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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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Just picked up The Nocturnal Table, Castle Xyntillan, and Khosura: King of the Wastelands from the post:

Gabor Lux is running is site-wide sale on everything he has published under EMDT imprint until July 20. Things are moving quickly so act fast. :)

#OSR #SW #OSRIC

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I stumbled upon Swords & Wizardry Complete 3rd Printing and couldn't resist picking it up:

#Postbox #OSR #SW #FGG

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Frog God Games is running another flash sale, this time for Lost Lands books:

The croak-tastic celebration of Frog God Games turning 15 is still hopping right along! That’s right; we're throwing a party, and you're invited. From April 15–21, 2025, we’re slashing prices on The World of the Lost Lands, our official campaign setting, by a whopping 50% across all formats.

Three books on sale are:

Stoneheart Valley is worth getting just for The Tomb of Abysthor, great mid-level adventure. Very challenging one!

The above are discounted for 50% until April 21st.

#Sale #FGG #OSR #SW

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The Northlands Saga Complete is a compilation of ten adventures set in stereotypical cold north. Probably enough for several years of gaming. Tenfootpole has reviewed first four adventures back in the day (NS1, NS2, NS3, NS4). Swords & Wizardry versions were collated in 2015 and published in the big omnibus titled Northlands Saga Complete:

Almost a decade later few more adventures were published, one for Swords & Wizardry, and two plus player's guide for Old-School Essentials:

The above are currently discounted for 75%, and the sale lasts until March 31st. Great deal if you need Scandinavian themed adventures and locales!

P.S. Just a few days before DTRPG massively increases its print cost, which in turn will be reflected on POD products. Make your orders in time.

#Sale #FGG #OSR #SW #OSE

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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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Another great sale I stumbled upon, this time by Frog God Games / Necromancer Games. They are celebrating 25 years so every month few books go on sale. This month The Lost City of Barakus (d20 and Swords & Wizardry) is 75% off and Heart of St. Bathus (OSE) is 60% off. Both are by W.D.B. Kenower who is one of my favourite authors. The Lost City of Barakus is a great module that has everything you need for a campaign. Heart of St. Bathus I haven't had the chance to run yet, but it is a gem that needs polishing since FGG dropped the ball on editing, laying it out, and presenting the information in acessible manner.

#Sale #FGG #NG #OSR #SW #OSE

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Mythmere Games recently published Book of Options for Swords & Wizardry. The book, as you might have guessed from its name, includes a number of optional rules for extending your Swords & Wizardry game. Among other things it includes 12 new classes (barbarian, bard, chivalric knight, demon hunter, dwarven priest, elf blade, illusionist, necromancer, troubadour, warlock, wrath-chanter, and feycaster) and two new ancestries (gnomes and stygians).

With new Character Creation Challenge looming from around the corner (it's 2025 already?! where did 2024 go?!), one of the ideas I had is to create first level player characters for each class and ancestry combination, like I did earlier this year.

First step towards that is to map all the class and ancestry combinations in Book of Options:

Class / Ancestry Human Dwarf Elf Half-elf Halfling Gnome Stygian
Barbarian ✓
Bard ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * *
Chivalric Knight ✓ ✓
Demon Hunter ✓ ✓
Dwarven Priest ✓
Elf Blade ✓ ✓
Illusionist ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Necromancer ✓ ✓
Troubadour ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Warlock ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Wrath-Chanter ✓ ✓
Fighter ✓ ✓
Thief ✓ ✓
Fighter/Thief ✓
Fighter/Illusionist ✓
Illusionist/Thief ✓
Feycaster ✓
Assassin ✓
Cleric ✓
Magic-User ✓

Asterisk on Gnome and Stygian Bard: under class description bard is described as allowed to any ancestry, but neither of the new ancestries lists Bard as allowed class. Matt Finch confirmed to me that allowing bard class to either of those new ancestries should be considered as optional rule. Gnome would have the same level limitation as dwarf, elf, and halfling, while stygian would have no level limitation, like human and half-elf.

First thing I notice is that there is a whopping 42 combinations (44 if we include optional bard extension)! That is more than twice as much from Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised, which has 19 combinations (20 if we include optional fighter-cleric dwarf):

Class / Ancestry Human Dwarf Elf Half-elf Halfling
Assassin ✓
Cleric ✓
Druid ✓
Fighter ✓ ✓ ✓
Magic-User ✓
Monk ✓
Paladin ✓
Ranger ✓
Thief ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Fighter-Cleric *
Fighter-Thief ✓
Fighter-Magic-User ✓ ✓
Fighter-Magic-User-Thief ✓
Fighter-Magic-User-Cleric ✓

Given that it took me several months to create 400 player characters (and their equipment packs), I think I'll have to chunk characters for Book of Options. I'll start with humans and work my way from there.

Since I already made all the tables, why not bring them together?

Below is a combined table of all class and ancestry combinations from Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised and Swords & Wizardry Book of Options:

Class / Ancestry Human Dwarf Elf Half-elf Halfling Gnome Stygian
Assassin ✓ ✓
Barbarian ✓
Bard ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * *
Chivalric Knight ✓ ✓
Cleric ✓ ✓
Demon Hunter ✓ ✓
Druid ✓
Dwarven Priest ✓
Elf Blade ✓ ✓
Feycaster ✓
Fighter ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Illusionist ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Magic-User ✓ ✓
Monk ✓
Necromancer ✓ ✓
Paladin ✓
Ranger ✓
Thief ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Troubadour ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Warlock ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Wrath-Chanter ✓ ✓
Fighter-Cleric *
Fighter-Illusionist ✓
Fighter-Magic-User ✓ ✓
Fighter-Magic-User-Cleric ✓
Fighter-Magic-User-Thief ✓
Fighter-Thief ✓ ✓
Illusionist-Thief ✓

As you can see, that is a massive 64—sixty-four—legal class and ancestry combinations. Throw that on a new player and see that cope with analysis paralysis. That's why it is so important that the Judge selects options most relevant to their game. But that is topic for another post.

#Resource #SW #OSR

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Swords & Wizardry Book of Options and Swords & Wizardry Fiends & Foes:

Swords & Wizardry Deluxe Referee Screen:

Tomb of the Iron God and Domain of Heryngard:

#Postbox #OSR #SW

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This post is part of the RPG Blog Carnival: Wondrous Weapons and Damning Dweomers.

Arduin Grimoires by Dave Hargrave were notorious supplements for OD&D published in 1977 and onwards. They were filled with crazy tables that definitely were not everyones cup of tea.

But I certainly love some of them—like his Special Ability Charts that we used in our game for years—and even when I didn't use them, I certainly was inspired to make something of my own.

This week I decided to use the “Random Chance Chart For Magik Weapons” from The Arduin Grimoire Volume (scroll down for legend and explanation of the chart):

  1. Alrika's Cleaver: Battleaxe +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful; INT 4; EGO 17; COM none; MOT renown; POW none. An elegant dwarven battleaxe made of finest dwarven steel. Forged for famed dwarven battle-priestess, Alrika Frigasniz. Although it lacks communicative abilities, it will become noticeably dull and darker if it isn't flattered and praised regularly. It will attempt to assert control over the owner whenever they take a swing against any dwarf.
  2. Blackblade: Hand and a Half Broadsword +5 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral Good; INT 9; EGO 13; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. Wicked looking bastard sword made of blackened mithril. It has an obsession with sheaths made of exotic leather. It will demand at least dozen of sheaths to be taken on every adventure. It will be very unhappy unless it is told a gory bed time story every night.
  3. Deepthrust: Rapier +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Neutral Evil; INT 18; EGO 16; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks one language; MOT renown; POW Clairvoyance, Detect Life, Flight, Frost Giant Strength. Diamond studded thin blade with gilded guard and exquisite sheath (worth 4 000 gp). Deepthrust enjoys duels and will refuse its powers to anyone whom it deems cowardly or unfit in any way. It will always demand a full share of treasure, which is to be spent on sheaths, oils, and bards. It hates clumsiness and will refuse to serve any such person (with DEX less than 12)—in fact it will viciously mock them, hoping to incite a duel. Deepthrust is not stupid, so it will see through insincere flattery and react accordingly. Deepthrust allows the wielder to fight with strength of a Frost Giant, meaning it attacks as 10+1 HD monster and hits for 2d6+1 damage.
  4. Hellfire: Sling +2 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Chaotic Evil; INT 18; EGO 18; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks one language; MOT renown; POW +1 versus Undead, Paralysis, and Life Drain attacks, Detect Life, Haste, Fire Giant Strength, Treat all armor classes hit as AC 9. This hateful weapon has been forged in the very core of the planet by Ammonuz, a fire giant cleric, to wage ware on Overlanders. It is a simple Y-shaped sling, with body made of black rock. The sling itself is of unknown material. Hellfire cares for nothing but destruction, and will instantly attempt to dominate anyone who dares touch it. And destructive it is: not only does the wielder strike with power of a fire giant (as 11+3 HD monster for 2d6+2 damage), but any living target counts as if it had AC of 9. That means that they are automatically struck, unless they have means of reducing the attacker's attack probability. Hellfire might be sufficiently impressed by new “owner” if the latter destroys everything and everyone, including its allies, upon picking it up. But its appetite for destruction is endless, and no owner has survived it.
  5. Moonlight: Light Crossbow +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful Evil; INT 9; EGO 17; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. Ultralight crossbow with mechanism that doesn't require any maintenance nor oiling. It is so perfect it can be fired and reloaded with a single hand. Used to be a favourite weapon of notorious assassin Mateis Fluoniope. Moonlight will refuse to shoot “shoddily” made quarrels, which it is very particular about (roll a d4, on 1 it refuses to shoot a bolt). It will happily spend hours inspecting bolts for use, and will occasionally demand special-made bolts.
  6. Nedbryn: Shortbow +2 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful Evil; INT 20; EGO 1; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks four languages; MOT renown; POW Detect Alignment (like cleric spell Detect Evil but at double range and can detect any alignment), Flight, Haste (Cursed). Made from hangman tree hardened in blood of one hundred demi-humans. Bowstring is enchanted spidersilk. Nedbryn possesses alien-like intelligence, and revels in causing prolonged suffering. She will introduce herself to any adventurer within range and seek help, playing to their ego. Although she can impeccably detect alignment, she will hide her own. Only clerics of name level and higher can correctly detect her alignment—and only if they spend number of months equal to the difference between her intelligence and their wisdom. Nedbryn will adjust to her wielder. Her patience is endless. She can tolerate abuse. She will learn everything there is to learn about her owner. She will give out genuinely helpful advice, but always in the service of her agenda. There is nothing she enjoys more than building up an aspiring adventurer into respected ruler and then slowly ruining them. If she gets bored she will malfunction at the most inappropriate time, e.g. when flying over a precipice or running away from a horde of monsters.
  7. Princekiller: Lance +3 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 8; EGO 16; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. By all account a mundane lance, indistinguishable from others. Forged by vengeful wizard Cullen Leeper whom was slighted by a local king. He planted the lance for tournament organised by the king, in which king's son was participating as well. Leeper ensured the lance ended in a dull man's hands, and son was “accidentally” killed. Princekiller has a sizeable ego, and will demand tournaments organised in its favour at least bimonthly. It will also demand the best of horses and the best of challengers.
  8. Red Sun: Two Handed Battleaxe +3 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Neutral Good; INT 5; EGO 16; COM none; MOT renown; POW none. Large two-handed double-bitted battleaxe with ironwood shaft and bright red blades. It hates prolonged exposure to darkness, and thoroughly enjoys sunbathing. When happy, the blades look as if sun rays are bouncing within them. When unhappy, the blades look like dimmed sun.
  9. Sarioin: Halberd +3 to hit, +1 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 10; EGO 16; COM speaks two languages; MOT renown; POW none. A halberd with iron shaft and tempered steel blade. Sarioin will introduce himself as “warrior's finest weapon, but strategist's true weapon!” It is quite spendthrifty, and will always look for reasons why something else should be bought too, e.g. “quality costs!”, “buy thrice, cry once!”, “are you sure we don't need another one?” Sarioin will not demand anything be spent on it, but will greatly appreciate that. What it will demand every single time is to be consulted on battle plans and course of action. It will speak out of order and let anyone know if it disagrees with the approach, plans, or ideas. Sarioin is the prototypical armchair general, and will always have something to say.
  10. Volmago the Vampire Vanquisher: Spear +4 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 18; EGO 8; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks two languages; MOT renown; POW Detect Distance, Detect Undead, +2 versus Undead, Paralysis, and Life Drain attacks. A silver tipped spear with shaft of cold iron. Volmago is still grieving its former owner, great paladin Cladus Eacham, whom was betrayed by his party and slain by a mated pair of vampires. Volmago desires only to be left to grieve and will refuse cooperation. If the new to-be owner is able to get it to open up and avenge Cladus, then Volmago will serve that person with undying loyalty. Volmago knows a lot about undead and will share that information.

Legend: AL: alignment; INT: sword's intelligence; EGO: sword's ego; COM: sword's means of communication; POW sword's power(s).

As I wrote, for this article I decided to use the “Random Chance Chart For Magik Weapons” from The Arduin Grimoire Volume 1 (1977):

Even if you are familiar with OD&D some of the table entries might leave you a bit puzzled. There are no explanations or details beyond above table. Spell that don't appear in OD&D are also not detailed in the grimoires. For example Detect Alignment. I just assume it works the same as Detect Evil/Good in OD&D.

Weapon “character and alignment” is interesting as well. In the grimoires Dave explicated his views on alignment, which are kind of summarised in the following table:

Weapon intelligence and ego scores can be much higher than in OD&D, meaning much higher probability a player character might have really bad time. In fact, imagine rolling a chaotic evil weapon with high intelligence and ego. Yes, it might end up with many special powers, but since it would easily dominate even the strongest characters, it almost acts as a cursed weapon.

How many powers gets assigned is a bit ambiguous, especially regarding special powers. Number of “normal powers” depends on the weapon's intelligence:

INT Normal Powers
14–15 1
16–17 2
18–19 3
20–21 4
22 5

Number of “special attributes” depends on the weapon's intelligence and ego:

INT EGO Special Attributes
15–17 15–17 1
18–20 18–20 2
21–23 21–23 3
24 24 4

Finally, I interpret Dave's table as supplemental to procedures in the OD&D. I used those to determine weapon's purpose (1:10 for it to be special), communication abilities, and number of languages spoken. All three original Arduin Grimoires have been reprinted in the Arduin Trilogy.

#RPGBlogCarnival #Resource #Arduin #ODnD #SW #OSR

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