Venger's Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise setting/dungeon book. This monster clocks in at two twenty five & it really brings home the fact that this is a far more advanced book then the normal Cha'alt book. Adventure & campaign events in Cha'alt have moved on as more then eighteen months have passed. Don't let the cover artwork fool you. This is a straight up monster of a campaign book. This book details & fleshes out In this book the city of A'agrybah, and its within this city that adventurers are going to want to start their Cha'alt machinations. The real gem of the Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise the offworlder high-tech facility called Elysium which is both faction & adventure goal. These folks are literally Dune like world ravagers & these folks should not be taken lightly. There's tons of ideas literally dripping at the goo of the pages but its actually indexed & better organized. There are tons of random tables & adventure options for the table top and beyond for adventure design! The whole book has the asthetic of a 80's D&D book that you'd hide from your mom and read under the covers with a flash light. The planet here reeks of corruption, danger, & the nastiness that we've come to expect from Venger! On the whole whole cloth of the book is essential for the Cha'alt dungeon master & experience! For me Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise is the advanced options book for Cha'alt & it does what it needs to so well. Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise really brings into focus the hard core essence of the game system. Buy this book!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want More OSR content?! Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"The world's last line of defense is a group of ultra-violent cannibals wielding unholy magic. They needed a hero, but instead they got you." Demonic Tome is available now! This OSR sourcebook (previously released as Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium in 2002) features magic, demons, setting information, and enchanted shotguns."

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Two days ago with zero fanfare & absolutely no announcement that crazy metal headed bastard of the OSR Rafael Chandler released 'The Demonic Tome' onto an unsuspecting OSR as a pay what you want title. "Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium in 2002, and later re-released as Pandemonio. This book contains previously published material." I've been waiting for this title going all of the way back to December of 2013 or so! Two days ago I look on my friend's wall & no gout of hellfire or spewed slime but 'The Demonic Tome was on Drivethrurpg! How do you describe this one hundred & thirty two page OSR supplement/modernish campaign setting!? Well try & imagine the Bible's Book of Revelation combined with White Wolf's Hunter The Reckoning but with an OSR death metal paint job this is 'The Demonic Tome'! The setting is the world of 'now' but through the lens of 'Chandler vision'. There's firearms of course in 'The Demonic Tome' because there has to be! The PC's are gonna need all of the help they can get. Rafael Chandler ⛧ (@[email protected]) - dice.camp

Don't let that smile fool you!

Each of the old D&D character classes are now almost modern arch type PC classes & they are balls to the hunters of the demons & demonic! The clerics & wizards have some of the most twisted spells to hit pages of a supplement! Both cleric & wizard's spell levels hit nine & they are nasty,brutish, & very violent! Here's a clerical spell as an example; "Perdition Duration: 1 round per caster level Range: Self/5' When this spell is cast, the Disciple's hand is transformed into a monstrous claw, and she can vomit up a huge quantity of black bile. If the Cleric hits with the claw, she inflicts 1d3 damage, plus 1 per caster level, and if she has been injured, she recovers that same number of hit points (up to her maximum). If the Cleric instead chooses to vomit on her prey, the monster must save vs. Spell or take 1d3 damage, plus 1 per caster level (and again, the Cleric may recover that many hit points, if she's been injured)."

This is just the sort of demonic modernish brutal weirdness I'm talking about! With dungeon master's section events start to make sense with species of demons & their ilk showing their true colours! Take for example the 'defiler' species; "Defilers A Defiler demon will possess its victim (known to Disciples as a skell) and force that person to commit evil acts. When tracking a Defiler, the Cabal doesn't always know who the skell is. Often, all they know is that something weird is going on. To exorcise a demon from the body of a skell, a Cleric must perform a Rite (described in the Cleric spells section). The demon can also be injured (and killed) once the skell is dead."

If this sorta stuff seems vaguely familiar that's because many of the themes of 'The Demonic Tome' are echoed in 'The Teratic Tome'! In point of fact 'The Demonic Tome' might be considered the demonic minion book while both Lusus Naturae & 'The Teratic Tome' are the upper tier & boss books respectively torn from the Books of Pandemonium! The Books of Pandemonium serve as the bridge adventure element to this damned corner of the Chandlerverse. Even the situation in LoFP's 'No Salvation For Witches' could lead to the modern world of destruction portrayed in 'The Demonic Tome'.

If there is a theme to the Chandlerverse then it exemplifies itself in the Narcosa setting that weaves & bobs its way through the 'higher then a kite drug plane.' There are hints here & there in the Demonic Tome that Narcosa is there sitting & waiting its turn!

With all of the recent Lamentations of the Flame Princess controversy its nice to see Mr.Chandler coming back into the OSR fold with his recent Metallic Tome kickstarter. And because of the infernal nature of the elements of 'The Demonic Tome'. These two universe settings might not only be connected but different aspects of the same campaign setting.

But is ' The Demonic Tome' any good?! Well the demons are original, nasty, & are part of a twisted S.O.B's OSR campaign. The demons themselves are far from the standard Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual first edition demons or are they?! While the 'Demonic Tome' demons are absolutely nasty, twisted, dangerous because these demons are laid out in an OSR fashion the Vrock & its ilk would feel right at home next to a Qavaad's machinations or feeding on the remains of issoac's victims! 1e

And this is part of the strength of the OSR based products. Being able to adapt & overcome many campaign difficulties while mixing & matching what the dungeon master needs or wants for his or her campaign. As a pay what you want title I think that 'The Demonic Tome' is well worth your time & money. As a part of the expanding Chandlerverse?! 'The Demonic Tome' is invaluable for an addition to the DM's tool box! I should know I just got my print copy today from my local printer! Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more original content? Subscribe to http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"Many years ago, a fanatic cult claimed a sanctuary as a base for plotting their wicked ways. They named their redoubt the Temple of Mercy because it is where new followers would journey to repent of their sins and be granted mercy. It is unclear how the cult was defeated, but they vanished nearly 120 years ago. The temple has been quiet since the disappearance of the vile clan. Recently, a religious order of holy priests has been interested in claiming the temple as their own. They are looking for bold adventurers to slay sinister monsters, evade treacherous traps, and bring glory to the forgotten Temple of Mercy!"

I grabbed Pacesetter's Temple of Mercy for B/X Dungeons & Dragons. Its an adventure designed for six, third level characters. This is a pay what you want B/X adventure & has the feel of many of the period Basic Dungeons & Dragons adventures & products.

It wouldn't take much to adapt Temple of Mercy to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition. Why?! Because Pacesetter's Temple of Mercy is a dungeon romp plain & well made. It takes the PC's & put em through their paces. The characters go the nine yards & then some. There are some interesting tricks & traps that author Ben Barsh puts the adventurers through. This isn't a world spanning adventure with a huge central plot. Instead this is a 24 page dungeon with some good solid design work, interesting adventure encounters & lots potential for campaign play. Could Temple of Mercy be adapted to the Castles & Crusades rpg?! Absolutely & there's just enough here to get the DM into lots of player PC hot water by taking full advantage of the adventure material.

Trips & traps abound in Temple of Mercy meaning that there's plenty of adventurer's handwork to play to during adventuring module. Besides being named checked the players are going to have their hands full dealing with the living history that presents itself in Temple of Mercy. Should you grab Temple of Mercy then I'd throw the adventure into play rotation & see where it leads your player's PC's.

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more original OSR content? Subscribe to http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"Secrets of the Witchkind presents everything you need to bring a new, highly magical player character race to at d20 System campagin setting you enjoy. The Witchkind aren't just spellcasters... everything they are is tied to magic, and they use it more naturally than any other beings in the multiverse."

So I wanted to get back into a bit of OSR kitbashing with Secrets of the Witchkind by Steve Miller. The cover art by Bradley McDermitt convey's a sort of absolutely insane witchkind that might be the perfect NPC villain. Before we go any further this book this is a D20 modern Basics book. The book has a sort of Bewitched quality about it which happens right from the intro; "Every human culture has legends about men and women who bend reality to their will through magic. In the following pages, we reveal the source of those legends, the beings that sorcerers and wizards and demonologists through the ages have aspired to be like— Witchkind! A note about gender language in this product: Throughout this booklet, we refer to "witches" as a general term for witchkind. We do this as a matter of expedience, because we didn't want to type "witches and warlocks" or even "witchkind" over and over. Any reference to a witch applies equally to warlocks, who are their male counterparts. (That should be selfevident, but we have found in the course of the he/she/it wars that it is not.)"

One thing about Secrets of the Witchkind is that this higher quality book then some of Neulow games other offerings. The author has put more work into production & it shows. I was shocked to see that this book was up to Secrets of the Immortals standards. We get racial background on Witchkind their history, events, culture, etc. & it gets pretty indepth; "What is known is that witches and warlocks have existed along side and among humans for tens of thousands of years. The earliest witches seem to have been created via an accident in Atlantis that flooded several thousand people with magical energy during an attempt to study the extra-dimensional Realm of Fairies. When it became clear that there was no reversing the changes they had undergone, the Atlantean leaders isolated them for the rest of their population by restricting them to an extra-dimensional settlement that eventually evolved into a trading and diplomatic post where Atlantis interacted with all the other planes. " So once again this goes side by side with Secrets of the Immortals history another hidden race that has existed side by side with humanity. That's not a bad thing & Secrets of Witchkind is lite enough system wise to work with other OSR D20 products out on the market. This includes Troll Lord Games Amazing Adventures! But Witchkind are extremely long lived PC's.

The layout here is good & the material here is higher level then I was sort of expecting but many of the D20 Neulow games supplements could be used with Light City a supers hack for the outstanding and simplified Swords & Wizardry Light and Swords & Wizardry Continual Light designed by Erik Tenkar. If I was gonna pitch a whole cloth campaign it would be used with Light City: The Assembly! That campaign material has the right mix of supernatural heroics & super villain nastiness to fit the implied material in Secrets of The Witchkind.

Is Secrets of The Witchkind a rip off of the Betwitched television show? Kinda but not really at all this product is more of an upsend of the witch in a way where the feats & magic system of the Witchkind convey a much more dynamic & almost Pulp like mystic super heroic figure. They have a complete independent magic system; "The following spell point costs are baselines. There are circumstances that can either increase or decrease the amount of spell points expended. Here are some universal conditions that impact the spell point cost. • Spells in core rulebooks and other supplements: Spell level x3 • Minor spell effects, as created by player: 1 spell point (for example, turning a taco into a burrito) • Medium spell effects, as created by player: 6 spell points (for example, placing an enchantment on an item that causes the person carrying it to always tell the truth for 24 hours) • Elaborate spell effects, as created by player: 12 spell points (for example, causing a room to completely change in appearance) • Major spell effects, as created by player: 24 spell points (causing a fully furnished house to appear in an empty lot for a number days equal to character level) • Epic spell effects, as created by player: 100 spell points (for example, causing one or more structures to appear or disappear on a permanent basis, drawing a historical figure from the past into current time, or sending the witch and a number of other people back or forward in time)." The layout & fonts are very well done here in Secrets of The Witchkind. The feats of the Witchkind reflect their 'otherness' from the run of the mill human; "Empathy [Minor Power] You detect the surface emotions of any creature you can see that is in the power’s area. Benefit: As a full round action, you can focus your attention on a single creature within your line of sight. Roll a Willpower save (DC10). If the roll is successful, you know the target's exact emotional state--afraid, angry, hate-filled, curious, friendly, or any other emotion. The following round, you gain a +4 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Sense Motive checks you make at the target. Special: This feat serves a prerequisite for any talent from Superpower trees." You get an almost a really horrific nasty effect with the Talents of the Witchkind;"Invisibility You can become hard to see or totally invisible at will. The invisibility can be activated by a thought (standard action), and remains in effect until he wills himself visible again, or loses consciousness. The character’s clothes and carried objects become invisible as well. Shadowy: By taking a standard attack action, you turn partially invisible. You gain a +4 bonus to all Hide checks. This bonus increases to +10 if you are in a dark area or it is night. Invisible: By taking a standard attack action, you turn invisible. All attacks made against you suffer a -6 penalty. Creatures that can see invisible objects can still see you, and you can be sensed by equipment that detects body heat or movement. Likewise, if you step in a puddle, are submerged in water, stand in heavy rain, or if someone fills the air with dust or flour that clings to you, you essentially become visible. Prerequisite: Shadowy Insubstantial: As Invisible, except the character becomes vaporous and become immune to damage from all damage sources except those that compress or displace air, such as extreme heat and cold. The character suffers normal damage from such attacks. Prerequisite: Invisible"

How is this phamplet different from say the work of Tim Brannan of the Otherside Blog say his The Children of the Gods The Classical Witch Tradition book? Well there are both some major thematic differences & racial ones. The witchkind are their own species, the have their own detailed societal overview, there racial details that differ. In other words the Secrets of The Witchkind is its own product separate from many of the witch books on the market. I'll be doing a review of Tim Brannan's The Children of the Gods The Classical Witch Tradition book coming up but that's its own blog entry.

Secrets of The Witchkind is its own book & supplement. Its one that adds a very different take on a very long & almost immortal race unto itself. Is it good? In a word yes! Does it do its job?! Yes it does & perhaps a bit more. Overall I'm glad to have it & will be using it soon. Do I think you should get it? Yes if you want to add in a very different spin Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Grab this book!

"Beyond the darkness and beyond all sense lies a gulf of empty fear where true evil lurks.

Born with twisted thought, tainted with stains of malice, they are creatures foul and bent. They dwell in the darkness of time's caverns, in the Abyss, in Hell, in those Wretched Planes of shadow and evil, loss and despair. The echo of the unknown drives them from darkness toward the light. Some few seek salvation, but others to drive the souls of mortals to ultimate darkness and corruption.

Tome of the Unclean unleashes all of the power and horror of these wretched planes upon your Castles & Crusades game! From the Lords of the Abyss, to the Legions of Hell, and through to the gray wastes of Gehenna, a host of devils, demons, and daemons await your table!

Tome of the Unclean includes all of the familiar denizens of the darker planes. Here you will find Demogorgon and Orcus; Asmodeus, Bael, and Mammon, plus legions of others. All of the major and minor demons, greater and lesser devils, and a veritable host of creatures from your players' worst nightmares await within these pages."

A week or so ago I ordered a copy of Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean. Let me first point out that this supplement is meant for Castles & Crusades exclusively. While Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean can be used with other OSR systems its meant exclusively for C&C or other Siege engine rpg systems. This book does exactly what I was looking for, it adds in a plethora of Demons, Devils, & even appendixes on adding in undead, hellish fauna, & flora. But Tome of the Unclean is geared for Aihrde, the default C&C campaign setting. I'm good with this. This seems to bother a lot of members of the OSR & but not me in particular. I'm a completest & so Tome of the Unclean has been on my Troll Lords radar for a long time. My feeling is that I'd love to put together an OSR game campaign centered around my version of the Hells as the major antagonistic force of darkness. Since the C&C Player's Guide is being offered for free I figured it was a great time to get in on the action.

I gotta say that despite reviews like this from Tim O; "C&C is my go to game, but I must say I'm very disappointed in this one. I was really looking forward to the official versions, but the expected improvements to the "big baddies" did not happen. In my opinion all the major demons and devils are under powered as far as hit points and magical abilities go; even the "standard" abilities of both groups seem weak and incomplete." Sigh.. I didn't particularly find this at all. In point of fact I think that all of the infernal deviants of Tome of the Unclean work very well for me. I wasn't looking for a huge push in abilities,powers,etc. in the way of the 'munchkin factor'. Instead I'm looking for an infernal book that lines up with other Siege Engine & OSR products. So if I want a demon, devil, etc. I can grab this book off of the shelf & pop one of these horrors into my games. Tome of the Unclean is that book. It does it job & its up to the quality of other Troll Lords products. I bought it with my own pocket money & paid well for Tome of the Unclean. That should tell you everything right there. I'm very happy with Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean.

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"Cyfaraun is a city of ancient lineage. The name itself is an Auran corruption of its original elven name, Cyfarawn. Evidence of elven construction is still visible in the city’s oldest district, today called Old Cyfaraun. Many city residents know that Old Cyfaraun was founded atop an earlier settlement – Ancient Cyfaraun, buried by cataclysmic ashes over 500 years ago.

Only the most illustrious sages are aware that the Ancient City was itself built over an even deeper ruin, a Forgotten Cyfaraun, a city brought low by an earthquake almost 2,000 years ago. Forgotten Cyfaraun was reduced to rubble but its lasting legacy is a hidden Nethercity, a treacherous place of twisting tunnels, dusty catacombs, and black, volcanic caves that waits, forgotten and unplumbed - until now…"

There are times when you look at your pile of books & one slips through the cracks. That's happened with AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity by Newton Grant & Alexander Macris. And yet this is in my opinion one of the most vital adventurer,Conqueror,King rpg books to come out. Why?! Because this book fills in many of the cracks & take downs I've heard from gamers regarding the ACK's official campaign setting found in the Auran Empire Primer. Namely that there's not enough adventure opportunities & dungeon fodder in the book. This is complete nonsense of course. AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity by Newton Grant & Alexander Macris fills in many of the campaign gaps in the official setting with a kilo dungeon & lots of nasty history hinted at in the Auran Empire Primer. This is not a nice place for adventurers to go! Given the history & adventure material found within AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity. Its little wonder that the book was meant to bring characters from 3rd to 8th level of experience. This is one nasty book filled with twenty interlocking adventure locations that make up the AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity. The cartography by Dyson Logos and Simon Forster are on point along with the layout are top notch.

AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity has a ton of PC options for ACK's & adds a layer of optional add on's to the world history of the Auran Empire Primer. The PC's can add the Elven Cultist, Elven Hierophant, Elven Warlord, and Elven Wizard to an adventurer party. This fits right in with the history of the Auran Empire . The monsters in AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity by Newton Grant & Alexander Macris are really nasty & written for the level of ACK's The Heroic Fantasy Handbook. The Faewyrd, Incarnation of Terror, and chaos backed horrors are primed for cross breeding. This ties right into the ACK's adventure AX4: Ruined City of Cyfandir.

This world campaign commitment echoes itself in the city of Cyfaraun which is perfect for use by your adventurers in between dungeon delves. This ties in with B2 Keep of the Borderland By Gary Gygax & many other classic B/X Dungeons & Dragons adventures. What separates AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity from other OSR resources is that its a dungeon book with player possibilities for domain play & the sheer volume of OSR play weirdness that's in the book.

If your an ACK's dungeon master AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity by Newton Grant & Alexander Macris is in my opinion this is an essential & absolute solid adventure resource. Here we have absolutely solid adventure resource book which will keep the players on their toes for years to come or destroy the PC's utterly.

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Want More Original OSR Content & Reviews? Subscribe To https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"In the far reaches of Hyperborea’s Crab Archipelago lies a small, mountainous island known as Crystal Point. Passing sailors recently have witnessed a crimson glow in Crystal Point’s waters and beams of russet light shining up from its steep cliffs. Too, unusually frequent lightning storms in the area have torn the sky in blinding flashes, shattering the air with their awesome sound. The seedy wharf taverns of Khromarium and elsewhere buzz with these strange tales—some even speculate that Crystal Point may hold the lost treasure of Atlantis! "

I count myself very lucky indeed because I maintain fantastic friendships with some incredible authors of the OSR & old school gaming. Today's Sword & Sorcery mail call comes in from Chainsaw himself the author of Lost Treasures of Atlantis for the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg.

Now 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' by Chainsaw is one of those AS&SH adventures that has many of the hall marks of AS&SH quality adventures. Solid writing & design by the module's author, really nice layout, cartography by Glynn Seal Monkey Blood Design clocking in at sixty four pages of Sword & Sorcery Hyperborean OSR weirdness. This is a solid module done with care & eye towards really pulling the PC's into the adventure's heart & action.

Check out the quality of the binding & the paper for 'Lost Treasures of Atlantis'.

The module places the PC's within the fully fleshed out VILLAGE of KREN-FAK & its Esquimaux crab-kin which indicates that your party of adventurers isn't in Kansas anymore especially the village descriptions; "The Esquimaux crab-kin of this village, located a few days from Crystal Point, dye their skin red to resemble their crab-man masters. They also adorn themselves in chitinous titivations. When not raiding Pictish crab-kin villages toward the base of the Crab Archipelago, the locals fish, whale, and oversee slaves in copper mines on the nearby islands. The villagers view travellers suspiciously, but they will tolerate visitors so long as the strangers bring goods to trade, tributes for the crab-men, or important news." This village is an important start point where the party is going to pick up supplies, rumors, hireling, and perhaps even replacement party members! 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' is a fully fleshed out adventure & geared for the far reaches of Hyperborea’s Crab Archipelago. The whole adventure is for four to six characters of 6th through 8th level. I want to stress that this is the case! PC's are gonna half to watch their step in KREN-FAK with its Esquimaux crab-kin inhabitants. The ocean voyage to Crystal point is dangerous as it gets;"The voyage to Crystal Point is fraught with peril, island hopping the ocean reaches of the Crab Archipelago. Following the ancient Esquimaux bearing, worthy sea vessels at length will enter the tempestuous zone known as River Okeanos, located betwixt the 18th and 36th parallels. Here the winds flow in opposing belts, looping and crisscrossing at different junctures depending on seasons and other conditions. In Tempest (Year 4, Hare), River Okeanos is plagued by deadly whirlpools. Sea ice forms from Coda (Year 12, Fox) to Genesis (Year 1, Bear), and icebergs are a constant threat7 . Veteran mariners (viz. Amazons, Ixians, Vikings, and Zangeriosans) understand the River Okeanos and use its wuthering airstreams to their advantage. Less realized is the capability of Esquimaux seamen who ply this deadly zone in their umiaks, outfitted with outboard runners" If your running the 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' don't take the oceans of Hyperborea lightly they can be deadly. The random encounters add an extra element of action & complete danger to the affair. The colours on the module covers is eye popping & vibrant! The artwork & the paper of solid quality!

Note that this will be happening to your PC's & don't screw with the crabmen!

Crystal Point itself is a study in Hyperborean dungeon design & deadliness with the PC's coming into the action like something out of a Ray Harryhausen movie. 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' switches up the Lovecraftian action on 'eleven' & then breaks off the knob with the PC's encountering ruined temples, random NPC's with ties to other dangerous factions of Crystal Point, and adventure elements surrounding the mystery of the isolated & insane location. I mean this in a good way.

Yes my copy of the 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis'
came with the awesome book marks!

'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' is both a sandbox, & location based adventure with lots of weird & some tragic NPC's who are going to cross the PC's path. The adventure material here is solidly strange with PC's running across a temple of Shub Niggurath & throughout module we see the strange influence & domination of the AS&SH Crabmen. These beings are strange, alien, unsettling, & very dangerous to the PC's life!

'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' is a nasty little dungeon delve & Hyperborean hoe down as Chain Saw amps up the weird to Lovecraftian levels again & again. The adventure environs here are going to be very memorable & highly dangerous to the party! Around every corner is another shock & surprise I'm not kidding. I don't wanna spoil the surprises but 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' is gonna take a lot of thinking on the player's end & its gonna take whole lot guts, guile, intelligence, & roll playing to get past some of this adventure's obstacles! I mean this in a good way! The PC's are gonna be in way,way, over their heads very quickly.

The room descriptions, the magic item artwork, the twists & Lovcraftian turns, all added to by the editing of David Prata with Chainsaws writing as well as his design make 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' . All of this module is brought to life with the artistry of Johnathan Bingham, Mick Fernette, David Hoskins, Diogo Nogueira, Glynn Seal, Del Teigeler, & Mike Tenebrae. Take into all of this & this is another five outta five in my estimation.

I want to thank Jeffrey Talanian & the whole North Wind Adventures crew for bringing to life 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' . But I wanna thank Chainsaw himself for sending these modules my way! I've got more to say about Otherworldly Tales adventures coming up so stay tuned!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog. Want more exclusive OSR & Old School content Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"Your party finds itself in the employ of Ragnarr the Sea-Wolf, a jarl of New Vinland and a reaver of old. His daughter, a shield-maiden named Gunnhildr, has been abducted by a brute called Björn Blackbeard. During a desperate search, the Sea-Wolf crossed sails with a former rival, and from the blood-flecked lips of a dying foe, he learnt the location of Blackbeard’s stronghold. Now, deep in the misty fjords of Brigand’s Bay, where cutthroats, pirates, and freebooters thrive, you have been charged with liberating the Sea-Wolf’s daughter."

So I approached the author & designer of The Sea-Wolf's Daughter by Jeffrey P. Talanian who also happens to be the designer & writer of the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system for a pdf copy of the adventure. After a bit of poking & prodding & a few crossed wires the adventure arrived in my email box.

'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' by Jeffrey P. Talanian puts the PC's into the Viking & mercenary underbelly of Hyperborea. Take one part Pulp Viking adventure romp add in lots of other worldly weirdness & you've got the makings of a higher end AS&SH module designed for PC's from four to six characters of 7th through 9th level. This is a lethal party wipe of an adventure if the players are not careful. This is an upper level AS&SH module with all that that entails. The encounters are harder, the enenmies nastier, & the setting is pure Robert E. Howard with a Lovecraftian Jack Kirby mix of high adventure. But the first part is pure AS&SH Viking & barbarian goodness with the PC's in the employ of Ragnarr the Sea-Wolf, a jarl of New Vinland. But its the adventure material around the events of 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' that really sets this adventure off. What I mean is that which each & every module that comes out for AS&SH, the campaign as well as the game setting of Hyperborea is expanded upon a little more. In this adventure some of the NPC's that the party is gonna run across are just as dangerous if not more so then the monsters. Not that these are not deadly. The layout, cartograhpy by Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood Design is on point, but some of the artwork is down right cool with talent the likes of Daisey Bingham, Johnathan Bingham, Andreas Claren, Mick Fernette, David Hoskins, Diogo Noguiera, Glynn Seal, Val Semeiks, Del Teigeler, & Mike Tenebrae.

Its in the second half of the adventure where events turn into a Lovecraftian Jack Kirby adventure experience. The PC's come into conflict with some truly dire & utterly dangerous alien powers endemic to Hyperborea. 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' takes on a life of its own as an adventure drawing the party into high level NPC situations that the players are not going to be expecting. Not only does this adventure draw the party of adventurers in with material, puzzles, & Hyperborean weirdness but like many other AS&SH modules there's lots of adventure tidbits the DM can fold back in for other campaign adventures. Within 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' there are the hordes of NPC's, locations, personalities, monsters,etc. can be used in other Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea adventures when the events of the module conclude. So there's a ton of utility within the module I feel.

If you were to place 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' in an OSR AS&SH that was using classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons modules which series of classic modules might you as a dungeon master pair it with? Personally I'd use 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' with the classic A1-4 The Scourage of the Slave Lords.

One of the main NPC's within the module would make a formiable addition to the ranks of the Slavers allowing 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' to be used as a side adventure. This would take years of play to come to pass but with a bit of Viking spit & Pulp barbarian polish A1-4 The Scourage of the Slave Lords could take on an even harder Sword & Sorcery edge to complement 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' Jeffrey P. Talanian brings his usual level of quality writing & clever design that we've seen in other adventures & modules within the AS&SH line. All in all I felt very excited to have my copy of the 'The Sea-Wolf's Daughter' & I feel that it is not only a worth addition to the AS&SH fine family of products but one that I think you'll be glad to own. I think its worth a five out of five in my opinion because it maintains the level of quality & solid design that we've come to expect outta of North Wind Adventures. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want More OSR & Old
School? Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"The Borderlands has been contested throughout recorded history and its landscape is littered with ancient fortresses, blood-soaked battlefields, and dread ruins, all crumbling relics of the empires that once ruled there. Now the dangers facing the Borderlands are greater than ever. Monsters are slipping across the porous border to terrorize and plunder. Travel has grown perilous, and the border forts are becoming increasingly isolated and outmatched. The ambitious, bold, and greedy have begun to gather in Cyfaraun, ancient capital of the borderlands, seeking glory and gold. There, criminal gangs battle for control of the streets and terrible evils lurk in the twisting tunnels, dusty catacombs, and black, volcanic caves that lie below…."

So I went to Autarch & asked for a copy of AX3: Capital of the Borderlands just like I found it right in my email box. This is a fantastic addition to the ACK's line of books. Why? Because it has just the right amount of wilderness & urban adventure action!

This book doesn't skimp on late Roman Empire style campaign action either. We've got a bit of everything here with fifty two points of wilderness campaign encounters. Let me give this context this means that the party is going to up to their ears in all kinds of issues. These are the Borderlands area of dispute,violence, & waiting opportunities for a party. This book has lots of options that bring the PC's the power they crave but it comes with a very dangerous series of prices. The realms and domains in the Borderlands are contested areas of adventure & danger all of this comes into the heading of two hundred & twenty six pages. Yes the title is a homage to B2 Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax. All of this is keeping with the template of AX1: The Sinister Stone of Sakkara contested areas that not only spark adventure but keep it going for years. Not only the does AX3: Capital of the Borderlands have a built in tool box but it does it with style. A dozen mini dungeons & 82 urban points of interest spread across 8 mapped city districts all fit the world setting of the Auran Empire Primer but it has ACK's internal post Roman Empire dark fantasy asethetic.

The layout & cartography of AX3: Capital of the Borderlands is some of the best I've seen. Easy on the eyes & very well laid out. The artwork is on par with many of the other ACK's titles & easily has some excellent resources within especially the dynamic city-building system which gives enough latitude for both villages & complete urban centers. I was really pleased with the over all feel here. This is the NPC, adventure encounters, urban & wilderness book that ACK's has been needing.

Watch out for the dungeons in this book! I'm not saying this lightly the the Shrine of the Horned Rat,the Catacombs of the Ancestors, and the Death Cult Hideout are all really nasty business! Don't venture into these lightly with a small adventuring party make sure their well equipped! The AX3: Capital of the Borderlands book has more then enough material in it to add & drop it into an existing campaign or it could alternatively be used to bridge gap the classic B2 Keep on the Borderlands as a campaign extension for ACK's!

If the keep on the borderlands is the further flung parts of the empire then AX3: Capital of the Borderlands is at its center offering more opportunities for the PC's to blunder into the world of domain play. AX3: Capital of the Borderlands takes this type of play into several directions & smashes the call of adventure into the PC's laps. The Imperial Vanguard NPC adventuring party is an especially obnoxious touch.

There's lots of opportunity to get the party of adventurers into a heaps of trouble in AX3: Capital of the Borderlands. And I can also see using AX3: Capital of the Borderlands lots of other OSR game systems especially Castles & Crusades. Why do I say that? Because the asthetic would work very well & there's plenty of tools within to keep a campaign going for years.

Many of these art pieces are not from AX3: Capital of the Borderlands but I couldn't get some of the artwork to transfer over to blogger. The artwork in AX3: Capital of the Borderlands is especially impressive & the art pieces by Michael Syrigos are especially good.

Everything in AX3: Capital of the Borderlands speaks volumes to the material that we've come to know & love in Adventurer,Conqeuror, King. Between the mini dungeons & the full on wilderness & urban tools this one is a must by for both the OSR & the ACK's fan!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more original OSR content & reviews? Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/ Thanks for reading our review

So tonight in my email I find that the other half grabbed me a pdf copy of RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 from Spectre Press. Basically what this book is a complation best of The RPG Pundit Presents which supports the Lion & Dragon Medivalauthentic rpg but it also supports other OSR games as well. The Lion & Dragon rpg is set during a real medieval historically accurate fantasy setting during the events of the War of the Roses. RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 clocks in at 266 pages of solidly done material with a nicely done layout, clean lines, & easy to read sections. There's even an index!

This book isn't just some cheese the 'best of' complelation book but an actual sourcebook with material selected to enhance the Lion & Dragon rpg. The RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 is a solidly researched & very well laid out book. It lives up to the quality of Lion & Dragon quite nicely.

The first thing we get is brand spanking new character classes. The courier is a PC class whose machinations & maneuver within the court is going to allow the PC's perhaps to get the backing of the crown if their really lucky. This is a class where the social structure of the court is going to be very important. The priest class in Albion is far more important then it seems & this class can represent anything from the humble village priest to the bishops in court. This is very important class in a medieval setting where quite literally your fortunes sometimes depended upon the support of the Church. Sages are another class that is one of th fulcrums of society during this time & they can be very important to the interior of a party of adventurers. Craftsmen are the unsung heroes of the world of the medival. Everything from boots to weapons are the realm of the craftsmen not to mention the interaction with the guilds. The archer is paramount to the warfare of the day esepecially during the War of the Roses. Here's where the archer PC ties back into the longbows/crossbows, advanced critical tables, domain management, and mass combat. This is a theme that we'll see throughout the RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1. The book presents these alternative & expanded rules with gusto & a real sense of danger to the PC's. This is done with the critical tables taking center stage! The critical tables are top notch & top drawer here. Very well done & solidly exacuted. The domain mangement rules are top as well because warfare, country up keep, local economics all play a central campaign & setting role. One of the places that the RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 really shines is the presentation of the supernatural & the occult. The book grabs the reader by the throat & presents new options for Chaos & occult depravity within the Albion setting.

Hellmouth not artwork from the RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1

Spellbooks and grimoires are abosolutely dangerous to life & limb. The supernatural lurks around every corner & the expanded options for the Magistars for the system are not only impressive but very useful at the table top level! This take is expanded into the ideas & management of the wizard's spellbook; "The role of a spellbook has been largely unchanged in most OSR rules systems. A wizard’s spellbook is where he stores the spells that must be memorized every day in a Vancian system. Other than that, it doesn’t do anything. It should not surprise anyone that this has no grounding in historical medieval/renaissance magic. It’s also kind of boring. This is a reinvention intended to make a spellbook more useful and more central to the magic-user experience, one founded on historical magical diaries." The idea here is the wizard's spell book becomes an object for adventure unto itself. This idea was put forth in the Lion & Dragon rpg really finds its legs here. The grimoires finally get their due in RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1;" Grimoires were the key magical texts of medieval European occultism. They were not spellbooks in the OSR sense, nor were they really magical handbooks. The key training in magic was given through word of mouth, from teacher to student. The Grimoires, rather, were the collected and disseminated works of advanced magical techniques; sometimes devised by a single author and sometimes compiled by various sources. To use them, you had to already have the basic training, which wasn’t explicitly given in the books. Instead, studying the Grimoires provided new techniques for magic-users to learn, if they could get their hands on it. The Grimoires presented here are based on real historical Grimoires, adapted in ways to be useful for an OSR campaign."

One of the most dangerous of the grimoires get's its due & that's the Goetia; "This grimoire is the summoner’s mother lode. It details the techniques for summoning seventy-two different demons, each with special powers. These demons are chaotic and dangerous, requiring great caution when dealing with them. To summon them, the magician must draw both a protective magical circle for himself and a warded magical triangle (which is where the demon will appear) in a room for this special purpose. Then a sigil of the demon’s appearance is placed in the triangle with incenses. Finally, incantations are made to summon the demon by its name. Each summoning costs about 300gp for the required inks and incenses. It is also necessary to design and consecrate a special ring, amulet, censer, and plate, for a combined one-time cost of 1,200gp." Yeah these are magical & occult operations that should only be performed by Ablion's courtly wizards. But a copy of this book falling into the wrong hands could kick off an inquistor campaign or adventure. This section is extremely detailed & highly dangerous to PC's. So its great to get the forces of Chaos stirred up in a campaign! The Book of the Art of Hours could give an adventurer some very dangerous influences if used with the subtly & a bit of wit. Many of the grimoires featured in the RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 tie into the sections on the Astrology, the Arcana, & an actual workable section on the Tarot. I really like a well done section on reading & using Tarot cards.

Not artwork from the Companion but Number 12, the Hanged Man, the game of Jean Dodal (early xviii th century )

We get section after section on various magical & occult grimoires with their occult mysteries, supernatural rites & dangerous entities associated with them. Each of the chapters on the Arcana, Astology, etc. all ties back into & folds into itself. All of this is really useful at the table top level & I can see using many of these systems in other old school or OSR games. Chapter five is where things begin to heat up for me as a dungeon master we get insight into the Church & how to use it in game. Common sense guidelines & rules to incorporate the Church of Albion into your home campaigns. We get day to day activities that the PC's engage in & how this would fit into the life of an adventurer in Lion & Dragon; "Low-level characters are generally focused on mere survival, combat, and adventuring as they rise in power when playing Lion & Dragon and other Medieval-Authentic campaigns, such as those set in worlds like Dark Albion. At some point, however, players are likely to be interested in developing their characters beyond the immediate concerns of any given session. The following guidelines detail a few of the things on which mid-level characters with time on their hands may focus, as well as the kind of attention those sorts of characters could attract." Everything from PC homelessness to running a mercenary unit are covered. Costs of living, in between day to day life is covered. Even how to hand the official wizards of Albion is covered here;"Magisters with experience in the arcane arts are highly valued as scholars. They usually gain the opportunity to take teaching positions at their alma mater (whether Oxford or Cambridge); in the later period of the campaign, new positions open in Middleham Collegium. Magisters of at least Level 6 are the most-likely to be offered positions, but lower-level magisters of exceptional fame and reputation may also be offered the same. Characters who are notorious for their infamy, lack of piety, or corrupt morals are lesslikely to be offered positions" Gangs, big business, even how to run a Church priority is covered here. And yes these sort of day to day details need to be covered especially in between adventures. Noble attention & favor is also covered in gory detail. The patronage of a noble can make or break an adventurer. Remember life is cheap especially during times of warfare. Inheritence for PC's is covered as well this is often something that could lead to money & even monster slaying. Merchant & caravan activity ties right back into the craftsman & merchant PC classes at the beginning of RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1. Everything from setting up at a new market to shipping out to the dark European Middle East is covered which could lead to more adventure for the PC's. Courtly life & intrigues is a chapter unto itself & it adds another dimension to the life of minor nobles, royals, & more in the courts of the princes & noblemen. Rounding out the book is a chapter on the realm of the Fae! Finally we've given a deep dive into the world of medival authentic supernatural realms of the Fae & man is it dangerous. The realms of the Elves, faerie animals, entities, dangers, encounters, etc. all round out this chapter. We are given more side glances into the occult realms of the Fae & the Elves. Its well done, researched, & with plenty of hooks to get the juices flowing. Cursed artifacts is another section & there's plenty of danger & deadliness in the examples given here for these dangerous magic items. There's a boat load of trouble for the DM who wants to add a touch of malice, danger, & even a bit of whimsy in these items. Finally we get a boat load of trouble in the form of sinister supernatural wilderland encounters & these are very well done! I can see using these with other OSR games such as Castles & Crusades.

All in all I think that the RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 is well worth your time & money. I think this is a five star book because it adds not only new optional material to the Lion & Dragon rpg but it could be easily used with other OSR rpgs to add even more bang for the buck. The companion could easily be used to enhance say a game of Castles & Crusades from Troll Lords or even Dungeon Crawl Classics! There three things to remember here. My wife knows of my love of the Lion & Dragon rpg. She spent her money sight unseen & knows the quality of Rpg Pundit's products & didn't think twice. On the whole I think that RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 is a five outta five product. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog

Half demons have always been troublesome but when it comes to the sons & daughters of the Abyss that's a whole different level of Abyssial trouble! This is five pages of Abyssial fun waiting to happen to your players.

That's where 'The Balor-Kin Racial Class' For Labyrinth Lord comes in. Now let me go on record as saying that this is not a RC that's I'd allow at the table unless I was runnning a very high level Abyssial game. The goes up to ten levels & I'd use it to create a very nasty & devestating demonic NPC villain. Why because of the unnatural abilities of one of these Abyssial bastards:

"Balor-kin have the following abilities:

Armored Skin Creatures of Fire and Shadow Creatures of Magic Dual Wield Warriors Immolation Inhuman Stature Movement Natural Magicians (can use spell-like powers of 1st to 4th level). The balor-kin racial-class has 10 levels, each more fiendishly powerful than the last. "

No way was this meant for a PC of any type but for use with a NPC villain. This is a portrait of a young & very dangerous demon waitin to be sprung on your PC's! Let's get a little reminder here of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual origins of these demonic horrors. What the 'The Balor-Kin Racial Class' For Labyrinth Lord is distills all that bottled demonic evil & brings it to your table top adventures. Believe me your players are not going to thank you for this! All of the normal Monster Manual abilities are there but in miniature.

Let me go into the publication history of the Balor from the Balor wiki entry to give some context on the most dangerous of demonic horrors & overlords; "The balors found in Dungeons & Dragons have little relation to the mythical Balor of Irish mythology, actually being based on the balrogs of The Lord of the Rings,[2] and some of its derivation can be seen in its physical description, with its fiery aura, sword and flaming whip.[3]

In the original Dungeons & Dragons pamphlets, this breed of demon was known as balrog,[4] but the name was revised in subsequent supplements to simply "type VI demon" so as not to infringe on J. R. R. Tolkien's copyright.[citation needed] In second edition AD&D, the name "type VI demon" was revised to "balor," taking the name of the greatest individual of their rank as the name for the entire breed.[5] Also in second edition, balors now had vorpal swords.[6]

Gary Gygax, in his Gord the Rogue novels, has alternately called them raloogs or conflagranti.[citation needed]

Dungeons & Dragons (1974–1976)[edit] The type VI demon appeared under the demon entry in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement (1976).[7]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977–1988)[edit] The type VI demon (Balor, etc.) appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977).[8] In this incarnation of the game there were only six Type VI Demons in existence across all of the planes of the multiverse, and they were ranked in power below only the Demon Lords and Princes of the Abyss, who were each unique in both name and form. Each Type VI Demon had its own individual name as an indication of their importance and power, as lesser demons (Types I – III and lower) had only a species name, and not individual appellations. Their names were listed in an appendix of the Dungeon Master's Guide, given as: Errtu, Ndulu, Ter-Soth, Alzoll, and Wendonai, with Balor itself being the greatest and most powerful of them all.

Essentially you'd be allowing one of the most choatic & evil of the Abyss's demon lord's progeny in your old school games. Labryth Lord hasn't changed this! Their as evil & unpredictable as ever! The fact is that James Mishler has distilled them down into a useable form hasn't changed the bastards!

This RC class is completely & utterely up to Mishler's standards, James & Jodi Mishler have done an excellent job of making this a completely usable class. But man would this class devestate a group of player's who had no idea of the depths of the Abyss they were taking on. The Labyrinth Lord version of this class is completely & utterly compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition. That means that even third party products such as the classic Mayfair Games Demon's box set is easily usable with 'The Balor-Kin Racial Class' For Labyrinth Lord.

The Balor came straight out of J.R.R. Tolkein with different name & paint job but they are at the completely chaotic evil bastards of old who are more then happy to tear the wings off of angels, challenge & destroy gods, & wreck the very foundations of creation as well as campaigns themselves. The 'Balor-Kin Racial Class' is their progeny given form & function within campaign. Use & allow these very carefully within a campaign. The PC class is streamlined to allow the monster to grow with the player characters & that's something unto itself. Is The 'Balor-Kin Racial Class' well done? Oh most definitely. But would I allow it into a game? Only as an NPC class to challenge the highest level PC's or the progeny of the gods! This is a class to be the heart & soul of a game campaign.

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Wanna see more original content for this & other OSR products? Please Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"What if the first RPG was inspired by hard Science Fiction as written by Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, and Frank Herbert instead of Tolkienesque fantasy?

Colonial Troopers is a science fiction RPG compatible with the original fantasy roleplaying game and subsequent editions, and other “OSR” games that follow in the mold of the original like, Guardians, Warriors of the Red Planet, and others. If your tastes run towards battle hardened combat armor, some attention to real physics, and explorations of just what it is to be human, you’ve found the right book. As in the fiction of the above writers, the players are confronted with an unforgiving universe full of wonders and deadly quirks of science ready to astound and enchant, and cull the unwary."

Sometimes I need a break from the constant fantasy network of Dungeons & Dragons to get back to the roots of my hobby. In this case it was the fact that many of the games that I started out with in the heady days of Seventies war gaming were sci fi or science fantasy games. Games such as the mico game such as Starfire, Warp War, & many other classic sci fi war games which brings me to Night Owl Workshop's Colonial Troopers by Steve Perrin, & Thomas Denmark. Now this table top role playing game brings together many of the classic races, PC classes, etc. of military science fiction which during the Seventies was huge. Even in the niche circles of wargaming & among science fiction paper back & book fans this was the golden age. But what if Gary Gygax & Dave Aneson had designed original Dungeons & Dragons along these hard Sci fi influences lines?! The result would be the Colonial Troopers table top rpg.

Basically this game plays like a combination of Dune, Star Ship Troopers, Alien, & many of the 70's thru 90's military sci fi I love so much. I really do love the game but its been heavily & almost totally overshadowed by Stars Without Number. While SWN is a fantastic game Colonial Troopers has all of its own original Dungeons & Dragons feel in military space thing going on right outta of the gate. This is brings me to the promised space war game/adventure expansion book for Colonial Troopers & yes I'm speaking of Colonial Troopers: Knight Hawks By Thomas Denmark. Now I went to Mr.Denmark & asked for a copy for review. Fortunately I'm happy to report that this game expansion clocks in at eighty pages of Colonial Troopers goodness. Yes it comes with a hex map in the PDF so you can run right outta of the the space battles, squad level adventures, dungeon & ruin battles, that you've come to expect out of Colonial Troopers. Colonial Troopers: Knight Hawks By Thomas Denmark takes space combat, ship stats, ship stat sheets & marries them too the the Colonial Troopers table top rpg. So that the dungeon master & players gets the sort of action one might see in an alterative 70's sci fi rpg & table top enivorment especially if your using sci fi minatures or paper minatures.

You can see the intent with the included adventure campaign Zombies on Zeta mini-campaign which encapulses all of the squad level themes within Colonial Troopers: Knight Hawks By Thomas Denmark. It takes the dungeon clearing action & marries it up with the Bug Hives, Bugs types, etc. within this book. Yes I love the smell of roasting bug in the morning! There are Conversion Notes for the other games within the Night Owl Worshop lines especially Warriors of the Red Planet. With Warriors of the Red Planet you get Mars through a Barsoom lens & Colonial Troopers: Knight Hawks By Thomas Denmark you get the rest of the solar system through a military post colonial campaign lens. The game book is well done & the material lives up to the the Colonial Troopers table top rpg. moniker. I was rather impressed & pleased to grab copies of both of these games!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want More OSR goodness & support for this And Other OSR products please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

Basically I was looking around for new Warriors of the Red Planet resources. I stumbled into Brett Slocum's Warriors of the Red Planet Tekumel campaign resource book Warriors of the Lost Planet. What is Warriors of the Lost Planet? Well its an OSR Sword and Planet rules Warriors of the Red Planet to play on Tekumel during The Later Times, the period within a few thousand years of The Time of Darkness..

Warriors of the Lost Planet clocks in at thirty two pages of Tekumel planet sword & sorcery style adventure. Those players of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg will see all of the familiar races & aliens in attendence. The engine here is definitively Warriors of the Red Planet. So we've got a solid engine here that brings in the "Sword and Planet" genre which is wonderfully brought to life though simple but effective rules for character races, classes and equipment! All of this is done with a Tekumel flurish! But is this done effectively?

Well yes but your gonna need Warriors of the Red Planet becaus these are Brett Slocum's Warriors of the Red Planet Rpg Tekumel campaign resource book from the ground up. He's got all of the familiar races, notes on playing them, the technologies of the Tekumel & their Warriors equvilant. The whole cloth series of events surrounding the 'The Later Times'. And more which is not too bad considering that this whole book is free. Can you run a campaign in the latter times using this book? In a really short answer, yes. The material here is well done & we'll get into the ins & outs of using Warriors of the Lost Planet. Warriors of the Lost Planet is a resource & campaign book, this book takes you by the hand adding the races, events, etc. all within the confines of thirty two pages. It does it very well highlighting the material without talking down to its audience. This book takes the complexities of Tekumel campaign & makes it accessible to the average gamer & dungeon master. Could a Tekumel campaign be run using Warriors of the Lost Planet & say original Dungeons & Dragons?

Yes but the dungeon master might need acess to The Tekumel Sourcebook which not only provides the dungeon master the back bone of the setting but lots more history, resources, & Tekumel goodness to run a complete campaign.

Warriors of the Lost Planet does a nice job at the The Later Times, the period within a few thousand years of The Time of Darkness while leaving the dungeon master plenty of room to customize & play with their own Tekumel setting. Five outt a five in my book for a free book. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want Reviews & Support for this & other OSR products? Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

"The small city of Shallow Bay is plagued by a gang of smugglers who sell contraband alcohol and luxury foods to the people. The mayor’s expensive lifestyle has depleted the city coffers and the head of the city guard orders his men (or some mercenaries, whichever role the players want to take) to investigate the smugglers and put an end to their activities. Unbeknownst to most, the smugglers are a front for a radical chaotic water cult that wishes to sweep earth free of “the wicked”. The money made with the contraband is intended to buy better equipment and hire powerful allies for an expedition to the lost Temple of the Chaos Elemental. By awakening this ancient evil the cult can take the first steps towards their ultimate goal of destruction and mayhem"

Cult of the Blue Crab From Studio St. Germain By Rudolf St Germain Studio St Germain 5e/13th Age/OSR Levels 3-4

DM Steve turned me on to Cult of the Blue Crab From Studio St. Germain about a day or so ago. This adventure while seemingly exactly what I like from an adventure just enough detail with a very Pulpy feel to it & yet generic enough to be dropped into any existing campaign. The city of Shallow Bay is given just enough detail to flesh it out with descriptions of the place, the NPC's, the city, notable locations, etc. but just enough; "The City of Shallow Bay A lot of the action of this adventure will take place in the small city of Shallow Bay. Its 600 inhabitants live mostly of fishery and trade. There is also a small Dwarven presence which ensures a steady supply of excellent weapons and armor for sale, as well as a few pieces of jewelry"

The Cult of the Blue Crab From Studio St. Germain does what it needs to do in twelve pages where other adventures take huge swaths of time. This adventure gives thumbnail flourishes while taking its time to linger on the elemental cult's motives, ideals, etc. This isn't a bad thing at all and allows the dungeon master and gives the inner workings with a good solid style; "The Cult of the Blue Crab is dedicated to an evil elemental lord on the plane of water. (Take an appropriate creature from your campaign setting or the violent archelemental Utonac.) This creature grants powerful magic in return for blind obedience. Most of the cult members are not aware of the apocalyptic plans of the cult and see it just as a way to get rich or take revenge on their enemies. The cult is led by the “Duchess of Water”, a broken and spiteful creature. The Duchess was deeply hurt by humanity and now seeks to destroy all life in an all-encompassing flood. To the outside, the cult appears as a group of elusive smugglers." If there's such a thing as deconstructionist Dungeons & Dragons then The Cult of the Blue Crab From Studio St. Germain is it & that's fantastic because it enables the dungeon master to customize the adventure to fit their home campaign. Not only are we given Shallow Bay but we're given an entire cult to play around within the space of two dungeons with motives. Love the cartography in this adventure & the maps look hand drawn you can tell from the look that these have the darth asperagus signature & you can see more of this at his deviant site

The Motivation/Trait/Look tables for NPCs are very well done, & so you can create a group of NPC very fast & customize them at the drop of a hat. Cult of the Blue Crab From Studio St. Germain is less of an adventure & more of a campaign adventure location based product. I really like where the folks at Studio St. Germain took this & since its really mostly statless I can see using this adventure with Lamentations of the Flame Princess as a drag & drop adventure. I can see using Cult of the Blue Crab From Studio St. Germain in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea as a drop in adventure for Brigand's Bay. I can see using this with B/X Mystara as a dropped in location. But what I really see is the fact that this adventure fits the aesthetic of the Evil Elemental rulers from the Fiend Folio from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition.

Olhydra: Princess of Evil Water Creatures might make a perfect add in for the Cult of the Blue Crab as a sort of Moorcockian cult figure for the cultists to be pleasing. The archomentals need more lime light & the Cult of the Blue Crab might just be the perfect adventure to twist into the weirdness & horror of Olhydra in your own home campaigns. All in all I really enjoyed Cult of the Blue Crab & really look forward to Studio St. Germain next efforts. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Want more original OSR content? Subscribe To https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

"Have you ever wished to ride in the old west? To be part of the thrilling days of yesteryear? Well, this is your chance. Well, not you but a pretend you, a character you portray while you play the game. Just as an Actor would play a part in a Western Movie, you play a character set in the Old west. Your character is in a game world that is both a historical setting and a fantasy setting at the same time, with its legends and tall tales mixed with the finest traditional Spaghetti Westerns. As a Character in this world you can perform deeds of valor, riches, ruin and redemption. You as the player may find the game world is both familiar and foreign at the same time, raw, savage and waiting to be tamed." This game brings home the feel of the old West hard & dangerous the way the West should be. I bought this game last night because Tall Tails B/X Wild West was on sale for $1.99! Mark Hunt quietly develops games & supplements by himself without Kickstarter or much fanfare. But don't let that fool you Mark has been a veteran designer of the game industry for many years. This brings me to Tall Tails B/X Wild West this game clocks in at around ninety six pages. I've been friends with Mark Hunt for many years now but its time to hit the back paths of gunslingers, low-down desperadoes, singing cowboys or snake oil salesmen which are the actual PC classes of this low down twisted game of gun fights, exploration, & there's a feel of the Old West Pulps here. The rpg system is primed to B/X OSR Dungeons & Dragons purely. There's just enough material here to give the players & the DM enough to get started in their own version of the Old West. Lots of good use of public domain Old Western artwork & the layout is readable very nicely done for the eyes. The game is very much in the cut & dry B/X Dungeons & Dragons style.

Tall Tails B/X Wild West covers everything from designing a home base domain town or location to a wild west ranch spread very important aspect for adventurers, outlaws, & Northern green horns; "More than just a collection of ramshackle buildings where dusty cowboys blew off steam before getting back on the trail, or a backdrop to a show down, towns in the Old West played in important part in developing the frontier. Towns served as transport waypoints, financial hubs, communication centers, and helped provide goods, serves, and entertainment" Hunt understands the importance of having the PC's party stretch into their element. Case in point is the adversaries section here's one of the most dangerous foes a group of PC's can run across an NPC gun fighter; "Legendary Gunman This is one of the many deadly gunmen that roamed the old west. "Human Gunslinger: HD 6; AC 0; Atk 2 weapon (1d8); Move 120’; Save 13; AL N; XP 750; Special: +2 to hit in in a showdown. +6 initiative. " Everything here is easily understood & applable to both OSR & old school games. This is very important for DM's looking to add elements of the Old West to their games. But there's additional material to go with Tall Tales BX Wild West RPG New classes is a 'pay what you want' add on for Tall Tails B/X Wild West. Its seven essential pages of PC classes that adds in three new classes: the Gambler, the Preacher and the lawman. These are solid classes that any fan of the Western genre knows exactly what these classes can do & how to put them to use as a player or dungeon master. This is an OSR system like B/X Essentials by Gavin Norman & like Norman's systems BX Wild West RPG New classes is a core add on to have. This is a must pdf if you intend to run this system. Already I can hear the laughter but if we want to add in D&D elements its gonna be an issue? What if Frank Mentzer did all of the hard work for you and all of the heavy lifting?! Not only can you use B/X Essentials but you could with a bit of old school effort grab your trusty Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia there's all the monsters you'll ever need! Aaron Allston, & Frank Mentzer have done all of the heavy lifting for you & with the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia you've got years of Old West campaign play.

Now I've heard from different folks that many of these OSR retroclone system are not OGL well Tall Tails B/X Wild West isn't one of those; "All artwork, proper names, logos, and presentation are product identity. The names “Tall Tales” and “B/X Western Tall Tales” are product identity. All text not declared as Open Game Content is product identity. DESIGNATION OF OPEN GAME CONTENT All text and tables in the following sections are Open Game Content: ability scores, sequence of play, adventuring rules, basic combat procedure, other combat issues, standard combat charts, potions. OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a" Which means that already outfits like Surreal Estate Games have created basic Wild West adventures titles like Tumbleweed Tales Volume 1 by Robert Garitta fills that gap nicely. We'll be reviewing this set of adventures soon enough. But your ready to Country & Western your way across the B/X West! But this isn't the only Basic Dungeons & Dragons style OSR options which applies to Tall Tails B/X Wild West. There's also Dark Dungeons by Blacky the Blackball which can be used with Tall Tails B/X Wild West. These two used together allow the dungeon master to give a much more OSR feel to their Wild West adventures and includes the rules for Spelljammer style ships! Because of the way that Tall Tails B/X Wild West is set up its a solid OSR Wild West tool kit that provides the DM & his or her players with a solid Wild West game. The clean design & layout are a hall mark of OSR design Mark Hunt has a winner on his hands like his own version of the Gang Busters Rpg. Grab Tall Tails B/X Wild West while you can! Eric Fabiaschi Sword & Stitchery blog Want More original OSR content? Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com