Attronarch's Athenaeum

News

Wizards of the Coast have just updated the System Reference Document to include v5.2 licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License:

The purpose of the SRD is to provide a foundation of Dungeons & Dragons content on which third-party publishers can build their products. It allows creators to reference and use the base game rules of Dungeons & Dragons in their products without the need to pay a licensing fee to Wizards of the Coast.

Direct download links:

More information is available at D&D beyond SRD page.

Great news for creators focused on retroclones and similar, although most of them have moved on after the OGL debacle.

#News #OGL #AELF

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Brink of Calamity by Trent Smith is now available from DriveThruRPG:

As of about 15 minutes ago Brink of Calamity is finally live for sale at DriveThruRPG in both (softcover) print and pdf versions. Note that DriveThruRPG is increasingly their print costs substantially on April 1st and the price of the print version of this book will go up by $3 to compensate (from $22 to $25), so if you're planning to buy the print version and want to save $3 you should place your order today, tomorrow, or Monday at the latest.

Since the adventure assumes you're using the rules and content from The Heroic Legendarium anyone who doesn't already have that should consider buying the pdf bundle that includes both titles at a substantial discount over buying them separately.

This book has been long in gestation and I had doubts at several points whether I would ever get it across the finish line (and I suspect some of you readers did as well) but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and hope people who read about the Perlammo Salt Mines on Prince of Nothing's blog way back in September 2022 will consider it to have been worth the wait.

Also, while I'm here, I wanted to note for posterity that at some point last fall The Heroic Legendarium became a Gold bestseller at DriveThruRPG (meaning over 500 paid sales on their platform), which is pretty nice. I'm surprised by how it continues to sell, and actually sells as many or more copies per month now as it was 2 years ago, which I can only assume is coming 100% from positive word of mouth because I'm certainly not doing anything to promote it.

I greatly enjoyed reading Trent's Heroic Legendarium and consider it one of the best modern AD&D 1e supplements. Trent's writing is clear and to the point, based on many years of gaming experience. That he is a nice guy is just a bonus on top. Brink of Calamity looks great after cursory skim. It is a genuine old-school sandbox module with locales and dungeons to explore. It reminds me a bit of L-code modules for AD&D, but much better developed and presented. Looking forward to studying it closer!

#News #OSR #OSRIC #ADnD

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Tome of Worldbuilding and The Nomicon, companion volumes to the Tome of Adventure Design, have just landed on the DriveThruRPG. The former is more of a guidebook with random tables, while the latter is entirely random tables for generating names.

Tome of Worldbuilding has 350 pages, 15 chapters, and 401 tables:

Companion volume to the Tome of Adventure Design and The Nomicon, Tome of Worldbuilding is a system-neutral tool for designing fantasy worlds for TTPRG gaming. The book contains hundreds of random generation tables and other resources!

The Tome of World Building is written by ENNIE-award winning author Matt Finch, author of the critically-acclaimed Tome of Adventure Design. Using the Tome of World Building, you can create fantasy worlds quickly and fill them out with a wealth of detail from the random-generation tables in this book.

Tome of Worldbuilding is a guidebook in the style of How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox and World Builder's Guidebook. It offers direct guidance, with examples, supplemented by random tables to roll on for inspiration.

Here is the table of contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. Cosmic Matters
  3. The World
  4. Broad Brushstroke Details for the “Other” Continents
  5. Cultural Basins of the “Home” Continent
  6. Countries
  7. Terrain and Borders
  8. Illuminarchies
  9. Legendary Locations
  10. Cities and Settlements
  11. Deities and Religions
  12. Personalities
  13. Mythical Items and Places
  14. Monstrous Leaders
  15. Useful Facts

The Nomicon has 351 pages, 29 chapters and 231 tables:

A system-neutral book of tables for generating fantasy names for people and places! This book is a companion volume to the Tome of Worldbuilding and the Tome of Adventure Design.

As it says on the lid, The Nomicon contains tables for generating names. Some tables have full names (e.g. Atafa or Ianizzo) while others have multiple parts that you combine (e.g. Curiondio or Mbadiwothi). Names are divided into chapters by either their intended use (e.g. divine names) or how they sound like (e.g. Anglish or Nörslik). The latter are based on how real-world names sound like but do not replicate them entirely (for historical names I recommend Treasury of Archaic Names and The Everyone Everywhere List).

Here is the table of contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. Primordial and Divine Names
  3. Continent Names
  4. Anglish
  5. Arabish
  6. Britonnian
  7. Celtigaulic
  8. Dwarven
  9. East-Asiantic
  10. Elderweirdish
  11. Elven
  12. Espannic
  13. Eurovesian
  14. Hellenica
  15. Italican
  16. Metallik
  17. Nanskrit
  18. Nörslik
  19. Russlavik
  20. Sequatorial
  21. Stygian/Egyptic
  22. Teutonnic
  23. Trobadoric
  24. Names for Legendary Places
  25. City and Settlement Names
  26. Monster Names
  27. Titles
  28. Personal Epithets
  29. Miscellaneous Tables

Offset print copies should be available on the Mythmere Games website once the backers receive them.

#News #OSR #MythmereGames

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Troll Lord Games just launched a crowdfunding campaign for the legendary megadungeon by Gary Gygax:

This is the first of two crowdfunding campaigns. With your help, we hope to return to shelves worldwide Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg. It is a monstrous project; one with with an incredible legacy! We hope to see all the material in Castle Zagyg released in 5 full color, hardcover volumes, each in its own box with relevant game maps.

There will be five box sets, and this campaign is for the first three:

  • Castle Zagyg Vol. 1 The Citadel (the town of Yggsburgh)
  • Castle Zagyg Vol. 2 The Ruins (the castle, East Mark, Mouths of Madness, and dungeon level 1)
  • Castle Zagyg Vol. 3 The Cellars (dungeon levels 2, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5 and 5a)
  • Castle Zagyg Vol. 4 The Dungeons (dungeon levels 6-9 and sub-levels)
  • Castle Zagyg Vol. 5 The Caverns (dungeon levels 10-17 and sub-levels)

Castle Zagyg Vol. 1 The Citadel box set will contain:

  • A full setting guide for Yggsburgh and the Outs neighborhood
  • A Map of the Town of Yggsburgh
  • Nine Interior Maps of Points of Interest
  • 600+ Non-Player Characters
  • 30+ Random Encounter and Event Tables
  • 50+ Random Encounters, offering hundreds of potential adventure venues
  • Orders of Battle for everything from Goblins to Knights
  • Crime and Punishment in Yggsburgh

Castle Zagyg Vol. 2 The Ruins box set will contain:

  • A detailed setting guide for East Mark, including 60 geographic locales and the town of Garham
  • A complete setting guide for the ruins of Castle Zagyg, including the Upper Works, Castle Fortress, Tower Walls, Manse, and Mouths of Madness
  • A Map of the East Mark region and its surrounding Environs; over 1,500 square miles of adventuring terrain!
  • A Map of the Castle Zagyg and its structures
  • A Map of the Mouths of Madness and dungeon level 1: The Storerooms
  • 100+ Encounter Areas in the Castle
  • 120+ Encounter Areas in Caverns and Storerooms

Castle Zagyg Vol. 3 The Cellars box set will contain:

  • 7 Maps: one for each dungeon level
  • The Deep Cellars
  • The Dungeons
  • Arena of Death
  • Arcane Workshops
  • Black Reservoir
  • Eternity Galleries
  • The Catacombs
  • 300+ Encounter Areas and Rooms

Most of the content is based on Gary's notes:

Who is Writing It? Volume 1, The Citadel is written by Gary Gygax. This is the content some of you have in Yggsburgh, previously published by Troll Lord Games in 2004; it will contain updated art on the cover and interior, plus new maps.

Volume 2, The Castle is written by Jeffrey Talanian. This originally appeared in Upper Works, published by Troll Lord Games in 2008. It will also feature an updated cover and new interior art, as well as new maps for more seamless play.

Volume 3, The Cellars includes one level written by Jeffrey Talanian (the 1st). The rest is being written by Michael Stewart. Mike has written and published a number of adventures through Troll Lord Games, and his writing style fits Castle Zagyg perfectly. Couple that with his work on Yggsburgh alongside Gary Gygax, and he is the perfect candidate for the task. He is back on board to pore over Gary's original notes and maps and to create the dungeon that many of us have longed for, and many more never knew they wanted.

Castle Zagyg will be published for the TLG's Castles & Crusades system, meaning it is broadly compatible with TSR's D&D editions and other popular retroclones.

Read more about the campaign at Backerkit.

#News #Crowdfunding #OSR #TLG

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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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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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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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https://www.fightonzine.com/

Friends, I'm happy to share new official Fight On! website:

https://www.fightonzine.com/

I've been working closely with Iggy, Calithena, and sleazy_b (who actually did all the hard work of coding and interpreting our wishes) since August.

We wanted to create a simple, fast, and straightforward website that would allow anyone to find issues old and new, special volumes, and keep up with Fight On! related news.

Let us know how we did!

#News #FightOn #OSR

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Spread the word!

Fight On! presents: a

David A. Trampier and David C. Sutherland III Memorial Art Contest!

Honoring the dedicatees of Issues #16 and #17 of the legendary fanzine!

Rules: Artists retain ownership of and all rights to their work, except that winning artists grant Fight On! Publications the right to first publish that work in an issue of Fight On! and subsequent collections including that issue/article in perpetuity. No AI.

All Submissions Due by November 30 to iggyumlaut@gmail.com.

Prizes! Color Division: $80 First Prize; $40 Second Prize; $25 Third Prize. B&W Division: $75 First Prize; $35 Second Prize; $15 Third Prize. Trampier Memorial Prize: $50. Sutherland Memorial Prize: $50. (Multiple third prizes possible. Last two are for work inspired by or in the style of; can stack or award separately.)

Judges include:

Spread the word!

#News #FightOn #OSR

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Marc Miller, one of the creators of Traveller, has shared his succession plan for the game:

Some years ago, fellow game designer Greg Stafford died, and I was impressed that his company announced almost immediately that he had a succession plan in place, and that his legacy and his designs would live on.

His example was an inspiration to me, and I resolved to emulate him. It would be a terrible loss if Traveller were encumbered, or somehow restricted in its outreach to present and future fans.

With that in mind, I have worked to make Traveller an asset to science-fiction role-players... with our user-friendly Fair Use policies, with the Travellers’ Aid Society programs, with the Cepheus editions of Traveller, and with Mongoose as a primary publisher of their edition of Traveller.

Over the past several years, I have turned over more and more responsibilities to Mongoose, and I have collaborated actively with them as they work to realize the Traveller dream. Earlier this year I passed full ownership of Traveller to Mongoose in order to secure its future.

With that in mind, I point out that, following the example of Greg Stafford, I have a succession plan in place: day-to-day decisions about the Traveller game system are already being made by Mongoose Publishing (with my co-operation and approval), and if anything should happen to me, they would carry on with my full knowledge and blessing.

That doesn’t stop me from speaking my mind: expressing opinions about Traveller, writing stories and lore, and even revealing secrets about the universe.

But Traveller is in good hands, now, and far into the far future.

And I thank you for your (continuing) support for Traveller.

Marc

I wish more authors and owners of legendary IP would adopt such mature and thoughtful approach to their legacy.

#News #Traveller

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