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!
GM Gems. A collection of advice for Judges.
PC Pearls. A collection of advice for Players.

#BlackFriday2022 #Sale #GG #DCC #OSR

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

Comments

Black Friday 2022: OSR

November 24, 2022

In the previous posts I've focused on the specific publishers:

In this, probably last post (gotta keep my own wallet safe), I list my recommendations for materials compatible with TSR and OSR games. 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.

Hack & Slash Publishing

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

Campion & Clitherow

Weather? Weather! Never worry again. Never.

True Mask Games

Factions? Factions! Never worry again. Never.

Green Ronin Publishing

They used to make good setting books during 3E era. Here are a few I enjoyed.

Book of the Righteous. Gods.
Eternal Rome. Romans.
Skull & Bones. Pirates.

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.

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.

Your favourites?

Do let me know your favourite OSR supplements. Just because my wishlist is big, doesn't mean it can't get bigger.

#BlackFriday2022 #Sale #Arduin #OSRIC #XRP #OSR

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

Comments

Black Friday 2022: Palladium Books

November 24, 2022

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

Black Friday 2022: Autarch

November 24, 2022

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.

#BlackFriday2022 #Sale #ACKS #OSR

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

Comments

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.

#BlackFriday2022 #Sale #FGG #NG #SW #OSR

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

Comments

Black Friday 2022: Troll Lord Games

November 24, 2022

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

Here are some Troll Lord Games adventures and supplements I've found useful and enjoyable, although I do not run Castle & Crusaders system.

I found most of TLG stuff to have minor errors (e.g. typos, location missing on a map, etc.). Also, most of the modules do require prep. Despite that, I found below worthy of mentioning.

Adventures

Goblins of Mount Shadow A messy module with plenty to pull out of. Fey focused. Bryce's review.
A2 Slag Heap. Villages & factions. Bryce's review.
A9 The Helm of Night. Besiege a fortress of evil. Bryce's review.
S4 A Lion in the Ropes. Slow horror. Bryce's review.
Lost City of Gaxmoor (digital and isometric maps). A city that was gone for a thousand years reappears. Of course it's full of shit that wants to kill nosy adventurers. Plane of chaos breach the reality from time to time.
The Long Valley. Valley surrounding Gaxmoor.
Chaos Touched. Additional random encounters for chaos breaches. Intended to be used with Gaxmoor, but can be adapted for any area.
Undercaverns of Gaxmoor (maps). This one progresses timeline quite a bit, returning Gaxmoor into the hands of good. I just used it to steal what is underneath.
Bluffside City on the Edge (maps). I like cities. A bit dense, but full of stuff to use. Eight districts & undercity.
Bluffside: Right Under our Noses. A free adventure set in Bluffside.

Supplements

Storyteller's Dictionary. Since I'm not a native speaker, I appreciate having fantasy-focused dictionary.
Storyteller's Thesaurus. Same as above.
Arms and Armor. One can never have enough armaments.
Book of Names. Same as above. Not as good as Judges Guild Treasury of Archaic Names, but I still found some I liked.
Towers of Adventure Master. 15 empty towers.