SW — Attronarch's Athenaeum

Black Friday 2022: Frog God Games

November 24, 2022

It's that time of the year again. May our wallets survive.

After recommending some Troll Lord Games products on sales, it is time for Frog God Games.

My favourite recommendations are in fact re-issues of Necromancer Games material, a predecessor to Frog God Games, like The Lost City of Barakus, The Tomb of Abysthor, and Bard's Gate. And make sure to grab the bestiaries if you haven't already.

Great majority of the recommendations below are for Swords & Wizardry system, a retroclone of Original D&D. All statblocks have descending and ascending AC, and everybody uses a single save throw (but since HDs and levels are nearly identical, you can use TSR-era saves without any hassle).

Adventures

MCMLXXV. Old-school wilderness treasure hunt. For first level parties.
Grimmsgate. A village, surrounding area, and dungeon suitable for first level parties. Dungeon is well made, with multiple entrances and uncommon foes.
Stoneheart Valley (Swords and Wizardry). A collection of three old Necromancer Games adventures: The Wizard's Amulet, The Crucible of Freya, and The Tomb of Abysthor. First one is shit, second is fine, and third is awesome.
The Lost City of Barakus (Swords and Wizardry) (local and regional maps). Perhaps my favourite Necromancer Games mega-dungeon—because it is so much more! You get a starting city (with seven adventures), a wilderness area (with 26 keyed encounters and mini adventures), and a mega-dungeon with interesting factions and cool big-bad. Suitable for low-level parties.
Cyclopean Deeps (Swords and Wizardry) (volume one and two). Underground hex-crawl for high-level parties. Includes underground settlements as well. Perfect for plugging into lowest levels of large dungeons... Or under sprawling cities...
The Slumbering Tsar Saga (PF). 800 page monster. High-level, high-lethality area with brutal challenges.
Bard's Gate (Swords and Wizardry) (player's guide). A massive city packed with urban encounters and adventures (8 included, from levels 1 to 10+). Very dense book. Some say this is FGG's finest product. The truths is: this is another Necromancer Games revival. And that's why it's great. :)
The Blight (Swords and Wizardry). A rotten, overpopulated, sick mega-city. Whole campaigns can be played in it. Heavy horror vibes.

Supplements

Monstrosities (Swords and Wizardry). Nearly 500 monsters. Each monster comes with an example encounter/nano-adventure. Includes tables with monsters by challenge level, guidance on creating new monsters, tables of monsters by terrain, and tables of random encounters (3d6, so bell curve).
Tome of Horrors Complete (Swords and Wizardry). More than 700 monsters (no duplicates from Monstrosities). Again, each comes with a small encounter. Includes mundane animals as well.
The Blight: Tome of Blighted Horrors (Swords and Wizardry). What, you want more? Well, here are 80 more—body horror apleanty.
The Book of Taverns (volumes one, two, and three). Had enough of generic taverns and inns, but short on prep time? Steal one from here. Again, these are revivals of old Necromancer Games books. They are good.