Attronarch's Athenaeum

blackfriday2025

DriveThruRPG is running a massive site-wide sale for Black Friday. I spent three days making a list of adventures, bestiaries, and supplements that I am happy to recommend and that are going for a good discount. I tried to stay away from super-popular recommendations, and focus instead on forgotten and overlooked publications I found useful.

Adventures are broken into three brackets: levels 1–4, levels 4–9, and levels 9 and higher. Bestiaries and supplements are a separate list. For the latter I focused on sandbox and world-building material. For little fun, each list has an assigned die that you can roll to determine what too look into first. :)

As always, spend responsibly!

Low-level adventures (levels 1–4) — 1d12

  1. Gatehouse on Cormac’s Crag (4–6 adventurers of levels 1–3)
  2. Advanced Adventures #22: Stonepick Crossing (6–10 adventurers of levels 1–3)
  3. The Oneiric Hinterlands (4–6 adventurers of levels 1–6)
  4. Advanced Adventures #1: The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom (6–8 adventurers of levels 2–4)
  5. Advanced Adventures #27: Bitteroot Briar (4–8 adventurers of levels 2–4)
  6. Bonepicker's Tower (4–8 adventurers of levels 2–4)
  7. The Lost City of Barakus (4–8 adventurers of levels 2–6)
  8. Bottomless Pit of Zorth (4–8 adventurers of levels 3–5)
  9. Advanced Adventures #17: The Frozen Wave Satsuma (6–8 adventurers of levels 3–5)
  10. Peril in Olden Wood (4–6 adventurers of levels 3–5)
  11. Original Adventures Reincarnated #9: Caverns of Thracia (includes reprint of the original; 6–10 adventurers of levels 2–6)
  12. The Halls of Arden Vul Complete (4–8 adventurers of levels 1–12)

Mid-level adventures (levels 4–9) — 1d12

  1. The Tomb of Abysthor (6–10 adventurers of levels 2–8)
  2. Advanced Adventures #31: The Lost Lair of Drecallis (4–8 adventurers levels 4–7)
  3. Advanced Adventures #21: The Obsidian Sands of Syncrates (6–10 adventurers of levels 4–7)
  4. Advanced Adventures #12: The Barrow Mound of Gravemoor (4–6 adventurers of levels 5–7)
  5. A Shadow Over the Greatwood (4–8 adventurers of levels 5–7)
  6. Advanced Adventures #46: The Dismal Glade of the Spider Goddess (6–10 adventurers of levels 5–7)
  7. Advanced Adventures #41: The Forgotten Grottoes of the Sea Lords (6–10 adventurers of levels 6–8)
  8. S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (6–8 adventurers of levels 6–8)
  9. The Black Monastery (5–7 adventurers of levels 7–10)
  10. Original Adventures Reincarnated #7: Dark Tower (3 books, first reprints the original; 6–10 adventurers of levels 7–11)
  11. WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (4–8 adventurers of levels 8–10)
  12. Dawn of the Overmind (4–6 adventurers of levels 8–10)

High-level adventures (levels 9 and above) — 1d10

  1. Tomb of the Twice-Crowned King (6–10 adventurers of levels 8–10)
  2. EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror (5–8 adventurers of levels 9–12)
  3. G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (9 adventurers of level 9 or higher)
  4. G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl (9 adventurers of level 9 or higher)
  5. G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (9 adventurers of level 9 or higher)
  6. D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth (7–9 adventurers of level 10 or higher)
  7. D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (at least 6 adventurers of level 9 or higher)
  8. D3 Vault of the Drow (6–9 adventurers of of level 10 or higher)
  9. Cyclopean Deeps Volume and Volume II (4–8 adventurers of levels 10–12)
  10. S1 Tomb of Horrors (6–8 adventurers of levels 10–14)

Bestiaries — 1d8

  1. All the Worlds' Monsters Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3. One of the earliest published bestiaries. Has that true vintage typewriter look and nonsensical monsters.
  2. Book of Lost Beasts. A collection of AD&D 1e monsters to supplement the Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, and Monster Manual II.
  3. Dwellers in Dark Places. Awesome collection of more than 300 original OSRIC monsters.
  4. Malevolent & Benign and Malevolent & Benign II. Collects all monsters published in the Expeditions Retreat Press OSRIC modules. Each book contains 150 monsters, so 300 new monsters in total.
  5. Monstrosities. 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 normal distribution curve).
  6. Tome of Horrors Complete. More than 700 monsters (no duplicates from Monstrosities). Again, each comes with a small encounter. Includes mundane animals as well. See Swords & Wizardry bestiary analysis here.
  7. Hacklopedia of Beasts. Detailed bestiary with a lot of reusable details like size comparison charts, combat tactics, habitat & society, ecology, and yield.
  8. The Monster Overhaul. Inteded to be a generic monster manual for a generic OSR system. Includes a little bit over 200 monsters, many with associated random tables.

Supplements — 1d6

  1. How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox. Practical step-by step guide on how to create your own sandbox. Written by Robert Conley, a Wilderlands legend. (Watch out for his Majestic Fantasy Realms as well, forthcoming.)
  2. Tomes by Mythmere Games Tome of Adventure Design, Tome of Worldbuilding, and The Nomicon. A great set of books to create infinite worlds and adventures.
  3. Book of Lost Tables. Includes 348 random tables for generating random wilderness terrain, random wilderness encounters, random dungeon terrain, random dungeon encounters, random urban terrain, random urban encounters, character parties, and more. Very much in the styled of AD&D 1e tables.
  4. Seven Years Of Fantasy Weather Volume 1: Medieval England, Volume 2: The Iceland of the Sagas, and Volume 3: Indea. Awesome series of weather supplements covering, as it says on the tin, seven years.
  5. Realms of Crawling Chaos and Swords of Cthulhu. Two great source-books to add Cthulhu mythos to your D&D game.
  6. HârnManor and Medieval Manager. Detailed procedures and guidance on creating and managing a manor, including simulating economy. The latter includes conversion to gp for ease of use.

Even more recommendations

Here are previous sales recommendations: 2024, 2023, 2022. Don't hesitate to reach out should you have a great recommendation yourself.

#BlackFriday2025 #Sale #OSR #SW #OSRIC #OSE

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