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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.

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