Welcome to the OSR News Roundup for the second week in July. As many of you might have guessed, the game store I just opened is carrying all of the indie and OSR games my webstore stocks, and I've got to say I've been pleasantly surprised by the interest and sales in those titles. I was a little worried by the conventional wisdom that people are only interested in D&D and Pathfinder, but (in an admittedly small sample size) we've sold far more OSR and indie titles than we have the big two of D&D and PF. It looks like, again from a pretty short time period, that there is demand for alternatives.
As an aside, as I've gotten busier I've found myself spending less time curating entries in to this Roundup and trying to quantity rather than quality. I'm going to try to spend more time on entries and provide some context about why I chose them. Also, just so everyone knows, there are a number of prolific authors out there, who released stuff on a weekly (roughly) basis, and I won't be mentioning their work every time a new title appears, but will instead shoot to mention things I find interesting. Also, as a matter of personal preference, I will not be promoting work that includes AI-generated art or content. Everyone has their own opinion on AI, and I've decided that, where possible, I won't knowingly promote AI-generated products.
*Micah Anderson has released Bastards: Appendices A-C, a supplement for the Bastards game that includes rules for castles, strongholds, and a simple mass combat system. Even if you don't play Bastards there should be plenty of stuff in here to mine for inspiration.
*The Cairn jam is still ongoing over on itch, and one of the submissions, Downrooted, by Jason Burrows, is a procedural depthcrawl that looks pretty amazing. It's a work in progress, and will be updated as the author progresses.
*Another submission to the Cairn jam is by Tony Tran (one of my favorite artists, and someone I really need to reach out to for some art). Four, the very small edition, is an adventure for low-level characters where the PCs are tasked to deliver a small, goat-shaped rock.
*I'm a sucker for Tom Waits, especially since I can sing along in my tuneless voice and not sound bad, and Spooky Jaguar's submission to the Cairn jam headed by a Tom Waits lyric immediately hooked me. The Weeps is billed as an "absurdist funny sadventure", and will also be available in a print version (note to self: reach out about getting copies).
*For fear of this becoming a Cairn Roundup, there are two more entries that caught my eye: The Exalted Order of the Mystic Moose (moose should really be used more in rpgs) and Old Mast Road, a tri-fold pamphlet adventure.
*Jeremy Shuman is quickstarting (act fast, it ends soon!) Mushroom Gnome, a playable character class written to be compatible with DCC, OSE, Shadowdark, and Troika!
*Wicked Little Delves, Vol. 1, by Dungeon Age Adventurers, is a collection of three adventures tri-statted for 5e, OSE, and Into the Odd. They're short little adventures, which I have really become a fan of, especially since they're great for populating hexcrawls.
*There aren't many Spelljammer-esque OSE supplements out there, but the newly released Age of Wonders seems to scratch that itch with the Magiverse, a futuristic science-fantasy setting that uses the OSE rules.
*Ink Potion Studio has just released a *ton* of stock art. I'm not going to even try to link to all of it, but here's a piece by one of my favorite artists: Carlos Castilho's Gnome.
*TROIKA! is, I think, an underappreciated system that features some of the best art in the indie sphere, and the new supplement Extinguish the Sun, by Chance Phillips, is another in a line of excellent looking products for TROIKA! It includes sixteen new backgrounds and a new setting, with art by Alain Gruetter.
*An Encounter Most Fowl, by Jeremy Shuman, is a short and spooky adventure for DCC, featuring some fowl-tempered appearances from the setting of DuckQuest, by Darcy Perry (I'm pretty sure I mentioned Perry's book before, but if not, check it out. It's got some really cool stuff in it).
*The prolific Skeeter Green is putting out a new zine. UnderLand Issue 1 is written for DCC/MCC, and is inspired by pulp movies such as Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and other such explorations into the unknown below the crust of the world. It's campaign neutral, and designed so that Referee's can place it within (or rather, under) an existing setting.
*The Sacrifice RPG is a pretty neat little system, and there's now an official zine that supports it. Demonic, Issue 1, includes some short scenarios, rules for alchemy, and a new character class. It also includes art by Simone Tametta (who, and goddess knows I've said this enough this Roundup, is one of my favorite illustrators) and Chaoclypse.
*Heroic Mouse, by Parts per Million, is a supplement adding solo roleplaying rules to the already fantastic Mausritter.
*So, uh, yeah, that's about it for this week. In previous newsletters I would always end with a plug for some of the stuff I've added to my store, but it's frankly gotten pretty overwhelming with the amount of inventory we've been adding over the past month, so I haven't really been doing that. However, if you want to support what I'm doing and help pay the rent on the new brick and mortar store stop on by the website and check out the offerings. While I've started to carry a lot more mainstream titles, I'm still pulling in a lot of indie and OSR stuff, and have no intention of stopping to carry or promote these titles.
Comments