25% on many titles. Here are few I'm happy to recommend to all OSR Judges, sorted by publisher. Most of the books bellow are settings and procedures, which makes it easy to take out elements you find interesting and use them in your game.

Arduin

Dave Hargrave was a mad man. A very creative mad man. You might never play Arduin as written, which just like Palladium Fantasy was a bunch of AD&D 1E house rules, but you will walk away inspired like never before.

• Arduin Trilogy. Compiles Arduin Grimoire Vol 1, 2, and 3. I still use special ability charts presented herein.
• Arduin II. A first attempt to make a functional, stand-alone game after TSR and Gary turned on anyone who dared hack it.

Palladium Books

Palladium Books is a troubled publisher, but I still have a soft spot for their early fantasy work. Black and white illustrations galore!

Palladium Fantasy RPG 1E

• The Palladium Fantasy® Role-Playing Game Revised Edition. This was basically a bunch of house rules for AD&D 1E. I'd never play it as-is, but love reading it for inspiration. Many cool ideas, from occupations to different take on alignment, and so on.
• Palladium RPG Book II: Old Ones. My favourite of the lot. Plenty of fully fleshed out settlements with lovely maps.
• Palladium RPG Book III: Adventures on the High Seas.
• Palladium RPG Book IV: Adventures in the Northern Wilderness.
• Palladium RPG Book V: “Further” Adventures in the Northern Wilderness.
• Palladium RPG Book VI: Island at the Edge of the World.
• Palladium RPG Book VII: Yin-Sloth Jungles. My second favourite. Monstrous cities!

Weapons, Armours and Castles

These are illustrated guides to various weapons, armours, and yes, castles, one might use in their fantasy game. I love thumbing through them for inspiration.

• The Compendium of Weapons, Armour & Castles. If you are getting only one, get this.
• The Palladium Book of Weapons & Armor.
• The Palladium Book of Weapons & Castles.
• Weapons & Castles of the Orient.
• Weapons & Assassins.
• The Palladium Book of Exotic Weapons.
• The Palladium Book of European Castles.

Chaosium

A well known publisher of Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, and Pendragon. Although I'm not interested in their rules, I've always been fascinated by Glorantha.

Glorantha

These are all modules from the first edition era. Just how I like them.

• Apple Lane. Memorable “beginner” setting.
• RuneQuest Old School Source Pack.
• Pavis. A fully fleshed city.
• Big Rubble.
• Griffin Mountain.
• Cults of Prax. One of the best takes on religion in fantasy.
• Cults of Terror.
• Trollpak. Very interesting take on Trolls.
• Borderlands.

Goodman Games

Goodman Games might be best know for their Dungeon Crawl Classic system, but I love their system neutral supplements, as well as opulent re-releases of cherished classics. I like most of the stuff written by Michael Curtis, whom also authored the amazing Stonehell megadungeon.

Modules & Settings

• Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set. The classic done right.
• Castle Whiterock. If you ever decide to limit yourself to only one adventure book in your life...
• Points of Light. Sandbox in the Wilderlands style. Written by Robert Conley, a Wilderlands veteran.
• Points of Light 2: The Sunrise Sea. Sandbox in the Wilderlands style. Written by Robert Conley, a Wilderlands veteran.

Supplements

• The Dungeon Alphabet. Spice up your dungeons!
• The Monster Alphabet. Spice up your monsters!
• Random Esoteric Creature Generator for Classic Fantasy Role-Playing Games and their Modern Simulacra. Spice up your monsters 2!
• The Adventurers Almanac. Spice up your campaign!
• Grimtooth's Ultimate Traps Collection. Spice up your traps!
• How to Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck. Spice up your writing!

Hack & Slash Publishing

• On Downtime and Demesnes. Bunch of downtime procedures.
• Artifices, Deceptions, & Dilemmas. Illustrated environments-
• Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation. Expanded bestiary.

Columbia Games

Columbia Games publications don't go on sale so often.

Harn has beautiful, well thought out materials that are usable with many fantasy systems. The maps are gorgeous and personalities are fleshed out just enough to drop them into any world without too much fuss.

Below are select brief supplements I found useful:

• Heraldry.
• Cities & Towns.
• Law.
• Guilds.
• Lia-Kavair (Thieves Guild).
• Inns of Harn.
• Herblore.
• Potions.
• Tomes and Scrolls.

Two crunchier, but amazing resources are:

• HarnManor. Detailed procedures and guidance on creating and managing a manor.
• Pilots' Almanac: Maritime & Piloting Rules.

Campion & Clitherow

Weather? Weather! Never worry again. Never.

• SEVEN YEARS OF FANTASY WEATHER Volume 1: Medieval England.
• SEVEN YEARS OF FANTASY WEATHER Volume 2: The Iceland of the Sagas.
• SEVEN YEARS OF FANTASY WEATHER Volume 3: Indea.
• THE ALMANAC OF FANTASY WEATHER Volume One: SWORDS & SORCERY.
• THE ALMANAC OF FANTASY WEATHER Volume Two: EUROPE.

True Mask Games

Factions? Factions! Never worry again. Never.

• Invisible Hands – The Book of Factions.
• Pawns in a Greater Game – The 2nd Book of Factions.
• Unseen Strings – the 3rd Book of Factions.

Geoffrey McKinney

Seriously, for less than $10 you can get material that will last you a lifetime whenever your players decide to go somewhere you haven't prepared for. As a bonus, below supercharges B1 and B2.

• Mike's Dungeons.
• Mike's Dungeons: The Deep Levels.
• Mike's World: The Forsaken Wilderness Beyond.

Simon Forster

What, you want more variety than in Mike's dungeon. “Production qualities?” Well then you are in luck, because Simon Forster has written splendid digest-sized books of lairs:

• Book of Lairs.
• The Book of Lairs: Urban Encounters.
• Vale of the Iron God: the Third Book of Lairs.
• Book of Lairs: Abandoned Places.
• Book of Lairs: People & Places.
• Book of Lairs 6: Desolation.
• Book of Lairs: Dungeons.

Autarch

Autarch is the publisher of Adventurer Conqueror King System, marvellous system built on B/X chassis. It offers superior take on domain management, race-as-class, functional and tightly integrated economy, and plethora of play-tested options for ambitious Judges and adventurous Players.

Rules

• Adventurer Conqueror King System.
• ACKS Player's Companion. Includes the best class-building instructions.
• Heroic Fantasy Handbook. If you want to play as Aragorn, Gandalf, Tarzan, Conan—you name it—then this is the book to get.
• Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu. Barbarians, insects, and robots.
• Axioms Compendium 1-8. Rules variants and options compatible with TSR and OSR systems.
• Lairs & Encounters. Every monster gets a write-up. Some get a map as well. Includes tables on monster parts, because every game has at least one player that wants to butcher a hydra.
• ACKS Domains at War: The Complete Set. Mass warfare rules that work.

Adventures

All adventures, except Dwimmermount, are set in Auran Empire, which is an ACKS setting. I've found all the adventures superb and easy to adjust (and steal from). AX3 has some great tables for urban dwellings.

• AX1 The Sinister Stone of Sakkara.
• AX2 Secrets of the Nethercity.
• AX3 Capital of the Borderlands.
• AX4 Ruined City of Cyfandir.
• AX5 Eyrie of the Dread Eye.
• AX6 Sepulcher of the Sorceress-Queen.
• Dwimmermount (Labyrinth Lord version) (dungeon tracker, map book, and illustration book). A masterclass in megadungeon information. I've only read it, and plan to place it in my campaign.

Expeditious Retreat Press

The first publisher of OSRIC material. A lot of good stuff, but I picked few of more generic offerings I often use.

• Malevolent and Benign. Monsters.
• Malevolent & Benign II. More monsters.
• A Magical Society Aggressive Ecology: The Slaver Fungus. Ecology as a monster.
• A Magical Society Aggressive Ecology: The Undead Leviathan. More ecology-as-a-monster.
• The Halls of Arden Vul Complete. The best megadungeon to date. And the best item to finish this list.

#Sale #OSR #Arduin #OSRIC #XRP #Chaosium #RQ #PFRPG #ACKS #GG #DCC #Harn

Subscribe to get the latest post in your inbox. No spam.

---

Comments

Palladium Books is a troubled publisher, but I still have a soft spot for their early fantasy work. Black and white illustrations galore!

Palladium Fantasy RPG 1E

• The Palladium Fantasy® Role-Playing Game Revised Edition. This was basically a bunch of house rules for AD&D 1E. I'd never play it as-is, but love reading it for inspiration. Many cool ideas, from occupations to different take on alignment, and so on.
• Palladium RPG Book II: Old Ones. My favourite of the lot. Plenty of fully fleshed out settlements with lovely maps.
• Palladium RPG Book III: Adventures on the High Seas.
• Palladium RPG Book IV: Adventures in the Northern Wilderness.
• Palladium RPG Book V: “Further” Adventures in the Northern Wilderness.
• Palladium RPG Book VI: Island at the Edge of the World.
• Palladium RPG Book VII: Yin-Sloth Jungles. My second favourite. Monstrous cities!

Weapons, Armours and Castles

These are illustrated guides to various weapons, armours, and yes, castles, one might use in their fantasy game. I love thumbing through them for inspiration.

• The Compendium of Weapons, Armour & Castles. If you are getting only one, get this.
• The Palladium Book of Weapons & Armor.
• The Palladium Book of Weapons & Castles.
• Weapons & Castles of the Orient.
• Weapons & Assassins.
• The Palladium Book of Exotic Weapons.
• The Palladium Book of European Castles.

#BlackFriday2022 #Sale #PFRPG #OSR

Subscribe to get the latest post in your inbox. No spam.

---

Comments

Palladium Fantasy RPG 1E and 2E books are currently on sale at DriveThruRPG. I found their old stuff to be quite well made, but I mostly use it for inspiration, drawings and maps. Here are few of my favourite picks:

• Palladium RPG Book II: Old Ones. Includes 21 forts, 34 towns and cities, over half a dozen adventures, monks, illusionists, and the dreaded Old Ones. 50+ locations all described and mapped, information about the Old Ones, the Illusionist, Monk, and Minotaur, many NPCs, seven adventures, plus adventure ideas and more.
• Palladium RPG Book III: Adventures on the High Seas. Ships of the world, Demon Black Ships, ship combat, islands of the world, 12 O.C.C.s including the Sailor and Pirate, character sheets, maps, and countless adventure ideas when you visit a dozen island ports including the Isle of the Cyclops, Y-Oda, Zy, the Four Sisters, Forbidden Island, the Floenry Islands, and others, each offering adventure opportunities.
• Palladium RPG Book VII: Yin-Sloth Jungles. Includes Yin-Sloth Jungles, the Orcish Empire, notable cities, 25+ locations and maps, four full adventures, adventure ideas and more.

I also love their weapon books, but they currently aren't on sale.

#Sale #PFRPG

Subscribe to get the latest post in your inbox. No spam.

---

Comments