Richard J. LeBlanc, Jr. has turned out some damn fine quality retroclone system's material and I became familiar with his work on Petty Gods and his damn fine Creature Compendium. Now he's released his free eight page preview of gnomish goodness titled CX1 Extra Gnomes perfect for both BX,OD&D, and Labyrinth Lord based games. This is an eight page PC based supplement perfect for back introducing in your old school campaigns includes: deep gnomes, forest gnomes, rock gnomes and tinker gnomes, as well as 3 pages of supporting spell descriptions. This is according to the RPGNow description. This is eight pages of race as class with a gnomish flare to the product, there racial abilities and little touches that give these gnomes a bit more of a distinct touch to each one. The powers and abilities reflect the mythology and legends that surround their type. There is a nice balance and flare for each. For example the Svirfneblin (deep gnomes) can appraise gems, have the ability to determine sloping passages, figure out stone works and has several abilities usable once per day including rendering creature blind if they fail their saving throw, the ability to cast an illusionary disguise around themselves, and blur. Then there is the Forest gnome described as stewards of nature who possess druid-like magical abilities, but are also versed in the underground skills common to most gnomes. Mature forest gnomes often find themselves in the role of woodland sages. The rock gnome is one of my favorites and features many of the common abilities seen in AD&D 1st and 2nd edition. Rock gnomes are the most common type of gnome, easily distinguished from other types of gnomes by the size of their noses. They are miners, fighters and illusionists.The final type offered by the CX1 Extra Gnomes is the Tinker Gnome; 'Tinker gnomes are experts in a variety of mechanical devices. They are focused and purposeful, and they revel in their personal accomplishments, often congratulating themselves for a job well done. Tinker gnomes, like rock gnomes, are slightly larger than halflings' Tinker gnomes play fast and loose with many of the second edition conventions of mechanical objects, systems and weird contraptions associated with gnomes. The release of CX1 Character Class Codex is coming soon and this free download serves to wet the appetite of the OSR public. Is it worth the download for your OD&D, BX, Labryth Lord, Swords and Wizardry, etc. retrclone games? In a word yes! Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog

Lately I've been quietly returning to the shores of Hyperborea with the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system. After a long and highly successful Kickstarter the AS&SH adventure three pack produced three highly intiguing adventures to the AS&SH product line. Among those was the Beneath the Comet adventure by Ben Ball. This particular adventure adds in lots and lots of new details on the Hyperborea campaign setting that is essential to the world of AS&SH. Beneath The Comet features some wonderful illustrations by Johnathan Bingham, & Del Teigeler along with lots wonderful cartography by Ben Ball, Glynn Seal (monkeyblooddesign.co.uk). The front cover is evocative and well done by Peter Mullen. I went to Jeff Talanian and asked for all three adventures from the AS&SH adventure three pack Kickstarter.

Beneath The Comet was one adventure that jumped out at me and looked very interesting. I was not disappointed when I read it. The basic plot like goes some thing like this;For weeks the Comet has blazed in the sky above Hyperborea, inspiring widespread superstitious dread and fear of some star-borne contagion. Under the light of this harbinger from the Black Gulf, the PCs have come to Bogrest, following a magical treasure map that reveals great wealth buried in the Lonely Heath north of the village. Finding that treasure will be no simple matter, however, for Hyperborea is a weirder and deadlier place than ever beneath the Comet. It is suggested that if this adventure is used with the Hyperborea setting, the default starting point is the small village of Bogrest in the wild depths of the Gal Hills. With some modification, Beneath the Comet could be set in any rustic portion of Hyperborea or any old school campaign. As an adventure set in Hyperborea designed for from four to six characters of 6th through 9th level , it lives up to the challenge. Seriously this is one adventure that in forty eight pages manages to massively expand and fill in the world setting of Hyperborea while giving the DM and players a damn good rip roaring adventure featuring lots of pulpy sword and sorcery action set against the weird vibe of the comet that races over head. Plenty of the challenges and adventure setting encounters are placed against the backdrop of Hyperborea itself, here the land is as much a character as the adventure itself.

There were two things that sprang to mind reading the Beneath The Comet adventure, one how much detail this adventure packs, and how much Hyperborea has expanded in only forty eight pages. There is lots of adventure encounter action but its very well balance across the board enabling the DM to mix and match some elements. This adventure places the PC's center stage of the events of the adventure and brings lots of elements right into the adventure spot light. Some of the encounters are down right dangerous but never frivolously deadly. Beneath The Comet moves things long as adventure events are put together quite nicely. There are elements of dungeon crawling, investigation, a bit of plundering, and more. This adventure is quite unlike the Rats In The Walls AS&SH adventure by Jeffrey Talanian this adventure has a totally different set of parameters; on the hand it serves a solid old school adventure fleshing out its adventure locations, setting information,adventure encounters, and generally fulfilling quite nicely all of its intended adventure goals. But on the other hand Beneath The Comet also fulfills something else quite nicely it serves as a mini source book fleshing out all of the little details and campaign bits of the Hyperborean setting. I've been quickly scanning the other adventures in the series and whoa all of them pack in a ton of details and bits about the Hyperborean setting. Beneath the Comet 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. Needless to say this makes Beneath the Comet essential to the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers dungeon master and even perhaps players. It also fleshes out the world of Hyperborea even more making it a living and breathing weird sword and sorcery adventure location, believe me it lives up to the weird end quite nicely. Does the pdf live up to the price tag? Umm perhaps but personally I'd go for a print copy when I get the chance. All in all Beneath the Comet is very,very, well done. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog

Its just about six A.M. and I'm not entirely sure what the hell Zzarchov Kowolski's fairy tales were as a kid but Lamentations of the Ginger Bread Princess is an inversion of every single fairy tale trope on the books. This is only about twenty pages long yet it can be spread out over at least three or four days of game play. And the PC's are not going to be happy about it at all. I went to James Raggi IV and asked for a review copy of this module with the full understanding of what it is. Well, according to the the Drivethrurpg blurb: Sometimes you want to play an adventure where you can recapture that feeling of childlike innocence. And, sometimes, wishes do come true. LotFP presents more hard biting horror: Now with unicorns, gumdrops and rainbows! By Zzarchov Kowolski (Gnomes of Levnec, A Thousand Dead Babies) for character levels 1-4. This is an interesting gonzo over the top pink laden fairy tale adventure. Definitely don't believe Drivethrpg reviewer Troy V who describes this adventure as and I quote here, ' Interesting tables and encounters, but the results of some choices and punishments depicted for unhappiness are unsettling, gruesome, sick, and wretched, and my players would not stand this adventure in whole as written, and neither do I.' Excuse me whist I take acceptation to this review and Troy V's reviews on the whole are done with a sense of malice for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg and their product line as a whole on purpose. While, preparing for a Winter Lamentations of the Flame Princess game I came across at least eight reviews of his on Drivethrurpg and found them with all the same opinion verbatim and some of them varied just enough to be vile and on purpose about it. So I'm taking exception to his reviews and I'm going to show you how to run, deal with and use some of the LoFP modules. Is the Lamentations of the Gingerbeard Princess adventure twisted and utterly sick? Yup, it certainly is. I had no idea that Zzarchov Kowolski had written this module but I'm not surprised at all. I seem to be drawn to his adventures. So what is Lamentations of the Ginger Bread Princess? Well, its a fairy tale inversion adventure involving a bunch of factions and hobbits in a mechanically pretty well done style. This adventure revolves around a Dark Woods setting and all is not happy in this fairy tale land. Not because this is a Lamentations adventure but because this adventure touches on the darker, nightmare aspects of a LoFP fairyland. Power gamers are going to be in for a very bad time in this adventure. Because there are lots of pop culture fairy tale high weirdness for the PC's to encounter. This module takes full advantage of that fact;the real reason is that this module is so weird is looking at fairy tales as adults we see the inherit creepiness of them. Yeah, this module takes full advantage of this fact in spades. This whole adventure centers around the Dark Woods location, the maps fit the adventure, there are at least three or more NPC's that I can see using and without spoiling the demented fun there's lots that can be done with this adventure. One place that Zzarchov Kowolski excels at is taking existing preconceptions about mythology and pop culture legends and twisting them around like balloon animals. No more so then with this adventure and yes this will be your characters if your not careful. Because in fairyland, PC's are in for a very rough time. These will be your PC's bones which will be play things for the Fey. Do I love this adventure? Yes, I do because last year I actually got a chance to check it out and almost die in it. There are several interesting wrinkles in this adventure because this is a Kowolski adventure and mechanically its a really wild ride to play in. I suggest several read through though before attempting to play. There are two or three major play areas and some very dangerous encounters straight out of the gate. What's going to keep the PC's right in the middle of the action in this module is simple human greed straight out of the gate because from there on out it get's weird in a majorly twisted way. If your thinking that this is a one trick pony like an episode of Robot Chicken, the Simpsons, etc. in the way that it plays with popculture fairy icons? Not a chance, this is a LoFP module that takes those and wrecks them in spades. There are some issues with this module its not perfect by any means, the layout, graphic design, and some other elements leave something to be desired. But that doesn't detract from using the adventure. It not on sale at the moment and runs about four dollars over at drivethru. There will be other sales coming up and I do think its worth picking up. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery Blog

One of the things that the latest OSR dust up has reminded me is that there are so many great Lamentations Of The Flame Princess titles and I'm not going to go on and on about how wonderful they are. Instead, I'm going to concentrate how absolutely nasty they are. Tales of the Scarecrow is only ten pages long but its the sort of situation adventure that happens unto itself and your adventurers. I've had the adventure for two days and after tossing and twisting in my mind after reading plus doing a bit of research and reading some of the reviews I can honestly say that its very good at what it does. Its a trap waiting for adventurers to happen upon it and spring it. Try and imagine a pseudo American EC Tales From The Crypt comic through the lens of James Raggi's Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg. That's how Tales of the Scarcecrow feels to me reading though it. This adventure could be inserted into any old school campaign being run between beginning of the 17th century right up through the the early-to-mid 19th century. Personally, this adventure feels like a love letter to the original Stephen King Children of the Corn set after all of the kids have vanished and only the demon remains. Sort of. The similarities end right about with the cornfield though and the monster.

There is something distinctly early America about Tales From The Scarecrow the names, history, etc all have an American flavor to them. The artwork, maps, and set up are very evocative and well done for the product. Basically all of the events within Tales are a one act play sort of an adventure, all of the events taking place within a valley that can easily be inserted anyplace into a campaign. There is a feeling of almost but not quite timeless dread that hangs around the adventure and it almost feels as if it might be inserted between adventures for PC's who are high off of their latest triumphs with gold and glory. There is a farmhouse in the middle of a field of corn, and then things get interesting. PC's are going to have to deal with Donner party interesting sort of way. In point of fact I've read through a friend's copy of Tales From The Scarecrow; I have been wanting to do something with the adventure location for a long time now. The abandoned farmhouse could be made timeless and multidimensional to serve as a bridge gap with other times and places why should only regular LoFP parties have all of the fun. This adventure takes the usual Lovecraft tropes uses them and then puts a slightly different spin on them by allowing PC's to make their own mark on the location including their own deaths if necessary. This makes the crossover factor something that can go up by a factor of ten. For example some of the back history of the farm and the LoFP magic items are steeped readily enough in their own mythology to allow them to have the entire location slip into a timeless other dimensional 'someplace' enabling PC's from a Red and Pleasant Land, No Salvation From Witches, or Scenic Dunnsmouth
This is especially true of Scenic Dunnsmouth which provides a great random generation tool kit for its location, town, inhabitants, etc. The cornfield, house,etc. of Tales of the Scarecrow could all be set within its own section of the world of Scenic Dunnsmouth given a bit of clever DM slight of hand work. In point of fact this is exactly the sort of a task that Zzarchov Kowolski designed for Scenic Dunnsmouth. This can take a short ten page adventure and roll it out into a memorable campaign of epic proportions.In point of fact the monster from Tales of The Scarecrow can easily be back linked into Scenic Dunnsmouth to create a thread of dread throughout. A technique I've stolen from HP Lovecraft and Stephen King. But, but what about more monsters and horrors between adventure locations? Fear not my friends, you can easily generate a quick three or four horrors with No Salvation From Witches, or Lusus Naturae to generate your bizarre and weird victims of circumstance. Keep the killing level down and amp up the melted face factor though for encounters and victims. Basically this style of LoFP game campaign is a short, overland weird wilderness adventure with some dangerous and fantastic elements to it ripe for expansion into a full blown campaign. Do I think that Tales From The Scarecrow is worth getting? In a word and for the price? Yes, yes I do. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog

There are any number of old school generators out there but islands have always been one of the more interesting old school elements for adventures. They can hold everything from micro lost worlds to pirate bases and they're influence goes all the way back to the earliest adventure fiction. With writers like William Defoe's Robinson Crusoe to Jules Verne and beyond into the annals of today. Now taskboy games has entered the fight with a six page true system neutral island generator. This allows for quick on the fly adventure location generation for plug and play generation. So this is a pay what you want title and its well worth a couple of dollars. The material here is very well laid out with no frills DYI fill in a quick adventure elements as the DM likes. According to the introduction, Islands have long been a favorite setting for literature, poems, songs and paintings. A better metaphor for isolation is hard to imagine. In that isolation, protagonists are often challenged with opponents that threaten the security, sanity or morality of the context that the protagonists came from. In role playingadventures, island venues represent tactical challenges. The player characters have a limited store of supplies and henchmen with them. Help, should the party be captured or trapped, will be long in coming. Of course, in real life, some islands are big enough to support a year-round community. Living on an island offers a slightly different RPG experience, but one that fits very well into most games. One imagines a campaign in which the characters begin their career clearing out tidepools of minor beasties, perhaps exploring a few creepy sea caves and fending off pirates. Eventually, the ambitious characters will depart home for adventures in the broader world. This generator can be used for everything from ship wrecked or lost WWI or II soldiers, to islands for the pirates of the Spanish main or even as a resource for DYI post apocalpytic island hopping location generation. All of this is covered in the parameters of the product to work with the Dungeon master's choices of campaign material. For the price the dungeon master get's a plethora of random chart options. And as a fan of random charts and adventure location generation this where this product shines. Everything is done with the same amount of care that the author has done with Tranzar's Redoubt. Reading through the material I rolled up several small mirco island environments and it put me in the mindset of Robinson Crusoe or some of the Lost World style Edgar Rice Burrough island novels. It could also be used as a tool to generate any number of Celtic islands and simply add in your own SRD monsters as you see fit. The Adventure Seed Islands has a stripped down no nonsense approach to island generation and that in my mind is a good thing. I was also reminded of the classic Tales of the Gold Monkey television show because this generator could be used to create any number of small or larger scale islands rich with possibilities for PC's to exploit in a modern or pre modern game. In fact this generator could be used to generate a micro island location that can be used in an OSR game adventure only be recycled later as a modern destination with other critters on it. This is something I've done several times over the years to save on time and energy simply take an island you've already come up with and add in different monsters or creatures to get the best out of your PC's. If one of the old PC has died there even better as the players run across the skeletal corpse and loot. This sort of generator has all kinds of possibilities for games such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess, part of the Lamentations formula is the isolated and highly dangerous location. With a few toss of the dice this generator can be used to create any number of island locations just waiting for the adding in of a demon or two or hold over monster. Good candatiates for just this sort of thing are some of the monsters of classic Greek or Celtic mythology. This generator could with very little work help to support something not often seen in this type of game. A stable island location for ship supplies, sundries, and fresh water,etc. Are part and parcel of island hopping or trading campaigns and this generator could come in damn handy to create any number of stable islands or as locations for an Eli Roth style cannibal base or adventure location. So bottom line do I really think that Adventure Seeds: Islands is worth your time, energy and money? Yes I really do because there's so much that can be done with it. This product matches some of his other efforts including How To Hex Crawl ,The Evil of Witches Fen or the incredible The Manse on Murder Hil. So in my opinion grab this one and get generating some really nice island adventure locations tonight. Eric Fabiaschi Sword and Stitchery blog

Its amazing to me how much time has passed since I did anything with the White Star Retroclone Rpg system. The material for White Star comes out every single week or day it seems. Someone comes up with a new science fiction or science fantasy title for the game. This is not a bad thing in my humble opinion, it keeps the community vibrant and live with fresh ideas and new prospective toward the game. There's one area that always seems lacking to me and that's the middle management vile villains. You know those guys who are challenges and the type that are always dogging your White Star adventurers but don't quite have the TPK potential of the void knights. Well the Outer Space Raiders: The Norni from Magic Pig Media are not quite as cut and dry as they might appear. The Norni are an alien race example of what happens in those old Marvel Star Wars comics when the Rebels high tale it out of dodge and the Empire moves in for the conquest. We know that White Star drives its inspiration from old school Star Wars and Magic Pig Media has tapped that well with the Norni but in a good way. There's a lot going on here. According to the Rpgnow blurb: The Norni supported the fledgling rebellion. When the Imperial Armada arrived, the Rebels fled and the Empire bombed the planet making it an example to any who would oppose their power. Cvilized worlds turned their backs on the refugees out of fear of imperial reprisals. The Norni are a people without a home, fated to wander the stars.' Sure it might sound a bit like the old Marvel Star Wars comics from the 80's but its not. There are several factors that those comics would never have tapped into.

As I've said this is not a slow and steady pdf at all you get lots of tools for your dollar, yeah that's right a dollar buys you the following : Included is information on the Norni and their culture, the Norni Star Wanderer Racial Class, and twenty adventure hooks. Also included is Lady Iliza, Mistress of the Void, a powerful Void Knight villian for use in your campaigns. So why do I like this pdf? Because you get a group of middle management vile villains with a reason to hate everyone and yet their not actually really bad guys more like victims with regrets who have issues with the universe of White Star. And their coming to get your adventurers in spades. Their is a new PC class right out of the gate that presents the Norni Star Wanderers which has a bit of the Star Trek Orions in their gamer racial PC DNA and a whole package of trouble for PC's ships. Here's the introduction blurb: The stars are your home. You wander the space ways in search of fame, fortune, and just a little bit of revenge.Not the type of PC that you want on the bad side of your adventuring party or their ship, instead I can see actually using this class to fill out the ranks of a smuggler or pirate ship on the side of the Rebels with a whole package of reasons to get into and out of trouble. We get broad strokes on culture, signature weapon, homeworld, timeline, Norni technology and solild looks into the race's home world, timeline, events, and more. This presents the Norni as a well rounded and fleshed out race with plenty of room for DM DYI campaign hook ins. There's plenty of room to squeeze out even more play with the twenty Norni adventure hooks. There's enough here to be introducing the Norni into your campaigns and for using them for other applications. They don't make that kinda fun anymore. Because the author has included the little twist that the head of this race is a Void knight in her own right and there's a whole subplot involving the fact that she's got here own dark agenda going right in the back of the plot. This makes customizing the Norni a snap because using them anywhere means that they can pop up in the least likely places. For example the Norni could with little effort be used in a Mutant Future Mazes and Mutants campaign providing the muscle and high tech alien assistance to mutant armed forces in the wastelands. For a Labryth Lord or Swords and Wizardry campaign the Norni could be the power behind the throne of your favorite despotic rulers. For Hulks and Horrors these guys make a opposition for adventurers combing through the space hulks for treasure, artifacts, or more. For White Star or other OD&D retroclone style rpgs this race has lots of potential such as filling in a middle management enemy role, they could be bounty hunters or even gasp as a possible PC alien PC race. My recommendation is to grab the PDF and customize the Norni as you see fit for your old school campaigns. Eric F Swords and Stitchery blog

Want to get your players hip deep in weird Lovecraftian hijinks without the huge prep time that seems to come with contemporary adventures that sap your sanity as a DM? Need a game adventure that is self contained and easy to run at the drop of a hat with ten minutes of prep time? Well Kort'thalis Publishing is here to help with the Outer Presence. An adventure and modern horror d6 PC system all in one self contained horror package ready to go straight out of the gate. I followed the Kickstarter action on the Outer Presence adventure and I'm very happy with the result. I received my pdf copy of The Outer Presence a few days ago and its really essentially a boiled down pulp adventure done in a more contemporary style with Venger's flare for the gonzo with heap of Lost, Cannibal Holocaust, and a piping hot side of HP Lovecraft. But it doesn't venture into the territory of Crimson Dragon Slayer. Seriously though this is a very well done adventure which clocks in at about forty five pages of out and out weirdness. This adventure is new school & old school at the same time, this adventure uses the principal game mechanic of d6 dice pools. This seems to be the in house Kort'thalis Publishing system which is easily convertible into your favorite OSR or modern system. You get a full range of options straight out of the gate in this module but from a 1970's grind house horror movie perspective. Described as

This is both a self-contained, investigative horror RPG and "weird tales" scenario set in 1970's New Guinea. I get the sneaking suspicion that Venger watched tons and tons of VHS 1970's and 80's horror films and The Outer Presence is the result. But is it playable? Yes if your into the dangerous and sanity action fest that's laid at your feet as the DM of this easily convertible adventure. You could use this with any D6 or Call of Cthlhu style adventure. The trick here is that this adventure actually delivers what it promises straight up. Monsters, mayhem, and nastiness right out of the gate with everything laid out at the DM's feet. I actually like this adventure. And it delivers exactly what it promises. Everything from careers for the PC's to weirdness rules are laid out in spades. Even from the introduction to the Outer Presence everything is laid bare with as much minimalist outfiting as possible;

"This story is meant to take place in the 1970's, but can easily be modified by the Game Master. I was influenced by such great films as Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, and Jungle Holocaust, as well as, the 1960's Jonny Quest television show.There's precious little preventing the Game Master from swapping New Guinea out for the jungles of South America or similar locale. This scenario could take placeat any period of the 20th century. If the 70's don't resonate with you, feel free to change it. Some conversion will be necessary, but the majority should play just fine as it is."

There are elements of Robert Howard's Cthulhu Mythos and other far more contemporary echoes in The Outer Presence. With a heap of Jim Jones style madness that anyone who grew up in this time will recognize. For example is Doctor Karl Steiner, anthropologist, ego-maniac, and frequent contributor to the quarterly anthropology journal Culturally Speaking. With the help of Dr. Steiner and his team, the Meepie tribe has regressed to cannibalism and human sacrifice in order to appease something that lives in the nearby temple…the outer presence. On the surface this seems rather simplistic and rather straight up horror gaming but this is a pot boiler of an adventure with lots happening under the hood. I don't want to really get into the back end or front end of the Outer Presence because I don't want to spoil the adventure but this is one to get. The maps here are solid, the ideas straight up well presented and represented, the artwork isn't bad at all and is evocative of the grind house vibe that the Outer Presence is going for. All in all this is a really solidly presented at adventure that is a must for any system neutral or old school contemporary or modern adventure game. Or simply use it on its own. Five out of five for one of my favorite straight up adventures. Because I love the weird 70's cannibal exploitation Lovecraft horror vibe that Venger is going for here! Eric F Sword and Stitchery blog

This is a damn fine product that covers the bases of pulpy lost world goodness with plenty of encounters, ideas, and everything that you need to populate an island or lost world. Everything here is striped down to the bone and ready to go straight out the door for you to do either a long term or a pick up game as you like. For the price point this is a solid investment for the DYI dungeon master to add or subtract as needed. The pdf is easy on the eyes and the printer, I was able to turn this around within a night and get it at my table in fifteen minutes. The encounters adapt to just about any system or rpg with an adventure theme. The encounters could be used for everything from post apocalyptic to full on full lost world. The ideas here are both cheesy and fun to play with Dave knows his subject and how to get his play on with this project. The book is well done and very easy to use across the board. This is a tool kit that allows the DM to put his players right into the thick of it. This whole product is fun straight out of the gate and does exactly what it says on the package. There's encounter after cheesy encounter that can be used for a wide variety of things from Call of Cthulhu to full on old school OD&D. There is a lot of fun to be had with this title. My suggestion is to grab it and make it your own by using what your given for your own rpg application of Savage Island Encounters.

While there are a bunch of free maps available out on the net, Fish Wife Games sent me this right when I needed it for my DCC rpg adventure night. And I was trying to emulate a certain brand of old school text style computer games from the early 80's which dove tailed in with old school AD&D style first edition adventures. And that's where Fish Wife Games Really Big Island Of Adventure! hits its sweet spot, this series of maps could conceivable contain just about anything that your twisted imaginations can conceive of.

This is a DM's product, no if or buts about it. This Really Big Island is meant to be used when you've got less then fifteen minutes to print off a section of what you need and to drop several encounters right into the back end of your campaigns. How you use this product is very simply, you've got the map already keyed and ready to print out. Simply write in your description around the presentation and then your ready to go. This product can fit a wide variety of genres and settings. Use it to drop in Really Big Island of Adventure as a science fiction or science fantasy adventure encounter. Add in your favorite literary book by Jules Verne and populate the adventure locations with dangerous mega birds. This location can be used to house a wide variety of things from a post apocalyptic refuge to a dangerous and forbidden lost world location right next door for a Tales Of the Gold Monkey style pulp game. This is a very useful product that comes in well under budget as you can get for use as a system neutral resource. Personally I'm glad I had this product when I did, there's lots of useful bits and as a stand alone map this is an excellent canvas to put your own touches on. Sword and Stitchery blog Eric F

The White Star rpg retroclone system community is one of the most dynamic communities on G+, Facebook, and within the OSR. Everyday another supplement, monster book, alien race book, etc. hits the airwaves. But then comes along the Zeloxians. Described as a' small, fearless alien race that's out to conquer the galaxy as soon as they fill out the right paperwork and get their equipment to work.'they played for yucks but let me explain there is nothing funny about these aliens. They're possibly one of the most nightmarish bastards that you can run across. You see these guys are alien bureaucrats, possibly the equivalent of alien accountants, tax collectors, bean counters,pencil necked geeks, or any other nightmarish nebbish fool behind a desk that you've ever run across. And they've got energy weapons and their not afraid to use them. If these guys don't make your White Star or old school adventurers break out in a cold sweat then your not using these bastards right. I really don't think that the author even knows what he's created personally. He describes them as," The Zeloxians are a darkly humorous, tongue-in-cheek alien race for your space opera campaigns. Included are a racial class and the most common pieces of Zeloxian equipment such as the Doom Fighter, Radium Atomizer Magnum Blaster Obliteration Gun, Power Gauntlets, Trooper Armor and Powered Assault Armor." This is a tightly put together four page pdf that sells for around one dollar and what do you get for your dollar investment? An entire race and array of tools that you can torture your adventurers for hours and hours with. They don't make that kinda fun anymore. See these guys are the bill collectors, phone sanitizers, tax collectors,etc. of the space ways and their waiting to suck the fun and treasure right out of your PC's hands. Its all here in black and white, signed sealed, and printed out in triplicate waiting in a nice tightly sealed official looking envelop in the standard Zeloxian Empire stationary. And these little bastards have the weaponry and fire power to enforce their will on your adventurers. Think that your Swords and Wizardry retroclone dungeons are safe? Think again, rumors that Zeloxians parties of bureaucrats & treasure enforcer units are even now are dimension hopping to take away your hard earned gold. After all hyper space bypasses, and empires across the stars don't run themselves. Everything about these guys reeks of smarmy pencil headed alien bureaucratic menace in spades, these little bastards will drown your PC's in red tape while blasting the Hell out of em with a spade of weapons that are scattered throughout the pdf. There are rumors of Zeloxian agents infiltrating across the stars and into governments,bars, gambling establishments,intergalactic brothels, and every black market operation they can get their four fingers into! All the better to report to their masters and tax your PC's to death. Everything you need to run these little alien horror shows is included in the pdf. Personally I think that this pdf is merely another piece of Zeloxian empire propaganda. These alien penny pinchers are rumored to split ten percent with local intergalactic governments any taxes they collect. And these bastards have been known to show up in dungeons, post apocalyptic ruins, and a wide variety of retroclone OD&D style systems. They have a tendency to spoil any fun that they can for adventurers. Even though this is a well written pdf, the fact is that there are some adventurers who have been know to shoot these guys on sight! The fact is that the Zeloxians make a great mid level alien menace that can be easily dropped into a wide variety of old school adventure settings and can cause adventurers all kinds of mayhem. DM's should pick this pdf up for the sheer horror that these alien bastards can wreck in an old school or retroclone system. There are a wide variety of applications where the Zeloxians could be used. For a Basic Fantasy rpg campaign these little nasties could be used as tax collectors, enemies, conquerors, or used as part menace or comedy relief. For Hulks and Horrors these guys make a perfect foil for adventurers combing through the space hulks for treasure, artifacts, or more. For White Star or other OD&D retroclone style rpgs this race has lots of potential such as filling in a foil role, comedy relief or even gasp as a possible PC alien PC race. My recommendation is to grab the PDF and customize the Zeloxians as you see fit for your old school campaigns. These little bastards are flexible enough to have a vary large variety of uses. Eric F Sword and Stitchery blog

The White Star rpg has been based on the Swords and Wizardry engine pretty much catters to the pulp and Star Wars style space opera genre. It also has one of the most active and passionate fan bases imaginable pumping out incredible content for the game as fast as possible. But much of the OSR material for the game has centered around this style of space opera and Star Trek style adventuring has been lacking. And yes there are a number of OSR products and retroclone that meet that need. This isn't what Five Year Mission by Kirt A. Dankmyer is, instead this is an add on tool kit support system for adding in federation style star ships casts and crew to your White Star Games. But Kirt this isn't a complete product, its a product that has some development and the designer/writer wants to share it with you! And at .70 cents can you go wrong? Five Year Mission adds in tongue and cheek elements to the game in Kirt's solid writing style and it adds in a whole other dimension to your White Star games. This book adds in all of the usual suspects from Trek to your White Star Games. Think about that all of the usual suspects are now dropped straight into your Space Opera games of White Star. Here's the offical word from Ivanhoe Unlimited:

BUT it will transform into the final product! As more is added, the price will go up! But you'll get the updated version, free of charge!

What is it about? It's a supplement for White Star with a sort of Star Trek theme.

Right now, it contains:

But let's take this a step further, have you ever wondered about those away missions that have gone wrong during those five years out in the middle of unexplored space? What would happen if some Star Wars style adventurers ran smack into the midst of this business? Well now you can and at .70's cents its easy to get into the back end of the action. Most of the material here is well done and plays out someplace between the original Star Trek series and Next Generation with a combination of the two possible and easily done. Now there are tons of Star Trek expanded universe material out there to use. What Five Year Mission does is saves you half of the head ache of searching for it and hunting through tons of books to locate facts and figures. Five Year Mission isn't complete but its a damn fine start to a promising book that could add a ton of material to the White Star Universe for Old School play. Personally I would get in on the ground floor cheaply and then as things build you the old school DM is ahead of the curve. There are several other possible uses for Five Year Mission easily right out of the gate. It could be used to emulate those dirty and dangerous failed colonies we used to hear about on Star Trek in both the original series and the Next Generation. Combined with elements already in White Star this book could simulate a post apocalyptic world or colony. Used to get PC's right smack into the middle of dangerous situations in the wastelands. This book could be used with elements of Swords and Wizardry added in to simulate elements of science fantasy or monsters who have become mutational horrors reminiscent of some the classic D&D or AD&D modules such as Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. And you've got the makings of a complete campaign for years to come. The possibilities here are endless and its only .70 cents right now. Personally I can see a myriad of uses for this product and as a Star Trek fan this is a welcome addition to the growing White Star universe and family of products

Ogres of the Olden Lands is both a monster book & PC book rolled into one, in the Olden Lands ogres are a menace and a boon. These monsters in this pay what you want title are very dangerous highly unpredictable are a species unto themselves and the author does a good job of getting this very well across. These are tribes of creatures that have traits, habits, norms and a society that is just this south of the usual races of PC's and they're very well detailed in this title. The random tables for ogres and ogre magi are fantastic and add in a bit more color into a race of 'monsters' who are at once menacing and yet understandable. Given the author's background in anthropology its very understandable how he's able to breath new life into a pair of monsters from the Monster Manual that have only been regarded as big dumb humanoids. Here they're anything but. The real star here is the the half ogre PC class everything that I've come to expect from the race that appeared in the pages of Dragon magazine and several old school rpg sources instead here we have a working PC racial class with real motives and dangerous intentions. Yet they're not only playable but well done too boot. They're certainly well done with several other random tables to add in even more customization options to your PC's. This product also features an ogre encounter system, just perfect for generating complete parties of these brutal and dangerous warriors as well as their Ogre Magi counterparts. Make no mistake these are some very dangerous customers and they should never be taken lightly. This is a living and breathing race of dangerous warriors going about their business in a society with its own rules and ethics, even though these are a some what alien species in many respects. There is a section on advice for generating your own ogre PC's and this is done in such a way give practical advice and really down to Earth guidance with these creatures making them feel realistic and solidly done. Finally we get a series of maps detailing the lands and world of the ogres of The Olden Lands. Finally we get the Gorge of Ogroth a place of mystery and legend steeped in Ogre lore, the perfect place to drop a party into the deep end of it. A ton can be done with this twenty page piece of OSR gaming goodness, since this is a Labyrinth Lord compatible product its just perfect for use with a wide variety of OSR products. I can honestly see using this book as a part of a Mutant Future Advanced Mazes and Mutants campaign. With all of the information here its easy to see these races appearing in the post apocalyptic wastelands. Ogres make the perfect bogey man and mutation platform in a post apocalyptic jump off point. There is so much detail here that its possible for Ogres to be used as a contact race for a game of Star Ships and Space Men 1st edition with little issue. Seriously these are one of the more versatile races of monsters turned player character races that I've seen and the product is that well done. This product could be used to create a subrace of sword and sorcery characters, monsters, NPC's and plenty more. Because of the LL style of stats in this product and the fact that the advanced companion is considered in the PC and NPC generation options this book gives a ton of bang for its buck. I can even see using this product with an OSR game such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. I don't own a single Castles and Crusades book but I can see given the gaming fluff that there is plenty of sparks and fire to start a blaze of bonfire proportions for a wide variety of OSR style games. Given the amount of time, details, ecology issues, and more for the societies of the ogres this title gets a five out of five from me. Do yourselves a favor and grab this baby today! Highly recommended. Eric F Sword and Stitchery blog

The Hercynian Grimoire #1 is a 'pay what you like.' title from James Mishler Games for the Castles and Crusades rpg systems and the Labyrinth Lord rpg system. James Mishler Games has been quietly pumping out games for a long time now, The Hercynian Grimoire #1 is by James Mishler and Jodi Morgan Mishler. There's a real sense of the energy and creativity from this issue of the Grimoire especially when you crack open the Glowing Words where the writer introduces this OSR magazine. The Hercynian Grimoire is for both the Castles and Crusades rpg systems and the Labyrinth Lord rpg system. For me this makes this an especially useful magazine and its packed with wall to wall OSR style articles. Right out of the gate we get “Gnolls – The Hyena Men", an article that makes the humble gnoll race one of the most dangerous and flexible old school monsters, this article reminds me of the old Dragaon magazine ecology of articles. Fast, dangerous, flexible and terrible are the gnolls as a race.There's references peppered through out this article about the Olden Lands, the house campaign setting of James Mishler Games. I'd love to know more. This article is followed on its heels with the nipping article “Gnoles, the Mannish-Beasts” which gets into Gnoll/human hybrids. I've seen this article described as ick but with material like something that describes a monster that could be from the Islands of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells. “D66 Ferocious Fighters”is a random encounter tables of NPC fighters for your players to encounter! Three damn pages of high energy fighting men to make your PC's lives a misery. Yahh! “Spells Arcane and Occult" goes into one spell “Alasadree’s Empowerment of the Ultranic Orb.”. this is one spell that perfectly fits what it does a healing version of Tasha’s Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter” but you dance instead of laugh for the spells effects to take place. I've seen this described as unbalanced and of course its unbalanced as a first level spell but that's really the point. We've seen the effects of magick run wild and the horror that they can cause in games such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess, please leave the six versions of this spell alone and let the PC's cast it and then find themselves in the deep end of the magic pond with adventure hooks around their ears. Same with “Spell Songs of Salamacine” which really goes into the deep end of the witches spell books with some terrifically terrible spells with some Disney style consequences just waiting to happen!

"D66 Fairies and Nymphs”gives some solid bang for the buck style Fey encounters that you can slip into your old school Peusdo European adventures. Again a solid random encounter table that can lead to a whole host of side adventures if used right. “Gnoll Encounter Table” this dovetails right in with the previous article's on the author's gnolls and it does so with style. Here's a random adventure chart to really draw the adventurers into the previous articles circles of adventure mythology and monster wisdom with an entirely different take from this issue. “Magical Miscellanea” well these are ten flavorful and interesting magic items that will not break a campaign but have at least four or five adventure hooks waiting in the background. “Monstrous Menagerie” has some very interesting and nicely put together monsters especially the hyena ones. There's a sense of a pseudo African campaign piece waiting to tear out from the veldt about this issue. Something I want to see fleshed out further. “D666 Demonic and Devilish Traits”now this is a damn useful chart, I'm a Fantastic Heroes and Witchery rpg system fanatic and one of the races that is included in the game is Tieflings. So these are very welcome because players want more randomized charts to role on to really make their PC's distinct. This chart also brings me much glee because of one of my favorite cockroach style monsters to use. Demons! I love demons they're really nasty dangerous and can cause all kinds of hassles for PC's of all levels. Again this is a welcome charts for my games! Dungeons should be odd, memorable, and set dressing can stress a DM out well we get a chart that comes in very handy to do exactly that. A chart for that last cheery on top of that dungeon you've been itching to unleash on your players in the “D66 Underworld Oddities”.Many rpg companies will give you a bit of a preview of their upcoming campaign setting products but instead of one, we get three and their actually useful. Right out of the box you can use these as hooks within your games today. So that down the road if you choose to use the 'Olden Lands.' your ready to go with your PC's. “Olden Lands Preview: Alspadia”is interesting, sets up the lurer for the campaign setting and does a great job of fleshing out a region of the Olden Lands and not only makes you want to read more but to send your PC's there. There are some nasty bits hinted throughout this preview and its well done enough for the DM to push the right buttons with their PC's. 'The Olden Lands Preview : The Olden Wood.' is a solid one page preview of material that goes into a forested location of epic proportions: "The Oldenwood covers more than 18,000 square miles ofold growth forest amidst rolling and craggy hills and valleys,dingles and dales. Here and there a tall, sharp peak rises above the sea of green leaves. Other than the treants, it is a virtual paradise for natural and giant animals, for no man or even goblin is so foolish as to hunt in the Oldenwood" And you the DM get a whole range of this material to play with and flesh out. Rounding out this issue is a vile and nasty piece of work known as The Blood God, this is a distinctly dangerous and repugnant piece of work whose cult is outlined along with beliefs and sacrifices, etc. Perfectly heinous material for a vile NPC villain of the deepest dye. To wrap this up this review up, I don't own a single Castle and Crusades rpg system book, but I know my OSR material and this issue of the Grimoire reminded me of some of the very best of the older Judge's Guild stuff in a good way, a solid way, optional old school material that can easily be shunted or back written into your campaigns in such a way as to make it useful and rewarding. Because of the 'Pay What You Like Price' Tag this is a no brainer. Grab this issue now and get cracking with an exciting issue of what will I hope will be a regular publication! Eric F Swords and Stitchery blog

Holy crap when I asked for and got Dark Albion I wasn't expecting the breath and scope of this sprawling setting book that you can easily get lost in. I received the review pdf copy of The Dark Albion Setting Book By Rpg Pundit & Dominique Crouzet this morning. I've been devouring it ever since, imagine if the War of Roses was being fought in a low magic but heroic world of witchcraft, sorcery, warfare and violence in the middle of one of the more complicated periods of English history. This is not our world. Not at all, your looking at a dark fantasy lens of our own history twisted by the authors into an alternative OSR setting. Dark Albion is a sprawling two hundred and eight five page pdf book for any new school, old school, or retroclone rpg system. Everything about this book speaks volumes of it's alternative world “War of The Roses” setting. The pdf is incredibly expansive, we’re clocking in at two hundred eight five pages of wall to wall artwork and 15th century dark fantasy setting. The pdf includes some very impressive maps of London, the British Isles of the 1500’s, a fully realized setting book that smacks of a dark fantasy campaign setting seen through an Old English lens, and with heaps of history, background, and much more. The setting goes into details about its own world right out of the gate. This isn't D&D as you might know it. Instead this is a pseudo historical setting abiding along its own rules and mores. Society is front and center with changes spelled right out in the introduction chapter with headings like : the level range is low, social status is extremely important,the role of women, the church of the unconquered Sun, chaos cults & heresy, the non human is hostile and dangerous, the monstrous is found in lonely places, and differences between our world and our historical world. This is all laid out in a common sense fashion easy to read and it defines itself by its own standards. This book is wall to wall artwork, while much of it is public domain but here its used to great effect! The layout is very well done by Domique Crouzet and company. The text easy on the eyes on the flow of the product is easy to follow. Dark Albion tries to separate itself from its D&D roots and that's a step in the right direction of this product. Albion has frogmen and undead at the edge of civilization as rulers vie for the throne and each others throats. The PC's are placed right center stage if they wish to be with their DM's consent. The pdf of Dark Albion has some wonderful maps that make great player hand outs, & its perfectly laid out but with all of the fiddly bits and pieces laid at the feet of the DM for easy access. Everything here is totally different then what you might be used to in a conventional D&D game. Social status plays its hand in this society and a party is most likely going to be of the same social standing just to make game play easier. Women's role in Dark Albion reminds me of Chaosium's Pendragon, with a few exceptions. Young ladies are often chosen by the Unconquered Sun as clerics but this game defines clerics as warriors as well as priests of the Unconquered Sun.Clerics of the setting are completely redefined into the confines of the rich darkness of Albion, they're the only ones who can cast miracles and are of a martial persuasion. Not every priest of the Unconquered Sun can perform miracles only clerics. Women of lower status may be thieves but may not lead a gang or become the head of a thieves guild unless they were incredibly ruthless. Never mind the rarity of women warriors because your going to have to be of high birth and trained as a knight. They are there but very rare. Woman among the Scotsmen are thought of in a completely different respect, those that can beat a man are look upon as warriors. You look get a look into the nature of magick in this game setting and the women of this society, and magick is a study fraught with danger. According to Dark Albion: "Women are just as capable, in theory, of studying magic as any man; however, the great Collegiums of Cambridge and Oxford only allow male students for the Magisterium. This means that any female Anglish magic-users were either self-taught or trained in private outside the official system. Among the upper classes, these ladies trained in the use of magic usually keep their art a closely-guarded secret, only revealed to the most trusted family or servants. In the lower classes, such women are usually the “wise women” of the town.It is a career fraught with danger, as the suspicion of chaos-worship or witchcraft is likely to fall much harder on a self-taught female magic-user than on a respected Magister of the Collegium" The DA setting feels as if, the Roman empire never left England at all and bits of nature, magick, and definition of it are still lurking on the fringes of England along with a ton of the mythic and demonic. The demonic here is nasty,dangerous, and chaotic in some of the darkest ways possible. It seems to ooze out in places in Dark Albion just waiting to take full advantage of the idiotic politic of the War of the Roses. Chaos is just waiting to unravel society and damn the human race in Dark Albion. This is a magick poor game setting in one sense, magic items are ultra rare and very hard to come across in this realm of the legendary and mythic. Only the rare wizard or magician is going to have any truck with these types of items. Because all magick flows from Chaos in one form or another. England and the Church of the Unconquered Sun work very hard to stamp Chaos out by any means necessary. The details are very well done especially when you get into the Gazetteer of Albion, all of the locations of the 15th century environs of England are there and in place but vastly different then our world's War of the Roses's England. This is a world of adventure and danger, you've got an England where zombies, undead, and all manner of horrors rise from the grave. If your expecting the usual dungeon crawling common to D&D, your in for a bit of a different type of adventuring. From the Danger and Adventure section: "Ruins abound from earlier peoples, be they barrows in Salisbury, in the depths of the great forest of Sherwood, the Pennine Mountains, the wild lands of Cambria, the swamps of the Wash, or the frontier brutality of the Northern Marches. Monsters of various sorts lurk in these dark uncivilized pockets. In the cities, cults of chaos plot, as well as more mundane thieves guilds. Bandits loot the countryside, some portraying themselves as «rebels» in these troubled times. Tales are told of treasure-hordes from ancient kingdoms before the time of the Anglemen, still waiting to be found in the depths of mountain caverns. Dragons and Giants exist, though they are dwindling and it has been centuries since either made themselves seen in the civilized regions." And then we get into the Fae a bit with this little tid bit of an introduction to these alien and very strange race of yore. "The Fae, the inhuman beings who once ruled this isle, were eventually overthrown by the Cymri they held as slaves, after the Fae had bred with some of them and given them secrets of magic; but it is said the Fae were not extinguished, only forced away into some other world; and in some magical places the border between the realm of Fae and the world of men becomes tenuous. From these places, the Fae may seek to bring chaos to the world of men, either raiding themselves, or sending forth Changelings (creatures that can mimic the appearance of a man) to do their bidding. Goblins too were once slaves of the Fae, and stories are told that the Goblins were not wiped out, but live on in vast underground cities deep beneath Albion." I have to say that this is vastly different then what I was expecting and it feels almost but not quite along the same guidelines of Pendragon or Harn in a good way. The grittiness that's present in the Fantastic Heroes and Witchery rulebook is brought to the surface in Dark Albion. But this is a world of warfare and in violent flux. When we start to dive beneath the surface of the Dark Albion book we are looking into a world defined by two things the weight of its history and the violence of its society. Dark Albion is an dark fantasy world gone very wrong, a place where the magic and mythology of the world has begun to wane and the dark claws of chaos grip the dark heart of this England. All set against the backdrop of the War of the Roses. And all of the while Chaos and Hell wait to end it all! The Church of the Unconquered Sun does its level best to eradicate it where it rears its head, often times by burning the infection of the infernal to the ground. This isn't D&D or any of its tropes at all. Here wizards and mages are working by their wits and your warriors better be born into a station where you can affect the world. Because the nobles are doing their level best to turn the Heraldic badges of The Red Rose of the House of Lancaster and The White Rose of the House of York into a chess board of blood, guts, and slaughter with someone claiming not only the throne but the very core of this world's England. Every little area of this England is fleshed out in such a way as to encourage adventure and breath life into the locations of Dark Albion. And this book's pdf is filled with wall to wall maps of adventure locations but there is very little here of fantasy adventures of a D&D style game. Because this is world of intrigue,violence, and hellish terror. The Church of the Unconquered Sun is a monolithic slab of an institution waiting to bring the hammer down hard on the head of witchcraft, magick, and Chaos in spades. The question is will your party be the nail or the hammer? The War of the Roses will determine that. For your social standing, status, and indeed your family honor is all at stake in this setting. So are your very lives. The Law and Justice section of Dark Albion leaves little doubt as to the thumb print of this world's Rome in my mind. Its bloody and vile hand prints are all over this chapter and the ins and outs of crime and punishment are dark, swift and horrid. The echoes of real world his are all over this chapter. Make no mistake, your PC's screw up in this world and its the stake or worse for them. The Europe of the Dark Albion setting is given lots of detail in this pdf, we get an overview of a darkly strange world that borrows from the Gothic horror tradition but doesn't emulate to any fair degree.The terrors and mythology are once again twistings of our own history but given far more depth to create the illusion of adventure just waiting around every dark corner and the roads of travelers beset with adventure. One might think that dealing with Dark Albion would be like diving into the deep end of a very long and boring history class from an alternative world? No the history chapter is devided into Albion today and the historical traces of this world's setting of the War of the Roses and where PC's can fit in. The Characters In Albion chapter is especially nice because it twists the usual tropes of PC creation with Dark Albion specific details such as backgrounds, PC life events, changes to the existing D&D style PC classes and the changes borne of Dark Albion, and more with an unusual flare for bringing all of the details together under one roof. Note that Scots take the place of the usual Dwarves in Dark Albion with some heavy twists along with the Cymri taking the half Elven race but again with some distinctly original twists all brought into the supernatural world of this setting. Some of the detail can seem a bit overwhelming but the author handles it with gratis and style all of their own. Currency & Equipment is well done and extensive with rules effected once again by social standing, wealth, social norms and mores as well as more. As a DM your going to want to have the PC's be well of and of noble blood or else things might be complicated for them. This is a personal observation and things might vary but according to the Currency and Economy chapter: "On the other end of the spectrum, the aristocracy has vast lands, knights and soldiers, and influence in the courts, but may actually have little in the way of liquid assets (though there are certainly exceptions). They trade as much or more on their reputation and ‘push’ in government as they do in money. The royal family itself is NOT rich at this time by the standard of the nobility, having drained the nations coffers over the last fifty years in failed wars against the frogmen, and now on the recruiting of armies to fight the Rose War. Both Yorkists and Lancastrians depend on the wealth of powerful and rich noble families like the Nevilles, or even wealthy commoner merchants like William Canynge. So if you are going to reflect the Albion setting’s economy accurately, player characters may often engage in exchanges for goods or services not based on coin-derived purchases at all." Once again the events of the War take center stage and this is one more reason why the hard and gritty feel of the book reminds me of a good episode of a Game of Thrones but with firearms and deadly politics can lead to PC's needing to take sides and looking out for their own interests as well. Everything from arms, equipment, to horses is all in this extensive chapter and there is plenty of hooks here to add in a bit of adventure and intrigue into buying equipment. Noble houses of Albion goes into an overview of the major events, players, parties, and back dealings of the War of the Roses of Albion and what its direct impact is on your PC's lives. DM need to pay special attention to this chapter because of the very nature of this book's setting history isn't simply background in this campaign but center stage and living. Important People of Interest lays out the impact of these power movers and shaker NPC's into the scale of the campaign's history. And just as in real life these are people of power, violence, and history with the power of life and death at their finger tips and around each others throats. This chapter charts out the relationships and bloodlines of each & everyone of them. The artwork is especially well used here to suggest and show the power struggles of Dark Albion. Sorcery and Secrets goes through the magick, mysteries, and dark sorcery of the setting. Magick here is fraught with power and pure danger. The Church is intertwined with the dark nature of Chaos itself from which all magick springs. If you are expecting the spell slingers and wizards of D&D, forget it. These are the wizards and witches of the witch trials, the men and women of a dark and far more sinister nature. These are the dark reflection of the light of the Unconquered Sun and they are ritualistic casters of the darkest sorts. The church views them as such and they do indeed summon demons, work from within the foundations of Dark Albion and twist reality sometimes for good but most often for bad. Chaos in this game setting is a losing proposition in spades. Witches, demon summoners, wizards, gamble with their very souls and they do it for the sheer supernatural darkness of it. Once again your social standing will actually affect your PC's ability to cast a spell. Demons are indeed powerful, dangerous, and infernal in every sense of the word, they really are the corruption of Hell itself and waiting at the threshold to drag your PC's soul into the Abyss. Magic Item creation is rarely practiced, dangerous, and horribly prone to have dangerous things happen. Poison or worse could happen from potion creation, and with a low magic setting this is very dangerous indeed. There are several artifacts and relics listed along with their mythology but these are items of myth and legend requiring quests and missions of dark aspect. For this will require venturing into the mists of adventure and foreign lands at the edge of Albion. The rules for Alchemy round out this chapter and their well put together with some nice systems built into this source book. They give just enough for PC's to add a bit more of the esoteric to their backgrounds should they be of appropriate station. Adventuring on Dark Albion gives the PC's a chance to get into the wider world of the setting with lots of guidance and wisdom for the DM to pull the players into the deep end of the setting with bandits, weirdness, and random encounters adding not only colour but a solid system for the DM to introduce the world of Dark Albion's adventures. This is one of my favorite chapters because it clearly outlines and highlights the dark mythic and legendary of this world. Magick and myth are or have faded from the world but its not gone yet nor will it ever. Here the mythological aspects of Dark Albion are holding on with tooth and claw for dear life. We get a sense in this chapter of the depth and breath of the history of the legends of Dark Albion and sheer volume of what lurks on the fringes of England and Europe waiting to tear apart PC's. There's maps, NPC's, adventure hooks, world building bits, adventure locations a plenty, and much more all living side by side with the world of the War of the Roses. The whole thing reads like an alternative world darkly with a knife to its own throat waiting for PC's to stumble into into it. You have burrow crawling, dark Fey remains,twisted festivals, weird customs, odd happenings, and your PC's are smack in the middle of it as victims, victors, and fools all being pulled into the setting by it all. There is a boat load of maps right in the middle of this chapter, and again artwork galore. This chapter is one of the most important to Dark Albion and really showcases the setting as well as the inherit violence of the setting's England and Europe. There is so much to take in that a new DM might want to look through this chapter as much an overview of what can be done with Dark Albion as much as a DM's adventure tool box. This chapter is really part of the soul of this book and its very well done. Worth the price of admission as well. The Appendixes add in that last dollop of icing on the wedding cake of Dark Albion. You get The Knights of the Star & Secrets of the Clerical Orders this chapter goes into Order of the Royal Star is the foremost order of knights in the land of Albion and its inner workings and secrets. Very interesting stuff I can assure you as we are brought into some of the inner workings of this organization's past and its role in the War today! Appendix P Rpg Pundit's Quick and Dirty House Rules, these are rules for use with the lighter OSR games. According to the book, "house rules are intended for use with the lighter OSR games, typically Swords & Wizardry or Lamentations of the Flame Princess, or even Basic-Fantasy-RPG." And these rules are well suited for what they do and how this game is a setting universal OSR book. These are solidly done allowing the fighting-man, cleric, magic-user, and sometimes thief to enter the world of Dark Albion. It has modifications for and of currency, equipment, weapons, etc. all for these OSR and original edition games. Finally rounding out Dark Albion is Appendix three for the Fantastic Heroes and Witchery rpg system, this chapter is a mini gaming source book for adapting FH&W to Dark Albion. And it does a damn good job of it, this chapter builds upon the foundation of the previous material laid out in the Dark Albion setting book. We get eight new PC classes along with notes about using some of the other FH&W classes with Dark Albion. Guidelines for Dark Albion being a low magic setting, chances of spell failure, and the dangers of sorcery. Both of which are optional guideline rules. A simple cosmology of Dark Albion put into Fantastic Hereos and Witchery terms and rules. And finally new spells from the rich dark fantasy setting Dark Albion. So bottom line is Dark Albion worth your money? In a word for the PDF, yes if your looking for a dark, gritty, rich, fantasy world of the War of The Roses. This is a labor of love by two authors who spent a great deal of time and energy on a project that must have taken years. The sheer volume of detail in this source book is over whelming in a good way, this is a very well produced and satifying OSR source book. Solidly done with tons of artwork, background, details, mystery, magick, and adventure ready for the taking by a party of adventurers in this dark alternative England. This is one very well written and exciting adventure settings to have had the pleasure to review and read. Here is a source book worth of the War of the Roses with all of the adventure, romance, blood shed,violence, and more that one would come to expect from these authors. It's already selling on Drivethru rpg and the hardback is up on Lulu as we speak and on Amazon as well. A dark variant cover of the setting book is available from Lulu as well, this is my favorite cover of Dark Albion. And within the next few weeks I'll be buying this one. Eric F The Sword and Stitchery Blog

Kirt Dankmyer is either a madman or a genius or maybe a bit of both, his latest OSR effort is focused on the Bard but this is another take on the class. Music is one of the most powerful forces of life and these PC's are the focal point for that genius. But that same genius damns them as rogues and outcasts. In this you have part of what makes the Prodigy something very special. For that energy that burns brightest within them also burns them out as well and should they stay in one place for too long it can consume their minds and hearts. This is only an eight page pdf but it packs a nice punch for a fun roguish adventurer of musical powers and abilities that both can entertain and bring the fun adventure side to this genius. Why do I like the Prodigy? Because its got lots of useful bits and pieces that with the right player could become a perfect vehicle to allow parties to get embroiled in the deep end of country, court life,and urban pseudo European locations. But is that the limit of the class? Not at all, I think that when you start looking into this class it has potential for all kinds of AD&D 1st edition or OSRIC style games. The layout and artwork is bare bones but that's not why you'll want to get this .98 pdf, instead your getting this as another addition onto the bardic PC class that allows for a roguish genius to be added into your old school games. This is a perfect addition to parties where the elements of a thief can come into play but you get a real PC that burns with the power of music to make a bit of extra coin and entertain as well. But there's a bit of a sleazy element at play here as well, in fact quite a bit of it. This is a class that is at home in the bar room as well as the court. But there's more, because the road is always calling with this class. So where could this class be useful? Well the obvious answer is for the primarily historical rpg and adventures but that goes without saying. So anything from the early Stone age to the Seventeenth century are the realms of the Prodigy, but he could be just as at home in the seedy gin joints of the Roaring Twenties to the sweat halls of today as a DJ. The energy of music is pretty universal and one of the unexplored parts of rogues and thieves especially the guilds is their connections to performers and musicians. Don't believe me well go look at the relations between fences, pawns, and musical instruments. But that's not all, the prodigy could be used as a part of a post apocalyptic adventuring party as well. A way of getting into and welcome by post apocalyptic communities who might otherwise be very hostile to the party of adventurers. Musicians and entertainers are always welcome to the grind and tedious nature of the wastelands but due to the very nature of the PC class they're always going to be on the move. This same sort of energy and creative crack of musical lightning will also make them welcome in interstellar courts where the nature of the intrigue and FTL makes the prodigy a useful and coveted asset to the courts and court life of a backwater planet. In point of fact the Prodigy is ideally suited as a force of adventuring prowess and focal point for clever DM's to exploit by their very nature. Imagination and exploitation work hand and hand to make this a very interesting and clever way to motivate adventurers into the deep end of the pool. In point of fact with some clever slight of hand a DM could draw higher level Prodigies into full blown courtly intrigues on a grand scale with their weirdly adaptable abilities into a game of White Star or a similar old school space game.Even though this material is for OSRIC a clever DM could easily adapt this class to most of the major retroclones on the market with a bit of slight of hand on their part. But through all of this is The Prodigy (Bard) From Ivanhoe Unbound worth the money for yet another version of the Bard PC class? Yes I think so because it makes a certain amount of sense to add in a PC class that can and will pull a party out of the mid campaign doldrums and into a high energy as well as high adventure point. And that's exactly what The Prodigy (Bard) From Ivanhoe Unbound does in spades! Eric Fab Sword and Stitchery rpg blog