So once again I'm a bit late to the party with the OSR compatible adventure The Secret of Cykranosh via DriveThruRPG as a Pay What You Want module.This is a Lovecraftian module done in a very cool sword and sorcery six page stroke. This module has a bit of everything, according to the author's page; "This is a short module (6 pages) that wouldn't exist without Dyson Logos's work. I based it on the Dellorfano Protocols Dungeon that I linked in last night's Actual Play report. Dyson has been releasing certain maps with a CC-BY license thanks to his extremely successful Patreon campaign. This allows anyone to use and remix the original work, even for commercial use." Now I do love Dyson's map making skills and cartography prowess. This adventure clocks in a at around six pages of OSR sword & sorcery design and adventure fun. But what is the Lovecraftian back ground of the adventure? Well according to the author's blog' As anyone who recognizes the statue of Tsathoggua on the cover can tell, and anyone who's read "The Door to Saturn" knows, this is deeply inspired by the work of Clark Ashton Smith. I've worked CAS's ideas throughout the module, and I think fans will really enjoy this little adventure. The cover is from a (Creative Commons licensed) photo of a statue of Tsathoggua made by Richard L. Tierney, who happens to sort of be an Appendix N author (Tierney wrote a story in Swords Against Darkness III)." My suggestion is to read The Door To Saturn by Clark Aston Smith before running this adventure. Things are going to make a whole lot more sense then simply diving into it.

But there's more to it then simply another pay what you want module, this one is creative commons. Yup that's right its one that you can use, reference, and replay. Something I wish other OSR publishers would do. "Because I like Dyson's move so much, I've also released the complete text of this module in CC-BY. So not only is it free if you want it, you can also use it in your own projects however you like. I'm a big fan of the Creative Commons license as a way to share and distribute gaming material because it's less restrictive than the OGL." This earns its marks with me already and its a very cool way of making sure your going to be pay attention to future releases from the author. It also means that this work can be used for your publishing efforts and rpg design work as long as you respect the CC guidelines. But is the adventure playable? Well the background brings the author's version of Mount Vormos into full focus. Here's the background via the pdf

"Background : Mount Vormos is an ancient crag that lies along a crucial trade route. Bandits have been attacking caravans passing through, and rumors have come to the lands south of the mountain. A cave in the mountain pass overlooks a crucial juncture and has provided a spot for the raiding parties to take in trade goods. Magic-users will know that there are rumors connecting Mount Vormos to the ancient sorcerer Eibon, who long ago vanished to distant Cykranosh. Clerics will know that it is linked to the bizarre god Tsathoggua and his evil ways"

The encounters are well thought out, bizarre in their content and they work very well for a six page adventure. I've noticed that with recent third wave OSR material adventures six pages is the magic number for an evening's entertainment and play. This marks this as another module to add to the pile for running down the line. But what systems can this one be run with? Original editions or Retroclones? Well the stat blocks seem to indicate an OD&D marked preference but that shouldn't stop a DM from using this one for Lamentations of the Flame Princess .All you have to do is plum the whole Soloman Kane vibe for your PC's and off you go. History is filled with hundreds of cities, locations, etc. that have been obliterated by war, famine, pestlence,etc. this adventure location might not be any different. Do I like it? Well personally I think it makes a nice mid gap adventure for an OSR or OD&D campaign. With a bit of work and some slight of hand this one would make an excellent adventure for Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

With a bit of work and slight of hand this adventure could be used as a mid point to bring your favorite adventurers into the dark depths of a sword and sorcery adventure then leave them between the devil and the machinations of Tsathoggua. All in all this rates on the high end of a four out of five.

Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog Want to see more on this adventure and other OSR material then subscribe to http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Red Moon Medicine Show continues to impress me, issue #4 of Vacant Ritual Assembly is one of those small press fanzines that I think is essential for the table. Vacant Ritual Assembly is for the Lamentations of The Flame Princess Retroclone rpg System. Fanzines are fast becoming one of my favorite ways of getting innovative and cool retro adventure and game material into the hands of fans quickly and with a real handcrafted feel. Clint Krause is a genius and a bit of a mad man with his crew of players, artists, and co. they bring a third wave OSR sense of adventure to their efforts. This book gives a feeling of wanting to incorporate the material right into a campaign right now! This is some of the best stuff to come down the pike for Lamentations besides the efforts of Mr. Raggi and his writers/designers. First up you've got 'The Abstract: The strange denizens of an occult drug den.' , this place could be in San Francisco via 1890 or 1900 if the place was spun through the Twilight Zone and then put through the lens of a David Lynch film. Yet, its perfectly suited to drop into any old school campaign. Wonderful stuff right here and very nicely done with some great details. The bonus is the next piece, an adventure encounter that can take players from your regular LoFP game and drop them straight into Narcosa! The Lotus Eater: A complete adventure that takes the PCs into the drugdream of Narcosa to explore the domain of a cruel lotus czar. Believe me this little encounter is worth the price of admission alone. This will take a group of adventurers and put them on Narcosa center stage with no muss or fuss. Seriously this will grab them by the throat and kidnap them to the setting. Not rail road, not a whip around adventure but a simple and direct adventure encounter with some imagination. Then we're launched into an article that is one part National Geographic on acid and one part oh my God what the hell are they doing? "The Oolai Cloth-Skins and Dragon Blackhide Bastards: A guest article by Anxious P, which covers the bizarre flesh-sewing practices of the Oolai people." is one of those weird pieces of greatness that you'll want to drop right into the back end of your campaign so you can have your adventurers going what in the hell did we get ourselves into. "Furious Gods: A Primal Rage-inspired article describing the dinosaur godbeasts of the barbarian territories" is the whole reason that I grabbed this issue. Giant dinosaur god beasts to throw into your Carcosa adventures or your lost world LoFP material. Clint and co are very impressive at what they do with a low cost and high octane way of moving adventurers into situations that are bizarre, strange and complete mind #$@ s at the same time. This is the OSR material that you'll wonder how you could do with out. Vacant Ritual Assembly continues to set high marks over and over again! Seriously grab this material for your old school campaigns because man it doesn't get any better! Five out of five! Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Want to see more reviews and original material like this one. Subscribe over at http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Once again I'm late to the party with Lesser Gnome's Creature Catalog From Lesser Gnome,

this is a twenty -two page monster filled pdf harvested from their adventure, the majority have their own original illustrations by Lloyd Metcalf. Includes creature's sections from adventures including: Whisper & Venom, Bird of a Feather, & The First Sentinel. Given the fact that these are Lesser Gnome's spin on some familiar monsters, they each have some rather unique properties. The layout is solid and well put together, the monsters interesting and easily put into any old school adventure but this is a case where the adventure should be built around the monster. The monsters are done in a style that echoes and emulates the old Monster Manual style without aping it. Most if not all of the stats here are done for Labyrinth Lord and easily adaptable to your favorite rpg system including Lamentations of the Flame Princess. These monsters should be used sparingly because of the twists and kinks put into them. Examples of these sorts of creatures include this lovely little nasty; "The Byrgh, or rubbish crab, is a crustacean that lives amidst the filth of caves. Byrghs are usually found near cave/ cavern entrances. Unless in mortal peril they never venture above ground. Byrghs are generally found in groups of 5-7 individuals sharing a single nest. The nests are made from whatever cast off items or refuse the Byrghs scavenge" Basically these are the type of horrors that players are going to remember and used correctly not the type of thing their going to want to encounter again. Favorites of mine include the Murkbeast, The Nexid demon kind, and Gaunt Swept Scavenger among the many others in this book. There's a bit of an other worldly quality to these horrors and they'd fit right into a sword and sorcery or a Lovecraftian horror fest. Is this pdf a big advertisement for Lesser Gnome products? Most assuredly and they do deliver a quality piece of an adventure or monster. Basically this is a pdf that show cases some solidly done and well thought out horrors many of which can be applied to a wide variety of settings and adventure venues. Given the fact that these horrors have been created for the Labyrinth Lord retroclone game systems they're easily adaptable across the board and this includes Mutant Future's D&D back game Mutants & Mazes. Which is something that doesn't often seem to get mentioned or forgotten by other bloggers. Why this is I have no idea because it makes many of the retroclone and monsters easily adaptable across the board. This is a fact that I've often employed at the table numerous times. This makes Lesser Gnome's Creature Catalog a bit more flexible & do I think you should download it? Yes its worth your time and effort. A four out of five free download in my humble opinion. Eric Fabiaschi Swords and Stitchery Blog Want to know more? Subscribe to Swords & Stitchery over at http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

There are mega dungeons, mega adventure locations, then there's Castle Gargantua a gigantic sprawling location with incredible campaign exploration potential straight out of the twisted fairy tales of the early days! This is one of those magical locations that sets up everything straight out of the the gate, I mean everything there are remours tables for each of the playable races about the castle, rooms, weird events, etc.. But what is the set up for the adventure location: "Whoever built Castle Gargantua is long gone. It could have been a mad wizard. He would have been called Gargantua and lived in a tower looming over the castle. Or it could have been a giant so tall that when his shadow was cast, people thought it was the night falling; a giant so primeval that he could barely be distinguished from nature itself, his feet like the trunks of sequoia trees—a primeval ur-giant from a time bygone. Since your players will roll for rumors known by their characters, they will come with their own version. Let them, just remember that whatever created this place, it's gone.Time has passed since its creator vanished and the castle has been plundered several times. There's nothing much left of its original riches and most of its legendary monsters have been dispatched by past heroes. An awful lot of adventurers and bandits still roam the castle halls, often butchering each other and shaping opposed factions where they’ve taken over. In many areas, these ruffians are the real threat. In other places, lingering Chaos magic has turned harmless critters, animals, and normally trivial monsters into gruesome gigantic creatures in proportion with the castle." This place is sprawling, massive, and incredibly complex as large as the Empire State building and the design here is tight. Basically this is a mega dungeon is the love child if David Lynch and The Brothers Grim had sex and Tim Burton was the nurse maid. Then raised the same adventure location and its made to be cross compatible with almost all OSR system, well not quite. It's made to be cross compatible with Labyrinth Lord, Labyrinth Lord Advanced, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess. And its made to be different each and every time because the burden to roll up the contents of the place are on sort of on the DM but this is in keeping with the DYI D&D aesthetic of the OSR authors. Lay out here is top notch, maps and cartography are by Dyson Logos, lots and lots of art throughout the adventure. Here's the thing this adventure goes with the early D&D and AD&D trope that no adventure location is going to be abandoned for long. I'm all for this bit of dungeon adventure ecology and this adventure takes that to its extremes. There are dozens of halls, rooms, treasures,etc. that have been passed around and over here. There are themes to room and complex weirdness waiting to twist PC's into knots and whatnot. There's lots that can happen to them. And the maps are concise enough to make it happen. Did I mention the gorgeous and more then slightly disturbing artwork? The entire adventure location gives a sense of helplessness and being caught in a trap that has been sprung. Castle Gargantua is the type of place that exists in some ancient fairy tale as a rumor or legend but the reality is that much more dangerous and nasty. This is one of those adventure locations that's going to change a party seriously they will not be the same after a trip to Castle Gargantua. Page after page of incredible description and weird rooms, this isn't a fun house dungeon its a weirdness sink with your PC's names on it. Its all here and waiting for the PC's. There is a story to this place and throughout the 114 pages of the place you can see bits and pieces of the castle's tale here and there just as all of the best tales of dungeons and mayhem. This isn't a place for the faint of heart.

This is a dungeon or adventure location as wilderness setting, something out of the sprawling tales of giants and they're left behind one incredible location! And this is one place that can take on all comers, your levels and skills don't count for anything when a giant sized curtain is falling on your PC's head! You get dust storms rolling across floors and terrifying wilderness encounters with all kinds of horrid monsters from myth and legend against a wilderness background of a giant's former playground. One really nice part to this one hundred and fourteen page book is the price point the pdf is five dollars! Is there anything that I don't actually like in this adventure? Not really it clicks all of the right buttons for a grand style dungeon romp through one of the most complex dungeons I've seen. The tone, horrid fairy tale feel gone wrong and more is perfect for a dark game of Lamentations of the Flame Princess or a huge sprawling game of Labyrinth Lord. Its all there waiting for your PC's and they're not going to know what hit them. Grab this one! Five out of five stars! Highly recommended!

Eric Fabiaschi Want to know more? Then check out the Swords and Stitchery blog

So the red headed step child of post apocalyptic old school games has always been mutant animals and plants. The fact is that I keep expecting mutant turtles, raccoon,hamsters,etc. Some folks swear by them and can play them well. Others have a very hard time with them,especially in Mutant Future, well fear no more Skirmisher Publishing has come to the rescue with its newly expanded 'Wisdom From The Wasteland' issue fifty one. This issue clocks in at around twenty nine pages of mutated animals and plant goodness; this issue includes a boat load of new animal arch types and guidelines for playing them in Mutant Future. Here's an example of the the arch-typical animal base your PC could be drawn from : Alligator Types of Animals: Alligator, Crocodile. Size Comparison: Humanoid to huge. Natural Attacks: Saurian bite, tail slap. Special Attacks: None. Reaction Modifier: +2. Stat Modification: +2 (for humanoid), +4 (for large), +6 for Huge to Strength, +2 to Constitution, -4 Intelligence, -2 to Dexterity, +2 Willpower. Advantages: Breath control, increased senses (hearing, smell, taste), natural armor, natural camouflage, rapid strike, thermal vision. Disadvantages: No fine manipulators, no speech capability, susceptible to cold, water dependent. There is more to this issue of Wisdom From The Wasteland then simply playing mutant animal characters. If the player wants to play an animal or mutant type not available in the Mutant Future rule book you can do the following :if the player wishes to create an entirely new type of mutated animal race, the following rules apply: First, as normal, roll the number of physical and mental mutations the animal will get. Next, decide how many “humanoid-like” traits the mutant is to possess.To gain manipulators such as hands, speech capability or being able to walk upright, or vaguely human shape (in order to be able to wear non artifact armor) they must give up 1 mutation for each type of modification (either physical or mental). For a dungeon master this is pretty much a really nice way of setting up their own monster or mutant animal races from this issue of Wisdom from The Wasteland making this a must have book in my opinion. This is a win/win in my book. This issue of WoW is actually a mutant animal tool box for creating some solid hits for both Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord. This is makes this a really book to cheat with to create fast and viable races for your OSR games. The guild lines for mutant animals enable a DM to whip out a virtual assembly line of unique and nastily dangerous races of monsters for their old school campaigns. Something that dungeon masters have been doing with Gamma World first and second edition for years. A practice that was in wide spread use for second edition and games such as the Buck Rogers and the Twenty Fifth Century line of products. The practice could come back into vogue with this latest issue of Wow. But is it good? Well the truth is that this book is trying to cover a whole range of territory and is trying to do it in twenty five pages. The real star of this book isn't the artwork which is drawn from public domain sources and then run through a filter or two. The budget here is on useful gaming goodness and solid systems which this pdf has some really nice material for a post apocalyptic gamer and Labyrinth Lord dungeon master. Your basically getting about twelve pages of guidelines, rules, and archetypes for use with Mutant Future which isn't bad at all considering the amount of post apocalyptic wasteland that Wisdom from the Wastelands Issue #51: Mutated Animal/Plant Genotypes is trying to cover. And it covers it really well.

Here's one thing that the second section of this book really does well for those players who want to play mutant plants. It insists that they have the mobility mutation! I can't tell you how annoying it is for a DM in Mutant Future to look over a PC's sheet and point this out to a gamer. Here's how this book takes this mutation and spells it out Characters wishing to play a mutated plant follow the same basic rules set down for playing a mutant animal. As with mutated animals, each type of plant has different advantages and disadvantages that the character will need to take. One thing that every mutant plant must have is mobility, as playing a plant that was rooted to the ground would be pretty dull, especially if it forced someone in the party to carry it around. The player does not have to give up a mutation roll to take mobility; it is assumed that the plant already possesses this. When it comes to mutant plants they sometimes seem to be taken for granted by post apocalyptic players; I'd like to point out the fact that plants and fungus are one of the most alien and underratedly deadly monsters in the wastes. Well this issue has fungus right smack into the back bone of this section and gives the usual archtypes for this creature : Mold Size Comparison: Small to Humanoid. Natural Attacks: None. Special Attacks: Poisonous Spores. Reaction Modifier: +2. Stat Modification: +2 to Constitution, +4 to Willpower, -4 Charisma. Advantages: Natural camouflage, no vitals, regenerative capability, spread out. Disadvantages: No fine manipulators, no speech capability, reduced speed, susceptible to heat/cold. Note: The Mutant Lord may allow the plant character to take a toxic weapon in place of a mutation roll, but it must be in the form of a poisonous spore cloud.

There are several reasons why I mention this and make a big deal about it. Gamma World 1st, second edition , and Metamorphosis Alpha first edition had some of the most vicious and deadly fungal monsters this side of the wastelands. These monsters are deadly and very dangerous for a reason, fungus is one of the most flexible monsters that can translate between old school post apocalyptic games and Dungeons & Dragons settings easily. It gives a player a grasp on the universality of the fungal horror that is offing his PC in the wasteland or the dungeon. The advantages and disadvantages plus the mutations make this book worth having for the price of admission alone. Besides these there are even more optional rules allowing a MF dungeon master to increase and customize the range of his monsters, NPC's and PC's in equal measure. They've also imported in the Rules Option: Negative Hit Points Rather than dying when reaching 0 hit points, a character is instead near death and continues to lose one hit point per round until reaching a negative value equal to his Constitution, at which point he is irrevocably dead (unless brought back by certain artifacts). Given the inclusion and uptick of certain science fantasy OSR games this makes perfect sense. So is this issue worth getting and adding into your Mutant Future collection? Yes given three facts; one with a three dollar price tag this really is a bargain, two the inclusion of the plant and animal rules and the way their presented makes perfect sense against the back drop of the post apocalyptic wasteland and finally the flexibility of the whole package. You really get your money's worth with this issue four out of five for this issue. Eric Fabiaschi Swords and Stitchery blog Want to know more and see the commentary that goes with this review? Visit Swords and Stitchery http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Tim Harper of Samwise rpg review fame has released a disturbing mature adventure called Murcanto's Lair. The blurb on Drivethrurpg describes it as, "Murcanto's Lair is one modular level of a "mega-dungeon" (a very large underground structure with many levels). It has content that some may find disturbing. It is a systemless dark fantasy adventure but the module will most likely be the easiest to run with an OSR (Old School Renaissance) retro-clone of your choice or one of the various editions of the most popular RPG in the land." I got to take a look at this adventure about three or four days ago and its basically a pulp dungeon with disturbing content come to life in a good way. By good I mean those levels of a wizard that you never get to see. This is one of those levels. This isn't a fun house dungeon but a wizard crawl of weird encounters that can be dropped straight into a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game or any old school OD&D style game including the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg Not to give anything away but this is a tour de force of weirdness and depravity. Tim has been quietly going mad and taking all of this material into some very disturbing old school horror turf. The encounters here have an almost midnight movie meets Splatter punk over tea with Clive Barker and HP Lovecraft sort of a feel in a dark and good way. The artwork, the maps,everything here is geared to throw you as an adventurer into the world of Murcanto where your PC's are mostly likely to be mutated, twisted, and terrorized if not outright killed. This is an adventure with some teeth and its not afraid to show it. The author comes up with not only original monsters and disturbing imagery but the artwork is very, very, well done. I've been used to Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventures and the professionalism of the fanzines such as Red Moon Medicine Show's efforts and their adventures. Lately the line between fan and pro has been blurring a lot and this adventure is another sign of the times. Murcanto is one twisted son of a gun and there's everything from flesh weaving monsters to horrors in pots & much, much to much to describe. This is the sort of an adventure that I would throw at an experienced party of adventurers and still have the players asking to come back for more. And they will this is a deadly little piece of design and writing on Tim's part and he did it really well. I'm insanely jealous of the creativity and sheer weirdness that went into Murcanto's Lair. While there are some of the usual AD&D and OD&D monsters in this adventure their used in such a way as to be completely different and just wow. I really don't want to give too much of this adventure away. Seriously just go and grab this adventure if your A. into Lamentations of the Flame Princess b. Want something completely off the wall and different with a sense of the weird, mature, and dramatic. The pacing of the module's encounters is very well done. I can honestly say that this is one of the better pay what you'd like titles to come along in a very long time. The author has put a lot of energy, time, and weirdness into the business end of this adventure. You could drop this one into any mature old school campaigns on the back end where you want your players to experience a bizarre and off the wall level of a megadungeon. This reminds me that I think given the amount of time, energy, and bizarre flesh melding fun that the author had with this that we'll be seeing more of this megadungeon to come. If you haven't already grabbed this one then for Cthlhu's sake! This gets a four out of five stars and yes it deserves it in spades. If there was a complaint it's this I wanted even more of this level of the megadungeon and that I believe might be the point here. Tim has thrown his hat into the ring of OSR publishing and this adventure is a pretty big noise. Very impressive for a first effort! Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog Want to know more and how to use this adventure? http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

There are many OSR authors and then there's James Mishler and his wife who turns out more useful OD&D/Retroclone material then several other OSR publishers combined and does it with style. Take his latest offering. Ghosts -- The Incorporeal Undead follows his last last monster titles including Vampires of the Olden Lands and Ogres of the Olden Lands.

The author uses every trick in the book for this OD&D title and like many of his other titles there's no artwork but wall to wall content. This pdf is packed with old school ectoplasmic goodness and its done right. The content includes everything you as a DM could want or need on the subject of ghosts. "Ghosts -- The Incorporeal Undead! Everything you always wanted to know about ghosts but were afraid to ask! A 64-page in-depth analysis of ghosts, including salient abilities, 10 different basal types from 1 HD to 10 HD, 75 ghostly special abilities, uses and dangers of ectoplasm, 23 new magic items, a complete index of spells and their interaction with ghosts (plus three new spells), and a (mostly) complete Creepy Appendix N! Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily adaptable to any other Old School RPG" Normally this is about sixteen dollars but given that we're in the middle of Halloween time its price to sell at six dollars and sixty six cents. Trying to even review this is a bit of a daunting task, don't let the cute little spooky Halloween adjectives fool you this is a packed book. The first part of it is a rules kit which lays out in detail each and every bit of the classic mythological and Hollywood ghost types. This is essentially a rules toolkit for OD&D and Labyrinth Lord; this is everything that you've come to expect from the old school ghosts. What the section is isn't simply more OSR rules but a kit for constructing, laying out, and dealing with your own different styles of ghosts. Everything is laid out in sparkling details for monster construction and its done very well. Everything is laid bare at the DM's finger tips. Fear Attack 4 Fear Effects Table 4 Spawn Ghost 4 Incorporeal 4 Bodiless 4 Ectoplasm 5 Flight 5 Powerless in Sunlight 5 Weapon Immunity 6 Life Draining Touch 6 Spawn Ghost 6 Undead Special Abilities Package 6 Infravision 6 Mindless 6 Poison Immunity 6 Silent as the Grave 6 Susceptible to Turning 6 Other Special Abilities 7 Special Ability Notation 7 Incorporeal Undead Summary Table This section is laid out for both monster construction and for PC's to actually play a restless spirit and this tool kit basically has everything you could want to construct a PC in ghostly horror and wonderful detail. This is damn useful stuff especially for any DM who plays a Necromancer or Death Master NPC class. There is a range of psychic and Spiritualist PC class and options as well; this is a the first book that actually has the psychic and spiritualist as useful PC's for adventuring. This also means that this book is perfect for pulp OD&D style games. There's a whole lot more to this book then simply an NPC and PC tool kit and PC option book. You get a ton of ghostly monsters all in one place and not simply scattered to the four winds. All of these can be used as monster templates to create your own ghosts or as monsters for adventure placement. Every entry here is crammed with lots of little details.

GHOSTS – LESSER AND GREATER

Presence (1 HD Lesser Ghost)

Apparition (2 HD Lesser Ghost)

Lost Soul (3 HD Lesser Ghost)

Wraith (4 HD Greater Ghost)

Haunt (5 HD Greater Ghost)

Spectre (6 HD Greater Ghost)

Spirit (7 HD Greater Ghost)

Wyrd (8 HD Greater Ghost)

Phantom (9 HD Greater Ghost)

Geist (10 HD Greater Ghost)

This book has some damn useful and well thought out appendixes which are not simply there for decoration. These are add ons with utility and with something to add for a campaign incorporating ghostly and spirit realm elements.

APPENDICES

Ghostly Special Abilities - Here's where the dungeon master gets a few more toys to play with add more supernatural bits and pieces to your monster or PC. The list here is well done and possibly one of the best supernatural elements of the book.

Uncanny Ectoplasm - Ectoplasm is the one bit about ghosts that no one has exploited until now; this substance is exuded by ghosts and in the author's hands becomes a drug to enhance and titillate your adventurers. This stuff goes from horrid to full post apocalyptic gonzo with the induction of laser ectoplasm! That's right material that can blast the hell out of PA adventurers. This is easily one of my favorite chapters and one of the most useful for a post apocalyptic dungeon master; the Mishler's have done a damn fine job of making and adding in some fantastic bits to the material here that can be applied to everything from pulp gaming to full on dungeon crawling.

Eerie Enchanted Items- These magic items echo and deal with the ghostly and their quite well done in what they do. With a bit of writing slight of hand the author has looped these back into the book so that they are actually useful when dealing with the various types of Geists, Spectres, Phantoms, and spirits in 'The Incorporeal Undead'. These are really vary useful for a DM whose planning everything in a campaign from a sword & sorcery adventure encounter to a full one on one basic OD&D Ghostbusters or Carnacki ghostly investigator romp ala The Masquerade of the Red Death campaign setting. This book is that flexible and interesting.

Spooky Spells- This is an an overview of how the various OD&D spells and such interact with the ghostly entities and horrors depicted in the book. This list can also act as an adventure hook or two as the DM reads through it and gets ideas from the various bits and pieces offered here. Once again its very well done and really nicely researched.

Creepy Appendix N - I have a love/hate relationship with Appendix N's but this one tickles me as a dungeon master in all of the right places and covers everything that a DM's going to need to research for the various ghosts and entities. It covers all of the basics with more then a few surprises thrown into the deep end. Note that this book echoes and builds on many of the principals of the various OD&D, Judge's Guild style material its not afraid at all to tackle and embrace the gonzo. This makes this book extremely useful for a DM running Mutant Future, OD&D, Basic Fantasy, Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, etc.,etc.,

So in closing do I think that Ghosts -- The Incorporeal Undead From James Mishler Games is worth the price of admission? Well at six dollars and sixty six cents this is a steal. My only real concern and bitch session about the whole product is the lack of a print option! I guess that there are some issues with it but to have this booklet at my table would be a lot easier then simply trying to deal this pdf at four AM. But for what this book does and how it does it?! You'd be completely crazy to grab this book.

There are times when you want to grab a group of players, some dice, and more then head right over to your favorite table and sit down for your favorite adventure. The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess From North Wind Adventures for the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system has everything you could want from a sword and sorcery OSR adventure. The thing reads like a Marvel Conan Seventies comicbook come to life to devour your OSR adventurers. This adventure is part quest, part dungeon crawl, and pulpy high end Hyperborean adventure set on a seldom trodden piece of the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea world and beyond. I love everything about this dense sixty page Hyperborean tour de force; this adventure features everything that you could want out of an AS&SH adventure from the background of the setting of The Forgotten Fane to the brand new Hyperborean elements that this adventure adds to the world. This really isn't simply an another adventure but a full blown add on to the world of Hyperborea. I followed the AS&SH adventure three pack adventure Kickstarter for months. This produced three essential AS&SH adventures; seriously these are not simply adventures but sourcebooks that paint even more setting and background to the AS&SH gaming system. The plot reads like something straight out of the pages of Weird Tales; "More than a month ago, your party found itself in Port Zangerios, where you heard of an Esquimaux thief selling a treasure map. Low on wealth but high in courage, you sought him out. The man turned out to be a fearful ex-slave who had “acquired” the map from his Ixian master. The map is incomplete but shews the Isle of the Serpent in far-off Lemuria, where rests a fabulous treasure called the Feathered Crown of Nanasa (or so thought the Ixian). Pooling your money to purchase the unfinished map, you bought passage on an Amazonian trade ship. After passing through tempests and torrential rains that shimmered with auroral light, you have come to the great city of Jhaman Ket. Now you must seek out the location of the Isle of the Serpent." This is several crawls, an adventure, and a lost world world adventure mini campaign all in one. The adventure paces itself quite nicely someplace between placing the PC's deep into the Hyperborean underworld then switching gears into a weird science fantasy lost world mode that is both deadly and telling at the same time of the wonder of the world of Hyperborea. "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess" written by Joe Salvador with maps by Monkeyblood Designs, and features all of the dinosaurs featured in the artwork and more. The world is partially Lovecraftian hi jinks, lots of adventurer sword and sorcery action and the whole thing could be deadly unless the PC's think and are very careful. This is an adventure meant for our to six characters of 5th through 7th level and the designers and writer mean it. Seriously straight out of the gate the PC's are going to be challenged and are going to be running for their lives. Much of the action is going to center on the PC's as one encounter after another is going to challenge them on every live. This isn't an adventure your players are going to get up from the table for to go to the bathroom. The encounters are quick and take place without rail roading the PC's into a corner or conclusion. here are reasons for the PC's to be dealing with hell and horrors of the Forgotten Fane at the same time dovetailing their motives deep into the back setting of Hyperborea and that's another place where this adventure shines. This is a mini sourcebook that in sixty pages manages to shove a lot of science fantasy and Lovecraftian goodness into back burner of it. There is at least several weeks worth of play here and in addition with a clever DM miles and miles of campaign adventure hooks to keep this adventure on the DM's nightstand for a long while to come. Because of the set up for The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess, DM's can add in any of the revers and freebooters of the AS&SH rules set with little problem. The PC's are in for a hell of a time trying to deal with all of the adventure elements. If a party isn't careful this might be their fate at the hands of several factions of serpent people and there is more. But is The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess actually playable? Yes in spades. This adventure adds in details, bits and pieces to the world of Hyperborea and adds other fragmentary colors to the weird work of art that is Hyperborea itself. Do I think that The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess is worth getting for the AS&SH system? Yes in spades, this is because the AS&SH three pack are perhaps some of the most essential and important adventures and sourcebooks to come out for the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers Of Hyperborea rpg system.

No Escape From New York is one part sourcebook, three parts adventure, and one part Crimson Dragon Slayer rpg goodness.The plot line is one warped by the events of Crimson Dragon line; You'll be adventuring in a parallel world of New York City, circa 1983. After a short but calamitous global thermal nuclear war, the urban landscape became a burned-out wasteland of ruin and mutation. Survivors congregate in the city that never sleeps, making it their nightmarish playground… a shi*hole of degeneracy and wickedness. So the other night I get home to find a copy of No Escape From New York from the slime covered pen of Venger Satanis. Venger basically wrote a love letter of an adventure to The Warriors, Escape From New York and every urban twisted Italian post apocalyptic movies that came out in the 80's. This adventure clocks in at twenty four pages and features some very nice artwork. I was listening to the Warriors soundtrack and downing a beer at four am trying to compile what I like about No Escape From New York. Is it the four dollar price tag for what is essentially a source book that can be used independently of any other post apocalpytic or D&D style game or add it to the on going gonzoness that is the awesomeness of Crimson Dragon Slayer. The game features one of the most iconic cities in pop culture Eighties. But is the damage adventure playable? Yes it is and features a plot line straight out of an LSD nightmare fueled with lots of nasitiness for your adventurers to content with;The adventurers begin on their home-world of Thule. Eventually finding themselves in a parallel universe of New York City, the characters must contend with street gangs, vampires, serpent-men, and much,much, more to contend with. Sure that's all there in twenty four square pages of Crimson powered adventure but its more then simply that. This is a source book as well with lots of opportunities to take your PC's into the darkness and depravity of Thule along with a version of the city that never sleeps that will challenge PC's from across space and time. Your going to have PC's and NPC's at each others throats with swords at the ready at every turn. Sure the gonzo factor is up to eleven in this adventure but this is a New York City with one part Eighties Saturday morning cartoon, three parts of a moldy VHS three A.M. movie coming in over cable, all filtered through the lens of Venger Satanis's imagination with lots of opportunities for PC's to get themselves in trouble. Sure this adventure can add in plenty of room for your standard fantasy adventure types of classic D&D PC's but its more then just that. You see this is a New York of foulness and science fantasy weirdness. New York has always been a blender and melting pot but add in mutation, lots of depravity, and glatorial combat and you've partially got what this adventure is about. This is the place that has been featured in a ton of late night action films. In fact its always night and there are reasons for this given in the adventure; 'Interestingly, this New York is always night. Occasionally, there will be a few minutes of dawn or dusk at odd intervals, but mostly it's constantly nocturnal - just the way they like it. If any of the players ask, tell them it's because of The Torth Effect'. And this is only the start of it, given the gonzo background of CDS. This is the sort of an adventure setting that PC's from Mutant Future, Labyrinth Lord, etc. or your favorite retroclone would be at home in. In point of fact No Escape From New York City could be used to act as a bridge gap into the world of Thule for your favorite OD&D or retroclone PC's. This is another reason why the adventure works because even though its gonzo and quite over the top with some adult themes it works. And it works well, this adventure doesn't punish the adventurers for being in its funhouse pop culture world. It exploits them at every turn with weird, wild, and strange stuff straight out Satanis's imagination. Not only are going to meet this guy but he's going to turn your PC's into a Popsicle if your A. not careful and B. take a wrong turn. Make no mistake just because this a glorious gonzo cheese fest of a setting its not deadly. It's quite deadly with lots of monsters, horrors, and demons waiting for your PC. But in point of fact its a gloriously playable cheese fest just waiting for PC's to enter in. Right I should mention that this is a Venger Satanis book and there's lots and lots of adult themes, tables, etc. things such as the random prostitute's encounter chart on page ten. Extra dice and cash for obscene acts with bonuses and like all of the other Venger titles this one is so outrageous and over the top that none of this to be taken seriously at all. Demon zombies are another hazard along with a ton of vampires. The place is crawling with em. This is New York just waiting to exploit the hell out of your PC's and its perfectly suited for what it does. I can actually see this setting being perfect to exploit the hell out of your Dungeon Crawl Classics party. The sheer weirdness factor alone makes this a must buy for the DCC crowd, it should be an easy conversion for a dungeon master with some time on their hands. The influences in this product fly fast, fun, and hard. There are so many send ups and Easter Eggs that make this one fun. Can't even begin to tell you which one was my favorite. Dungeon master this one well and this adventure could be used as fodder for years and years to come. There's so much potential with this adventure that its so much fun to think of the possibilities. Do I think that this adventure could and should be used for Crimson Dragon Slayer? I think so in spades but I also think that this adventure has a huge use as a way of exploiting the hell out of a D&D or retroclone party of adventurers to have a blast with the CDS New York setting. If you have a twisted and weird sense of humor that goes to eleven. Bojan Sucevic's art in this suits the product as well and presents a theme that works very, very well. Do I want a copy of this as a physical book? You bet I do. Four out of five for this adventure and a really nice addition to the Crimson Dragon Slayer line. This review originally appeared at the Sword and Stitchery blog http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/2015/10/review-commentary-on-osr-adventure-no.html

Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog

I received a copy of The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem from the folks at Red Moon Medicine Show, if you've never heard of this adventure nor Full Moon Medicine Show then you don't know what your missing. Klint Crouse is a damn fine writer whose OSR drug of choice is the Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg system. Klint's module is engaging, challenging, and damn fine in what it does. The book is wonderful, its well put together, the artwork echoes the weird adventure locations that are presented in the book. Red Moon Medicine show ran a very successful Kickstarter for this adventure a few months ago and once again I'm late to the party on this one. We always hear about the negative Kickstarters well, let me tell you that this is exactly what the Kickstarter program is for. Producing weird and wonderful unique adventure modules for the OSR. There are three things that this module does well :

We know that the Gardens easily work within the confines of a Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign but where else could this adventure work? You place The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem within a retroclone game like Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea but would it work there? Yes, the adventure location & grounds could be placed in behind a waterfall in on the other side of the river Yys. The adventurers stumble upon it and mayhem ensues. This adventure should stand on its own, as an adventure location it deserves this and its mechanisms should continue to work on a number of levels the contents should give you a clue what's in store for adventurers. Yeah, I don't want to go into too much detail on some of the adventure elements in the Gardens but its sufficient to say that the Red Moon Medicine crew hit the high points in this adventure. This one has plenty of potential in spades of actually back fitting it into any OD&D game that flirts with the weird but I can tell you that hack and slash players are going to ruin it for the rest of the party. This is a bit of a thinking man's adventure not boring but there are several twists and turns that are going to do the players for a wee bit of thinking. This also means that the weird elements could be adapted to other retro or near clone systems. Yes that's right kids many of the elements in The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem could be used in a Dungeon Crawl Classics game campaign with the focus on the type of weird tale that Red Moon Medicine show is famous for emulating. In the end do I think you should grab this module? Umm yes in spades because I'm very proud to have it on my shelf and on my table. The adventure's author summed up best some of ideas and design philosophies of The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem. Abelia Prem was one very twisted lady. Happy exploring adventurers. My best advice is to pick this one up now! five out of five for writing, production values, and overall twisted OSR value. Want to know more? We've got more information here http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/2015/09/unboxing-commentary-on-stygian-garden.html Eric Fabiaschi Sword & Stitchery Blog

This is a eighty nine page can of 'Choose Your Own Adventures' or 'Fighting Fantasy' style Dungeon Crawl Classics Madness in the form of a free PDF adventure from Hapless Henchmen games. HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep .This is actually three products in one, you get a choose your own adventure solo book, a monster book for the adventure, and a really nice map of the Keep. Basically this is one very large and well put together solo dungeon that acts as a complicated PC funnel generator for the Dungeon Crawl Classics game using a modified set of DCC rules and some really nasty encounters. This isn't made to be an easy dungeon at all but its DCC folks. I personally died twice trying this adventure at four am this morning. Its a neat and fun little crawl put together with lots of twists and turns with a twisted sense of humor this side of a Nineties cartoon from Nickelodeon with an over flow of Adventure Time style hi jinks thrown in for good measure. Believe it or not this is a big module designed for solo play and your really going to need a solid copy of this adventure in other words a physical copy. The adventure unfolds around your character and does three rather interesting slight of hand tricks at the same time. One the story of the adventure's frame work happens around you. Two you want to read more to see what happens to your adventurer and three the damn adventure has your attention span in its clutches. All of this happens while your playing and reading it. I suspect that Noah Stevens not only played a hell of a lot of solo adventure books in the Eighties but he also played a ton of the video game Dragon's Lair because this has that feel to it. That classic playability is another factor that these various influences also share with HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep. This was done with a solid intent and all of the classic elements of OSR design are in the Keep. Are the encounters balanced? Yes they are with a solid base and they are beatable but this is Dungeon Crawl Classics and your going to have to think your way past several of the best bits and pieces of the Keep. Before even attempting to play through this adventure there are several things to keep in mind. One have more then a passing familiarity with the DCC rulebook and then familiarize yourself with this adventure's modified rules set. It does exactly what it says on the can, this creates a solo played PC whose ready out of the gate for further adventures with a regular party of DCC adventurers. This book emulates and twists around many of the conventions of solo play adventure books. This being the case your going to die several times and that's not something to worry about at all. The play is the thing here because its going to generate some solid PC elements in your brand new ready to take on the world character. But is the adventure worth your time and effort to download? Yes I do think so because of its utility and here's what can be done with it. Adventure locations like Halthrag Keep tend to attract adventurers like flies to a corpse. These places are prime to generate a whole party on their own. Buy this adventure and pass it around to the players like a joint at a hippy party. The players will get killed have a kick ass time with the adventure and you dungeon master will have PC who have been forged in the fires of the Halthrag Keep. There are several reasons to grab this adventure as well if your a dungeon master. This adventure comes with a spiffy monster book and with a bit of easy slight of hand these mad bastards could easily be repurposed for your own Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign and perhaps with a bit of easy back fitting could be dropped into your campaign so that the Keep itself becomes a dangerous but minor campaign element in your own games. This way the solo play adventure might be used to create a new adventurer should one of your players have his own characters killed off during play. With DCC this happens frequently and its a trick I've used several times over the years, especially with games such as Gamma World second edition. The Endless Quest books were dismissed by 'serious players' but I came across more then a few at various tag sales and library sales. The setting of those books were pretty damn well done and with a bit of modification became a minor back part of a campaign and introduced a brand new green horn adventurer to the group. A trick that HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep can do in spades. Do I think that The Hounds of Halthrag Keep is worth downloading? Yes and I'll go one better I think that its worth getting the physical book because my eyes are bleeding from reading the eighty nine page pdf, a physical book is so much nicer to have. Five out of five for content and inventiveness with lots of old school fiddly bits and pieces. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog Want to know more? Check out the expanded review right over here. http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/2015/09/review-and-commentary-on-free-pdf-for.html

Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes is one of the latest action packed sword and sorcery adventure titles for The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea and adds a whole new wasteland and desert set of adventure elements to this title. This one of those adventures that was a part of the Astonishing Swordsmen & Swordsmen of Hyperborea's Kickstarter, its also one of the adventures I've been wanting to check out for a very long while now. Real life has been kicking my behind as of late and work has had me tied up lately. But I did make time to dive into the deep end of Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes by AS&SH's author Jeff Talanian . I'm happy to say that it was A.worth the wait and B.does exactly what I thought it would do. The Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes extends the world of Hyperborea by seven league designer boots. We get more background and intrigue into the unique end of Jeff Talanian's version of Hyperborea. And it works out quite nicely for what it does and it does it very well. If the cover looks like an early 80's Marvel Conan style comic birthed into an OSR, it's been done for a reason and that very reason is to echo what this module does. It plays with and revels in the sword and sorcery aesthetic that get's revealed in its plot. "Somewhere in the depths of Diamond Desert lie the skeletal remains of Ymir’s Serpent, a legendary Viking longship. In days of yore, Sigtrygg Forkbeard led his company upriver, piercing the desert’s hostile heart. There the Vikings unearthed a lost mine brimming with green diamonds, but the River Æolus desiccated as the Serpent prepared for launch, and the ship was swallowed by the dunes. Forkbeard and his company were never seen again, but tales of a shimmering Viking ghost ship gliding over the dunes persist to this day." This adventure plays fast as well loose with the players motives & expectations of the legend of the Ghost Ship by weaving its own Hyperborean mythology and legends around Ymir’s Serpent all of the while drawing the PC's deeper and deeper into the adventure while revealing more of the mysteries of Hyperborea's glorious past as well as details about its peoples, details, setting bits, and even more weirdness. In point of fact there is a ton of elements of dungeon crawling, investigation, a bit of plundering, and lots and lots of sword and sorcery action. This adventure adds lot of Hyperborean details and story line to the world of Hyperborea which brings me to the point. This isn't simply another bit of Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea but a full blown expansion. Ghost Ship does another trick that original Dungeons and Dragons module series adventures also did at the same time it fleshes out details it also gap fills all of the little bits and pieces about its corner of the Hyperborean setting and world through its adventure encounters, NPC portraits, background details, and game elements. Jeff's adventure adds a three sectional approach to Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes adventure allowing a progression approach to the sword and sorcery elements of the adventure's story line. This isn't a whole bunch of rail roaded adventure elements but a consistent journey that the PC's are put on. But does it live up to the ten dollar price tag? I think so given the way that the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes is laid out. Here lives are going to be changed and ruined as well as people dying under the heat of the uncaring Hyperborean sun! Wait till this one goes on sale and then grab it. I give this adventure a five out of five because of the balance, weird elements, and original use of its content. If your a sword and sorcery fan this is one to pick up. Even more detail over at the Swords and Stitchery Blog http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/2015/09/review-commentary-of-ghost-ship-of.html Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Sorcery Blog

So lately I've been doing a bit of DYI D&D of my own, and last night a review copy of The Dungeon Dozen showed up. Where do I begin with a mammoth two hundred and twenty-five page monster of a book containing every possible random dungeon and adventure design table you as a dungeon master will need.I'm late to the party of for the Dungeon Dozen by Jason Sholtis and reading through this book fills me with dungeon master angst. Its that good of a tool kit filled with wall to wall weirdness. This is the type of book that sort of forms the corner stone of the OSR. This book clocks in at two hundred and twenty five pages of sheer OSR lunacy. The book is part tool box, part random generator, and wall to wall creative generator that covers every possible mental exercise that a DM could possibly think of. Seriously this book is that well done. The pdf is book marked and massive in its way dealing in table after table of random adventure generation. Taken on the whole and this book can be used to construct adventure encounter one shots and fully thought out adventures for a whole twenty years campaign. There are tables literally on every page and there is art to go with each and everyone of those tables; art by Chris Brandt, John Larrey, Stefan Poag, and Jason Sholtis himself. The whole book is like some vomitous mess of awesomeness but there's rhyme and reason for the material; used carefully and this is a massive adventure construction set of epic proportions. But its awesomeness is also its downfall, its hard to tell where one bit of awesomeness begins and another epic element crops up. After a nerve wracking night of research and ruin through the Dungeon Dozen, I suspect that the book is simply the author's sheer insanity and creative output with his blog's output. The sheer amount of detail and tables is truly overwhelming and well worth the price of admission. The spirit of the book is definitely old school and there is so much of it that it's awesome in its own way but let's say thank God for an index for this pdf. Had I this book when I was younger the players would have been paste in three rolls or less or mutated, or turned into any number of weird or strange results. Do I think that The Dungeon Dozen is worth your time and your efforts to purchase? In a word yes,there isn't a better resource for building your worlds, settings, adventures, adventure encounters treasures, underworld encounter, over arching mythology for a campaign full on hand tossing a roll of dice and getting on with your OSR campaigns. Basically the Dungeon Dozen seems like a crazy, over the top OSR resource but it actually isn't. With a bit of restraint on the dungeon master's part this book makes an excellent system agnostic resource. A perfect blend of old school random chart excellence and adventure design madness. Grab this book and get going on a most excellent evening of design fun. For Additional information see The Swords and Stitchery blog entry http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/2015/09/review-commentary-on-osr-resource.html

Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery Blog

Everyday at three o'clock when school let out I raced home to watch He Man and the Masters Of The Universe. Alright not really, He-man was awesome but I was too busy dodging bullies and playing in graveyards and besides I was more of a Thundarr The Barbarian kinda guy. But He-Man was later added into the roster of characters when I began to really understand the old school cartoon movement and the He-Man/Conan connection. Which brings me to issue five of Crawling Under A Broken Moon issue #5 for the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg. Basically issue number five of CUBM is a big fat post apocalypitic love letter to Eighties He Man. Serious this issue is one huge passing OSR right hook to the get after school sword and sorcery barbarian cartoons. But is it good? Yes it is if A, Your into the material that this issue is featuring and B. The ideas here are fully developed with an eye toward giving the dungeon master everything they need to get this sort of campaign off the ground with little issue. Far in the northern reaches of Umerica lay the lands of Aetheria where the Masters of Castle Oldskull do fierce battle with the lich Skull-Or and his mighty minions!

The awesome here is turned up to eleven with all of the material in this issue directly related to getting your parties playing in the lands of Oldskull and doing in a bit of a state of style. This material isn't going to be to everyone's liking but if your into having your gonzo action notched up and the ideas here are fresh, well done retreads but done in such a cleaver way as to actually make this very playable. But is it worth your time? Well yes, yes it is. The ideas here are to take the tropes of He-Man twist them on their ears and then make them as a playable PC class with the the Aetherian Hero.The campaign setting of Aethera and the neighboring Darklands is not only playable but fits the DCC game and adventure setting very well. There was a huge chunk of He - Man was the background material and peoples. Here we get to dive behind the curtain and gets a feeling for the Ancient tech of the Un Men! The secret to the power of Aetheria in the wasteland and for your campaigns. We get the full damn sword and post apocalyptic treatment in issue five and it tears deeply into the pop culture myth and mythology of this very issue. We have everything from major players in the storyline to half forgotten PC's. All of this is done with style and wit this includes the Wizard hating Warrior Patron, Castle Oldskull. Should you grab Issue five of Crawling Under A Broken Moon? Yes and in point of fact if your into He Man or any of the 80'd cartoon universes then this is issue for you. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery Blog.

Shane Ward of 3 Toadstools has put out some really wonderful OSR resources over the last year or so. Now he's given a the OSR mythological, sword and sandal or sword & sorcery campaigns. The class is intended for Labyrinth Lord but I can see far more potential then simply another Greek themed adventure game warrior PC class addition or option. What are Myrmidons? Well according to Wiki -

"The Myrmidons or Myrmidones (Greek: Μυρμιδόνες) were a legendary people of Greek history. They were very brave warriors: trained and commanded by Achilles,[1] as described in Homer's Iliad. Their eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon, a king of Thessalian Phthia, who was the son of Zeus and "wide-ruling" Eurymedousa, a princess of Phthia.

An etiological myth of their origins, expanding upon their etymology — the name in Classical Greek was interpreted as "ant-people", from μυρμηδών (murmedon) "ant's nest"[2] and that from μύρμηξ (murmex) "ant"[3] — was first mentioned by Ovid, in Metamorphoses: in Ovid's telling, King Aeacus of Aegina, Achilles' grandfather, pleaded with Zeus to populate his country after a terrible plague. Zeus said his people would number as the ants on his sacred oak, and from the ants sprang the people of Aegina, the Myrmidons. In Manichaeism, the name myrmidons is used to refer to a certain class of demonic soldiers that fight for darkness against light. This has been found by archaeologists in papyri known as Coptic Manichaean Psalm-books. These papyri were found in Medinet Maadi, Egypt" This fighter class is well balanced and works out very well for a sword and sorcery style game as well as the usual sword and sandal games. I've used variation of the class before from second edition but because I've been drifting lately more and more back to OD&D, retroclones, and near clones The Myrmidon was a welcome addition to my arsenal. These guys make excellent additions to Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea games. The fact that separates these PC warriors;"Myrmidon are mighty fighters, followers of Achilles (or some other great warrior). What separates Myrmidon's from typical fighters is their ability to survive under the harshest conditions and gravest wounds." This little addition marks these fighter types as just that bit different and puts me as a DM into the head space of pulpy adventure goodness. In case I haven't said to grab this then go grab it right now. Its free and incredibly useful for a DM planning on playing in a sword and sandal, mythological arena, or even a sword and sorcery campaign. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog