Let's Kick Things off, With a Review!
Charles was kind enough to send me a copy of Old-School Magic for review. So, let's see what it's all about!
Old-School Magic by Charles Rice. Art by Dave Peterson and Cerebus. Vigilance Press. Available in PDF for $1.99. 29 pages.
Old School Magic is the definitive resource for adding a personal touch to the magic of your old-school fantasy games!
Old School Magic features alternate rules of magic and advice for adapting your game into a low, medium or high magic setting.
It also includes 9 new classes, many of which are specifically tailored for low-magic settings, including the Alchemist, Artificer, Holy Man and Naturalist.
Other new classes include new specialist magic-users suitable for traditional old-school games, each with their own spell list, including the Conjurer, Elementalist and Seer.
Finally Old School Magic contains over 30 new spells, created for its specialist classes but available to traditional Clerics, Druids and Magic-Users as well.
The supplement starts out with an overview of what the author is setting out to accomplish, discussion of magic in AD&D/OSRIC and the ways it might be utilized in individual campaigns. High, medium and low magic games are discussed, as is indicated in the blurbage above. Various ideas for tweaking magic, like introducing astrological factors, are given. Taking all three approaches to the campaign's level of magic into consideration, the supplement provides new MU sub-classes, to help the DM realize the one she's chosen. For the more traditional type of spellcasting, new spells are provided.
Nine new classes are included: The Alchemist, The Artificer, The Conjurer, The Elementalist, The Hermit, The Holy Man, The Naturalist, The Sage, and The Seer. There are 31 new spells, with spell-levels for both the usual type of caster and the nine new ones, save for a few cases where the spell is listed as only being available to the latter sort of mage. The new classes, or Archetypes as the supplement names them, which utilize spells, have lists which range from Level 1 to Level 7, as opposed to the usual Magic-User high-end of 9th Level. Spells within the new Archetypes' area of expertise are often available earlier than they are to their vanilla counterparts.
Five of the new Archetypes don't use spells at all, but have other powers at their disposal. These are rather specialized and are put forth for use in Low Magic campaigns. They would also make good NPC classes for more traditional milieu's.
The material is well crafted and I particularly enjoyed the new spells, many of which I would bring into my game. I'd also let a player try one of the new, spell-using Archetypes. I think the Seer would have problems hanging with a more traditional dungeon-delving team and the Hermit, which is really more of a Cleric sub-class, really doesn't make a good fit with the typical adventuring group, but the Conjurer and Elementalist would do well. I think they'd be fun and effective to play and not outshine their vanilla counterparts, but by their very nature, they are more limited in scope, so a PC caster would be foregoing quite a bit of his versatility. In the end, it's up to players, whether or not the fun of playing those Archetypes, combined with the special powers granted to the classes in question, is worth the trade-off.
Those running a real, low-magic type game, where a magic-guy without spells in the traditional sense would fit in, will find a lot of helpful thoughts and ideas. There's plenty of material for DM's running campaigns with a more typical level of magical power, as well.
The lay-out is two-columned. I recall one editing gaff. My only complaint here, is the stat-blocks for the classes. They're black on a totally grey background, which looked fine in PDF but was a bit of a strain on my middle-aged eyes, when reading from my printed copy.
Any other nits to pick?
I like the Conjuration Spells Mr. Rice wrote for Old-School Magic, a lot, but would have liked to have seen some more. The Conjurer's spell list is on the sparse side and I'd probably want to bring in a few of the Conjuration spells from the UA;
Spiritwrack in particular.
There's a lot of fun and useful ideas in Old-School Magic. I can definitely recommend it and for $1.99, it's a steal!
The Cold Text Files
Scottsz, whose awesome
Cold Text Series has been running at
Lord of the Green Dragons,
now has a blog dedicated to the Cold Text Files. His analyses of
WG4 and
C1 are up and he's posted some information on his upcoming plans. For purely selfish reasons, I'd ask you to head over and encourage him to continue his research! It's bloody awesome!
The Latest from Small Niche Games
The Chronicles of Amherth by Peter C. Spahn. Art by Johnathan Bingham and Tony Mullins.
Small Niche Games. Available in PDF for $4.95. 77 pages.
THIS PRODUCT INCLUDES THE LABYRINTH LORD ADVENTURE ATARIN'S DELVE FOR FREE AS PART OF THE DOWNLOAD
THE CHRONICLES OF AMHERTH
The Chronicles of Amherth is a Labyrinth LordTM campaign setting designed to provide new Labyrinth Lords with a ready-made, and most of all, manageable fantasy setting from which to quickly launch a new campaign. World history, backstory, timeline, and metaplot have all been kept to a minimum in order to help facilitate this goal. Amherth accommodates most of the well-known fantasy tropes including wizards, elves, dragons, dwarves, and many others. Veteran fantasy gamers will find much of the material contained within is easily adapted for use with existing campaigns.
Note to SNG customers: All future Small Niche Games adventures will be set in the world of Amherth, but still be generic enough to drop into any existing campaign world.
AMHERTH OVERVIEW
The people of Amherth are descendants of a long-extinct race of godlike beings known only as the Ancients. Humanity is the dominant force in the Known World, while most of the nonhuman races have retreated from public view. The wilderness is a dark and dangerous place, filled with monsters and other perils, and the threat of war is ever present, with civilization constantly hanging on the brink of collapse. With its bleak world history, apathetic gods, and evil magics resurfacing from the past, the Chronicles of Amherth lends itself towards a darker fantasy style of play.
CONTENTS
-The Gods of Amherth: Twelve detailed gods and how they fit into the setting.
-History of the Ancients: Details of the powerful beings who almost destroyed the world and the legacy they left behind.
-The Known World of Amherth: A detailed overview of the setting's major realms and regions, including the Duchy of Valnwall. (Gazetteer-style guidebooks to follow!)
-New Flora: Twelve new magical plants.
-New Monsters: 40 fully detailed races and monsters for use in your Labyrinth Lord campaign.
-New Magic Items: 22 new magic items.
LABYRINTH LORD COMPATIBLE
With the cooperation of companies such as Goblinoid Games, Faster Monkey Games, and Brave Halfling Publishing, Small Niche Games has created an alternate version of the Duchy of Valnwall setting that is still compatible with the one given in the Labyrinth LordTM core rulebook. The names of previously published places, cities, and in some cases even NPCs are used with permission, so Labyrinth Lords who have been running games in the Duchy should have no trouble adapting their game to the Duchy of Valnwall detailed later in this text and in future Small Niche Games products.
ATARIN'S DELVE (available separately for $2.95)
Also included with this product is the sample adventure Atarin's Delve. Atarin's Delve is a short, site-based Labyrinth LordTM adventure designed for 4-6 characters of 1st-3rd level (about 8-10 levels total). The adventure takes place in a cave system that was once sacred to a humanoid race known as the cathla, but has now been taken over by a cult of the water goddess Makil from the Chronicles of Amherth setting.
CHRONICLES OF AMHERTH ADVENTURE BUNDLE (Available for $9.95)
Want more adventure bang for your buck? Pick up the Chronicles of Amherth Adventure Bundle which includes the Chronicles of Amherth setting overview, the sample adventure Atarin's Delve, and critically acclaimed adventures Blood Moon Rising, The Inn of Lost Heroes, and Pyramid of the Dragon all at a hugely discounted price.
If you haven't read anything from Small Niche Games I'd recommend the bundle, which includes the new Setting and all four of his modules. Peter's stuff kicks-ass, as several reviews on blogs and forums will attest and for $9.95 it's a great bargain!
What's Dyson Logos Been Up To?
Reposted from goblinoidgames.com:
This Week at a Character For Every Game
by Dyson Logos » Sat May 21, 2011 10:20 am
While I've been spending a bunch of time with deadEarth lately, I decided I could make it somewhat useful to everyone else by including Mutant Future stats for my deadEarth creations.
For All You DIYers Out There (OK, Pretty Much Everyone Reading This.)
Matt released
the rtf file for Swords & Wizardry Core, 4th print.
Basic Fantasy News
The
latest update of BF2 Fortress, Tomb, and Tower, is available. That would be
Release 11.
I Love the Freakin' Cover!
Center Stage Miniatures and
Pacesetter Games & Simulations are teaming up, to bring you
U1 - Dark Eye of the Hurricane, a module/miniature set combo!
Let's hear from Center Stage:
May 18, 2011 - Pacesetter Games & Simulations and Center Stage Miniatures have teamed-up to produce U1 - Dark Eye of the Hurricane, a First Edition quick play module which will be available June 1st in the online store at www.centerstageminis.com.
U1 is the first in a three-part series of modules available exclusively through Center Stage Miniatures. The series picks up 30 years after the official "U" series ends.
"This is a great way for Center Stage customers to learn about the fantastic adventure modules Bill Barsh makes available through Pacesetter," said Matt Solarz, owner of Center Stage Miniatures.
This product not only includes the written module, but miniatures to go along with it. The complete set is $29.95 and includes 1x Lord of the Eyes miniature and 3x Sea Devils, as well as the 8-page module with color cardstock cover. Limited to 100 copies, U1 will not be reprinted as a stand-alone module.
"When Matt first approached me with this idea I immediately jumped on-board. This game is a visual game and pairing a module series with a fantastic miniature line is not just a great idea, but something that has to be done," said Bill Barsh, owner of Pacesetter Games. "Center Stage produces many of the old-school miniatures people want to see, and I'm pleased to be working with them on bringing the original "U" series to a new conclusion! This series is not for the weak of heart. After all, the first module features a lord of the eyes, and it gets nastier from there!"
I Suspect That Bloggers Adult Filter May be Messing With My Links to Certain Posts
Besides, if you've missed Zak's
Redoing The Fiend Folio series, that means you're probably new or something and just haven't found
Playing D&D With Porn Stars, yet. In which case,
I recommend going to the main page, as soon as you've finished reading
The News.
Pre-Order The Tome of Horrors and save $10!
The Tome of Horrors, for Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder is now available for pre-ordering. $89.99.
But it’s more than just that, because the entire compilation has also been updated to the Swords & Wizardry rules for release as another version of the volume. And in this version, the space freed up by the smaller stat blocks is filled by sample monster lairs and encounters with the hundreds of different monster types featured in the tome. Never before has this massive selection of monsters been updated and brought with these resources all together in one place for use in your own game. And before any Pathfinder players cry foul over the monster lair additions in the Swords & Wizardry version of The Tome of Horrors Complete, this lair information will be available as a free download at the Frog God Games website talesofthefroggod.com for you to use as well.
The Tome of Horrors Complete sample lairs will be included in the Swords and Wizardry volume and as a free download for the Pathfinder volume! This will be comprised of hex-style lairs by a writing team led by John Stater!
Books will be shipped August 2011. Buy before June 1, 2011 and save $10!
Per
Matt Finch, not many more books will be printed, above and beyond the number pre-ordered. So, if you're interested in this title, you may wish to act accordingly.
It's Coming!
On Playing Roles and Telling Stories
Roleplaying Games vs. Storytelling Games from The Alexandrian.
Congratulations to the One-Page Dungeoneers!
The 2011 One Page Dungeon Contest winners have been announced! While you're there, be sure to scarf up all those dungeon pdf's, singularly, or in the two compilations!
A Sneak Peak at Stonehell Part Two
Here, from Michael Curtis, of course!
Hot Damn! It's Mazes & Minotaurs Time!
Minotaur Quarterly Issue 9: Midgard & Mythika! Available as a Free Download.
This 70+ page issue includes a gazetteer on the Centaurs of Sicania, an epic adventure set in a hitherto unknown part of Mythika, new abilities for creatures, optional rules for flying creatures and plenty of other wondrous M&M stuff - including a special Vikings & Valkyries section with a complete adventure, mythic items and more!
The previous issues are still available, of course. There's also a collection of
Compilations from the MQ at the Minotaur Classics page. And for those new to
M&M,
go thou here, where you can download the PDF's of the
Original or
Revised edition, along with a ton of supplemental material, all for Free! I hadn't thought to check on M&M for a while, so
thanks to the venomous pao for the head's up!
Chainmail!
Chicagowiz has
some Chainmail Reference Sheets/Unit Record Sheet for you miniature wargaming needs!
Paper Minis from Ze Bulette
At his Dungeons & Digressions Blog. Witch and Watchers.
And From Telecanter's Receding Rules
More Silhouette's from Telecanter.
Podcast Interviews with James Raggi, Zak S. and Mandy Morbid
At Yellow Menace, where, I understand, you can snag a really good discount code for use at the
LotFP store.
And
at RPG Circus.
While I'm on the Subject of Podcasts and Such
Save or Die Podcast Adventure #32: Harpy Attack!
And Bighara's Echoes from the Geekcave.
May 31 is the Deadline for the Fight On!/Magicians Manse Random Table Contest
Fight On! and Magician’s Manse are Proud to Announce -
A Contest for Fantasy Gaming Tables!
Entry Deadline: May 31, 2011
Send your random tables via email with the header TABLES to tombowings at gmail dot com!
Rules: Maximum 3 tables per entrant, OR 2 tables per entrant if either or both of them are ‘multiple tables’ tables (e.g. a connected set of dungeon or wilderness tables).
For some gamers, there is nothing – not even a good ruleset – that beats a good collection of random tables. So we’ve decided to run a contest to put one together!
By submitting your table, you give us permission to re-print that table in the upcoming Fight On! Big Book of Tables (or whatever we eventually decide to call it). You continue to own your own table and all rights to it other than our right to publish it in various iterations of that book and may re-use or re-publish it elsewhere as you see fit. Likewise, tables you have already published elsewhere may be submitted to this contest so long as you still have the rights to them to give to us to publish in this way.
We are looking for overall quality, game-usability, creativity, better mousetraps, and/or gonzo! Our Judges include S. John Ross, Jeff Rients, Tim Kask, Paul Czege, and Ian Burns, as well as Ignatius Umlaut of Fight On!
Prizes!
Grand Prize: 1 Roll on the Gold Table, 1 Roll on the Gems & Jewelry Table, 1 Roll on the Magic Items Table, a Trade Paperback Copy of Roll the Bones, and a set of Dwarven Metal Dice provided by DEI Games (deigames.com)
Second Prize: 1 Roll on the Gold Table, 1 Roll on the Gems & Jewelry Table, and 1 Roll on the Magic Items Table
Third Prize: 1 Roll on each of any Two Different Tables Below (your pick)
First Honorable Mention: 1 Roll on the Gems and Jewelry Table or the Magic Table (your pick). All prizes except FHM guaranteed; we will use this category for entries that were extremely painful to exclude from the top three.
Honorable Mention: All honorable mentions and all prizewinners above will receive a free PDF copy of the Fight On! Big Book of Tables (when it comes out) and a free PDF of a randomly determined issue of Fight On! magazine! And we intend to give Honorable Mention to ALL submitted tables meant for eventual inclusion in the Big Book of Tables, so there will be a lot of these prizes to go around!
All product prizes below are provided by Fight On! and do not represent the endorsement of or cooperation with the authors, publishers, or manufacturers of said products, although we like them all and think they’re cool guys.
Gold Table (d100) - USD:
01-25 $25
26-50 $50
51-75 $75
76-95 $100
96-99 $250
00 $500
Gems & Jewelry Table (d100) – only one of each, rolled in order of prize received:
01-30 About 30 or so mostly unpainted old-time Grenadier minis, mostly from the Dungeon Explorers and Tomb of Spells Sets
31-40 Beautifully Painted Owlbear, Otyugh, and Ogre Mage Minis (sculptor unknown, but I think they’re old-tyme)
41-50 Provocatively Painted Marilith and Succubus (Marilith is Reaper, not sure about Succubus)
51-60 Battle Scene 1: 4 Beautifully Painted Crocodile Games Wargods of Hyperborea Wendigo (Yeti) Warriors versus 6 Well Painted Privateer Press Hordes Everblight Archers and Swordsmen
61-70 Battle Scene 2: 4 Excellently Painted Tom Meier Thunderbolt Mountain Elves on Foot versus 4 Excellently Painted Tom Meier Thunderbolt Mountain Orcs
71-75 Battle Scene 3: 3 Excellently Painted Tom Meier Thunderbolt Mountain Elves on Horseback versus 3 Excellently Painted Emperor’s Choice Miniatures Goblin Grey Knights Mounted on Air Sharks
76-85 Against the Giants 1: Exceptionally Painted Otherworld Miniatures Hill Giant and Stone Giant
86-95 Against the Giants 2: Well Painted Ral Partha Frost Giant and Cave Giant
96-99 Random Dwarven Forge Custom Dungeon Piece: 1 Wall of Fire Short Passage, 2 Moss & Fungus L-Shaped Passage with Mushroom, 3 4x6 Cerberus Fountain Floor Piece, 4 Room Corner with Banner and Crystal Ball. (May reroll if you don’t use DF.)
00 Beautifully Painted Complete Ral Partha Wasteland Raider Set
Magic Items Table (d100) – all are physical print copies:
01-03 $50 donation to Friends of Starship Warden in your name
04-06 Apocalypse World
07-09 Arduin: World of Khaas Worldbook (First Hardback Printing, OOP)
10-12 Backswords & Bucklers AND Ruins & Ronin
13-15 Book of Ebon Bindings
16-18 B/X Companion
19-21 Carcosa
22-24 Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent
25-27 Dragons at Dawn
28-30 Drowning and Falling AND Elfs
31-33 Dungeon Alphabet
34-36 Empire of the Petal Throne (HOG Reproduction)
37-39 Encounter Critical
40-42 Exquisite Corpses
43-45 Fight On! Magazine, 1d6 Randomly Determined Print Issues
46-48 Grinding Gear AND Weird New World
49-51 How to Host a Dungeon
52-54 Inferno: 1980
55-57 Majestic Wilderlands
58-60 Miscellaneum of Cinder AND Ye Olde Book of Spells
61-63 Mutant Future
64-66 My Life with Master
67-69 Mythmere’s Adventure Design Deskbook I and II
70-72 Necropolis (Necromancer Edition), autographed by Gary Gygax, slightly used
73-75 Petty Gods (if it is out, otherwise Cursed Chateau)
76-78 Realm of Crawling Chaos
79-81 Secret of Smuggler’s Cove AND Skull Mountain
82-84 Sorcery & Super Science
85-87 Spellcraft & Swordplay
88-90 Stonehell Dungeon
91-00 Trade Paperback copy of Roll the Bones AND Roll Again, ignoring results of 91-00
So what are you waiting for? Let’s see your tables!
Of Cults and Nazis
Fitz of
Shouting into the Void has a useful Cult-building template.
Some More Work with the Sample Dungeon
For the Stars Without Number fans
One Grognard's Opinion: Reviews
Simon of
...and the sky full of dust has some things to say about Vornheim, LotFP Grindhouse and Blackmarsh.
Maptime!
What I'm Pimping This Week
For the next while I’ll be focusing on a mini megadungeon. I’m looking at 11 levels or so, but each level being relatively small (200 feet x 200 feet at most). Each will be posted with a plain map that you can use yourself, as well as fully stocked one-page-dungeon PDF of the level for B/X D&D (or Labyrinth Lord).
And since I can’t come up with a good name for the dungeon, I’m going with the egotistical choice of calling it “Dyson’s Delve”.
The stocking of the dungeon has been done pretty much using the B/X rule books as given. Most monsters have treasure according to their treasure type, and monster appearance is based on the “level” of the dungeon using the tables in the Basic and Expert rulebooks – although the level of the dungeon is set by my XP calculations of the adventure thus far, not based on the physical level below ground (so levels 1 and 2 of the dungeon have level 1 encounters, and level 3 and 4 have level 2 encounters and so on).
Dyson’s Delve was started as a bunch of small dungeon level maps in my Moleskine reporter’s padstyle notebook. Then I started stocking it and posting the levels as one-page-dungeons to the blog.
In all, there are 11 levels to Dyson’s Delve, and it takes a group of 4-5 B/X or Labyrinth Lord characters from level 1 to level 6.
— Dyson Logos
About The News
Unless otherwise noted, all links to products and files are to the individual authors sites, pertinent posts, or sales pages. I don’t link directly to files, unless that is the only link available. The OSR News is produced as a service to the community and is entirely a non-commercial endeavor on my part. I have received no remuneration for advertising or reporting on any of the items appearing herein. Occasionally, the News might feature an item, which the author has sent me a complimentary copy of, for purposes of writing a review.
As always, the What I’m Pimping This Week section of the OSR News and its accompanying blog widget, feature products which I have purchased (or items which are available for free download) and wish to support. At times, the item I'm pimping may be one which I received a complimentary review copy of, from the author or publisher. No one has asked me to spotlight their material in this section and I have received no payment of any kind for doing so.
Please feel free to send me information on any new releases, events, or other items of interest, which you would like to see mentioned
That was a Close One!
The Final Version of Mystery Men! is Now Available
JB of B/X Blackrazor has a preview of his upcoming The Complete B/X Adventurer supplement: B/X Witch & a preview of the Spell List. Both are PDF's.
Tenkar has some more to say about the Grindhouse Edition, posts some first impressions about Vornheim, posts Part II of his review of the Grindhouse Edition, does a Mini-Review of The Chronicles of Amherth and continues his Draconic Archaeologist series.
