcovers were available.

So for this I Monstrous Monday, I want to talk about both the 5e and OSR versions of this book, the Print on Demand and PDF versions, plus all the other material that makes up this line.

Overview

Both books are huge volumes at 336 pages (5e) and 326 pages (OSR) each. The covers are full color as is all the interior art. And the art is fantastic.
Both books have a solid 5e aesthetic to them; colorful art and backgrounds, text describing the creature and its place in the environment/land/myths, and followed by a stat block.

The 5e book features a standard-looking 5e stat block, the OSR one is largely a modified Basic-era stat block. It includes everything you would expect along with descending and ascending AC, an entry for THAC0, and XP. The art for both books is the same. There is a good reason for this, the OSR version was added on a little bit later in the Kickstarter. The 5e version, with art, was done before the kickstart began (minus some edits I am told) so adding on the OSR version was a matter of adding the new stat blocks. One nitpick there are listings for "DCs" in the OSR version for magic item creation (more on that later). I would have preferred something that felt a little more pre-2000.

Now in most situations, I would fear translation errors, but the author Roderic Waibel had already developed that very successful Chromatic Dungeons RPG (reviewed here) which is solid OSR. So I know he knows OSR. My only gripe is kinda wanted the OSR stat blocks to look as nice as the 5e ones! But that is only a gripe for people that own both.

Like many of Waibel's publications we get nice sidebar discussions from the intelligent and rather civilized Gnoll "Fleabag." It is a very nice touch (I have done something similar with my 'From the Journal of Larina Nix') and it gives these (and his other books) character.

Regardless of which one you get (get both!) you are in for a treat.

I grabbed both and will be using the OSR version in my Old-School Essentials game. My oldest grabbed the 5e version and is using it in his weekly 5e game. So far he says it is great and he loves all the different sorts of monsters it offers.

The Fables

The name of the book is Twilight Fables. So you can expect that these are monsters from various myths, legends, and tales. And you would be 100% correct. Waibel has done his reading and there are a lot of great creatures here. Even ones that might be familiar get new life and feel "new."

For example, I mentioned in the past one of my favorites, the Basajaun who appears in three different monster books. Each one is a little different and yet each one 'feels' right. Perfect for DMs that want a familiar, yet different creature.

The creatures largely come from the myths, legends, and folklore of Europe. This is also what is advertised and leads to the logical assumption of Twilight Fables of other lands for future volumes. One for Africa, one for Asia, one for the Americas, all are possible.

In addition to the monsters, there are various legendary NPCs like Baba Yaga, Beowulf, Cailleach Beira, Cú Chulainn, Guy of Warwick, King Arthur, Little Red Riding Hood, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, Robin Hood, Scáthach, Queen Úna of Faerie, and Väinämöinen. So yeah. Lots.

There is a section on Mythological Treasures and Magic items. This includes some rules on how to make magic items as well. It is a very nice value add. You saw this sort of thing with the old Mayfair "Fantastic Treasures" and something you see Troll Lord Games do with their Monster and Treasure books.

Both books also have rules for new character species (wanna play a Pech? You can!) and for 5e there are class options such as Warlock patrons and cleric domains.

There is even a small adventure (20 pages) to introduce these new monsters.

The Monsters

All that is gravy. The real meat here are the monsters.

In both cases, the monsters take up full pages. This includes the background and descriptions, the stat blocks, and whatever else is involved with this particular creature such as "Lore & Rumors", any special treasures, habitat, behaviors, and more. In some cases, the material bleeds over to another entry, but not so much as to be an issue.

There are, by my count, nearly 220 monsters here ranging in HD from 1-1 to 30+ (OSR) and CR 1/8 to 30 (5e). So plenty of creatures to challenge any level of characters.

I have to say these are great books and well worth grabbing for your games, 5e or OSR, or both. There is a lot of material here and plenty to keep many groups engaged for some time.

Extras

When you get the digital copy from DriveThruRPG you also get a bunch of tokens that can be printed and used in f2f table games or digitally online. It is another value add this game offers. There is also an RTF version of the book, a printer-friendly/no background version, and maps for the included adventure.

If you love monsters like I do then this is a must-buy.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/monstrous-mondays-twilight-fables-5e-osr.html

NOTE: This review covers both the 5e and OSR versions of this book. They are 99% the same content except where noted below.

There is a chill in the air here in Chicago. I have a flannel shirt on and my mood ever shifts more and more to Halloween. A Halloween bestiary would be nice and thankfully Izegrim Creations has just the thing I need.

Twilight Fables

I swear the Kickstarter for this had just ended and I got my DriveThruRPG notification that the hardcovers were available.

So for this I Monstrous Monday, I want to talk about both the 5e and OSR versions of this book, the Print on Demand and PDF versions, plus all the other material that makes up this line.

Overview

Both books are huge volumes at 336 pages (5e) and 326 pages (OSR) each. The covers are full color as is all the interior art. And the art is fantastic.
Both books have a solid 5e aesthetic to them; colorful art and backgrounds, text describing the creature and its place in the environment/land/myths, and followed by a stat block.

The 5e book features a standard-looking 5e stat block, the OSR one is largely a modified Basic-era stat block. It includes everything you would expect along with descending and ascending AC, an entry for THAC0, and XP. The art for both books is the same. There is a good reason for this, the OSR version was added on a little bit later in the Kickstarter. The 5e version, with art, was done before the kickstart began (minus some edits I am told) so adding on the OSR version was a matter of adding the new stat blocks. One nitpick there are listings for "DCs" in the OSR version for magic item creation (more on that later). I would have preferred something that felt a little more pre-2000.

Now in most situations, I would fear translation errors, but the author Roderic Waibel had already developed that very successful Chromatic Dungeons RPG (reviewed here) which is solid OSR. So I know he knows OSR. My only gripe is kinda wanted the OSR stat blocks to look as nice as the 5e ones! But that is only a gripe for people that own both.

Like many of Waibel's publications we get nice sidebar discussions from the intelligent and rather civilized Gnoll "Fleabag." It is a very nice touch (I have done something similar with my 'From the Journal of Larina Nix') and it gives these (and his other books) character.

Regardless of which one you get (get both!) you are in for a treat.

I grabbed both and will be using the OSR version in my Old-School Essentials game. My oldest grabbed the 5e version and is using it in his weekly 5e game. So far he says it is great and he loves all the different sorts of monsters it offers.

The Fables

The name of the book is Twilight Fables. So you can expect that these are monsters from various myths, legends, and tales. And you would be 100% correct. Waibel has done his reading and there are a lot of great creatures here. Even ones that might be familiar get new life and feel "new."

For example, I mentioned in the past one of my favorites, the Basajaun who appears in three different monster books. Each one is a little different and yet each one 'feels' right. Perfect for DMs that want a familiar, yet different creature.

The creatures largely come from the myths, legends, and folklore of Europe. This is also what is advertised and leads to the logical assumption of Twilight Fables of other lands for future volumes. One for Africa, one for Asia, one for the Americas, all are possible.

In addition to the monsters, there are various legendary NPCs like Baba Yaga, Beowulf, Cailleach Beira, Cú Chulainn, Guy of Warwick, King Arthur, Little Red Riding Hood, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, Robin Hood, Scáthach, Queen Úna of Faerie, and Väinämöinen. So yeah. Lots.

There is a section on Mythological Treasures and Magic items. This includes some rules on how to make magic items as well. It is a very nice value add. You saw this sort of thing with the old Mayfair "Fantastic Treasures" and something you see Troll Lord Games do with their Monster and Treasure books.

Both books also have rules for new character species (wanna play a Pech? You can!) and for 5e there are class options such as Warlock patrons and cleric domains.

There is even a small adventure (20 pages) to introduce these new monsters.

The Monsters

All that is gravy. The real meat here are the monsters.

In both cases, the monsters take up full pages. This includes the background and descriptions, the stat blocks, and whatever else is involved with this particular creature such as "Lore & Rumors", any special treasures, habitat, behaviors, and more. In some cases, the material bleeds over to another entry, but not so much as to be an issue.

There are, by my count, nearly 220 monsters here ranging in HD from 1-1 to 30+ (OSR) and CR 1/8 to 30 (5e). So plenty of creatures to challenge any level of characters.

I have to say these are great books and well worth grabbing for your games, 5e or OSR, or both. There is a lot of material here and plenty to keep many groups engaged for some time.

Extras

When you get the digital copy from DriveThruRPG you also get a bunch of tokens that can be printed and used in f2f table games or digitally online. It is another value add this game offers. There is also an RTF version of the book, a printer-friendly/no background version, and maps for the included adventure.

If you love monsters like I do then this is a must-buy.

Where do I start? I've been playing D&D since 1983, and my kids have started to ask about playing, and after a few lackluster sessions with other OSR rulesets, this one seems to have stuck. My players (old and young) like the diversity that's been built into this game, along with the tweaks to some common rules, and just the layout and way this is presented, and it's like a breath of fresh air for my kids, and my gaming crew.

I've seen some of the stupid negative comments here and there about the inclusive nature of this game, and seriously, don't let that detract from what this is - a great OSR option that's been thoughtfully compiled and with some nice tweaks added for good measure.

I was a kickstarter backer, and I got the hardcover printed rules and pdf. The print copy was great quality, the binding seems very sturdy, and the content is well-organized and with some great OSR-inspired art.

There's enough new stuff here to make this worth the purchase. It's a fresh take with enough "old bones" underneath to make it fun and workable.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2021/11/review-chromatic-dungeons-part-3-gnoll.html

The Gnoll Sage

For this review, I am considering the PDFs from DriveThruRPG as well as the printed, digest-sized, soft-covers I received via Kickstarter.

Each book is 24 or so pages with Issue #5 coming in at 42 pages. Color covers and black and white interiors. Each one is released under the OGL so a couple of pages go to the license statement.

On the surface, there is a strong influence from Dragon magazine, but not in the way say Gygax magazine tried to do. The influence here is easily one of someone that had read and grown up on Dragon and wanted to recreate the feeling rather than the actual layout. It serves The Gnoll Sage (TGS) well.

The unifying thread through all these issues is the involvement of "Fleabag" the eponymous Gnoll Sage. Not Phoebe Waller-Bridge (but that would be hilarious) but an intelligent, erudite, be-spectacled, and maybe a bit of a pacifist, Gnoll who presents topics from the issue/zine from their point of view. I personally rather like it. It fits well into the idea that no humanoid race in Chromatic Dungeons has a default alignment. The funny part, for me at any rate, is I have often agreed with this idea on my blog EXCEPT for Gnolls. Maybe I'll give Fleabag a try anyway.

Each zine has a main feature, usually depicted on the cover, and other details like some magic items, equipment, spells, and so on. There is a comic section reminiscent of "Dragon Mirth" as well. There is an editorial in each issue talking about the issue and what might be coming next.

The material presented in each issue is overtly for the Chromatic Dungeons game, but it is all written in such a way, with extra notes when needed, that it can be used with just about any 80s or 90s versions of D&D or any clone that emulates them. In particular, I felt they would be very handy to use with B/X D&D or Old-School Essentials.

The Gnoll Sage #5 This issue is the last of the Kickstarter issues and also the largest so far at 42 pages. This issue covers the Ecology of the Orc and sets out to challenge our notions, or at least stereotypes of orcs. This is introduced in the starting fiction with Fleabag challenging the party to think about what sorts of orcs they might be dealing with. What follows is a very long Ecology Of and details of seven very different Orc clans.

In the Ecology Of we learn the basic structure of an orc clan including numbers, leadership, and organization. What follows are descriptions of seven example clans. They are, briefly: Small Clans are the various orc clans represented in pretty much all other RPGs. The Iron Shield Clan, a group of orcs more interested in making weapons, and selling them, than using them. Yellow Fang, a group of plains orcs that wear the skins of their enemies as clothing. Chaka Plains orcs are not pacifists per see, but understand the value of life and death and respect it. Meet them peacefully and you will be respected, meet them with violence and they will happily escort you to your next life. There are the sea-faring orc pirates and privateers of the Red Sails, but they only attack the wealthiest of ships. There are the imperialistic and arrogant orcs of the Baildan Daguulalt (Empire) that combine the best, and worst, characteristics of Imperialisy Britain and the Roman Empire. They are brilliant and utterly convinced of their own superiority, in fact they made the cover. Finally the orcs of the Silver Glacier might be the most dangerous of all these clans.

That is a lot! There are still a couple of magic items, some comics, new spells, and some hints about the next issue and a new class The Commander.

Each issue runs for $5.00 for the PDF and $6.00 for the print or print/PDF combination.

Their digest size makes me think they will fit in well with the newest versions of Old-School Essentials or Swords & Wizardry. So even if you don't play the Chromatic Dungeons game, these are still great resources.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2021/11/review-chromatic-dungeons-part-3-gnoll.html

The Gnoll Sage

For this review, I am considering the PDFs from DriveThruRPG as well as the printed, digest-sized, soft-covers I received via Kickstarter.

Each book is 24 or so pages with Issue #5 coming in at 42 pages. Color covers and black and white interiors. Each one is released under the OGL so a couple of pages go to the license statement.

On the surface, there is a strong influence from Dragon magazine, but not in the way say Gygax magazine tried to do. The influence here is easily one of someone that had read and grown up on Dragon and wanted to recreate the feeling rather than the actual layout. It serves The Gnoll Sage (TGS) well.

The unifying thread through all these issues is the involvement of "Fleabag" the eponymous Gnoll Sage. Not Phoebe Waller-Bridge (but that would be hilarious) but an intelligent, erudite, be-spectacled, and maybe a bit of a pacifist, Gnoll who presents topics from the issue/zine from their point of view. I personally rather like it. It fits well into the idea that no humanoid race in Chromatic Dungeons has a default alignment. The funny part, for me at any rate, is I have often agreed with this idea on my blog EXCEPT for Gnolls. Maybe I'll give Fleabag a try anyway.

Each zine has a main feature, usually depicted on the cover, and other details like some magic items, equipment, spells, and so on. There is a comic section reminiscent of "Dragon Mirth" as well. There is an editorial in each issue talking about the issue and what might be coming next.

The material presented in each issue is overtly for the Chromatic Dungeons game, but it is all written in such a way, with extra notes when needed, that it can be used with just about any 80s or 90s versions of D&D or any clone that emulates them. In particular, I felt they would be very handy to use with B/X D&D or Old-School Essentials.

The Gnoll Sage #4 Now here is one I was quite excited for. This issue introduces us to the Psionist class for Chromatic Dungeons or any other clone. We start with some fluff with Fleabag and the aftermath of the Mushropod attack from the last issue. Fleabag describes a unique "spellcaster" they had met who what not a spellcaster at all. We then get into the class proper. Now I am very particular about my psychic and psionic using classes. Even to the point where I have a preferred term (it's "psychic" btw) and I need them to be very different than my spell-using classes. Also if their powers can be built up over time with disciplines, then all the better. This class satisfies two of those three. The class is flexible to use just about anywhere and easy to introduce. In fact, with the most minor of tweaks, a 5th Edition class can be found here. The psionist can choose one of three disciplines; Psychometabolism, Telekinesis, and Telepathy. There are powers with each one and they grow as the character levels up.

We also get an ersatz Mind Flayer in the Mind Eater and some comics. In the State of the Business, we learn this was the last issue of the original four set, with issue #5 coming as a stretch goal.

Each issue runs for $5.00 for the PDF and $6.00 for the print or print/PDF combination.

Their digest size makes me think they will fit in well with the newest versions of Old-School Essentials or Swords & Wizardry. So even if you don't play the Chromatic Dungeons game, these are still great resources.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2021/11/review-chromatic-dungeons-part-3-gnoll.html

The Gnoll Sage

For this review, I am considering the PDFs from DriveThruRPG as well as the printed, digest-sized, soft-covers I received via Kickstarter.

Each book is 24 or so pages with Issue #5 coming in at 42 pages. Color covers and black and white interiors. Each one is released under the OGL so a couple of pages go to the license statement.

On the surface, there is a strong influence from Dragon magazine, but not in the way say Gygax magazine tried to do. The influence here is easily one of someone that had read and grown up on Dragon and wanted to recreate the feeling rather than the actual layout. It serves The Gnoll Sage (TGS) well.

The unifying thread through all these issues is the involvement of "Fleabag" the eponymous Gnoll Sage. Not Phoebe Waller-Bridge (but that would be hilarious) but an intelligent, erudite, be-spectacled, and maybe a bit of a pacifist, Gnoll who presents topics from the issue/zine from their point of view. I personally rather like it. It fits well into the idea that no humanoid race in Chromatic Dungeons has a default alignment. The funny part, for me at any rate, is I have often agreed with this idea on my blog EXCEPT for Gnolls. Maybe I'll give Fleabag a try anyway.

Each zine has a main feature, usually depicted on the cover, and other details like some magic items, equipment, spells, and so on. There is a comic section reminiscent of "Dragon Mirth" as well. There is an editorial in each issue talking about the issue and what might be coming next.

The material presented in each issue is overtly for the Chromatic Dungeons game, but it is all written in such a way, with extra notes when needed, that it can be used with just about any 80s or 90s versions of D&D or any clone that emulates them. In particular, I felt they would be very handy to use with B/X D&D or Old-School Essentials.

The Gnoll Sage #3 The third issue of The Gnoll Sage gives us the ecology of a monster introduced in the Chromatic Dungeons hardcover, the Mushropod. In the Ecology Of article, we get more details from our Gnoll on the Scene, Fleabag as they let us know what they have uncovered about the sentient mushrooms. Again the stat block reminds me of a 5e one, but everything here lends itself well to use of any 20th century D&D or clone.

There is a very brief adventure featuring these guys, some humor, three new magic items, some new NPCs, and a new spell. We end with the State of the Business note from Waibel where he mentions his Rise of Authur project. If you follow him at all online now (late Fall 2021) you have seen the characters he has been working on.

Each issue runs for $5.00 for the PDF and $6.00 for the print or print/PDF combination.

Their digest size makes me think they will fit in well with the newest versions of Old-School Essentials or Swords & Wizardry. So even if you don't play the Chromatic Dungeons game, these are still great resources.