Attronarch's Athenaeum

Campaign journals, reviews of TTRPG stuff, and musings on D&D.

DriveThruRPG and associated sites will soon increase cost of print-on-demand products from 20% to 80%, depending on print binding and location:

Upcoming Print-on-Demand Book Price Changes – Effective April 1, 2025

We always want to keep print costs as low as possible, and it has been years since we passed any price increases through to our publishing partners.

However, our print supplier, Lightning Source/Ingram, has announced a price adjustment starting April 1, 2025, that will be reflected on DriveThru sites.

Key Changes

  • Due to increasing supply costs in the US, Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly, from around 20% for low-pagecount hardcover titles up to about 50% or slightly more for large hardcover books, and with softcover titles seeing an even greater increase.
  • UK print costs for Black & White books will also increase, but generally only by 3-4%.
  • Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing but only around 3% for UK printing.
  • On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing but increase slightly for UK printing.
    • Example 1: A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.
    • Example 2: In the UK, the same 180-page book currently costs £20.23, which will increase to £20.93 starting in April.

Above will most likely lead to publishers increasing prices on the books, especially those who use at-cost pricing. I ordered all hardbacks from my wish-list, just in case. :)

#News

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Adventurers

Character Class Description
Tamren Cleric level 3 Stoic paladin of Coriptis, the Goddess of Battle and Inamorata of Berserkers. Aventail hides all but his two piercing blue eyes.
Flamthwynn Magic-user level 3 An older gentleman sporting fashionable dark blue robe with purplish overtones. Seeking arcane objects and offensive spell.
Balarus Fighter level 4 An ex-woodsman, quite a crackshot with his bow.
Bragi Twinefinger Halfling level 1 A stout strong halfling. As a devotee of the Great Tailor he is always smartly dressed (under his armour) and overly fond of multiple breakfasts.
Ignaeus Elf level 4 A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Foxglove Thief level 4 A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time.

Gloomfrost 1st, Airday

Tamren pointed at two plumes of dark smoke raising behind a crest atop Ghinarian hills. Paladins of Coriptis must earn their ranks in combat, besting beasts or men of higher power and skill than their own. Failing to do that means they will be forever denied the honour of joining their deity's harem.

He was joined by Flamthwynn, whom had found courage since his Antil days, Bragi, Ignaeus, Foxglove, and Balarus, whom had brought along hired muscle named Crosonus. The party of seven rode light riding horses, covering forty miles in a single morning watch.

The six followed Tamren to an ogre lair, where supposedly a band of nasty brutes lives. Foxglove rode up the hill and surveyed the surroundings. He found a pothole, some twenty feet wide, just behind a rock outcropping. Light wisps of smoke were coming out of it.

Riding closer, the thief could see that pothole leads into a long tunnel. He rode back to the party and informed them of his findings.

Tamren led the charge towards the hole. Everyone dismounted and left the horses with Crosonus. Then they walked towards the opening.

Foxglove raised his hand, showing an open palm. He put a finger to his pursed lips, signaling everyone to be quiet.

Large figure sat in the tunnel, leaning against a boulder. Big club rested to its side. Its ugly head was slumped, and it slurred loudly. Its hands were on large belly, going up and down.

The thief moved quietly down the tunnel. At one moment he stepped on loose rock which cracked. The beast did not react. Foxglove circled the figure until it was right by its right side. He raised his short sword and thrust it downwards right into the beast's shoulder blade. Then he jerked the blade straight towards the heart.

Ogre screamed in pain. It jumped up, swinging wildly. Foxglove was quick enough to evade this outburst of activity. Ignaeus and Tamren charged in to help. Alas, everyone missed. Everyone but ogre that is. The beast punched Foxglove straight into his face, sending teeth flying.

Surrounded and wounded, the monster fled down the tunnel.

“Freeze!” Ignaeus yelled.

“Oh no you don't...” Foxglove muttered as he felled the fleeing beast with throwing dagger straight into the back of its neck.

Adventurers continued down the tunnel. Cave ceiling became lower and lower, until the tunnel was barely ten feet tall. Their path forward was obstructed by a set of heavy leather skins hanging from the ceiling hooks. The smoke was slowly rolling from underneath them. Flicker of light were visible. Ignaeus could hear a deep voice humming a joyful tune.

Tamren indicated in proto-sign language that he is ready for violence and that they should let him solo the beast. Ignaeus approached the leather curtain, crouched gingerly, and then raised it abruptly.

Before them was a low cave, some thirty feet wide and long. Fires burning in three sunk firepits illuminated a horrific scene: three rows of wooden stakes skewered through a dozen dismembered humanoids. The humming ogre was fanning one of the fire pits, producing extra smoke. Another looked dumbfounded by the fact that more food would come into their smokehouse willingly.

Tamren charged in, screaming “Coriptis, witness me!”, going for the smaller of two ogres. The rest went for the bigger ogre. Dark smoke that filled the room made it difficult to fight. Everyone cried as their eyes swelled and turned red.

Ignaeus once again used his magical sword to freeze his opponent, making it an easy carving job. Tamren, on the other hand, was a bit less successful. First, his target ran from him. Then the beast fanned smoke from the pit straight into his eyes. Then it ran through the west exit.

Tamren yelled like a madman, chasing it down. Others joined, if nothing to prevent the ogre from fleeing. Balarus the Immovable Object ran ahead of the ogre into the narrow tunnel it was going for, and positioned himself so it cannot pass without wrestling him first.

The ogre wept in distress as Paladin of Coriptis yelled challenge after challenge. The party then enjoyed as show of incompetence as both Tamren and ogre kept missing each other. But then the ogre landed two mighty blows, forcing the cleric to take a sip of nasty puss-like liquid in order to heal up.

Balarus stepped in and hurled insults so vile that ogre turned its attention to him instead. The fighter deflected few blows. The only problem was that he used his skull to deflect one. Tamren screamed at the ogre, forcing the beast to face him once again. As it turned he drove his sword right through its neck, killing it in place.

Red-eyed and bloodied, adventurers grabbed two bloody sacks of coin from the smokery and fled for their horses. Tamren has slain what he needed to. Who cares if there were more ogres here, right? After all, what could they possibly do once they find three of their own dead? Surely nothing.

Given it was winter, it already got dark in the evening. Hence the party opted to ride for Midway, sleep at the inn there, and head for Hara next morning. There Ambros and Tarkus healed everyone up. Party of seven then decided not to head back to the ogre lair, but to go seeking their buried treasure instead. This expedition was a great success and they returned back to Hara on Gloomfrost 7th, Waterday.

With only thirteen days before end of the year, a single question arises:

What will the adventurers do next?

Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.

#Wilderlands #SessionReport

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DriveThruRPG is running 40% sale off many titles in celebration of GM's day.

The whole TSR catalogue (OD&D, D&D, AD&D 1e, and AD&D 2e) is discounted as well. Below are several series that are worth getting but are rarely talked about.

AC (ACessory) modules were 11 publications for the basic line. AC1, AC9, and AC10 are great supplements for any basic game or its retroclone:

GAZ (GAZetteer) sourcebooks for the basic line detailed different parts of Mystara:

DMGR (Dungeon Master's Guide Rules supplement) books were published during the heyday of AD&D 2e overproduction. Still, I found something useful in each:

Finally, builder's guidebooks and sites did not have a code, but feature useful material:

Spend responsibly!

#Sale #OSR

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Robert Conley shared some great news about Majestic Fantasy Realms, the spiritual successor to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy:

I am halfway through the first draft of my upcoming project, Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northern Marches.

It will be divided into two sections. The first half focuses on the Northern Marches, which combines and expands Blackmarsh, Southland, and the Wild North into four 12” by 18” maps. ... The second half provides a brief overview of the larger Majestic Fantasy Realms. It will be formatted like the old Greyhawk Folio booklet and detail some history, important terrain, and various regions. ... The Kickstarter to fund editing and the art pieces is slated to begin late April. I hope to see many of you there. In the meantime, I will post various excerpts over the upcoming weeks to help folks to better understand the final product.

Read Rob's announcement to learn more about The Wild North, Blackmarsh, The Southlands, Vasa, Northport, and The Grey Sea.

#News #OSR #SW #MFRPG

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A zine chronicling the Conquering the Barbarian Altanis D&D campaign.

This issue details sessions 72, and 73. Adventurers deal with the Red Dragon and desecrated temple. Results vary.

You can download the issue here.

Overlord's Annals zine is available in print as part of the legendary Alarums & Excursions APA, issue 592:

#Zine

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I will be hosting two original Dungeons & Dragons games (little brown booklets only) at Precognition. Both games will be delves into the legendary Darkness Beneath megadungeon published in the finest OSR zine Fight On:

Precognition is an independently-organized virtual tabletop roleplaying convention taking place March 14th–16th:

Welcome to Precognition, your portal to an entire weekend of online tabletop roleplaying. From March 14th–16th, we’re bringing gamers together from around the world to explore a broad range of roleplaying games—from classic fantasy settings to cutting-edge sci-fi worlds. Whether you’re seeking new adventures or just looking to connect with fellow enthusiasts, we invite you to roll dice, share stories, and forge friendships in our virtual halls.

Passes (i.e. tickets) are available via Kickstarter:

  • $5 for one-day pass
  • $10 for weekend pass (covers entire event)
  • $30 for four weekend passes

Once the Kickstarter is over, convention organisers will open up the site for backers to sign-up for games. Full list of hosted games is available here.

See you there?

#Convention #Precognition #FightOn #OSR

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Adventurers

Character Class Description
Tamren Cleric level 3 Stoic paladin of Coriptis, the Goddess of Battle and Inamorata of Berserkers. Aventail hides all but his two piercing blue eyes.
Balarus Fighter level 4 An ex-woodsman, quite a crackshot with his bow.
Bragi Twinefinger Halfling level 1 A stout strong halfling. As a devotee of the Great Tailor he is always smartly dressed (under his armour) and overly fond of multiple breakfasts.
Ambros Cleric level 6 Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus Elf level 4 A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.

Maggotfeast 9th, Fireday

“Follow me, follow me!” One-Eyed Tulen, excitedly motioned at the party. Terribly deformed Altanian tracker—courtesy of brutal torture he suffered at Graylock's hands—had found hyena's lair.

A hilly mound surrounded by large trees shrouded a wide cave opening. But following the trail of the large lioness revealed a much narrower tunnel leading upwards.

Balarus, still too weak to move on his own, remained outside of the lair. Beorg and Tarkus stayed behind to protect him. Tamren, joined by Bragi Twinefinger, a stout strong halfling, found the party through divine guidance.

“Ambros, remember what you promised me!” Tulen slurred.

“I am the Law. But in this case I will allow you to be the executor of the Law!”

And with those words, Ambros led the party through the narrow tunnel. After a short incline, the adventurers entered into a small, some twenty feet wide cave. An extinguished fire-pit was in the center, two soiled blankets to the east, and several gnawed bones to the west. And nothing else.

Thoroughly searching the cave revealed pits on the north wall. Ignaeus used them as handholds and footholds to climb upwards. Once he hit the ceiling he discovered that part of it was hollow—a thin sheet of rock had been placed to conceal an opening.

Ignaeus quietly slid it to the side and then climbed up. That led him into another tunnel, albeit a short one. After just a few steps he came to a ledge overlooking another cave, similar in size to the previous one.

Except this cave was filled with crates and barrels. Pit-handholds allowed him to descend safely. Others followed him. Bragi remained above, on the ledge, providing light with his lantern.

Ambros motioned to the right, where narrow tunnel slopped upwards. Ignaeus followed him closely, and Tamren took the rear guard. Cleric of Law took confident, but careful, steps forward.

His mindful approach paid off!

As he approached another the tunnel exit, Ambros felt something is off. He raised his shield just in time to deflect a battleaxe swing. Large gnoll towered over the cleric, growling. It was dressed in chain-shirt, and wielded large two-handed battleaxe.

The monster seized a perfect spot to fight. The tunnel was too narrow to allow those behind to join the fray. Maintaining its momentum, the gnoll swung once more, striking the cleric true.

“Freeze!” whilst Ambros grunted, Ignaeus lifted Volmorin's Blade and yelled the command word.

Graylock froze solid in place, his eyes filled with burning rage.

“Bragi. Go fetch Tulen.”

While waiting for the one-eyed hunchback, Tamren and Ignaeus inspected all the crates and barrels. There they discovered enough dried meat, fruits, and nuts to account for 60 days worth of iron rations. They also found eight bottles and four pins of Midway Red, famous regional wine.

Ambros cast another Hold Person at the gnoll, just in case. Then he cast Detect Magic. His eyes increased ten-fold as Graylock was completely bathed in purplish glow: his armour, battleaxe, handaxe by the hip, and one of the rings pulsated with dim light.

Further, arrows in the quiver by south wall also lit up, as did something in one of the smaller chests.

“You bastard... You bastard!” Tulen wobbled towards the gnoll, knife at ready. Ambros gave him a nod, and tracker enacted his revenge. He took his time—a little bit over half an hour—to carve the monster up. Once the bloody ordeal had been done, the party ransacked all the caves recovering thousand gold pieces, two hundred and fifty platinum pieces, one long bow, two quivers with arrows, one quiver with fourteen magical arrows, three vials of puss-like substance, and all equipment from Graylock.

“Wait... What is this?”

They also found terribly cut and blood-soaked piece of parchment on Graylock. Nothing but “Kyle” was readable.

“I told you there is some fuckery going on here.” Tamren was heard muttering from behind. Lord Kyle governs Midway—home of the famous wine.

But most importantly of all, Ambros could for the first time in many months breath normally. He felt a heavy burden fall off his shoulders.

Adventurers spent their whole next day packing all the goods and treasure, as well as planning their route back. They were to go to Ketche, meet up with sailors who brought them here, and then sail back to Hara.

Coldrain 8th, Earthday

It took the adventurers nearly a month to return to Ketche. Although arduous, their journey was otherwise devoid of any significant danger or threat. They were warmly welcomed and Beklomda Mor threw another feast in their honour.

Some woke up with a splitting headache next day. Part of the headache was surely the fact that their sailors were long gone. But how could one blame them? It has been over two months since they set off in the jungle to hunt down a notorious gnoll assassin.

Tamren bartered with fishermen, arranging transport in exchange of two bottles and two pins of Midway Red. Not a bad deal considering everything.

Before leaving, Ambros threw Graylock's head into the sea, saying prayers to Poseidon, Aniu, and Forseti. With his divine debt finally repaid, the party left for Hara.

Coldrain 10th, Spiritday

“Look! It is Ambros! We were worried you perished in that forsaken place!” guards were delighted to see the cleric alive.

“And I am happy to return. Pray tell, what is latest in Hara?”

Adventurers learned that new castellan was hard at work, cracking down on many issues plaguing the city. She prohibited carrying weapons and armours in city—everyone must tie them in a tight bundle and carry them like a haversack. Namelin and his thugs are not too happy about that.

Coldrain brings winter. Altanis is still warm, but days are shorter. New Year is coming soon. What will the adventurers do next?

Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.

#Wilderlands #SessionReport

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Fight On! issue 16 now available on DTRPG and Lulu (POD and PDF):

Out of the dungeon and into your quivering palms, Fight On! is back again, bringing the full monty of magic and mayhem to your subterranean halls! FOUR big adventures along with classes, races, maps, rules variants, new worlds, monsters, magic items, spells, NPCs, and tables and other goodies galore will fill your fantasy campaigns with new wonders for your dark towers and demonweb pits! Dedicated to fantasy art legend David A. Trampier, this issue features contributions from great heroes old and new – from Dave Hargrave and Tim Kask to Peter Mullen and Cameron Hawkey, not to mention Sean ''Stonegiant'' Stone, Oakes Spalding, Simon Bull, Gabor Lux, Kevin Mayle, Evlyn Moreau, Calithena, Paul Carrick, Sophie Pulkus, J. Blasso-Gieseke, bät, Attronarch, Philipp H., James Maliszewski, Settembrini, Robert S. Conley, Idle Doodler, DeWayne Rogers, Rick Base, Dyson Logos, Jon Salway, Becami Cusack, Tony A. Rowe, Prince of Nothing, Jasmine Collins, Anthony Stiller, Allan T. Grohe Jr., Will Mistretta, Steve Queen, Zhu Baijee, Thomas Denmark, and many, many more! This BIG 128 page issue picks off pit fiends like a +5 pike of piercing – don't delve deeper into the darkling depths without it!

Here is the table of contents:

Article Author(s) Page
Creepies & Crawlies Zisch, Knarly, Mistretta, & Settembrini 3
Artifacts, Adjuncts & Oddments Salway, bät & DeSmet 7
Two Blades and Two Crowns David A. Hargrave 10
Gems of Zylarthen, Part 1 Oakes Spalding 13
Grognard’s Grimoire bät, Salway, & Mustonen 17
The Caverns of Arcane Silk Idle Doodler 19
The Sands of Isathar DangerIsReal 20
21 Lessons Learned After 100 Sessions Attronarch 22
Battleland Encounters Calithena 24
Variant Battlelands for Titan Tor Gjerde 25
Old Samora 2: Ghoul Lair and Balneum Philipp H. 29
The Wretched of the Earth Richard Rittenhouse 39
The Scout Jason Brentlinger 40
Biblical Fantasy Roleplaying Haralambos Kazantzakis 42
Races of sha-Arthan James Maliszewski 44
The Monastery of Darak Gabor Lux 47
Tables for Fables DeSmet, Logos, Terrible Sorcery & Kisko 53
Dun Crawlin’ Jon Salway 59
Alternative Demon Immunities PrinceofNothing 70
1d20 Magick-er Mouths Will Mistretta 72
The Dream Couches Donald Smith with Zherbus 76
Calabos and Mazmora J. Blasso-Gieseke 80
Darkness Beneath: The Snow Throne Simon Bull 81
Tales of Tramp and TSR Tim Kask, interviewed by Cal 92
Knights & Knaves: Wormy & Friends Allan Grohe 99
Seven Gates & Fifty Dog-Faced Men Becami Cusack 105
Comics & Carrick Kelvin Green, J. Blasso-Gieseke, and Paul Carrick 126

128 pages of awesome!

Back issues are available via DTRPG and Lulu.

#News #OSR #FightOn

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Another great sale I stumbled upon, this time by Frog God Games / Necromancer Games. They are celebrating 25 years so every month few books go on sale. This month The Lost City of Barakus (d20 and Swords & Wizardry) is 75% off and Heart of St. Bathus (OSE) is 60% off. Both are by W.D.B. Kenower who is one of my favourite authors. The Lost City of Barakus is a great module that has everything you need for a campaign. Heart of St. Bathus I haven't had the chance to run yet, but it is a gem that needs polishing since FGG dropped the ball on editing, laying it out, and presenting the information in acessible manner.

#Sale #FGG #NG #OSR #SW #OSE

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Advanced Adventures OSRIC (AD&D 1e retroclone) line by the Expeditious Retreat Press is on sale for 50% off until end of February. At the moment it counts 46 modules. Here are some of my favourites that I am happy to recommend (sorted by level range instead of module code):

Modules have nothing to do with each other (except few exceptions like Shadowvein and White Dragon Run), and they are easy to integrate in any sandbox game. Page counts are small, text is dense, maps are play-oriented. Just how I like it.

#Sale #XRP #OSRIC #OSR

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