So last night I received my copy of The S'rulyan Vault From Kort'thalis Publishing from the pen of Venger Satanis. It reminds me of some of the Eighties products that I've seen over the years. This is a third tier OSR product and it hearkens back to some of the dungeon adventure kits that have come out over the years with better production values, designs, and more. If you've got two or three hours before your players arrive to create your brad new old school dungeon that you've been promising all week, but work, real life, and more have gotten in the way but you want to run a bad ass dungeon then the The S'rulyan Vault is for you. This product works with just about any old school edition so using it with an old D&D edition or retroclone system of your choice would be a snap. So besides two old school style maps what exactly does The S'rulyan Vault have to offer? Well, essentially its a dungeon kit built around the maps and offers an adventure setting that highlights the background, history, and D&D elements with a Lovecraftian twist in the Kort'thalis Publishing style. But is it worth your time for the seven dollar price tag? I think so because of the fact that lots of folks are using tablets and other mobile tech to enhance their old school table top rpg experience. The S'rulyan Vault plugs into that and brings to the experience a bunch of interesting options for the dungeon master to pull from for their own unique take on the adventure. The tables, elements, bits and pieces within the Vault all pull from the adventure's history;"

For as long as anyone living can remember, the world was full of men and the darker, stranger forms of life remained at the farthest edges of it. But the scrolls contained within the many temples of Tyr’Urden tell us that this was not always so.

Demonic things came in the night to feed upon mortal souls, ripping and tearing at humanity’s soft, exposed belly. Our people lived in fear. Like children, man was afraid of the dark and what lay beyond the walls of his cities.

Then, one day, a champion came. He slayed many of the evil ones, the creatures who looked like walking serpents. Eventually, his mighty deeds became so numerous that thousands followed him into battle against the forces of evil. Man had both the numbers and the will to push back against these malevolent beings until his cities and forests were relatively free of hell-spawn.

Snake-men were the most powerful humanoid creatures, as they knew the secrets of blackest sorcery, having made a pact with the Demon Lord known as S’rul. Under his satanic tutelage, the snake-men became powerful enough to slaughter the armies of mankind. Before long, the entire race of snake-men were known as the Sect of S’rulyan… (S’rulyan meaning the great and terrible wisdom of S’rul).

At the height of their serpentine reign, a subterranean domain was constructed on the outskirts of the human realm. It became an outpost from where the snake-men continually raided – taking weapons, gold, slaves, and sorcerous objects from man’s cities. This vault was the crowning glory of S’rul and his loathsome worshipers.

Just as the Sect of S’rulyan could see the extermination of man in sight, a large band of adventurers retrieved a lost relic - the Helm of Power, an artifact that siphons the magical energy from everything surrounding it… and gives that magic to the wearer. The Helm of Power protected the adventurers as they waded into the darkness of S’rul’s foul dungeon.

Only three heroes emerged from the S’rulyan Vault, victorious over the evil ones with their spiked armor covered in gore and shreds of serpent flesh. Alas, the Helm of Power was destroyed in the final battle against S’rul. Yet, the Demon Lord was also destroyed, and so the people rejoiced!

The three surviving heroes, Artello, Urden, and D’meskus, established themselves as Kings of the central territories. For decades they ruled and now their children’s children are crowned Kings and Queens of Razira.

One such present-day ruler is Queen Zinnia, an alluring but jealous and ill-advised woman. She reigns over the smallest realm with the greatest ambition for power. Queen Zinnia forced her royal wizard to search deep within the magical abyss where hideous horrors frolic and feed. Upon her instructions, the wizard awakened an entity strong enough to shatter her siblings’ kingdoms – the Demon Lord S’rul.

S’rul’s first order of business was to revive his slumbering legion of snake-men far below the S’rulyan Vault. Brought back to life, the walking serpents felt their sorcery invigorated as never before and concocted a spell that would mean sickness and death for thousands of men, women, and children.

Almost three-quarters of a century after S’rul’s original defeat, nary a snake-man has been seen upon the surface of Razira. Today is the 74th anniversary of the assault upon the S’rulyan Vault. The entire realm celebrates the snake-men’s defeat with feasting, dancing, and merriment. Unfortunately, such revelry was not to last.

At mid-day, the celebration ended with black skies, a broken blood-red moon, and some mysterious plague that immediately killed off a fifth of those living in Tyr’Urden, the largest kingdom and closest to the S’rulyan Vault.

King Urdenson’s seers know that S’rul and his snake-men slumber no more. The King decreed this a time of war, and those who return from the S’rulyan Vault with the Demon Lord’s severed head in hand shall share in the reward: one million pieces of gold… a King’s ransom, to be sure!" The art and cartography by Glynn Seal, James V West, and Bojan Sucevic really does make The S'rulyan Vault as both a resource and a solid entrance onto the rpg market. This is a both a kid friendly and nasty adventure at the same time that will give players a run for their money. All in all I do think its worth the download and your time to take a look into the The S'rulyan Vault From Kort'thalis Publishing for both yourself and your players. I think that you will all have a great time and a unique experience with this homage to the old days of gaming. We can only hope that Venger Satanis and Kort'thalis Publishing continue down this path of old school fun and weirdness. Five out of five because for me it has everything I'm looking for in an old school product.

Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery Blog Want to get more reviews and support for products such as this one? Subscribe to the Sword and Stitchery blog http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Kort'thalis Publishing sent me a complimentary copy of Girls Gone Rogue last night. I haven't spoken of the book since the Kickstarter ended. So colour me curious about what the actual erotic space opera pdf is like? Well according to the Kickstarter blurb;"Girls Gone Rogue will be somewhere around 50 pages and will contain more tables for character, setting, and story creation to help Space Dungeon Masters manage their universe. [I just finished writing a d100 table called Peculiarities of Female NPCs based upon my love of Seinfeld and gratuitous dating experiences]" Yes that table is in there but the actual pdf clocks in at around eighty freaking pages of O5R Alpha Blue gaming material. Seriously this book is packed with wall to wall space opera goodness for DM's, players and they're PC's. I have a few tables in this book but that won't affect my opinion one way or the other. This isn't just an adventure instead its an Alpha Blue sourcebook with an adventure wrapped in between its folds. Girls Gone Rogue presents random chart after random chart that can add not only that extra ounce of weirdness to a PC.But some really weird bits of erotic oddness and adult themed characteristics to a character sheet especially from the FETISHES The Sexual Fantasy and Fetish table. Don't let that fool you at all. This isn't F.A.T.A.L. and in fact it isn't even trying to be. The book is up to the quality of Alpha Blue and surpasses it in places. There is a Jedi Knight PC parody class called the Zedi knights and all that goes with it. Brand new PC options and arch types. Some damn fine sci fi artwork scattered throughout. Tons of tables for what your adventurers did between adventures.Even more tables of finds, weapons, sexual hang ups, psychological additions, NPC and PC options. Even more NPC's, tons of other folks to meet, etc. There's a section on using Alpha Blue to emulate a sci-fi spaghetti western. I can see an Alpha Blue/Boot Hill mash up in my future at some point. There are planetary generation tables for the game. And even a complete ship to ship combat system is included and it looks damn workable from what I've seen and read. So is there an actual adventure in all of this hot sweaty space opera mess? As a matter of fact there is and then some. The Girl Gone Rogue is actually very nasty piece of work called Ilsa SS."Ilsa SS is the name of a slut series replicant that has gone haywire, screwing and blasting her way through the galaxy. Normally, that kind of thing wouldn't be a Priority One on the Federation wave wire. However, Ilsa SS has taken out a number of key Federation assets and politicos. The Federation is hiring an expendable team of spacer rejects to retire her ass with extreme prejudice." The PC's are roped into tracking and 'retiring' the android but not all is as it seems. There are even more random tables to make this adventure slightly different each and every time it's played. The infamous Bobba Fat is right in the center of the action and there's room for expansion. Scattered throughout the adventure are references to each and every sci fi franchise and movie that Venger could parody and get a hold of from popculture. I was laughing hard identifying all of them. Throughout the book there is a ton of material to scavenge for other games. This isn't simply one adventure but there is an expansion of at least five different pieces of campaign setting stuff for any old school sci fi space opera or fantasy. There are literally months of campaign material here with lots of penis, ovipositors and tentacle action happening in the background. The artwork is both erotic, jarring, full on and very well done for the book. The artists did a bang up job on Girls Gone Rogue. There's at least three or four send ups of Jason of Star Command, Dune, Star Trek, Space Balls, Star Wars, Outland, and much more but all of this is fueled down and through the raunchy and riotous Alpha Blue lens. The PC's are squeezed right into the background of all the action, twisted around, and spit out into a campaign that they're going to be movers, shakers, or victims of when all is said and done. Do I think that Girls Gone Rogue is worth the price of admission yes in a word I do. Eric Fabiaschi Swords and Stitchery Want more? Subscribe to Swords and Stitchery for even more OSR action for this and other exciting titles. https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

So I'm actually really curious about this book from Skirmisher Publishing, Men & Monsters of Ethiopia is a fifth edition source book. Ethiopia is a damn complicated place in mythology & history; the fact that there is a fifth edition source book is pretty damn good in my opinion. This book covers a mythic and mythological version of this Christian nation state's peoples, monsters, and background legends which as existed for a very long time indeed. This is a fifty three page book partially inspired by Michael J. Varhola trip to Ethiopia and his experiences there getting real world inspirational material for this book. My own experiences with this incredibly rich and vibrant land come from two foreign exchange students from this land way back in '88. But my gaming experiences go back much further. But back to Men & Monsters of Ethiopia, this book has everything you need to flesh out a fifth edition campaign. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I embrace adult themes and controversial subjects and for the better part of history dating back to 316 AD the country has been Christian. So the subject of religion was handled with kid gloves in this book; "From the 4th century onwards, of course, Ethiopia has been a strongly Christian nation, and beginning in the Middle Ages the country had a significant Islamic presence, both factors that prevail to this day. This is something many DMs might not wish to reflect in their own campaign settings, however, and, in any event, might not fit well in a typical polytheistic milieu. It might therefore be simpler to draw on the pagan religious traditions of the country, which included worship of the Classical deities of the ancient Mediterranean (e.g., one early king of the region refers in a proclamation of victories over his enemies to assistance from “my august god Ares” and to making sacrifices to Zeus and Poseidon). Game masters can easily use the saints and concepts to which many churches in Ethiopia are dedicated as an indicator of which Greek gods might be worshiped in any particular area or temple. St. George, for example, is the patron saint of Ethiopia and could easily be replaced by the demigod Bellerophon, who has many analogous characteristics and is presented similarly in artworks."

Game masters can easily use the saints and concepts to which many churches in Ethiopia are dedicated as an indicator of which Greek gods might be worshiped in any particular area or temple. St. George, for example, is the patron saint of Ethiopia and could easily be replaced by the demigod Bellerophon, who has many analogous characteristics and is presented similarly in artworks." Fine I'm willing to forgive this bit of oversight but it does serve a duel knife in some respects on the one hand this is a book about a mythical version Ethiopia and it serves as a source book for that in spades but it makes the rich history into a pseudo or alternative mythological version of history. This is fine because it allows the the DM to take full advantage of this mythology to create their own version for campaign work. But something about it bothers me; the work doesn't take advantage of the rich historical and mythological tapestry of the Ethiopian kingdoms and peoples or does it? As well shall see this is not as easy to point out as it first seems. We get a huge sectional overview of the usual fifth edition classes adapted into the lens of these complex lands and mostly this is for NPC development. Here's the sort of frame work that we're speaking of here;"Bandits might be encountered individually, in small roving bands that prey on travelers, or as irregular military forces under the command of local warlords that subsist by raiding or extorting tribute from villages and other vulnerable sites. Bandits that operate on the Red Sea, and to a lesser extent on inland lakes and rivers, are more commonly known as pirates. Low-level characters of this sort conform in all respects to the statistics for the Bandit in the official 5th Edition monster guide and leaders to the Bandit Captain entry in the same resource. There is a 5% chance that all the brigands in a small band, or only the leaders in a large one, will be cannibals that are just as interested in eating victims as they are in robbing them." Suddenly those bandits become a bit more then simple quick encounters for a basic fifth edition encounter. The artwork in this section is black and white, it does a solid job of conveying the setting but a bit more richness in detail in some of the pieces might have added a bit more flavor to it. The text does a great job of taking you into the setting. There's a certain something missing in this section when it comes to the black and white line work. The next section goes into animals and its really here that the book shines a bit more. We get guidelines on how animals are viewed and a few hints as to even that there might be prehistoric survivors within the setting. We dive right into adapting existing monsters from fifth edition into an Ethiopian campaign. This section is rich in some detail and local color consider for a moment this little blurb on lycanthropes; "Were-creatures of various sorts can be found throughout an Ethiopian campaign setting, notably Werehyenas and, to a lesser extent, Wereboars. There are also rumors of Werelions but whether they actually exist or not is open to debate. All such creatures, in any event, conform to the general characteristics of Lycanthropes as described in the 5th Edition rules. In a land rife with holy men, rich in silver, and frequented by adventurers, however, Lycanthropes tend to get kept in check and only rarely become a significant problem." Generally this is a really well thought out section on adapting and modifying existing animals and monsters into a specific Ethiopian setting. Its well done and not too badly generic. It conveys the right amount of color and push for the book. The next section is really the meat of the book; here we get into mythological Ethiopian monsters and there are some powerhouses in here. The Boharia is a medium level threat that has a few surprises up its sleeve including the ability to flick poisonous blood at their victims and they're a wolf like species. A very nasty detail of these bastards is the fact that they use pack tactics on their targets and taken together can mean that PC's could be in real trouble. Caracals are mid-sized wild cats which can prove to be a surprise for a PC or two not expecting a bobcat like animal capable of doing a bit of damage. They prove to be interesting and unexpected find in this book. There's a lot more going within Men and Monsters of Eithiopia then I was expecting; " There are 17 new monsters with 29 stat blocks for them. There’s 20 pre-existing monsters that have been adapted for the setting. There’s 11 types of NPC, with 5 new stat blocks for them" mostly everything has been drawn from legends and mythology are within this section. Now earlier in this review I mentioned history and here's where the book really begins to draw on mythology and we get a real overview of two earlier edition Monster Manual favorites the Catoblepas finally get's its due as a force to be reckoned with. These monsters are drawn straight down from mythology of Ethiopia and will shake PC's up even with their mere appearance not to mention the toxic horror that is their calling card. These things eat toxic substances and poisons even invading camps to consume this horrid delicacy. Catoblepones are not aggressive but are irritable, and will lash out with their sharp tusks against anyone who comes within reach of them. The swamps and mucklands of Ethiopia are their home and adventurers best give these areas a wide birth. Then we get the Cetus and this island sized monster is nothing to mess with. The hero Perseus and Andromeda are tied in with this powerhouse. We get the Debbi with his aura of fear and then its straight on to the Arwean Dragons whom are all descended from a despotic draconic ruler of Ethiopia; these things are rare and very dangerous. They should be used with caution on the DM's part. These are the big guns of a campaign and are miniature versions of the dragons of Dark Sun. Dragon kings of old capable of ruling kingdoms which is their birth right. These monsters are entire campaign starters themselves and could be used as the basis for a vile villain of incredible depth. A very nasty piece of work indeed that can really cause all kinds of harm to a party over time. We then get into a legendary race of men known as the Gibetas who are a mysterious and ancient race of people that may have originated in Egypt. Underground dwellers, master combat engineers, mystics, & experts at mathematics, architecture, cryptography, and construction and are believed to have built many subterranean fortresses, temples, and other structures throughout Ethiopia, especially in its northern regions. Cave halflings are on the menu as well here and we get a nice entry on these weird and mysterious peoples. There is quite a bit to work with here for extending a campaign venue. There's a sense in these entries of the depth of research that the authors really put into this book. The monsters in this section are centralized to the setting of fantasy Ethiopia and there's a nice well rounded sense of atmosphere with this book. Now knowing Skirmisher Publishing as I do this is only the first in a line of Ethiopian themed fifth edition books in this line. I can see this being a setting that they're be exploring more of. So is this a good book for a fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons campaign? Hmm its going to be a very interesting question and the answer is two fold, if the dungeon master is interested in an African themed campaign in the wind swept regions of Ethpopia then yes this is the book for you. If this is a book that you're looking for as a casual monster book to add more men and monsters to your campaign possibly not. This book doesn't seem to be for the casual DM. There's volumes of material here with room for lots of expansion into full blown campaign material here. I'm going to give this a four out of five because some sections of this book seem a bit weaker then others. The unevenness of this material means that a DM is going to have to do a bit more research on their own to get the most out of it. All in all I think that it is work a look and there's more then enough meat on the bones to flesh out a campaign or two with this book.

Eric Fabiaschi
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What happens when your Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventurers stumble upon an African lost world setting of massive proportions? You get World of the Lost from the pen of Rafael Chandler and the warped minds of some of the OSR's premiere artists. This is an entire expansion of the LoFP system in my humble opinion. There are some pieces of great PC options from character generation expansion, new spells, equipment, regional weaponry, dark magic, techno science fantasy secrets, and more for about ten bucks! This isn't a shelf warmer its a book like Vornhiem that your going to be reaching for again and again.

There are books you see as an old school gamer that you know are going to be worth waiting for and World of The Lost is one of those. This is massive campaign resource of a book that details an a the fictional city of Khirima, in a 17th-century Nigeria. The territory depicted in the map is dominated by a large plateau inhabited by bellowing dinosaurs and strange monsters. It is one of the must have books to get besides Carcosa in my humble opinion for Lamentations of the Flame Princess. This book enables a dungeon master from the ground up straight out of hand to create their own version of the setting. This book takes many of the 'Lost World' setting cliches and turns them on their ears. The heroes here can be anything from the native Africans to your own LoFP PC's and your going to need them. This book sports an adventure for characters levels 1-4, featuring a 200-encounter wilderness hexcrawl, a city sourcebook, a dungeon, quests, diseases, new spells, and new magic items. And that's really the start of it, this book allows the DM to create their own version of Khirima from the ground up for cities, towns, and tons of wilderness options. All of this can be expanded up on the fantastic maps that come with this adventure sourcebook. If this is the direction that Lamentations of the Flame Princess is going to take then sign me up. Khirima (kurr-EE-mah) is the capital of a large kingdom surrounded by villages and towns for many miles. And World of the Lost has table after random table to create your own version of this setting. You're PC options are all across the table in this book with options for everyone from the fighter to the cleric and every wizard in between with an African lost world flare. Merchants, lodging, weapons, etc. is all there right off the bat as you open this book. And it all works. Don't screw with these people or you will have your PC's flesh flayed off. Seriously these are serious folks and this book covers every single aspect of their lives. Did I happen to mention the prehistoric life forms that inhabit certain sections of everywhere in World of the Lost? Everything from Dinosaurs to Ice Age giant mammals stalks the wild and wants to eat your face off. This book is post apocalyptic primeval setting with African overtones of weirdness. This book is dense, rich, and can't be taken in on one sitting. I've been dipping into it again and again for two days running and haven't even begun to scratch the surface. This book is has a massive featuring a 200-encounter wilderness hexcrawl with detailed entries like;"The city of Akabo. By day, smoke from the fire is visible from adjacent hexes; by night, one can see the glow from the flames. A necromancer named Henriette (now in hex 23-A) cursed the city, and the dead have risen. These undead, known as ogbanje, attacked the living, and the curse spread to those who have been bitten. The entire city is overrun. Countless swarms of ogbanje (1d100 per swarm) wander the streets. Most survivors fled north, rather than brave the bandits and wild beasts around the plateau. Should the adventurers enter the city, they’ll find its layout similar to that of Khirima (Chapter 1: City can be used to flesh out details). Most of the city is ablaze, and other than a few survivors hiding from the ogbanje, Akabo belongs to the undead." This is the level of detail that your going to get from this sourcebook and it's on par with some of the best Lamentations of the Flame Princess books. The fact that you get locals as adventuring PC's is awesome and they're detailed as human beings and with clear cut motives for helping or hindering other characters. World of The Lost is like Robert Howard's Africa slept with Carcosa and then fused together elements of Nigerian & UFO mythology to produce this campaign setting. I feel that this is a new corner stone for the Lamentations system. I haven't gotten to the dungeon known as 'The Temple of Ages That Are Not' this is a science fantasy dungeon on par with the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks dungeon adventure. There are elements that I won't go into here in this review but are very raw, dangerous and brutal. On par with Mr. Chandler's Slaughter Gird for style and substance and actually takes some of that style and expands upon it with a deadly dungeon grace all of its own with a sci fi fantasy twist all of its own . The pdf is fully cross listed and referenced for each and every encounter with rules, entries, and references throughout the book's digital format. To expand upon the content of 'World Of The Lost' there are some of the most weird and deadly lifeforms besides the prehistoric dinosaurs, plants, mutated horrors that inhabit this campaign setting that I've seen in a long while. There's enough content for seven or eight campaign's worth of material. I can't recommend this book enough! Seriously one of the best campaign and setting books for 2016 so far in my humble opinion and if your going to spend ten dollars then get this book!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords and Stitchery blog Like this review and want to see more support for this and other OSR products? Subscribe at http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

I want you to take a look at the cover art for the Two Towers adventure. Go ahead and look at it! This isn't an OSR adventure for the easily offended or the pantie waists out there. This is an adventure that has torn open a slime laden murder blunt trauma hole in reality's sky and poured in the awesome. It has leaked onto a campaign adventure source book of twisted proportions. You dear reader are in for a ride of sex, death magick, twisted adventure, and a hell of a ton of mutating weirdness. In the interest of full disclosure and all of that crap; I begged James Raggi for a copy of this adventure. First of all I'm friends with a few of the people who worked on this adventure/sourcebook and whose writing and artwork I happen to be a fan of. This is a media pack of OSR old school and new school goodness. You get a teaser version of the adventure, a stat pack which contains stats for Pathfinder and D20 versions of the creatures and horrors of the Two Towers, and a final version of the complete Towers Two. I've always been a fan of Gwar going all the way back to late Eighties when they crashed through the local New England music scene like a blunt trauma induced liquid spewing rage machine. The details of the nights that I saw the band are best left to the annals of interstellar legend. So when I heard that Dave Brockie (GWAR, Whargoul) was partnering with James Raggi for an adventure. I was utterly aghast with shock & fan delight! And then he died before the completion of his vision. In comes Jobe Bittman (The Monster Alphabet, The One Who Watches from Below) to take on the task of completing this awesome piece of OSR adventure. Not since Carcosa have I see a homage and love letter to a particular style of role playing. The pdf adventure is an artifact to behold. The artwork for this adventure is wall to freaking wall of brain melting awesomeness first of all. Then there's the death #$#@ sex toy magick which plays a central role in the middle of this adventure. You see this isn't one for the kids at all unless the kids happen to be twenty one or older. Seriously its that nasty in some respects but if your playing Lamentations of the Flame Princess you're going to be used to this sort of thing. But is there a playable adventure in all of this? As a matter of fact there is and more. There are two brothers fighting with each other and your PC's are dragged into the middle of this little affair along with some mercenaries, psychotic monsters, sex death magic toys and artifacts, and an bunch of deadly circumstances guaranteed to make you wish you had other PC's lurking in the background waiting to help replace the current ones. They might die in a blood induced hazy of epic proportions. But is the Towers Two actually useful? In word yes! The adventure design focuses on the Two Towers as both adventure and source book. The tone here is half way between a twisted episode of He Man peppered with some of the most adult content seen since a Gwar stage show mixed in with lots of D&D. Everything here has a ton of attention to detail and is central to adventure from the setting, the monsters, the artwork, the incredible maps of the region this is an incredible product and like nothing that would ever be release by a main stream rpg gaming company. This is mini campaign in the happening and many of the bits and pieces can be used for other OSR game systems as well. I don't know that much about Pathfinder but if that's your bag then you can run this bad boy and that's with an X certificate if this was a grind house cult film. And this is one of those adventures that doesn't play nice with your PC's at all. This is a playable adventure that will keep your players busy for months to come. The writing is solid, the cartography is excellent and this is about as close to a head banging heavy metal OD&D adventure as I've ever seen. Five out of five and go grab this one! Its definitely not for the kids but man this was fun and deadly to read! Highly recommended!

Eric Fabiaschi Like what you've read in this review? Want to see more for this and other old school rpgs then be sure to subscribe to http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

Welcome back to the warm glow of the radioactive campfire my fellow mutants and adventurers. We've got a brand new glowing issue #12 of Crawling Under A Broken Moon. This is the type of issue that it crammed with material that can add the weirdness into the wastelands. This is the issue that could make an entire mini campaign happen in one issue. If your players don't hate clowns don't worry they will by the time they encounter the bastards and horror of Buddy O’Burger in the wastelands. What do you get when you combined cannibalism,clowns, fast food chains,and minor gods of the wastelands? Well you get the cult, background, creatures, adventure opportunities, patron tables, minor monsters of Buddy O’Burger. Basically this brand new cult, patron, and faction all in one. Here's what you get in this issue's tasty happy meal of pipping hot DCC radioactive glow of gaming goodness.

The lore of Buddy O’Burger, the beneficent burger god of Feasting, Customer Service, and Cannibalism. Full deity and patron information including patron spells A new class for those blessed by the gloved hand of Buddy. Descriptions of Buddy’s hench-creatures and servants. But is it worth the four dollars and fifty cents for the download? Yes in spades! Suddenly clerics have a brand new patron to really make their friends uncomfortable. You see buddy really does live up to his parody nature of certain beloved clown restaurant mascot and he's really, really, nasty. Buddy's cult is one part wasteland post apocalyptic fast food chain, two part's Eighties sci fi horror movie, and three parts of awesome. The dungeon master get's a complete cult and wasteland god patron with a really nasty secret not including the cannibalism. This issue is packed with everything you need to construct a full mini campaign. You can use the entire contents of this issue as full blown post apocalyptic faction with a minor god as the backbone of a wasteland territory. The artwork and layout of this issue all focus on Buddy O' Burger and using this mad bastard god and his forces as the central adventure hub as an enemy or friend of your mutants and adventurers.

Issue #12 Crawling Under A Broken Moon carries everything that a cleric of Buddy O'Burger needs and gives the dungeon master everything he could want to align these wasteland fast food cannibal cults into their DDC waste land games. Every thing from Buddy themed spell burn to taint as well as a cast of fast food minor mascots who have become minor god spirits in their own right is covered. This issue is both parody and more then slightly disturbing campaign fodder. I can see using this material in a modern DCC game where the post apocalyptic vibe is turned slightly down and the horror factor is high. This cult could fit into any small town America road warrior pit stop. The magic items and artifacts alone are awesome enough to bring the volume of weirdness up to thirteen. If you want your clerics to have some very disturbing patrons and yet have some pre apocalyptic background action straight out of an 80's VHS comedy and horror movie then this is it. But is it useful? If you haven't figured out by now this is a solid issue with lots of weird potential to keep a Crawling wasteland campaign going for months. Grab this issue and bring the shining cannibalistic fast food faith of Buddy O'Burger to your corner of the wasteland. Five out of five for originality and dangerous fun with a weird bent Eric Fabiachi Sword and Stitchery Blog Want to see more on this and other fanzines plus original OSR content. Please subscribe to http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

White Star has a dizzying array of products out for that stand alone retro clone rpg system. Magic Pig Media comes out with a solid amount of products from pulp era titles to fully realized enemies. And now they've created another thirty nine page interstellar humancentric, dystopian universe for your PC's. Stark Space basically gives the DM all of the cyberpunk style options and tools for an interstellar back water world or sector for the sort of dangerous and sleazy adventure locations, NPC's, new PC options, races, a cyber add on system for White Star and other dangerous adventure ideas all boiled down to their cyberpunk gritty foundations and it does it with a style all of its own. In many ways Stark Space reminds me of West End Game's other Star Wars titles the ones that showed what was happening in the other not so nice parts of the 'Expanded Star Wars' universe map. That's not a bad thing as we shall see. Stark Space boils down the PC's into the template like menu of PC class types that White Star uses; here we get : The Brains, The Face, and The Muscle which are then customized as the player sees fit and then assembled into PC's. We have genetically modified combatants called Max-Gene's, Simulants who are androids so close to human it hurts, and finally the Psi are humans with powers who have been main streamed into society and whom the corporations have main lined into interstellar society. This is the setting of hundreds of late night latterial Nineties and early two Thousands cyberpunk movies and television shows and White Star is in bad need of this type of setting. Sure your PC's can play 'Star Knights' and 'Smugglers' at will, but in Stark Space these folks are out on the edge of intergalactic society struggling with the high octane of real down and dirty adventure life. This is straight mainline Adrenalin material and quite frankly lately White Star is starting to bore me. Stark Space is just what the cybernetic doctor ordered! For three dollars you get everything you need to plunk PC's right down into a failed colony or feral cyberpunk dungeon world. There are more then a couple of new optional combat rules, equipment, and antagonists all waiting to tear into your PC's. Stark Space contains everything you need to bring your PC's right over into a high end intergalactic world of adventure without the BS of having another twenty books to nickel and dime you to death.

Stark Space is a a fully developed set of tools straight out of the gate to create a high tension and dangerous world of cyberpunk dystopian adventure against the backdrop of the interstellar setting of White Star. I highly recommend this product and actively encourage Magic Pig Media to continue this title line with other product adds on's for Stark Space.

There are games with a degree of old school comedy and a sort of dark fairy tale vibe to them; then there is the Seven At One Blow rpg. This game thrives on a dark comedic mess for an OSR retroclone system meaning that the system runs like a well oiled machine but it takes PC in very strange directions. This game takes every trope from D&D & turns it on its ear. This is a dark and very funny game on many levels. You play the ordinary guy whose thrust into a terrible and dark adventure, will you survive? This doesn't mean the game isn't fun by any means. This is a 'Pay What You Want' OSR retroclone gaming system. This game is perfect to play a pick up game as a beer and pretzels game on the weekend but its one that takes full advantage of those 80's comedies and 90's survival horror movies that plugs into the dark fairy tale aesthetic; "A survival horror comedy plug and play hack compatible with everything OSR, that you can play right off the bat.

SEVEN AT ONE BLOW is an OSR RPG hack in which the characters are always ordinary people cast into extraordinary situations. Because of this, the world is insanely cruel, and even the lowest monsters are creatures which seem to come straight from horror movies, possibly teenager action-horror movies. That would probably be the end of it if the characters weren't so lucky. They have this luck on their side, a perpetual beginner's luck that will help them escape the most desperate straits and let the situations explode into nonsensical hit and miss heroism." Try and imagine being in one of those classic fairy tale cartoons or movies. Now try to imagine that you as an ordinary person are trying to survive against the darkness of a D&D adventure with a twist. This is a dark comedy game with its heart and soul dedicated to having your PC's having a good time. They have several systems in the game such as luck, and other minor abilities that can aid you in surviving. The systems here are perfect for the sort of mucking about with things that are best left to adventurers and the like. Since they're not available well you and your lot will have to do. Everything is complete here from PC generation to fully realized to a setting sand box adventure straight out of the gate. This is a perfect game to get kids into an adventure campaign with some cartoon hijinks deep into world of high weirdness. This game excels at pre code cartoon weirdness and its fully compatible with other OSR games. Which means you could effectively run Tomb of Horrors with this game system with a little conversion. Here's what I love about Seven at One Blow, everything is right between the covers from PC set up to fully scored characters out the gate and it includes a great little sandbox adventure setting to boot. Also its compatible with Castle Gargantua for a whole campaign settings worth of adventures. What I really love about this game is that there wasn't a Kickstarter, endless internet commercials for it, or a ton of repeat OSR marketing. It has been simply published and its gloriously dark, fun, and works on so many levels. Want to play a game where your PC's are classic cartoon characters but cast in the roles of butcher, baker, and candle stick maker trying to survive against a witch, hag, vampire,etc. This is the game to use. The systems are well laid out, the play very intuitive, and the game design is sharp. Seven At One Blow comes just in time for the grim days of 2016 as a breath of funny and terrifying fresh air. Grab this one, I highly recommend it.

Right out of the gate Red Moon Medicine Show continues to impress me with their Lamentations of The Flame Princess fanzine, Vacant Ritual Assembly issue #5 which is going to be the last one for awhile now. At least until Klint Crouse and his crew decide to do another issue. So let's dive right into the pdf of this issue. This is a pretty jam packed issue with lots of factions and content the pdf is perfectly timed out to use and drop right into the deep end of your Lamentations games.

Issue #5 Includes:

New Artwork from Jeremy Duncan, Aaron Hamric, Olli Hihnala, Sean Poppe, and Xolis

Koster's Knob: A ready-to-use halfling village by Judd Karlman.

Weedwise Wizarding: An accounting of the Knob's more popular strains of pipe weed. New "Pipe Arts" skill.

The Ritualist: A new LotFP character class framework by Kathryn Jenkins.

Unholy Inversion of Hope: A grimdark, psuedo-Catholic religion from my campaign.

The Sineater Wolves: A heretical order of lycanthropic monks. Rules for lycanthropy.

On The Raggi: An interview with James Raggi IV, author of Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

This fanzine is like a shot in the arm of old school Pre code horror comics fun and games for a Lamentations of the Flame Princess blended with a fine coating of David Lynch and Mario Bava splatter punk sensibilities. This is followed by a ready to drop in Halfling village for your campaigns and its a quality adventure setting piece. I don't want to spoil it but its very nicely done. Weedwise wizarding is that herbal gardening and popular pass time of the Halflings including new skills, strains, and high weirdness for LoFP this is another thing that Dragon Magazine sort of hinted about. But here the adult pass times of the Halflings are revealed. The Ritualist is a welcome addition to the pseudo historical and Gothic brand of adventuring of LoFP but could work in other old school OD&D style games. There plenty of room here to twist and bend this class to your home games to make it work but I liked what I saw. The Unholy Inversion of Hope is a shot in the arm and a very grim and nasty piece of pseudo Catholic styling of a religion. The piece drips with lots of potential to be a giant factional pain for characters and PC's. There's also plenty of fodder here for further NPC's and adventure hooks. These are guys your going to love to hate.

I absolutely love the Sin Eater Wolves! Finally some decent rules for Lycanthropy and a heretical order of monks to boot! I'm a werewolf kinda guy and and this faction really hits the spot. There is enough adventure meet on the bones to really bring these guys home and with a bit of work they can be a perfect addition to a Red and Pleasantland campaign. Lots of adventure fodder and further bits of wonderfulness to add into any old school OD&D style game. This for me was one of the highlights of issue five. Another interview with James Raggi and a nice in depth piece on the creator of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I honestly have to say that Full Moon continues to produce some of the best pieces of gaming material for Lamentations outside of official releases from Raggi and company. Five out of five stars for a very well put together fanzine that you can use all kinds of horror related LofP or OSR games.

This is the time of year when families gather and gamers will steal off to the gaming table to add in that extra time of adventure to grab some experience points. Over the last couple of years Krampus has been gaining in popularity and now Tales From The Game Tavern Issue two features a whole round of articles and merry mayhem centered around this entity. But is it any good for your old school campaigns and is there adventure potential here under the tree for your PC's this year? Let's find out! Right its that time of year again when the forces of Saint Nicholas and Krampus are visiting children around the world Ultanya Publishing sent me a copy of their OSR fanzine. The pdf is packed with twenty seven pages of Seasonal OSR adventure fodder for your old school or retroclone campaigns. Here's what you get packed into a system neutral set of OSR rules. The first thing we get into is a quick overview of the Krampus demi god and the traditions associated with him. There is something a bit horrific and dangerous about this entity. We get into a bit of what is now referred to these days as Gygaxian monster ecology with the Krampus. There were more then a few ideas swimming around in my head reading through this issue.

Tales from the Game Tavern issue #2 has a lot going for it and I can actually see using much of the Krampuscentric holiday gaming material. Much of this issue fits right into the back end of a dark fairy tale OD&D, AD&D 1st edition or a retroclone system campaign. I can potentially see using about ninety percent of this material in a Dark Albion or Lamentations of the Flame Princess game where everything is both familiar and alien at the same time. The ideas here are meant to be added into or used to foreshadow the coming of Saint Nicholas and his brother the Krampus whose the focus of Tales From the Game Tavern. But does it work and is it worth spending the cash for the book or download. My short answer is yes it is. There isn't a ton of artwork in this product but there doesn't have to be. This is solid gaming content and its easy enough to pick up some public domain artwork for that purpose. Now the real star of the show is the adventure Gruss vom Krampus now without revealing too much its quite plain to see that by tweaking the adventure with the contents of this issue its plain that Tales from the gaming Tavern could be used as mini holiday campaign. Or this book could be used as a jump off point for a whole series of adventures centered around the Krampus. All in all I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to get this issue. There is a ton here that can add just that bit more old school holiday hi jinks and horror to the holidays. Eric Fabiaschi Don't forget you can find even more old school support and reviews from Sword and Stitchery at http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Feminine cyber-companions on hover-skates pass out drinks that bubble and smoke like a laboratory experiment gone horribly wrong. "Try some Flash, sugar. It'll blow you away." One says, her tiny chassis strobing pink and blue. DJ Asimov adjusts the pulsing music by fondling an intricate hypercube that floats at his station with long, boneless fibers. You eye a girl dressed only in holographic triangles. She looks back. Smiles. She wants to dance. You move in for the "kill". Oh yeah! You've got all the right moves. The dance floor vibrates with luminous squares of amphetamine color like a space-rainbow checkerboard. Suddenly she tenses up. She's looking at someone. Before you can see who it is, she plants a wet kiss on your lips. You can't tell if it's the narcotic mist being pumped out into the club or maybe she's just that sexy. She breaks away while a couple of lowlifes question the bartender-bot. Bounty hunters, undoubtedly. Your new friend is a bad girl. Alpha Blue is Venger Satanis's retro gonzo interstellar space brothel adventure source book but actually its Venger's science fantasy rpg system too! That's right not only is there the space brothel but you can play interstellar bounty hunters, outlaws, scum, alien johns and more. THIS IS AN ADULT OSR TITLE NOT FOR THE KIDS So it seems that Venger Satanis's Alpha Blue has hit the interwebs as a pdf, and I got my review copy early this afternoon. Which is interesting because I started to take peek through some science fantasy campaign notes. But I digress, Alpha Blue is more then simply space brothels its an rpg source book as well with a complete version of the Crimson Dragon Slayer system built into it as well. But this version is a complete gonzo sci fi and science fantasy system packed to the brim with a ton of random table options to generate a complete set of spacer adventurers in search of a good time or to seriously kick some ass. There is more then enough character and PC options to choke a space cow. Table after table of high quality & some low brow humor here but actually its pretty damn nice. Alpha Blue clocks in at about a hundred and fourteen pages of science fantasy raunchy fun. But don't let the slick sleazy gonzo space brothel rpg cover plate fool you at its heart and soul Alpha Blue is actually a complete D6 old school style rpg system. As Venger says in the introduction;"What happens in the adventure is mostly up to the players and their characters. The framework is determined by the Game Master or "Space Dungeon Master", in this case. That means using the Alpha Blue space station in conjunction with another sci-fi RPG will have different results than using what's provided here. Specifically, this system is a cross between Crimson Dragon Slayer and The Outer Presence. The former is a humorous, gonzo take on OSR science-fantasy. It's ruleslight while still having a bit of crunch. The latter has light-as-a-feather rules and is more serious, dealing with occult and horror investigations. I wanted something between the two that would put the focus on pulpy, cinematic, action-adventure in deep space along with the vintage space operas I loved watching as a kid. This book is a campaign setting with infrastructure, not only giving the Space Dungeon Master ideas but procedures for utilizing them" Venger is a very smart son of a gun and Alpha Blue has at its heart a slick and dangerous sleazy little science fantasy and fiction system built right into that will work with most of the major OSR science fantasy or fiction games currently on the market with a bit of third grade mathematics. I was incredibly surprised to find table after table for creating your own customized space scum adventurer. The man has done bang up job of an adult themed science fantasy game in the old school tradition everything from motives to cybernetics is covered here including spur of the moment equipment and weaponry. Combat, random encounters everything is covered in between the pages. Alpha Blue includes its own universe and setting within a weird Federation, Ice Pirate's inspired universe & the author has back plugged his own adventures such as the Island of Purples Haunted Putrescence with references sprinkled though out Alpha Blue. This means that many other OSR sci fi games such as White Star, X plorers, Stars Without Number and Hulks and Horrors can all be ported over or converted over with little issue. There are table after table to create PC's and augment your own OSR adventurers and space scum. Monkey Blood Designs does some incredible work and there is a pretty nifty map as well as few other pieces. There's even random tables for space dungeons, derelicts, and salvage in Alpha Blue as I said this is a complete OSR science fiction and fantasy system unto itself. The author has created a complete universe and setting unto itself that you can insert into your own OSR interstellar campaign especially if you want to add a bit of sleazy and naughty bit of fun. After looking at the actual book and system I'm firmly convinced of an observation I made earlier on my blog;"Alpha Blue could be used as a recovery place for those adventurers who venture into Carcosa via Lamentations of the Flame Princess.There might be a few facilities of Alpha Blue that could easy the insanity that runs through your PC's minds and what's left of their souls after they get scrapped off of the landscape of Carcosa." Because deep in the background of the Alpha Blue station there actually are but your PC's are going to paying through the nose to use them. And what about Alpha Blue itself? Well, this space brothel is the the size of a giant free wheeling station and comparable to many of the adventure locations seen in Star Frontiers or Classic Traveler. The place is huge and sports tons of encounters with NPC's, adventure locations, situations waiting to happen and off set material that can hook PC's into the deep end of the space action. But is it worth the price of admission? Yes it is because it can provide an entire campaign for your old school games under one sin filled roof! This place is part floating Vegas in space and two parts high end Eighties Saturday afternoon HBO movie with boobs, adventure, laughs and high test nastiness. There's lots of weirdness thrown in there with plenty of action waiting to snare your adventurers. There are tons and tons of random charts to challenge your adventurers and the jokes are raunchy but there's a ton of potential here for high test gonzo space action. Alpha Blue has its own mall, gambling houses, arenas, women's prisons and more. As a dungeon master this OSR space adventure resource has a ton of material that kicks ass hard and will keep a group of players busy for a very long time to come. Highly recommended with a five out of five.

I received a copy of B/X Rogue from a friend just as I was wrapping up a leg of writing on a new campaign, more on that later. B/X Rogue is a new Gavin Norman title that takes the thief and defines the PC class in new ways. The book clocks in at about twenty six pages of old school goodness. Gavin is in charge of the City of Iron blog and clocks in some damn fine titles such as the Complete Vivmancer and the crowd sourced Free OSR adventure From the Vats . He is also the man whose put out one of my all time favorite B/X pay what you want PC expansion class books Theorems & Thaumaturgy. So when B/X Rogue hit the stands today I contacted a friend to grab this title and let me take a look at it right away. So colour me intrigued, and very happy to have another variation on one of my favorite PC's classes at the table. BX Rogue does quite a bit different, this blurb from the City of Iron blog really intrigued me "More than simply a thief, the rogue class has access to talents drawn from a wide array of archetypes, all integrated into a single class. Scouts & spies, burglars & tomb robbers, charlatans & con-artists, swashbucklers & explorers, brigands & highwaymen, assassins & thugs. No need for all of those specialized sub-classes any more!" Now given that sort of a claim I could see what B/X Rogue was trying to do? But then the second part really caught me by surprise. Within these pages you will discover:

In point of fact this book could be used to create Rogues of all calibers for space based science fiction games, scavengers & assassins for post apocalyptic hell holes, sword and sorcery religious fanatic cut throats, and even inter planar highwaymen. The limit is really your imagination because of the set up of this product. The B/X Rogue is hands down one of the best products I've seen for creating a B/X Rogue that you want as a player or to create an off the cuff NPC rogue, thief, assassin, highwayman or other criminal of the underworld. I give B/X Rogues a five out of five. I should also mention that I love the black and white artwork that evocates a certain old school something within the pages. It adds a feeling of looking through a mimeographed old school fanzine.
Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog Want to know more? Subscribe to http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Folks when life hits you with apples and sometimes it hits you with monsters, the type of monsters that can echo around a game table for years to come. The ones that the players say, 'Hey remember that time we encountered the Evil goat-headed fey who could transform our adventurers into goats'. 'You know the one with all of those Fey enslaved to its evil will?'. Well I'm happy to report that you get exactly that style of monster from the pen of James Mishler's Monstrous Miscellany #01 has this foul fiend and more! Is there an over arching theme of this first Monstrous Miscellany #01? There's is a tinge of the demonic and cosmic about the monsters in this product. And that's one of the things about the monsters in this book, they're of a level not only to be encountered by your PC's but their of a strata of the mythological that an entire adventure or encounter can be written around them. There's not a spec of art for the Monstrous Miscellany #01 but it really doesn't need it. The monsters here are full of the flavor and gusto that drips of the page in a solid product. So what are we getting into in the Monsterous Miscelleny? Here's what your getting for a dollar according to the Drivethru blurb: Abnokh, 3 HD Chaotic Evil Demon-Kin that trouble the Material Plane, seeking out victims for their terrible rites and rituals... Greethaw, 13 HD Chaotic Evil giants steeped in demonolatry and sorcery, seeking that which has been lost and forgotten... and slaughtering all who get in their way... Notoros, 1 HD Chaotic Evil goat-headed fey who use the bones of their victims to frighten foes, can transform their prey into goats, and seek to enslave elves, pixies, and sprites for vile purposes... Styram, 5 HD Lawful Good angels of retribution, summoned to the Material Plane to avenge the desecration of Lawful holy sites...

So yes these are some very cool monsters but are they actually useful for throwing into a game adventure? Well right off the bat the Abnokh, is rife with possibilities for use as the center of a demonic cult or other horrific encounter. I could see using these as a part of a Lamentations of the Flame Princess style cult. Here's a good example of why I really love the Abnokh, ECOLOGY: Abnokh are native to the Demon Worlds of the Plane of Chaos. On the Material Plane they subsist on the flesh, bones, and blood of intelligent beings; they can survive on other meat, but they only truly thrive on the flesh of intelligent beings. They are of course not natural to the Material Plane; they are usually brought hence through a summoning spell in service to some sorcerer, or through a permanent magical gate, and remain to bedevil locals until they are exterminated. One of the things that I think that makes these monsters interesting is that they can be used as both a one off encounter and a recurring foe for characters. In fact I would go so far as to say that these monsters should be used as fodder and templates in the creation of NPC villains. These monsters are far too interesting just to be 'one night stand monsters' or simply 'monsters of the week'. The Greethaw are horrors that should be used very sparingly. This race is straight out of the pages of the Bible, accursed giants whose abilities are both nasty and dangerous. There is a ton of potential here to take these as fully realized villains and create entire adventures around them. "Greethaw are accursed giants; long ages ago they made terrible pacts with Demon Lords. Though they gained thereby great power and immortality, they lost something essential that they have forgotten, and continue to search for it many long ages hence." You get not only a description of the bench marks of abilities for each of these monsters but full opportunities to use them for adventure encounters. The ground work is there, you fill in the details as needed for your campaign and world. The Notoros are one of my favorite monsters and demonstrate one of the fundamentals of Fey. These things are other worldly beings of ancient and dangerous aspect, they are not the benevelont creatures of Tolkein fantasy movies of Hollywood. In the mythologies across the world they were always both of good aspect and of dangerous aspect. The Notoros are no different and flesh out the evil bits of the Fey. They are monsters that adventurers are going to be lucky to walk away on four legs and not end up as dinner or worse. "Notoros are Unseelie fey; they are the personification of dreadful and evil tendencies native to dark, old-growth forests. They protect their forest not out of a love for it, but out of a jealous hatred of all other beings. Notoros subsist upon grasses, greens, and wild vegetables of their forest, but they feast upon the flesh of other fey and elves. Humans and demihumans they can take or leave, finding their flesh unpleasant; they usually simply torture them to death for fun, then use their skulls to build their beegoh’s throne and the other bones for their weapons, tools, and as warning signs to outsiders." Personally I think that if your going to use the Notoros they should be the center of an adventure or as a part of an adventure within a campaign. They're that unique and interesting to warrant that kind of attention on the Dungeon Master's part. Finally this brings up one of the trickiest monsters in the whole lot, the Styram. A bit of my background when it comes to angels and upper level angelic beings. I've used them since I was seven or nine years old to great effect in OD&D and never once did I have a problem with anyone at the table taking offense at them being included. Ever since Dragon issue #35's article Angels by William Fawcett in Dragon magazine issue #35. I've always used them sparingly. The Styram are the divine equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction with a conscious and a mission. That being said these are a well thought out and balanced monster of frightening proportions. As they well should be and these angels should be used as the center of a campaign ending or importance adventure. They are not something to be taken lightly and are used against the forces of Chaos and depravity. These are what I like to refer to as 'campaign center' monsters. Creatures whose visits can start or end a campaign but these things are always important and dramatic. The Styram are creatures of order whose outlook is very alien and whose very being is dedicated to the extermination of chaos and those who desecration of it's god's shrines, temples, and divine works on the mortal plane. Lots of opportunities for adventure possibilities right there. "A styram is a being from the Angelic Spheres of the Plane of Order. They may be summoned to the Material Plane by a Lawful cleric through the casting of the 4th level summon styram spell (see below). Styram are a type of angel of retribution; they may only be summoned when a Lawful temple, shrine, or other holy site has been desecrated. They can hunt down the offenders without fail, barring use of magic that obscures location (such as an amulet of proof against detection and location)." The Styram are incredibly detailed, dangerous and should be played as they are alien beings from other dimensions whose mission is one of destruction and divine retribution Not too bad for a dollar OSR monster book, with lots of potential to drive and move a campaign forward.I have to give this product five out of five because of the quality and ideas that continue to come out of the James Mishler Games company.

Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog Want to see more reviews and articles about this product and other OSR support? Subscribe to Sword and Stitchery http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

Have you ever wanted to take your basic or OD&D parties onto the planes but in the AD&D 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide only the 'high level' parties got to play there? Need to throw your PC's into the deep end of the multi verse? Well wonder no more because New Big Dragon Games Unlimited Old School Adventures™ has a brand new pdf with everything to jump start your PC's into the deep dimensional morass that is the multiverse. The Planar Primer is seven pages of stripped down easy access nastiness waiting for your PC's to stumble into the astral and beyond. So Richard LeBlanc Jr has stripped everything down to a usable format for Labyrinth Lord or B/X and made it an easy access for DM who don't have the time to deal with the issues of conversion, reference, and all of the little details that make planar and dimensional travel a headache everything here is boiled down into an easy to use format. Basically this is planar travel without tears and its pretty nifty. The break down is easy to understand and there are some old favorites for magic items even. The planar travel isn't the nightmare its been in the past and the author explains everything out like stereo instructions step by step from set up to plug & play making this a very easy to understand book on the planes. There's a bit of everything laid out in easy understand and plain English. Its pretty much all there for the DM to pick, choose, and use as they see fit. Everything is laid bare in this book from the basics of plane physics and its effects on magic, to thumbnail sketches of the planes themselves, a quick overview of magick on the planes, a smattering of magic items and diagrams outlining the planes, the ways magic effects them and your PC. The nice thing about this book is the fact that there's no real emphasis on how to use this pdf, you could easily tack this onto a Mutant Future session as easily as a regular game of B/X Dungeons and Dragons or mix it up. The fact that its free makes this an even more enticing little gaming morsel. There is a ton that can be done with this little pdf, such as grafting onto other campaigns and getting much expanded other dimensional multiverse. The nice thing is the simplicity and functionality of the piece, it makes adventure crafting quite nice in a simple way when a DM doesn't have to reach for the Manual of The Planes. For a short seven pages of old school retroclone fun, this is a damn little useful book. Four out of five, I kinda wish there might have been a bit more of this book but it is free! Eric Fabiaschi Swords and Stitchery blog Want to know more & see this as well as other old school systems supported? Subscribe to Sword & Stitchery http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

100 Oddities for a Graveyard From Skirmisher Publishing is a great ten page pdf of adventure location and adventure setting dressing for your adventures. This book is system agnostic and will fit just about any game system and this is a good pdf to acquire for both modern and old school systems. But is it actually useful for the gaming table? Well let's dive into this book.Basically 100 Oddities for a Graveyard is a series of random d100 charts that can add interesting game adventure elements to an adventure location. This enables with a toss of the dice a DM to add in a whole evening's encounters for a game. Graveyards have always been the domain of horror films and survival horror adventures, but this book gives a ton of interesting side bits to sneak into an adventure. This includes the exploding dice principle rule - One final thing: Oddities for a Graveyard employs a dice rolling sub-system often referred to as “Exploding Dice.” In this sub-system, a die that rolls the maximum value possible [i.e. a 6 on a d6] is rolled again, and the new value is added to the previous total. This continues until a value other than the maximum is rolled. So, you might roll a d8 and get 8, then roll again, get another 8, and then, on a third roll, get a 3. You would then stop and total the results, in this case a 19 [8+8+3]. When we are referring to an exploding die roll, you will see a lower case “x” after the die notation, as in “d10x.” With some of the encounters this adds an element of weirdness and some horror to some of the results. But on the whole the book provides a whole host of adventure elements that can change up a rather mundane romp through a grave yard location. An example of what you'll find in this book includes the following: "An arch of stone creating a portal over the head of a grave. Directly over the top of the arch, the stones frame a circular hole. Local legend recounts varying tales of what happens when someone stands on the grave and gazes upon the moon or sun through the hole over the arch; stories of mystical portals, visitors from other realms, glimpses of the future or the past, or a departed love one are but a few." The graveyard isn't usually the first adventure location that leaps to a DM's mind but this book basically provides all of the weirdness that you want to be inserted right into the back end of their campaigns with little issue. For a dollar this is a pretty solid investment for any new or old school gaming system. William Thresher's artwork adds a sense of whimsy and weirdness to the book. Don't let my comment fool you there's enough here to keep even a group of Call of Cthulhu investigators guessing at least for a night or two. This is one of the places that this book excels at keeping adventure encounters moving so that you can get to the heart and soul of your grave yard adventure location. There are other places that 100 Oddities for a Graveyard could be used. Personally, I'd use this book with a mix of post apocalyptic and straight up dark fantasy, many of the encounters and ideas in 100 Oddities for a Graveyard lend themselves to a mix of games. For me this would be a mix of Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord Advanced. The PC's stumbling onto a post apocalyptic graveyard adventure location could easily support the material in this ten page pdf. With a toss of the dice a DM could dress different parts of an adventure location quite easily. This book can add a sense of the epic and weird to a simple romp through a grave yard. Seriously there's some great encounters to unleash on players and their PC's. Do I think that its worth the download price? Yes I do indeed! Many of the encounters sound like they'd be perfect to add into a Phantasm movie like campaign.The idea of outdoor crawling among the grave stones is pretty appealing for a post apocalyptic or more modern survival horror style of game. A sprinkling of undead, ghosts, or your favorite post apocalyptic horrors and your ready to go. There's more then enough of an adventure construction and encounter kit to outfit a gang of adventurer's with a mini campaign or two. The adventure elements are well done in such a way that you can take this book as a simple stepping stone or a fully realized night of dungeon crawling through a cemetery. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery Blog Want to see more reviews and OSR material like how to use books like this one? Subscribe right over here http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/