OSR News Roundup for September 11th, 2023
We're into the second week of September already -- this year has been flying by -- so let's see what was new last week, shall we? Oh, also, I don't usually promote Kickstarters before they go live, but Matt asked nicely (and I'm a huge fan of Tome of Adventure Design): Mythmere Games is getting ready to launch Fantasy Adventure Builder, a digital companion to ToAD.
Games Omnivorous is running a Kickstarter for two things: a reprint of their game Frontier Scum, and Tides of Rot, a "splattercrawl" adventure written for FS that takes the form of an LP.
The author of Infinite Revolution: Overdrive Edition reached out to me about carrying their project, and I though that it look interesting enough to share here. The game was originally released on itch. It's billed as a lightspeed, exosuit, dogfight rpg.
Under Ashen Skies, by Alex T, is a quick-running Kickstarter campaign (with only a couple of days left as of this posting). It's a a single player ( or GM-less multiplayer) rpg of loss and personal horror heavily influenced by Silent Hill, Hellraiser, and the Orphic Mysteries.
I'm Kickstarting Populated Hexes Monthly Issue 26, the second in a two-part series presenting alternate psionics rules for old-school gaming. This system doesn't use points to activate or maintain abilities, but instead uses a roll-under d6 mechanic that gives the character the ability to temporarily "burn" relevant ability scores to increase their chance of success.
Every once in a while something truly unique comes along and grabs me by the lapels. The Gobbling Glutton is a hexcrawl for Hieronymous set in Where's Waldo illustrations.
Speaking of which, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke is a mini-hexcrawl through the eponymous painting by Victorian painter Richard Dadd.
gestaltist has created a procedural world map generator called 12-word cartographer. It provides a simplified model of plate tectonics to create realistic-looking world maps.
After a sudden flurry last year the number of projects funding on Backerkit seems to have slowed down, but a new one caught my eye: The Night Clerk is an architectural horror scenario based on a popular episode role-playing radio.
Tim B is writing Ruins and Rogues as part of the one-page rpg jam on itch. It's designed to emulate old-fashioned dungeon crawling with minimum prep time, and is inspired by Maze Rats among other games.
Space Aces: Voyages in Infinite Space is now available on Drivethrurpg. It's a sprawling space hexcrawl with a vibe drawn from 80s cartoons and kitschy sci-fi.
Written for Shadowdark, but compatible with a broad range of OSR fantasy games, the War Under Hammerfall Mountain is a 100+ page adventure that pitches goblins against rat-folk, and let's the PCs try to take advantage of the chaos that ensues.
Joseph Lewis has released Wicked Little Delves v.3, a collection of three short adventures statted for 5e, OSE, and Into the Odd. They are, broadly speaking, dragon, mummy, and horror from beyond the stars themed.
Archives of Nabu: The School of Air, is a short collection of new spells that all have an air theme. I'm a sucker for new spells, and I like the elemental theme of air.
I've been hearing a lot of good things about Pirate Borg, and Pick Yer Poison is a guide to randomly generating inns, barkeeps, and other related hooks/dressing for that (or any other nautical-themed game).
Singing Flame has been publishing some interesting and innovative works in the past few years, and the third issue of Aquilus is finally out and on Drivethru. It's got a bunch of stuff -- character classes, random tables, new gods, but Vasili has also made the leap into commissioning art for the issue rather than using public domain works, which I think is great.
There are a couple of works that are now live that I've been patiently (or not) waiting for, and am excited for the print version to be released so I can stock them. The first is Gods of the Forbidden North, the inaugural and very ambitious hexcrawl release by Pulp Hummock Press.
The other one I've been looking forward to is the new issue of Jim Wampler's zine: Scientific Barbarian Issue 5. There's a whole host of luminaries writing for this issue, including Merle Rasmussen, Bill Barsh, Thom Wilson, and more.
Dark Places and Demogorgons for OSE has just seen a new adventure by Bloat Games. Happy Campers takes place in a summer camp where a dormant clan of vampires has just awakened.
Nothing is more old school than Runequest, still going strong after all these years. We've just added two of their newest deity-themed books to our inventory: The Lightbringers and The Earth Goddesses.
I've also just released Populated Hexes Monthly Issue 25 to Drivethru. Going strong into its third year, this issue is the first of a two-parter exploring a new psionics system for old school gaming that doesn't use pesky points to activate powers. It also has two playable sheep-folk classes that wield psionic powers.