This is the final Roundup before Christmas, for those who celebrate, and as it happens, this is also the one-year anniversary of when I posted the first News Roundup. I've managed to keep it going for a full year, craziness and Covid aside, and think I'm finally hitting a stride with the news. I'd welcome any feedback readers have; I know that I'd like to get better finding new releases on some of the smaller platforms such as itch, as well as crowdfunding projects that aren't on Kickstarter. In celebration of the one year anniversary of this newsletter, readers can use the coupon code "Roundup" at checkout through the webstore to get 40% off all purchases. This coupon code is only good for today, the 19th of December.
With that out of the way, last week's Meet the Publisher interview was with Brad Kerr, author of Wyvern Songs. This upcoming week's interview will be with the folks comprising Crumbling Keep, publisher of the Marching Order rpg.
*Tattered Leaves is a procedurally generated forest crawl for the critically acclaimed Fallen rpg.
*Vindle the Vagabond's Beastie Almanack Vol. 1 is a system-neutral bestiary available as a PWYW pdf with some of the coolest art I've seen in awhile.
*The Descent RPG is out on itch. Hacking off Into the Odd, Tunnel Goons, and more, it seeks to evoke the experience of living in a dark and unforgiving world.
*Speaking of Into the Odd, Monolith takes that game, Cairn, and Knave and twists those systems into a sci-fi space game. It's also free.
*The Bastards jam is going on right now on itch and one of the submitted titles is Kobolds, in the equipment graveyard.
*Dice Goblin Games has released Block, Dodge, Parry, an "Advanced Edition" of Cairn.
*The Mushmen are hard at it again, this time raising money for Black Sword Hack, Ultimate Chaos Edition, a revision on their take on the Black Hack plus Moorcock.
*My Kickstarter for a reprinted edition of the The Pallid Fields, a mini-hexcrawl in Faery, ends tomorrow, and we're inches away from the second and final stretch goal.
*Gallant Knight Games is Kickstarting SYMA, billed as an Incense and Iron Medieval game. They've had a solid track record with other games, so this one will be interesting to check out.
*The Honest and Plain Village of Scio, by Edward Patterson III, is on Drivethru, and is billed as an "adventure of precarious setups, not scenes".
*Richard Kelly has released All's Well at the Macallen Farm, an adventure for Cthork Borg.
*Geraldo Marinho has just released a new OSR Logo, utilizing an isometric-style dungeon map.
*Ravenswall is another free Dragon Warriors adventure from the folks over at Red Ruin Publishing. This one is written for adventurers of 3rd to 5th Rank.
*There's a new campaign setting out written with Old School Essentials in mind, by Christopher Wilson. The Braunhaven Campaign Setting is 113 pages and contains the setting, new monsters, and a starter adventure.
*Also by the same author is Saint Baldwere's Magical Workshop, a holiday-themed adventure also written for OSE.
*Hatred is a new adventure for Mork Borg put out by Gorebite Games.
*Philipp Teich has released Humbug! A Mousmas Carol, written for Mausritter. Looks like it is available in German, as well.
*Whispers in the Darkness is a collection of four Lovecraftian-themed adventures written for Mork Borg.
*Judge Phil's Zine of Goodies is a DCC zine written by Phil Padovani and features some absolutely charming illustrations.
*DroidAvoid ran a Kickstarter for the Fettered Factory over the summer and it looks like it is out in the wilds now. It's written for World's Without Number, but can, of course, be easily converted to other OSR systems.
*Populated Hexes Monthly Issue #16 is now available in POD softcover, and includes rules for customizing ships and boats in old-school games.